Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, ideas and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Celia Chávez – Melanie Iglesias.
Chapter 1:
Celia felt odd. Without opening her eyes, she allowed her senses to discover her surroundings. Ok … so definitely not in a bed, the texture of whatever she was sleeping on felt rough, definitely not cotton or silk sheets. In fact, she could sense that she was covered in a wool blanket and …
OH MY GOD! Naked, why is she naked? Okay, think Celia, think. Last night you went with Meredith to a bar to have a few drinks for well, Meredith's nerves, since she was nervous about today. SHIT! Today is her first day as an intern, crap she hoped she wasn't late otherwise she would pulverize Meredith for pushing that damn bottle of tequila on her. Meredith knew that Celia had a hard time saying no to tequila.
A hand just tugged her closer, and she felt her back leaning onto a muscled chest. Okay, she had sex. She remembered picking up some random guy at the bar and had sex. Easy peasy, she'll just kick him out and rush over to the hospital.
Opening her chocolate brown eyes, she scoped the premises and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she recognized it to be the living room of Mer's house; the house she inherited from her mother. That's good; she was in no mood and had absolutely no time to do the walk of shame, especially not today of all days.
She grabbed the arm that had a strong hold on her toned stomach and yanked it off her. A yelp resounded in her ear, signaling that she woke up the random guy and she sat up straight, finally taking a proper look at the stranger she had unfortunately hooked up with; crap, did he have to be sexy as hell?
He had perfect hair, and when Celia says perfect, she means utterly wow! It was the definition of perfectness, like he could be a freaking hair model for the head and shoulders commercial. Anyways, he had raven black perfect hair that was perfectly moussed, a well-sculpted face that could be a replica of Adonis, and entrancing blue-blue eyes that sparkled with some sort of emotion; he had the bluest eyes she had ever seen, and damn his body was fucking … Okay! Celia snap out of it! He is just a one-night stand, and you are NOT looking for a relationship.
"This … is …? Adonis had a voice that could melt butter; Frick! Why couldn't he be ugly as hell? That way she could just forget all about him and move on with her life. Nope, nope, who cares what he looks like? She is going to kick him out and forget that this morning AND last night ever happened. Okay, he was holding her bra in his hand.
Snatching it from his hand, she barely gave him a smile, "This is just a casual hookup, never to be repeated again. You can go now."
Adonis apparently wasn't bothered by her cold tone and uncaring nature – seriously? Who is this guy? Celia had a reputation for scaring people away since she had the personality … according to Meredith: Tough as Nails and the queen of bitchiness. But she progressed.
"Why don't you just come back down here and we'll pick up where we left off?" Adonis smirked, sitting up and staring at her with suggestive eyes. He was SMIRKING at her, WTF?
"Yeaahh, how about, no," Celia drawled. She stood up, not caring that she was completely naked and not bothering to wrap a blanket around her – she was very confident about herself and the guy already saw her naked so whatever. She wasn't like those prude woman that are so shy about themselves and fumble around nervously for whatever reason, blushing like innocent virgins. No, Celia was anything but an innocent virgin and she didn't care what people thought about her. "You have to go. I'm late for my first day of work, NOT that it's any of your business."
Adonis – and no, she didn't care what his name was, gawked at her body, his eyes roaming around every curve and every valley. He never knew a girl that was so confident to just strut around naked in front of a stranger, even if he had seen it all. Shaking his head from thoughts of her delectable and perfect body, and what he would like to do to her, he looked into her chocolate eyes, "So, ah you actually live here?"
"No," Celia began picking up each piece of clothing that was strewn around the living room.
"Oh," Adonis looked slightly uncomfortable. Celia rolled her eyes; he probably thought she broke into some poor sap's home.
"It's my best friend's place," Celia decided to throw the poor guy a bone.
"Oh," Adonis smiled. "It's nice. Little dusty. Odd. But it's nice."
Celia threw his clothes at him, and Adonis caught them … hmm, quick reflexes. "I'll make sure to tell my friend you said so. You can show yourself out," and without sparing the bemused man a second glance, Celia gathered her clothes and walked up the stairs still naked as the day she was born.
"Can I at least get a name?" Adonis yelled after her. Celia inwardly smirked, he was certainly interesting – the first guy that didn't seem to be intimidated by her. She didn't bother answering him as she entered the room Meredith assigned as hers and went into the shower.
Twenty minutes later, Celia ran into the kitchen for some coffee before heading off to work and glared when she found her best friend smirking at her.
