"Aiden, what is on that disgusting looking sandwich?"
"Uh, peanut butter, salami, and bananas. Want a bite?" Aiden spoke in between mouthfuls, holding out his sandwich to Camille.
The blonde stuck a finger down her throat, initiating a fake gag. "I would rather eat whatever Ruby's devouring over there then even get near whatever that thing is."
The dark haired girl looked up from her container full of food, and towards Camille. "It's carne adovada. Just because it's not your typical white girl Chipotle, doesn't mean that it isn't good." She took another bite of her food while Camille surprisingly smiled.
"And here I was thinking that you had no bite. I like it."
Harper sat forward, and rushed to flash a fake smile. "Okay! New subject." Clearly she didn't want her friend pissing people off already. She had a tendency to do that. "Have you guys thought about specialties yet?"
Aiden was the first to answer. "I'm thinking Dermatology." He got up and threw his crusts away, leaving the three women to exchange glances. When he got back, Harper was the one who finally broke the awkwardness. "You're kidding, right?"
He smiled, pleased with himself. "Of course I'm kidding. Derm is way too sunshine and rainbows for me. But Trauma seems cool. There's always something for you to do."
"I like Ortho. I guess pushing my brother out of a tree inspired me."
"Wait, you did what?"
"I pushed my little brother out of a tree when I was seven. He broke three ribs. Let's just say that you should never get in between a girl and her Barbie dolls." Ruby stated, leaning back in her chair, clearly happy with herself.
Camille was the only one impressed by this. Aiden and Harper were looking at the small woman in disgust and shock.
"Wow. Badass. I like it."
The moment of bliss between Camille and Ruby was interrupted by Alex Karev standing at the head of the table. The interns quickly quieted themselves, and put on straight faces.
"So, your first patient died, but apparently there was nothing more you could have done. Good job, idiots."
Camille and Harper exchanged a look. Apparently, this was Alex Karev's nice side.
"You probably know that the attendings were watching you closely all day, so we could pick an intern to scrub in on the first surgery. Congrats, blondie."
Alex tapped Camille's shoulder, and walked away, causing her to spit her water back into the plastic bottle she was drinking from.
"Did he just say me?"
Harper patted Camille's back to keep her from choking, while a smile lit up her face. "Yes C, he said you. Congrats!"
Harper didn't even feel the least bit jealous, but not the same could be said for Ruby and Aiden. But, if they had known Camille's backstory, they probably would have been more accepting of her getting to do the first surgery.
She knew that this was a big thing for Cam. As a child, she had always been looked down upon by the kids that were bigger than her, or had more money than her. Camille grew up with two older sisters, and a twin sister. Her mother was a single parent, as her dad had passed away when she was three. Her mother was working three jobs to support them, as well as her older sisters getting jobs the second they entered into high school. So, she had never really gotten to show her worth, because people never gave her the chance. This was her chance to prove everyone wrong. She wasn't just some dumb blonde.
"I guess sucking out some old woman's butt fat paid off." Camille stated, still in shock.
Richard dropped his fork, and widened his eyes slightly at what Amelia had just told him. "What?"
Amelia just then realized what a bomb she had dropped on the unsuspecting man, so she quickly apologized. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to just blurt that out." She looked away, slightly embarrassed.
"Twenty two years ago, I had a baby. I gave her up for adoption, and only my close family members knew. It wasn't that I couldn't take care of her. I knew that my sisters, Derek, Addie and my mother would have gone all out and helped me in every way possible. In all honesty, I gave her up because I didn't want to take care of her. I didn't want to give up my teenage years. I didn't want to risk my sobriety. It was a good decision with selfish reasoning, and it has haunted me everyday since."
Amelia finally looked up, expecting Richard to freak out or scold her or something. Instead, he gave her a smile.
"Everyone is a little selfish sometimes. She seems like she turned out okay, considering she's an intern at one of the best hospitals in the country. You're sure that it's her?"
"Mhm," Amelia nodded. "This is going to sound crazy, but after I lost my son, I looked up her adoptive parents, found out where they lived, and hopped on a plane. I drove to her high school, I saw her outside, but she seemed so happy, that I couldn't go through with talking to her. I didn't want to mess that up."
"Are you going to talk to her now?"
"I don't know." The brunette sighed. "Sorry I dropped all that on you. You're not my therapist, I still have to go see one of those." Amelia chuckled nervously. "I guess I told you because you're the most trustworthy person I know, besides my husband, and I obviously can't tell him."
"Owen doesn't know?" Richard frowned.
"No. I want to tell him, I do, I just don't know how."
The older doctor had just opened his mouth to respond when his pager went off. "I've got to go," he said, standing up quickly. "Get yourself to a meeting, and tell your husband. It'll make you feel better."
Richard threw away the remnants of his salad before darting off to the ER, leaving Amelia alone.
