chapter one ━ new beginnings

season one, episode one

❝ oh, you got the nazi, i got apollo! ❞

Cormac Doyle had never fit in with the 'normal' expectations of society, always the oddball and the last person to be chosen as a result of this. But then Seattle called him away from Dublin. The very place where everyone knew him for being the demented Doyle boy. Not having a driver's licence seemed to be a disadvantage — well it usually did to Cormac. In Dublin, when he was training for his medical degree, catching the bus to med school everyday was a living nightmare.

Everyone staring and judging him for every little action he took on the bus. Whether it was adjusting his headphones or reaching for a book in his bag ( majority of the time people thought it was pills or a knife ).

But, once he moved to the U.S for his job, this all seemed to stop. People stopped glaring holes into the back of his head and no one called him demented, ''excuse me. Is this seat taken?'' A brunette woman filled Cormac's vision gesturing to the bag next to him.

''Sorry, I'm so used to putting my bag next to me. You can take it.'' Cormac dropped the bag next to his feet as the woman placed herself in the empty seat next to him. The woman glanced up and down at him, ''are you Irish? You sound Irish.'' Cormac had just placed his headphones back on only to push them back down, ''Yes I'm Irish, originally from Dublin.'' The woman shifted her gaze back down to Cormac's bag where his hospital ID was sticking out of his bag.

''Seattle Grace, you must be another newbie. I'm Amelia Lockett, I think we've been assigned to the same resident, Apollo James.'' Amelia stuck her hand out for Cormac to shake.

''Cormac Doyle, lovely to meet you. I think there's only three of us. Smith and Thompson dropped out.'' Cormac offered the woman a smile.

''Well, that's a bit better. More of chance of getting through that way.'' Amelia joked as the bus came to a sudden halt.

''This must be us, you ready?'' Amelia stood up to let the man out.

''As ready as anyone can ever be.'' Cormac laughed.

''So Cormac, you lived in Dublin. Why'd you move over here, I'm sure there's plenty of jobs over there for you.'' Cormac couldn't understand why he wanted to spill his guts to this woman but she almost drew the information out of him, ''well this job required me to move so I did and I really need to get away from that place as soon as possible.''

Amelia could see little tears begin to form on Cormac's lashline, ''I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you.'' Cormac quickly dabbed at his eyes, ''it's alright. My mum died a couple of years back and no one really liked me. I have onset psychosis and it has only been getting worse over the past three years.''

The two paused outside the glass doors as Amelia hugged his waist, ''I'm so sorry, how old were you?'' Cormac pushed inside, Amelia behind him, ''Eleven. They said that's the youngest they've probably diagnosed it and I know it's only going to get progressively worse.'' Cormac's accent caught the attention of a blonde who was aimlessly walking around, ''are you Cormac Doyle and Amelia Lockett?''

The two yet again holted at the woman's question, ''I'm Elizabeth Hartt, I've been walking around for ages trying to find you two or at least where doctor Webber is.'' Cormac began walking towards the corridor he believed would lead to the correct room, ''are we just going to follow him or stand around?'' Elizabeth questioned as Amelia began walking, ''just follow the Irish man, just follow him.''

Cormac hated being early, one of the first interns there, ''Jesus H Christ Cormac, you a fast walker I'll give you that.'' Amelia panted out. Elizabeth laughed, ''wait until we have to do rounds with him.'' Doctor Webber briefly turned at the sound of Elizabeth laughing.

'' I do a bit of running, good for the mind.'' The room slowly began to fill up with more interns. Eight women and fourteen men, Cormac had stopped his mindless chatter with Amelia and Elizabeth as Doctor Webber began his speech ( that he, with no doubt gave to the interns every year ).

''Each of you came here today hopeful, wanting in on the game. A month ago, you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors.'' The interns began shuffling forwards as the Chief of Surgery began leading them through to the empty OR, ''the seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition.'' Cormac didn't want to look around him. The paranoia set in that there were people already looking at him, so he had no need to turn around and look.

''Psst, Cormac you okay?'' Elizabeth whispered upon noticing the almost feared look on Cormac's face. He lightly squeezed her hand to give himself and Elizabeth some reassurance, ''yeah, I'll tell you in a bit.'' Cormac had Elizabeth standing on his left and Amelia on his right, ''eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five will crack under pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting. This is your arena. How well you play, that's up to you.'' Cormac squeezed Elizabeth's hand tighter as the Chief of Surgery finished his speech.

