A/N Grey's is not mine! I only own Zoe :)
Chapter Two
"Who is she?" Christina asked impatiently in the changing room the next day. Her hands furiously pushing her hair back into a tie.
"Who is who? What's going on?" Izzie asked, looking between the two.
The two stared at Meredith who just raised an eyebrow at the two.
"Well?!" Christina exclaimed with her eyes wide and crazy, "Sharing is caring!"
"Yeah! Come on Mer!"
"Um what's going on?" George asked quietly, staring between the three dumbly.
"There's a new Shepherd in our presence who is walking around with the Chief and looking like she owns the place and Meredith isn't sharing!" Christina yelled, slapping Meredith on the arm.
"Ow!" Meredith shouted, wincing. "It's his sister. I don't think they get along. She's walking around with the Chief? Is she working here now?"
"Is she replacing Hahn? Please say she's replacing Hahn."
"That chick doesn't look that hardcore. Probably a nurse." Alex offered.
"Maybe the Shepherd genius genes went to her and she's the new head of cardio-"
"Dude she looks 16." Alex butted in.
"She could be a super genius." George stated mildly, but it went ignored.
"She isn't 16." Meredith offered with a dismissive tone. She really didn't want to talk about this.
Her three friends just stared at her, expecting more information.
"That's all I know." Meredith said. "Derek's never talked about her. Ever. Seriously."
The stares continued.
"I heard someone call her the Black Widow." She offered trying to appease her friends.
"You can actually call me Zoe." A new voice came from the door. "Or Doctor Shepherd. As I am your superior."
The five turned to the doorway where Doctor Webber was standing with Zoe Shepherd.
The Chief coughed and stared at them with that disappointed eye squint.
"This is Doctor Zoe Shepherd. Who is now joining us as the new trauma attending." Webber announced.
"Any relation to Doctor Derek Shepherd?" Izzie asked innocently with a tilt of her head that wasn't fooling anyone.
Zoe raised an eyebrow at her, "Derek is my brother." She then smirked. "And that's the last time I answer a question you obviously know the answer to."
Izzie shrunk back and Webber attempted to hide his smile.
Christina practically leaped forward to kiss ass.
"Doctor Christina Yang, Doctor Shepherd." Christina offered her hand and quickly informed Zoe in a rush of words, "First year resident. I've spent most of my time in cardiothoracic surgery but I am interested in trauma. I have a Ph.D in Biochemistry from University of California and an M.D from Stanford."
Zoe's smirk only grew in size, "Pleasure to meet you Doctor Yang."
She sounded genuine.
"I don't remember seeing your name in any medical journals?" Christina asked testing the waters of She-Shepherd's possible genius.
Zoe smiled then, "Oh that's because I'm not in any."
Christina looked as if someone had run over her puppy. If Christina liked puppies.
Christina looked as if someone took her scalpel.
Everything looked so…unfamiliar. She had been overseas for years and the medical tools hadn't been this advanced. Most of the time she had very little to work with and had to use unorthodox methods. She really needed to brush up before she scrubbed in.
"What are you doing in here?"
Zoe twirled around like a kid who was found with their hand in a cookie jar. She twirled around to see a pretty Latino woman standing in the doorway of the Operating Room with crossed arms and an unimpressed look.
The girl looked tough. Zoe appreciated that.
"Oh sorry," Zoe said with a smile and offered her hand. "I'm Zoe Shepherd. I'm the new attending here. Trauma."
"Callie Torres. Ortho." She responded but her face still held a mistrustful look.
"Ortho. Nice."
The mistrustful look stayed.
"You guys really don't like newbies here, huh?" Zoe pointed out with a chuckle.
Callie flinched as if she just realized her rudeness and thought better of it. She smiled apologetically, "Sorry."
Zoe shrugged, "I'm used to it. I'm always the new one. Try being one of the only few white people in the Congo. And a female."
"You worked in the Congo?" Callie questioned slowly with her eyes widening and her tone clearly appreciative and interested.
"Had to get away." Zoe responded dismissively as she shrugged one shoulder, not wanting to get into it.
"Hell of a vacation." Callie said shoulders finally relaxed and her interested eyes examining the messy haired brunette in front of her. She heard Shepherd's sister was in town but she didn't know the she was kind of…badass.
"I was in the Peace Corps. Botswana." Callie offered almost as a peace offering.
Zoe was now looking at Callie appreciatively.
"So…Trauma? You must be an adrenaline junkie."
Zoe let out a short laugh, throwing her head back slightly, "Am I ever. I get off on chaos. The unpredictability. The adrenaline. When the doors open and you have no idea what is going to come through, and the blood rushes to your head and it feels like your heart is going to beat out of your chest. Its almost better than sex."
There was an awkward pause.
"Sorry…sometimes I over share…I have a lot of siblings…I think there's some sort of correlation there."
Callie laughed. Hard. Badass, funny and blunt was something she appreciated in a girl.
"So Webber showed me around earlier…want to give me the real tour and distract me from boring paperwork?" Zoe asked hopefully with a sheepish look.
Callie smiled brightly.
"So…" Mark began, looking at Derek hesitantly as the other dark haired surgeon stabbed his salad aggressively, "she looks good. A little skinny-"
"We're not talking about it. We're not talking about her." Derek interrupted impatiently and dismissively.
"You should probably change that game plan." Mark said plainly as he saw the littlest Shepherd come into view with Torres trailing behind her.
