TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains references to sexual assault, as seen on Grey's Anatomy. Please proceed with caution.
SKYLAR LOVED HOTELS. Something about them just seemed fancy, even if it wasn't an overly priced room. However, she has lived in this hotel room for about a week now and she was tired of it. She needed to find her own place. The walls in the room were brown; the carpet felt too itchy under her feet; the bed was okay, but she hated the feeling of the comforter. And she had to eat on her bed because she didn't want to waste her funds on a pricey hotel room with a dining room table. She wanted to save her money so she could buy an apartment that she would want to live in.
Her sister, April, lived in Seattle as well. They did share an apartment, but it was closer to where April worked so Skylar wanted to find a place closer—that and the fact that April had basically kicked her out so her friend could move in.
Skylar always tried her best to be a positive person and, most days, succeeded. Today, however, was not one of those days.
She'd gotten little to no sleep because the couple in the hotel room above hers had been pretty loud all night, making her hear noises no one should ever hear. This resulted in her waking up to another long shift already tired. Then, when she tried to take a shower, she found that the hotel had a problem, and the water was freezing. To make it even better, she was almost late to work because she was trying to find the cereal bars that she'd been eating for breakfast, to find out that she had the last one the day before.
So, Skylar Kepner usually succeeded in being positive, however, today was not one of those days. The day had barely started, and she knew that she needed to find her own place.
As the interns were getting changed in the locker room, Izzie and George were discussing the possibility of moving into Meredith's house, which had three extra bedrooms available.
"What about you, Sky?" George spoke, addressing her by the nickname he gave her. "Aren't you still living in a hotel?"
"We're together all day, every day," she avoided the question. "Do you really think it's a good idea to live together as well?"
"Yes," George and Izzie simultaneously said.
Skylar rolled her eyes as they made their way out of the locker room, dressed and ready to go for the day. Izzie and George jogged up to Meredith, who was holding an extra cup of coffee.
"How'd it go?" Izzie asked her regarding the interviews she was giving people. Meredith was looking for the perfect roommate. She didn't settle for too young or too old, or too messy or too clean—it was a lot, but that's just how Meredith's thought process worked.
"No one here is right. I had to tell all of them no," Meredith sighed, before perking up at the sight of Skylar. "Wait, you're still living in that hotel, right?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want to move in?"
Skylar thought for a moment. It wouldn't be the worst thing, and she wouldn't have to pay rent all by herself. "Would I get the biggest bedroom?" She bargained, not wanting to be stuck in a hovel for what could very be the rest of her internship.
"Obviously," Meredith grinned.
"Hm," she hummed. "I'll think about it."
George scoffed loudly, sharing an incredulous look with Izzie. "Hey! Why Sky and not us?"
"Because, Sky is the least annoying out of all of us, plus, she has this motherly thing about her that makes me think she'd be a good roommate."
Izzie huffed, "Why did you put up posters for roommates if you don't want roommates?"
Meredith paused in her steps, looking at the blond. She then sighed, shaking her head. "I do want roommates. We're together 100 hours a week. Do you really want to live together too? And I do want roommates."
"That's what I told them."
Cristina joined the group, looking at the coffee in Meredith's hands with raised brows. "I see you're bringing bribes now, huh?"
"My mom irons my scrubs," George complained, not willing to let go of the topic. "I have to get out of there." He was trying to get Meredith to take pity on him and help him in any way possible.
Skylar gave a comforting smile to George. "Scrubs need ironing sometimes. Especially ours. They're way too light and you can see every line and bump on them. Kind of upsetting."
George raised his brows as he looked over at her, tilting his head. "Really?"
"It's not a bribe," Meredith started, continuing her conversation with Cristina. She gave the girl a pointed look, before directing her words to George and Izzie. "And I don't think it's a good idea."
"I can put down first and last deposit," George assured her, trying to persuade her as Izzie also started to.
"Who are you bribing?" Skylar wondered, done with the roommate conversation now that she had a place to call hers—well, a room, not a place.
"I can cook, and I'm an obsessive cleaner," Izzie blurted out.
"No," Meredith sighed in annoyance. "I just want Sky and two total strangers who I don't have to talk to or be nice to. And it's not a bribe. It's a mocha latte." The last part was directed to Skylar and Cristina.
"You have to be nice to Skylar, though!" Izzie argued.