Cormac was relieved when the interns were sent into their locker room. It helped lower his heart rate and blood pressure. Cormac chose the locker behind the wall, where no one had filled one yet. Well that was the case until an unfamiliar blonde filled the one next to him, ''hi, I'm Izzie. I don't believe I've met you yet.''

''I'm Cormac. It's nice to meet you.'' Cormac offered a warm smile. He tried to ignore everyone else conversation until he picked up on an unfamiliar voice saying, '' I heard one of them transferred here from Ireland and to top it off he also has some sort of psychosis. I don't know if I want to work with someone like that.'' Cormac shrunk in on himself and shut his locker at the comment, '' I wouldn't listen to them. They said that me being a model wasn't going to help the respect thing as there is only eight of us women.''

The man seemed to be a bit more relieved at this but he wanted to know how anyone got a hold of that information, '' which resident have you been assigned to?'' Cormac asked in an attempt to be friendly. He attempted to look past the lockers for Amelia and Elizabeth, ''I've got Bailey but I heard everyone calls him the Nazi.'' Cormac gave a harsh breath at that, ''oh, you got the Nazi, I got Apollo but everyone calls him McPretty. Luckily there's only three of us, the rest dropped out.''

''Lockett, Hartt and Doyle. You're with me.'' A man's voice jolted through the locker room. Cormac waved to Izzie as he rushed to join Amelia and Elizabeth, ''good morning you three, let's get going.'' The three interns rushed behind Apollo, ''don't worry, I'm not as strict as the other residents but please when you are paged answer it and please rush to your patient you are being paged for a reason, Doyle can I have a word please.'' Amelia and Elizabeth stayed where they were whilst Cormac was dragged aside.

''Are you alright? This isn't too overwhelming for you.'' Apollo checked, trying to pick up on any physical signs. Cormac huffed out a laugh, ''I'm alright. I've taken meds and I even had a walk this morning. I'm okay Apollo. I promise.''

Cormac had met with Apollo previously over the summer. Just a short chat on how would be best to manage his condition without alerting the patients or his fellow interns, ''that's good. I've put you three with something easy to start with today, twenty five year old man with symptoms of the flu or a possible chest infection. I'm not going to throw you into the deep end.'' Apollo walked him back to the other two interns.

''If you'd like to follow me, your patient should be waiting for you.'' Apollo ran down the corridor, the interns hot on his heels, ''good morning, Doctor Hartt will you present the chart please.'' Elizabeth reached for the chart Apollo placed in front of her, ''William Turner. Twenty-five year old male, presenting with symptoms of a bad chest, sickness, fever and stomach pains. Potentially the flu or a chest infection.''

The man let out a deep sigh, ''if one more person says I have the flu or a chest infection, I'm going to hit the roof. I'm in a rush, I've got a meeting in half an hour and that blonde bitch isn't helping.'' Apollo too let out a sigh but rather one of frustration, ''Mr Turner I understand that you are in a bit of a hurry and that you aren't feeling great but please don't talk to my interns like their a piece of rubbish, now have you had any... hold on, I've got a page from another patients, Dr Doyle will be alright to take over for me?''

Cormac nodded leaving Apollo to rush out of the room, ''now Mr Turner, have you had any other symptoms since you arrived at the hospital?'' William flickered his gaze to Cormac, ''my head has been throbbing since I arrived and my vision is a bit blurry. Oh and I feel a bit dizzy.'' Cormac wrote the new symptoms on the chart, ''okay Mr Turner, we're going to run some blood tests to make sure that your blood sugar isn't low or that there aren't any underlying conditions we're missing.''

''See the Irish one is being helpful. He understands.'' Cormac dipped out of the room to grab the needle and sample bottle that would be needed, ''girls make sure you let Apollo know that we've run blood tests if he comes back.'' The two women nodded at him. 

The three interns were unaware that Apollo was watching them from afar, his consult on another patient wasn't needed. He was proud that Cormac was getting stuck in rather than sitting out on sidelines because of his conditions, ''right, I've got the kit to draw some blood from you Mr Turner. Dr Lockett is going to tighten this band around your arm so that we can find a vein and we'll start the tests from there.''

Apollo could remember his intern year. It wasn't as calm as Cormac made it seem. He was shouting and swearing at people, especially other interns but Cormac was patient and calm with his patient and other interns, ''Now you might feel a little pinch when the needle goes in but then nothing after that, okay?'' William nodded, confirming to Cormac that he was okay with him drawing blood.

