Annabeth woke up with a start, being pulled out of a dream that was already beginning to slip from her mind.

As she lay on the couch, she tried to remember where she was. Her surroundings seemed foreign to her at first and she couldn't recognize anything other than the painful pounding that was going on in her head.

Annabeth lifted her head up from off her brown throw pillow, and everything from the previous night came rushing back to her mind all at once.

Her eyes landed on the toned body that lay passed out on her floor, his bare ass barely covered by the thin wool blanket haphazardly thrown over him.

Annabeth, without even bothering to drag herself to a sitting position, reached over the edge of the couch blindly for the blanket.

A few seconds of slapping around the cold floor later, Annabeth's fist grasped onto the woven blanket and pulled it off of him and over her bare body, holding it closed over her shoulders.

She stood up slowly, her whole body aching and legs wobbly, and grabbed the pillow from behind her on the couch. She approached the black-haired guy who was still in a deep sleep, admiring his peaceful face as he slept, before dropping the pillow onto his ass, quite ungently.

He woke up with a slight jump, letting out a soft hmph. Annabeth looked around the room for he clothes that had been thrown carelessly about the room the night before. Her face flushed as she recalls last night's events and looks for her bra.

Annabeth was pulled out of her search when the guy groaned as he shifted his body to pick something up.

"This is, uh…" he said, lifting her black lacy bra to her line of sight by his index finger.

Annabeth flinched. "Humiliating. Incredibly humiliating." She snatched it from his hands, turning around and calling out over her shoulder, "You need to go."

That got the man's attention. "Or we could both stay here and carry last night's events over to today."

Annabeth shook her head at his innuendo. "Seriously, you need to go."

The man dropped his head back onto the floor, banging his head against the hardwood in a what sounded very painful way. "Why?" he groaned, his words muffled.

Annabeth continued moving around the room. "Today's my first day of work, and I'm running late. I'd really rather not be late on my first day of work."

He didn't move. "So, this is your place?" he asked.

"No. Well, yes." He lifted his head to glance at her in confusion. "It was my mother's," she clarified.

He brought himself to a sitting position. "I'm sorry."

She stopped in her tracks. "What for?"

"Your mother. She passed, didn't she?"

Annabeth shook her mussed hair out of her face. "No. I just moved here from Boston, so I'm just going to be staying here until I find another place."

"Ah." The guy stood up from the floor, brandishing his you-know-what in all its glory, and Annabeth looked away as though she hadn't seen it last night, or hell, used it last night.

"So," the man began as he looked around the floor. "Where are you working?" He turned around to pull his boxers and pants back on.

Annabeth ignored his question, turning around and making her way towards the carpeted stairs. "Let's not do this."

"What?"

"Let's not be friendly, or pretend we actually know each other and care for each other's well beings," she clarified.

"Oh." He grabbed his dress shirt from where it landed on a nearby table.

"I'm going to go upstairs and take a shower. By the time I'm done, you're not going to be here anymore," she said, stressing the part of him not being there anymore. "So, goodbye, uh…"

A second passed between them.

"Percy," he said with a smile, walking forwards to shake her hand while holding his plain shirt with his free hand.

"Annabeth," she exchanged, accepting his greeting gracefully. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Percy."

Percy pulled his shirt over his head. "It was nice to meet you, too, Annabeth."

She nodded, a humored gleam in her eyes. "Goodbye, Percy," she said, lifting her finger to point at him sternly.

Annabeth took one last look at him before slowly taking the steps leading to the second floor.

Once Annabeth was out of Percy's sight, she leaned against the unpainted wall, waiting and listening for the sound of her front door shutting, signaling that her nighttime guest had finally left her home.

At the sound of the front door slamming shut, Annabeth gave a sign of relief, and made her way to the bathroom where she'd take a steaming shower and try to forget how the start of her first day at a new job had just went.

Annabeth cursed and grabbed her faux leather bag, slamming the door of her cheap car shut and practically running through the parking lot towards the glass front doors of the hospital. Why did she have to wear jeans?

Annabeth was beginning her intern year of a surgical residency today, and she was already running impossibly late. Annabeth had graduated top of her class from her high school over in New York. She got an undergraduate degree at Stanford University and then graduated from medical school at Dartmouth. She worked so hard to get to where she is, and she is not going to ruin that by being late.

She was doing her residency at Seattle Grace Hospital, the place where her mother, Athena Chase, had become a world class surgeon. That was another thing. Her mother had told Annabeth that she didn't have what it took to become a surgeon. She had tried to talk Annabeth out of medical school, which had somewhat destroyed their relationship beyond repair. Her mother was a legend in the surgical community and Annabeth was already incredibly nervous about having to live up to that without being late for her first day, so yeah, she was panicking.

Annabeth ran through the front doors, barely glancing around before storming up to the front desk, huffing angrily.

"Do you know where the interns are supposed to meet?" she asked, her chest rising and falling harshly.

The woman looked at Annabeth in something that looked a lot like disgust.

"Second floor, East Wing," the woman told her, lifting a finger to point in the general direction. "They've started the tour by now."

Without even so much as muttering a thanks, Annabeth took off sprinting towards the stairs. She didn't even bother with the elevator. She took the steps two at a time, turning to the left at the top and making her way down the carpeted hall.

Annabeth stayed alert, looking for the familiar group of people that she had met at the resident mixer. The end of the hall was in sight and a feeling of dread filled her, until she just barely saw a few people turning a corner out of her peripheral vision.

Deciding to take a chance since no one else was in sight, Annabeth followed the people, turning the same corner and saving herself from an actual heart attack when she saw a medium sized group of people she knew would be her surgical resident coworkers.

Annabeth slowed her steps, treading the floor lightly as to not alert the Chief of Surgery that was giving the tour of her late coming. She joined the back of the group, tuning in to what the guide was saying.

The Chief of Surgery turned around just as Annabeth made her way up, locking eyes with her as though reading her soul. She read his I.D. clipped onto his pristine white coat. Dr. Phoebus Apollo.

"A month ago, you were in medical school. You were training to become doctors. Now, you are the doctors."

"The seven years that you're residents will test you beyond what you can imagine. It's not going to be easy, I can promise you that. Some of you will switch to easier specialties, and some will quit altogether. Those of you that intend to make it will have to be on your top game every single second that you're inside the walls of this hospital."

The Chief stopped in front of two doors and looked around at the group that had been stunned into silence. "Any questions?"

When everyone shook their heads and murmured under their breath, the Chief continued.

"Well, then." He opened the doors behind him.

"Welcome to the next seven years of your life."

0 Hours

Annabeth stood in the locker room designated for the interns. She had already changed into her light blue scrubs and put on her white lab coat.

Annabeth roped her stethoscope around her neck as she looked around the room filled mainly of men, lifting her low ponytail over the cord. "There's only six women out of twenty surgical residents," she said to her neighbor.

Her neighbor glanced Annabeth's way. "I know," she began in annoyance. "Apparently, one's a model. That's really going to help us gain respect when the men are already dragging their overinflated egos around the entire goddamn hospital."

Annabeth stood up and shoved her bag into her locker. A higher year resident began listing names, none of which were Annabeth's.

"So," began the girl next to her, extending her hand. "I'm Piper McLean."

Annabeth turned around, pulling her lower lip between her teeth and accepting the handshake. "Annabeth Chase."

Piper yelped and pulled her hand back. "Chase? As in Athena Chase?"

Annabeth shut her locker aggressively. "That's my mother."

"Oh, wow. Aren't you lucky?" Piper teased, putting a hand on her hip.

"Not really," Annabeth replied flatly, sitting down on a bench to tie her shoe that had come undone.

