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Tomorrow is finally the day.
Lucy Lane is finally starting her surgical internship at Seattle Grace Hospital.
She was one of the best in her class, and that gave her the advantage of many internship offers from different hospitals across the country.
But she chose Seattle Grace.
For one reason.
Dr. Alexandra Danvers.
Dr. Danvers is like a legend. Like those mythical legends that you would hear from your parents when you were younger, but never knew if they were real or not.
She was the youngest neurosurgeon in the country. She was mostly known for her knowledge and also “crazy” ideas - as some doctors would put it - when it comes to neurosurgery.
She wasn’t one of those doctors that likes to do clinical trials, so she’s not big on the whole public appearance thing.
She’s just a surgeon, and she is very good at her job.
Insanely good.
And Lucy Lane admires her.
Lucy was very certain of what she wants in life. And that includes her specialty.
She wants to become a neurosurgeon one day.
Just like Dr. Danvers.
Because she thinks a human brain is complicated. How it works, how fragile it is, yet how protected it is. Everything about a human brain, is fascinating to her.
So she chose Seattle Grace, hoping that Dr. Danvers would take her under her wing.
And tomorrow would be the day that she starts saving lives.
And meeting Dr. Danvers in person.
And she can’t wait.
“Cheers!”
Five of them were at the round table, a bottle of beer in each hand, celebrating a new beginning. “Tomorrow we start saving lives,” Winn says, after taking a swing of his beer.
Lucy smirks, “Let’s hope you don’t mix up needles again.”
Winn groans upon hearing that, “That was one time!”
And everybody just laughs.
“You guys have your heart on any specialty?” James asked, knowing that he was very much into ortho.
Winn shrugs at that, “I’m just gonna take this year to figure out what I’m really into.”
“What ‘bout you Luthor?”
Lena looks up, “Cardio.”
“Of course,” Lucy chuckles.
“Lane?”
Lucy raised an eyebrow at that, “You guys know I’m dead set on neuro.”
James laughed at that. Indeed. They knew about Lucy’s obsession over neurology ever since their med school years. And Lucy was not quiet about the person that she admired as well.
“Ten bucks say when she sees Dr. Danvers tomorrow she’ll ramble.” James teased, getting an offended gasp from Lucy in return, “Oh I will not!”
“Twenty bucks say she’ll freeze.” Lena said, which made Lucy gave her wide eyes, “Luthor! I thought you were on my side!”
And after a few more bantering, they all know that it was time to head home.
“Okay okay. It’s getting late. We don’t want to be hungover on our first day tomorrow.” Lena declares, paying the bill for their last round of beers before everybody gathered their things.
Lucy did a quick turn and before she knew it, she was feeling cold beer running down the front of her shirt, “I am, so sorry.” The woman that spilled beer on her said, while obviously not meaning it as she was laughing.
Clearly drunk.
Lucy gave a quick glance over the woman. She has red short hair, a long sleeve shirt on with a flannel wrapped around her waist, torn jeans and some dirty converse that is definitely due for a wash. A long tattoo was wrapped around her forearm, Lucy couldn’t make out what it was at a short glance.
Another woman came running over, hands full with napkins. “Alex! I’m so sorry. Here.” she apologized, handing Lucy the napkins.
Lena helped Lucy wiped off some beer, while the other woman - Alex - was just laughing and giggling. After some more apologies from Alex’s friend, they went to get out of Lucy’s eyesight, before Alex tripped over - nothing - and got caught by Lucy.
“Whoops.” Alex laughs, earning a groan from Lucy and some chuckles from Lena and the others.
“Alex!” The other woman sighs, clearly used to her behaviour.
Alex stood back up and got a closer look at Lucy. “Sorry, sorry. You’re very hot.”
And that was the bottom line of her friend, she groans and drags Alex away from the group, while apologizing yet again at Lucy. “Oh my god…Alex enough.”
Lucy just shakes her head at that.
She’s just glad that she doesn’t need to deal with all of
that
.
The next morning, Lucy had enough time to grab a quick coffee before she needs to be in the hospital. She went to the coffee shop right around the corner of Seattle Grace.
She’s gonna need to figure out the best coffee shop around this block as soon as possible.
She saw the woman from last night - Alex, Lucy recalls - having an apparent morning breakfast with some of her friends, including the friend from last night. They all had a pager clipped to their front pants pocket.
Oh, so they’re doctors.
Lucy raised her eyes seeing that Alex was also a doctor.
Lucy was never one to judge anyone based on their appearance, but she expected most doctors to at least be slightly organized and tidier than what she saw from Alex last night.
After Lucy ordered her coffee and was walking out the coffee shop, she heard Alex’s pager go off. She heard a string of curse words before she saw Alex taking her coffee with her and accidentally spilling some on the table.
