Chapter 1

Meredith

"Zola starts her intern year at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital," I was on the phone with Christina.

"She is following in the family footsteps. I mean Derek and Ellis were great doctors and you still are a great doctor yourself. I'm not surprised that she is following in the family footsteps."

A very fond memory of Zola showing interest in the medical field just ran through my head. "Christina, do you remember when Zola was about 8 or 9?"

"Yes, what about that age frame though?"

"The first time she showed interest in being a doctor or surgeon, it was about three years after Derek's death. We were rearranging the house when I found his ferry boat scrub cap. She asked if she could have it so I let her. Amelia was over later that night and said 'Well like father, like daughter. Did you know Zo is wearing Derek's scrub cap?' I told her that I had given it to her because she asked me for it when she saw the picture of daddy wearing it. I went to her room and saw her trying to prep her teddy bear. I said 'Hey Zo zo what are you doing honey?' She looked at me dead serious 'Well mama, I am going to save lives.' Since that day the scrub cap has been hers put up at her request for this day."

"Wow Mer you never told me that story. I wonder what specialty she is going to choose at the end of this year."

I was wondering this as well. Derek was an amazing neurosurgeon, mom was a world renowned general surgeon and I followed in mom's footsteps and was the head of general surgery. Not to mention all her aunts and uncles were all different specialties like Christina is a kick ass cardio surgeon and we wouldn't have ever gotten Zola if it hadn't been for Alex specializing in pediatrics. "I was wondering about this too. Well I'm going to let you go to take Zo her scrub cap. Not to mention I have to get to the hospital myself. I have a meeting with the chief today. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I hung up the phone and went to the closet to get the scrub cap and my scrubs. "Zo are you ready to go? I have a meeting this morning."

"Mom, I don't need you to drive me to my first day of my intern year, it's embarrassing. You are the head of general surgery. Dr. Bailey is the chief of surgery you have the responsibilities she used to have when I was growing up. I know you will be assigning which resident I am going to be with this year. I made a friend at Joe's last night who I am going to be riding with today. Her name is Sierra, she is starting her intern year as well."

"Here is your father's cap. Remember we tell you who you are with at 7:15." I gave her a hug, "I will see you later today."

I got to the hospital at 6:15 and knocked on Dr. Bailey's door. "Good morning Miranda how are you doing today?"

"I miss operating Meredith, but around November I will be retiring. I can not keep working not after the cancer diagnosis." Being one of the only ones who knows about her stage 3 renal sarcoma diagnosis I will run the hospital on days that she has treatments. "Closer to me retiring I will call all the staff for a meeting and announce that you are my successor. I need you to figure out who you want to be the new head of general to be. I want a list of candidates by the end of the week."

"I can do that. Do you have the list of interns starting this year? Zola starts today and made friends last night at Joe's and I was curious about the friend she is riding with. Her name is Sierra"

"Give me a minute to look through the list." she flipped through all the pages and looked at me. "I am surprised by the fact that last night was the first time they met. We only have Sierra this year. Sierra Stevens-Karev"

"As in Izzy and Alex? I knew they had a child a few years after we adopted Zo but I have never met her in person. I know she graduated high school at 16 then college at 19. I had no clue she went to medical school or then decided to then come here."

"Here is the list for you Meredith. It looks like it looks like Zola is with Daniel Adams as her resident and Sierra is with Elizabeth Nichols. Both residents showed great interest in cardio and neuro last year so I honestly believe those will be their specialties they pick at the end of their residencies. I know both specialties are close to you." We both saw the class of interns going to the locker room Zo was one of the closest ones to the window and Miranda saw the scrub cap she was carrying. "Is that Derek's special cap?"

"Yes it was his absolute favorite."

"If she is anything like the great McDreamy she's going to be a great neurosurgeon. If Derek knew I just called him that he would be rolling in his grave."

"It's okay he would just call you by the name the interns called you the year you married Ben. What was it, BCB? Oh yeah Booty Call Bailey. He would have picked on you with the nickname just like you used to pick on him and Mark because we used to call them McDreamy and McSteamy. I miss him everyday, I can't believe he has been gone almost 20 years."

"Well on a different note let's go put these interns through the ringer. You will be in charge today, go give their assignments and tour and make sure you make your speech powerful.'

I thought about it for a minute and finally said, "I think I am going to use the same speech Dr. Webber used with my intern class. It has stuck with me all these years. Through all the traumas we as a hospital have endured it is still with me." I excused myself and went to the resident locker room and then the intern locker room.

"Interns I am Dr. Meridith Grey. I am about to assign you to the resident you will be working under this year. I will call the resident's name then the 4 or 5 interns that will be with that resident. You will have 15 minutes to get your pager from the resident and meet me back at the stairwell. We will then go on the tour of the operating floor. Residents, I will page you when you can have your interns back. Does anyone have any questions for me right now?" Three interns raised their hands. "When I point to you, say your name and ask your question."

I pointed to the first one."I am Sebastion Smith. My question is is this hospital named after you? If so, what did you do that was so important?"

"No, the hospital is not named after me. It was partially named after my sister Lexie though. She died in a plane crash that was carrying several doctors including myself, my late husband, and the late Dr. Sloan who died from complications from the plane crash. Next question"

Only one other person raised their hand. I guess I already answered the third question. "I am Sierra Stevens-Karev, when will we get to choose our specialties?"

I should have known that was Sierra. She looks so much like Alex. The Karev genes are strong. "You will be working with all the attendings this year. This year will be the training wheels of the bicycle of your medical career. You will be assisting in surgeries and we will be assessing your strong points and give you pointers to help you to be the next group of strong doctors."

Once all the questions had been answered I gave out assignments for the year. "Kruse, Cooke, Grey-Shepherd, and Wilde you are with Dr. Adams. Willow, Williams, Duke, and Stevens-Karev you are with Dr. Nichols. Diaz, Coffey, Calahan, and Hackit you are with Dr. Oaklee. Mann, Royce, Padley, Thomas, and Davis you are with Dr. Lentz. Interns go get your pagers and meet me at the stairwell by the nurses station. The tour will begin promptly at 8:00. If you are late we will not wait on you."

We headed up to the operating floor once everyone got back to me which was sooner than I told them to be. "This is OR 3. This is one of the operating rooms with a gallery. The gallery is there so you can watch the operation even if you are not working on the operating team. All of the operating rooms are set up and stocked the same way. We do this so if you have to quickly change what surgery you are prepping there is no confusion as to where everything is." we moved to the sterile cabinets "Cabinet 1 is neuro prep, 2 is cardio, 3 is ortho, 4 is general, and the rest are basic materials like sponges and suture kits."

While in the operating room I gave them Dr. Webber's speech. When I was done with the speech I sent a page to the 4 residents "Okay you can have the interns back, and let the fun begin."