When Annabeth didn't say anything beyond that, Piper carried the conversation on.

"Who'd you get assigned to? I got La Rue."

"The Nazi? Me too."

Piper sat next to Annabeth and elbowed her in the arm gently. "At least we have each other, amirite?"

Before Annabeth could respond, another person interrupted.

"I'm Leo Valdez," he said, grabbing his stethoscope and closing his own locker. "We met at the mixer," he spoke to Annabeth.

Annabeth nodded, exchanging an amused glance with Piper.

"You had on a black dress, with these strappy sandals, and your hair was…"

Leo stopped as he saw Annabeth's face and humored eyes. "And now you think I'm gay. I'm not gay!"

Annabeth smiled politely and stood up as Leo stammered over his words.

The guy calling names walked back into the locker room, calling out a few more names.

"Chase, McLean, Valdez, Beauregard!"

Annabeth stifled a laugh as Leo insisted that he wasn't gay again, and walked out of the room alongside Piper.

"La Rue," Piper said to the guy, who pointed wordlessly down the hall to a lady that was surprisingly short and a tad bit buff.

"That's the Nazi?" Annabeth questioned.

"I was expecting someone with a penis," Piper said.

Annabeth looked at her.

"What?" Piper defended.

"It would've been easier to say you expected a man," Leo said.

"Okay, but is that or is that not the same thing?"

Annabeth chuckled. "I just expected the Nazi to look like, well, a Nazi."

"What does a Nazi even look like?" Piper asked.

Annabeth was stumped. "I'm not sure, actually."

Another girl, hair and perfectly put together, accosted the group. "Maybe she's actually really nice. Maybe she's not a Nazi at all and they're actually just jealous." The girl beamed at the group of interns, before flouncing away in front of them.

"Found the model," Piper muttered to Annabeth under her breath, succeeding in making Annabeth choke down a laugh and Silena turn around with a death glace made special with love for Piper.

"Hi," the girl said, extending her hand towards La Rue. "I'm Silena Beauregard."

La Rue stared at Beauregard's hand like it had been coughed on by someone with the Bubonic Plague. "I've got five rules. Memorize them. Number one: don't bother sucking up. I already hate you and that's not going to be changing anytime soon."

La Rue began walking. "Here are trauma protocols, phone lists, and pagers. You get a page, you answer at a run. A run! That's rule number two."

"Your first shift starts now, and it will last for the next forty-eight hours." La Rue began walking towards a door and opened it. "It's going to be long and you will be tired. These are the on-call rooms. Attendings hog the rooms so you're going to have to sleep when you can, where you can."

"Rule number three: If I am sleeping, you do not wake me unless your patient is physically dying. That being said, rule number four. That patient better not be dead by the time I get there. If they are, not only will you have killed a person, but you will have woken me up for no good reason. Are we clear?"

Annabeth raised her hand hesitantly. "You said five. That was only four."

La Rue looked at Annabeth in disgust. Her pager went off. "Rule number five: when I move, you move."

La Rue began running off in what seemed like a random direction, leaving the four interns to scramble after her.

Annabeth ran alongside Piper, looking at her and exchanging glances of what did we get ourselves into? La Rue ran around a corner, reaching an elevator and punching the up button so hard that it's surprising the plastic button didn't split into two.

Annabeth and the other interns ran into the elevator, where La Rue pressed the button bringing them up to the helicopter pad. Beauregard was rolled a gurney, to which she rolled after La Rue and towards the medivac that was currently landing.

The helicopter was bright red against the dull Seattle sky as it landed, the chopping of the blades overbearingly loud.

La Rue ran up to the helicopter door, yanking it open forcefully. "What do we got?"

An EMT hopped out of the helicopter. "Fifteen-year-old Katie Bryce. Multiple seizures, and IV lost en route. Began seizing a few minutes prior to landing."

La Rue shoved Annabeth towards the gurney. "Let's move! Get her into a room and load her up with a dose of Lorazepam."

Annabeth snapped out of her daze and grabbed the gurney along with Piper, running back towards the elevator, La Rue and the others en route.

"What floor?" Annabeth yelled over the sound of the helicopter blades.

"Two!" La Rue shouted.

The interns, among their frantic moving and yelling, somehow made it to the elevator. A minute later, the interns were in a large room filled with a plethora of medical instruments. La Rue was instructing them on what actions to take.

"Come on, Chase, get that IV in! Silena, where's that ten milligrams Lorazepam?" La Rue observed the interns' every moves. "Turn her on her side!"

Annabeth reached for the red and white leads, attempting to attach the red lead onto the right side of Bryce's back.

"No, Chase! White goes on the right! Come on, large dose IV! Don't let the blood start to hemolyze!"

Silena grabbed the ten milligrams Lorazepam and injected it quickly through the open IV. The reaction was immediate; Bryce stopped seizing and lay unconscious on the hospital bed. The room turned eerily quiet.

Annabeth leaned on the gurney, dropping her hands onto it and lowering her head. That was incredibly terrifying, and she'd been here less than an hour. Wow.

Annabeth tried to calm herself, breathing in and out through her mouth. She lifted her head when another doctor walked in.

"Good morning, Dr. Grace," La Rue greeted.

"La Rue. What do we have here?" Grace grabbed the girl's chart from a nurse's hands, opening the binder up. "Grand mal seizures? Shotgun it." Grace handed the charts back to La Rue and looked each intern in the eyes.

"Alright, people. That means every test in the books. Valdez, workups. Piper, you're with labs. Run 'em, get the results. Chase, you get that girl a CT scan. She's under your care now."

La Rue slid the charts back into the slot on the door and took a step out before Silena interrupted.

"Where do you want me?" she asked with enthusiasm.

La Rue rolled her eyes. "Congratulations. You've scored yourself some exciting rectal exams. Go at it."

La Rue walked out and Silena's mouth fell open in a mix of disbelief and disgust.

"I really get rectal exams. Wow. Okay."

Annabeth straightened. "Well, you did ask," she pointed out.

Silena scoffed towards Annabeth. "Shut up."

Annabeth smiled sweetly, to which Silena huffed and walked haughtily out the door.

Annabeth addressed Piper and Leo. "I guess I should probably take her up to CT."

The three of them looked at the girl's unmoving body.

Annabeth sighed. "This is going to be a fun fourty-eight hours."

Piper snickered. "Uh-huh."

Annabeth watched as the elevator slid open, revealing a creepy hallway lined with cement floors and cinderblock walls.

"You're lost," Katie Bryce stated matter of factly.

Annabeth looked at her, a mix of embarrassment and insult in her eyes. "I am not."

Annabeth took another wrong turn.

"You're so lost. What, are you new?"

"Why don't you take a nap, or something?"

"Why don't you learn your way around the hospital you work at, or something?" Katie mocked, sitting up and leaning on her arms that were stretched behind her.

"You're a real project, you know," Annabeth said, rolling Katie down the hall.

"You're not a real doctor, you know."

Annabeth's eye twitched.

Katie continued talking. "All I'm saying is my doctor doesn't even know what she's doing, and she probably should. I mean, hello, my life is literally in your hands."

"Alright, settle down," Annabeth scolded.

"You can't tell me what to do. I'm in charge here, patient autonomy and all," Katie finished wildly, flailing her hands around to prove her point.

Annabeth resisted running Katie into a cinderblock wall.

"Let's just stay quiet until we reach CT, yeah?"

Katie threw herself back down onto the gurney."That's kind of boring."

"Last I checked, I wasn't here to entertain you."

"It has to fall under some type of rule."

"Shockingly, it doesn't."

