Hey, update time! The character profiles were just an introduction while I wrote about the actual story. This chapter, the equivalent of a pilot for new sereis, so read up!
Not that italics are Eli narrarating in a Grey's Anatomy fashion like Merideth does at the beginning and end of every episode. Just so that you guys can know what's going on!
Enjoy!
Pilot
You never know what life's going to throw at you… One day you could be a millionaire and the next you can be homeless, bankrupt. If you don't understand why this happens then you don't need to; no one knows why life has made a habit of throwing things at you that you have no use for.
But the only thing you can ever take condolence in is that sometimes, sometimes, like an angry wife throwing random things at her cheating husband while she's throwing him out of the house, you may just catch something that you can use, something you need; something you can love.
Don't ask why, don't try to get a refund, just take it and go…
"I'm going out, grandma!" she called, slinging her coat over her shoulder, waiting for the old woman's reply.
It came accompanied by a few hacking coughs. "That's fine, dear," Ellen said from her rocking chair, sounding old and feeble, "You go on and celebrate now…"
Eli peeked into the living room, a look of worry etched on her face. "Are you sure, grandma…? I could stay… I know that you don't like being alone, plus you have to take care of Stu and-,"
"Eli," Ellen said sternly, eyes opening a bit more than normal, "You have just been accepted into one of the best hospitals in the country as a surgical intern," her grandmother pronounced every syllable with grace, making Eli feel like a little girl again, "If that is not worth going out over, then I do not know what is."
Eli bit her lip. "But grandma-,"
"But nothing," interrupted Ellen, frail hand raising and wagging her finger at her, "I will not have my beautiful, intelligent and young granddaughter waste away taking care of an old bird like me… Besides, doctors keep horrible hours, dear; I may as well get used to dealing with things without you here…"
Eli finally sighed in resignation and nodded reluctantly. "Fine, grandma… just take care, okay? Call if you need anything… My phone number's on the table, so is Stu's doctor's and your doctor's, so just pick up the phone and call if-,"
"Eli, I am not a child," Ellen huffed, "I have lived more than three times than you have and can take care of myself and a well-behaved," Ellen raised her voice, and the noise coming from the bedroom ceased faster than Eli ever could make it stop, "ten year old boy… Now, go on, your friends are waiting…"
She hated to leave them… they were her responsibility after all…
Eli nodded and made her way outside where her friends were waiting in their car, honking loud enough to wake the dead.
She waved at them and locked the door tight, then scurried down the sidewalk to where they waited, screaming at the top of their lungs as she opened the door and got in.
The fiery redhead at the wheel raised her hand in what appeared to be defeat. "Designated driver," she groaned, "I lost at paper-rock scissors…"
"Hello to you too, Ann," Eli laughed, hugging her friend from the backseat, then turning to the short-haired brunette sitting next to her, "Hi Lu!"
She and Lumina hugged, and after they separated and Ann floored it and got going, Lumina screamed over the radio. "You and I, my dear, are getting wasted tonight!" she cried, dancing in tune with the music, Gwen Stefani's 'The Sweet Escape'.
Ann could've turned green with envy as she watched her friends dance at the prospect of drinking. She herself had been saddled with driving and watching as they enjoyed themselves.
It took nothing but fifteen minutes to get to the club they had been planning on going to and Ann found a parking space right in front of the entrance where a line from the door to around the block had formed.
They got out and trotted their way over to the bouncer, who looked at them incredulously. "It's my friend's here," Eli waved as Lu spoke to the guard, "Last night of freedom. How about you let us in…?"
The guard looked at Eli with a grin. "You getting married? Girls that are getting married shouldn't go to a club filled with all those temptations flying around…"
Eli shook her head glumly. "No, worse… I start my internship at Mineral Hospital tomorrow… surgery…"
The bouncer whistled and stepped out of the way. "My brother's a surgeon… Good luck, girl…"
The club was dark save for the different color lights that moved in tune with the music, Britney Spears' 'Gimme More', of all things. Eli and Lu stuck their tongues out at the song, but Ann started dancing. "Love this song!" she yelled.
After Ann's episode, the girls made their way to the bar, where Eli and Lu ordered margaritas; Ann ordered a coke and leaned back in her stool as the others licked the salt of their lips.
"Don't hate," Lumina mocked, waving the little pink umbrella in front of Ann's nose, cheeks flushed, "You shouldn't bet anything you can't afford to lose, my dear…"
Ann stuck out her tongue at them and Lu, then, hearing a song that she 'loved', grabbed Ann's hand and ran out onto the dance floor, begging Eli to come too. Eli shook her head, instead ordering another round and slumping down against the seat.
What was she doing here?
Why was she here?
She didn't know… she just didn't know…
"Excuse me…" a deep voice said, pushing himself in beside Eli, "A Sprite, no, no, no alcohol."
Eli, intrigued by this faceless man, swiveled around in her chair and looked at the nonalcoholic man.
He was attractive… she couldn't help but notice. He had raven-colored hair, short, but it fell and covered some of his forehead without touching it. He had pale skin that accented those midnight, sharp eyes of his.
But what Eli found most interesting about him was his big yet nimble and trained looking hands. She recognized those hands. Her parents had them, she had them…
They were the hands of a surgeon.
"Designated driver?" Eli asked the man with surgeon's hands.
He looked at her, and then grinned. "No, I'm on call, you see," he showed her a small beeper clipped onto his belt, "I'm a surgeon."
