Welcome reader! Enjoy!

All recognizable characters belong to Shonda and Disney, I'm just playing with them.

Chapter 1 – Roseridge

Meredith was running. The carryon she pulled behind her flipped over again as Meredith ran through the airport terminal. She cursed loudly. She had been called for final boarding twice already. She adjusted the strap of her heavy messenger bag, flipped her board case over and continued running to her gate. When she finally arrived it was almost cleared. Two gate agents were handling the last couple of passengers. Slightly panting she put her smartphone on the scanner and smiled at the gate agents, who looked at the young distressed woman in pity. Meredith hurried down the gangway into the plane, made her way to her row, stored her carryon in the overhead compartment, squeezed herself into the window seat and prepared herself for a long flight. She closed her eyes, and let out a long deep breath. The plane was pushed back from the gate and the flight attendants started their walk around while the security video began to play on the screens. She had barely made it.

She had rushed out of surgery, already late, had said her final goodbyes, had gotten her luggage and had jumped into her friend's car, who had kindly offered to drive her to the airport. She had stood in the long lines to drop off her bags and to pass security. With every minute she stood there she had one less minute to make her important flight. She had made it, barely, but she had made it.

Meredith stared out of the window as the plane moved around the tarmac, sped down the runway and finally took off. She watched as the buildings became smaller and smaller and the cars on the highway became small dots until there was nothing distinct to make out anymore. As soon as the seatbelt sign allowed her to Meredith got her laptop out of her bag and continued to work, to distract herself from thinking about the inevitable. Just a week ago she had gotten the phone call that brought her entire life crumbling down.

Meredith sat in her small office she shared with three other people. She was alone. Her night shift playlist was playing in the background, the candy jar was bursting with her favorite snacks and her thermos was filled with coffee. Her cordless hospital phone and her fully charged work cell laid in front of her - either ready to go off any minute. Meredith was on-call. It was late at night and she was finishing up some notes that had accumulated over the last week. She hated paperwork. It was tedious and exhausting but unfortunately necessary. It was a call night and on on-call nights she caught up on paperwork and everything else she had procrastinated on over the week.

She was typing up a medical report for a patient when her private cellphone rang. It was midnight on a Thursday. The young surgeon fished her cellphone out of her purse that was sitting on the floor.

"Hey, I'm at work," Meredith picked up the phone after checking the number and assuming who it would be.

"Hello, may I speak to Dr. Meredith Grey?" the woman on the other line requested.

"This is she. To whom am I speaking?" Meredith asked confusedly.

"Please hold." The line filled with hold music before Meredith could muster another word. She put her phone on speaker, putting it aside while she finished the medical report.

"Hello, Dr. Grey. This is Dr. Johnson calling from Mayo Clinic concerning Dr. Ellis Grey. You are listed as your mother's emergency contact," an older male voice spoke through the phone after some time. Meredith picked up the phone again and brought it to her ear.

"Okay. What is this about?" Meredith asked carefully.

"Your mother has been involved in an accident today."

"Is she okay?"

"She has a mild concussion, a broken wrist and some bruising."

"What happened?"

"She was walking around disoriented and ran in front of a car."

"Disoriented?" Meredith questioned.

"Yes, because of her Alzheimer's. It's starting to progress faster than we initially predicted. We ran another CT …" Meredith's ears were ringing. She heard the words that she was told but had a hard time processing them. Her brain worked in slow motion.

"Excuse me? Alzheimer's?" Meredith questioned interrupting him.

"Yes, I was the doctor who diagnosed your mother with early-onset Alzheimer's six months ago. I'm her neurologist," Dr. Johnson told her.

"Six months ago?" Meredith exclaimed.

"I assume she didn't tell you about the diagnosis, based on your reaction?" Dr. Johnson asked the young blonde physician.

"No, she did not!" Meredith blurted out, just when she got a message on her other cell, moments later the phone rang. One look at the message told her the incoming patient's information - she was needed. Dr. Johnson had continued talking but Meredith wasn't listening. "I'm sorry… I'm needed. Could I call you back?" Meredith interrupted him again.

