When Maddox arrives at the counter, Izzie, George and Meredith are arguing over something she don't know. She glances at Cristina, but she shrugs it off, and when Maddox sees coffee in Meredith's hands, she reaches out for it, but Meredith slaps the back of her hand with a sharp jab. "A no was enough. What are you kids arguing about today?"

"Meredith's looking for roommates, but none of us seem to be good enough," Izzie updates her.

"Oh, so it was you looking for roommates. I've seen it on the lockers before, yeah. No Bush supporters, really?"

"I'm not a Bush supporter," George interjects quickly, almost stumbling. "I don't throw parties, I like quiet breakfasts, and I have to move out as soon as possible because my mother irons my scrubs. I have to get out of there."

"I know how to cook. And I'm an obsessive cleaner," Izzie chimes in, trying to convince Meredith.

"I'm sure you'd make great roommates, but don't you think Meredith has enough on her plate seeing the two of you 100 hours a week? What if you fight? What if living together becomes unbearable?" Maddox tries to shed some light on the matter, signing the chart the nurse hands her at the counter.

"Thank you! You're the only one who understands."

"But hit me up if you change your mind," Maddox smiles. "I'm living off my parents' money and I'd hate to be the cause of their going back to work. Besides, my neighbors are constantly at it and it just reminds me how poor my sex life is."

"That won't be a problem with me," says George.

"Nor with me," Izzie quickly adds. "My boyfriend lives far away from here and the farthest I've ever gone alone is—"

"Okay! I do not need to know that. You know what? Maybe I don't do the dishes or maybe I don't clean the house. Maybe I do like loud sex."

Maddox wrinkles her nose, reading the chart in front of her. "I can respect that. As soon as you get me out of that hellhole, I'll even hold a fan while you're at it."

"George, you run the code team. Meredith, you take the trauma pager. Cristina, you deliver the weekend labs to the patients. Izzie, Maddox, you're on sutures," Bailey appears out of nowhere, pulling them out of their animated conversation, and it seems that none of the five are particularly looking forward to their assigned task.

"No more rectal exams at least, Izzie," Maddox bumps her shoulder against the blonde's, who snorts and shakes her head, but then thinks on the bright side and smiles a little.

"Dr. Bailey, I was hoping to assist you in the OR today. Maybe do a minor procedure. I think I'm ready," Meredith approaches the doctor, who is already making her way up the stairs and stops to look at her with a gesture of disbelief. Meredith extends the coffee from her hands. "Mocha latte?"

"If she has a cut, I want a cut too," Cristina interjects, and Maddox knows instantly that things won't go well judging by the look on Bailey's face.

"Me too."

"I wouldn't mind a second chance," George interjects. "After my screw-up yesterday, maybe a surgery would lift my spirits," he smiles innocently.

But not enough to please Bailey. "Easton, you shut up before you crawl for a surgery," Dr. Bailey points her finger at her and Maddox merely holds up her hands in surrender. "Stop talking. Every intern wants to perform their first surgery. That's not your job. You know what your job is? To make your resident happy. Do I look happy? No. Why? Because my interns complain. You know what will make me look happy? Having the code team ready, having the trauma pagers answered, having the weekend labs delivered, and having someone down in the pit doing the sutures," despite her scolding, Bailey takes the mocca latte Meredith had offered her, and Maddox stifles a chuckle. "Nobody holds a scalpel until I'm so happy I'm Mary freaking Poppins."

The five watch as Bailey leaves down the stairs, taking short sips of coffee, and when she turns to look to see that they're still there, the five of them run into themselves to go off to their respective tasks. Meredith goes in the same direction as Izzie and Maddox, who head for the elevator to go down to the pit. Dr. Shepherd arrives at the same time they do, and Maddox's eyes go wide, realizing the situation. "This is taking too long already. Come on, Izzie, we'll take the stairs."

"What, why? I've been awake for almost twenty-four hours, I wouldn't mind a ride down there."

"Don't be lazy. Good morning, Dr. Shepherd. See you later, Meredith," Maddox winks at Meredith, who purses her lips at the sight of a smirk from Dr. Shepherd.

