It was only a few minutes before the announcement of the OR procedures and all the interns had gathered at the front desk. Cassandra had been in a pissy mood all morning knowing Emily would be a shoo-in considering her role as Gina's research assistant. With Emily's allergic reaction though . . . Cassandra just knew she'd be the next logical choice.

She glanced over at Will and couldn't resist saying something even though she was mostly trying to avoid him, the hurt of their break-up too fresh.

"So with Emily getting so sick, you got your hopes up for that stent placement? I know it's pretty routine, but it's going to be on a possible patient for Dr. Bandari's clinical trial . . . this could lead to some really cutting edge stuff."

Will shuffled his feet, still unnerved that Cassandra was talking to him like nothing had happened. Sorry to burst your bubble, Cassandra, he thought. He gave her an awkward smile.

"Well actually . . . it looks as if Emily's already feeling better. They kind of went all-out and hooked her up to an IV to get everything flushed out of her system. Also Dr. Barnes already mentioned to her that she was going to do the surgery as long as she was recovered."

Will didn't realize it, but Cassandra had tuned into his voice like a piranha smelling blood in the water. Especially after hearing the acid in his voice at the words "Dr. Barnes."

She raised her eyebrows in curiosity. "Interesting . . . that almost seems like preferential treatment seeing as how he'd stated he was making the announcement to all of us at the same time."

Will choked out a laugh. "That's one way of putting it." Seeing the fire build in Cassandra's eyes he realized his mistake and quickly back-tracked. "Though I think Emily might have already been pre-selected by Dr. Bandari . . . so it wasn't really a huge surprise . . ."

Cassandra wasn't going to let this go.

"Come on Will . . . I know that we aren't a thing anymore and you really care about Emily, but you can be honest with me. Is there something going on between those two that would give her an edge over the rest of us?"

Will just looked at the floor not being a hundred percent certain what that answer was and also not wanting to betray Emily.

"I'm really not sure Cassandra . . . well here's Micah, I guess we'll find out soon enough what's going on."

They both looked up as Dr. Barnes quickly strode down the hall towards them. He was clearly in a time crunch and didn't waste time with the pleasantries.

"Alright people, just in case I wasn't clear earlier there's going to be two interns assisting in each case. There is going to be a primary assist and a secondary assist. The secondary assist will mostly be observing but will also rotate in at different points in the surgery. Because both of these are routine procedures I want to see how you guys think on the fly."

Everyone gave each other surprised glances. This was much different to how Dr. Bandari would run her OR. She wouldn't stand for anything less than a calm controlled environment.

"Of course as always I will be supervising and if I feel that you are not up to the challenge . . . be prepared to be asked to step aside."

That's more like it, Cassandra thought. She was used to the cutthroat world of Dr. Bandari. Sink or swim . . . and now that she had her goal in her sights she was definitely not going to sink. Not anymore.

Micah continued on. "Alright, here it is people. For the CABG I'm going to have Dr. Dupre as primary and Dr. Madson as secondary."

Tyra looked pleased, she was excited to be put on top for once. She nodded her head and glanced over at Dr. Madson who seemed to just be happy that he was selected for any surgery at all after scoring the lowest on the in-service exam.

"And finally for the stent placement and viability test . . . I have Dr. Owens as primary and Dr. Kopelson as secondary. Also as you may have heard, Dr. Owens had a little medical emergency this morning so if she is not well enough to partake in the procedure, Dr. Kopelson you will be moving into the primary spot and Dr. Collins, you will be her secondary."

They both nodded.

Cassandra was seeing red. She was so close to getting her claws back into that research position she could just taste the sweetness of success. A dark and ugly plan started brewing in her mind yet she wasn't sure if she could cross that line yet . . .

Will glanced over at Cassandra knowing from experience that the wheels were turning in her head . . . though he was a little frightened at the expression on her face. All too quickly her features smoothed over and she gave him a brief cool smile as she headed off to tend to the rest of her patients for the morning. He had a feeling she was up to something and decided he should probably give Emily a heads up. He quickly headed off as well before Micah could find him some other meaningless task to do.

Micah didn't notice them leave as he was too busy going over the rest of the day's duties with the interns who hadn't been selected for any surgeries. He quickly then made his own apologies and asked to only be paged in an emergency as he rushed off to prep for the afternoon.

Cassandra quickly finished with her morning patients and went to get her secret ingredient before heading to the staff lounge. She quietly opened the door and sighed in relief, no one was in there. Knowing she had to act quickly she opened up the fridge and saw Emily's signature ham sandwich in its place on the top shelf.

Setting her plan into action, she grabbed some Mayo from the fridge and added a little bit more to what was already on the sandwich. She paused before the next part . . . but she had come too far already, she was willing to do anything to be the primary on that procedure!

She finally brought out her "weapon in a bottle" - Clamato juice. She splashed a few drops on the new layer of mayo – just enough to make Emily ill again without it seeming like she was having a new reaction. She blended it all together carefully with a knife and put the sandwich back in the fridge.

She gave a sigh of relief that no one had caught her. She felt a little guilty though . . . she'd make sure to keep an eye on Emily just in case she did end up having a more severe reaction . . . but in the end this was her career and nobody was going to stand in her way.

A few seconds later she heard laughing as a couple of other interns opened the door and waved to her as they grabbed their break-time coffee. She smiled at them as she made her way out, deciding to head up to the roof to get some fresh air before lunch and to mentally prepare herself for this afternoon.

Looking down at the floor she almost didn't see Emily heading towards her closet of an office. She no longer was hooked up to an IV and looked annoyingly healthy and rested.

She narrowed her eyes before quickly putting on her signature smile. "Hey, Pits. You had quite a scare this morning, are you sure you're up to anything this afternoon? I'm sure Dr. Bandari would understand once she hears about it . . . considering the circumstances."

Emily just gave a knowing smile not fooled by Cassandra's concern for one minute.

"You know Cassandra, I suddenly feel much better! Those hospital beds are so comfortable, you should try one sometime." She gave her a mock wave as she headed into her office. "See you in surgery!"

Cassandra just glared at her and ran off in the other direction. Damn you Owens . . . I'm glad I did what I did . . . it's a dog eat dog world out there and you're not coming out of this in one piece.

Emily shook her head as she watched Cassandra storm off.

Some things never change, and others are constantly throwing you for a loop

Emily walked into her office. It wasn't empty.