"Yes, of course. Call whenever you have time then we can discuss this further."

"Thank you," Meredith ended the call, picked up the call from the ER already halfway out of her office, sprinting down the hallway, down three flights of stairs into the ER.

Around two in the morning Meredith walked back into her office, tired and ready for a nap but the reality of the news came right back to her as soon as she stepped into the room. During the last hours she had been able to avoid the news she had gotten just before being called down, but now the reality came crashing back. She let herself fall onto the squeaky chair, breathing in deeply and dialed the number of Dr. Johnson, who miraculously still picked up.

"Hello Dr. Johnson, this is Meredith Grey. Sorry about hanging up so abruptly earlier."

"No problem. I know how it is," he responded.

"Thank you. Sorry, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the situation. I could use a little help. She got diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's six months ago," Meredith cleared her throat, "How did it come to that diagnosis?"

"That is very understandable. Your mother came to me about eight months ago. She had been in surgery the day before and couldn't remember what she was supposed to do. She suspected that something wasn't right. So we ran some tests that consequently resulted in her diagnosis. I know this a lot to comprehend right now, I'm sorry that she didn't tell you,"

"Not telling me is very on-brand for her. What about her work?"

"She hasn't been in an OR in more than six months. She mostly consulted and wrote."

"Okay, good. That's good. … What's the prognosis?"

"Well, the disease is progressing rather quickly. She is on the highest dose of Memantine and Donepezil. She is enrolled in some clinical trials. But her lucid moments have decreased significantly in the last few weeks. It's not looking good. And with what transpired today, I fear your mother could be a danger to herself and others. She has been incredibly lucky with today's outcome."

"What are you suggesting, Dr. Johnson?"

"Dr. Grey, she can't live independently anymore. It is time to move your mother in a home," he told her.

"A home? ... Great, my mother needs to move into a nursing home at age 58."

"Unfortunately yes. I'm sorry. Your mother has a very particular advance directive and she went the whole nine yards to make sure nobody found out about her diagnosis. She made me sign an NDA that prohibits me from talking to anyone about her case that she didn't approve of. She instated you as her health care proxy and made arrangements that you would take over her guardianship in case she wouldn't be able to make her own decisions anymore. And personally, I think we have reached that point now. I doubt that she will get any better, she will only get worse."

"I'm her healthcare proxy? And I'm supposed to be her guardian?" Meredith exclaimed, "This keeps getting better and better. Sorry," she muttered more to herself than anyone.

"Yes, and she made arrangements with a nursing home in Seattle. They have a room for her whenever she needs it,"

"In Seattle?! Why? She hasn't been to Seattle in over twenty years!"

"I can't tell you why she chose Seattle, I'm only telling you what her living will says," Dr. Johnson explained, "Making all those decisions from somewhere other than Seattle even with the technological advances nowadays … I would highly advise against it. I am sorry Dr. Grey."

"Are you trying to politely tell me that I need to move to Seattle as well? Just because my mother decided on a nursing home in Seattle?" Meredith panicked, as the reality of everything hit her, "I have a job! I have patients and friends. I … I have a life. I can't … I can't just drop everything and move to Seattle. Are … are there any other options?"

"I understand that this is overwhelming for you, Dr. Grey. You could always move her closer to you and forgo Seattle."

"I'm not even in the country right now," Meredith whispered. The situation getting more and more real every passing second.

"Another family member or a close friend could take over the guardianship."

"There is no one else. She burned all bridges."

"The state could appoint a guardian for your mother. An attorney or an agency for instance. There would be no guarantee that a state-appointed guardian would respect your mother's medical wishes. They would also have full control over her finical and her intellectual property."

"No, I can't do that. Damn it, mother!" Meredith cursed, running her free hand over her face. She didn't want to be in this situation. "How long can you keep her? I mean how long is it possible to keep her in the hospital, based on her injuries. Because I can't just hop on a plane, I still need to figure some stuff out."

"That is more than understandable. I'm sorry that you had to learn about your mother's circumstances like this. I can arrange for her to stay at least a week and after that, we would have to figure something else out."