Once the blood was drawn, Cormac jumped up off his chair and the rushed out the door, ''Doctor Doyle, why did you draw my blood and not a nurse?'' Cormac popped his head back into the doorframe upon noticing Amelia and Elizabeth not running behind him, ''a result of an underfunded medical care system. Now if you need anything or if you feel any new symptoms press the button for the nurse and she'll page myself, Doctor Hartt and Doctor Lockett and we'll be with you right away.''

As the three stepped outside the door they spotted Apollo observing the room, ''very well done Cormac. Now you go run the labs and tell me if anything unusual pops up and I'll look over it.'' The three nodded at him and made a move to the lab.

''So Amy, that's a nice ring. Whose the lucky fella? What's his name?'' Elizabeth pried as she spun around on her chair.

''Kate, it's our year anniversary. This her promise to me that once we can actually get married, we will.'' Amelia twisted her ring.

''That's nice. At least you have the promise, some of us don't.'' Elizabeth stated taking a mouthful of her sandwhich. Cormac sat on his chair in silence. Trying to remember if he did actually take his meds or not this morning.

''Pretty boy, you alright over there.'' Elizabeth started, ''you're in your own little world.'' Cormac met her stare, ''I'm fine, just a bit tired.'' Amelia picked up on the anxiety which had settled itself on Cormac's features, ''no you aren't what's wrong.''

Cormac spun his chair to look at her, ''I'm trying to remember if I took my medication this morning.'' Elizabeth seemed shocked by his statement, ''medication? Are you alright? What is it? Cold? Flu? Heart condition? Asthma? Anxiety? I won't judge you Cormac, I'll go get it if you need it or if you're afraid to do it. I'm sure it can'...''

''Liz, Liz, Liz! It's onset psychosis.'' Cormac blurted out. Elizabeth stopped with her statement, ''I'm so sorry. Is there anything you can do to help it besides the medication?'' Yet again Cormac didn't know why he was spilling his guts to this woman, he couldn't help himself, ''there's nothing. There's going to be a point where it's going to be so bad that not even medication will fix it or help me.''

The room went silent. The interns still nibbling on their lunches, ''Cormac, if you need me to go and get them I will.'' Cormac appreciated that Elizabeth wanted to help him but there'd nothing she could do. The pagers went off alerting them that something had happened, ''Cormac! Fucking hell slow down.'' Amelia shouted as Cormac bolted out of the door.

''Mr Turner what's the matter?'' Cormac asked when he arrived at the room. He took small steps into the room.

The room had been turned upside down. A nurse stood in the corner with an IV bag in her hands and William stood on the bed with the IV pole clutched in his hands and pointed at Cormac, ''Liz, page Apollo. Mr Turner, what's the matter?'' Cormac asked again progressing further into the room.

''That bitch is trying to kill me.'' William shouted gesturing to the nurse. Apollo stood in the doorway watching the interaction, ''I promise you, no one is trying to kill you. We all just want to help you. Now if you want to lower the pole, I promise I'll help and no one will hurt you. You're blood test results should be in soon.''

William lowered the IV pole and slowly began to sink on the bed, ''he handled that really well, didn't he.'' Amelia turned to Apollo who just gave a gentle nod. Cormac bent down with his hands on his knees and took a deep breath as he spun around and looked Apollo in the eyes, ''well done, without a sedative as well.'' Apollo hushed his voice, careful not to wake the now sleeping William Turner.

''We're about to go get the results, we'll come out with them once they're ready.'' Cormac whispered as he joined Apollo's side.

The results were almost done by the time the three interns had gone back in, ''so what do you think is wrong with him?'' Amelia quizzed pulling a piece of cucumber out of her sandwhich.

''I think he's had some illness like a sinus infection and it's seeped to his brain.'' Elizabeth said with a evil look on her face. Cormac chuckled at that, ''I think it's a brain tumor but one that's in temporal lobe which is what is giving him the auditory hallucinations.'' 

Amelia reached for the results which were fresh from the printer, ''and the winner is...'' Cormac and Elizabeth drummed on the table, ''Cormac, high white blood cell production.'' Amelia handed Cormac the paper as Elizabeth's face filled with defeat.

''Apollo, we've got a theory.'' Cormac sprinted towards the older brunette waving the results in his hands. Apollo snickered, ''that's for me. Hit me Doyle.''

''The labs show a high white blood cell count and the hallucinations could be caused by a tumor in the temporal but he'll need a CT scan to prove it's there first.''

''Alright you get the CT scan and I'll page Doctor Sherperd. Maybe you'll be able to be the first to sit in on a surgery but it's up to him. Good work.''