"Do you do anything other than wander aimlessly around the basements of hospitals?"

"Wandering aimlessly is my fulltime job."

"Aha! So, you admit you're lost."

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

Katie decided to keep going. "Well, I like to do rhythmic gymnastics. It's a lot of fun and takes a lot of talent. I don't think you'd understand what talent is, though."

"I'm like ten years older than you," Annabeth pointed out incredulously.

"So? Anyways, I tripped over my ribbon once and twisted my ankle. They brought me to the hospital, and I didn't get stuck with a doctor who had no idea where CT was. I'm pretty sure that it was a nurse."

"Go to sleep."

5 Hours

Piper sat in the cafeteria eating her sandwich with Leo when Silena walked up looking just about ready to cry.

Piper raised an eyebrow as she took another bite. "Should I ask?"

Silena crossed her arms and put her face against the table. "No."

Leo picked up his apple juice. "You should eat, Silena."

"After performing over a dozen rectal exams? No thank you." She pouted her lips and began to whine. "The Nazi hates me."

"I have attendings that hate me. I couldn't even find a guy's vein. That's literally the first thing they teach in medical school. Dr. Grace hates me," Leo reassured.

Silena closed her eyes and said something suspiciously close to Lord, give me the strength.

Piper swallowed another bite. "Did you know Annabeth is a part of the royal family?"

Leo tilted his head. "Royal family?"

Piper nodded. "Her mother is Athena Chase."

Silena's head shot up. "No way!"

"I know, right!"

Leo interrupted. "Who's Athena Chase?"

Silena and Piper looked at him, offended.

"The Athena Chase," Piper stressed. "The Chase Method?"

Silena slammed her hands on the table. "Where did you go to medical school? Mt. Olympus? How do you not know of Athena Chase?"

"She's won the Ares Zhang award twice, and she's one of the first major female surgeons! You uncultured –" Piper stopped. "You know what, I can't even look at you," she complained, holding her hand up to his face.

"Wha–"

"Heads up!" Piper called to Leo, jerking her head towards Annabeth.

"Katie Bryce is awful," Annabeth huffed, sitting down in an empty chair next to Piper. "I'd very much like to unleash some Jiu Jitsu on her sorry ass, but I've taken the Hippocratic Oath, so I can't."

They stared at Annabeth.

"What?" Annabeth asked self-consciously.

Piper shrugged. "Nothing."

Annabeth stole a fry from Piper's lunch as Grace accosted the table of interns.

"As you know," Grace hinted. "Seattle Grace has a tradition among the interns. The intern to show the most compromise as a surgeon gets to perform their first surgery, specifically an appendectomy."

Annabeth sat up straight.

Grace locked eyes with Piper and then Annabeth.

"Congratulations," he quipped, turning towards Leo. "Valdez, you'll get to perform the appendectomy."

Leo choked on his apple juice, some of it spilling out of his nose. "What?" he coaxed out with a scratchy voice.

Grace looked at him funny. "You'll be performing the appendectomy later today." He hesitantly looked at the group of four interns sitting at the table before walking away awkwardly without so much as another word.

Annabeth threw her half-eaten French fry down onto the table after Grace was out of earshot. "You're kidding me."

Leo yelped. "Sorry."

"I spent all day with pain-in-the-ass Bryce, and you get to scrub in on an appendectomy. Just great."

Annabeth pushed her chair away from the table, the legs scraping against the tiled floor piercingly, before storming away with her white coat trailing behind her.

"Dr. La Rue," Annabeth called out as she held open a door. "Katie Bryce's parents want to talk to someone. Should I do it myself or go get Grace?"

La Rue dropped the charts she was holding from her face. "No, Dr. Grace isn't the attending anymore. It's Dr. Jackson now." She looked around. "He's right over there," La Rue pointed.

Annabeth followed her finger, and was met with the sight of… Her one-night stand.

"Um, actually," Annabeth turned around, only to find La Rue gone.

"Great," she hissed to herself.

Annabeth stood in place for a few seconds staring at Percy and deciding what to do. Just as she was about make her way out of the room and try to find La Rue again, Percy looked up casually and he actually did a double take, his vibrant green eyes locking onto her stormy grey ones.

Percy's eyes lit up in recognition, and it seemed like he was about to call out to her. Annabeth turned sharply around and fled from the room, her cheeks already flaming red.

She made her way down the hall, avoiding looking over her shoulder where she could hear someone's fast footsteps following her.

"Annabeth, can I talk to you for a second?" he pleaded, grabbing her upper arm firmly and dragging her towards a stairwell.

"Actually, I was –"

Percy pushed her into a stairwell gently, following close behind her. Annabeth whipped around.

"Dr. Jackson."

"Dr. Jackson? This morning it was Percy." Percy put one hand on the railing of the stairs, leaning on it slightly.

"Dr. Jackson. We should pretend that it never happened."

"Pretend sleeping with me never happened or you forcing me to do the walk of shame this morning?" Percy snickered. "I'd like very much to remember both events, thank you."

Annabeth laughed in raw frustration, holding her hands up to her cheeks. "We can't do this. You will forget any of this happened. We aren't in a bar anymore. We're in a hospital and you're my boss."

"You just feel bad."

"What?"

"You feel bad that you took advantage. I was drunk, you know." Percy teased.

"I was drunk!"

"Advantage," he repeated.

"Absolutely not."

"Go out with me."

"As I previously said, absolutely not."

"Don't sugar coat it," he said sarcastically.

"I'm literally your intern."

"You didn't know that before we slept together," he pointed out.

"And now that I do, I seriously can't go out with you. It's just… wrong," she cautioned.

Percy just smiled cheekily at her.

"I'm leaving," she declared, lifting her hands to say I'm done with this.

"Wait," Percy sighed, pretending as though he was about to apologize.

"What?"

"Here's Katie Bryce's charts," he said chirpily.

Annabeth stared at him and snatched the charts from his hands. She opened the stairwell doors to leave and just as Annabeth opened the doors, Percy decides that it would be a really fun idea to humiliate Annabeth to death.

"I've seen you naked!" Percy yells as Annabeth steps out, causing her to freeze in her tracks, smiling awkwardly at all the people who turned to look at the very embarrassing ordeal.

Annabeth backtracked into the room, making sure to wait until the door closes before smacking Percy on the arm with the heavy charts.

"You're actually insane! Do you want to get me fired?"

Percy waved it off. "No one cares."

"I do!"

Percy snorted.

"It's not funny!"

"It kind of is," he said with a sheepish tilt of his head.

Annabeth muttered asshole under her breath.

"I heard that!"

Annabeth tugged open the door again. "Good!" she said, not bothering to look back over her shoulder.

Annabeth watched from the gallery as Leo was prepped for his appendectomy. Leo was standing awkwardly by the O.R. table, prepped in a gown and gloves, his scrub cap covering his curly hair.

"I bet ten bucks he'll cry," a random resident stated.

Piper snorted.

Another resident said, "Fifteen says he sweats himself unsterile."

Other surgical residents began to pitch in, shouting out bets of a million different ways Leo's going to fail the surgery.

Annabeth broke in. "Fifty says he pulls it off."

The gallery went silent.

Annabeth was seething. "That's the first intern performing the first surgery. You heard what Apollo said; we're going to need help if we plan to make it through even our intern year. Instead of tearing him down, you should be supporting him because we all want the same thing. Stop betting on how he's going to fail, and just support him and be proud, for crying out loud."

Annabeth looked up and everyone was staring at her in disbelief. Down in the O.R., Leo stood looking up at Annabeth and nodded in thanks. Annabeth nodded back with a smile, trying to send him some comfort.