"No, she doesn't," Skylar disagreed. "I can take the heat. You, on the other hand—"
"George," Bailey cut in, joining the group and interrupting her before she had the chance to insult the blonde. "You're running the code team. Meredith, take the trauma pager. Cristina, deliver the weekend labs to the patients. Izzie, you're on sutures, and Skylar…" she flipped through her chart for a moment, trailing off.
Skylar looked at Bailey excitedly, getting her hopes up. "Yes?"
Bailey huffed and shrugged, looking up. "Seems like you're popular. You've been requested. You're on Shepherd's service today." Skylar's, and the other interns, eyes widened. Cristina scoffed, Izzie made a small whiny noise, and Meredith just glanced over at the redhead.
Meredith shook her head and faced Dr. Bailey again, a determined look on her face. "Dr. Bailey, I was hoping to assist you in the OR today? Maybe do a minor procedure? I think I'm ready." She stuck her hand with the coffee out toward Bailey, putting on a smile that she dubbed the 'Kepner Specialty.' "Mocha latte?"
Cristina cut in, leaning forward. "If she gets to cut, I want to cut too!" Izzie voiced her agreement, and George stepped toward Dr. Bailey.
"I wouldn't mind another shot. I mean, if everybody else is—" Before George could finish, Bailey cut him off with just a glare.
Skylar smiled at her resident but stayed silent. She'd known Bailey for a short time, but the one thing the short woman hated more than interns, was overeager interns.
"Stop talking," Bailey silenced them. "Every intern wants to perform their first surgery. That's not your job. Do you know what your job is? To make your resident happy. Do I look happy? No. Why? Because my interns are whiny. You know what will make me happy? Having the code team staffed, having the trauma pages answered, having the weekend labs delivered, having someone down in the pit, doing sutures, and letting an Attending steal one of my interns for their own personal agenda."
Bailey looked at the coffee in Meredith's hand, and hummed, quickly taking it and backing away from her interns. "Nobody holds a scalpel 'til I'm so happy, I'm Mary freakin' Poppins."
Cristina leaned toward Skylar, motioning toward Meredith. "Mocha latte, my ass." Skylar chuckled, hitting Cristina's arm with her elbow.
"Be nice," she muttered.
Dr. Bailey turned around once she reached the top of the steps. She raised a brow when she still saw her five interns standing in the same spot she left them. "Why are you all standing there? Move!"
In a panicked rush, all five interns rushed off, Skylar speed walking toward the nurse's station to ask them if they had seen Dr. Shepherd.
"Dr. Kepner, there you are," Derek said, walking up to Skylar who was speaking to one of the male nurses. She quickly turned around, giving him a nervous smile.
"I was looking for you. Dr. Bailey said you requested me?" She spoke, but her voice was shaky. Derek smiled at her, shoving his hands in the pocket of his coat.
"Yes, I did. I've been watching you since Katie Bryce." He picked up a chart that the nurse handed him, flipping through it. "Have you put any thought into what specialty you're interested in?"
Skylar slowly nodded her head. "A bit, yeah. I've studied them all throughout Med School, and seem to be tied between Neuro and Cardio."
Dr. Shepherd nodded, looking at her. "Well, I'd like to take you under my wing. Just for a little while. Show you the ropes of Neuro, see if you have the instincts for it." He started walking. Skylar was quick to follow. "Of course, you can't choose a specialty until later in your residency. But, the attendings can choose their favorites and first picks and have them shadow them for a while." He looked over and gave her his signature smile. "And I have a good feeling about you, Dr. Kepner.
Skylar's eyes were sparkling, and she couldn't contain the smile on her face. "Thank you, sir. That's…thank you."
He nodded, pressing the button for the elevator. "So, for your next few shifts you'll be shadowing me. Going with me to surgeries, focusing on my patients pre and post-ops, and answering questions and learning."
The sound of his pager interrupted their conversation. Derek quickly looked at it. He silently swore, then turned from the elevator and toward the stairs. "Starting now. We have an emergency surgery. You'll scrub in, stand behind me as I work. Just make sure not to touch anything or get in my way and we'll be fine."
Skylar nodded, running after Dr. Shepherd. As she was running with him in the stairwell, she could feel the adrenaline and excitement filling her veins. She was stepping into an OR during surgery. With Derek Shepherd, a Neuro God.
Oh, God.
The surgery was for a young woman, who had fought herself out of a horrible, horrible situation.
