Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy in any shape or form. But I do own my OC.

Title: Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.

Author: slexieotpforever

Summary: Starting a job as a doctor is not as amazing as it may seem. Sure, you have a title that people respect you for, and you have the ability to save people's lives. But all that comes with a price. One that Seattle Grace's new interns are about to discover.

A/N: Okay, so, I thought I'd try my hand at writing another Grey's Anatomy fanfiction. It's definitely going to be a lot different from the one I already began. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

This will start in 1x01 'A Hard Day's Night', at the very beginning of the show.

Operations. Temptations. Frustrations.

Chapter One

A Hard Day's Night

The game - they say a person either has what it takes to play, or they don't. My mother was... one of the greats. Me, on the other hand - I'm... kind of screwed.

She yawned as her blue eyes fluttered open, her brows furrowing in confusion for a second as she looked around the still somewhat unfamiliar room, before her eyes widened as they glanced at the clock on her nightstand. She was late. On her first day of work. Well, this is just brilliant, she thought to herself, throwing the covers off herself before getting out of bed, shivering as the cold morning air hit her bare legs. She then proceeded to head out of her room while running a hand through her long, dark brown hair, planning to make herself and her sister, who she was sure was still asleep as she had quite a late night the night before, a quick breakfast. However, she had to be alert earlier than she would like to as her sister nearly barreled into her in the stairs.

"Mer?" she asked in confusion, turning around to stare after her sister as the blonde continued to run up the stairs, her naked body wrapped only in a blanket.

"Sorry!" Meredith apologized hastily, already rounding the corner and running into the bathroom. Annabelle's brows furrowed in confusion as she stared after her sister for a few more seconds, before she decided to proceed and head downstairs.

"Oh," she stopped in her tracks once she reached the bottom, her eyes widening as she saw a very handsome man with amazing black hair in her living room, his bare chest on display as he began to button up his shirt.

"Oh," the man repeated, his eyes widening the tiniest bit as he noticed her in the stairwell.

"So you're the one who helped my sister make all that noise last night," Annabelle stated as she stepped down the last step, finally standing in front of the man who seemed to be a few years older than her and Meredith, still only in her pajamas, which consisted of gray shorts and tank top with a light pink outline.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he chuckled a bit nervously, before seeming to think 'screw it' and holding out his hand. "I'm Derek,"

"Annabelle," the young woman smiled, shaking his hand. "And you know, as much as I enjoy the view, I have to kick you out. We're late,"

"Yeah, so I've heard," Derek chuckled, before offering her a smile. "You never saw me,"

"I never saw you," Annabelle repeated with a smile of her own, before proceeding to head into the kitchen as Derek made his way out the door, "Nice one," she said to her sister only a few minutes later as Meredith made her way into the kitchen, now wrapped in a towel as the sunlight reflected in the water on her skin.

"Shut up,"

"Each of you comes in here today hopeful. Wanting in on the game," the chief of Seattle Grace Hospital spoke to the fresh new interns around him as Annabelle and Meredith snuck inside, hoping that no one will notice their tardiness. In the ten minutes they had to get dressed, Annabelle quickly threw on a military green, short-sleeved, loose V-neck, her favorite dark skinny jeans, and light brown sandals. Not having the time for anything nice, she also simply threw her hair up in a messy bun, "A month ago, you were in med school, being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors," the chief said, before opening the door to an O.R., the lights turning on as the interns looked around in amazement, "The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure, two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play... that's up to you," he said as Annabelle looked at the people around her.

Like I said... I'm screwed.

"Okay, Martin, Robinson, Bond, Hawkins!" a resident called out in the locker room, the interns whose names were called quickly running after him. Annabelle glanced at her sister as she hung her stethoscope around her neck, her slightly worried look being returned.

"Only seven women out of twenty-one," Annabelle said, looking at the closest woman to her, who happened to be an Asian woman around her and Meredith's age with long, curly dark hair.

"Yeah. I hear one of them's a model," the woman replied, putting the last of her things in her locker as Annabelle closed hers. "Seriously, that's gonna help with the respect thing?"

"You're Cristina, right?" Meredith asked as she stood up from where she was sitting on one of the benches.

"Patton, Monroe..." a resident called out again as Cristina put on her lab coat.

"Which resident are you assigned to?" she asked, looking at the sisters. "I got Bailey,"

"The Nazi? Me, too," Annabelle said, her voice betraying her worry.

"Same here," Meredith said.

"You got the Nazi? So did I," a man who seemed to be younger than the other interns and still looked more like a boy than a man spoke up from near his locker, which was only a few lockers away from Meredith, Annabelle and Cristina, "At least we'll be tortured together, right?" he said, his voice kind enough for Annabelle to give him a small, genuine smile, "I'm George. O'Malley. Uh, we met at the, uh... the mixer, you had on a black dress, uh, with a slit up the side, strappy sandals, and..." he trailed off as he noticed the three women staring at him, Meredith offering him a small smile as he stared at her while recalling what she wore a few nights before, "Now, you think I'm gay. Uh, no, I'm not gay. It's, uh, it's just that, uh... you know, you were very, I mean, you were very unforgettable," he continued as Cristina walked away, Annabelle trying very hard not to laugh as she viewed the interaction between George and her sister.

"O'Malley, Yang, Grey, Stevens, other Grey," a resident called out again, and the five interns headed to the exit.

"Bailey?" Cristina asked the resident as the other four followed her.