"Thank you," Meredith told him as her phone rang again. "I'll call as soon as I know more. I'm so sorry I have to go again."

"Okay, Dr. Grey. If you need more information, anything at all, just call. I'll hear from you."

Meredith spent the rest of her call shift in the OR operating, blissfully ignoring that her life outside of the operating room had been turned upside down in the last two hours.

The following week was filled with phone calls and meetings and surgeries and making plans and telling friends that she was leaving and packing.

Meredith was working on autopilot, she had made a paralyzingly long to-do list that was working through point for point, not thinking just doing. She knew if she allowed herself to stop and think for a single second she would question her every decision she made since the call.

The very next day she handed in her resignation to her bosses, who were very surprised by her sudden change of heart. Just a month ago she was offered a new position at the hospital and now she had to drop everything and turn her life upside down.

Quitting wasn't as easy as in the movies, her bosses sat her down on that very day. At that point, she didn't care that her mother made her own doctor sign an NDA because the great Ellis Grey couldn't be known for such a grim diagnosis. She had spent more time with those people over the last years than with her mother, they knew who she was as a person and as a physician. So she confided in them, told them about the phone call, about her dilemma, about her painful decision to leave, about her mother. They listened and then they rejected her resignation. Her contract would be up in a little over three months and they encouraged her to take her built-up vacation days and consult remotely while she was figuring out the situation with her mother in Seattle. The plan was for her to come back in September to tie up the loose ends she left behind and renegotiate.

Her own life had taken a backseat. Dealing with her mother's situation had been more time consuming than she had expected. There were so many details she had to think about. Whenever she wasn't working she was on the phone for countless hours talking to her mother's insurance, the nursing home, airlines and airports, moving companies, rental car services and hotels, all to figure out the best way to relocate her mother within a week.

In stepping up as her mother's caregiver Meredith was leaving behind friends, a career and security for a lot of uncertainty.

Meredith packed two suitcases to the brim with the living essentials that she would need over the next three months and started to pack up her apartment in the rare free moments. Saying goodbye to her friends was one of the hardest things she had to do in the week leading up to her departure. They all needed to wrap their heads around Meredith's sudden parting. Plans that they had made months ago were now obsolete. Despite all their busy schedules they had managed to all come together for one last goodbye dinner at one of Meredith's favorite restaurants. They had cried and laughed and cried some more.

Meredith woke up with cloaked up ears. The cold airplane window close to her face. They were approaching their destination. She must have fallen asleep somewhere between refusing to eat the horrible inflight meal and trying to distract herself with the mediocre inflight entertainment. Meredith's profession enabled her to sleep wherever and whenever she wanted. For the first time in a week, she had gotten some decent uninterrupted sleep. Meredith didn't mind flying, it was a great way to get from one place to another. The plane touched down in Boston shortly after. Meredith cleared immigration and customs and got a cab to the house she grew up in.

Her mother loved to buy real estate. If she worked somewhere for more than six months she would buy some kind of real estate there, but Boston had been their home since they moved there years ago. The Grey women had moved from Seattle to Boston when Meredith was almost five. Ellis had bought a big house with a pool and a back yard in a nice neighborhood that was still close enough to the hospital she worked at. They had lived in that house until Meredith finished High School and after that Ellis accepted short term positions all over the world but would always return to Boston.

Meredith unlocked the front door, her mother hadn't been here for months but the cleaning lady had come regularly. It looked the same, not a lot had changed since she last been here. She left her suitcases in the entry hall and started getting to work. A representative of a moving company was scheduled to arrive in two hours, so Meredith could tell them what items needed to be moved into storage and what needed to be moved to Seattle. Meredith needed to sort through her mother's office, decades' worth of medical books, research and journals, patient files, bank statements, insurance policies, book drafts, awards and other documents, Meredith didn't know their origin of. Those documents needed to come with her to Seattle so she would be able to manage her mother's estate and transfer everything when the time came. Later that night she met with a real estate agency, that would rent out the Boston house, as soon as Meredith had moved out all her mother's personal belongings. She couldn't sell the house, not yet. Emotionally Meredith wasn't ready to get rid of the house. She had always liked the house, she had some of her best memories there - not with her mother of course. The same agency had been managing her mother's other real estate.