Skylar stood behind Dr. Shepherd, her eyes going from watching Shepherd work through the brain and getting out clots to Meredith, both of them excited to be in the OR.
"She's going to spend a hell of a long time in recovery and rehab," Derek commented, causing Skylar to bring her eyes back to him. She hummed, nodding slightly.
"If she survives," Burke casually commented. Skylar frowned, narrowing her eyes at him. It was a funny image, happy-go-lucky Dr. Kepner giving the Great Dr. Burky a death glare. A few scrub nurses chuckled and Meredith had to contain hers.
"What is she, like, 5'2? Maybe a hundred pounds? She's still breathing after what this guy did to her? If they catch the guy, they should castrate him," Derek spoke, his tone harsh and angry.
"See how shot her hands are?" Burke asked, pointing at them. Skylar glanced over, wincing as she shook her head. The sight, along with her knowledge of how the patient got them, made her sick to her stomach. "She tried to fight back."
"Tried to?" Derek scoffed, a small laugh coming out at his colleague's underestimation of the woman on the table. "Rape kit came back negative. She kicked his ass."
Burke hummed, focusing on something he had found. "So, we have a warrior among us?"
"Alison," Meredith spoke up, causing everyone's eyes to fall on her for a moment. "Her name. It's Alison."
"Alison," Derek echoed, nodding. Skylar could hear the smile in his voice, her brows furrowing at the interaction between the two. She thought that Meredith didn't want anything to do with Dr. Shepherd.
"I think I may have found the cause of our rupture." Dr. Burke pulled something out of the patient, shining it with his headlight. Skylar focused on it, trying to figure out what it was. "What is this…?" He looked at the thing he was holding with forceps. "Does anyone know what this is?"
"Oh my god…" Meredith breathed out, moving her eyes to Skylar's. The girl frowned, focusing on the flesh. Her breath caught and her eyes widened.
Before Meredith could respond, Skylar spoke up, "That's his penis, sir." Heads snapped to her and then back to the rupture. "She bit off the head of his penis, Dr. Burke. You are holding a bitten off—"
Before she could finish, Burke practically threw the flesh into a tray. the room filling with groans and shocked whispers.
Skylar was sitting with George, rambling about some of the things she had learned from Dr. Shepherd in the past few hours as he went over his charts and paperwork.
"It was amazing, Georgie! He just…showed me a brain. Explained to me some of his favorite techniques! I…I saw a brain! A human brain!" She rambled.
George didn't look up from his paperwork, nodding along. "That's amazing, Skylar."
A cooler was suddenly slammed onto the desk, catching both of the doctors' attention. Skylar's nose scrunched up when she saw Meredith, automatically realizing what was in the cooler.
"What's that?" George nonchalantly asked.
Skylar snapped her head toward him, quickly shaking her head. "Don't ask that question, Georgie. You don't want to know," Skylar quickly said. George looked back at Meredith to see if she'd have a different response, but all she did was nod her head along with Skylar.
"No! I do want to know! Really!" He protested. Meredith sighed, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You really want to know?" Meredith asked. George nodded his head while Skylar just shook hers. "It's a severed penis, George."
George's entire face scrunched up in disgust and his hands went to cover his groin, shaking his head. "I really didn't want to know."
"She warned you," Skylar replied, giggling at George's face.
"I don't know why I'm the one who has to be huffed," Cristina complained, showing up out of nowhere. Alex, the intern she had seen here and there was following her, a smirk on his face. George had told her about how Alex was now one of Bailey's interns.
Skylar gave him a small smile before rotating her chair to face Cristina, propping her chin on her bent knee as she listened to the woman complain.
"Because I don't do that. Besides, you're the ovarian sister here," he replied. Skylar frowned, Cristina's shocked face looking at her for backup.
"Did you just call me an ovarian sis—an ovarian si—since when has the possession of ovaries become an insult!" Cristina spat out. Skylar shook her head and looked at Alex with a pointed look.
"Since there are boys that are so insecure about their own masculinity that they feel the need to come up with it," Skylar bluntly replied, making George laugh.
"Meredith is carrying a penis around in a jar," George informed the curly-haired woman. Cristina's attention was soon on that, rushing over to look.
When Skylar turned around to face the cooler, she caught George's eye. He was staring at her with an emotion that she had never seen before, causing her to tilt her head in confusion.