"End of the hall,"

"That's the Nazi?" Cristina asked in disbelief, and everyone copied her face expression as they stared at the short, African-American woman at the end of the hall.

"I thought the Nazi would be a guy," George commented.

"I thought the Nazi would be... a Nazi," Annabelle said, still staring at the resident in front of them.

"Maybe it's professional jealousy," a pretty blonde intern with brown eyes and an amazing figure said, quickening her pace to walk in front of the others. "Maybe she's brilliant and they call her the Nazi because they're jealous. Maybe she's nice,"

"Let me guess - you're the model," Cristina said dryly, and the blonde turned around to shoot her a glare before stopping in front of their residents.

"Hi. I'm Isobel Stevens but everyone calls me 'Izzie'," she smiled, holding out her hand for Dr. Bailey to shake, but the woman simply stared at it before looking up.

"I have five rules, memorize them. Rule number one - don't bother sucking up. I already hate you, that's not gonna change," she said, and Izzie's smile faltered, "Trauma protocol, phone list, pagers - nurses will page you. You will answer every page at a run - a run - that's rule number two!" Dr. Bailey continued as the interns quickly grabbed their pagers from the main desk and followed her, "Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours,"

Hour 1

"You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop, and don't complain! On-call rooms," she spoke, opening the door to a small room with a bunk bed and a small table, "Attendings hog them. Sleep where you can, when you can, which brings me to rule number three. If I'm sleeping, don't wake me, unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four - the dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only will you have killed someone, you would have woke me for no good reason. We clear?" she asked, and the interns all nodded a bit fearfully, except for Annabelle, who raised her hand. "Yes?"

"That was... four rules. You said five," she pointed out, her voice wavering a bit at the stare the resident was holding on her, just as Dr. Bailey's pager beeped.

"Rule number five - when I move, you move," she said, before pushing past them and running down the hallway, the five doctors all quickly following her. "Get out of my way!"

"What do we got?" Dr. Bailey asked the paramedics as the helicopter - air ambulance - landed on the roof of the hospital, Annabelle standing closest to the resident as Cristina and Izzie held the gurney as the ready.

"Katie Bryce, 15-year-old female, new onset seizures, intermittent for the past week," one of the paramedics spoke as they got the blonde teenager out of the helicopter, her body shaking and her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she experienced a seizure, an oxygen mask on her face, "I.V. lost en route, started grand mal seizing as we descended," he finished, and the doctors quickly got Katie inside and into a room.

"Alright, get her on her side," Dr. Bailey ordered, and the interns proceeded to do just that, "Izzie, 10 milligrams diazepam I.M.," she ordered, and Izzie looked at her nervously, "No, no, the white lead is on the right!" she scolded Meredith, "Righty, whity - smoke over fire. A large-bore I.V., don't let the blood hemolyze, let's go!" she spoke, and Annabelle quickly grabbed the syringe Izzie handed her, sticking it into Katie's side and silently breathing out a sigh of relief as she seizure subsided.

"What do we have, a wet fish on dry land?" came a voice from the door, and Annabelle turned her head, only to see a tall, African-American man in an attending's uniform walking in.

"Absolutely, Dr. Burke," Dr. Bailey said.

"Dr. Bailey, let's shotgun her,"

"That mean every test in the book - C.T., CBC, chem-7, tox screen. Cristina, you're on labs, George, patient work-ups. Meredith, Annabelle, get Katie for a C.T. She's your responsibility now," Dr. Bailey said, and Annabelle and Meredith looked at her, their eyes wide.

"Wait, what about me?" Izzie asked.

"Y... Honey, you get to do rectal exams,"

"You're lost," Katie, Meredith and Annabelle's patient, stated matter-of-factly as the elevator doors opened, and the two doctors shot her annoyed looks.

"We're not lost," Annabelle said.

"How are you feeling?" Meredith asked as she and her sister walked out of the elevator, the brunette pulling and the blonde pushing on the gurney which held Katie.

"How do you think I'm feeling?" Katie asked, annoyed. "I'm missing my pageant,"

"You're missing your pageant?" Annabelle repeated, her voice monotone.

"The Spokane Teen Miss," Kate elaborated as the doctors made a right turn around the corner, "I was in the top ten after the first two rounds. This is my year. I could have won," she said, and Meredith and Annabelle shared a glance before sharing a nod and making a U-turn, heading in the opposite direction, "Hello," Katie spoke up again, annoyed, sitting up, "You're so lost. What are you, like, new?" she asked, and Annabelle and Meredith simply shared annoyed glances, "I twisted my ankle in talent rehearsal. I do rhythmic gymnastics, which is, like, really cool. Nobody else does it. And I tripped over my ribbon and I didn't get stuck with someone this clueless. And that was, like, a nurse," she sat up again, exaggeratedly whispering the last word, and Annabelle gritted her teeth in annoyance.

Hour 7

"You know Meredith and Annabelle are inbred?" Cristina spoke up as she and the other interns sat at their lunch table in the cafeteria.

"Like it's uncommon around here to be a doctors' parents-"

"No, royally inbred - their mother is Ellis Grey," Cristina cut George off.

"Shut up, the Ellis Grey?" Izzie spoke up, her eyes wide as she stared at Cristina in bewilderment.

"Yeah,"

"Who's Ellis Grey?" George asked, and his colleagues all looked at him as Izzie laughed.

"Ell... The Grey Method? Where'd you go to med school - Mexico?" Cristina asked in disbelief.

