Rose

Rose was a nurse at Seattle Grace Hospital.

High School Bus Crash
Rose worked on Danny Metcalf, one of the high schoolers who was in a bus crash. In his surgery, Derek was talking about how he wants the kid to know that the cliques end after high school, but Rose laughed, saying they haven't come as far as he thinks they have. Later, when she said she was sorry that he lost the patient, he didn't recognize her. At the end of the day, he found her, having learned her name by asking around. She said she'd worked on 36 of his surgeries and that day was the first time they'd made eye contact. Then she said good night and left. ("Forever Young")

Ambulance Crash
When the navigational system failed while Mary Daltrey was having surgery, Rose thought she might be able to fix it if it were fairly simple. She didn't have hands steady enough to reconnect some wires, so Derek stepped in and attached the wires at her direction. That worked and he was able to continue operating. After surgery, they kissed in the scrub room. ("Crash Into Me, Part 2")

Addison's Return
When Addison returned for a surgery, she found out that Derek and Meredith had broken up and Derek was seeing someone else. In surgery, she asked who the unlucky "McRebound" was, not knowing that it was Rose, who was handing her her surgical instruments. ("Piece of My Heart")

Ex-Fiancé
A year before she met Derek, Rose was engaged, but she called it off because she and her fiancé wanted different things. The diamond was her grandmother's so she wore the ring around her neck on a necklace. ("Crash Into Me, Part 1")

Derek Shepherd
Rose started dating Derek after they became friends. They kissed after a surgery. ("Crash Into Me, Part 2")

When Derek decided to try things with Meredith, he told Rose and they agreed not to let it affect their professional relationship. However, when Meredith found out he had kissed Rose, she broke things off and he invited Rose to go to dinner with him. She accepted. ("Lay Your Hands on Me")

After five dates, Derek and Rose hadn't had sex because she wanted to wait until they were serious. She admitted to Lexie that she loves him, but she was trying to play it cool. ("Where the Wild Things Are")

When the Date and Tell policy was implemented, Rose asked what they meant. When she was informed that it only meant the highest level, she said she wouldn't need one. However, she later asked for one. They slept together that night. ("The Becoming")

Despite their seemingly happy relationship, Rose was slightly bothered by comments made by hospital personnel about Meredith and Derek's breakup only being temporary and her being the McRebound (the rebound girl). Mark commented that she was stringing sex along like a prize but really she was afraid that once she gave it up, he would lose interest. She and Derek had sex but the whole time he was thinking of Meredith and forgot to call her afterwards.

He and Rose continued dating but after saving their first clinical trial patient, he and Meredith kissed and she asked to get back together with him. He said he would and left to break up with Rose. Although she initially took it well, she then decided she hated Derek and became very unpleasant towards him. She pretended she was pregnant and she carelessly handed him instruments in surgery, accidentally cutting him. She realized she was only damaging her reputation and left for an opening in pediatrics.

Professional
Despite being Derek Shepherd's ex-girlfriend, and because of the fact that she felt intimidated by Meredith's legendary relationship with Derek, Meredith and Rose actually got along well. Addison and Mark disliked her.

Career
Rose received her education from Santa Cruz, (most likely University of California, Santa Cruz) and majored in computer science for three semesters before switching over to nursing to become a scrub nurse. Derek Shepherd insulted her education by stating Santa Cruz has a reputation as a "party school."

She was the attending nurse for over 30 of Derek Shepherd's surgeries, as Rose stated after they operated on Danny Metcalf. ("Forever Young")

While she initially took the break up well, she eventually held feelings of resentment towards Derek. After their break up and after carelessly handing Derek a scalpel in surgery as revenge, she accidentally cut his hand, causing it to bleed. This led her to realize that she was no longer the scrub nurse everyone wanted, and she quit as a scrub nurse to take up a job in pediatrics.

Notes and Trivia

 * She likes licorice. ("Crash Into Me, Part 1")
 * Jessica Capshaw originally auditioned for the role of Rose before being cast as Arizona Robbins.

Appearances
Rose