"What?" She asked, and he just shook his head, mumbling a 'nothing' before focusing back on the conversation.
"From the rape surgery?" Cristina asked, peering inside the cooler.
"Yep," Meredith said. "And it's not a jar, it's a cooler," she pointedly stated, looking at George.
"Talk about taking a bite out of crime." Cristina nodded, heading off down the hallway, Alex following after her.
When the conversation ended, George's focus went to Meredith, noticing she had been off lately. "You okay?" He asked. The question caused Skylar to snap out of her daydreaming, focusing her worried eyes on her friend.
"Yeah, it's just…Alison's shoes. The rape victim, Alison, her shoes. I have the same ones. In my locker. And I normally never wear them, because they're not comfortable, but today I did, and she was wearing the same shoes, and it's just…stupid, and I'm tired, and forget it." Skylar stood up, holding her chart to her chest. She leaned on the opposite side of the doorway from George.
"I'm sorry, Mer. Maybe you should go…do something. About it. Something to cheer you up." She looked between her and George, raising her brows. George broke out in a smile and Meredith let out a gasp.
"No, I can't. We…we said we'd stop."
Skylar shrugged, a playful smile forming on her lips. "I have to go check on Shepherd's patients, so I can't. But come on, you know you want to," she teased. She waved goodbye to her and George, walking off.
She knew George would convince Meredith to go, and then Meredith would be all happy and her brain would be full of baby-cuteness and all her bad, scary thoughts would be gone.
Derek found Skylar in Alison's room. The woman had still not woken up from her surgery, but Skylar was perched on a chair, running through charts and filling things out. She just wanted to give the girl some company, to know that she wasn't alone in this difficult time.
"I've called every hospital," He spoke up, leaning against the door frame. She jumped a bit at his voice. "I already informed Dr. Grey, but you're on my service and she's your patient too. At some point, the man who did this is gonna need medical attention, and when he goes and gets it, we'll be informed right away."
Skylar nodded, looking over at Alison with sorrowful eyes. "That's good." Her voice was soft and she looked over at him. "She has nobody, Dr. Shepherd. And she just went through one of the worst things that could happen to her, and when she wakes up…" Skylar shook her head and looked down at her charts, her voice shaky. "As women, we're told practically from the moment we can walk how to handle situations like this. And she…she actually had to go through it. I just, I'm worried for her."
She looked up, seeing Derek watch her with something in his eyes. He didn't know what to say to comfort her—there was nothing he could say to comfort her. "I know someone who would've benefited from a person like you," he softly said, nodding again. "You'll be an amazing doctor one day."
As Meredith and Skylar snacked by the hospital entrance, Cristina caught their attention. "What are you both doing down here?"
"Just sitting with my penis…" the blonde melancholically said.
"I, for one, am just happily eating this cupcake," Skylar answered, taking a big bite of her food. "What about you?"
"Hiding from Alex."
"I kissed Derek," Meredith blurted out.
"You kissed Derek?" Cristina questioned.
"In the elevator."
"You kissed him in the elevator?" Skylar questioned, looking at Meredith with a somewhat disapproving look.
"Don't give me that look," Meredith said, seeing Skylar's face. "I'm having a bad day. I mean, you are currently stuffing your face in a chocolate cupcake, so don't give me the disappointed mother stare." Skylar slightly pouted at the accusation.
"And what's up with you, Baby Einstein?" Cristina asked.
"Nothing. Allison was wearing Mer's shoes though." She diverted the attention from herself. Honestly, there wasn't anything bothering her at the moment—other than the fact that they had a rape victim—but she could tell that Meredith needed the support, even over a weird thing like shoes.
"It's weird, right? I think it's weird…" the blonde said.
"Oh right, George told me. It's just weird that you care."
Suddenly, the three doctors rushed out at the sound of tires screeching on the road. A man got out of the car covered in blood. From the area that the blood was in, it looked like it was coming from his crotch. All three girls knew it was the rapist.
The man was immediately rushed to surgery because even though he was a horrible human being, they were still surgeons and had to stop the bleeding. Bailey was the one leading the surgery, as Skylar, Meredith, and Cristina all stood on the other side of the patient.
"Why are we not attempting to reattach the severed penis?" Bailey asked.
"Teeth don't slice, they tear. You can only reattach with a clean cut." Cristina answered.