"Seventy-five says he can't even I.D. the appendix," Piper broke out in among the silence.

Annabeth bit back a few choice words. Arguing was pointless.

The betting and joking went on for a few more minutes until someone yelled out for everyone to shut up because the surgery was starting.

"Ready?" Dr. Grace asked Leo.

Leo nodded.

"Ten blade," Leo said confidently, holding his hand out for a scrub nurse to place the sharp blade in his hand.

"Nicely done, Valdez," Dr. Grace praised.

People in the gallery cheered loudly, despite having just been planning Leo's demise as a surgeon.

Annabeth watched closely as Dr. Grace instructed Leo to open the patient up and seek out the appendix. Leo grabbed the clamps and successfully placed it on the stump of the appendix at Dr. Grace's command.

The gallery was tense as everyone waited to see if he would be able to do it. Leo grabbed the scalpel and managed to take the appendix out, and the gallery broke out into a mix of cheering and groaning at loss of money.

"I told you he was going to do it," Annabeth spit out over her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah," Piper dismissed, upset that she just lost quite a bit of money.

"Now, invert the stump back into the cecum, and pull on the purse strings at the same time," Dr. Grace instructed Leo.

Leo began to do so, and Dr. Grace warned him again.

"Now be careful while pulling on the strings; you don't want to accidentally–"

Before Dr. Grace could finish his words, Leo did exactly what Grace wanted to avoid.

"Break them," Dr. Grace finished in calm frustration, clenching his fists over the sterile zone as he watched Leo tug too hard on the strings and rip the cecum open.

Annabeth sat on the edge of the seat, biting her lip nervously and tasting blood. "Come on, Leo."

"The patient's abdomen is now filling with stool. How do you want to proceed, Valdez?"

Leo froze. He couldn't think of what to do next.

"Think, Valdez! How do you fix this?"

Still no response.

"Her blood pressure is dropping," a nurse told them.

When Leo made no attempt to move, Grace shoved Leo out of the way.

"Move!" Grace took the instruments from Leo's hands. "Suction."

Grace suctioned out the stool and looked for the purse strings in the abdomen. Leo stood in his spot, unable to move and not sure what to do.

Someone up in the gallery snickered. "He's 007!"

People began to laugh, and Annabeth told them to shut it, along with some other choice words.

Silena tilted her head like a confused puppy. "What's 007?"

"Licensed to kill," Annabeth informed her without making eye contact.

Leo looked up at Annabeth, and she could see his eyes brimming with tears of embarrassment. His cheeks were burning red under his mask that he ripped off of his face before throwing it in the surgical waste bin and forcing his way out of the operating room.

Annabeth rubbed her face in exhaustion. This couldn't be good.

19 Hours

After what felt like an eternity, Annabeth found herself among the other interns under La Rue's instruction.

The four of the interns managed to find a relatively empty hall lined with empty beds, and they took it up with their presence. Annabeth lay on a bed by herself, her hands crossed neatly across her stomach as she tried to prevent herself from dozing off, a bit unsuccessfully.

"They're calling me 007," Leo stammered, rolling himself up and down the hall in a wheelchair. "They're actually calling me 007."

Annabeth was pulled out of her sleepy haze, responding with a slow, low voice. "They're not calling you 007."

"I heard some someone snicker in the elevator and call me 007."

Annabeth clenched her fist, rolling over in the bed to face away from Leo.

"Don't turn away! Tell me if they're calling me 007!"

"They're not calling you 007."

"You're lying," he accused maliciously.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, grabbing a pillow and silently wondered if she should smother Leo with it until she decided to smother herself instead, pressing it over her head to block out Leo's whining voice.

Piper's back popped as she hopped off of another bed. "Leo," she started as she headed towards a vending machine and put a dollar in. "If you complain again, I will shove a scalpel down your throat."

Leo stuck his nose in the air in indignance. "Someone called me 007 and the whole elevator laughed."

Annabeth removed the pillow after a failed attempt at smothering herself. "We wouldn't lie to you."

"Yes, you really would."

Silena, being the nicest of them all, tried to comfort Leo. "I'm sure they weren't referencing you."

"Who else, then?"

Piper banged her head against the vending machine. "I'm going to kill you, Leo," she whispered. Piper shifted to face Leo. "They weren't calling you 007, and if they were, who cares? They'll all kill someone eventually."

Leo's mouth dropped open. "I didn't kill him!"

Piper stopped. "You didn't?"

"No!"

"Oh." Piper shrugged. "Well, anyways, just ignore them. They're no better than you."

"Says Piper, valedictorian of her class at Stanford Medical School."

Piper was ready to bite out a harsh insult, but someone's pager went off. All the interns looked down at where their pagers were clipped to their scrubs.

Annabeth huffed and banged her head against the mattress once for good measure. "It's a 911 for Katie."

"You should've been out that door twenty seconds ago, then."

Annabeth sat up in her bed. "Thank you for that, Piper."

"My pleasure," Piper said with a sickly-sweet smile.

Annabeth mocked her smile back to her, causing Piper to snicker. Annabeth squeezed the juice box in Piper's mouth to make her choke on her apple juice she just got, and then she sprinted down the hallway to get to Katie's room.

Annabeth ran out of the hall, pushing the door open with quite some force, before running towards the elevator. She pressed the button five time as though it would make a difference in the rate at which the elevator arrived.

"Come on," Annabeth whispered to herself, frantically pushing the button a few more times for good measure, before taking a step back.

The elevator dinged open, finally, and Annabeth stepped on, immediately pressing the button for Katie Bryce's floor, and forcing the elevator doors to close, not at all sorry for the people who had been about to step over the threshold to the elevator.

Annabeth stood on the elevator for what felt like an eternity before it finally opened once again. She sprinted out of the elevator, making a sharp turn left and calling out a few excuse me's to the people that stood in her way and body-checking those who still didn't move.

Once Annabeth reached the room, she burst inside, her chest heaving, expecting to find Katie deathly ill on the bed. That is not what she got.

Instead, Katie was sitting up on the bed, a magazine in her hands. Upon entering the room, Katie lowered the magazine onto her lap.

"It took you long enough. I could've been dead by now."

Annabeth looked at her, trying to tell herself that this fifteen-year-old girl couldn't be this stupid.

"I'm bored."

This fifteen-year-old girl is really this stupid.

Annabeth picked up Katie's charts and walked up to the bed slowly and with a layer of simmering rage. "So, there's not an emergency?"

"God, no."

Annabeth turned around to calm herself before she yelled at the girl. She counted to three in her head. It didn't work.

Annabeth whipped back around and raised her voice. "So, you mean to tell me that there's nothing wrong with you!"

"Well, obviously something's wrong. I am in the hospital, after all."

Annabeth tried not to yell again. Once again, it didn't work.

"This is a hospital! People here are sick! People here are dying! I am not your own personal entertainment. I am a doctor."

Katie almost looked hurt for a second, before reverting back to her usual self.

"I know that," she said with a hint of sass. "It's just that this stupid hospital doesn't even get good channels. I'm going to lose my pageant, so the least this hospital can do is let me watch it happen."

Annabeth didn't even know how respond to this. She knew she'd just about scream if she opened her mouth, so instead, she accosted the girl to check her vitals.

"Can you find someone to let me watch my pageant?"

Annabeth scoffed and dropped the charts onto the pull-out table at the end of the bed. "Go to sleep."

"You're a terrible doctor."

"Go to sleep," Annabeth repeated.

"My mind is racing, so I can't."

"Then think. Don't bother me again unless it's an actual emergency."

