Chapter 1 - The longest 48 hours
It was an early start to the day, like any day. But this wasn't just any day for first-year surgical intern Margaret Grey, this was her first day. Her first day of getting to experience the thrill and adrenaline rush that her mother had sworn by when it came to surgery. She sat up in bed, gently tapping her alarm clock to turn it up before she would hear her older sister wake up with a groan. Margaret known to everyone around her was simply just Maggie but today she would be Dr. Grey and with that, a smile beamed across her face.
As she jumped out of bed ready to start the day Maggie reached for her robe and headed toward the bathroom. As she passed by Meredith her older sister's room Maggie immediately noticed something was up. As she peered in the open door she could see the bed was made just it was the previous day which meant that Meredith was either passed out in a bar somewhere or with another guest as her mother used to call them. Quickly hopping into the shower to wash away any first-day jitters she was yet to realize her sister was downstairs. Once she had hopped out of the shower and put on her robe Meredith quickly ran in. Maggie could soon hear the front door shutting and she lifted her eyebrow at Meredith. "So he's why you bailed on the meet and greet last night?". Meredith smirked at her "You know if you ask any more questions we're going to be late." Maggie laughed "showers all yours Mer, and boy do you need one". "Hey!" Mer shouted, "you know being your older sister still gives me a valid reason to whack you now." Maggie smiled as she left the room "alright Mer, but you better not make me late on our first day or roles are gonna be reversed."
With that, the door quickly shut and the shower started running again. As Maggie got ready she began to think of all the possibilities that today might have. Would people question her age and ability like that had done in all the previous years? Would families trust the advice of a 22 year old fresh out of med school individual? Would she make her mother proud for once? Ellis had always been a touchy subject for both of the girls, and it had only gotten worse when they both started med school, especially when they were learning about the grey method which had her mother's face plastered on an entire page of her book. "I thought going here would get us away from that!" she turned to Meredith who had already begun christening the page of the book with devil horns and red eyes before laughing. "Maggie! Come on now you're making me late!" Meredith exclaimed. Maggie soon rose from her dresser grabbing her belongings before Meredith shouted: " and don't forget to lock the door!". While driving in the car Maggie turned towards her sister, she had their mother's hair along with her eyes but hers were not as cold. "Did you eat?". "Huh" Maggie replied before snapping out of her daze. "And I thought I didn't sleep.. here take this." Maggie reached her hand across as Meredith handed her an apple. "Thanks, Mer" she replied. Meredith turned to smile at her sister before looking back on the road. Seattle Grace hospital, she hadn't been there in almost 23 years yet as she was nearing the building she felt as if she was five again wandering the hallways with her father waiting for her mother to get out of surgery. Maggie was lucky she thought, dealing with Ellis while she was still a resident was never easy. Of course, she had her father to care for her and a nanny throughout the day but it was never the same. She was the young girl who yearned for her mother to play dollies with, to cry into her shoulder when her numerous boyfriends broke up with her but Meredith never had that with Ellis, as a child, a teenager and now even an adult. Throughout her years Meredith always looked out for Maggie and ensured she always had someone there for her to pick up the pieces, someone that Meredith had always yearned for. "Wow," Maggie said gasping at the sight of the hospital, " Mer you needa pinch me now because this feels like a dream". Meredith chuckled as her sister's eyes widened "can you believe we're here like were here!". "Yes, Maggie" Meredith replied with a soft smile " I would hope that the four years in medical school would mean something." Maggie looked at her sister still smiling and then back at the hospital before getting out of the car. "So innocent," Meredith thought to herself, Maggie in her mind was still the 13-year-old high school junior who got pants in the quad while her and her best friend Sadie slammed a jock into the lockers. "Come on were seriously gonna be late now."
Meredith and Maggie snuck in the back door of the OR as Chief Webber gave the infamous speech that he gives to all first-year interns before they all headed for the locker rooms. Maggie took in the smell of disinfectant that came with the hospital smiling. "Does she always smile or is there something up with her?" A young Asian woman said to her sister. Meredith chuckled "you're Cristina right?", Cristina gave a small nod. "Which resident do you have, I have Bailey." "The Nazi!" Meredith exclaimed, "us too" Maggie chimed in before introducing herself " Hi I'm Maggie, you're interested in cardio too right?". Meredith looked up at Maggie confused before Maggie laughed "You'd have known if you stayed and introduced yourself last night." Cristina laughed at the two while pulling back her hair but before Meredith could say another word a young guy just a little older than her chimed in " You got the nazi too!? At least well be tortured together." Maggie looked at the man confused before he introduced himself as George O'Malley, and then again her face turned as he detailed what her sister was wearing. Meredith and Cristina looked at each other confused and smiling before George defended himself out "oh I'm not gay". Soon they all left the locker room before heading to the nurse's station each taking in the so-called Nazi. Soon a blonde woman ran up behind them all confident that Dr. Bailey wasn't as bad as her reputation stated she was. "The model, I'm guessing" Cristina stated as she looked at the woman unapprovingly. Maggie watched and Meredith cringed as the woman eagerly introduced herself to the so-called Nazi, " Hi, I'm Isobel Stevens, but everybody calls me Izzie." Bailey soon cut her off as she looked at all the interns uninterested and began explaining her five rules. When they reached an on-call room Maggie nudged Meredith as a joke remembering an incident seven years ago when Ellis had caught Meredith and an Intern in an on-call room before reading Meredith the riot act and having the intern suspended. Meredith rolled her eyes at her sister and then their pagers began to ring.