"Besides, the digestive juices didn't leave much to work with," Meredith added.
"Right, so what do we do?"
"We sew him up, leaving out the part he's lost," Skylar answered. All the women's voices were unemotional, they didn't really care if he never had his penis ever again.
"And his outlook?"
"He'll be urinating out of a bag for a very, very long time," Meredith shrugged, looking at her two friends.
"And he won't be able to have sex again," Skylar reciprocated Meredith's teasing expression.
"Oh, too bad," Bailey sarcastically muttered.
"Shame."
"Let's all take a moment to grieve," the resident said, then immediately started working on the patient again.
Skylar found herself sitting on one of the beds in the tunnels. She was practically waiting, begging for Derek to page her and say that Alison woke up.
However, the ruckus that caused her attention to spike was not her pager, but a bickering duo that consisted of Cristina and Alex.
Cristina flopped onto the bed, sitting to the left of Skylar. Alex sat on the other side of Cristine, rubbing his temple. "My head is killing me."
"Maybe it's a tumor," Cristina shot back. Skylar was just ignoring them at this point, she leaned her head on the wall, closing her eyes for a moment of peace.
"Yeah you wish I had a tumor," Alex grumbled.
"I'd rip his face off if it meant I could scrub in," Skylar mumbled, pointing at Alex.
Meredith and Izzie soon joined them, talking about how she had to carry a penis around all night.
"So the police say they can't send a crime scene guy down for hours, so I have to spend the night with the penis," Meredith complained. Alex looked at her, about to say a dirty joke about what Meredith said. "Alex, don't say it," she stopped him.
"Oh, it was too easy anyway."
George threw himself next to the redhead, letting his head rest on her shoulder and making her giggle quietly. "Who here feels like they have no idea what they're doing?" All the interns raised their hands. "I mean, are we supposed to be learning something? Because I don't feel like I'm learning anything."
"Except how not to sleep," Izzie complained, taking a sip of her coffee.
"This day sucks," Skylar announced
"It's like there's this wall. The attendings and residents are over there, being surgeons, and we are over here, being…" Cristina trailed off, not knowing what to say other than 'interns,' and that seemed pretty anticlimactic for her.
"Suturing, code-running, lab-delivering penis minders," Meredith finished her thought.
"I hate being an intern," Alex commented.
Dr. Bailey approached them, looking at them with a disapproving gaze. Suddenly, they all stood up, hurrying to get back to work before Bailey yelled at them.
Early the next morning, the five interns stood outside of the nursery, watching as the babies wiggled around in their spot. Alison had to be rushed to emergency surgery, but that was successful and even though the odds of her waking up weren't the most favorable, at least she could have the peace of mind knowing justice was going to be made.
Skylar sighed heavily, wiggling her finger at a little boy right in front of her. "They fix everything. They're like…cocaine or something.
Cristina snorted, shaking her head. "It's a hormonal thing, Red."
It was quiet for a moment before Meredith spoke up. "Fine, Izzie, George, you can move into the house with Sky and me." They both cheered, doing happy dances and inevitably making the redhead giggle.
"I can't believe you caved!" Said an excited Izzie.
"I can't believe I caved…" Meredith let out.
"I blame the babies, they make you toxic," Cristina shared.
Skylar ran out of the hospital doors, dashing to meet up with her friends. She slowed down when she reached her friends.
"Alison woke up," she announced, Meredith's smile widening and Izzie let out a squeal of excitement. George wrapped his arm around her shoulders, hugging her to his side. "She's talking to the police and then a psych consult will stay with her. Dr. Shepherd basically kicked me out, telling me to go home before I passed out."
George nodded, looking down at her. "You need to. You look like you won't even last the drive to the hotel."
Skylar snorted. "That's the whole point of this job, Georgie. Work until you can't, and then continue on."
He smiled, shaking his head as the five of them all walked toward their cars, laughing and joking. Skylar smiled at her friends. She had some pretty good people by her side and she'd helped a patient in need. And any day in which she helped someone heal was a good day.
Words: 4534
A/N:
Do you guys think I should do every episode of Grey's or should I skip some? I don't want it to get boring for you guys if it's just the same as the show and Skylar has no character arc.
Also, if you couldn't already tell, these relationships (at least the ones with Skylar) will be a slow burn. A very slow burn. But there will still be things between Skylar and other people.
Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to Review, Favorite, and Follow