"This is an emergency!" Katie called to Annabeth, who was already half out the door.

Annabeth stormed out of the room and took her hair out of the low ponytail it had been sitting in for a few hours. She ran her hand through her messy curls, closing her eyes and just wishing that this shift was even close to over.

23 Hours

Annabeth was in a room scattered with multiple post operation patients. She was filling out some information on a paper for another patient when she tuned into another intern's loud conversation.

"They have post-operative pneumonia. Just start them on some antibiotics." The guy talking closed and handed a binder to a nurse.

The female nurse took it hesitantly. "Are you sure that's the right diagnosis?"

The guy rolled his eyes, quite blatantly. "I'm not sure. I only did four years of medical school, after all." He crossed his arms. "The patient has a fever and infection. I may be an intern, but I know how to do my damn job, so don't question me again."

Annabeth, facing away from them and pretending to busy as she listened, raised her eyebrows in surprise. An intern had guts to talk to a nurse that way, goodness.

"Yes, doctor," the nurse said submissively, going to put away the charts and do as she was told.

"God, I hate nurses," the guy said loudly. He looked around and spotted Annabeth leaning over the counter and filling papers out. Against his better judgement, he approached her.

"Nurses, right?" he asked Annabeth with a laugh, expecting Annabeth to laugh along. All he got was a blank stare.

"So," he continued. "I'm Charles Beckendorf. You're with La Rue, right?"

Annabeth gave him a pinched smile and nodded, returning to her paperwork.

"You know," she interjected as he opened his mouth to speak again. "It may not be pneumonia. It could be splinting, or any number of things."

Charles groaned. "Like I said, I hate nurses."

Annabeth slammed her binder shut. "Did you just call me a nurse?"

He smirked. "Pretty princess like you can't be a doctor. Too blonde," he said, pointing to his own head to reference hers.

Annabeth choked back the oncoming insults, instead choosing to look down at her pager as it beeped loudly. Bryce, K. 911.

"Damn it," Annabeth said through gritted teeth, shooting Charles one more dangerous glace before heading off to her patient.

This time, Annabeth took her time making her way up the floors, assuming Katie needed someone to annoy again. By the time she made her way to the floor and Katie's room was in sight, she spotted the nurses crowded inside the room, filled with frantic, overlapping voices. Annabeth's heart dropped and she ran through the door.

"What took you so long?" a passing nurse questioned.

"What happened?" Annabeth demanded, grabbing the binder that was shoved into her hands by a nurse. She looked at the girl that lay unconscious on the bed, seizing harshly.

"Several grand mal seizures. How do you want to proceed?" another nurse asked, pressing buttons on the monitor.

Annabeth froze.

"Dr. Chase? Listen to me!"

Annabeth couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She didn't know what to do, but if she didn't do something, Katie was going to die. Annabeth was panicking and tried to move, but her limbs felt like lead.

Katie had an oxygen mask being forced over her face, and her eyes were half open but only the whites of her eyes were visible. Her mouth began to foam as the seizing only grew harsher.

"She's already but administered 2 milligrams of Lorazepam, and some Diazepam. How do you want to proceed, doctor?"

Annabeth finally managed to break through her cloud of panic. She opened the binder. "You've already given Lorazepam?"

"Four milligrams administered minutes ago."

Annabeth was shaking. "You've paged Dr. Jackson and Dr. La Rue?"

"Yes! Lorazepam isn't working."

"Phenobarbital. Give her phenobarbital."

"It's in," a nurse told her.

"No change," another pitched in.

"You've paged Dr. Jackson?"

"We already told you!"

"Well, page him again!" Annabeth was near hysterics.

"You need to tell us what you want to do!"

Annabeth opened her mouth but was cut off by the high-pitched sound radiating from the vitals monitor signifying Katie's flatlining.

"Heart has stopped," a guy yelled, pushing a button on the wall. "Code blue!"

"Get the crash cart," Annabeth commanded, putting the charts down and stumbling over to Katie's side.

A female nurse dragged the crash cart over and handed Annabeth the paddles. Annabeth grabbed the paddles and held them out to apply gel to them, and then she rubbed them together.

"Charge to 200," Annabeth said, placing the paddles onto Katie's chest and side.

"Charged. Clear!"

The shock came from the paddles with a loud crack. Katie jerked unconsciously from the force of the shock.

"No change. V-fib!"

"Nineteen seconds," someone piped in frantically to tell the room how long Katie had been under.

"Charge again, 300!" Annabeth said over her shoulder.

"Charged. Clear!"

The shock came again.

"No change!"

Annabeth bit her lip, drawing blood. "Come on, Katie," she said pleadingly. "Charge to 360!"

"Charged. Clear!"

"Still nothing?" Annabeth asked.

"No. Twenty-seven seconds!"

A guy next to her looked her in the eyes. "Do you want to administer another drug?"

Annabeth growled. "Charge again!"

The female nurse with the crash cart looked at her nervously.

"Charge again!" she repeated more forcefully.

"Charged. Clear!"

This time, the monitor showed her heart starting to beat again.

"I see sinus rhythm!" the female nurse informed the room.

The guy next to her looked at the monitor. "Blood pressure is coming back up."

Annabeth sighed in relief, handing the paddles back to the female nurse. Dr. Jackson stormed into the room, his eyes falling upon Annabeth's small figure.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"She had a seizure," she explained.

"You should've been monitoring her!"

"I had just checked on her!" Annabeth defended.

Percy took his stethoscope off from around his neck and held up a hand in Annabeth's direction. "You know what? Just get out. Go!"

Annabeth took a step back in shock at his tone of voice.

Percy listened to Katie's heart. "Someone give me her chart, please." He looked up at Annabeth again, and pointed for her to go out the door.

Annabeth shook her head in disbelief, her jaw clenching. She made sure he could see her as she did so, and she left silently.

The second she was out the door, La Rue was onto her.

"You get a 911, the first thing you do is page me! You don't take care of it yourself; you page me! Immediately! I don't – Hey, don't you walk away from me, Chase! Chase!"

Annabeth continued off, ignoring La Rue's calls for her to come back. She pushed open a swinging door and was met with Piper and Leo chatting up a storm.

"Annabeth?" Piper asked in concern upon seeing her pale face.

Annabeth kept walking, and Piper called out after her and began to follow her to make sure she was okay.

Annabeth continued to weave her way around the halls and downstairs, where she opened a door leading to a grassy area. She walked over to a tree, where she doubled over and threw up.

Piper approached her, reaching out to rub her back soothingly. "Annabeth?"

Annabeth simply stood back up and wiped her mouth. She turned to Piper.

"If you ever tell anyone about this, I will make you regret it," she threatened.

Before Piper could question her anymore, Annabeth was already back inside and running off to find a place to be alone for a bit.

27 Hours

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked as she watched Piper suture a banana.

"I," Piper said as she pulled up on a string, "am practicing my skills. Keeps me awake, too, which is a plus."

Annabeth watched Piper carefully and tried to point to a specific stitch. "Wait, no, you're doing it wrong. You need to –"

Piper shoved Annabeth's hand away, to which Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Get your own banana."

Leo was sitting against a chair, looking just about done with life. He smothered a laugh into a cough as Piper cursed and screwed another stitch up.

Piper looked up. "What are you smiling at, 007?"

Leo's smile fell.

"Piper," Annabeth chastised.

"I get mean when I'm tired!" Piper said defensively.

"It's okay, Annabeth. Piper just doesn't know how to deal with people. Besides, I got to be in an O.R. today, and I made a family feel better, so."

Annabeth rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Does anyone have any idea what we're even doing here, anyways?"