"She was one of the first big chick surgeons, she practically invented the-"

"She's a living legend. Yeah, she won the Harper Avery, twice," Cristina cut Izzie off.

"So I didn't know one thing," George said, a bit annoyed.

"Talk about parental pressure," Izzie shook her head, not being able to imagine how hard childhood must have been for the two sisters.

"God, I would kill to have Ellis Grey as a mother," Cristina said, "I'd kill to be Ellis Grey. All I need is one good case," she continued, before stopping as George mumbled something with his mouth full, and they all turned their heads, only to see Annabelle and Meredith heading towards their table with their lunch in their hands.

"Katie Bryce is a pain in the ass," were the first words out of Annabelle's mouth as she sunk into her seat, her hand reaching up to touch her forehead as she sighed in annoyance, still remembering the teenager's obnoxious voice.

"She is," Meredith agreed as she sat down, before leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest, "If I hadn't taken the hippocratic oath, I'd Kevorkian her with my bare hands," she said, and all the interns, even Annabelle, turned to look at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"Good afternoon, interns," came a bit too cheerful voice from behind the sisters, and they turned around, only to see Dr. Burke walking up to them, "It's posted, but... I thought I'd share the good news personally. As you know, the honor of performing the first surgery is reserved for the intern that shows the most promise. As I'm running the O.R. today, I get to make that choice," he said, and the young doctors all looked at him in anticipation, "George O'Malley," he finally said, placing his hand on the awkward young man's shoulder.

"Me?"

"You'll scrub in for an appendectomy this afternoon. Congratulations. Enjoy it," Dr. Burke said, before walking away from the table as all the other interns stared at their colleague.

"Did he say me?" George asked after a few seconds of silence, his voice full of disbelief.

"He did," Annabelle nodded, not believing it herself.

"Katie, honey," Annabelle turned around as she heard the female voice, only to see a couple entering their patient's room. The female was a pretty blonde woman around her early 40's who aged gracefully, dressed in an elegant skirt and jacket, while the male was a tall man with dark but already grayish hair. "Mom and dad are here,"

"They gave her a sedative for the C.T. scan, so she's a little groggy," Annabelle informed the parents, and they nodded as the mother stroked Katie's head.

"Will she be alright?" she asked.

"Our doctor at home said that she might need an operation, is... is that true?" Katie's father asked.

"What kind of operation?"

"She's, um... well..." Meredith trailed off, her eyes on Katie, before looking up at the parents again, "You know what, I-we're not the doctors. Uh, we'r-we're doctors, but we're not Katie's doctors so... we'll go get him for you," she said, before grabbing her sister's hand and dragging her out of the room, and Annabelle gave a silent sigh of relief. She wasn't sure about Meredith, but she was 100% sure that she was not ready for parents at this moment. Katie was enough.

The two doctors headed down the hall while looking around, hoping to catch the sight of either Dr. Burke or Dr. Bailey. It turned out that luck was on their side, because as they opened the door to walk into the main corridor, they bumped into the short woman.

"What?" she demanded, seeing the sisters stare at her.

"Katie's parents have questions," Annabelle explained. "Do you talk to them or do we ask Dr. Burke?"

"Uh, no, Burke's off the case," Dr. Bailey answered, "Katie belongs to the new attending now, Dr. Shepherd, he's over there," she pointed in the right direction before walking away, and the sisters nodded, following her finger, only to freeze as they saw a very handsome man with amazing black hair. The same man who was in their house that very morning. Annabelle couldn't help but have the corners of her mouth turn upwards as she withheld a chuckle of amusement, while her sister quickly turned around and headed in the opposite direction as soon as Derek looked up and caught their gazes.

"Annabelle," he nodded at her, quickly walking past her as he made to follow Meredith.

"Derek," Annabelle responded, chuckling as she stared after him and her sister, before shaking her head. Oh, this is going to be interesting.

"He's gonna faint, he's a fainter," a male intern commented as he and all the other interns sat in the gallery of the O.R. that was being prepped for George's surgery, everyone's eyes on the intern down below.

"No, code brown, right in his pants," another intern chuckled.

"He's all about the flop sweat, he's gonna sweat himself unsterile,"

"10 bucks says he messes up the McBurney," another male intern commented.

"$15 says he cries," Cristina added, sitting down.

"I'll put $20 on a total meltdown," one of the interns from before said.

"$50 says he pulls the whole thing off," Annabelle finally said, and everyone except for Meredith turned to look at her in disbelief. "That's one of us down there. The first one of us,"

"She's right," Meredith added. "Where's your loyalty?"

"$75 says he can't even I.D. the appendix," Cristina continued after a few seconds, and Annabelle closed her eyes as she sighed quietly in annoyance.

"I'll take that action," Izzie said, just as Dr. Burke, now all scrubbed in, walked into the O.R.

"Here it comes," Annabelle said, leaning forward in her seat. Everyone quietened down, and only a few seconds later everyone except for the two sisters cheered and applauded mockingly when George held his hand out and one of the scrub nurses handed him a scalpel. However, they all silenced themselves once Dr. Burke glared up at them and gave them a sign to shut up.

"That Burke is trouble," Cristina commented, making Izzie laugh.

"Damn, he got the peritoneum open, I'm out," one of the interns commented as the other cheered only a minute after George cut into the patient.