"So I heard something," Maddox says, pulling back the blue curtain to the pit room. A boy is lying on the gurney with a bandage on his forehead just above his eyebrow, his mother standing beside him with a concerned look. "I heard that a boy was hiking with his parents and sister and hit his head on a tree. But I also heard that he didn't cry at all, so he must be a very brave young man. Is that you?" The boy smiles a little proudly and nods. "No way! You have to show me."

"Here," the boy says aloud, lifting the gauze from his wound a little.

"I can't believe I'm the one that gets to know you! I'm Dr. Easton, what's your name?"

"Kyle."

"All right, Kyle. I'm going to close your wound with stitches. Have you ever had stitches?" The boy shakes his head. "That's good. Look, I've had stitches before, above my eyebrow, just like you. I was seven when I fell on a school field trip. It's okay if you need to hold your mom's hand for a while. It'll be done in no time," Maddox gently jabs the needle into the boy's skin, who hisses a little in pain, but then barely complains. As the girl promises, in less than five minutes Kyle is as good as new. "It's not a big wound, so don't worry, it won't leave a scar."

"Darn," Kyle mutters.

"Kyle was expecting a scar. You know, kids this age. They trip and fall and think they look like superheroes with scars on their faces."

"Well, you don't get a scar, but you get some superhero powers. For example, when I fell, I started reading minds. But only some minds, you know? And I think I can concentrate and read yours," Maddox pretends to squint and focus, and pulls a lollipop out of her pocket absently. "Yeah, I think I've got it. You're craving a lollipop," Kyle gasps in surprise and takes the lollipop quickly, looking at his mother, as if asking permission to eat it. "The superpowers must have gotten to you by now, can you tell what I'm thinking?"

"I think... you want a lollipop, too."

Maddox opens her eyes wide, feigning surprise, and pulls another lollipop from her robe pocket. Kyle smiles broadly and his mother strokes his hair. "You couldn't possibly have guessed. But be careful, okay? You can't read every person's mind. Maybe it's just you and me that are connected."

"Did you see that, mom? It was awesome."

"It was, honey," his mother said, helping him up from the gurney. "Thank you so much, Dr. Easton."

"Yes, thank you," Kyle shows her the lollipop and his already red tongue.

"It's been my pleasure. Be careful, okay?" Maddox caresses Kyle's hair, who bids her a quick goodbye. Maddox stares at the lollipop she's shown Kyle and shrugs, removing the plastic. "I earned this."

"Why are you eating on your shift, Dr. Easton?" Bailey barely glances at her as she passes her, but the lollipop trembles between Maddox's fingers and falls to the floor.

"I'm not— Crap."

"Show me."

Meredith lifts her head, making sure her cooler is still by her side, and looks with raised eyebrows at Maddox, who is still standing in front of her. "Show you what?"

"Your boobs. Come on! The penis. Cristina said you were the one to guard it until the police arrives."

"You seriously want to see it?"

"I seriously do," Maddox replies earnestly. Meredith nods and uncovers the small fridge, and Maddox pokes her head in. She's quiet for a few seconds, then speaks. "That was a good bite. How's the girl?"

"You were the only one to ask that. Dr. Shepherd performed surgery on her, but we don't know if she'll wake up. You didn't see the beating she took, it was brutal."

"Hey, you okay?"

Meredith sighs, running her hands over her face to clear her head. "I kissed Derek. Dr. Shepherd. I don't know, it's weird calling him any name."

"That's why Cristina and I use McDreamy. I mean, I understand. With his stupidly good looking hair and his pretty eyes, it's normal he's got you hooked."

"The problem is I don't know why I did it," Meredith sighs again. "I was having a bad day. I'm having a bad day."

"So you kiss McDreamy to make it all go away. Have you ever thought about how you really feel about him? Yeah, you slept together once, but maybe you like, like him. He's a good doctor, one of the best, and I've seen how he treats his patients. There's no way he's a dick. This one is," Maddox says, pointing to the cooler and getting up from the window sill. "Give it a thought, okay?"

"Wait, so you're not mad? You don't think I've slept with him to gain some favors?"

"No offense, Meredith, but I've known you for less than a week and I've already noticed how lost you're in life. There's no way you're using McDreamy for this. For sex, maybe. But you've made it into this program for your skills, not for sleeping with him. You do you," Maddox shrugs, and the pager in her pocket beeps. It's Izzie. "I've gotta go. Hope it all works out."