Piper and Leo shook their heads.

People went on chatting for a few more minutes, a few interns cavorting around the room. Annabeth sat on a table against a wall, her legs crossed over themselves. Her head lay against Piper's shoulder, beginning to doze off again until someone new entered the room.

"Good morning," Percy addressed the interns. "I'm sure you're all wondering what you're doing here. I'm going to be doing something that not many attendings do."

Annabeth lifted her head off of Piper's shoulder, and Percy locked eyes with her again as he spoke, seemingly talking to Annabeth specifically.

"I need help on a case, and I'm asking you guys. Katie Bryce, a fifteen-year-old girl is having grand mal seizures. I can't figure out why. She's not responding to any medications, and we can't get these seizures to stop. They're unexplained as of right now. She's a medical mystery."

"Because I can't figure this out by myself, I'm asking you. Take to the books and try to find anything to explain these seizures. I know you're all exhausted, and probably don't want to take up another case, so I'll give you guys an incentive."

Percy slammed a large stack of copies of Katie's file onto the table in the center of the room.

"As I'm sure you all know, I'm a neurosurgeon. Whatever is wrong with Katie is going to require a surgery. Whoever finds out what's going on gets to do something unheard of. I'm going to let you scrub in on a complex brain surgery, something no intern here has done before."

Piper sat up straighter, intrigued. Silena's mouth fell open slightly.

Percy stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat. "Starting now, you guys can hit the books and find an answer. The files you'll need are on the table. Any questions, just ask me or your resident. Good luck."

Percy left the room, and the second he did so, the room went chaotic. Everyone was talking over each other, screaming about how they wanted the surgery. Some people left the room, probably to go to the library, while others sat back in defeat, knowing that they'd never get the surgery.

Piper threw her banana down. "Annabeth. Please work with me."

Annabeth stood up, slow and steady. "Why?"

"You've been with Bryce since the beginning, so you have an advantage."

Annabeth put her white coat back on. "Fine. But if we find it, I don't want the surgery. You can have it."

"What! Why?"

"I don't want to be alone with Jackson any more than necessary."

"What did he do?"

"You can have the surgery. Do you want to work together, or not?"

Piper tried not to look ecstatic. "Oh, um, okay. That's fine with me."

Annabeth pulled her hair out from below the coat. "What are you waiting for? Let's go hit up the library."

Before going to the library, Annabeth had to take a pit stop to pick up some of Katie's labs. She ran into Charles talking to the same nurse again.

"You paged me?" he asked the nurse, snatching the charts from the nurse.

"Your patient is still out of breath. The antibiotics didn't work."

"You have to give them time to work," he told the nurse slowly as though she was a toddler. "She's old."

"The antibiotics should've worked by now."

"Just wait. I have better things to do than deal with someone older than the Greek Gods," he said with a harsh snap, shoving the charts back into the nurse's hands. He was already half out the room when he called out, "Don't page me again."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. If it's not pneumonia, he's in big trouble she mused to herself.

An hour later, Piper and Annabeth were buried nose deep into piles of medical books.

"It's not a tumor, right?" Piper asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "The CT was clean."

"And it's not anoxia, or acidosis?"

"We've went over this."

Piper dropped a book open in her lap. "Are you really not going to tell me why you don't want to be with Jackson?"

"No. I wonder if it's infection."

"It can't be. There isn't a fever, or any lesions. Her labs show a normal white count." Piper paused. "Just tell me."

Annabeth dropped her head back in annoyance. "If I tell you, promise me you won't say anything or make fun of me. No reaction at all."

Piper nodded.

"We had sex."

Piper's jaw went slack for a second before she caught herself. In an attempt to abide by her promise, she continued on. "Maybe it's an aneurysm."

"The head CT was clean."

"She has no trauma, and she's not pregnant. Was he good in bed? I get the vibe that he is."

"I'll kill you." Annabeth stood up and moved a book back into its original position on the shelf. "We have no answers."

"Aw. I wanted to scrub in."

"You're such a sweet person, Piper."

"I'm a surgeon. I didn't get here by being sweet, and I know I've only known you for a day, but I get the feeling that you didn't either."

"I stand by my previous statement. So sweet." Annabeth put her hair up in a messy bun. "She's going to die if we don't figure this out."

"Now you make me feel like a bad person."

"Do you know her pageant talent? It's rhythmic gymnastics." Annabeth started shaking in stifled laughter. "I mean, what even is that?"

Piper scrunched her nose as she smiled. "It sounds painful. What does that even mean?"

"I think it involves a ribbon, or something. And she –" Annabeth broke off in realization, a lightbulb going off in her eyes.

"Annabeth?" Piper stumbled to her feet. "What is it?"

Annabeth bent down and started putting books away frantically.

"Annabeth? Tell me!"

"She tripped over her ribbon a few weeks ago."

Piper's eyes went wide.

"Dr. Jackson!" Piper ran towards Percy who had just walked onto an elevator and was writing on a notepad. She stuck her slim arm between the closing doors.

Percy glanced up to Annabeth and Piper, and then looked around at the people in the elevator who just wanted to move floors. "What is it, McLean?"

"Katie participates in beauty pageants."

Percy looked down and continued writing on his notepad. "I know that. We have to save her life anyways."

The doors began closing again, and Piper forced them open again. "Her head CT shows no brain bleeding and she has no headaches, or neck pain. There's no indication of an aneurysm."

"Get on with it, McLean."

"What if she has an aneurysm anyway?"

Percy shook his head, pocketing his pen and notepad. "There's nothing telling us of a brain bleed."

Annabeth stepped in. "She twisted her ankle doing rhythmic gymnastics a few weeks ago. She was fine and got right back up."

Percy pursed his lips. "I get you're trying to help, but there's nothing telling us that this is an aneurysm. We would've seen it when we did a CT."

The doors tried closing again, but Annabeth forced her hand in aggressively. "She fell. She twisted her ankle and fell. It might've triggered an aneurysm and she just didn't know it."

Piper interjected. "It was so minor. Not even a bump on her head, and her doctor didn't even remember her falling initially. It was so small, but she did fall."

"Do you know how rare it is that an aneurysm doesn't show up on a CT? Literally one in a million." Percy looked at them with sympathy. "Thank you for trying, but it's near impossible that this is an aneurysm."

The doors to the elevator closed, and this time, Annabeth and Piper took a step back in bitter defeat.

"Great," Annabeth muttered. "Now what?"

Piper tugged on a braid that sat in her hair. "I guess we keep looking."

They turned around dejectedly, and just as they were about to leave to search for an answer to an impossible situation, the elevators dinged open.

Annabeth and Piper turned around and were met with Percy walking out.

"Let's go."

Piper and Annabeth exchanged looks. "Go where?"

"Let's find out if Katie is one in a million."

Annabeth and Piper stood next to Percy, watching Katie's angiogram closely.

Annabeth was nibbling on her bottom lip, watching the screen as the dye made its way through Katie's blood vessels. The dye was going through the vessels, and there was no aneurysm to be found.

Annabeth huffed and put her face in her hands, just about ready to have a breakdown.

Percy's shoulders dropped. "I'm sorry, guys. There's –" Percy stopped in his track, moving in closer to the screen. "I'll be damned."

Annabeth lifted her hands, moving closer and looking at where Percy was pointing.

"There it is," Percy said. "It's so minute, it's no wonder it didn't show up on the CT alone. It's a subarachnoid hemorrhage."

"Wait, so the problem is an aneurysm?" Piper questioned

"It is."

Piper fist-pumped the air and dragged Annabeth in for a hug. "We did it!"

