A/N: It's back and better than ever! I suggest you read the prequel Just the Past before this one. Just saying. And you should totally review.
Disclaimer: I used some of the writer's words. I OWN NOTHING…sadly.
***
Meredith's eyes shot open. She lay in an uncomfortable place. Looking up, she realized she was on the living room floor of her mother's, newly her, house. She stood up, pulling the lavender blanket around her naked body. Picking an orange pillow off the couch, Meredith dropped it on the bare ass of the dark haired man on her floor. He jolted awake, opening his bright blue eyes. "We have to go," she told him.
"Why don't you come back down here and we'll pick up where we left off?" Derek smiled cockily, sitting up.
No matter how much she wanted to accept that offer she couldn't. "No seriously. I'm late, which isn't what you want to be on your first day of work," she mumbled wrapping the blanket tighter around herself, feeling his eyes boring through the crack in the soft cover. "You're late too. So, I'm going to shower, and when I come back you'll be ready," she stated.
He slipped on his boxers and walked towards his wife, enveloping her in his warm, tight embrace. "We can shower together to save time," he smiled.
"Fine," she fake sighed, beginning to run up the stairs with him chasing her.
***
After showering and getting dressed Meredith and went down to the kitchen. "We're late. Amazing. Thanks a lot," Meredith pouted to Derek who was already standing there.
"How is it my fault? I mean…you were a very willing participant in the shower…" he smirked.
"Shut up Derek," she smacked him playfully. "I need coffee."
"Lets go. I'm not getting blamed for making you later. We'll stop at Starbucks."
She frowned. "Lets go then."
Derek took Meredith's coat from its spot on the chair and held it out for her to put on. Then he grabbed his coat, put it on and grabbed his brief case. He put his hand on the small of her back and kissed her cheek. "Ready," Derek said leading his wife out the door.
***
"Hey Cristina," Meredith said entering the intern locker room speedily. She hurried to her locker located beside Cristina's and began to change into the uniform light blue scrubs.
"You're late," Cristina said in a monotone untying her shoe.
"I know," she grumbled.
"Let me guess, your husband wanted sex," she stated knowingly.
"Maybe," Meredith smiled.
"You two are like rabbits. Remember no glove no love unless you want to be that pregnant intern."
"Thanks Cristina," Meredith said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Isn't sex supposed to go down hill after marriage?"
"Apparently we're the exception to the rule," she smirked. "Oh, by the way, we aren't telling people," Meredith whispered.
"I get it. A head of department and an intern married, not good. I won't tell," Cristina whispered back.
"Thanks."
"No problem Mer. I mean people are going to hate you when they find out you're Ellis Grey's daughter and you know..."
"You're Ellis Grey's daughter?" a brown haired intern asked.
"Um…uh…yeah," Meredith replied not completely knowing what to say to this total stranger. She turned back to Cristina who was switching into sneakers and chuckling softly. "Only six women out of twenty."
"Yeah. I hear one of them is a model. Seriously, that's gonna help with the respect thing?"
"Sucks that we both got the Nazi."
"You got the Nazi? So did I. At least we'll be tortured together right?" a young looking brown haired intern said taking his stethoscope out of his locker. "I'm George… O'Malley. We met at the…uh… mixer. You had on a black dress with a slit up the side, strappy sandals," he smiled. Meredith and Cristina shared a smirking glance. "Oh, now you think I'm gay. I'm not gay…its just that uh…you know you were, I mean you were very unforgettable. Um…uh," George rambled nervously.
"O'Malley, Yang Grey, Stevens!" a senior resident called out. Cristina and Meredith rushed out of the locker room and were quickly followed by George and another intern.
"Bailey?" Cristina asked the senior resident standing in the doorway.
"End of the hall."
"That's the Nazi?" Cristina asked disbelievingly as they started to make their journey to the end of the hall towards a short black woman dressed homogeneously to them but with a white lab coat adorning her shoulders.
"I thought the Nazi would be a guy," George added.
"I thought the Nazi would be… a Nazi," Meredith shrugged.
"Maybe it is professional jealousy. Maybe she's brilliant and they call her a Nazi because she's jealous… maybe she's nice," a blond haired intern said making her was past Cristina, Meredith and George.
"Let me guess, you're the model," Cristina smirked. The blonde glared at her.
"Hi! I'm Isobel Stevens, but everyone just calls me Izzie," the blonde said extending her hand to the resident as they approached her.
Bailey just looked at her hand and turned towards the rest of her interns. "I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one, don't bother sucking up. I already hate you, that's not gonna change," Bailey continued with a tour of the hospital and her other rules until they were paged to the helicopter-landing pad.