Everything had happened so quickly from bringing the patient down from the helipad to an exam room. Eventually, Maggie looked up after their patient had settled and there he was. The cardio god Dr. Preston Burke, a man who worked magic with a heart in his hands. "Shotgun" was all she heard from his mouth, knowing that this meant every test in the book Maggie looked down at the poor teenage girl who was still suffering from something they had yet to figure out. As Meredith, George and Cristina were all put to work on Katie's case it left her and Dr. Stevens to rock paper scissors it out on who got to do rectal exams and who got to talk to update the young girl's parents once they arrived. Eventually, Maggie won and Izzie's face drained white knowing this was going to be a long day. A few hours later all the interns gathered at a table soon Cristina raised everyone's eyebrows "Do you know Meredith and her sister are inbred?". "Like its uncommon to be a doctor's child around here". " No George like royally inbred, their mother is Ellis Grey". Izzie's jaw dropped while George still looked confused "who's that?". Cristina rolled her eyes at him before mocking his choice of med school, as the woman continued expressing the pressure of being that royally inbred George stuffed his face to muffle what he was saying "They're coming" he said as Izzie and Cristina looked at the two girls with awe in their eyes. As Meredith sat down complaining about her patient Maggie quickly chimed in " Its only child syndrome Mer, you'd be the same had I not popped out 5 years after you". "Shut up" Mer chuckled before looking at the other interns, "so how about you guys, did ye find out anything about her?" Cristina laughed " We didn't but I'm sure Izzie found out enough about hers." Izzie's face turned before all the interns began laughing at the fact Izzie has spent the last couple of hours contemplating on why she decided to pursue medicine. Eventually, Dr. Burke arrived at their table and announced that Dr. O'Malley would be the first of his year to scrub in with him this evening for an appendectomy. All the eyes shifted towards him and everyone was instantly jealous of the mopheaded boy named George. Meredith had finished lunch and gone to check on Katie but she was met with her parents sitting at her bedside looking for more answers. She quickly excused herself from the room to look for Dr. Bailey who would tell her what to do. When she found her bailey was running her eyes over charts with Maggie beside her ready to head to the pit. Bailey pointed Meredith in the direction of Dr. Shepherd and Maggie soon saw the color drain from her sister's face before Bailey dragged her to a skills lab where other interns that weren't assigned to a case would be practicing sutures. "Ohhh she definitely slept with him," Maggie thought out loud. "Excuse me!" Dr. Bailey said, "Uh nothing, just excited to practice suturing before I get to try them in the pit one day!" exclaimed Maggie. " Alright, Grey well grab a seat with the rest, I'll come to find you if another case pops up." Maggie walked into the room and sat beside Izzie who was also not assigned to any case before the bored stricken attending began.
Eventually came the hour of Georges surgery and all interns vacated the skills lab before migrating to the gallery in the OR. Here bets were made against George with a jealous Maggie even chiming in 50 bucks that he missed the appendix entirely and somehow stabs the caecum. Meredith looked at her sister disapprovingly before defending George, but this was no use as the boy had botched the simple surgery moments later. Eventually, they were all sitting in the basement of the hospital laughing at George now dubbed "007" as Meredith ran to a 911 call from Katie Bryce's room. She cried wolf Meredith exclaimed as she came back ten minutes later. "Teenagers" sighed Cristina, "Privileged teenagers". Meredith took a seat beside Maggie and smiled before whispering " Do you think mom would kill me if I went to jail for killing a teenager?" Maggie let out a quiet laugh before saying "Well you almost didn't survive the pink hair experiment of '93 so more than likely yeah." The two girls smiled as George eventually fell off the wheelchair he was fiddling with and from there went on with their day. As Meredith was stuck with Katie Bryce for the day, the other interns were left to monitor Dr. Burkes post-ops, and update patient charts. It was much later when Maggie met up with Meredith and from what she had heard her sister was not having the best of luck. "I thought you were kidding when you mentioned killing someone!" Maggie quietly exclaimed to her sister in the conference room they had been paged too. "That was an honest mistake" Meredith stated with a look of guilt in her eyes. Maggie smiled at her sister to try comfort her as Cristina stared eagerly at a door waiting for someone to appear. Eventually, Dr. Shepherd strolled in with a worried expression on his face and began discussing his current situation with Katie Bryce. "Door banger?" Maggie asked inquisitively, Meredith's eyes rolled as Maggie whispered back "Well as long as Ellis doesn't find you two in an on-call room together I'm all for it, I mean the hair, the eyes, now that's a valid excuse for missing the mixer." Meredith let out a sigh and once Dr. Shepherd had left the room she thumped Maggie on the shoulder. "Ow!" she exclaimed grabbing her shoulder in pain. "Come on grab a chart" Mer stated, "let's find the others and see what we can find out about Katie in the library". In the library, Meredith sat with Cristina as Izzie sat with Maggie and they all worked silently, except for Mer and Cristina. "Why won't you work with Shepherd," Cristina asked confused. Meredith who had her eyes glued to a book started stating all the possibilities as Cristina studied her before she blurted it out "We had sex" Cristina unfazed by this asked, "What about an aneurysm?... was he any good?". Once again Meredith had ignored this before sirens went off in her mind "She fell.. a while ago she was competing and she fell, Katie fell!" The two women ran out of the library before Maggie and Izzie closed their books, " guess we're not gonna see a human brain today huh?" said Izzie disappointed. Maggie put her hands in her head " I mean you got to see the bottom end of a human that's not far off the top end." "Stop.. just I finally learned how to keep my lunch down... please." The women giggled before standing up to find Bailey and something to do.