"Told you - he's gonna pull it off," Annabelle said, grinning as she looked down at George and watched his first surgery. Only a minute later, another round of cheers took place as he successfully took out the appendix. Annabelle grinned as Meredith laughed, both watching the surgery with smiles on their faces. They then watched as George inverted the stump into the cecum and started to pull on the purse strings. However, he must have pulled too hard as the strings broke, "Oh, no," Annabelle whispered to herself as she watched the person start to bleed, and saw George freeze.

"He's choking," Cristina commented as they all watched anxiously while the patient's B.P. started to drop.

"Come on, George," Meredith said to herself, but Dr. Burke had to push George out of the way only a few seconds later as the patient went into too severe a distress.

"He's 007," one of the interns said as George looked up at the gallery, obviously embarrassed and disappointed in himself.

"007, yep,"

"A total 007,"

"What's '007' mean?" Izzie asked, turning her head to look at Annabelle.

"Licensed to kill," she responded in a quiet voice, staring down at George with pity.

Hour 19

"007," George repeated for what seemed to be the hundredth time as he sat in a wheelchair in one of the corridors in the basement floor of the hospital. Cristina, Izzie, Meredith and Annabelle were also there, all sitting on some of the beds by the wall. The window in front of which Izzie, Meredith and Annabelle sat made the interns realize how tiring their jobs really is, seeing as their shift started in the early morning and it was now late and dark outside, and their shift wasn't even halfway over yet. "They're calling me '007', aren't they?"

"No one's calling you 007," Meredith, Izzie and Annabelle all said in unison, annoyance and exhaustion clear in their voices as the former model tried to stretch her muscles.

"I was on the elevator and Murphy whispered, '007'," George continued.

"Oh, how many times do we have to go through this, George?" Cristina asked in annoyance as she got off the bed she was lying on, "Five? Ten? Give me a number or else I'm gonna hit you,"

"Murphy whispered, '007', and everyone laughed," George called after her as she walked towards the vending machine.

"He wasn't talking about you," Izzie said.

"Are you sure?" George asked, his voice now quiet and a bit vulnerable even, Annabelle noticed.

"Would we lie to you?" she asked.

"Yes," he stated in an obvious voice, and Annabelle was silent for a second before nodding.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she said, and George looked at her with wide eyes as she and Izzie chuckled.

"007 is a state of mind!" Cristina called from her place at the vending machine.

"Says the girl who finished first in her class at Stanford," George retorted, before there were two beeping sounds. The girls all checked their pagers, and Annabelle groaned as she looked at hers.

"Damn it, it's 911 for Katie Bryce," she said as she looked at her sisters, whose eyes widened as she also looked at her pager, before putting it away and quickly jumping off the bed.

"We got to go," was all she said before running off, and Annabelle was quick to follow her.

They ran up the stairs as fast as they could, before running through the door and down the main hallway.

"Excuse me!" Meredith called as she and Annabelle ran past multiple doctors and nurses, just barely avoiding running into some of them, "Excuse me!" she called again, before turning the corner into Katie's room, only to see the blonde teenager sitting up, perfectly healthy, reading a magazine.

"Took you long enough," she commented in annoyance, and Annabelle stared at her in disbelief.

"You're okay? The nurse paged us '911'," Meredith said, breathing heavily from all the running.

"I had to go all 'Exorcist' to get her to even pick up the phone," Katie said as Meredith and Annabelle walked forward, the blonde sister picking up their patient's chart.

"Wait," Annabelle spoke up, her voice stating clearly that if she wasn't a doctor, she would kill the girl with her own two hands. "There's nothing wrong with you? Nothing?"

"I'm bored," Katie said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You little..." Annabelle trailed off, her fist clenching around the pen she was holding in her hand.

"We're not cruise directors," Meredith said in annoyance as she walked forward, pulling her stethoscope off her neck and checking Katie out anyways.

"You don't have to wig out," Katie commented, making Annabelle grit her teeth so that she wouldn't say anything inappropriate, "The pageant's supposed to be on cable, but this crappy hospital doesn't get the channel," the teenager continued, and the sisters looked at her in disbelief. "If that cow Kylie Wood is gonna walk off with my crown, I have to see it. Can you call someone?"

"Okay, this..." Annabelle finally snapped, gesturing to the place they were currently in, "Is a hospital. There are sick people here, dying people. Go to sleep, and stop wasting our time, for God's sake," she snapped, before proceeding to walk out, Meredith following her closely.

"But I can't sleep. My head's all full,"

"That's called 'thinking'. Go with it," Annabelle snapped in annoyance, barely turning her head to glance at the girl before walking out of the room with Meredith by her side, "Unbelievable," she hissed once they were out of the patient's room, and Meredith nodded in agreement as she sighed.

"I know,"

"4-B's got post-op pneumonia," Annabelle heard one of the male interns, the same one who first called George 007, say as she walked into one of the post-op rooms, where she also saw George tending to a patient.

"Are you sure that's the right diagnosis?" a nurse asked the intern as Annabelle stopped by the desk.

"Well, I don't know, I'm only an intern. Here's an idea, why don't you go spend four years in med school and then let me know if it's the right diagnosis?" he said sarcastically, "She's short of breath, she's got fever, she's... post-op. Start the antibiotics," he ordered again, before walking over to where Annabelle was standing, "God, I hate nurses," he commented, before taking a few seconds to run his eyes up and down Annabelle's face as he noticed her undeniably beautiful features, "I'm Alex," he introduced himself, offering her a flirtatious smile. "I'm with Jeremy, you're, uh, you're with the Nazi, right?"