Meredith Grey; that was her name. Celia and Meredith were childhood friends in Seattle, and their parents always set them up for play dates together before they could even begin to walk and talk. However, it all fall apart when Celia's dad died … so not getting into the how part. Not even a year later, her mother, Sophie met an outstanding, extremely rich and famous neurosurgeon, Noah Chamberlain. Sophie Chávez wasted no time in bagging the handsome, billionaire and moving them to Beverly Hills where Celia lived the life of riches and parties.
Celia wanted to become a surgeon, much to her mother's horror and disapproval; according to Sophie Chamberlain, a girl of her standards should become a model or a fancy trophy wife. But Noah was very enthusiastic and supportive of her choice, even though he knew on some level that he wasn't her inspiration. Her late father, Antonio Chavez was a pediatrician – he had a small practice, and even though it didn't bring a lot of dough, he loved helping children and Celia loved her father, he was her idol.
After graduating from Beverly Hills High, despite her mother's incessant nagging, Noah paid full tuition for Celia to attend Dartmouth, the prestigious Ivy League College, and that was where she reconnected with her childhood friend Meredith. They studied together, travelled together and had high goals of becoming famous surgeons, dreaming of winning the Harper Avery Award, and together they accepted the internship at Seattle Grace.
"I am going to kill you, Mer! I woke up with some guy on the couch! Where the hell were you?" Celia snapped. She wasn't actually pissed at her, more annoyed.
"Uh, well … I met a guy and had an all-nighter, he left the same time your guy did," Meredith laughed.
So, some people may think we're whores for divulging in one-night stands, but the two of us are fucked up, and when Celia says fucked up, she means majorly twisted women. They have a past, and hey, who doesn't? Their dark and twisted past made them who they are today, and even though many judged them and stays clear from them, they always had each other and it would always remain that way.
Celia and Meredith reached Seattle Grace thankfully right on time, and they stood with the other interns as some doctor, who cares what his name is, gave them a lecture, or speech, whatever.
"Each of you comes here hopeful. Wanting in on the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and the worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play? That's up to you."
"We're screwed," Meredith whispered to Celia as the two girls made their way over to the intern locker room.
Celia scoffed, "Speak for yourself. Come on Mer, we can do this, stop worrying."
"Only seven women out of twenty," Meredith sucked in a breath.
"That's because most woman think like my dear old mother and are out there being housewives," snorted Celia. There was a scoff on her right, and the two girls stared at a Korean intern, "Yeah, I hear one of them's a model. Seriously, like that's going to help with the respect thing." Celia shrugged, her mother wanted her to be a model, especially since she had the perfect body for it – she vehemently refused because she wanted to be respected for her brains and skills as a surgeon, and not her body, so she never accepted any of the offers to pose for a magazine or some fashion line because she knew it would bite her in the ass someday.
Whoever this model intern is, Celia felt pity for her.
"You're Cristina, right?" asked Meredith.
Cristina nodded, "Which resident are you two assigned to? I got Bailey."
"The Nazi? Yeah, we're both assigned to her as well," Meredith sighed.
Celia grinned, "The Nazi doesn't scare me." Christina gaped at her as though she were some crazy person, and was surprised when Meredith agreed, "Yeah, believe me. Celia is a major bitch. Everyone's intimidated by her … well except me but that's only because we grew up together."
Celia shrugged, "It comes with the territory. I grew up in Beverly Hills." Cristina looked impressed, "Huh, it seems we'll get along just fine." The three interns smiled.
"You got the Nazi? So did I. At least we'll be tortured together, right? I'm George O'Malley, uh, we met at the mixer, you had a black dress with a slit up the side, strappy sandals …" the poor guy trailed off as the three women all exchanged weird looks. It was obvious this puppy with doe eyes was into Meredith.
"Now you think I'm gay," George blanched. Cristina scoffed and walked away. Celia stayed by Meredith's side, she was very amused at the moment and didn't want to miss watching the puppy embarrass himself even more than he already did. "No, I'm not gay, it's ah, it's just that, you know, you were, I mean, you were very, unforgettable."
"Nice dude," Celia laughed. Meredith nudged her side and hissed, "Be nice."
"O'Malley, Yang, Grey, Stevens, Chávez," the three of them turned around to face the doctor that had called out their names. "Your resident is at the end of the hall."
Celia, Meredith and Cristina froze when they laid eyes for the first time upon the infamous Nazi.
"That's the Nazi?" asked a bewildered Cristina. The Nazi was short, like seriously short. She was African-American, had black bobbed hair and was a bit overweight. She didn't look threatening in the least bit, but Celia and Meredith knew better; Celia had an angelic and sweet face, and everyone thought she was cute and cuddly with a bright and bubbly personality at first sight … that was until she transfixed her cold glare on you and opened her mouth, and they all run away at the opposite direction with their tails tucked between their legs.
"I thought the Nazi would be a guy," George gaped.
