THE GIRL WITH NO NAME
8x20

"Oh, this is getting ridiculous," April rolls her eyes when Cristina comes striding in with yet another goody basket.

"The N.I.H.?" Jackson says with disbelief as he grabs the card off the top of the plastic. "Since when does the N.I.H. bribe residents to come work for them?"

"Oh, they don't," Cristina shrugs, unwrapping the basket. "Except when you're me— a God."

Alex marches into the residents lounge and steals a cookie from the basket.

"Hey!"

"Cookies stale," Alex grumbles.

"Aw, Karev," Cristina makes a faux sad face as April and Charlotte chuckle together. "Is this hard for you, having to beg for interviews while some of us just sit back and get wooed?"

"No one is begging," Alex slips his lab coat over his arms.

"Oh, yeah, maybe you should," Charlotte sends him an only slightly sympathetic look.

"Maybe that way, you'd actually get an interview," April adds onto Charlottes attack as she slips her own coat on.

"Ha! I love mean Kepner," Cristina laughs.

Mouth full of cookie, Alex shoots back, "I got an interview."

"Oh, really, where?" April asks.

"At.." Alex takes a second to swallow his cookie. "Places."

"Uh-huh," Charlotte nods. "We're sure."

"Whatever!" Alex throws his arms up. "Look, this sucks, okay. I mean, we got boards in a couple of weeks. And— and now they want us to go on freaking job interviews? There's only so much crap a guy can have thrown at him before he snaps."

"I think you just did," Charlotte joked, eliciting laughter from the other residents.

"There's a trauma coming in on the roof," Owen announces. "Brown, Karev, come with me."

"I can't," Charlotte makes a face. "I'm sorry, I have to leave for my interview soon—the interview at Harborview."

"Alright, uh, Kepner?"

"I gotta leave for my Northwestern interview in an hour. I told you yesterday," April says apologetically.

"Avery?" Owen points.

"Sloans got me all day, chief. Sorry," Jackson puts his lab coat on.

He looks at Cristina and she just walks towards her cubby. He then looks at Meredith who says, "I'm free."

"Great," Owen slaps his leg. "Thank you."

"Are we riding together?" Charlotte asks as she ties her shoes, quickly wanting to get the list of patient rounds out of the way so she doesn't miss her ride.

"Yep," April smiles, staring at the brunette a little too long.

"You okay?"

"Yeah— uh—" April shakes her head, swallowing nervously. "Yeah, meet me out front in thirty minutes."

"You got it, Red!" Charlotte speeds out of the lounge.

❄️

Charlotte's interview was done before April's had even begun, so she took a taxi back to Seattle Grace Mercy West.

She was put onto trauma once she arrived back, which was good, because she was leaning towards trauma as her specialty. She even thought about maybe being double board certified in Ortho as well, but she wasn't completely sure yet.

Nothing really major had happened so she decided she would just sit at a nurses station for the duration of her shift, at least until she was needed.

She sat with her feet up on the desk, which had earned her a few glares from the nurses around her.

Her phone rang, and she immediately picked up when she saw the phone read April.

"Hey," Charlotte smiled to herself.

"Hey," April says shakily. "Where are you?"

"I went back to the hospital," Charlotte removes her feet from the desk. "What's wrong sweetheart?"

"It didn't go well," Charlotte could imagine her shrugging it off, as if it was nothing to her. But the brunette knew it was everything.

"Don't shrug," Charlotte said. "It's okay. There are others."

"I really wanted this one," April wipes a tear. "It was different. I don't know."

"I know," Charlotte presses her lips together nervously. "I know, April."

"What if I don't get a fellowship?" Aprils voice breaks. "What if I have to go back home and—"

"Don't talk like that," Charlotte demands in a soft voice. "You're gonna get a fellowship. I won't allow you to throw your life away. I won't."

April sighs, "What if I don't pass my boards?"

"Then I'll help you pass them again," Charlotte says immediately. "I'll help you study like crazy. I swear, I will. We'll stay up late, and I'll quiz you and we'll do it all over again. And you'll take the boards again. I'll be right by your side, I swear. I promise."

"You really promise that?" April chuckles.

"Yes," Charlotte bit her lip. "Now come back, I'm getting bored without you here."

"Okay," Charlotte heard a car door slam in the background, and then a car starting. "I'm on my way."

"Good," Charlotte smiled to herself. "I'll be here, okay? We'll watch a movie tonight."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Of course."

The phone beeps, signaling the end of the call, and Charlotte goes back to being bored.

❄️

SEVEN DAYS LATER —

"You're a name brand," Alex rolls his eyes as Jackson stabs his fork into his fruit bowl. "You're like the freaking Ritz-Carlton of surgery. Who cares if that's why they want you?"

"Because he knows deep down he's more of a roadside motel," Cristina jokes.

The group of soon to be attendings, plus Lexie, are sitting around a rectangular table as they eat lunch. Everyone laughs at the joke except April, who is turned in her seat and is staring at one of Meredith's recent patients.

She was kidnapped years ago, and was just rescued from the woods, so they were trying to get her back on her feet.

"Oh, oh, oh," April smacks Charlottes arm. "She's going for the soup."

"Bold move," Cristina's attention turning to the teen. "She's gonna have to talk to the soup guy."

"She's looking good," Jackson notes. "Looking confident."

"And she bails," Alex sighs.

"No soup for Holly," Charlotte says sadly, turning back to Alex, Cristina, and Meredith, who are sitting across from her.

"She looks terrified," Lexies brows furrow with a sympathetic look. "Why are you so mean? Would you just go buy her some soup?"

"No, it's not mean," Meredith insists. "She's going home soon, and Dr. Fincher says she has to learn to do things for herself."