Maddox figures Izzie is still doing sutures, so she goes down to the pit, where there are fewer and fewer patients. Maddox realizes she's been on her suturing shift for almost ten hours and hasn't had an hour's rest, so she's thankful it's already dark. She sees Izzie behind the counter, as if she's watching something, so she taps her on the shoulder which makes the blonde jump, startled.

"What the hell are you doing? Who are you hiding from?"

"Crap, Maddox. You scared me. And I'm not hiding! It's just that I've had a patient since this morning and she doesn't stop coming in. She speaks Chinese and I haven't been able to understand her."

"And why on earth did you call me? I was resting my eyes for the first time in ten hours!" Maddox exclaims, frustrated.

"Because you were with me on this shift! This is also your responsibility," Izzie whispers back. "Come on, help me, please. Any chance you speak Chinese?"

"Hell, no. I can curse your ass out in Spanish but why would I know Chinese?"

"Just a thought. Oh, look. She's going out. She's looking at me," Izzie mutters. She takes Maddox's arm and forces her to go with her. Maddox frowns when she sees the patient: she is a petite lady, wearing baggy clothes and looking dirty. She wonders where she's from and why she doesn't speak English, but it's such a fleeting thought that she immediately understands her situation.

It's raining outside. The woman glances back, nodding, as if her plan all along had been for them to follow her outside the hospital. It doesn't take her too long to lead them to some dumpsters, and when they arrive, Maddox and Izzie are soaked.

"Oh my God," Izzie mutters. Mrs. Lu points them to a young girl, holding a bloody cloth to her forehead, and when she removes it, a huge open wound decorates her head. "It's okay. It's okay. We'll help," Izzie removes the flashlight from the young girl's eyes and looks urgently at Maddox. "We have to get her inside. It's a deep wound."

Maddox denies. "There's a reason why she wouldn't come inside, Izzie. Look at her wound, and her mother doesn't speak English."

"She's illegal," Izzie mutters. Then she nods and looks at the two women. "Okay, we're not going in. One of us has to go in for materials. We can't just leave her like this."

"I'll go," Maddox says. The rain chills and soaks her bones, but keeps her awake enough to run back toward the hospital. She barely remembers how tired she is, or that she was about to lie down when Izzie has called her, but rushes to the storeroom to grab disinfectant, stitches, and cotton. She stuffs them in her pocket, careful not to be seen, and manages to get out of the hospital as quickly as she has entered, protecting the materials so that they remain dry. "I'm here."

"Remember when you said 'Okay, Maddox, Izzie and George, you can come live with me'? I understand now why you shouldn't have said it," Maddox mutters as she puts the steaming cup of coffee to her mouth. It's just her in the kitchen, but she can hear George and Izzie chasing Meredith, who still hasn't opened her mouth, around the house. Luckily for her, Maddox has made do with her room and doesn't chase her into the bathroom. "Come on, children! Coffee's ready and today's Dead Baby Bike Race!"

"What the hell is that?" Izzie asks from upstairs.

George enters the kitchen. "Every year, this bar, the Dead Baby bar, holds this underground bike race."

"Doesn't anyone wonder why someone would call a bar something so disgusting?" Izzie enters the kitchen this time, already dressed.

George shrugs, putting on his backpack. "The race is totally illegal."

"And crazy," Meredith finishes. "Bike messengers running against traffic trying to beat each other for free shots of tequila. If you're not in the car in five minutes, I'll leave without you!" Meredith yells as she sees George and Izzie disappear. She fills a thermos with the coffee pot and hums as she takes a sip. "Thanks for the coffee."

"Glad to be of use. Let's GO!"

They arrive at Seattle Grace in a matter of minutes, Maddox taking the front seat with Meredith because she knows George and Izzie are going to keep bickering like kids, seeing who's entitled to have the bigger room. Luckily for Meredith, the room next to her is occupied by Maddox, and as promised, she didn't even know she was there.

"I need someone to get up to the OR. The chief needs a right hand," Bailey warns them as soon as they arrive. Everyone is in their trauma attire, but no one wants to miss the operation, so they all raise their hands. Bailey snorts, tired. "George," everyone except George lowers their hand, disappointed, and the boy looks around, wondering if he's done right. "Okay, people, the rules of trauma. Don't mingle with the ER interns: they don't know their ass from their esophagus. Sew fast, discharge faster, get them up to the OR. And don't let me catch you fighting over patients, got it? Come on, let's go."

