Take Me Away

Disclaimer: As always, I'm not making any money off of this and Shonda Rhimes owns it all. But wouldn't it be nice if she did share?

Authors Notes: Thanks so much for the great reviews, I'm glad you guys like the story! I'll do my best to update as often as possible, and I'm finishing up this semester in school so soon I'll have nothing to do but write. I forgot to mention that the lyrics from Chapter 2 belong to Get Set Go "I Hate Everyone". Keep leaving the great reviews and thanks again! ­­

Last night at Joe's…

The bar was filled to the point of bursting when Meredith got there. As she looked around she saw many familiar faces from the hospital staff, but she was also pleased to see many guys who didn't appear to be the doctor type. And that was exactly what she was looking for tonight. No vets, no brain surgeons, nobody with a PhD of any kind was what Meredith was in need of.

She sat down at the bar and Joe set the usual shot of tequila in front of her. She downed it quickly and Joe brought out another glass.

"Might as well leave the bottle, Joe." She told him and was happy when he didn't protest. Of course she was well aware of what a picture she made, sitting alone at the bar with her own full bottle of tequila in front of her; but really, she didn't give a damn.

One guy came up to her, offering to buy a drink, but after a few minutes of conversations he informed her that he'd seen her around the hospital as he was a nurse at Seattle Grace. She wrinkled her nose and frowned then politely informed in no uncertain terms that all nurses sucked.

"So what's your problem now?" Alex Karev asked, sitting down next to Meredith.

"Same shit, different day." She replied.

Alex nodded in confirmation and then took a swig of the beer Joe had set in front of him. "Well you're mood sucks, as usual. I'd love to sit here and be moody with you, but I'm here to get laid and clearly you're not in the mood."

"Not with you, anyway." She countered good naturedly. As Meredith watched Alex move on she had a fleeting though of sleeping with him. After all, what was the big deal? At least with Alex she was sure there wouldn't be any attached strings. And apparently he was pretty good in bed since he's slept with everyone from Olivia to Izzie, hell he ever slept with Addison. She took another shot of tequila and contemplated it some more when she was saved from herself by Mark Sloan.

Mark Sloan was the kind of guy that girls hooked up with when they weren't sure what was going on. Addison had turned to him when her marriage was crumbling. Callie had slept with him after George dumped her. Like Derek's sister Nancy said, "It's Mark Sloan, who has gone there at least once?"

Mark, however, was tired of being the sole member of the Dirty Mistresses Club. The problem was that he was stuck between having one night stands and being in a committed relationship. He rationalized it was because he couldn't find any woman he wanted to commit too; deep down, however, he knew that that wasn't the case. All along there had always been one woman he wanted to commit too, but being that she was Derek's had put a damper on that.

"That's a great way to get him back." Mark said with an air of sarcasm and a raised eyebrow.

"I don't want him back." Meredith informed him.

"Really? Because I think that you if didn't want him back you wouldn't be drinking like that."

"Well, maybe you just shouldn't think at all." Meredith said testily.

"Ouch. If I had a heart that might have hurt." Mark ordered a drink and waited while Joe grabbed the bottle. When Joe came back he told him, "You might want to take that bottle away."

Mark vanished into the crowd and Meredith was left by herself. Initially it had been her plan to get drunk and find some guy to take home. Now, however, she was rethinking the latter part of that equation. Maybe, she thought, I should just stick to the alcohol. About twenty minutes passed and during that time Meredith continued in her quest to empty to bottle of tequila. In her quest to be blissfully drunk she also had time to get more annoyed with Mark Sloan.

Who the hell did he think he was? Telling her that she wanted Derek back and then making comments about her drinking style? He was a man-whore for Christ's sake, so where did he get off being all righteous? She used to think Mark was cool and slightly sexy in a dirty way. But then he opened his mouth, words came out, and all the things Meredith imagined him to be disappeared.

Finally Meredith decided she'd had enough of everything and slid off the bar stool with a lack of grace. Keys in hand and dizzy from the alcohol, she stumbled to the door. There was a split second where she wondered if maybe she shouldn't drive, then dismissed the notion. Tempting fate, after all, seemed to work out for her. Hell, she'd drowned and had been clinically dead for an incomprehensible amount of time and yet she was still standing here today.

She almost made it to her car when she noticed a dark figure standing against it. She thought for a moment, trying to decide if the figure was an ax murder, robber, or a mysterious guardian angel. She figured the latter was highly unlikely.

She made it to the car and in the dim glow from the half-burnt out streetlight she could discern the face of the person.

"You're not driving like that." He told her firmly.

"Whatever just take me home then. I'm too tired to argue with you." She said and got in the car.

The next morning…

Meredith lay on her side, her head feeling like it was full of wet sand, and debated for the second morning in a row if she should call in sick. It wasn't until she heard snoring that she realized somebody else was in her bed. She quickly turned over to see who it was and was disgusted by what she saw. And then it dawned on her that something was missing…like her clothes. All of them…just gone…or apparently, she realized as she looked around the room, strewn haphazardly every where.

Quietly, so as not to disturb her guest, she slid out of bed and tip-toed into the bathroom. As smoothly and quietly as she could she closed the door and then sat down on the cool bathroom tiles. Her life, she decided, was unreal. There was more drama in her life than there was on a primetime soap opera. Her head in her hands, Meredith tried to figure out what the hell she was going to do now. The best case scenario is that nobody would ever find out, but Seattle Grace seemed to have a way of knowing everything at first glance, and so she guessed that wasn't much of an option at all.

What Meredith needed was her phone because Cristina, sober and not hung-over Cristina, would know what to do. Meredith weighed her options, the first being to sit in the bathroom and hide and have no help at all, and the second option in which she snuck out quietly and grabbed the fun and then hauled ass back into the safety of the bathroom. Option number seemed marginally better.

She started to open the door and a loud squeak broke the tense silence. She glanced at him and just about screamed when his eyes opened.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Um-" She floundered. "I just need a phone."

"In the bathroom?"

"Yes." Meredith said as if he was the crazy one and not her.

"Wake me when it's time to go to work." He told her and then rolled over on his side, pretending to be asleep.

Meredith dashed from the bathroom to the phone and then back again. As soon as she closed the door she dialed Cristina's number only to be disappointed when there was no answer. Of course Cristina had decided to go in early this morning and get all the good cases, that wasn't surprising.

But now Meredith was left to figure out what to do about the guy in her bed. And then it dawned on her, how were they going to leave the house without being caught? Meredith banged her head on the wall and decided that the bathroom wasn't such a bad place to spend the rest of her miserable life.

Authors Notes: Oh my gosh, I would be banging me head against a wall by now! I mean, who the hell is she in bed with? Will we ever find out?...There are so many options, hell she could be in bed with Walter for all we know. That would really complicate things, wouldn't it? Drama, drama, drama! Thanks for all the great reviews and stay tuned...maybe the next Chapter will reveal the mysterious stranger.