The Starting Line

Chapter 18

S8 EP03

Eleanora skips excitedly down the hallway, fixing the collar of her lab coat with a bright smile. She notices Meredith and Cristina and runs to meet them as they turn the corner into the hallway.

Is the schedule up yet?"

"I do not know yet." Cristina responded, shrugging her shoulders. "Today I have a valve replacement. My replacement. Altman just has to shut up and watch. I hope to get a good OR."

"I have a ventricular shunt." Eleanora added, giving a happy sigh. "I love ventricular shunts."

Meredith snorted, Eleanora's eyes flickering to her. "But you know what I like best? Aneurysms. I'm still angry because you beat me with rock, paper, scissors."

"You always go with rock last." Meredith shrugged. Alex appears behind the three, with an excited voice.

"Is it up?"

"No, not yet." Eleanora speaks, leaning on the desk to watch Cristina fill out the paperwork. Alex focuses on Meredith, shifting over his feet.

"Do you know anything about Zola?"

"I haven't heard anything." Meredith informs him, the four residents begin to make their way to the table. Eleanora frowns a little, looking at her tall, blonde friend.

"And you're cutting your first aneurysm." Cristina scoffed; Eleanora pouted a little. "Are you sure you don't want to start with something simpler?"

"Like a ventricular bypass? I'm fine with taking the aneurysm, Mer. There's no shame in leaving it." Eleanora tried again. Meredith sent her a look before focusing in front of her, shaking her head.

"Yeah, or like juggling chainsaws." Alex joked, taking a sip of his coffee. Meredith sent him an annoyed look, huffing.

"Oh, thank you. That helps." As the four of them slowly make their way down the hallway, they pass April and Jackson. Everyone cheers up when they see their chief resident, because they know that she is in charge of setting the schedule for the operating room meeting.

"Is it already up?" They all ask, and April nods before pointing down the hallway.

"It's up now."

Eleanora launches into the hallway with a squeal of excitement. Her friends soon follow her, Jackson and Cristina soon speed up to catch up with her.

Eleanora stops in front of the board, her excited eyes scanning the list of names. She finds hers and smiles, punching the air with her fist. "OR 1! Beat that."

"It's not a competition." Alex grumbled, and Eleanora sent him a toothy grin.

"Then why are you upset...." she looked at the board, her eyes lighting up, "....with OR 2?"

They all laughed a little as Eleanora settled in next to them, reading all the schedules for the day. April furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Alex.

"Wait. Intestinal resection? I thought you had a pediatric case."

"I changed it at the last minute." Alex responded, putting his hands on his hips. Eleanora furrowed her eyebrows but she remained silent, instead of reading the others' schedules.

"You can't just change it!"

"Oh, Mark just has rhinoplasty and burn removal today." She tilts her head, crossing her arms. "Maybe I can convince him to make me a celebratory dinner."

At the mention of the plastic surgeon's name, Cristina looks for other surgeries, huffing when she sees Jackson's name.

"Oh, Plastics. I thought you were the Gunther. Wasting all your capital on boob jobs, huh?" Cristina mocked Jackson. Eleanora sighed, closing her eyes.