"I'll take that guy," Maddox mutters, maybe a little louder than she should, when she sees a man with a bandage on his head and metal pinned to his right side.

"You'll have to beat me to it," beside her, Alex shakes his head, moving faster than she does.

"Karev," she hisses angrily.

"Heads, he's mine; tails, he's yours," Alex proposes, pulling a coin from his pocket, and Maddox wonders why in this hospital everyone leaves it to chance their business.

"Why do you get the heads?"

"Because I have a head, and honey, you are a tails," Karev smirks.

Maddox gasps and turns to the patient. "Excuse me," she tells him before pulling back the curtain to avoid seeing them argue. "How do you manage to make everything dirty?" Alex doesn't answer, but simply flips the coin, and luckily for Maddox, it comes up tails. "Ha! Tails. There are plenty of other cases."

"So go get one. I was here first."

"I'm not packing down doing sutures while you're up in the OR," Maddox counters. "This is a surgical case, and you know it. Have you seen those?"

"It's superficial. I mean, it's cool, but it's superficial."

"How do you know? Those things could've ruptured his peritoneum."

"Because he's sitting and talking to us!" Alex raises his voice.

"Hello," the curtain pulls back, and Alex and Maddox turn their heads to look at the patient. "Excuse me, I was wondering if you could take these out and sew me up so I could go on with my race?"

"No, we can't just pull them off, I mean, we have—" The patient grunts in pain as Karev pulls the metal out of his skin. "Are you out of your mind?"

"It's superficial, I told you. Sew him up and let him finish his race," Alex doesn't waste another second on this patient, but goes off to find another, probably more interesting one, and leaves Maddox with the word in her mouth.

The patient shrugs, smiling a little, and Maddox snorts to herself —hasn't she already spent enough time suturing that life should punish her with a little more?

"You have a nice touch. And, by the way, you're a hottie."

Maddox raises her eyebrows, still putting in the stitches. "Seriously, do you actually think you have a shot here?"

"I like to think I've got a shot anywhere."

"Now you flirt with your patients, Dr. Easton?" Bailey walks past the door, giving her a reproving look.

"I'm not! Great, now she's caught me twice."

"They're everywhere all the time," Meredith huffs. Beside her, Maddox and Cristina sip their coffee in silence, the former taking the hint. "Not you, Maddox. I actually like how much of a ghost you seem to be."

"I can be whatever you want me to, baby," Maddox replies in a sardonic voice.

"Izzie's all perky and George does this thing where he is helpful and considerate. They share food, they say things and move things and breathe. They're like happy."

"Kick them out," is Cristina's response, and Maddox is not at all surprised. She thinks she will live alone, because Cristina's character is somewhat special.

"I can't kick them out, they've just moved in. And I asked them to move in."

"Then what? You're just gonna repress everything in some deep, dark, twisted place until one day you snap and kill them?"

"That seems like it," Maddox sips her coffee.

"Yep."

Cristina looks at them for a moment and nods. "This is why we are friends."

Karev doesn't take long to join their conversation despite knowing that no one has invited him. Maddox sends him a withering glare because his attitude yesterday took away a patient who probably needed surgery. If Alex sees her glare, he ignores it just fine. "Why is the Nazi making us stay in the pit two days in a row?"

"Leftovers," Meredith and Maddox confirm in unison, and Alex repeats it with his head down.

"Now it's time to tend to the bikers who were too drunk or stupid to come yesterday," Maddox laments aloud, looking around.

"Meanwhile she gets to do a freaking organ harvest," Karev reminds Maddox, pointing to Cristina, who turns around.

"It kills you, right?"

"What?"

"That two women cut the heart," Cristina rubs in his face, and Maddox laughs.

"No, it kills me that anybody got the harvest but me. Boobs do not factor to this equation. Unless you wanna show me yours," his gaze turns lascivious, and Maddox wrinkles her nose in disgust.

"There's a reason why I like women more than men," Maddox gives him one last disgusted look and leaves, Cristina and Meredith hot on her heels.

