"I didn't want to be a doctor when I was younger. Or I did but I didn't want to do what was expected of me because of who my parents were. I wanted to feel like I was making my own choices about my future instead of being forced into some predetermined destiny. But even when I got away from my family I couldn't end up escaping that choice. But it felt more like my own choice than a choice made for me. But maybe destiny is just something you can't escape- Harriet Nora Kepner.

A few days after her first day Ellis hears from the resident in charge of her class that they're picking the intern for the intern appy today. Ellis is honestly a little scared of her resident. Georgia King Freedman takes no bullshit and despite being a rather small woman is very intimidating. She's briefly met Georgia before because she's really close with Bailey. She doesn't know her well though and she's pretty sure that Doctor King Freedman sees her as a stupid intern even if she is Bailey's sister. She probably has high standards for her because of it.

Ellis didn't expect she'd get it but hearing that it isn't her is disappointing. Harriet gets the intern appy. Ellis at least can manage to be a little happy for her. They've spoken a few times since they talked in the cafeteria and Ellis has been enjoying talking to her. She thinks maybe they're friends and friends should be happy for each other. She even makes herself go to Harriet to congratulate her, "Good job Harriet."

"Thanks...I'm kind of nervous though."

"You'll be okay."

"Okay."

"You're lucky...you won the appy."

"I'm still going to be a little worried about killing someone."

"You won't kill anyone, it's just an appendectomy."

Harriet smiles, "You're right...I've got this."

"I'll watch you in the gallery."

Harriet's nervous but excited. Things get a little hectic when the time comes to actually take the appendix out but in the end, it goes okay. The attending surgeon, Doctor Montgomery has a calm and gentle temperament and it helps her relax. He doesn't even yell at her when things go wrong. As Henry's closing, Harriet looks up in the gallery. She sees Ellis and that makes her happy but that happiness quickly disappears when she sees who else is there. Her mother April is watching.

When Harriet leaves the scrub room her mother is out in the hall. Harriet hasn't spoken to April for ten years. She can't even think of her as a parent anymore. She's just April and she's a stranger. Harriet stays silent until April breaks the silence, "Harriet...where have you been...what happened to you?!"

Harriet can't make eye contact with April. She doesn't want to either, "I can't talk to you."

"Harriet." April sounds frantic and confused and upset.

Harriet can't do this. This isn't something she can handle. She can't talk to April today, "...I'm here now...as a doctor...I did not come here for you."

April is confused and hurt and Harriet can tell by the sound of her voice, "Harriet...please."

"I can't talk to you now...I'll see you later." Harriet leaves and speed walks down the hall and away from April. The last thing she wants is to have a long conversation with either of her parents. She didn't run away from home because she had a good relationship with her parents. Ten years away from them didn't repair anything and she's not in the mood to start trying to fix anything.

Harriet has to take a minute to calm herself down before going back to work. She wasn't ready for all the feelings seeing her mother again brought up. She's so confused and conflicted and she's feeling too many things. So she goes into a supply closet and hopes that no one finds her.

Someone does find her, of all the people to find her Doctor King Freedmen, "What are you doing Doctor Kepner?"

"I just need a second…I'll be back to work in a second."

She's surprised when Georgia sits next to her, "How did the intern appy go?"

"It went fine...I messed up a little...but it went fine."

"Everyone messes up the intern appy."

Harriet feels better about messing up now, "Is it to teach us to handle failure or something?"

"I don't know...maybe the attendings just find it funny to see us mess up and panic."

"Doctor Montgomery was pretty calm though...so that helped."

"Henry's always been level headed...makes him a really good surgeon."

"Do you know each other well?"

"We're childhood friends...Me and my sisters used to play with him all the time."

"You have sisters?"

"Oldest of a set of triplets...and we have an older brother."

"I have a sister." Harriet feels guilty, she doesn't just have a sister, "And an older brother."

"You're April's kid aren't you?"

Harriet doesn't really feel like telling her that but she also doesn't want to lie to someone who's kind of her boss, "Yeah...April Kepner's daughter."

Georgia didn't know that April Kepner had any child besides her daughter she's met a few times because she's an EMT. She didn't know about Harriet or that there's apparently a son. She knows Doctor Avery and Doctor Kepner were married and she thinks that's where Harriet and the mystery son come from, "I didn't know she had other kids besides Ruby."

Harriet hasn't heard about her sister in many years. She's wondered about her many times since she last saw her ten years ago, "You know my sister?"

"Ruby's an EMT...I've met her a few times."

"I haven't seen Ruby in ten years...glad to know she's doing well...and the other kid besides me...is...gone."

Georgia's voice softens, "I'm sorry to hear about your brother...and that you haven't seen your sister for a long time."

"Thank you, it's a really long story...and I don't think I'm ready to tell anyone it...but I haven't seen my family for ten years"

"Well...that's okay, it's your business and you don't have to tell anyone that story."

Harriet feels better now. Like the feelings are something she can handle, "Thank you...Doctor King Freedmen." Harriet is careful to say her name right. It's long and she doesn't want to say it wrong.

