Chapter Text
“Medusa’s not in today, is she?” the bright-eyed intern said more a statement than a question.
“Thank god. I’ll live to see tomorrow,” a second intern replied, internally sighing in relief.
The pair made their way into the locker area and found their three friends changing into scrubs.
A few minutes later, the small group of interns sat in the locker room. The five of them were checking whose service they were on for the week. A male intern spoke for the first time.
“That’s odd.”
“What is?” a fourth intern asked.
“I’ve got Grey, but she didn’t come in today,” the only male intern replied.
They were barely into their first month of internship and already nicknamed most of the attendings, even some residents.
“You never learn do you, Shane?” The dark skinned woman said.
A couple of them chuckled at that.
“I don’t understand, Steph.” Shane said.
“There are technical glitches almost every week. Go to the nurses station and see who you have for today,” Stephanie instructed.
Shane felt a certain kinship with the nurses. Interns and nurses were usually thrown aside when the attending or resident got there. He knew that he and his comrades were still learning, but he was infuriated when the nurses would be discarded. They were already fully educated. I mean really, how much would get done without nurses? How many people would suffer then? He pulled himself out of his thoughts when he got off the elevator, and nurse Gloria gave him a bright smile.
“Good morning, Ross,” she said happily.
“Morning Gloria. I think there may have been a mix-up with my assigned service for the week. Could you take a look?” he asked.
“Absolutely, this happens all the time. We should be getting an upgraded system soon,” she said, taking the tablet from him.
“It seems to be right for once. You are indeed on Dr. Grey's service for the week.”
“She didn’t come in today,” Shane said.
Gloria then moved to the computer and starts to type rapidly on the keyboard. The chair rolls out from behind so they can clearly see one another.
“Her surgeries for the day are still scheduled, and she didn’t call to take an emergency day…” she trailed off, her smile fading. A few seconds later, a wider smile replaced the previous one and she continued.
“You can join Bailey’s service for today, but tomorrow everything should be back on track.”
“Thanks Gloria,” Shane smiled and turned back for the elevator. He found it somewhat odd that she had plastered a fake smile on her face, and if he couldn’t read people so well, he would never have known something was off.
While he was waiting for the doors to close, Shane saw Gloria quickly reach for the phone. He was too far away to hear distinct words, but she was a generally loud person and he could hear her tone. The doors opened and he was once again headed back into the locker room. Four friendly smiles met his and he sat next to them on a bench.
“Problem resolved?” the blonde woman asked.
“Yes. I’m tagging with BCB today, Heather.” he answered. Every single one of them chuckled at Miranda Bailey’s nickname. It was harsh, but so were the attendings. He liked how they all called each other by their first names, unlike every other doctor in this place. Shane thought about telling them about what he saw downstairs, but shoved it into a mental filing cabinet. The brunette intern’s pager went off and she scurried out of the room. They sat there for a couple more minutes before heading off to start the day’s work.