Annabeth squeezed Piper back. "She's going to be okay."

"We need to get Katie to surgery as soon as possible," Percy interrupted. He began to walk away to find Katie's parents. "You coming?"

Annabeth and Piper nodded simultaneously, following Percy's path around the massive hospital.

Annabeth made her way up to Percy's side, and he looked at her, reaching out to rub her back sweetly. "You did good."

Annabeth wanted to move away, but another part of her didn't. "I'm just glad she's finally going to know what's happening to her."

Piper looked at Annabeth, and then Percy's hand on her back with an eyebrow raised.

Shut up, Annabeth mouthed to Piper.

"Yeah. She could've gone her entire life without this aneurysm ever rupturing – she just managed to hit the wrong spot, and it ruptured." Percy snapped to prove his point.

The three of them reached a nurse's station. "Katie Bryce's chart, please," Percy asked. "You two did great work," he said to the interns.

Piper stepped forwards to remind him of something. "Dr. Jackson, you said you'd pick someone to scrub in with you."

"Hm. Oh, yes, unfortunately I can't take both of you." He looked up from the chart he had been buried in. "Annabeth, you get to scrub in. Be in O.R. three in an hour."

Piper looked at Annabeth expectantly, waiting for her to tell him she didn't want it. Annabeth opened her mouth, ready to do so, but nothing came out. She couldn't bring herself to give up the surgery. She didn't want it, and yet she did.

Percy smiled at the two girls and turned around to find Katie's parents and inform them of the coming surgery.

Piper looked at Annabeth, betrayal plain as day in her eyes. She shook her head in disbelief and stormed away from Annabeth.

"Piper…" Annabeth started pleadingly, but Piper didn't turn around.

Annabeth watched Piper leave, crossing her arms in front of her to try and comfort herself.

After searching for Piper for a good thirty minutes, Annabeth found her sitting in the same hallway as earlier with Silena, silently seething.

Annabeth put her weight against a wall, crossing her arms. "I'll tell him I changed my mind."

Piper stopped her right there. "Don't try to do me any favors. It's fine. You decided to be a backstabber, and that's on you. You don't get to stand there and try to make yourself feel better. What you did was backstabbing so now you get to deal with it."

"Piper."

"No! You know what? I had to actually work for that solution. I worked for that surgery! I didn't get picked for this surgery because I slept with my boss."

Annabeth's mouth dropped open.

"Oh! Not to mention, I had to work my way into medical school. I don't have a mommy that's a world class surgeon, unlike you."

Annabeth grit her teeth. It seemed like Piper realized what she said, but it was too late. The damage was already done. Annabeth went back down the hall, forcing the unwelcome tears not to fall.

40 Hours

Annabeth found Percy sitting in Katie's room with an electric razor in his hand.

"Hey," Percy said as he buzzed off another section of Katie's head. "I told her I'd make her look cool. Apparently, a bald beauty queen is the worst thing to happen in the history of the universe."

"Yeah…" Annabeth said, picking at skin on her lips.

Percy looked up at her again, finding her pacing slightly. "Are you okay?''

Annabeth dropped her hand and took a step towards. "Did you, uh, pick me to scrub in because I slept with you?"

Percy cackled, moving around Katie in his rolling chair. "Yes."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Dr. Jackson!"

Percy buzzed another strand of hair off. "Annabeth, I'm kidding. I didn't pick you because you slept with me."

She paused to run his words through her head. "I'm going scrubbing in. I told Piper I'd let her have it. She was really excited for this surgery."

He set the razor down. "Annabeth. Katie is your patient. On your very first day as a doctor, you managed to find what was wrong with her when even I couldn't. You deserve the change to see Katie get better again."

"Piper helped me."

"Tell me. Whose idea was it that this could be an aneurysm?"

Annabeth didn't answer.

"I thought so. Don't let this –us– get in the way of you working your way towards being an amazing surgeon."

Annabeth's eyes were glossy.

"You deserve this opportunity, Annabeth."

"Life would be so much better if we had just become a cashier, or a preschool teacher. Why couldn't we have done that instead?" Annabeth asked mindlessly.

Leo leaned back against the glass window of the outside ledge they had taken up. "I wanted to be a mechanic. I should've become a mechanic. I should've partied more. I never partied in college."

"Parties."

"I'm serious! We really should've partied in college, since now we aren't going to get the chance to, it appears."

"Hmm, I don't know. I partied quite a bit in medical school."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Lots of drinking and boys. Much better than being an intern in a surgical residency."

"Ah, yes, the aforementioned surgery crisis."

"Don't tell me you're not having a crisis. I actually have no idea why I did this. I literally can't give you one reason I want to be a surgeon. Maybe my mom was right." Annabeth turned her head towards Leo. "Did you know my mother didn't want me to be a surgeon."

Leo looked confused. "Why not?"

"She just thought I wasn't good enough. No one could ever be better than her in her eyes. Not even her own daughter."

"Really? My mom was over the moon when I told her I wanted to be a surgeon."

"We have very different mothers."

"Why would your mom think you aren't good enough? You're the smartest intern here."

"My mother just isn't a very warm and fuzzy person, I guess. She never wanted children."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"No. I'm surprised my mother even kept me, if I'm being honest. She always treated me like I was a burden to her medical career."

"Where is she now?"

Annabeth tensed. "She's in Boston."

"Oh."

"Anyways, enough about me. Why are you sitting out here?"

Leo groaned. "Don't remind me. I promised a family that a surgery would turn out okay. The patient didn't make it."

"I'm sorry."

"It's my own fault. I shouldn't have promised." Leo wrinkled his nose. "And now I have an attending after my ass. Dr. Grace is not happy with me."

"We all learn somehow."

"I just wish it didn't suck so much."

"Me too."

Annabeth found herself in a room with the same obnoxious guy who hates nurses yet again. And, it looks like he's about to learn his lesson.

Dr. Apollo analyzed Charles' patient. "They're still short of breath. Did you get chest films?"

Charles nodded confidently. "I did."

"What was on it?"

"Oh, uh… I had a lot of patients last night," Charles explained, giving a nervous smile.

Dr. Apollo didn't seem to buy it. "What are the common causes of post-operative fevers?"

Charles stammered, reaching into his coat pocket for a slip of paper. "Yes, sir. It's –"

"From your head," Dr. Apollo told him sternly. "You're a doctor. You need to know this."

Charles looked at Dr. Apollo, his fingers unable to stay still. "The common causes are…"

Dr. Apollo scoffed and addressed the whole room. "Who can name the common causes of post-operative fevers?"

People started reaching into their pockets for their notes, but Annabeth answered before anyone else could.

"Wind, water, wound, walking, wonder drugs. The five W's," Annabeth recited. "It's typically wind, specifically pneumonia. Pneumonia is easy to assume, especially if you're too lazy to run all the proper tests," Annabeth said, looking directly at Charles as she spoke.

Dr. Apollo also looked at Charles for the last part. "What do you think is the patient's problem?"

"I'd have to say it's walking. I think she has a pulmonary embolus."

"Diagnosis?"

"Spiral C.T., V/Q scan, give them oxygen and a dose of heparin. After that, you'd consult for an IVC filter."

Dr. Apollo nodded, impressed. "Dr. Beckendorf, do everything she just said. Then, I want you off this case."

Dr. Apollo slowly walked by Annabeth. "I'd recognize you anywhere. You look exactly as your mother." He gave a polite nod. "Great job."

Annabeth nodded with a tight smile. "Thank you."

Annabeth scrubbed in for four minutes, rubbing the betadine antiseptic soap up to her elbows and rinsing it off. She looked up through the window into the operating room where people had on surgical scrub caps and masks covering their faces, similarly to Annabeth.

