Eight Years Later- September 21, 2031- Joe's bar.
Katie walked into the bar and sat down on a barstool.
"Hey, are you old enough to be in here?" The bartender asked, a playful smile across his face.
"Uncle Joe, I know it's been more than a year, but come on!" Katie said with a smile, leaning her elbows on the bar. "Give me my usual." She said with a smirk.
"One Tequila, coming up. So, what have you been up to, sweet thing?" Joe asked, sitting on the stool on his side of the bar as he poured her a shot of tequila.
"Not much. School, board exams, things like that. I'm starting my surgical internship tomorrow across the street. I just got back from Paris this evening, I haven't even seen Mom and Dad yet. I told them that I'd see them in the morning when I get to the hospital." Katie explained.
"Like parents, like daughter… always working. Oh boy, a new set of interns coming my way, that's something I'm looking forward to." Joe said with a laugh. "Where are you staying?" Joe inquired.
"Mom's old house. George and Izzie moved out last month. Iz and George wanted to move into their own house. Mom is letting me stay there so that I can have my own space. She's making me get roommates and 'have friends' and all that other crap." Katie said, downing another shot of tequila.
"Well, sounds like fun. Good luck over there Katie… Three Shepherds in one hospital, that's going to be one wild ride." Joe said as he stood up and bent over the bar to give her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks Uncle Joe, I'm going to need it." Katie replied, accepting another shot.
Katie sat for several minutes and turns around on her stool. She noticed a young man across the room watching her. She wondered how long he had been watching her, and she stared back at him. She laughed to herself and turned around to face the bar once again. Looking straight ahead, she went to lift another shot to her lips when a hand came from behind and put it on hers. She turned around quickly. The man that had been staring at her was standing beside her, his hand on hers.
"Do I know you?" He asked, slightly amused by the shocked look on her face.
"Probably not, I'm not from around here." Katie replied, hoping that he'd get lost.
"Yeah, you're right. I thought you were someone I knew from school, I guess not though." The man said.
"That, my friend, was the cheapest excuse for a pickup line, that I have ever heard." Katie laughd as she downed the shot in front of her.
"Really? I didn't think it was half bad." The young man shot back, looking her in the eyes. "I must be slipping."
"You think you're real hot stuff don't you?" Katie said, laughing.
"Well, I am aren't I? I think I am quite the catch." The young man replied.
"You have to be one of the most modest people that I have ever met. Quite charming." Katie let those last two words slip from her lips and before she could stop them, they're already out. There was an awkward pause before he broke the silence.
"Do you like ferry boats?" The young man asked.
"Never been on one." Katie flirted.
"You don't know what you're missing out on." He replied.
"Would you like to show me what I am missing out on?" Katie replied, standing up and throwing money down on the bar.
"Sure. Let's go see what we're missing out on." The man said as he hooked arms with Katie and they headed out the door.
The next morning- - Katie's House.
Katie woke up at 5:30 am, with a pounding headache and a sore back. She opened her eyes and realized that she was sleeping on the floor at her parent's old house. There was a half naked man next to her as the night before came flooding back. She sat up suddenly, realizing what her day held ahead of her.
"Crap." She mumbled.
"Crap?" The voice next to her questioned groggily.
"Crap." She muttered again, looking at the sleepy man beside her.
"What do you mean crap, that's not what you said last night." He muttered with a sly grin.
"You really have to go now." Katie muttered as she gathered up her clothes.
"What do you mean, why don't you come down here and we'll finish what we started last night." The man said, looking up at the beautiful young woman in front of him.
"That would really not be a good idea. I am already running behind, which is not a good thing on your first day of your new job, so listen…. Uh…."
"Derek." He replied.
"Hi Derek, I'm… Elisabeth." Katie said, holding out her hand, he shook it and attempted to pull her closer, but she resisted. "Well Derek, I am going to run upstairs and take a shower. When I come back down. You won't be here. It was very nice to meet you." Katie smiled flirtatiously as she headed towards the stairs.
"It was very nice to meet you Elisabeth." Derek said with a smile.
When Katie reached the bottom of the stairs after her shower, she looked around for her 'house guest.' She was relieved to find that he had left. She grabbed her purse and her bag and she ran out the door to her car.