"Why? Cause a woman can't be tough?" Celia raised an eyebrow at George, who quailed under her look, and hid behind a pretty blonde intern who cheerfully spoke up, "Maybe it's professional jealousy. Maybe she's brilliant, and they call her Nazi because they're jealous. Maybe she's nice."
Cristina stared at the blonde intern with skeptical eyes, "Let me guess. You're the model." Celia snorted, and the blonde intern gave the two of them a dirty look before turning to Dr. Bailey with a smile, extending a hand, "Hi, I'm Isabel Stevens, but everyone calls me Izzie."
She did not just do that! The poor girl will be gutted like a fish in the program … she probably won't make it to the end.
Bailey stared her up and down with an impassive look before looking away, not deeming her with a response. Izzie awkwardly took her hand away as Dr. Bailey opened her mouth, "I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one, don't bother sucking up to me, I already hate you, that's not gonna change," she pointed at a bunch of items on a bench, "Trauma protocol, phone lists, pagers. Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run. A run, that's rule number two. Your first shift starts now and lasts forty-eight hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain, you run labs, write orders, work every second night till you drop and don't complain!"
They walked down the hallway and Bailey opened a door, inside was a room with a couple of bunk beds, "On call rooms. Attendings hog them, sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to rule number three, If I'm sleeping, don't wake me, unless your patient is actually dying," here she set the five interns with a threatening glare, "Rule number four, the dying patient better not be dead when I get there, not only would you have killed someone, you would have also woke me for no good reason, we clear?"
Ooh, Celia liked her. Tough as nails, just like her.
Meredith raised her hand, and only once Bailey gave her permission to speak, she said, "You said five rules. That was only four." At that moment, Bailey's pager beeped. Looking up from her pager, Bailey said, "Rule number five. When I move, you move." They ran down the corridor after Bailey, who ran really fast for a short, overweight woman … respect.
"Get out of my way!" Bailey growled, shoving the few doctors that stood in their path. Upon reaching the roof of the hospital, the interns gaped at the helicopter that just landed, and they ran a stretcher over to the patient, "What've we got?" Bailey demanded.
One of the paramedics moved forward as the other's placed a teenage girl with blonde hair onto the stretcher, "Katie Bryce, fifteen-year-old female, new onset seizures, intermittent for the past week, ID lost en route, started grand mal seizing as we descended."
Bailey nodded and hastily spoke to Blondie, "All right, get her on her side, Izzie, ten milligrams Diazepam," Celia rolled her eyes when she saw that Blondie was going to the left, it was the right. Bailey shook her head at Blondie, "No, no, the white lead is on the right, righty, whitey, smoke over fire, a large bore I.V. don't let the blood haemolyse, let's go!"
Finally, Izzie succeeded as she injected Katie and the girl instantly stopped seizing. Celia's attention was focused on what looked to be an attending, approach them. He was young-looking, African-American as well, though darker than Bailey and was freakishly tall and thin.
"So I heard we got a wet fish on dry land," he chuckled. He had a kind, soft and jovial voice.
"Absolutely Dr. Burke," said Miranda. Huh, so that's Preston Burke, well-known cardiothoracic surgeon.
"Dr. Bailey, I'm gonna shotgun her," said Burke. Bailey nodded, "That means every test in the book. CT, CBC, Chem. Seven, tux screen." She looked up at Cristina, "Cristina you're on labs, George, patient workups, Meredith and Celia get Katie for a CT, you two are now responsible for her, don't screw up."
Celia and Meredith grinned and nodded obediently. They took Katie's gurney and Celia didn't even look back to hear Bailey's response when Blondie questioned what she was supposed to do.
"You're lost," Katie stated as the two interns stood in the elevator searching for the correct direction to the CT scan. "We're not lost," Meredith abruptly changed the subject, "How are you feeling?"
Katie scoffed and said rudely, "I'm missing my pageant. How do you think I'm feeling?" Celia rolled her eyes and wheeled Katie out of the elevator and around the corner.
Celia may be a bitch and has a cold exterior, but when it came to patients, she learned that bedside manner was extremely important, and you had to be extra kind with your patients, but not overly friendly so that you wouldn't get attached, "Okay Katie. You're missing your pageant. Tell us about it." Meredith groaned inwardly, she really wished at this moment that her friend was impassive with Katie.
"The Spokane Teen Miss? I was in the top ten after the first two rounds. This is my year. I could've won," she looked at her surroundings and snapped, "Hello? You're so lost. What are you, like, new?"
Keep it together Celia, don't snap at the teenage girl; she's cranky and sick, she's just acting out. Celia had this thing where she does a mantra in her head so that she would not snap at everybody that annoyed her, and most times it worked. Thank god it did now. Katie was their responsibility and she didn't think Bailey would appreciate her frightening their patient.