"She may not have pneumonia, you know," Annabelle finally spoke up, not answering the man's question, as she already decided that he's an ass, and not looking up at him as she continued to fill out one of the charts. "She could be splinting or have a P.E.,"

"Like I said, I hate nurses," Alex said, proceeding to walk to the other side of the desk as Annabelle's head snapped up.

"What did you just say?" she asked, disbelief and anger clear in her voice. "Did you just call me a nurse?"

"Well, if the white cap fits," Alex stated simply, and Annabelle opened her mouth to either retort or snap, or both, but was cut off by her pager. Still staring at the undeniably handsome intern, she held the pager in front of her face, only to sigh in annoyance as she saw that it was another 911 page for Katie Bryce.

"Damn it," she whispered, before running out of the room, knowing that if she didn't run and the Nazi found out, her head would be bitten off.

"Is she seeing anybody?" Alex asked one of his fellow interns just as George walked over to the desk.

"I don't know," the intern responded and Alex whistled.

"She's hot,"

"I'm friends with her," George spoke up, and the two other men looked at him. "I mean, kind of friends - not, you know, actually friends, exactly, but we're tight. And we hang out - I me-really, only just today-"

"Dude, dude," Alex cut him off. "Stop talking,"

Annabelle quickly ran into Katie's room, only to see already at least ten nurses running around as the young girl seized.

"She's having multiple grand mal seizures," one of the male nurses quickly said to her as she stood still, her breathing shallow from the running, her eyes seeming to be incapable of moving off of the seizing girl, "Now, how do you want to proceed?" the nurse asked, but Annabelle couldn't respond and couldn't move as her eyes were still on Katie. This wasn't med school anymore. This wasn't a case where, if she screwed up, someone would be there to save her or the patient. This was real life, in which she was the doctor and it was her responsibility to keep a 15-year-old girl alive, "Dr. Grey, are you listening to me? She's got diazepam - two milligrams lorazepam - I just gave the second dose. Dr. Grey, you need to tell us what you want to do. Dr. Grey!" the nurse called again, and Annabelle finally managed to get a grip as she grabbed the chart.

"Okay, she's full on lorazepam?" she asked.

"She's had four milligrams," another nurse confirmed as Katie continued to seize, a pillow now between her legs as the nurses kept her on her side.

"You paged Dr. Bailey and Dr. Shepherd?" Annabelle asked, her voice shaking the tiniest bit.

"Lorazepam's not working," one of the nurses said.

"Phenobarbital - load her with phenobarbital," Annabelle ordered and the nurses obeyed.

"Pheno's in,"

"No change!"

"You paged Dr. Shepherd?" Annabelle asked again.

"I just told you!"

"Well, page him again, stat! And where the hell is Dr. Grey?!" Annabelle asked, looking around for her sister, who was nowhere to be seen.

"I paged her at the same time I paged you," one of the nurses said.

"What do you want to do?" another one asked, just as Meredith ran in.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Annabelle exclaimed, but Meredith only stared at Katie in shock.

"Dr. Grey, you need to tell us what you want to do!" one of the nurses called as Katie continued to seize, and the two sisters exchanged panicked glances, just as Katie flatlined. "Heart stopped!"

"Code blue! Code blue, code blue!"

"Get the crash cart!

"I'll get it, right away!"

"Oh, God," Annabelle whispered, before shoving the chart in Meredith's hands and quickly grabbing the paddles, "Charge the paddles to 200!" she ordered, and positioned the paddles above Katie's chest.

"Charged,"

"Clear!" Annabelle called out, before shocking Katie.

"Still v-fib, nothing,"

"Charging. 19 seconds,"

"Charge to 300," Annabelle ordered.

"300," the nurse charged the paddles, and Annabelle shocked Katie again.

"Anything?"

"27 seconds,"

"Charge to 360," Annabelle ordered again as the monitor continued to emit the flatline sound, and shocked Katie again, "Come on, Katie!" she pressed as Meredith ran over to start chest compressions.

"49 seconds,"

"At 60 seconds, you're supposed to admin her another drug," one of the nurses said.

"Charge again," Annabelle said and then looked up as no one moved, "I said charge again!" she yelled, and the nurse charged the paddles again, allowing Annabelle to shock Katie. Thankfully, her heart started beating only a second later.

"Anything?"

"I see sinus rhythm,"

"Blood pressure's coming up,"

"Alright. Pressure's returning,"

"Rate's coming back,"

"What the hell happened?" Dr. Shepherd asked as he ran in, and Annabelle breathed out in relief.

"She had a seizure and her heart stopped," she explained, putting the paddles away.

"A seizure? You were supposed to be monitoring her," he snapped as he quickly wake over to the patient, while Annabelle walked over to stand beside her sister.

"We checked on her and she-"

"I got it. Just-just go," Derek cut Meredith off, already checking on the patient. "Somebody give me her... Give me her chart, please," The two sisters stood where they were for a few more seconds, before slowly turning around and walking out of the room.

"I cannot believe he's blaming us for this. We couldn't have stopped her from having a seizure even if we tried!" Annabelle exclaimed quietly in disbelief, just as they passed Dr. Bailey in the hallway.

"You get a 911, you page me immediately, not in the five minutes it takes you to get to the emergency, immediately. You're on my team and if somebody dies, it's my ass, you hear me?!" she chastised, but the two doctors only walked past her. They managed to get downstairs, and as soon as they reached the desk where Cristina was, Annabelle collapsed on a chair, while Meredith simply kept walking.