It doesn't take too long for Alex to come after her, however, because the day before they were a pack and now he seems to assume that today they will be as well. Maddox doesn't mind Alex, because he's a good doctor; she minds his arrogant, self-important personality, or his tasteless jokes. But Maddox knows people like that, because Dennis used to be the same way. You just have to know how to get the hang of them.

"That your guy?" Alex points toward the waiting room, where the man from yesterday who tried to hit on her is still sitting.

Maddox frowns. "What's Viper doing here?"

Alex shrugs. "Probably crashed his bike. Again."

"How long has he been waiting?"

The boy doesn't even look up from his charts. "I don't know. I've been busy on real cases. He's all yours!"

"Hey, Viper," Maddox walks over to him with a smile. She thinks it's adorable that he tried to hit on her in his condition, so she doesn't hold it against him no matter how much Bailey caught her red-handed. The boy stands up for a moment, but seems to get dizzy and within seconds falls to the floor, convulsing and with a trickle of blood on his lips. Maddox runs to him, alarmed. "Viper!" She lifts his shirt to see the state of his wound, and lets out a gasp of horror when she sees the huge bloody wound, pulsing almost with a life of its own. "Call the OR and tell them we're coming, and page Dr. Bailey. Alex, let's go," Maddox tries to keep the wound closed by climbing onto the gurney with Viper, who lies unconscious and in a cold sweat on his forehead. "Alex! Push the damn gurney!" Karev seems to react, pushing the two of them hard and pushing his way through the crowd to the elevator. "Hurry. I don't know how long I can keep the wound closed."

"This is a new one?" Bailey is already in the OR, and Maddox lets out a sigh of relief. If anyone can help them, it's her. "Someone get her off of my patient."

Karev helps her down quickly, holding her tightly, and Maddox can see the concern in his eyes. After all, it was Alex who decided to simply get stitches. Still, Maddox decides not to waste time telling him that it's not his fault for two reasons: time is short, and so maybe he'll come down.

"Maddox, go get cleaned up, scrub in. Alex, get back down."

"Yeah, but I helped," Alex puts on his mask and ties his hat.

"They tell me down in the pit you only wanna take the hot takes. Every pack of interns always has a fool, running around trying to show off. Alex, this time the fool is you. Get out."

Maddox doesn't give him a second glance, but immediately takes Bailey's orders.

"Guys, Meredith's gonna be mad. Like, mad mad," Izzie hisses as Cristina, Maddox and George rummage through the boxes. George has told her that morning that there were dozens of Ellis Grey's surgeries in there, which was basically like finding treasure, so none of the three of them have given much thought to what the consequences of Meredith seeing them will be.

"No, she's not," Cristina sentences. "Come on, take a random one and we'll see the best one."

Izzie stands with her arms crossed, as if watching that no one is coming through the door, while the other three reach into the boxes and pull out a random tape. Maddox snorts. "Mine's shit. Appendectomy. Why would she even film this?"

"Oh, God," Cristina whispers. "I don't care about George's anymore, mine's the best. Watch this."

The pizza is still hot on the table, so everyone grabs a slice before Cristina presses play. Others may find it disgusting to watch while they dine, but for the four of them it's a thrilling spectacle.

"She's gonna pull his face off," Cristina grins ghoulishly. "Just wait and see."

"What if she's had a bad day? We're walking on thin ice here," Izzie tries to reason.

"She's had a good day," Maddox says, and everyone looks at her, wondering how she knows. "I mean, every day is a good day if you don't walk around carrying a bitten penis. I suppose," then she shakes her head, putting the pizza in her mouth. "Besides, why does no one think about if the rest of us have had a bad day? You and Cristina have had to harvest organs from a perfectly healthy man and George's had to look for a liver donor while being the Chief's friend's bitch —Sorry, George."

"What about your day?" Izzie asks, sitting down on the couch.

"Nah, my day's been good. I scrubbed in."

"You bitch," Cristina punches her in the arm.

Everyone stops laughing when they hear the keys in the door, attentive to Meredith's mood. Luckily, Maddox thinks, she doesn't have the same scowl on her face as the night before, when she almost let out all her anger at George and Izzie.

"So, what are we watching?" Is all she says as she smiles, sitting down on the couch between Izzie and Maddox.

"Told you!"