Finally they were close to the CT room, and Katie was still blabbering on and on about her stupid pageant that she and Meredith had to pretend to be interested in, "I twisted my ankle. I do rhythmic gymnastics, which is like, really cool. Nobody else does it. And I tripped over my ribbon, and I didn't get stuck with someone this clueless. And that was like, a nurse."
Don't kill the patient … Don't kill the patient … Don't kill the patient … Don't kill the patient … Don't kill the patient …
"I was going to kill her," Celia growled. Meredith and her had just dumped Katie back into her room and they were making their way over to the cafeteria. Meredith bobbed her head in relief – relief to be away from Katie, of course, "I know, me too. Bailey and Burke would not appreciate us killing the patient."
"We should receive an award for our self-control," Celia said grumpily. They collected a tray and filled in with food, and went over to Cristina who was sitting with Blondie and Puppy. They slammed their tray on the table and sat beside each other, opposite to Cristina.
"Katie Bryce is a pain in the ass," Meredith spoke up. Celia nodded, "If I hadn't taken the Hippocratic Oath, I'd Kevorkian her with my bare hands." The three interns alternated their stares from Meredith to Celia.
"What?" asked Meredith in confusion. Celia nudged Meredith to look up as Dr. Burke came over to their table with a jovial smile on his face, "Good afternoon interns. It's posted, but I thought I'd share the good news personally. As you know, the honor of performing the first surgery is reserved for the intern that shows the most promise. As I'm running the OR today, I get to make that choice," he clapped George on the back, much to the four interns surprise – even Blondie gaped in shock, "George O'Malley. You'll scrub in for an appendectomy this afternoon. Congratulations."
"Me?" George gazed at Dr. Burke with wide eyes. Good Lord, even Puppy was shocked at being picked – the patient was so not going to make it. Dr. Burke smiled, "Enjoy!" Once he left, no one was able to speak, their eyes were all focused on a nearly hyperventilating George. "Did he say me?"
"You're screwed dude," Celia snorted. That caused Cristina to laugh rudely and Blondie to glare, again. Meredith just shook her head in amusement.
"You know Celia, you don't have to be rude," Izzie snapped. Cristina and Celia shared an eye roll. Celia fixed her famous glare at Blondie, and inwardly smiled when she quailed, "Listen up, Blondie. There's a big difference between being rude and being honest. Now, what I have learned in life, is sometimes being honest can come out as being mean, but hey," Celia shrugged nonchalantly, "Life's a bitch. Puppy over there is shocked at being picked. Now, if he were more confident at Burke's choice then I wouldn't have said anything. But he already thinks he's going to screw up. I was just being honest and stating the obvious. If you don't like it, then you're in the wrong career, because being a surgeon is tough, it's tiring, it's stressful and it could break you. You have to have confidence in yourself, because it's not just your job at the line, but a patient's life."
There was silence once again in their table. Everyone but Meredith were shocked at her outburst and the words she said. Christina was the first to break the silence, "You were right, Meredith. I can see why the Nazi wouldn't scare Celia."
Unknown to the five interns, Dr. Miranda Bailey heard the whole conversation take place, and her dark brown eyes were fixed on the Latina intern; she was certainly interesting and this was the first time Bailey found herself to be impressed with an intern on their first day … Dr. Bailey decided to keep a close watch on Celia Chávez.
Mr. and Mrs. Bryce were standing over Katie when Celia and Meredith made their way back to her room. "Katie, honey, mom and dad are here," Mrs. Bryce said worriedly.
"They gave her a sedative for the CT scan, so she's a little groggy, it's normal," Celia smiled reassuringly.
"Will she be alright?" asked Mrs. Bryce. Mr. Bryce stared at the two interns, "Our doctor at home said she might need an operation, is that true?"
Meredith glanced at Celia unsurely. "She's um, well, you know what, we're not, we're not the doctors, uh, we are doctors, but not Katie's doctor-" Celia interrupted Meredith's nervous stuttering slash rambling; smiling confidently at Mr. and Mrs. Bryce, she said, "Dr. Grey and I will go find Katie's doctor. Excuse us." Once they were out of earshot, Celia pulled Meredith aside, "Mer, breathe. Why are you so nervous all of a sudden? Just breathe and relax."
"Right, relax. Got it," Meredith breathed out. She noticed Bailey by the nurses and dragged Celia over to her. "What?" demanded Bailey without looking up from her charts. "Katie's parents have questions. Do you talk to them, or do I ask Burke?" asked Meredith, and this time, there was no stuttering – Thank god.
