"Dr Grey!" someone called from behind her. Meredith turned around to come face to face with Jackson, her favorite Mercy Wester. The two had become good friends, and she was happy that something good had come out of this merger. On the other hand, Izzie was still missing and even Alex didn't know how to contact her. Meredith missed her friend and wished she would come out of her hiding spot, wherever that may be.
"Dr Avery. How can I help you?"
"We're friends right? Cause if were not, I'll ask someone else."
"Jackson, you're my favorite Mercy Wester, and me telling you this shows that you're my friend, because the rest of them suck. No offence to your friends."
He laughed
"None taken. They're not really my friends. We never really got the chance to get to know each other before we came here. I was the new guy at Mercy West."
Meredith smiled knowing he wasn't like the rest of them.
"What was it you were going to ask me?" she said suddenly.
"Oh right! I had heard somewhere that your house was like the University dormitory for the residents .."
Meredith laughed
"You could say that"
The house had gotten even more crowed since Lexie and Mark broke up. Her sister had needed somewhere to stay and since her and Meredith had gotten so much closer, Meredith offered her George's old room, finally letting go of the fact that he was gone. On top of her, Alex had moved back in after Izzie left and Cristina would stay at her place now and then when her and Owen were fighting.
"Anyway" he continued "I was wondering if maybe I could use one of the rooms for a little while. My apartment building caught fire last night and there's a lot of damage, but they say it shouldn't be too long before it's repaired."
"Of course! Oh my goodness, can you get to your room? What about clothes and all that stuff?" She was genuinely concerned for her new friend.
"Yeah. It was somebody else's apartment that caught fire, but they're kicking us all out due to health reasons."
Meredith reached into her pocket and pulled out a key.
"Here. Take this. You can have the room next to the bathroom. It's empty"
He smiled
"Thank you! You have no idea how much this helps me. If it weren't for this, I'd be stuck with my grandfather for the next little while.
Meredith laughed at the thought of him staying with his grandfather, Harper Avery, who had been treated here just last week. Let's just say, the two of them had family issues.
"No problem"
-
Cristina was making her way to the cafeteria when someone grabbed her shoulder. She spun around to come face to face with her best friends husbands brother, also known as the man whore, Mark Sloan. She gave him a stern look and finally, opened her mouth.
"What do you want?"
He looked at her, fake pain on his face.
"Fine, I won't ask you then ..."
Cristina sighed.
"What do you want McSteamy" she said in a nicer tone.
"You're friends with Teddy, right?"
Cristina nodded her head.
"Could you find out what she thinks about me? We've been getting closer, but I want it to be a real relationship, but I think she just wants the sex."
Cristina grew wide eyed.
"Something in that sentence didn't sound right. She wants the sex, and you don't?"
"Well, not that I don't want it, of course I do, but I want my happily ever after too."
"Why the sudden change?"
Mark knew he couldn't hide it anymore. He knew someone would notice his sudden need for real love, for something more then one night stands. It wasn't like Mark to admit his feelings, especially not to Yang, but he needed someone to talk to about it, and since she could help, he decided to take a shot.
"I'm jealous" he said more in a whisper then out loud.
"What?"
"I'm jeal-"
Cristina cut him off.
"I heard that part. Of who? Why?"
He sighed.
"Derek..."
Cristina shook her head and a smirk appeared on her lips.
"Stop!" Mark commented. "It's not funny. Derek got exactly what he wanted even if he was an ass in the process. Shouldn't I get my chance?"
"Fine. I'll talk to Teddy."
-
Owen couldn't stop having flashbacks of his time in the war. One minute he was talking to a patient at Seattle Grace, the next he was covered in battle scars in the war zone. But most of all, he was thinking about Teddy. He knew he was still in love with her, but he loved Cristina more. He couldn't stop thinking about either of them long enough to decide what he was going to do with this situation. He should know by now that his obvious pick would be Cristina, but something in the back of his mind was telling him that Teddy was the one for him. Or maybe that was his heart talking.
"Dr. Hunt" he heard a familiar voice behind him. He knew it was her, but he couldn't face her just yet. He took a deep breath and sighed.
"I'm sorry Dr _______, but I have a patient to check on."
He started to run off when she called his name again.
"Owen!" She started as she caught up to him. "I thought we were going to stay friends? This sure isn't something friends do." She was looking at him straight in the eyes and thought she saw a tear in the corner of his eye.
Owen shook his head, and was going to say something, but finally he decided nothing he could say would help with his situation or hers. He grabbed her by the waist and dragged her into the closest on call room before crashing down on her lips.