Alex took a run and sprinted out of the coffee shop, before almost bumping into someone on the streets, and this time, spilling coffee on her own shirt, before groaning and apologizing before dumping the coffee cup into the trash can outside and ran to the hospital.
Payback for last night I guess.
Lucy just shakes her head and hope that she’d get a resident that is slightly more reliable than this woman.
“Alright, I need Lane, Luthor, Kennedy and Stephen.” Lucy was glad that she was gonna be working with at least one familiar face. Lena has been her best friend ever since med school and the two of them constantly challenge each other.
The four of them walked up to a Dr. Meredith Grey. Lucy has heard of her name before, being the daughter of the legendary Ellis Grey.
Meredith looked at them before one of the guy - Kennedy, Lucy remembers - wanted to introduce himself, “Hi Dr. Grey, I’m Kennedy-”
Dr. Grey cut him off before he had the chance to finish his sentence, “I have five rules, memorize them. Rule number one…”
And off they went to their official short tour around the hospital.
Lucy took notes on what Dr. Grey said, knowing that this is probably what she’ll want and need to say when it’s her turn to become a resident next year.
A Seattle Grace Hospital tradition.
“And rule number five, when I move, you move.” And with that, Dr. Grey’s pager went off and she started running over to the ER.
“I need some help here!” Someone yelled.
A blonde doctor was doing CPR on a young girl. Dr. Grey sprint into action and yelled, “Someone get me a crash cart!” before heading over to lend a hand.
She put two fingers at the girl’s neck, “I’m not getting a pulse.”
The nurses started hooking up wires and tubes, inserting fluids and so many other things that Lucy learned but seemed to freeze at her first sight of something like this.
“What’s the rhythm?” The woman doing CPR asked.
“PEA.”
“Push one of epi.” She ordered, making her compressions harder and faster.
Dr. Grey checked the monitor, “Still nothing.”
The doctor calling the code decided, “Prepare to intubate.”
After a few procedures and Dr. Grey had insert the tube to help with airway, the younger girl still had no significant change in her vitals.
“Still nothing Danvers.”
And that caught Lucy’s attention.
Did she just say...Danvers?
Lucy kept her cool, even though she’s finally seeing the person that she admired for so many years in action.
It’s safe to say that she’s internally fangirling at the moment. Lena just gave her a smirk.
“Come on…” Dr. Danvers mumbled, not willing to give up anytime soon.
“Push one amp of bicarb.”
After a solid minute or so, the monitor started beeping, “Alright she’s in v-fib get the paddles!”
“You! Come help!” Dr. Grey shouted, pointing at Lucy to take hold of the paddles, knowing that this is something that is considered easy for an intern to handle.
Lucy kept herself together at her excitement at her first hands on action and went forward, taking the paddles from the nurses, “Alright, charge to 360.”
“Clear!”
Nothing changed.
Dr. Danvers nods her head, “Again.”
“Clear!”
Finally.
The beeping noise that most doctors are happy to hear.
The beeping noise that meant someone was alive and stable for the moment.
“Okay…” Dr. Danvers sighs.
After a few more check-ups done by Dr. Danvers along with Dr. Grey, the younger girl was sent for a CT scan and the nurses were given instructions to page Dr. Danvers if anything happens.
Dr. Danvers was ready to leave the ER, before Lena pushed Lucy towards her. “Go!”
“Excuse me.” Lucy said, her voice coming out shakier than she would like.
“Yeah?” Dr. Danvers turns around.
“Are you Dr. Danvers?” Lucy asked, just to be sure.
Dr. Danvers gave her a smile, “Sure am, you guys are the new interns right? Under Dr. Grey?”
And then Lucy went off.
“I’m Lucy Lane. And I’m really interested in neuro although I know I’m just an intern but I have my heart set on neuro since day one and I-”
Lena noticed something that Lucy didn’t and she pulled a little on Lucy’s sleeve. “Lucy…”
Lucy just simply bats away her hand, “I really hope we’d get the chance to work together someday cause I-”
“Lane!” Lena whispers. Causing Dr. Danvers to laugh.
Lucy pauses her sentence, “What?”
“They’re tryna tell you that you got the wrong person.” Dr. Danvers laugh, fiddling with her glasses.
Lucy held her breath unconsciously, “Wrong…?”
Dr. Danvers pulls the left side of her coat to show her name, “I’m Dr. Kara Danvers. I’m a second year resident and my focus is on peds, very different from what you’re saying.”
“Peds…”
Kara laughs at the dumbfounded look on Lucy, “Yes. You’re actually looking for my sister. Dr. Alexandra Danvers right?”
“Yeah.” Lucy breathes out.
“She’s in surgery right now. We’re very different in terms of...well, everything. But she’s nice, you’d meet her soon enough.” Kara laughs, before her pager started beeping.
“I am, so sorry.” Lucy says, embarrassed at everything that just happened.