Taking her eyes off the charts, Bailey studied Meredith and then Celia before saying, "No, Burke's off the case, Katie belongs to the new attending now, Dr. Shepherd, he's over there," she pointed her index finger to the opposite direction far from them.
Celia and Meredith went closer to where Bailey pointed out since they couldn't see him. How the hell short Dr. Bailey noticed him when they didn't astounded her. They saw him talking to another doctor, and Celia stilled in her steps, her eyes widening on Dr. Shepherd, "Fuck me."
"Celia? CeCe? What's wrong, why did you stop?" Meredith stared at her friend in confusion, her eyes flickering from Celia to Dr. Shepherd. Dr. Shepherd tilted his head upward and his blue eyes connected with the familiar chocolate brown ones of the frozen intern – the tough and confident girl he had slept with; he did a double take and then went to walk up to her when Celia harshly tugged her arms from Meredith's hold and ran off towards the opposite direction without stopping or looking back.
Celia could NOT, could not believe that the one-night stand, the random guy from the bar was her attending, he was her boss. He was her boss' boss. ... Oh this was not good, this was not good at all. She was going to kill Meredith.
A hand grabbed her arm and before any coherent thoughts could pass through her immobile brain she found herself in an empty stairwell with none other than Dr. Shepherd in front of her looking as sexy as ever – at least she had a name for his face instead of calling him Adonis.
"Excuse me, Dr. Shepherd. Did you need something?" Celia asked in a strictly professional tone; she was just going to act like nothing ever happened. He was her boss, AND her boss' boss, this cannot happen. She wasn't one of those bimbo interns that slept her way to the top. No siree, that was NOT going to happen.
"Dr. Shepherd? Come on, call me Derek. I think after last night we should be on a first name basis," Derek smiled charmingly. Damnit! Even his name is sexy, and not only is he sexy as hell, but he's an effing surgeon, an ATTENDING surgeon.
"Dr. Shepherd, like I told you this morning, we should pretend it never happened," Celia continued professionally. "What never happened, you sleeping with me last night? Or you throwing me out this morning? Rather harshly I may say. Because both are fond memories I'd like to hold onto," said Derek cheekily.
Celia cocked both eyebrows; seriously, he wasn't affected at all with her cold and brisk attitude? "Fond memories? So me being a total bitch to you is a fond memory?"
Derek grinned, "First time a girl didn't fall on her knees at the sight of me … it was a … it was a surprising change." Celia scoffed; figures he was arrogant … well, he is a surgeon, all surgeons should have an arrogant streak, it's in their DNA. "Look Dr. Shepherd, you may hold onto those, uh, fond memories. I however, am currently suffering from amnesia, very tragic. So I do apologize, but I don't remember what you are talking about."
"You took advantage of me and now you want to forget about it," said Derek, his damn smile still plastered on his face. "Well, you weren't complaining," Celia argued with an eye roll. Derek nodded, "True, true. You took advantage of me though. Last night I was very good-looking. I had my red shirt on, my good-looking red shirt, you took advantage."
"Hmm, okay. I took advantage, whatever you say Dr. Shepherd. If I happen to remember, I'll let you know," said Celia impassively; he was charming and funny too – damn he had all the good qualities wrapped up in a package of sexiness.
"Or, I could jog your memory. Say Friday night?" Derek threw that out causally, like it was normal for an attending to ask his intern out on her first day. "I'm sorry, Dr. Shepherd, but our relationship should be strictly professional, and if we don't even have a professional relationship, it is okay with me. You're an attending, and I'm your intern, THAT is the only relationship status we are ever going to have," Celia spoke in an icy tone.
Derek sighed, leaning against the wall as he stared at the intern's retreating back. He wanted her; there was something about her that called out to him, and even though she was frigid, reserved, cold and impassive, she was … different. Derek Shepherd wasn't going to give up on the mysterious girl from the bar, ever … and the first thing he was going to do, was find out her name.
"Hey? What was with the disappearing act earlier?" Meredith asked Celia. They were currently on their way to watch George assist in his first surgery with Dr. Burke. Pulling Meredith aside, Celia checked for any eavesdroppers, "Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Derek Shepherd, the freaking attending. HE is the guy from the bar. The one-night stand, the guy I kicked out this morning is our attending."
Meredith gaped at her friend, she was torn between horrified and amusement. "Okay, and I'm guessing you had a little chat?" Celia nodded. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples, "He doesn't want to forget what happened, he was very insistent. He asked me out for Friday, turned him down, obviously," Celia muttered. Meredith nodded, "Okay, uh, good. Let's just forget all about him and watch George, okay?" Celia smiled and the two best friends looped their arms and joined the other interns.
