Medical Center. Emergency Room Entrance.
"Who's my sister?"
Lexie stood next to George, peering into the crowd of doctors.
"Can't you tell?" George said, looking surprised.
Just then, Dr. Bailey and the new chief resident, Callie, stepped out in their protective gear.
"Grey, get them to step aside—don't let everyone crowd here!"
Dr. Bailey took her spot like a boss and naturally started barking orders at Meredith beside her. Meredith jumped into action like a pro.
"…"
Callie, the new chief resident, stood there with her mouth slightly open, a big ol' complaint stuck in her throat, unsure what to say.
Meredith Grey was now a full-fledged resident—not Dr. Bailey's intern anymore—so she wasn't under Bailey's command. She was under Callie's supervision as the chief resident!
Ugh, so frustrating! This was the second time already!
Earlier inside, when the surgical director came in to announce the accident and told everyone to get ready, Callie had nervously asked, "As the new chief resident, what should I watch out for?"
The director shot back, "Have you assigned the other residents yet?"
She'd said she'd paged them… but not a single one had shown up yet. With the director giving her that weird look, she panicked and instinctively turned to Dr. Bailey for help.
Then Bailey dropped, "Whenever I page them, they come running!"—right in front of the surgical director, making Callie feel like her scalp was on fire from the embarrassment.
Damn it, and now it was happening again!
But did she have the guts to confront Dr. Bailey—the shining beacon of the medical center—right in front of everyone? Nope, not a chance.
In that moment, all the joy of beating out the top two candidates as a dark horse to snag the chief resident spot? Poof—gone.
Sigh. This ruthless, shameless, ridiculous life! 😩
Lexie finally locked eyes on her half-sister, Meredith, staring at her in a daze.
"You okay?"
George's bestie mode kicked in instantly.
"I'm fine. Just… don't really know what to say right now."
Lexie kept her eyes glued to her sister, giving a wry smile. "This is my first time seeing her. What's she like?"
Hmmm.
Other than vaguely hearing from Adam that her sister might be a bit of a player, Lexie knew absolutely nothing about her.
"Meredith's great…"
George launched into a full-on rant, gushing to his new bestie Lexie about all the amazing things that made Meredith his goddess.
Adam stood up front, poker-faced as ever.
Short-statured Neil Melendez trailed half a step behind, matching his vibe.
Carter snuck a glance at his two rivals behind him, a sly, amused smirk tugging at his lips.
The first ambulance screeched to a halt.
Cristina was the first to charge forward.
"Hit-and-run driver—died on the scene. Just pronounce him dead and call it!"
The paramedic swung the door open and hit Cristina with that bombshell.
"Dead?"
Cristina grumbled as she reluctantly stepped up, pulling back the cloth already covering the driver's face. "What the hell! Then why'd you blast the siren and get me all hyped up for nothing?"
She took one look, tossed the cloth aside, and turned to the four shell-shocked interns gawking at her. "Any of you wanna take a peek at this poor sucker?"
Their wide-eyed stares came from both the shock of seeing a dead body on their first day and being totally thrown off by their boss's ice-cold attitude.
Anyone watching this could tell—this wasn't some act. She was genuinely that detached! 😳
Right then, two more ambulances roared in—victims of a multi-car pileup.
One was a pregnant woman with her right arm severed.
Another was a balding middle-aged guy with a banged-up knee.
Meredith took charge, leading her interns to handle the pregnant woman with the severed arm.
Bald-headed Chris stepped up with his interns to take the guy with the injured knee.
"Everyone done gawking yet?"
Cristina glanced left and right, itching to snag a patient.
Sure, specialties were set now—patients usually went to the resident matching their department. But in a real emergency, who had time to care about that? You jumped in, pronto!
Those big-shot attending docs? They all knew a little of everything. If a specialist couldn't make it in time, they'd step up in a crisis—skills built from their resident days.
Unless an attending or the chief resident said otherwise, it was a free-for-all: whichever resident had the chops could claim the patient.
Cristina pulling this move? Total standard procedure.
But Meredith and bald Chris—now seasoned pros themselves—shut her down hard, leaving her to slink back to her dead driver and start filling out the death certificate.
"Time of death: 8:22…"
As she raised her wrist to check the time and call it, the "dead" driver suddenly gasped, his body twitching back to life.
"Not time of death! He's not dead—he's back!"
Cristina grabbed her stethoscope, thrilled as she started checking him out.
A rare case like this? Even Adam, who'd been waiting for the last hiker patient, couldn't resist strolling over to see.
"Back off!"
Cristina waved Adam away while listening to the driver's chest. "My patient died and came back—like a freaking magic zombie! But he's my magic zombie, so hands off!"
She yanked the stethoscope from her ears and barked at the four stunned interns, "What are you standing there for? Help me get him inside! Patients are resources, and a guy who dies and comes back? That's a goldmine! Surround him! Protect him! Go, go, go!"
Adam shook his head with a chuckle. Seeing another ambulance pull up, he stepped aside.
The pileup report mentioned three critical patients—all accounted for now.
This last ambulance had to be carrying that final hiker they'd been waiting for.
Emergency Room Entrance.
"Move, move!"
Meredith directed the crowd, shouting to clear a path as she rushed the severed-arm pregnant woman toward surgery—only to get blocked by a figure.
"Are you Meredith Grey?"
Lexie, spotting her half-sister up close, got so excited she stepped right in her way.
"Yes!" Meredith snapped, in a hurry.
"I'm Lexie…" Lexie started.
"Great, now move!"
Meredith hadn't caught on yet.
"Lexie Grey—I'm your sister!"
Lexie finally got it all out.
Meredith froze, locking eyes with this sudden sister for a solid few seconds before barking again, "Move!"
George, standing nearby, snapped out of it and pulled Lexie aside, letting Meredith rush the pregnant woman into the hospital.
The two stood at the ER entrance, watching Meredith's figure disappear into the distance.
George tried to comfort her. "She's got a patient, so that's why she's like that…"
"Yeah."
Lexie nodded, her mood low.
Their first meeting, under these circumstances? It was bound to leave a mark.
But that didn't fully explain the longing in her eyes—or the mix of conflict, coldness, and even a hint of disgust in her half-sister's.
Her sister really didn't like her, huh? 😔
Just then, Adam took charge of the hiker with a climbing axe lodged in his head, wheeling him inside.
"Out of the way! x2"
No need for Adam to speak—Neil Melendez and Carter, flanking him, shouted in unison to clear the path.
But while short-statured Melendez was all business, Carter's stern yell carried a touch of glee at the chaos.
"Melendez, go get Dr. Shepard for a consult. Carter, prep the patient for an X-ray."
Adam issued orders while examining the hiker.
"Dr. Duncan, what about us?" George piped up from the side.
"You two?"
Adam didn't even look up, his tone flat. "Take little Grey to find Meredith and sort out this family drama first."
"…"
George blinked, stunned. "Adam…"
"Was I not clear?"
Adam glanced up, giving him a cold stare.
"…Yes, Dr. Duncan."
George ducked his head and led a dazed Lexie away.
If Adam's earlier talk about strict rules hadn't sunk in for George before, it sure did now.
(Chapter End)