"Meredith?" Cristina called out, but the blonde payed her no attention as she walked outside, ignoring the rain. Annabelle and Cristina shared confused glances, before the brunette Grey pulled herself off the chair and the two women followed Meredith together. The blonde continued to walk down the grass path, before picking up the pace and running towards a tree as Annabelle and Cristina stopped in front of the door and watched while she put a hand on the bark of the tree and hunched over, throwing up. The two simply stood where they were, waiting, and Meredith took in a deep breath, before turning around and walking back to the hospital.

"If either of you tell anyone, ever..." she trailed off as she walked past them, and Cristina looked at Annabelle, who simply shrugged in response.

Hour 24

"What are you doing?" Annabelle asked in confusion, staring down at the banana in Cristina's lap as she and Meredith sat on a desk by the window, while Annabelle sat on a chair beside them in the conference room, which was full of interns.

"I'm suturing a banana with the vain hope that it wakes up my brain," Cristina responded, and George laughed from his seat a few feet away, "What are you smiling at, 007?" Cristina asked, making him stop laughing immediately. "I'm sorry, I get mean when I'm tired,"

"You know what? I don't care," George said with a smile. "I comforted a family, and I get to hang out in the O.R. today. All is well,"

"Does anyone know why we're here?" Annabelle asked tiredly, just as Dr. Shepherd walked in.

"Well, good morning," he greeted the interns, and Annabelle just barely withheld a glare she wanted to throw at him, "I'm gonna do something pretty rare for a surgeon. I'm gonna ask interns for help. I've got this kid, Katie Bryce. Right now, she's a mystery... She doesn't respond to our meds. The labs are clear, the scans are pure, but she's having seizures - grand mal seizures with no visible cause. She's a ticking clock. She's gonna die if I don't make a diagnosis, which is where you come in. I can't do it alone. I need your extra minds, extra eyes. I need you to play detective. I need you to find out why Katie's having seizures. I know you're tired, you're busy, you've got more work than you can possible handle. I understand, so I'm gonna give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer, rides with me. Katie needs surgery. You get to do what no interns get to do - scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure. Dr. Bailey's gonna hand you Katie's chart. The clock is ticking fast, people. If we're gonna save Katie's life, we have to do it soon," he finished, walking out of the room, and all the interns immediately grabbed onto whatever folder they could, willing to do anything to get in on that surgery.

"Did you just page me?" Annabelle heard the voice she recognized as Alex, the flirtatious and cocky intern she met a few hours earlier, as she filled out some post-op notes, not looking up though straining to hear what was being said.

"Yes, 4-B's still short of breath," the nurse responded to Alex's question, as Annabelle kept her eyes on the chart she was filling out.

"Look, give the antibiotics time to work," Alex sighed.

"The antibiotics should have worked by now,"

"She's old, she's freaking ancient. She's lucky she's still breathing," Alex said, and Annabelle couldn't help but scoff quietly, though she kept her on the chart, "I got a shot to scrub in downstairs on a patient that wasn't alive during the civil war. Don't page me again," Alex said, before walking out of the room, Annabelle's eyes following his movements. What a douche, she thought to herself.

"Hey, I want in on Shepherd's surgery," Annabelle suddenly looked up as Cristina approached her, Meredith following along, "You two have been the interns on Katie since the start. You want to work together?" the young Asian woman continued as Annabelle put the chart she was filling out away and began walking down the hall with the two women. "If we find the answer, we all have an equal chance of scrubbing in,"

"Sure, what the hell," Annabelle shrugged.

"I'll work with you but I don't want in on the surgery. You can have it," Meredith said, and Cristina and Annabelle both looked at her like she was insane.

"Mer, you do realize this is the biggest opportunity any intern will ever get, right?" Annabelle asked.

"I don't want to spend any more time with Shepherd than I have to,"

"What do you have against Shepherd?" Cristina asked, while Annabelle tried to keep herself from rolling her eyes at her sister. She understood where the blonde was coming from, but, at the same time, she found it ridiculous. So the one-night stand went south. So what? This was an opportunity that could affect their entire careers!

"If we find the answer, the surgery's yours. Then you two can battle it out," Meredith said. "Do you want to work together or not?"

"Deal," Cristina grinned.

"So she doesn't have anoxia, chronic renal failure, or acidosis," Cristina listed as she and the Grey sisters sat on the library floor, multiple folders lying around them.

"Yeah, and it's not a tumor because her C.T.'s clean," Annabelle added.

"Are you seriously not gonna tell me why you won't work with Shepherd?" Cristina spoke up again, this time directing he words to the blonde intern.

"No," Meredith simply answered. "What about infection?"

"Nope," Annabelle replied, "There's no white count, she has no C.T. lesions, no fevers, nothing in her spinal tap..." she continued as she flipped through the papers.

"Just tell me," Cristina pressed.

"You can't comment, make a face, or react in any way," Meredith finally said, and Cristina simply looked at her, silently agreeing to the terms, while Annabelle continued to flip through the papers, already knowing the story, "We had sex," the blonde said, and Cristina stared at her, just barely stopped her eyes from widening.

"What about an aneurysm?" she settled for asking, and Meredith shook her head.

"No blood on the C.T. and no headaches," she said.