The meetings with the agencies were quick and easy, they promised her that they would take care of everything so she didn't have to worry about a thing, she really hoped they weren't lying as she was paying them more than enough money.

Until late in the night Meredith ran around the house, sticking post-it notes to items she wanted in Seattle, she packed boxes and more suitcases and was desperately searching for the key to the Seattle house. Her mother had kept the house and had rented it out for the first couple of years. As far as Meredith knew had the house been vacant for the last five years and just set there decaying, but for now she would have a place to stay.

When Meredith was finally done, she had to leave for the airport again to fly to Minnesota to pick up her mother.

Meredith met with Dr. Johnson to go over Ellis' entire medical record, her medications and the further plan of action that very morning. Meredith had a list of questions that her mother's neurologist answered patiently. She took in the information as she had taken in case studies in med school and felt very detached from the situation during the meeting.

The Grey women hadn't seen each other in over two years. Meredith was nervous when she stepped into her mother's hospital room. Ellis sat on the bed all dressed, her wrist in a cast, bags packed and ready to leave. She recognized Meredith as soon as she stepped into the room, much to Meredith's relief. But the longer Meredith spent time with her mother the more she noticed the signs of the terminal disease. Her mother was confused, started sentences that she never finished, told stories that were clearly made up and forgot what they were doing instantly.

Managing a crowded airport with her disoriented mother was a challenge. Meredith thanked herself that she had called in advance so she would have assistance in getting Ellis to the gate and on the plane. Ellis repetitively forgot what they were doing and where they were going. Unfortunately, they had a layover in Chicago which didn't sit well with Ellis. The more they traveled the less Ellis was having it. Meredith tried talking her on board of the plane to Seattle when Ellis didn't recognize Meredith for the first time. She started insulting her loudly in front of all waiting passengers. When Meredith tried to calm her down, Ellis hit Meredith's temple with her cast. People were watching the scenario whispering and pointing, some even filming. When Meredith tried to give her mother a light sedative so she would calm down, Ellis accused her of abduction and other atrocious things. The gate agent called the police and Meredith had to show the cops the doctor's note that explained Ellis' diagnosis. It was the most humiliating event Meredith had ever been part of. Ellis had finally calmed down enough for boarding so they were allowed on the plane.

Meredith survived the flight, feeling the eyes of the other passengers on her back the entire time. After waiting for over an hour for her suitcases, Meredith finally gave up and filled out the form to report both of them missing. How she managed to maneuver her mother and all her belongings into a cab was a mystery to her.

At Roseridge nursing home the staff waited for them. They had been great in organizing everything so that Ellis would feel welcome in her new home. The home was specialized in dealing with Alzheimer's patients. Ellis didn't understand what was happening to her as they unpacked her suitcases and hang her clothes in the closet, put up some of her favorite things on the windowsill and went down to the dining hall for her to get some dinner.

It broke Meredith's heart leaving her mom at the home, her mom was too young for this to happen to her, too young to live in a home with around the clock supervision. The staff assured her that Ellis would be fine. The lady at the front desk called a cab for Meredith. She waited outside the door for the taxi with her board case and the messenger bag the only things she had with her in her new home town. She decided to spend the night in a hotel rather than the house. Not ready to open another can of worms tonight.

Welcome to my new story. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I always wondered what kind of impact it had made on Meredith when her mother got diagnosed. How much her life had changed after. "Turned upside down" is set in the late 2010s post #metoo. I hope you join me on this journey and let's see where it takes us. There is going to be drama, romance, medicine, some trauma, and a kick-ass Meredith.

As for clarity, this story is somewhat inspired by "Hiding in plain sight" and "second time around" which I both love. I obviously put my own spin on it.

I know I haven't updated Next to Me in quite a while. I'm sorry about that. It will be updated at some point. For now this my new idea.

read, review and follow if you like, xoxo

1/4/2020