"Hello!" Zoe greeted cheerfully as her lunch tray clattered to the table.
Derek rolled his eyes and refused to look at his sister, "I'm not doing this." He started to gather up his things.
"I'm not going away." Zoe said in a teasing, sing song voice.
"And the nightmare continues." He said gruffly as he stalked off to the other side of the cafeteria.
Zoe's façade dropped for a second as she watched him take his long and angry strides.
"It's…" Mark began and in unison Mark and Zoe, looking at each other in a strange sad understanding said, "Derek."
Callie watched the exchange with pinched eyebrows and suspicious eyes.
"So I see you met our local badass orthopedic surgeon who drips of sensuality." Mark said, changing the subject and shooting Callie a flirtatious look.
"I did and she told me all of the torrid Seattle Grace details and stories."
"Oh all of them?" Mark asked lowly with a raise of his eyebrows.
Callie, with a clenched jaw, kicked him hard under the table. Zoe noticed but didn't ask any questions.
"So…tell me about this Meredith girl. I met her earlier I think." Zoe asked. "Nancy is still calling her the 12 year old intern."
"You talked to Nancy?"
Zoe opened her mouth to respond but didn't get a chance as Derek had come over and roughly pulled her away by her shoulder.
"I like her!" Callie announced cheerfully as they watched male Shepherd pull female Shepherd away.
"You need to leave." Derek said firmly as he shut the door to the on-call room.
"I'm not going anywhere." Zoe responded taking a defensive stance with crossed arms.
"Why are you here?"
Zoe shook her head in disbelief but calmly replied, "You keep asking that question Derek but I've already answered it."
"Lets get something clear here, Zoe. We are not going to be okay. We will not be okay."
She just stared at him. Not saying anything.
"I am NEVER going to be okay with you."
"Listen I know I was gone for a long time and I didn't say goodbye but-"
Derek shouted and Zoe flinched at the anger, "This is more than the past 7 years! We have not been okay for a very long time." He stopped and inhaled sharply, looking down at his feet and spit out angrily, "You married that - that man and you-"
"Can you look at me?" Zoe said softly as she relaxed her position and attempted to catch his eye.
Derek didn't reply so she repeated it louder, "Can you look at me please? Derek?"
"I can't." He said, turning his back to her. The anger had washed away and now it was replaced with sadness. "I can't even look at you."
There was a beat.
"I don't know why you are here. Go home. Wherever that is for you." Derek said quietly and for some reason the low tone of his voice that was laced with hurt pained her more than the yelling and screaming ever had. "You're not getting my approval. We're never going to be okay."
"Derek-" Zoe protested brokenly and weakly, her heart clenched. She hated this. She didn't care what people thought of her but this was Derek. Derek.
And she had hurt him.
"Find some other act to clear your consciousness."
"How was your first day?" Mark asked, lengthening his strides in his attempt to catch up with Zoe.
The brunette laughed tiredly, "Lots and lots of paperwork, policy manuals, some time in the skills lab…and one very large gut wrenching fight with Derek."
She was so over this day.
The way Mark was looking at her made her feel uncomfortable. Naked almost.
"What?" She asked in a clipped tone. She hated people staring at her. Absolutely despised it.
"Nothing." He replied with a shake of his head.
They were quiet as they stood outside of the hospital.
"Am I wasting my time here, Mark?" She asked quietly almost ashamed to ask the question.
He looked at her then and was shocked at her sadness. This wasn't the Zoe he knew.
The Zoe he knew didn't show weakness or sadness. God even when she had shown up at Derek's doorstep and informed them John had died there hadn't even been a tear in sight. All those times he stared at her across the dinner table and noticed the swollen cheekbone, the dusting of a bruise around the eye, or the too plump bottom lip there hadn't been a sign of weakness.
The Zoe he knew never once cried in her childhood. Not once.
"Listen, I know you-"
"Cut the crap. You don't know me." Zoe spit out fiercely with frustration as she rounded on him, green eyes blazing.
"Yes I do." He said defensively, looking at her like she was an idiot.
"You don't know me Mark. I'm…I'm Derek's little sister to you!" She was waving her arms around as if that would increase his understanding, "You guys were off to college before I was even 10 years old. When I was a teenager, I was Little Miss Type A and I only saw you on holidays. And then, I was the 18 year old who married the 30 year old on a whim. I was the screw up, the great disappointment."
"You-"
"Don't deny it." Zoe cut him off, poking him in the chest as she continued on firmly, "Amelia may have been the drug addict but I was the topic and person that was always avoided at the family events. I was a pariah! I made my Mom cry…a lot. Then I became the Stepford wife. God, I was such a bitch." She scoffed at herself in disgust.
She continued, her voice softer now but still just as fierce, "And then John died and I went away. I am just figuring out who I am. So don't you dare say that you know me. Because you don't. Because I am not Little Miss Type A or the Stepford Wife anymore."
Mark didn't say anything. What could he say? But he had a point to make.
"Fine. Maybe I don't know you." He said placidly as he stared her in the eye. "But if you're wondering if you're wasting your time…and I know because I've wasted a lot of my time…ask yourself if it's worth it. If it's worth staying here and fighting for Derek…do it. Stay. If not then leave."
Thank you so much for reading and for those of you who reviewed or added me to your alerts or favourites! It means so much. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.