The interns all began betting on the results; "He's going to faint. He's a fainter.", "Naah, code brown, right in his pants.", "He's all about the flops, he's going to sweat himself unsterile.", "Ten bucks says he messes up the McBird." Christina scoffed, "Twenty says he cries."
"Fifty says he pulls the whole thing off," Meredith spoke up, causing everyone to shut up and gape at her in shock. Meredith turned to glare at every one of them, "That's one of us down there. The first one of us. Where's your loyalty?"
No one said a word for a while; Celia was the first one to break it, "Seventy-five says he can't even ID the appendix." Cristina laughed and high-fived her, and surprisingly, Izzie spoke up, "I'll take that action." Everyone else agreed and Meredith glared at Celia who flashed her an innocent smile.
Dr. Burke's voice sounded out through the intercom, "Okay, O'Malley, let's see what you can do."
"Scalpel," said George nervously, holding his hand out. "Scalpel," the nurse repeated, handing over the scalpel which in turn had all the interns cheering and clapping loudly. Burke's eyes glared at them from the OR Room, motioning them to shut up with one finger, effectively silencing them.
"Buzz-kill," murmured Celia; all the interns laughed. They watched as George readied his hand to cut. "More pressure. Human flesh is a tough shell, dig in," Burke informed him. The interns watched as George asked for pick-ups, then a clamp, and it was going good – huh, it looked like Puppy was going to succeed.
"Damn, he got the peritoneum, and he opened him up," an intern muttered. Meredith looked smug, "I told you, he's going to pull it off."
"I doubt it Mer. He still has a chance of messing up," said Celia matter-of-factly.
"Appendix is out," said George cheerfully, tossing it into a tray and all the interns began cheering again. "Not bad," Burke began instructing George on what to do next, "Now all you have to do is invert the stump into the cecum and simultaneously pull up on the purse-strings, but be careful not to," there was a ripping sound, "break them," Burke sighed, and all the interns groaned. Burke stared at all the observers, "He broke the cecum. Got a bleeder. You're filling with stool, what do you do now?"
"Uh… Uh…" George was anxious, sweat pouring from his forehead as he fumbled around. Burke was getting impatient. "Think. You start the suction, and you start digging for those purse-strings before she bleeds to death. Belky, give him a clamp." A nurse spoke up, "BP's dropping."
"He's choking," Cristina stated. "Come on, George," muttered Meredith. Burke's voice boomed through the intercom, and he sounded frustrated, a big change from his usual joviality, "Today. Pull your balls out of your back pocket, let's go. What are you waiting for, suction?" George had stilled and the heart monitor began beeping. "Getting too low folks … Dr. Burke …" said a frantic nurse.
Burke pushed George away from his patient, "Get out of the way. Pansy-ass idiot. Get him out of here. Suction. Clamp."
The interns watched as George ran out of the OR. "Told you he would fail," sang Celia. An intern called George 007, and it stuck with the rest of the interns. Poor puppy, he earned a new nickname among the interns, and it wasn't a flattering one.
"You'll never believe what happened," Meredith was seething. Celia looked concerned, "Woah, calm down Death, what's wrong?" Meredith was pacing around like a guard dog, "You want to know what's wrong? Katie Bryce is what's wrong. She paged me a 911, and guess what was wrong with her? She was bored!"
"Okay, calm down. Next time Katie calls, I'll go to her. Now chillax," said Celia soothingly.
Celia was on her second cup of coffee when her pager rang a 911 for Katie. She dumped her coffee and ran; Katie better not be bored or she'll carry on with her previous threats and strangle her, screw the Oath. When she entered Katie's room however, she saw that the nurses were bustling around and some were even running into her room frantically.
"Okay, okay what do we have here?" Celia went into stern, professional mode in an instant as she went to stand by Katie's side.
"She's having multiple grand mal seizures, now how do you want to proceed? Dr. Chávez?" a nurse called out. Celia swallowed, she could do this. She studied hard for a situation like this. "Right okay. Give her 2mg Diazepam." The nurses began injecting Katie, but she still kept on seizing. Celia had her hand out, "Okay, okay. Diazepam's not working. Give me 4mg Prazepam and someone call Dr. Bailey and Dr. Shepherd, pronto!"
A nurse handed her the Prazepam. A minute later, Celia cussed, "It's not working. Load her with Phenobarbital," she spoke in rapid tones. Turning to another nurse she asked, "Did you call Bailey and Shepherd?" The nurse nodded. "Call them again! Stat!"
"Pheno's in …no change … Dr. Chávez, tell us what you want to do?" Katie's heart monitor stopped and there was a beeping sound. "Code blue, code blue! Code blue, code blue!" the nurses began yelling.