When she got to the hospital, she ran through the front door and grabbed the elevator door before it closed. She jumped inside, breathing hard from her run from the parking lot. She stood there with the crowd of people and watched the numbers on the elevator change.
"Late on the first day of work, not really making a good first impression, Dr. Shepherd." Katie heard from the back of the elevator.
Katie whips around almost hitting the person beside her with her bag as the elevator doors open and she was pushed out into the hallway. "Mom?" Katie exclaimed as the crowd of people revealed Meredith among the throng of people in the elevator. Katie pulled her mother close and hugged her tightly. "I missed you so much!" Katie said.
"I missed you too!" Meredith said, holding her daughter close to her. "You go away for a year and you don't even have the decency to wake me up in the middle of the night to let me know you're alive?" Meredith teased.
"Thanks for the guilt trip, Mom. I'm really running late, but I'd really like to see Dad before I get to the locker room." Katie smiled.
"Oh, he's down here somewhere." Meredith said as she grabbed her daughter's hand and led her down the hallway. Katie could see her father's thick black hair, with the light salt and peppering of gray from down the hallway. He was obviously busy talking to another new intern, but Katie didn't take her eyes off of him.
Just as they were approaching him, something made Katie stop in her tracks. "Derek?" Katie exclaimed as she saw who her father was talking to. Both men turned to face Katherine.
"Elisabeth?" The man said in surprise.
"Katherine?" Derek said confused.
"Uh… I'm late. I have to get to the locker room. I'll see you later Mom, Dad!" Katherine said as she began to run down the hallway away from her parents.
The three stood there in shock for a moment. "Did she just call me Derek?" Derek asked.
"Did you just call her Elisabeth?" Meredith asked. "Matthew?"
Matthew just stood there in shock as he watched Katie running back down the hallway.
"Uh… I think she's right. I have to get to the locker room too. I'll talk to you later Uncle De… Dr. Shepherds." Matthew said as he turned and jogged down the hallway after Katie.
Katie ran down the hallway at full speed, she looked behind her and notices that nobody was following her, she slowed to a walk and as she turned the corner, still looking behind her.
"Woah, where are you going so quickly?" A voice says as Katie felt someone's arms catch her as she crashed into them and nearly fell to the floor.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I was um… looking for the intern locker room." Katie said, looking up at the man standing in front of her. He was tall and very nice looking with nicely groomed brown hair and his eyes were an indigo blue. Katie blushed, realizing that she had been staring at him for a moment.
"The intern locker room? I think it's down this hall and about four doors to the left. I'm new around here too, still learning the ropes. I'm Dr. Baker, I'm the new cardio attending." He said, holding his hand out to Katie.
Katie smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Dr. Shepherd, first year intern… first day today. I should get going, I'm already late for meeting with my resident." Katie said with a smile. "It was nice to meet you."
"It was nice to meet you, Dr. Shepherd. I hope to see you around." Dr. Baker said.
"Oh, you will… trust me." Katie said smiling, as she walked towards the intern locker room. She then realized why she was running toward the locker room in the first place. She turned around and 'Derek' had already caught up to her.
"Hey!" He exclaimed as he approached her. "You lied to me." He said with a smile.
"What do you mean I lied to you? What are you doing here?"
"Your name isn't Elisabeth, its Katie-bug Shepherd. You don't even recognize me, do you?"
Katie looked at him long and hard, and settled on his eyes. She knew those emerald green eyes very well. She felt a shiver run down her spine.
"Matt?" Katie whispered, it was the only word she could squeeze out.
"Yes?" Matt said, a smile creeping across his face as she stared into his eyes.
"I still never want to see you again, I hate you." She said, her blue eyes narrowing, the words coming out of her lips stinging like a million daggers in his heart. She turned around and walked into the locker room without saying another word to him.
"Katie-bug!" Matt said, following her into the locker room.
She turned around to face him. "You will not call me Katie-bug, Katie, Kate, Kat, or any other shortened versions of Katherine. You will not give me a nickname or some cutsie little way of telling me that you missed me, you will call me Dr. Shepherd and that is all I will answer to from you." She whispered fiercely at him, getting a couple of looks from other interns in the room. "Is that understood?" Katie asked, finding her locker and putting her purse inside.
Matt put his head down in disappointment. "I'm sorry." He said as he opened his locker and put his comb and extra scrubs inside and pulled out his lab coat "I won't bother you again." He then closed the locker door and walked out of the locker room.