"Okay. There's no drug use, uh, no pregnancy, no trauma..." Cristina trailed off before looking at Meredith again. "Was he good? I mean, he looks like he'd be good. Was it any good?"

"Well, based on the sounds - very loud sounds - coming from my living room at 3:00am, I'm guessing he was, indeed, very good," Annabelle said, looking up for the first time, just barely stopping herself from laughing as Meredith glared at her before getting up.

"We're out of answers," she said, putting one of the folders away on the shelf, deciding to ignore her sister's words. "What if no one comes up with anything?"

"You mean what if she dies?" Cristina asked.

"Yeah,"

"This is gonna sound really bad but I really wanted that surgery," Cristina said, and Annabelle cracked a smile.

"She's just never gonna get the chance to turn into a person," Meredith said, leaning against one of the shelves. "The sum total of her existence will be almost winning Miss Teen Whatever,"

"You know what her pageant talent is?" Annabelle spoke up, looking at Cristina.

"They have talent?" the Asian woman asked in dry disbelief.

"Rhythmic gymnastics," Annabelle said, a smile growing on her lips as Meredith laughed.

"Oh, come on," Cristina joined in on the laughter.

"What is rhythmic gymnastics? I don't kno-I can't even say it, I don't know what it is," Meredith chuckled as Annabelle and Cristina laughed.

"I think it's something with like a ball and a..." Cristina trailed off as she noticed the sisters' smiles faltering, both seeming to get the same idea, which was confirmed as they looked at each other with wide eyes. "What? Guys, what?"

"Come on," Annabelle simply said, before getting up and running out of the library alongside her sister, with Cristina following closely.

"The only thing that she would possibly need is an angiogram," Cristina said to the sisters as they all ran down the hallway, the two other women having explained their theory to her briefly on their way, "Oh. Oh, Dr. Shepherd!" she called as she saw the neurosurgeon getting on an elevator. "Just one moment, um, uh, Katie competes in beauty pageants,"

"I know that but we have to save her life, anyway," Derek replied, and if it were any other situation, Annabelle would have honestly laughed at the man's humor.

"Okay, she has no headaches, uh, no neck pain, her C.T. is clean," Cristina continued, before rushing forward to keep the elevator doors from closing.

"There's no medical proof of an aneurysm," Annabelle spoke up.

"Right," Derek drawled.

"But what if she has one, anyway?" Annabelle said, which seemed to catch Derek's attention at least a bit.

"There are no indicators," he said.

"Uh, but she twisted her ankle a few weeks ago when she was practicing for the pageant," Cristina continued, all the meanwhile trying to keep the elevator doors from closing.

"Look, I appreciate you trying to help, but-"

"She fell," Meredith cut Derek off. "When she twisted her ankle, she fell,"

"It was no big deal, not even a bump on her head, she got right back up, iced her ankle and everything was fine," Annabelle spoke up again. "The fall was so minor that her doctor didn't even think to mention it when I was taking her history, but she did fall,"

"Well, you know what the chance is that a minor fall could burst an aneurysm?" Derek asked, "One in a million - literally," he said, just as the elevator doors finally closed. The three young women all let out a sigh, before turning around and proceeding to walk away, only to stop as the elevator doors opened only a second later, Derek standing before them. "Let's go,"

"Go? Go where?" Annabelle asked as he starting walking, the three women following.

"To find out if Katie's one in a million,"

The four doctors now stood in the tech room, watching as an unconscious Katie was scanned on the other side of the glass, their eyes trained on the monitor that would determine whether Annabelle and Meredith's theory was correct. Only a few seconds later, the scan came up on the monitor, and Dr. Shepherd's eyes widened.

"I'll be damned,"

"There it is," the tech guy pointed to the aneurysm on the monitor, and the surgeons all leaned forward.

"It's minute but it's there," Derek nodded. "It's a subarachnoid hemorrhage. She's bleeding into her brain,"

"She could have gone through her entire life without it ever being a problem," Derek spoke to the three interns as they all walked down the hallway a few minutes later, "One tap in the right spot..." he snapped his fingers.

"And it exploded," Annabelle said and Derek nodded.

"Exactly. Now I can fix it. You three did great work. Love to stay and kiss your asses but I got to tell Katie's parents she's having surgery," he said, just as they arrived at one of the nurses' desks. "Katie Bryce's chart, please,"

"Here you go,"

"Uh, D-Dr. Shepherd, you said that you-you'd pick someone to scrub in if we helped," Cristina approached the neurosurgeon after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh, yes, right, um... I'm sorry, I can't take you all. I can only squeeze in two, at most. It's gonna be a full house," Derek said, putting his hand on Cristina's shoulder before turning to look at the other two interns, "Meredith, Annabelle, I'll see you in O.R.," he said before walking away. As soon as he was gone from sight, Cristina turned around to look at Annabelle and Meredith - the latter in particular - accusingly, before walking away.

"Cristina..." Meredith tried to call, but to no avail.

"Izzie," Annabelle heard Cristina say as she saw the blonde open her mouth to say something as she finally came in sight, and the two interns looked up at her. Annabelle waited to see if Cristina would snap at her, but after a few seconds of silence the woman went back to ripping the sticker off of her water bottle angrily and Annabelle took it as a cue that it was safe to stay, so she moved to sit down on the gurney Izzie was sitting on.

"Maybe Meredith couldn't-"

"Izzie," Cristina snapped, and the blonde quickly shut her mouth, before all three looked up, only to see Meredith.