The four interns got up from their spot, and all went their separate ways, Harper going along with Camille. They had some down time, surprisingly, so they made their way to an on call room like they had been told to do. Harper climbed on the bottom bunk, while Camille darted for the top.
"So what do you think it's going to be like? Actually being in the OR next to some of the best surgeons in the country?" Harper asked, trying to keep Camille's hype up.
"Hopefully everything I think it's going to be. Hopefully I don't screw up." She cringed at the thought of the more experienced doctors yelling at her, telling her she shouldn't be a surgeon. Their strong voices echoed in her head.
"Hey, don't think like that," Harper kicked the top bunk to make sure she had her friend's full attention. "You are not going to mess up. You're going to walk into that OR like the kickass surgeon that you are, and you're going to save a life. Got it?"
In the darkness of the room, Camille smiled. "I'm glad you're my best friend, H."
"And I'm glad you're mine, C."
At some point after that, Harper was lulled into unconsciousness. She was finally up with a start after a nightmare woke her. She thought that was the end of those. It appeared that they had returned. She pulled her iPhone out from the pocket in her scrubs, and checked the time. It had been around noon when she and Camille had gone into the on call room, and it was now half past noon. Only half an hour of sleep. That was better than nothing she supposed.
Harper turned her attention to the top bunk once she was up and fairly alert. Her eyes widened when she noticed that her friend was nowhere to be found. Harper was always the first one up, so she assumed that Camille would still be peacefully sleeping. Maybe she had gotten a page?
"Have you seen Camille?" She asked Aiden who happened to be standing outside of the girls bathroom that was next to the on call rooms.
"She's in there with Ruby. I think she might have picked up some sort of bug." Aiden looked pretty concerned, which was a sharp contrast to his usually hardened features.
Harper spent no time pondering, and she burst into the bathroom to find all of the stalls empty, except for one. Camille was kneeling over the toilet, while Ruby stood behind her, holding her hair back. The black haired girl looked back at Harper who stood behind them, worried.
"I saw her run in here, so I followed her. Luckily she made it in time."
Camille hovered by the toilet for a few more seconds, before standing up shakily. Her skin was sickly pale, and she looked miserable.
"Cam, you look like hell."
The blonde forced a smile, and made her way to the sink. "Thank you captain obvious." She splashed some cold water on her face, and turned back to the two women who were prepared to catch her at any second. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a surgery to prepare for."
Ruby and Harper exchanged a glance before turning back to Camille. "You realize they're not going to let you scrub in, right? You could contaminate the patient." Ruby was sad, but also hopeful because maybe now that Camille was down, she could perform the surgery.
Camille sighed, and put her hands on her forehead. "Dammit. I have to go tell the attendings that I'm sick on my first day, don't I? Well, you guys are coming with me, I feel like I'm going to faint, and you happen to be good railings." Ruby and Harper went to their friend's side, each one taking an arm around their shoulder.
The trio made their way to the attendings lounge, assuming that most of them would still be there, as it was still their lunch hour. They were right. When they walked in, they found some of Seattle's finest. Meredith Grey, Alex Karev, Arizona Robbins, Miranda Bailey, and Amelia Shepherd all sat on the couches, chatting at one another, presumably about medicine, or who was sleeping with who. You never knew with these doctors.
Alex was the first to notice that interns were invading the attendings lounge, and he was very clearly not happy about it. "What are you guppies doing here?"
Camille looked like she was about to pass out, and her skin was even more pale than when they were in the bathroom. "I think I have a bug. I don't want to bring germs into the OR, so I'm sorry, but I don't think I can scrub in on the appy."
"Okay," Alex shrugged, and looked towards Harper. "You."
"What?" The young woman questioned, surprised that he was even talking to her.
"Oh don't play dumb. You're scrubbing in on the surgery, congrats. Now go get ready. It's in an hour."
She stood there speechless, unsure of how to react. Sure, she was excited, but this was supposed to be her best friend's surgery.
"It's okay, Harper. Be a kickass surgeon and go save a life, remember?" Camille offered a weak smile, and Harper returned it. She was glad that she had such an amazing person in her life.
Amelia watched from the corner, where she was sitting in the middle of a conversation between Meredith and Arizona about Ellis becoming potty trained. The joys of motherhood. She observed the girl's reaction, and realized that her daughter would be performing the surgery. Oh god. Harper had no idea that the surgery was designed so that she would fail. And then she would be all heartbroken and wallowy, and it would just make Amelia heartbroken and wallowy.
The three exited the room, and took Camille to the ER so she could get some fluids and just practice basic patient care. It seemed like that was all that she would be doing today.
Harper grabbed her scrub cap, the one that her mother had bought her as a sign of good luck, and tied it on her head. She then went to OR 4, and scrubbed in, making sure that every germ was off of her skin. Well, not every germ, but as far as she was concerned it was as good as. Then she walked into the OR. There were about 7 other people in there. The lead surgeons, scrub nurses, the anesthesiologist. The bright lights beat down on her. Breathe, step, breathe, step, that was all that she had to do. She hadn't felt this nervous in a long time. She hadn't felt this nervous since the night she took the pregnancy test.