"No problem...now we should get back to work."

Harriet was worried the encounter with her mother would ruin her day. But it didn't thanks to Georgia. Maybe she isn't as scary as the other interns think she is.

Ellis feels like she's somehow failed by not getting the intern appy. She feels like she should have gotten it and that she's disappointed someone by not getting it. Even if she knows nobody in her family cares that she didn't she feels like they should be disappointed. Ellis thinks that she needs to stop thinking about this because she's overthinking it. Plenty of good doctors didn't get the intern appy. Cristina didn't, her mother didn't. It doesn't mean she can't be a good doctor.

Ellis manages to not focus intensely on not getting the intern appy. She buries herself in work and feels better. She's been worrying too much about being good. She's an intern and she needs time to learn. She just always compares herself to people she can't measure up to and it just ends up making her feel needlessly bad.

Ellis eventually gets a chance to talk to Harriet once she's done for the day but not ready to go home. There's a bed in a hallway that seems like it's been there for years. Ellis sits there with Harriet, "So how did the intern appy go?"

"It was fine...until my mom talked to me after?"

"Oh shit...are you okay?"

Harriet sounds tired but not too upset, "I'm fine...I got away from her fast...and Doctor King Freedmen and I talked and it helped...who knew she had a soft side."

"I know...she's intimidating, my brother says secretly soft but I don't see it."

"Well, I saw it today."

"She's Bailey's person...so I guess he sees the most of it."

Harriet sounds confused "What do you mean that she's his person?"

Ellis quickly starts to explain, feeling embarrassed that she acted like Harriet would know what she meant, "A person is like...a best friend...they've always got your back and you have theirs and they know you better than anyone."

"Oh…that makes sense."

"I feel like I didn't explain it well enough..but like..you'll know if someone is your person...or I think that's how it works...I don't really have one."

"I think I understand what you mean."

"I'd like to have someone to trust like Georgia and Bailey trust each other but I'm not great at social interaction."

Harriet smiles at her, "That's okay...I'm not the best either."

"I get anxious...but I used to get a lot more anxious...like when I was really little I couldn't talk to strangers like..at all.

"I just didn't really have real friends for like ten years so I'm out of practice."

"I guess you're practicing now."

Harriet laughs, "Yeah...you're good practice... you're easy to talk to."

Ellis never thought of herself as easy to talk to so being told that makes her happy, "Oh...good, people don't usually seem to like talking to me."

"Well...I do, you're cool."

Ellis can't help but laugh at that, "I'm not cool...I've never been cool."

"Why not?"

"Because even at the age of twenty-six I'm a socially awkward, weird nerdy kid."

"We're doctors Ellis...we're all the weird nerdy kids and now we're saving lives...that makes us cool weird nerdy kids."

"You have a point."

"I know I do."

Ellis looks at her watch and realizes how late it is, "Harriet...do you need to go home? It's late and I don't want to keep you here later than you need to be."

"No...it's fine...I live by myself and it's lonely anyway...the hospital is like a second home already anyway and it's not lonely."

"I'm jealous you found yourself a place to live...I live with my mom."

"At least you don't have to be alone where there's weird noises at night."

Ellis has an idea that could solve both of their problems, "Harriet?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to have a roommate?"

Harriet doesn't seem to get what she's asking at first, "Yeah...I was just say-…" Harriet realizes what Ellis is asking, "Oh! I want a roommate and you want to move out of your mom's house...oh I get it now."

"I'd pay rent...and I'm not loud and I'm a little bit organzied."

"You sound like you'd be a good roommate...and we can carpool."

"I don't really like driving...so I hope you don't mind doing the majority of it."

"I like driving...I don't mind doing it."

"Okay...good!"

Ellis doesn't have many possessions so it doesn't take her long to move into Harriet's tiny apartment. It's tiny and some of the neighbors are really loud but Ellis is just happy to not be living in her mother's house anymore. She's got to be an adult now and having her mother do her laundry isn't being an adult.

Harriet likes having another person live with her. It does take a few days to get used to Ellis's snoring but it's not that bad after a while. Ellis is fun to live with. Harriet's roommate in undergrad was loud and messy and Ellis is nothing like that. Ellis is pretty quiet most of the time but still has really good conversations with Harriet. She's actually really happy to have Ellis as her roommate. Not just that she isn't living alone but that it's specifically Ellis that she's living with.

Harriet thinks about the thing Ellis said a few days ago about being someone's person. How she said that she said when someone's your person you can just tell. She didn't understand what she meant then but now she kind of does, or at least she thinks she does. She thinks Ellis is her person. She doesn't know she thinks that but she just feels like she has a connection with her. It's not something that was present when they were friends as teens. But they hadn't really been friends as teens, just kids who sometimes hung out because their parents were friends. They had both been troubled teens who weren't really great at making friends so they hadn't had a proper friendship then. But they're different people now and right now Harriet feels a connection with Ellis she hasn't felt with anyone else in her life.