Kara gave her a smile, “It’s okay. Nothing personal. I’ll see you guys around.”
Lena kept her laughter at a minimum while Lucy tries to recover from her embarrassment and hoping that she’ll meet the
right
Dr. Danvers today.
After running labs and taking blood, it was around 7pm where the hospital was getting quiet. So Lucy and Lena went to the cafeteria for a quick dinner. Since their shifts doesn’t end until the next day.
Lucy paused when they were walking pass the hall to the cafeteria.
“Isn’t that..?” Lena asked, and Lucy just nods.
They saw the woman that bumped into Lucy last night, sleeping on one of the couch near the reception, her hair a mess, a white coat hanging on the side and her pager in her hand.
Lucy filled Lena in on their little encounter this morning, and to say Lena was surprised that she was a doctor is an understatement. They both guess that she’s probably a resident of some sort, since she looked like she’s two or three years older than Lucy. Lena was gonna pull Lucy away when they heard her pager went off.
Alex woke up with a jolt and looked at the pager in her hand only to groan and curse a few words, before standing up, grabbing her coat and running to the ER. Not long after that Lucy and Lena’s pager went off as well, calling them to the ER.
Alex had her coat on and her mind was awake when she walked into one of the rooms in the ER. “What do we got? Start talking to me.” She asks, putting on a new pair of gloves and took out her little LED pen light and started her routine procedure.
“Kory Conrad, 31, driver involved in a car accident. Vitals stable but he lost conscious in the ambulance.” Dr. Grey said.
“How long has he lost consciousness?”
“30 minutes.”
“His right pupil is dilated. Get him a CT scan quick.” Alex said.
“Page me as soon as you have the results.”
Alex ordered, taking off her gloves before heading off to the next room.
She came in and did the same, gloves, light, routine stuff. “What are you working on Dr. Yang?”
“Julie Conrad. 14. Restrained passenger. She has a cut across her chest, not too deep, and her heart rate and breathing is fine, so probably no damage internally.”
“Pupils are fine. Has the patient ever lost conscious?”
Dr. Yang switched to another gauze to help stop the bleeding, “No, she was at the other side where the car hit so she suffered less impact.”
Alex sweeps away the hair in her face, “Hi Julie. I’m Dr. Danvers. Do you know what happened?”
“I was, in a car accident with my daddy.” The little girl answered.
Alex was glad that she was at the age that makes their work a little easier.
And also glad that the girl didn’t show any symptoms of serious head trauma.
“Right. We’re taking care of daddy in the next room so don’t worry okay?”
“Okay.”
“Does your head hurts?” She asked, checking for any external bleeding.
“Not really. My face does.”
“We’ll take care of that okay?”
Alex saw that Dr. Yang was still working on the same spot since she came in, changing to her fourth gauze ever since Alex came in, “Yang, how’s your cut?”
“It’s not big. But it doesn’t stop bleeding.” Dr. Yang said.
“Wait hold on, let me see.”
“A cut that size should’ve stopped bleeding long ago.” Alex mumbles.
“Julie, does your wounds always take a long time to stop bleeding?”
“Yeah... daddy gives me medicine for it.”
Alex nods, “Okay Julie.”
“She takes medication for it, so it probably just needs a little more time. Get some ice so it helps with the clotting. Get her an x-ray scan and pull up her medical history in case it doesn’t stop bleeding, you need to know her type before you give her factor.” And then her pager went off again.
Alex walks back to the previous room, “What are we looking at?” She asked, eyeing the interns that just came in the room, which were Lucy and Lena.
Lucy was cleaning up the wounds on his wrist while Lena was checking his legs to make sure that reflexes were still working.
“SDH.” Dr. Grey answered, pointing at the blood on the CT scan results.
“Prep an OR now, he needs surgery, quick.” She announces, taking a mental note at the blood size and also seeing if there are any other damage that she can tell.
“Are his blood clotting?” She asks, without turning around.
“Yeah, why’d you ask Danvers?” Dr. Grey answered.
And again, for the second time today, Lucy stopped breathing for a solid five second.
She?
She is Dr.
Danvers?
Lucy almost hoped that Kara had another sister that she forgot to mention.
There is no way that this woman that bumped into her last night - with her dirty converse and tattooed arms - that will spill coffee on herself, and sleep on the couch in the hospital, is the person that she’s been admiring for the past four years.
There’s just no way.
But then again, this woman right in front of her at the moment. She gave Lucy a very reliable vibe.
She didn’t look anything like the woman she bumped into last night.
Her lab coat covered her clothes and her tattoos. And she was professional and knew exactly what’s happening and how to handle situations.
Maybe she really is Dr. Alexandra Danvers.
Alex nods, “His daughter is a hemophiliac, just wanted to make sure.”
And with that everyone was ready for the patient to move into the OR.
