Chapter 1-

"Alright everyone, I have nothing else for you today," Professor Richard Webber says to all of us. He reaches down and picks up the stack of papers off his desk and holds them up.

"That must be our final," I whisper to Alex Karev.

"Yeah, and watch, you will end up with the highest grade like you always do. Making us all look bad," he retorts, bumping his elbow with mine. I just chuckle and turn my attention back to the front as our professor continues to talk to the class.

"I have finished grading all of your finals and I must say, I'm not too pleased with most of you. Only one person managed to get the highest grade and the rest of you…well let's just say, you need to study better. So once you receive your test, you may leave and we will see most of you all back here in January…Wilson, Karev, Robbins..." He calls out. Alex and I gather our stuff and head up to collect our tests. "Not your best, Karev. Keep Studying. Robbins, nice work as always,"

"Thank you, Sir," I reply, taking my test from him. Alex and I walk out and head back towards our dorms. Our dormitories are co-ed, so somehow ended up in the same building and on the same floor.

"See, I told you that you got the highest grade, brainiac,"

"Well, you would be a brainiac too if you would just pick up a book and actually study for once, you big dumb jock," I deadpanned, giving him a slight shove.

"Books aren't my thing," He says, putting his arm around my shoulder, "besides, that's what I have you for. To make me look good,"

"You can't cheat your way thought college," I tell him, "You won't get very far in life if you cheat,"

"Watch me," He laughs, "So, what are your plans for Christmas? Are staying around campus?"

"Unfortunately, no. I have to fly to Seattle tomorrow. My brother and Teddy are expecting me to be home since I missed Thanksgiving," I tell him.

"Sounds like fun," he says.

"What about you? Any plans?"

"Nope. I'm staying here. Maybe see if I can get a little action from Jo. Besides, I would rather be here instead of home with my crazy mother. Who evidently went off her meds again, from what Aaron told me,"

"At least you have a mom, Karev. I'd rather have a crazy mother than not have one at all," I say sadly. My parents died in a car accident a few days before my high school graduation.

"I'm sorry, Robbins..I didn't mean…" he tries to say as we stop in front of my dorm room.

"No, it's okay," I say to him, "Do what you need to do. I'm going to get some packing done," I unlock my door and disappear behind it, leaving Alex standing there. Inside, I dropped my bag down and grab my phone from my back pocket and dialed Teddy's number. It rang a few times, but she finally picked up.

"Hey," she greets, "Been waiting for your call,"

"Hey Teds, sorry it took so long. I had class. What's going on?"

"Nothing really. We're just getting things ready for your arrival. How was class?"

"Boring. It's the last day so we didn't do very much. But we did get our finals back today,"

"Ohh.." she says, sounding surprised, "How did you do?"

"I got an A+. Webber said only one person got the highest grade in the class and apparently it was me," I say excitedly.

"That's great, Zo. You know Tim is going to be proud of you when he finds out,"

"Yeah. Speaking of my brother, what's he doing?"

"He's getting your bedroom put back together for you. After you left for college, we rearranged it, but when you told us you were coming home, he got so excited and decided to change it back,"

"Oh, good," I say unenthusiastically, "Well just let him know that my flight leaves Indianapolis tomorrow at 5 and we should land around 10 p.m. as long as there is no delays or anything,"

"I will let him know. Have you guys gotten any snow,"

"Not yet. Thank God. Hopefully it holds off until after I leave," I say with a chuckle.

"Yeah, me too. But I will let you go so you can get some packing done. We will see you tomorrow. Love you,"

"Love you too. Bye," after I hung up with Teddy, I take a seat on my bed and let out long sigh. This going to be a little rough. Going back to Seattle. I haven't been back there since I left in August. It was like I had left that sad old town and never looked back. But can you blame me? I mean, I lost my parents in a car accident just days before I walked across the stage and then buried them the day after I graduated. I lay back on my pillow and close my eyes, trying to imagine how things would've been if they were still alive. A tear silently falls from my eye at the thought of them. Before I know it, I fall into a deep slumber.

"Come on, Zo, open it," Tim says to me.

"No, you do it," I say to him, trying to hand him the envelope.

"It's your acceptance letter. You should be the one to open it. I already had my chance. It's now your turn,"

"But I can't. What if it's not THAT letter. What if it's the letter saying 'Sorry, we have rejected your application, maybe next year,' letter,"

You will never know if you don't open it," he states.

"I can't, Tim." I say to him. I hold the letter in my shaky hands, trying to work up the courage to open it. I've been waiting for months to hear back from them and now, just days before graduation, I am finally hearing from them.

"If you don't open it, then I will tell Mom and Dad when they get home,"

"Oh, so you're going to tattle on me?"

"If I have to," he says with a smug grin on his face.

"What are we, 12? Who tattles anymore,"

"I'll be the one tattling if you don't open that damn thing,"

"Fine, I'll open it, geez," I say to him. I turn around where my back was facing him, and I slowly open the envelope that's in my hand. I let out a deep sigh as I read the words written.

"So…" He asks impatiently. I turn back around to face him, "Damnit, Zo. Tell me, did you get in or not?"

The look I had on my face turned into a full smile, "I got in," I squeal. I jumped into his arms and wrapped my arms and legs around him.

"See, I knew you could do it. I knew you would get in. You need to have a little more faith in yourself," he says, putting me down, "I'm going to go finish dinner so that way we all can eat when the rents get home," He leaves me standing there in the living room, still smiling like a fool.

An hour later, there was still no word from our parents, so we decided to go ahead and eat without them. Once we had finished, as we were cleaning up, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," I say, placing the dishes in the dish drainer. I walked to the front door and opened it. Two men in blue suits stood before me.

"Umm..hi…can I help you Gentlemen?"

"Is this the Robbins residence?"

"Yes, it is,"

"Arizona, who is it?" I hear Tim call from the kitchen.

"Two cops," I yell back. Before I knew it, Tim was standing next to me.

"Can I help you, Officers?"

"Are you the children of Barbara and Colonel Daniel Robbins?"

"Yes, we are. What's this about?"

"Mr. Robbins, do you mind if we step in and talk?"

"Yeah, sure," he says to them. We step aside to they can come in. We usher them into the room and take a seat on the couch across from them, "Now, can you tell us what this is about?"

"Mr. Robbins…"

"Tim.." Tim says, cutting the one officer off.

"My apologies. Tim, we are here because there has been an accident…" the officer starts.

"An accident? What kind of an accident?"

"Well, it was a car accident. Apparently, the driver from the first car had been drunk and ran a red light and hit the other car head on. The couple in the car died from blunt force trauma due to the impact.

"Okay, so what does that have to do with us?" Tim asks, confused. He turns to look at me, then back at the officer. My stomach started to knot, and I got that sudden feeling that I knew where this conversation was going, but just waiting for them to come out and say it.

"We identified the couple as Barbara and Daniel Robbins," there it was. Just what I had expected to hear them say. My mind went blank and my whole body stiffened. All of a sudden, I felt like I couldn't breathe. Before I knew it, I fell on the couch and landed on my knees, my hands covering my face. Tim grabbed ahold of me. He wrapped his arms around me and held on to me as I sobbed.

I jolted awake and sat straight up in my bed. Tears stung my eyes as my chest started to heave.

"Fuck!" I gasped out. I looked at the clock on my phone. It read 10 p.m. I had been asleep for nearly six and half hours. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep after that dream, so I grabbed my car keys off the desk rushed out the door.

*This is a rewrite! I will not be continuing the original. Chapters will be updated and redone. Hope you enjoy!*