Another intern walked up to Katie, "Hey, I'm Allison Balli, You can call me Alli." She held out her hand. Katie shook her hand and smiled.
"I'm Katherine Shepherd."
"Do you know him?" She asked, referencing the door that Matthew had passed through.
"Who? Matt? Yeah, I know him. Why?"
"I was just wondering. He's really cute." Alli said quietly.
"Yeah… I know." Katie said exasperated.
Katie stepped out into the hallway to find her resident.
"Ok, I have Shepherd, Sloan, Balli, Anderson, and Cunningham." One of the residents called out.
"Oh, crap. We're in the same intern group." Katie said to herself as she followed the resident down the hallway.
Katie lagged behind the other four as they all followed the resident down the hallway. She tried her hardest not to make eye contact with Matthew, who every now and then threw a pleading look in her direction. The resident gave them their pagers and explained to them that the pager is the boss and if it goes off, you will answer its call. We do not ignore pages, we do not take our time getting to our pages. Katie stood back and listens to the speech.
"We'll now go and meet up with a few of our attendings." The resident explained. The six of them made their way down to the surgical wing. Walking through that door, a flood of memories invaded Katherine's mind. Thoughts of running through the hallway with her mother looking for her dad, thoughts of climbing up onto the gallery chairs on days that she was home sick from school and watching as her mother or father perform a tricky surgery, and thoughts of Derek carrying her through the hallways to visit one of her many 'aunts' and 'uncles' in the hospital. They entered the first room on the left.
"Doctors, this is Dr. Burke, you will all remember him mainly because he is our chief of surgery, but mostly because he is the top cardiothoracic surgeon in the country. Dr. Burke, I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Cunningham, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Balli, Dr. Sloan, and Dr. Shepherd." The resident introduced them.
Dr. Burke smiled at the group of interns and stepped up to them to shake their hands and welcome them to the game. He shook hands with Dr. Cunningham, Dr. Anderson, and Dr. Balli and he stopped as he got to Matthew and Katie. "Well if it isn't the partners in crime, back together after all these years." Matthew grinned madly while Katie continued to scowl at the idea of being in such close proximity to Matthew. Burke reached out his hand to Matthew who gratefully took it and was surprised when Burke pulled him into a half hug. "It is nice to see you again, Dr. Sloan." He then turned his attention to Katie. "Well, Dr. Shepherd, we have our work cut out for us, don't we? Three doctor Shepherds under one roof. We're going to have to keep on our game!" Burke said, reaching out and giving Katie a big hug, much to the astonishment of three of the other interns.
"I missed you Uncle Doc." Katie whispered into his ear as he pulled away. "We'll talk later." She smiled as she stepped back, noticing the glares that the other three interns were giving her, and the look of amusement playing across Matthew's face. "Yes sir, this is going to be a long internship." Katie remarked as she took a step back into the line of interns.
The interns left that room and followed one another through the hallway to other rooms, meeting other attendings. Matthew and Katie always would get a hug or a kinder hello, which kind of put the other three interns ill at ease traveling through the hospital.
They entered an office that seemed almost empty except for a couple of diplomas on the wall and a couple of books in a bookcase. Dr. Baker was sitting at his desk reading over some paperwork when he saw the interns coming into his office.
"Dr. Johnson." Dr. Baker says to the resident.
"Dr. Baker, I would like to introduce you to my new group of interns. Dr. Baker is the new cardio attending, he just started not too long ago, so I wouldn't ask him how to get around town just yet." The resident laughed.
Each intern shook his hand and introduced themselves. Katie's hand lingered a little longer in Dr. Baker's hand than the other interns as she stared into his blue eyes. A flash of something crossed her face that only Matthew had seen before. Matthew was less than happy about this as his heart ached to have his friend back.
The last section of the hospital was the neuro section. Katie knew that she was going to be getting some looks in this department and she didn't want to admit it, but she was kind of glad that Matt was there to take some of the attention off her. They walked down the hallway and Meredith stood talking in what appeared to be a heated discussion.
Katie could see that her mother's ears were red with anger and the look on her father's face was the one that he'd get when he gets stubborn and doesn't want to hear what her mother is saying.