This was Annabeth's first operation and she was getting increasingly nervous. As she walked into the O.R., a scrub nurse put on her surgical gown and gloves. Annabeth stood at the table next to Percy, she began to wonder what led her to wanting to become a surgeon.

She realizes that there isn't any one thing that made her want to become a surgeon. She couldn't think of why she decided to do four years of college and then four years of medical school, followed by a seven-year residency. She could only think of why she shouldn't do it.

Being a surgeon wasn't going to be easy for her. It was going to push her further than she knew was possible. It was going to be filled with days far worse than what even her first shift held for her.

She really looked for what drew her to surgery. It wasn't any one thing, she supposes. Perhaps she wanted to prove her mother wrong. Maybe she just loved helping people. Maybe it was a mix of those things.

Annabeth watched as Percy got gowned and gloved up. She listened to his words that she would soon realize his special thing, his own tradition. It's a beautiful day to save lives.

When he picked up a blade and made the first cut to an operation that would save Katie's life, she sucked in a breath. Percy was looking through a surgical microscope, making the smallest of movements and cuts and slices. The actions that would transform Katie's life, her quality of life. A life wasn't worth living if the quality of life was gone, after all.

When Percy looked up from the microscope and made eye contact with Annabeth, she knew that he was silently telling her to move closer to his side and get a better look. Annabeth smiled from behind her mask. She moved closer to the table looked through the microscope to see what he was doing.

As Annabeth stood watching Percy's actions, something dawns on her. The reason she became a surgeon wasn't that she wanted to prove her mother wrong, or that she simply liked the human body.

It was that she loved the feeling of being in the operating room, of having the ability to save lives. Surgery wasn't something that everyone was capable of doing, but it was something that she could do. Annabeth loves the field, the competition, the rush you get when you're the only one that can make such a significant difference in someone's life.

Annabeth's body relaxes for what feels like the first time since she started her shift. She could do this. She was made for this.

Annabeth walked out of the O.R. a few hours later to find Piper slumped over in a chair.

"Hey," Annabeth said, sitting down next to her.

Piper looked up from where her head lay in her hand. "Hey. Where's Katie?"

"Percy's closing her up."

"Percy?"

Annabeth smartly stayed silent.

"We don't have to do that thing where we apologize and cry and hug, do we?" Piper asked.

"That's disgusting, oh my god."

"Thank god."

The girls broke out into giggles.

Once Piper calmed down a little, she decides that it might be fun to mess around Annabeth.

"You look disgusting. You need to shower or sleep, or something."

Annabeth smacked her arm lazily. "I look better than you do," she pointed out.

"You wish you did." Piper stood up from her chair. "Well, I'm going to go catch up on sleep. I'll see you later."

Annabeth wiggled her fingers in a wave, her attention averting towards Percy who had just walked out of the operating room.

"I never knew how good it felt to perform an operation. It was– it was unreal." Annabeth laughed deliriously. "Why do drugs when you can do surgery?"

"Yeah," Percy agreed, taking off his scrub cap and running his fingers through his black hair. "Surgery is incredible. Surgery is also for the incredible. You're going to make an amazing surgeon one day."

"You think so?"

"I know so." Percy gave her a sweet smile. "I'll see you tomorrow. Get some sleep."

"That sounds like a plan."

"Goodnight, Annabeth."

"Goodnight."

48 Hours

Annabeth was changed out of her light blue scrubs, her keys in hand. She was ready to go home and just sleep after the last fourty-eight hours of her life.

She was walking out of the hospital with the other interns in her group. Piper was skipping around the parking lot, and Leo shoved her roughly, to which Piper started chasing him.

Annabeth laughed as Leo raced in front of her and used her as a human shield in order to avoid Piper's unleashed wrath.

"Leo!" Silena laughed as he tripped face first towards the ground. "Goodness, you two are insane."

"I finished my first day of intern year! I get to be a little insane," he pointed out.

"Speaking of surviving the first day, we should go get drinks! I hear there's a really good bar right across the road," Piper proposed.

Annabeth remembers the first time she went to that bar and her cheeks turn sanguine.

"I'm down," Silena said.

"Me too," Leo followed.

The three of them turned towards Annabeth expectantly.

"Oh, I think I'm just going to go home and catch up on sleep." The others groaned. "You guys go have fun. Go party. We all know you didn't enough in medical school."

"You did," Leo said, pointing towards her matter-of-factly.

"Which is why I'm just going to head home."

"Fine," Piper said. "Sleep well, Annabeth."

"I will. Be safe, you three."

They hugged and said their goodbyes before splitting ways. Annabeth unlocked her car and got in, taking a moment to simply revel in the glory of sitting in a comfortably cushioned seat.

She was ready to go home and sleep for the next two years, but she had something else that was much more important that she needed to attend to first.

Putting her keys in the ignition, she turned the car on and drove to her next stop.

Annabeth was sat in front of a coffee table, her hands holding a black mug filled with hot chocolate that she'd been offered as she walked in to the home for Alzheimer's.

"I've been thinking, and I've decided I'm going to keep the house," Annabeth told her mom. "I'll probably end up living with a few other people, but it's my home. I want to keep it."

Annabeth's mother twirls her hair around her finger, looking like she was off in another world. "Who are you?"

Annabeth faltered. "I'm your daughter. Annabeth."

"Oh."

Annabeth fell silent.

"Are you my doctor?"

"No, mom. I'm a doctor, just not yours."

"I see."

Annabeth sat and watched her mom tinker around with her fingers nervously. It pains her to see her mother so sick.

Five years ago, her mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. It progressed very quickly, so Annabeth found herself putting her mom in a home. Annabeth didn't want to do it, but her mother asked her to because she didn't want anyone to find out about her diagnosis.

Annabeth didn't have the means to care for her mother either, but it still pained her to know that she had to abandon her mom. Annabeth went to see her as often as she could, but Annabeth was busy. Especially since she was starting her intern year, Annabeth knew she wouldn't see her mom as much as she would've liked.

"I think I used to be a doctor," her mother said.

Annabeth takes her mom's hand in hers. "You were. You were a surgeon."

"I always wanted to be a surgeon."

Annabeth pulled back.

Surgery was her mother's whole life. Athena Chase lived for surgery, and now she was barely fifty and had Alzheimer's. Now she would never get to live out her dream to its fullest. Sure, she had already won many major awards, but her mother wanted more. Athena Chase always wanted more. Annabeth supposes she takes after her mother in that sense.

Right then and there, Annabeth decided that she was going to do it for her mother. Annabeth would become a doctor, work her way to perfection. It wasn't going to be easy, but Annabeth was going to do it. She was sure of it. Whether Annabeth had it in her to be a doctor or not, she would force herself to do it. That mentality got herself through college and medical school, and it would get her through her residency, too.

Her mother never got to fulfill her life's dream, so it was up to Annabeth. Annabeth was the next step for her mother. No matter what life threw her way, and she's sure there will be plenty, she was going to rise above. She will always rise above. She is going to make her mom proud. She is going to make a difference.

She is going to be a surgeon.

Hello friends! I hope you enjoyed my spur of the moment fic in honor of a new episode of Grey's Anatomy coming out this Thursday. To any Grey's fans: talk to me about this latest season! Be sure to leave a comment if you enjoyed! I apologize for any inaccuracies in the medical aspect of this. I'm not a surgeon (yet). I tried to steer away from it being too similar to the first episode, but alas it has to be somewhat the same. Thanks for reading!

•The title is from Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol (of course).

•Follows events of Grey's Anatomy