Eventually back in the basement Izzie and Maggie were sitting on a gurney before Cristina glared at her before sitting down. Eventually, Meredith came around the corner but before she could open her mouth Cristina beat her to it which lead to her judging Meredith for sleeping with Derek and being privileged to have Ellis as a mother who could get her a golden ticket to anywhere when it came to medicine. Meredith soon retreated and Maggie could see those words struck a chord, like anything related to Ellis. "You know what screw you!" Maggie said as she hopped off the gurney before facing Cristina, " You don't know what that woman was-" Maggie bit her tongue before continuing not giving Cristina the satisfaction of an argument about their so-called privileged lifestyle. "Just screw you," Maggie said once again as she ran after Meredith. When she found her, she was in Katie's room with Dr. Shepherd and knew this wasn't a good time to console her. Eventually, Bailey caught eyes with her "Grey! Ready to practice those sutures yet!?" A smile spread across Maggie's face "Of course Dr. Bailey." After spending time suturing two drunks in the ER Maggie heard a man shouting across the room "can anybody name the common causes of post-op fever!" Maggie who was too preoccupied getting her patient to stay still as she finished suturing his left forearm "Ow!". "The area was numbed before I began" Maggie sighed. " I know it just looks sore" the drunk man slurred as Maggie yet again heard someone speak up. This time she recognized the voice, it was Mer's voice "Wind, water, wound, walking, wonder drugs." Maggie laughed to herself as she remembered an old nurse back in Boston would teach them about surgeries and what to expect in post-op patients while their mother was in surgery. The common causes of post-op fever she had taught to them as a poem. Maggie smiled yet again before Meredith noticed her behind the curtains and walked over to her. "Did the chief just say he knew mom?" Meredith laughed "you heard all that?". "I mean when the chief says you look like Mom you can't deny it." Maggie finished the last suture and looked to Meredith, " I have to get this guy on a banana bag and then talk to Bailey about a suitable time to discharge him but I might be able to see you scrub in." However, all of this ran straight out of Meredith's ears as she replayed what Maggie had said before that "Did the chief just say he knew mom?". Meredith thought to herself and then looked at Maggie. It was impossible, at the time she and her mother were still in Seattle, the chief was and still is married. Plus at the time he and Ellis were both surgical junkies she thought to herself.. they'd have no time for anything romantic, would they? Meredith thought to herself more before Maggie said her name louder "Mer!". "Ow," the drunk man groaned once again. Meredith snapped out of it "Um, yeah, I'll look out for you, I'll probably only be getting a closeup view anyway don't worry about it" she said with a smile before leaving.
The idea of the Chief being Maggie's actual father had run through her mind as she walked to the OR, "it's impossible" she stated. "This? Never. It's like a game of operation, just go for the part you want without hitting the part you don't want to hit" said Derek with a smile. "Sorry Dr. Shepherd, I was thinking about some other case in the pit," Meredith said with half a smile "I'll see you in there". Maggie eventually untethered herself from the drunk men in the pit and with Dr. Bailey's approval, she sat for the second hour of the three-hour-long surgery watching her sister look happier than she had ever done before like she too would soon when she got her chance in an OR. At the end of the day, Maggie was finishing updating Bailey's charts as she watched Cristina sit and hopefully apologize to her sister. She watched the woman she saw as more of a mother figured give Cristina a smiling goodbye before turning her eyes to Dr. Shepherd, and in an instant, Maggie knew her intern year was going to be a long one.