"Interns, this is Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Shepherd." The resident giggled to herself as she approached Meredith and Derek, who turned to the group of interns and smiled.
"Yep, fake smiles… they are so fighting right now." Katie said to herself.
"For the sake of confusion, we call the male Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Der Shepherd and Mrs. Shepherd is Dr. Mer Shepherd, but since they're both in neuro, it isn't too big of a deal if you get them confused. Dr. Shepherds, this is my group of interns." The resident says.
Derek holds out his hand as each of the first three hold out their hand to shake hands, and they each introduced themselves. Meredith does the same. Derek gets to Matthew and holds out his hand.
"Doctor Sloan, it is very nice to see you back on this continent." Derek said with a sly grin, an actual smile that Katie didn't fail to pick up on. Katie watched as Matt did the secret handshake that Derek had taught him so many years ago, with a huge smile on his face. Katie looked at her mother and rolls her eyes, Meredith smiled.
"Damn it. He still likes him, even after the hell he put me through. Matthew will always be dad's golden boy, I hate him so much right now!" Katie thought to herself.
Meredith held her hand out to Matthew. "Dr. Sloan, we both look forward to working with you." Meredith said a bit coolly, remembering how much this boy hurt her daughter and the months of crying that she had to help Katie through.
"Dr. Shepherd, I am looking forward to working with you." Derek said with a smile to his daughter.
The look of pride on her father's face made her smile. "And I look forward to working with you too, Dr. Shepherd." She giggled as she held out her hand to him. He pulled her into big hug.
"Don't you ever leave us again. Your mother drives me crazy." Derek laughed as he whispered in her ear. Katie could feel Meredith elbow him in the arm.
"Oh my gosh! Dr. Shepherds and another Dr. Shepherd? That is so cool!" The resident exclaimed.
"Yep, its going to be a long internship." Katie thought to herself.
Katie stood on the first floor, waiting for the elevator to open so that she could get some labs on the third floor. When the elevator door opened, her heart sank when she noticed who was in it, alone. She took a deep breath and stepped inside. When she stepped inside, she immediately turned around to face the doors as she pressed the button to her floor.
"I know you still love me." Matthew said aloud.
"I hate you." Katie said.
"You don't hate me. You hate hating me. You love me."
"Shut up."
"I love you. Did you get my letters? You never wrote back."
"I didn't open your letters, I threw them out, I hate you… or did I forget to mention that?"
"hmm…"
"I do."
"You love me. You wouldn't have asked me to marry you, otherwise."
"What?"
The elevator doors opened on the second floor and Matthew stepped out. He put his hand on the door to hold it open.
"We were five years old, standing on the beach of Monterey Bay. We were waiting for your parents to come to the wedding ceremony. You reached down on the ground and picked this up." Matthew reaches into his pocket and pulls out a beautiful small light blue seashell. "You handed it to me, and you asked me to marry you. I said I would. You are mine forever." Matthew said, leaning back into the elevator, giving Katie a light peck on the cheek. "And I love you too." He then turned and walked down the hallway, leaving a stunned Katie standing in the elevator as the doors closed.
The elevator door opens on the third floor and Katie stepped out, she looked down at the charts in her hands. She was still surprised at what Matt had said to her in the elevator, and quite angry that he took advantage of the seclusion of the space.
"Katherine." She heard as she passed an exam room. She turned around and saw Meredith standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Mom." Katie said, walking to her.
"Come here, I need to talk to you." Meredith said, moving out of the way, letting Katie into the room.
"What is it?" Katie asked concerned, she sat in one of the chairs in the room, Meredith sats next to her.
"Are you doing alright?"
"Yeah, it's a little stressful, first days are always stressful."
"Katie, you know what I'm talking about. Are you alright with him around?"
"I don't know. I feel very uncomfortable when he's around. He makes me so angry."
"I know sweetheart." Meredith said, hugging Katie. "I talked to your dad, and he wants to invite Matt to come over for dinner tomorrow after your first shift. I told him that he can't do that, that you wouldn't feel comfortable, but he keeps insisting. He's driving me crazy." Meredith said.
"I don't want him around Mom. If daddy knew what happened, he'd understand. I just can't tell him, he'd be heartbroken." Katie said, her eyes filling with tears.
Meredith holds Katie close. "I know sweetheart." Meredith said, putting her forehead against her daughter's, comforting her.