She swallowed hard, and looked up to see that Meredith Grey was the lead surgeon, not surprising her. The woman was, after all, the head of the General Surgery department. Her ferry boat scrub cap caught Harper's attention. She recognized it. That was what her late husband, Derek Shepherd, had always worn. It was a nice ode to him that she still wore it.
"Alright everybody. It's a beautiful day to save lives, let's have some fun."
Let the surgery begin.
"Are you sure?" His green eyes bore into hers. He knew how much this moment meant to her.
Half of their clothing was already neglected on the hotel floor. She had a smile on her face, while he had a serious look. The making out had been great, but he decided to push pause for a second to ask if this was what she really wanted. He didn't want to force her into anything.
"I'm sure." Two hours later they were asleep, sweaty bodies entangled. Harper was the first to wake up, and when she did she found herself tracing over every inch of his skin. It wasn't even sexual, it was purely curiosity. It was quite a thing getting to explore someone else's body. Every freckle, every scar was now visible to her.
Dylan woke up a few minutes later, to see her smiling widely at him.
"No regrets?"
"No regrets."
She had been with Dylan for nearly a year, so it wasn't unreasonable that they had had sex. Actually, in Dylan's mind it was long overdue. But, he was a boy. He thought with his penis instead of his brain most of the time. For him it was just another crazy, fun memory. But for Harper? It was everything. He was her first. Oh god, she couldn't be pregnant after her first. She hadn't regretted it at the time, and even afterwards. Truth be told, she hadn't regretted it at all until she missed her period.
It started a few days late. She told herself it was nothing to worry about. Then, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into a month. That was when she started to get scared.
She couldn't be pregnant.
College started in a month. She should have just waited a few more years, until she was married. She loved Dylan, she did, but was he really the man she was going to marry? If she was really pregnant, he would have to be. Harper knew that single or separated parents raised babies all the time. But she was not one of those people. If she had to raise a baby without someone else there all the time, she would probably break apart. Harper Young was not meant to have kids. She had convinced herself that she would be a terrible mother.
"Harper, are you in here?" Her twenty year old sister, Sabrina, knocked on the bathroom door. The blonde was back from college for the summer, which also meant that her impatience was back.
"Yeah, give me a few more minutes." The teenager's voice cracked, and she realized she had forgotten to lock the door. What an amatuer move. Sabrina entered the bathroom, and noticed that her little sister had been crying. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" She then noticed the stick sitting on the counter of the sink. It was flipped upside down, and she finally put two and two together.
"Oh no, Harper, you didn't." Then the dam broke. Harper collapsed in her sister's arms, and wailed. She was glad that her parents and brother were out. "I'm too scared to look at it." She hiccupped, and wiped a stray tear away from her eyelashes.
Sabrina wasn't used to seeing Harper so beat up like this. Usually, she was the strong one in the family. She had never been much of a crier, and was the guidepost when everything else was collapsing around her. She was the glue of the family, but right now, she was just a broken down teenage girl.
"Do you want me to look at it first?"
Harper nodded slowly, but grabbed her sister's hand as it reached out for the test.
"Wait."
Sabina did as she was asked, and withdrew her hand.
"What happens if it's positive? How am I going to tell mom and dad?"
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Okay?"
"Okay." The brunette sucked in a breath as the stick was turned over, and her sister sighed.
"Is that a good sigh or a bad sigh?"
Sabrina looked up at Harper, brown eyes colliding with blue. "You're not pregnant. The test is negative. You must've just missed a period, it's happened to me before."
Harper was relieved. There were so many things that she would have had to do, had it been positive. She would've had to tell Dylan, her parents and brother, Camille. She would have had to postpone college, and figure out what the plan was. Adoption, abortion, keeping it? She would have had to do that, if she were pregnant. She, thankfully, was not.
"Oh thank god."
"You know there was a girl in my dorm freshman year that got pregnant? Her boyfriend was so pissed at her that when she was sleeping, he came into our room at dyed her hair purple."
"Brina!" Harper exclaimed. "That is so not helping!" But, it had sparked some curiosity in the teenager. "Wait, how did she not wake up?"
It was as if nothing had changed between the two of them. It was as if Sabrina hadn't come super close to becoming an aunt, and Harper to becoming a mother.
A/N: (dt tess) Sorry it took so long to update! I've been super busy with school, and I can't stop thinking of more stories that I want to write. But I promise I will really really try to update more often then like one time every month and a half. I love reading your guys' reviews! Thank you for the continuing support on this story ! The next chapter is MY FAVORITE, and focuses A LOT on Amelia and Harper. You'll see what I mean once you read it :) I hope you enjoyed, and like always FOLLOW, FAVORITE, AND REVIEW ! ps- I actually know someone that eats what aiden does on his sandwich. yikes