What he didn't know was that Cristina had seen the whole thing until the door was closed and the clicking of the lock told people they needed privacy.
-
Derek didn't want to be at the hospital anymore. He missed back to back surgeries, the thrill of discovering something he hadn't seen before, of coming up with different ways to get around the needs of the patient. He hated all this paperwork and all he wanted to do right now was go home and take a bath with his wife. He couldn't help but think about her all the time. He knew that he was in cloud nine, and that was anything but scared of taking the next big step with him, but still something was holding him back from calling an architect.
I want to build a house. Where we can live together. Just the two of us. Where our kids can play, can grow. Where we can do all that family stuff. I want a house of our own.
He knew Meredith was loving the idea of building a house, but she said they should wait until they were used to the whole being married thing. It had been over half a year now, and he knew that he was ready for their house, but was she?
Just then there was a knock at the door, and his beautiful Meredith walked in the doorway with a smile on her face.
"Hello there love" he said as he got up from his chair to wrap his arms around her tiny waist. He kissed her softly and loved the sound of her giggles when he released. It meant she was in a good mood. Maybe now would be a good time to bring up the idea of their house. He pulled her up in his arms and dropped her on the couch where he sat down beside her. She cuddled into his arms and smiled.
"I think we've collected a new roommate" she said, hoping Derek wouldn't mind.
Derek was used to having all of Meredith's roommates around, and honestly, he didn't mind them all that much. It gave him a chance to get to know his "in laws" and become closer with Meredith's friends. But when Meredith announced there would be a new addition, he was curious as to who was left.
"And who would that be?"
"Dr Avery."
Derek had noticed that Meredith was getting a lot closer with the Mercy West doctor, but he didn't think much of it. She was allowed to have male friends, and he didn't get jealous like he used to when Meredith hung around with the opposite sex. She was his, and he knew she loved him unconditionally, so he knew he had nothing to worry about.
Meredith started to explain his situation and Derek was more then proud of her for stepping out to help him. He knew she was opening up more, that she wasn't as dark and twisty as she once had been. He liked to believe he had something to do with it. Little did he know it was mostly all him that made her bright and shiny.
-
Teddy was completely and totally in shock. Did Owen, Owen Hunt just .... she couldn't believe it. She was sure she had dreamed it. She was totally in love with him, and he knew it, but he was with Cristina, and her and Cristina were just getting to know each other, to become friends. She knew Owen was completely in love with Cristina and would never do anything to hurt her. So she must have dreamt the whole thing.
But there he was. In front of her. Pulling his scrubs back on.
This can't be happening, this can't be real, she thought.
But it was.
"What about Cristina?" she asked in a whisper.
Owen shook his head.
"I don't know.." he admitted.
She knew that Owen was having a hard time. She thought for sure that he would never talk to her again after this week patient, a woman who wanted to take her life and asked for Teddy's help. It was physician aided suicide. But the poor lady was suffering. And a cure for cancer was no where in sight. Owen had been against it, and she was sure that he hated her now, since Teddy did what the patient had asked. But apparently not.
"Owen, what do we do?" she asked.
"I don't know" he answered again, shaking his head.
-
Alex stood in front of the nurse's station, waiting for his interns when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket only to see it was an unknown ID.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Alex, it's Izzie..."
She was crying. Alex could hear it in her voice.
"What's wrong?" he asked, caring to much for his wife, ex-wife, whatever she was.
"I..I don't want ... want to talk... about it .. right now... Can you ... can you come get me?" she asked, now obviously crying.
"Yes. Sure. Of course. Where are you?"
-
Cristina didn't know who to talk to. She checked the board and Meredith had just gone into surgery. She didn't have another person to talk to. Other then Owen. But he wasn't an option in this case. She decided she'd just wait for her person to finish her surgery. She could wait in an on call room for her. She didn't want to see Owen. She was going to hide.
She found the closest on call room, which had been next to the nurse's station. She opened the door and regretted it when she saw it was occupied. The person who was sleeping in the bed was covered with a blanket from head to toe, but she saw that they had stirred when she had entered.
"I'm sorry" she blabbed as she was about to leave.
"Yang?" she heard the familiar voice ask.
"Mark?"
He took one look at her and shook his head.
"You look like crap. What happened?"
She laughed at the thought of telling Mark her problems, especially since Teddy was involved and he so obviously was in love with her. But then, she decided that it couldn't hurt. If he told someone, she already had dirt to dish about him and she knew where to find more.
"Owen's cheating on me. I know it."
He gave her a weird look.
"When you lock an on call room, what does it usually mean?"
He understood.
"With who?"
"Teddy, who else?"