Lucy had ran into the gallery to watch Dr. Danvers perform surgery as soon as she was done.
Alex looked like a different person in the OR. She was confident, and she held her ground, even when other doctors might question if it was the right thing to do. She was attentive, and she didn’t panic even when the patient’s blood pressure dropped. She just focused on finding the bleeding and stopped it from further damage.
Lucy was impressed.
Dr. Danvers and Dr. Grey just finished the surgery and was in the scrub room.
Lucy entered the room with Lena right behind her, “Excuse me.”
Both women took a glance back and Dr. Grey recognized them to be her interns.
“What do you want Lane?” She asked.
Lucy bit her lip, “Um, actually I was looking for her.” she points at Dr. Danvers.
Both doctor stop the water tap and turn around.
“You’re Dr. Danvers right?”
“Yeah.” Alex nods.
“Dr. Alexandra Danvers?” Lucy pressed, not wanting to have another repeat of what happened in the ER.
Alex raised her eyebrow, “That would be me, yes.”
And then she tilts her head a little, before smiling, “Oh wait a minute,
you’re the girl from the bar
.” she said, amused.
“Oh boy…” Dr. Grey just groaned and left the room.
“So you’re a neurosurgeon?” Lucy asked.
Needing a verbal confirmation.
“I did just perform a neuro surgery so I would say so, yes.” Alex looks at her.
She doesn’t know what’s happening, but she’s very amused by this woman standing in front of her.
“No way…” Lucy mumbles.
“Excuse me?”
Lucy takes in a deep breath, “You’re Dr. Alexandra Danvers? Youngest neurosurgeon in America? The one that did the inoperable surgery on a five years old’s brain?”
“Just for the record, I prefer to be called Dr. Alex Danvers.” Alex says.
It hurts to hear her full name.
Lucy furrows her brows, “How?”
“I’m lost?” Alex looks at the woman next to her.
Lena laughs, “Dr. Lane has been a big fan of your work ever since med school, and she look up to you a lot. You’re her inspiration to become a neurosurgeon.”
Alex smiles, pleased to hear that. “Am I? Well that’s good to hear, cause ever since Dr. Shepherd became chief of surgery, he has been slacking on OR time and we need more talents in neuro.”
“I’m- I’m an intern.” Lucy stumbles on her words. Even though she’d never admit it.
Alex shrugs, “So? If you’re gonna become a neurosurgeon, you need to start early. Study harder, you’ll need to spend a lot of time in the OR operating or not, if you want to become a neurosurgeon because the brain is a delicate organ, and any mishap, may ruin someone’s life.”
“Can you- I mean, will you teach me?”
“Not now. Interns need to focus on the basics, you need to know how to save someone’s life regardless of the situation. After your intern year, then you can start focusing more on neuro cases and procedures. But for now, you need to focus on the basics.”
It’s true. Interns are normally the bottom line of the food chain in the hospitals. They run labs, do stitches, take blood, they barely get a chance to step foot into the OR. As an intern people expect mistakes, and Seattle Grace is a teaching hospital, they want to teach quality all rounded surgeons.
So in your first year?
You’re dealing with all the basics.
When you’re finally a resident, then you’ll start scrubbing in, dealing with more complicated cases, having to have an opinion, when it comes to difficult cases.
In general terms, pass your intern before you even think about being a specialized surgeon.
Lucy crossed her arms, she was nothing but confident in herself. “So if I pass my intern year and stay, you’ll take me under your wing?” she said, raising an eyebrow.
Alex was amused. This woman came to her after her surgery, not believing that she’s a neurosurgeon, to now pressing for Alex to teach her during her residency.
But still, Alex was intrigued by her.
“Sure.”
Alex looks at the woman next to her again, “I assume I’m only gonna have trouble with one of you?”
“Yeah no, I’m more into cardio.” Lena laughs.
“Ah, Dr. Yang would be pleased to teach you. She’s harsh at first but don’t mind her.” Alex says, knowing Cristina too well.
“Thank you Dr. Danvers.” Lena said, and Lucy nods, her brain still trying to process what just happened.
“No problem.”
And with that Alex went to leave the scrub room, before Lucy called out for her again.
“Dr. Danvers?”
“Yeah?” She turns.
“Why are you so messy?” And that made Alex laugh out loud, while Lena just nudge at Lucy.
That would be considered as rude to some people.
“Most of the time, we as surgeons just have our shit together in the OR. The longer you stay in this hospital, the more you’ll realize that attendings, are mostly the ones with their personal lives all messed up.” Alex said.
Lucy just stood there.
“And also, me spilling beer all over you has nothing to do with this.” Alex points at her brain, and winks at both of them before finally leaving the scrub room.
“I think she likes you.”
“She does not.”
“She did say you were hot last night.”
“Shut up Luthor. It’s gonna be a long year in Seattle Grace Hospital, and this is just the beginning.”