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waseating the first spoonful of her cereal when Meredith and Derek entered the kitchen, laughing about something.

She raised a brow, as if questioning what was so funny. Meredith sat in the barstool, looking at her. "Izzie just found out Alex is living here."

Eleanora's face fell at the mention of the woman. "If I don't have a problem with it, there shouldn't be a reason Izzie has one."

Derek raised a brow at her, grabbing two bowls to pour his and Meredith's cereal. "Yeah, why exactly don't you have a problem with it? I mean, you two practically just broke up. And sure, you haven't told me why-"

Eleanora laughed, shaking her head at his attempt to get her to tell him. She hadn't really told anyone but George why they broke up, not wanting for there to be drama so close to their intern exam.

"And I will not be telling you, Dr. Shepherd." She interrupted. Derek made an annoyed noise, handing Meredith her bowl.

"Which truly hurts me, Eleanora. I thought you and I were close, with you being in my service so often."

Meredith rolled her eyes, nudging her boyfriend in the side. "Stop bothering her, Derek. She'll tell us when she's ready." She leaned into him and did a horrible stage-whisper. "Or Cristina and I will beat it out of her."

The three shared laughs, but they faded when Alex entered the kitchen. Eleanora quickly adverted her eyes from him, finishing her cereal quickly.

Alex cleared his throat, not looking at her either. Awkwardness hung in the air, and Eleanora tried to stuff down the pain of seeing him.

Yes, she had given Meredith the 'okay' on Alex living here, even if her friend seemed weary. She knew the area Alex lived in and it wasn't a great one, and he had practically been living here , before....

Eleanora cleared her throat and grabbed her bag that was laying on the island. She gave a tight smile, giving a small wave goodbye.

"I'm going to head out. See you guys at work?"

"See you, Ella!" Meredith called after her, watching as her small friend zoomed out of the room. She glared slightly at Alex, who scoffed.

He stomped towards the fridge and searched through it for food, his voice gruff. "Don't look at me like that."

Meredith stood up and walked over to him, poking him in the chest. "I don't know what you did, but she's not the same. Fix it, Alex."

"How do you know it's something I did?" He snapped back, raising a brow. This time it was Derek who replied, giving a small snort.

"Please," Derek stood up and grabbed his coat that was lying over the back of his barstool. "Eleanora Amedeo would never do anything to hurt the person she loved. She'd die before she'd do that."

______

   on the step right under George, Eleanora tried to crane her neck to see who the Chief was speaking to. It was no secret that the Chief was looking for his replacement and didn't find any of the current Attending's as a front runner.

"You guys see Bailey?" Izzie asked, strolling past the group. She backtracked, looking at them all with curious eyes. "What are we doing?"

George gave her a hard glare, but felt Eleanora elbow him in the side. He let out a groan, but hid it in his words. "Uh, checking out the new chief candidate."

Meredith nodded, not looking at the blonde. "Chiefs in with the ringer. We're lurking, in a way that was subtle when there were two of us but isn't now that there are twelve."

Eleanora furrowed her brows, looking around at the group. "There's only ten!" She defended, Meredith rolling her eyes.

"I heard it's someone from Stanford." Cristina shimmied slightly, her face and voice smug. "All the professors there loved me."

Eleanora giggled, biting at the inside of her cheek. "Teachers pet." She teased, Meredith laughing loudly when Cristina gave her an offended look.

"They loved you?" Alex asked incredulously, and Cristina hummed.

"I was a great student."

Dr. Burke walks up, giving Meredith a small smile. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm fine sir. Thank you." Meredith pleasantly responded, and Eleanora let out a huff.

"When I asked her that, she almost stabbed me." She grumbled to George, who stifled his laugh.

"The ringer is in there with the Chief." Cristina tells her fiancé, pointing towards the conference room they were all spying on. Burke raises an interested brow and joins the staring.

"Yeah, and whoever it is loves Cristina because everyone at Standford just loves Cristina." Izzie made her voice higher, as though imitating Cristina's voice.

Eleanora glared at the back of her head, her voice still cheery but holding a bite of coldness. "Probably because Cristina was the top student at one of the best Med Schools in the country. Where did go again, Iz?"

George pinched her arm, Eleanora letting out a pained noise. He shook his head, eyes wide with some amusement. The two hissed quietly at eachother, Meredith giving a curious look.

Why would Eleanora be passive aggressive towards Izzie? Was it a second round of the Denny thing?

Everyone started getting excited when the door opened, and Eleanora got on her tiptoes to see. Whispers flew around the group as the ringer was revealed, and Eleanora let out an awe-filled noise.

"That's Colin Marlow. Oh my god, the Chief brought in Cardio GOD Colin Marlow!" Eleanora squealed, hitting the back of Cristina's shoulders excitedly. Cristina, however, wasn't sharing in on the excitment, but nobody seemed to notice at first.