"Shit! Alright, charge pulse to two hundred!" Celia yelled taking the defibrillators from one nurse. "Charged. Clear!" Celia defibs, but there was still no change, "Charge to 300!" Still no change. "Charge to 360!" Celia demanded. Katie's heart stopped for 49 seconds, once it reached 60, they were supposed to admit her as dead. Not gonna happen on her watch!
"I don't care that its 60 seconds, charge again!" When the nurse didn't do anything, Celia gave her the infamous glare and she hurried over to comply, "Anything?"
"I see sinus rhythm," one nurse said. "Blood pressure's coming up," another one said. "All right, pressure's returning. Grid's coming back." Thank god. Celia was NOT going to lose a patient in her first day. And her first patient at that. At that moment, Dr. Shepherd ran into the room – too fucking late! "What the hell happened?" he demanded.
"She had a seizure and –"Derek cut her off, "A seizure?" "Yes, her heart stopped," Celia told him. Derek glared at her sternly, "You were supposed to be monitoring her, you and Dr. Grey."
"I checked on her and she –"Once again he snappishly cut her off mid-speech, "I got it just … go. Just … go." Celia shrugged and left the room; seriously, he had no right to be mad at her, she did everything by the book. Huh, hopefully now Dr. Shepherd would just be professional with her. She hoped so.
All the interns were congregated in a meeting room, waiting for … something, they didn't know, because no one tells the interns anything.
"Does anybody know why we're here?" Cristina asked just as Dr. Shepherd entered the room. Celia, who sat between Meredith and Cristina, stared impassively ahead, waiting for him to speak.
"Well good morning. I'm going to do something pretty rare for a surgeon, I'm going to ask interns for help. I've got this kid, Katie Bryce. Right now, she's a mystery. She doesn't respond to her meds. Labs are clean, scans are pure, but she's having seizures. Grand mal seizures with no visible cause. She's a ticking clock. She's going to die if I don't make a diagnosis. Which is where you come in, I can't do it alone." Derek looked around at the excited and hopeful interns, his eyes lingering on Celia before moving on, "I need your extra minds, extra eyes, I need you to play detective, I need you to find out why Katie is having seizures. I know you're tired, you're busy, you've got more work than you can possibly handle. I understand. So, I'm gonna give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer rides with me. Katie needs surgery. You get to do what no interns get to do. Scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure. Dr. Bailey's going to hand you Katie's chart, the clock is ticking fast people. If we're going to save Katie's life, we have to do it soon."
The interns all moved over to grab a chart. Celia, Meredith and Cristina walked out of the room. "Hey, I want in on Shepherd's surgery. You two were the interns for Katie since the start. Us three work together, we find the answer, we have a chance of scrubbing in," said Cristina excitedly.
"Deal!" Celia and Meredith nodded. The three interns went to the library and began taking notes, jotting down whatever they thought could be wrong with Katie. They began throwing out all sorts of suggestions; Katie doesn't have anoxia, chronic renal failure or acidosis. There was no infection, nothing.
"It's not a tumor because her CT's clean. So Celia, Shepherd couldn't take his eyes off you, what's up with that?" Cristina asked, randomly changing the subject. Meredith glanced at Celia who shrugged and casually said, "We had sex. Thought he was some random guy at the bar, turns out, he's my boss. Which totally sucks for me."
Cristina opened her mouth, and then closed it. Deciding not to make any comment at all, which Celia greatly appreciated, instead, she said, "What about an aneurysm?" And on it went. Cristina and Meredith kept throwing out ideas while Celia mulled over everything Katie blabbered about for a clue.
Celia gasped and abruptly stood up. "Celia?" Meredith asked. "Get up! Come on!" Celia yelled at them. Celia didn't say a word while the other two obediently followed, and she only stopped once she found Derek entering the elevator. This was the first time Celia would ever say that she was glad to see him.
"Dr. Shepherd. I was thinking, Katie has no headaches, no neck pain, her CT's clean, there's no medical proof of an aneurysm –"
Derek nodded, "Right."
"But what if she has an aneurysm anyway?" Derek shook his head, "There are no indicators." Celia excitedly ploughed on. Derek couldn't help but be mesmerized with this girl; Celia Chávez, when he found out her name, he felt complete. For the first time, Derek was able to see the Latina girl in a new light; she wasn't cold or impassive at the moment, she was excited and slightly glowing with the challenge he had given them. He could practically hear her brain whirring with activity.
"Ah, but she twisted her ankle, a few weeks ago when she was practicing for the pageant. She fell. When she twisted her ankle she fell. It was no big deal, not even a bump on the head, she got right back up, iced her ankle and everything was fine, it was a fall so minor her doctor didn't even think to mention it when Dr. Grey and I were taking her history, but she did fall," said Celia with full confidence.