Mark sighed. He knew there was something going on between the two of them. He could tell by the way Owen looked at her that he was in love with her. But he gave those same looks to Cristina. Player he thought. Mark was the expert at being a player. He managed to set three dates in one week without any of them clueing in. That is until Derek opened his big mouth in front of his sisters about his and Mark's double date with one of the three girls. Derek hadn't realized that his sister Natalie was one of the victim's of his scam. She yelled a few times at him then told the other two girls. He never tried it again, that is until he wasn't living with the Shepards anymore.
"I say you dump the loser." Mark stated. "It'll be his loss."
Mark only realized what he said after he said it. He smiled shyly as Cristina stared him down. He didn't know what to do to eliminate the tension. So he did what he did best. He turned on the charm.
His lips came crashing down on hers so fast, Cristina didn't have time to fight back. And to be honest, she didn't want to.
-
While Meredith scrubbed out of her appendectomy, she saw a tear fall down Dr Bailey's face. She respected her mentor even more now that she was an attending, and although she didn't usually get involved with other people's problems, she felt bad for her boss who didn't seem to have many people to turn to at the hospital.
"Dr. Bailey, may I ask you what's wrong?"
Miranda gave her a stern look as to say mind your own business, but fell apart before it made Meredith change her mind.
"I'm sorry" she mumbled. Meredith was in shock. She had never seen her fall apart like this before. Yes, she had seen her upset, but never like this.
"Don't apologize. Whatever it is that's bothering you must be very serious."
"That's the thing. It's not. I'm not even sad, or angry. These are tears of pride."
Meredith stared at her as if she had gone completely nuts.
"Meredith, watching you today, you remind me so much of myself, yet you're able to make it all work. You have a job that you are amazing at, friends that love and support you and come to you when they need help, and an even more amazing husband that loves you more than ever thought possible."
Meredith's mouth hung so far down that she was sure Bailey could see the back of her throat.
"Um.. I don't know what to say."
"You don't need to say a thing. I'm proud of you. And don't ever forget that if ever you need someone, I'm here." Bailey walked out which left Meredith alone in utter disbelief.
-
"Lexie!" Derek yelled across the locker room. He knew where to find the young resident due to the fact that she had mentioned to Meredith earlier that she was off at eight and it was currently eight oh five. He needed to ask her a favor.
"Oh hello Derek." They had moved on to first names now that they were in laws, even in their work environment, other than when being publicly addressed in a working matter.
"Would I be able to talk to you?"
"Sure, what's up?"
Derek looked around the room. There were several other residents, who's attention had been caught by the casual conversation between their fellow resident and their chief. They all knew about their connection, yet they still seemed shocked by the revelation.
"Privately."
"Oh right."
They walked out through the hallway and into the stairwell. Nobody used them very often so he knew it would be a safe place.
"You and Meredith have been spending a lot of time together. She wouldn't have happened to mention anything about building a house?
Lexie smiled as she remembered their conversation from the week before. She had been at the house and it was empty, other than her and Meredith. They had grabbed some drinks and made their way to the living room.
"It's a nice place your mom left you" Lexie commented.
"Yeah, it is. But I can't wait to out. Too many bad memories."
"Oh… so are you planning on buying a place with Derek?"
Meredith thought about it before she answered.
"He brought up building a home together on his land. It was before we were engaged. I definitely wasn't ready then, but I know I am now. The sooner we build our home, the sooner I get out of this bad memory chamber."
Lexie came back from her memory to Derek's waiting glance.
"I'm sure she's ready."
-
Meredith sat at the bar, waiting for Cristina to arrive. It was still fairly early, but she knew her best friend had an early shift the next morning so they decided to head to Joe's for a drink before heading home. Her and Derek both had the day off tomorrow, and she hadn't had very much time with her person lately, so she thought it would be a good idea for a girls night.
Cristina walked in, noticing Meredith. She needed to tell her about Owen and Teddy, but decided not to mention anything about her encounter with Mark. She wasn't sure how she felt about it yet, but there was definitely a possibility of them getting together. She knew it was over between her and Owen, and was going to make it clear to him in the morning. For now, she just needed to tell her best friend how much of an ass he was.
"Hello there stranger" she said as she sat beside Meredith and gave Joe her drink order.
"Hey" she replied. She was still thinking about Bailey's confession to her earlier. She knew it wasn't something she was going to share with her best friend, especially since she had been one of Miranda's interns too.
They sat there in silence for several minutes before Cristina finally said what she needed to.
"I'm dumping Owen"
Meredith was caught by surprise.
"What? Why?"
"He slept with Teddy in an on call room."