"I'll tell him I changed my mind-"

"You know, don't give me, don't do me any favors, it's fine," Cristina cut her off, though her tone made it very clear that nothing was fine.

"Cristina-"

"You know what, you did a cutthroat thing, deal with it," Cristina snapped. "Don't come to me for absolution, you want to be a shark, be a shark,"

"I'm not-"

"Oh, yes, you are," Cristina cut Meredith off again as Izzie and Annabelle stayed silent, not wanting to get involved, "Only it makes you feel all bad in your warm, gooey places. No, screw you. I don't get picked for surgeries 'cause I slept with my boss and I didn't get into med school 'cause I have a famous mother, you know, some of us have to earn what we get," she said, before going back to ripping the sticker off, while Meredith and Annabelle stared at her before the blonde walked away.

"You know what..." Annabelle spoke up after a few moments of silence, "I get that you're pissed, I do, but that - what you just did there... that was way out of line," she said, before jumping off of the gurney before Izzie could stop her and walking away, deciding that working on some more post-op notes was way better than spending her time with Cristina, especially when the woman was in a bad mood.

"She's still short of breath," Annabelle heard someone say as soon as she walked into one of the post-op rooms, and looked up, only to see the Chief, directing his words to Alex. "Did you get an ABG or a chest film?"

"Oh, yes, sir, I did," the intern said with a proud grin.

"And what did you see?" the Chief asked as Meredith grabbed one of the charts from the nurses' desk.

"Oh, well, I, uh, I had a lot of patients last night-"

"Name the common causes of post-op fever," the Chief cut him off and Annabelle couldn't help but look up.

"Uh, yes-"

"From your head, not from a book," the Chief cut Alex off again as the intern reached into his pocket, "Don't look it up, learn it, it should be in your head. Name the common causes of post-op fever,"

"Uh, the common causes of post-op-"

"Can anybody name the common causes of post-op fever?" the Chief asked loudly, looking around the room, and all the interns reached into their pockets for their notepads or their mini textbooks.

"Wind, water, wound, walking, and wonder drugs - the five W's. Most of the time it's wind - splinting or pneumonia," Annabelle spoke up, "Pneumonia's easy to assume, especially if you're too busy to do the tests," she added, looking at Alex, unable to help herself.

"What do you think's wrong with 4-B?" the Chief asked Annabelle after giving Alex a look.

"The fourth 'W', 'walking'. I think she's a prime candidate for a pulmonary embolus," Annabelle said.

"How would you diagnose?"

"Spiral C.T., V/Q scan, provide 02, dose with heparin, and consult for an IVC filter," Annabelle responded after taking a second to register that this was actually happening. She was an actual doctor, asked to diagnose an actual patient by an actual chief of surgery.

"Do exactly as she says, then tell your resident that I want you off this case," the Chief said to Alex, who nodded quickly, "I'd know you anywhere. You have the exact same determined expression as your mother," the Chief said to Annabelle quietly as he stopped beside her while walking out. "Welcome to the game,"

"You ready for this?" Annabelle asked her sisters as they stood by the door of the O.R. Derek was already occupying, their masks on.

"Are you?" Meredith retorted, not answering the question, and Annabelle also stayed silent as they simultaneously stepped into the O.R.

"Alright, everybody. It's a beautiful night to save lives," Derek said loudly as soon as they walked in. "Let's have some fun,"

The next couple of hours Annabelle would always remember as the most thrilling of her life. Witnessing her first surgery - other than George's appendectomy - standing in the very O.R. it was being performed in, standing beside one of the best neurosurgeons in the country while he performed it, seeing the live brain tissue, jumping out of the way when the patient started coding... everything was just as she always imagined it to be only 100 times more intense. She could hear and feel her heart beating the entire time, but she didn't care. She could see her sister and Derek Shepherd looking at each other simultaneously and when the other wasn't looking, but she didn't care. All that mattered was the brain tissue she got to see as closely as any surgeon ever would be able to see it. That was all that mattered. This, she could tell, was the beginning of the real career ahead of her. And finally, even if for just a split moment, she felt ready.

I can't think of any one reason why I want to be a surgeon. But I can think of a thousand reasons why I should quit. They make it hard on purpose. There are lives in our hands. There comes a moment when... it's more than just a game. And you either take that step forward... or turn around and walk away. I could quit. But here's the thing... I love the playing field.

Hour 48

"So..." Annabelle turned around as she heard the all-too-familiar voice, and looked up at the smiling face of Derek Shepherd. "Was the surgery everything you expected it to be?"

"More than that, if it's even possible," she chuckled almost breathlessly as they stood in the scrub room, watching as the nurses cleaned up the O.R. "That was such a high,"

"Yeah," Derek smiled, "It always is," he said, before offering her another smile as he patted her on the shoulder. "I'll see you around,"

"See ya," Annabelle smiled.

A/N: I thought it would be interesting for Meredith to have a sister - an actual, full-blood sister whom she grew up with. I've seen a lot of stories about the characters in the show with an original plot, and I haven't seen many OC stories in the Grey's Anatomy fandom. And those that I did see, I saw OCs who are new doctors at Seattle Grace, Jackson's sister, Mark's sister, Addison's sister, Derek's sister, and so on. But I've never seen Meredith's sister. I thought this might be interesting, an OC who actually grew up with Meredith, experienced what she did in childhood, and kind of changed Meredith's story, I think, because she wasn't completely alone as a child if she had a sister by her side.