Author's note: Wow, I'm shocked at the awesome reception this little story has gotten! Thanks to all who've reviewed or alerted! Enjoy!

Chapter Two – Bailey

Bailey sat hunched over her charts behind the fifth floor nurses' station. The charts weren't patients' charts. No, on this day Bailey was working on the shift schedules for the residents. Trying to decide who would be on call and who got those precious days off was one of her more onerous duties as Seattle Grace's chief resident. It was the one that had driven Callie to distraction during her brief stint as chief resident. Onerous or not, Bailey embraced it the same way she did everything else: with confidence and flair.

She was penciling in Izzie Stevens for Tuesday night when her pager went off. 911 down in the pit. Judging from the flurry of pages that sounded just after hers, Hunt needed all hands on deck. Leaving her unfinished schedule behind, Bailey got up and ran for the stairs. She didn't have the time or patience to wait for an elevator.

The scene down in the pit was chaotic. Nurses and interns were running every which way; some shouting for lab results, others bringing x-rays. Bailey nearly ran into one of the interns – Ryan, she thought – as she tried to make her way to Trauma 1. An EMT wheeled in a loaded gurney with what looked like a small tent on it. He looked at Bailey questioningly.

"Where'd you want him?"

Before Bailey could so much as open her mouth, Dr. Hunt was at her side. "Put him in Trauma 2," the head of Trauma said brusquely. He looked down at Bailey. "Dr. Bailey."

Bailey followed Hunt into Trauma 2. As she hurriedly tied on one of the protective gowns, she noticed how utterly calm Hunt was. There was no running around the gurney trying to do twelve things at once. He quickly and quietly assessed their patient's injuries and moved on to the next thing. Well, that was to be expected given his background. The battlefield was not the place for panic. For once, she had no reason to complain to the Chief about an attending. She was oddly disappointed about that.

Hunt was removing the large blanket that covered the patient when Bailey asked, "What have we got?"

That, Bailey saw, was about the most inane thing she could have asked. It was quite obvious what they had. The patient, a man in his early thirties by the look of him, had a large piece of highway guardrail embedded in his torso. Miraculously, the guy was still breathing. Each breath, however, caused more and more blood to bubble out of his chest. Bailey grabbed a wad of sponges and joined Hunt in trying to staunch the bleeding.

"What happened?" Bailey asked as she grabbed a clamp.

"A tractor trailer took the exit ramp too fast and fell across the highway. Twenty cars piled up behind it."

"My god. Does he have a chance?"

Hunt looked at her in surprise. "Of course he does," he said matter-of-factly. "Are you in, Dr. Bailey?"

A nurse hung a bag of blood and checked the monitor. "His O2 SATs are falling."

"We need to get him to the OR," Hunt muttered.

"We can't go in without an x-ray," Bailey argued. "We'd be operating blind."

"I realize that, Dr. Bailey," Owen replied, irritated. The door opened and Cristina came through it, pushing the portable x-ray machine. Hunt looked up at her and smiled ever-so-slightly. A little too formally, Hunt said, "Dr. Yang, would you please get a few x-rays of this man's chest? Then meet us in the OR?"

"Of course, Dr. Hunt," Cristina replied, equally formal.

Bailey, no stranger to head over heels in love attendings, immediately saw the overt formality for what it was. A cover. It looked like Hunt wasn't as perfect as Bailey thought. She closed her eyes for a second. Dear lord, give me strength.

As Bailey followed Hunt to the elevator, she couldn't help but wonder, what is wrong with these attendings? First Shepherd, then Burke. Hell, even Addison had an on call room encounter with Alex Karev. Sloane was dating Lexie Grey. And unless her spider sense was way off, Hunt was seeing Cristina. What was wrong with that girl? Didn't she learn anything from Burke? Bailey glanced up at Hunt. Well, she supposed, Cristina could do worse. It didn't appear to be affecting their work. How long would that last? And how long until the Chief found out? Bailey certainly wasn't going to say anything. It's only a matter of time…

UP NEXT: George