Meredith was too stunned to say anything. So they sat there in silence a little longer.
-
Alex had no idea where he was going. He was in the middle of nowhere. He had been driving for about an hour now and he still saw no indication of his destination. He finally decided to stop at the gas station and ask for directions.
"Um hi. Could you tell me how to get to Kirksville?" he asked the old guy behind the cash.
"You're already here" the man replied. "This is the Kirksville gas station. Not much more to this town."
Alex thanked the man then went back outside. That's when he saw her.
She was sitting next to the gas pump, on the ground, completely soaked. It was down pouring and cold, but yet she was still sitting on the wet ground, her makeup running and her hair in every direction possible. It broke his heart to see her like that.
"Izzie!" he yelled as he ran towards her.
She looked up and the faintest smile appeared on her lips.
"You came," she said as he picked her up off the ground. She wrapped her arms around his neck without thinking much of it. He placed her gently in the passenger seat and grabbed his jacket from the trunk. He got back in the car and drove back to Seattle, the two of them in complete silence.
-
Teddy lay in bed, the same one she had been in for several hours now, not able to process what had happened. One thing she knew for sure though; she was never not going to be in love with Owen, especially not after that. But she knew that it was going to have to stop. Owen loved Cristina more then she thought possible. He would never be able to love her as much as he loved Cristina. She could only wish it was that easy.
She heard a soft knock at the door, and she knew she had been hogging the on call room. There were people who actually needed it for sleep. But she could care less.
"Occupied" she let whoever was on the other side know.
"Teddy, I know you're in there, and you're not sleeping."
"Arizona?" She got off the bed to unlock the door only to come face to face with her new found friend.
"What's going on?" the pediatric doctor asked. Her usual smiley face was replaced with a look of concern.
Teddy locked the door and sat back down on the bed. Arizona followed.
"I slept with Owen" she blurted.
She was expecting a shocked expression to take over Arizona's face. Instead, she only sighed.
"I knew it would happen eventually."
Teddy didn't understand.
"You knew what would happen?"
"I knew Owen would crack. If only you saw how he looked at you when you're not watching. I'm surprised Cristina hasn't caught him yet."
Little did she know, she had.
-
Lexie was happy she was finally getting a chance to hang out with Meredith. They both had the evening of tonight, which was very rare, and her shift tomorrow only started in the afternoon, so she could stay up late tonight. She was hoping to get a chance to tell Meredith about her encounter with Derek, but she also didn't want to ruin anything if Derek was hoping to make it some sort of surprise. She decided she'd keep her mouth shut.
When she heard the front door open, she knew that this would be her chance to really get some sisterly time in tonight. She was shocked when the people who came through the door were not the ones she was expecting.
"Izzie?" It was hard to recognize her with her hair all over the place. Her usual blonde curls were drowned out by the heavy rain from outside.
Alex gave her a look, not a mean one, but one that said that he didn't need her to bring anything up. Lexie just nodded her head in understanding as the couple made their way up the stairs.
Lexie was still dumbfound when Meredith walked through the door.
"Lexie? What's up with the look on your face? It looks like you've seen a ghost!"
"Close enough", she whispered
Meredith gave her a puzzled look.
"More of a missing person".
Meredith raised an eyebrow.
"Izzie's upstairs".
Meredith's jaw dropped.
"WHAT?!"
She was about to head up the stairs when Alex cam down.
"Don't" he said."She's been through too much. Leave her alone for tonight ."
Lexie headed to the living room, followed close behind by Meredith. Alex went in to the kitchen and came out with a glass of water and a box of Kleenex. He went back up the stairs and when the two girls heard the door shut, Lexie whispered:
"Looks like Alex could be having a long night."
-
"Shepard!"
Derek knew the voice that was calling him. He was almost afraid of it. He remembered being scolded several times by her when she had been in her residency, which was rare due to the fact that he had been her boss. But since she had become an attending, she had harassed him less. Looks like today would be an exception.
"Miranda" he said, as he turned around.
"Don't give me that McDreamy look!" she snapped back.
"Fine then. What do I owe this fine meeting with you?"
"Shut up fool and listen closely cause I'm only telling you once."
Derek's smiled wiped away with the tone of her voice.
"Don't hurt her" she finally said in a much more passionate voice. It sounded like she was about to cry. Derek didn't understand.
"Who? Ms. Sullivan?" She was his patient right now and he didn't understand the connection between her and Bailey.
"No you dumb ass! Meredith".
Derek was shocked. Miranda has stopped bothering him about his relationship with Meredith since before they got married. Why would she bring it up now?
Derek didn't realize he was in for a big surprise.