Score one, Eli!
"Oh really," Eli said, officially interested in the man, "Then what brings a surgeon, on call and therefore unable to indulge in the benefits of a bar, come to a club like this one?"
The man's grin did not fade. "I'm actually here waiting for someone, a friend…"
It was as if the universe wanted to torture her…
A man popped up at the word 'friend', drink in hand, a smile on his fresh-looking face. "Hey, Tim!" the man said, totally ignoring Eli, "What are you doing, talking about work again? Lighten up, you workaholic!" he swiveled around, only now realizing that Eli was there, "Whoa… I'm sorry, miss, and your name is?"
"Eli," she said, maintaining her cool.
"Eli this is Alex Boxer, the idiot I've been waiting a half hour for… Alex Boxer, this is Eli, a woman I have just met." the surgeon, Tim said, dark eyes turning serious as he inspected his 'friend'.
The 'friend', Alex, had light brown hair and piercing green eyes. He was attractive, maybe hot, but he lacked a certain… dreaminess that Tim possessed, at least Eli thought.
"Oh, Eli!" Lu said, dropping in at the worst possible time, "Who are these friends of yours?"
Ann dropped in too, a glint in her eyes. "Well, well, holding out on us, huh Eli?"
Tim seemed to sigh and sag as Alex trotted over to the girls and began to flirt shamelessly, making already tipsy Lu laugh like she had never laughed before.
And the icing on the cake, Eli decided, was when she was about to start talking to Tim again when a shrill beeping sound stopped her. As one, Tim and Alex reached at the pagers on their belts and looked at them, expressions furrowed.
"Car accidents," Tim sighed, clipping his beeper back onto his belt, "The hospital is understaffed, no interns… the residents are still to green… Dr. Kurt has the day off… the Chief needs us…" Tim said all this to Alex, who sighed and pocketed his beeper, handing his drink to Tim who put back onto the bar.
"Wait," Eli said, confused, "You're both doctors?"
Before Tim could respond, Alex did. "Yes. Is that so hard to believe?"
Tim sighed and made his way towards the exit. "Let's go, you need coffee before you even set foot in the OR…"
And just like that, they were gone…
"Bummer," Lu said, then took Eli's arm and dragged her out on the dance floor, who complied without a word.
The next morning was horrible for Eli.
Besides being hung over, she needed to show up for work at seven that morning, which was the craziest thing she thought when she was struggling to get up from bed. She showered, dressed and drank her coffee black.
She hated alcohol…
After that, she made her way to Stu's room, her little brother, and checked up on him. Then, she made her way into Ellen's room and checked up on her. They were both dead asleep and did not stir when she checked up on them.
The drive to work was quiet and pretty quick, although she was late for waking up later than she had to. Rushing and cursing as she ran into the hospital, she stopped at the front des, very flustered.
"Do you know where Dr. Kurt is?" Eli asked hurriedly, tapping her foot impatiently as the receptionist summoned the information on her computer. The hospital was nice, Eli noticed while she waited, very modern looking, but it still wasn't past the color white.
"Dr. Kurt is on the third floor nursing station, he's expecting you…" the receptionist looked oddly pitying as she said this.
Eli thanked her hurriedly and ran over to the elevators, stabbing at the 'up' button repeatedly.
She couldn't be late for her first day at work!
The elevator doors opened, Eli stepped inside and stabbed at the '3' button ten times faster than she had on the previous one…
Come on come on come on come on come on!!!
The elevator began to rise… Yes yes yes!!!
It stopped on two! No no no!!!
The doors opened…
Eli gasped.
Stepping through the doors was none other than Tim; the man that she had met the night before at the club!
Tim stepped into the elevator and regarded Eli in surprise. "I know you… you're the girl from the club right?" he took in what she was wearing, the white lab coat, the same type of clothes he was wearing, "You work here?"
Eli couldn't believe this but she nodded dumbly. "Intern?" Tim asked, Eli nodded dumbly again, "Who's your resident?"
"Kurt," Eli said dumbly, hating every word that came out of her mouth and herself for speaking them.
Tim seemed to look at her pityingly like the receptionist had. Unlike her, he actually told her why. "Dr. Kurt is very… strict. Around here, people call him the 'Nazi' and 'the Mouth' for… well, I suppose you'll find out soon enough…"
Eli was about to ask him to elaborate when the doors opened, and standing there, beautiful golden hair flowing around her, was a gorgeous woman in a doctor's clothes, looking a little pissed at the sight of Tim.
"Who's that?" she asked Tim, totally ignoring Eli as if she didn't even exist.
Tim grew serious again. "This is Eli, she's a new surgical intern under Dr. Kurt," unlike the others, the woman did not give Eli a pitying glance; she didn't look at her at all.
"And I thought Alex was the one who couldn't keep himself in check," she said angrily, shooting daggers at Tim with green eyes.
Before Tim could retort, Eli cut in. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name…" she said.
The golden-manned woman looked at Eli incredulously, as if she didn't believe she had opened her mouth. "I'm Dr. Muffy Sheppard, Chief of Neurosurgery. I'm also his wife."
Sometimes, life may throw you breaks, but most of the time you end up with useless and hurtful things. Don't try to understand it, you'll just hurt your head. Good or bad, deal with what life throws at you. In the end, that's all you can really do in life; take what you're given.
Like it? Anyway, just note that Muffy, Lumina and Ann are the same ones from the games!
R&R!