Derek sighed, "Well, you know the chances that a minor fall could burst an aneurysm, one in a million! Literally." Derek finally released his hand from the open button and the elevator door closed in the three interns faces. The girls sighed and went to turn, when the elevator dinged open and Derek stepped out, "Let's go."
"Where?" asked Cristina. Derek smiled at Cristina and Meredith, but when his eyes connected with Celia, they were sparkling with some emotion; "To find out if Katie's one in a million."
The results were in and the attending and three female interns were staring at Katie's new scans in awe.
"I'll be damned," Derek breathed out, his eyes studying the scan intently," he pointed at a few dark spots, "It's minor, but it's there. It's a cerebachnoid haeemorrhage. She's bleeding into her brain." They followed Derek who went to get Katie's chart, "She could've gone her whole life without it ever being a problem. One tap in the right spot and explode. Now I have to fix it. You three did great work. Love to stay and kiss your asses, but I gotta tell Katie's parents she's having surgery," he laughed.
Just as Derek was about to leave, Cristina asked him which intern he wanted to scrub in with him. "Oh, yes, right, I'm sorry I can't take all three of you. It's going to be a full house. Celia, I'll see you in the OR."
Celia gaped at him. If she were being honest with herself, she did deserve it, but the way Derek informed her, it sounded like he was picking her just because they had sex. Well, if he thought that would win her his favor he was so wrong.
"Actually Dr. Shepherd. I think you should ask Dr. Grey or Dr. Yang. Excuse me," said Celia in a briskly fashion before she went off in the other direction, not wanting to look at Derek, Meredith or Cristina.
"Well," Derek cleared his throat, confused blue eyes staring at Celia's retreating back.
"She thinks that you only picked her because you slept with her," Meredith piped up. She wasn't mad that Celia got the spot, she did after all find out the diagnosis, not her or Cristina, and even though their new Korean friend didn't want to admit it, she also knew Celia deserved it fair and square.
Derek stared at the dirty blonde girl with green eyes, and from the way she spoke up in Celia's defense, he could tell that Meredith Grey was the best friend who owned the house. "That isn't the reason. I knew her to be the one that came up with Katie's diagnostic. Tell her the spot is still hers, if she still doesn't want it, then you two pick between yourselves," and without another word, Derek went to inform Mr. and Mrs. Bryce that Katie was going back for surgery.
Meredith and Cristina found Celia pacing in an empty corridor with spare beds. When she saw them she glared and began ranting, "I don't want to get picked for surgeries because I slept with my boss. Of course it was by accident. I mean, if I knew he was my boss, I wouldn't have even looked at him at the bar! It's like he thinks he can win me over by handing out surgeries, I mean, seriously!"
"Celia! Listen to me. Dr. Shepherd told us that he didn't pick you because you two had sex," Meredith interrupted. Cristina nodded her face solemn, "Look I'm going to hate myself for saying this because I really wanted in on that surgery, but you deserve it. You were the one that thought of her ankle and Dr. Shepherd could tell. So go! Go do that supercool surgery."
Celia walked in on Derek shaving Katie's hair. Upon noticing her entrance, Derek grinned at her, "I promised I'd make her look cool. Apparently being a bald beauty queen is the worst thing that happened in the history of the world."
Celia stepped in, her face impassive, "Dr. Shepherd. Thank you for picking me to assist you in this surgery. I'm not the kind of girl that sleeps her way to the top, so if you're picking me to –"
Derek cut her off, his blue eyes solemnly on her, "You're Katie's doctor. And on your first day with very little training you helped save her life. You earned the right to follow her case to the finish. When you gave me the diagnosis I could see it in your face that you cracked the case. Don't let the fact that we had sex get in the way of you taking your shot."
Celia was finally out of her scrubs and ready to go home for some well-earned sleep.
"CeCe, come on let's go," Meredith called from outside where she stood with Izzie, Cristina and George. Celia laughed, accidentally bumping into someone, "Oh, sorry."
Derek smiled at her, "I think this is the first time I have seen you laugh." Celia raised an eyebrow at him, "Goodnight Dr. Shepherd," and with that, she ran outside and looped her arm with Meredith's; the five interns walked over to the parking lot, heading for home.
So, Celia made it through her first shift. Found out her one-night stand was not a stranger exactly, but her boss. Her and Meredith found a friend in Cristina, who looked to be dark and twisted just like them. Puppy and Blondie are acquaintances for now. Celia saved a patient's life in her first day and got to scrub in a kick-ass advanced surgery. It was a good first shift.
A/N: What do you think of this story? Should I continue it?