"Mm," Cristina hums. "And you're gonna finally have to go to Boston for your interview."

"I am not avoiding the interview," Meredith glares.

"Really?" Cristina and Charlotte ask at the same time, causing Meredith to look back and forth at them with disbelief.

"Well, wherever you go, just beware they may judge you more on your personality than what really matters, like your resume," April says sadly, biting into an apple.

Charlotte frowns and puts her hand on Aprils knee under the table, receiving an appreciative look from the redhead.

"Meredith is not like you. Her personality doesn't suck," Alex says.

"Oh, pizza station," Jackson lifts his head, his eyes trailing the patient.

Everyone's eyes move back to the girl, Charlottes hand sliding up April's leg as she turns—eliciting an intake of breath from April. She tries to hide it, but someone at the table hears.

April lets out a shaky breath as she forcefully turns back around to face forward, "Oh, whatever! You know what? Those programs can suck it. I'm tired of trying so hard not to be me. You know what? I like me."

"That makes one of us," Alex chews on a carrot.

"Two," Charlotte tilts her head at the man. "Why are you such a dick?"

"She makes it so easy," Alex chuckles, shrugging his shoulder.

"Look, you don't have to not be you," Charlotte inches her face closer to the woman. "Just—"

"Be a little less you?" Jackson interjects.

"W—"

"Get up," Mark appears behind Jackson, grabbing his ear, cutting Charlotte off.

"What are you doing?" Jackson pulls his head back, turning to face him.

"Claire Hiatt just called to tell me you walked out on your interview. Call her back, apologize," Mark demands.

"Look, I respectfully withdrew my application," Jackson waves him off.

"You want me to drag you out by your ear?"

"Ooh, I'd pay to see that," Charlotte smirked. Payback for what he said to April, Charlotte thinks.

"I.." Jackson sighs, pushing the chair back so he could stand up and follow Mark out of the cafeteria.

"Freaking Robbins," Alex swears under his breath, leaving the table just as fast as Jackson had.

Meredith sits up in her chair as the girl approaches, "Uh.. so I didn't actually, uh, speak to anyone. But.. I.." She sits in the chair at the end of the table, next to Charlotte and Meredith. "..uh, did go to the self-serve station. And it actually wasn't that hard."

Everyone looks at what she has on her tray—sweets. Cookies, cake, you name it. Meredith smiles at her, thinking the whole thing is funny.

"What?"

"Nothing," Meredith shakes her head. "Looks good."

That evokes a smile out of the teenager as she bites into a chocolate chip cookie.

❄️

"Be less you?!" April all but yells as she reads from her binder.

April, Charlotte, Cristina, and Jackson had all met at the airport bar after their shifts, all heading in different directions. All were sick and tired of the interviews. They wanted nothing more than to stay right where they were, at Seattle Grace Mercy West.

They knew there would only be room of one fellow in each speciality, which meant Charlotte had to choose if she wanted to stay or go.

She'd be separated from April, and she knew it'd hurt like hell.

She knew if she stayed, she'd be the one accepted as the Trauma Fellow, because she had "more personality" and whatnot, but a part of her wanted to give it to April.

"How do you be less yourself?" April complained.

Cristina picks the three green binders up off the bar table and throws them over the bar, all three landing in the trash can.

"There," Cristina side eyes April. "Less you."

April looks at the Cardio resident with disbelief. If you looked hard enough you could probably see tears springing in her eyes.

Charlotte puts a hand on the girls shoulder to calm her down as Alex approaches the bar.

"Mm," Jackson hums in approval.

"What?" Alex makes a face.

"You put on your suit?" Charlotte says as she tries not to laugh.

Alex slides into a chair on the bar, slipping his suit jacket off, "I gotta be at Yale first thing in the morning. What if my flight gets delayed?"

"Or even worse," Jackson begins, picking Alex's jacket up. "What if you go in there looking like a hobo with a wrinkled ass jacket? Ugh."

"Where'd you learn that?" Alex watches with amazement as he folds the jacket to assure there'd be no wrinkles.

"I'm an Avery," Jackson says in a matter-of-fact tone. "We know these things."

Charlotte and April laugh together off to the side, receiving curious looks from the group.

"Hey," Meredith approaches the bar, and the rest of her resident group. "So I rescheduled my interview at Brigham, and I leave in an hour."

"Cheers to that," Cristina nods, lifting her drink.

Everyone follows, saying cheers along with the woman.

"Jackson, we gotta go," April jerks her head, grabbing her jacket.

"Mm, and we're out," Jackson downs the rest of his drink, also grabbing his jacket and heading off. "Happy interviewing, losers."

"I should go too," Alex says.

"Yeah, us too," Charlotte sighs, grabbing her bag and jacket, Cristina following her.

"Don't leave," Meredith says, looking sad and lonely.

"I don't want to miss the plane," Charlotte says sadly. "This is the one interview I actually care about."

"Yeah," Cristina shares the same look. "Sorry. We're so proud you're going."

Charlotte throws the jacket over her arm as Cristina and her walk towards the waiting area.

"So what's up with you and Red?" Cristina smirks.

"Nothing," Charlotte presses her lips into a straight line.

"Nothing?"

"Nope."

"I'm making bets right now. You guys will be together before we graduate to fellows," Cristina laughs as she sits on the plushy waiting chair.

"I don't think so." Charlotte frowns. "I don't even think she likes girls."

"We'll see," Cristina smiles happily.

i'm actually at such an
exciting place in this book
idek why i stopped updating
also next time i don't update
for like 5 months, please
tell me lmao.

anywho, we are at a good
place in this book. romance is
blooming!! boards are coming
and we all know what that
means..