Chapter One: The New Guy

A faint ringing of an alarm can be heard in the apartment of cardiothoracic surgeon Meredith Grey. She groans a little and rolls over in an attempt to wake herself up enough to turn her alarm off.

"Shit!" she mumbles, jerked out of her sleep-induced haze, *7:45 AM* states the blinking display on her nightstand.

"Shit, shit, shit, I'm going to be late" she groans to herself as she forces herself into the bathroom for a shower.

Today was a big day. For a few weeks now there have been speculations going around at Seattle Grace hospital. Apparently, some 'new guy' was hired to take over the neurosurgery department.

The chief of surgery – Richard Webber – had pulled her apart a couple of days prior, requesting Meredith to show the new surgeon around and take him under her wing. She had immediately agreed, seeing this as an opportunity to show the Chief her leadership and mentor skills.


Truth be told, Meredith was hoping to eventually be the first female chief at Seattle Grace.

After taking a quick shower, she carefully picks her outfit for today. A burgundy suit, with a white collared blouse underneath, leaving the two top buttons open.

As she goes about her morning routine, she takes another peek at the alarm clock. She really has to get going. She runs out grabbing all of her things, including heels, a coat, and some breakfast. She'll finish getting ready in her car, no time to lose.

Meredith quickly parks her car and practically sprints into the hospital, making her way to the elevator. She notices one other man standing in the confined space, looking down at his phone, clearly busy. He looks around her age, maybe a couple of years older.

She doesn't get a proper glance at the rest of his appearance, however, as she's distracted by the elevator doors opening.

She continues her sprint toward the Chief's office. "Dr. Grey, do you have a minute?" she hears Patricia, the Chief's secretary calling out to her.

"Patricia, not now, I'm already late for my meeting with Chief Webber" Meredith states, continuing her stride.

"Dr. Grey, it's serious, can you come to look at one of your patients' records, please? It will just take a second" Patricia says in an attempt to stop the stubborn and clearly distressed woman.

"Okay fine, I'm already late though, so can you please let Chief Webber know that I'll be out in a sec?" She asks Patricia, taking the seat at her desk.

"I already told him, now if you'll excuse me I'll be back in a bit," Patricia says while walking away.


A few minutes pass by, as Meredith goes over the records Patricia asked her to look at. She is shaken out of her concentration by a hand waving in front of her face.

She looks up and sees the handsome stranger from the elevator before her. She studies his appearance carefully; he's a little taller than her, with lightly moussed dark raven curls, a slightly crooked nose, and piercing blue eyes.

"Wow he's certainly not bad to look at," she thinks to herself, being interrupted by his voice mid-thought.

"Hi, you're the secretary, right? Can you point me towards Dr. Webber's office?" he asks calmly.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" she asks, slightly offended by his assumption.

"That's none of your business, now can you please point me to Dr. Webber's office? I'm already late" He asks, giving her a somewhat arrogant grin.

"Never mind, I guess looks really aren't all that matters, what an ass," she thinks to herself while emitting a scoff at him.

"Down the hall, to your right," She says, her tone cold and defensive.

She watches him as he follows the instructions she had provided him with. She's quite stunned by the rude interaction with the stranger. She finishes up and makes her way down to the Chief's office, hoping not to run into the arrogant man.


She knocks and opens the door upon hearing a firm "Come in!" transcending from the office.

"Dr. Grey, please come in, you are both already late" the Chief states as Meredith's eyes wander, seeing a second person in the office with him.

Meredith opens her mouth in shock as she lays eyes on the stranger, who has now stood up from his chair, facing her.

It's the guy she had seen twice already, the second time being less pleasant than the first one. She gazes at him frozen in place, his expression as surprised as hers.

"Dr. Meredith Grey, this is Dr. Derek Shepherd, our new head of neurosurgery" Richard states as he watches in anticipation of their reaction.

"Are you fucking kidding me, this is the 'new guy'?" Meredith thinks to herself.

A few seconds of silence go by, until the man parallel to her, reaches his hand out to her.

"Dr. Grey, it's a pleasure meeting you" he states, without breaking their eye contact.

"Dr. Shepherd, I'm sure most people would say the same about you" she responds, taking his hand and shaking it quickly but firmly.

"I'm sure they would," he says with a small grin.

"Then again, I'm not most people" she replies, clearly unamused by his antics.

They sit in the chairs on the other side of the Chief's desk, keeping as much distance as they can.

"So, Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Grey here will show you around the hospital, and take you along with her for today. She'll help you to get properly set-up and settled in" Chief Webber says, feeling the slight tension lingering in the room.

"Chief, I have a lot of cases today, I'm sure that Dr. Shepherd doesn't want to spend all day tagging along with me" she replies, trying to sound as friendly as she can.

"No, I'm honored to spend the day with you Dr. Grey, I don't mind" she grinds her teeth at his statement.

"Well, it's settled then, don't let me keep you any longer," Richard says, showing them both an enthusiastic grin.


After they exit the office, they walk a couple of minutes in complete silence.

"I'm sorry for assuming that you were the secretary," Derek says, breaking the tense silence first.

"Save your apologies, I don't care" Meredith snaps back, making their way towards his new office, which is apparently next to hers.

"Great, there goes my peace and quiet" she states to herself.

They resume their previous silence while Meredith gives him a tour of the hospital.

"So, tell me something about yourself," he asks carefully observing her while they make their way back to their offices. She stops dead in her tracks and turns to face him, their bodies now only being a couple of inches apart.

"Look, let's not do this" she states locking into his gaze. "Damnit, he is very handsome," she thinks, frustrated.

"What do you mean by 'this'?" he asks confused.

"This! The whole getting to know each other, I don't like guys like you, so let's just agree to work professionally with one another" she says impatiently.

"You don't even know me! How can you hate me already?" he replies with a slight chuckle.

"I don't have to know you and I don't want to know you" she responds in a cold tone. He only chuckles and says "Are you sure about that? I'm someone you have to know to love".

"Really?" she responds, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yes," he responds, giving her a soft grin.

"So if I know you, I'll love you huh?" she says still unamused.

"Definitely," he says.

"Wow, you really are full of yourself aren't you?" Meredith says with a scowl.

"I'm sorry?" Derek asks, his smile slowly fading.

"You come in here and act like an ass to a stranger and now you're trying to make amends because you know who I am; you are full of yourself," Meredith says grabbing her purse and jacket from the office.

"I- I already said I was sorry for being rude to you.." Derek says with a frown.

"And I said that I don't care, now if you'll get out of my way, I'm going home. Goodnight Dr. Shepherd" Meredith says and she makes her way past a clearly confused but intrigued Derek Shepherd.

So this is my first ever chapter to my first ever story. I have so many more ideas as to where I wanna take this story so I'd appreciate it If y'all all let me know what u think about it. Also, I know this is a relatively short chapter. The further we dive into the story, the longer I'll make the chapters