***
Meredith had gotten assigned to the most annoying patient Katie Bryce. She was a blonde beauty queen who couldn't keep her mouth shut for more than two seconds. Luckily, the attending on the case, Dr. Preston Burke, seemed nice. She was almost glad she didn't have to work with Derek. She wasn't sure how long being professional would last. After her lunch Meredith went to check on Katie and her parents showed up asking all kinds of questions. She told them she'd find Katie's doctor for them, and went looking for doctor Bailey. She bumped into her in the hallway. "Katie's parents have questions. Do you talk to them or Dr. Burke?"
"Katie belongs to the new attending, Dr. Shepherd," Dr. Bailey said. At the mention of her husbands name her head shot up. "He's over there," she added pointing towards the spot where her husband was standing talking to two other doctors. She made her way over to them slow. He noticed her and gave her a subtle wink.
"Dr. Shepherd, sorry to interrupt, but Dr. Bailey needs you for a consult," Meredith said professionally.
"Of course," he smiled and excused himself and they walked away from the other doctors.
"Katie Bryce." Meredith started. "Fifteen year old female, new onset seizures, intermittent for the past week. She started grand mal seizing in the helicopter and has had one since arrival."
"Okay. How's your day going?" he asked, smiling.
"Dr. Shepherd, you're my attending. You are not supposed to be concerned with how your intern's day is going," she said in her best professional voice. Derek scanned the hallway for onlookers and grabbed Meredith's arm and led her to the nearest stairwell. She looked up and down to check that no one else was there. "Dr. Shepherd," she scolded.
"Dr. Shepherd. You haven't called me that seriously in seven years."
"Dr. Shepherd…"
"Mer just tell me how your day is going."
"We can't do this here," she insisted, shoving him away. Derek gave her his signature 'McDreamy' smile and cocked his head to the side. "Stop looking at me like that!"
"Like what?" he asked innocently.
"Like you've seen me naked."
Derek smirked, taking a step closer. "Ah but I have," he replied.
"Dr. Shepherd!"
"You know, you could just answer my question and save yourself a lot of pestering."
She knew he was relentless and he wouldn't stop until she gave him some sort of answer. "I overheard the other interns talking about my royal inbredness. They don't know that I heard," Meredith said, conceding to his request.
"As long as they don't hold it against you, I think you're okay," Derek smiled reassuringly. "So what room?" he asked becoming professional once again.
"Follow me Dr. Shepherd.
***
Meredith trudged up the stairs. She'd been paged 911 for Katie Bryce. The last time, Katie had just wanted someone to talk to. Pampered pageant girl. After exiting the stairwell she noticed a commotion near Katie's room, and she started to sprint.
She entered the room. Katie was grand mal seizing. Crap. Meredith froze in her tracks. George was already 007 and she could feel she'd be next. People were calling her. She finally told the nurses to administer Phenobarbital. That didn't help and seconds later Katie's heart stopped. She was handed the paddles. Meredith put the paddles to Katie's chest and shocked her. When that didn't work she shouted to charge to 200 then to 300 then to 360 and again. Sinus rhythm. She was okay.
Derek ran into the room. "What happened?" he exclaimed.
"She had a seizure and her heart stopped."
"A seizure and her heart stopped?" Derek interrupted disbelievingly. "You're supposed to be monitoring her," he snapped.
"She was fine when I checked."
"I got her. Just go," Derek said motioning her to leave.
Meredith walked out of the room and down the hall. She heard Bailey yell something at her but she ignored it. She just kept walking. And walking. She burst through the doors of the hospital and ran through the rain to a nearby tree. She started to spit up from the stress of it all. Cristina had been standing by the door because she'd seen Meredith run out. Meredith tried to push past Cristina, but she grabbed Meredith's arm and pulled her to a bench. They sat silently in the rain for a few minutes.
"What's wrong Mer?" Cristina asked in her best 'comforting' voice.
"I'm fine," she snapped.
"Mer, you never throw up," Cristina prodded, "unless you're really drunk."
"It's just been a long day," Meredith sighed.
"Yeah," Cristina sighed as well.
"Derek yelled at me. Well, Dr. Shepherd yelled at me. I get that he's an attending, but the last time he lost his temper at me was in med school when you found me drunk off my ass and making out with what ever that guy's name was."
"Finn," Cristina said, remembering how hurt and distraught her friend had been. "He couldn't have been that bad this time."
"I get that he's the attending and he needs to yell at me sometimes but…" Meredith trailed off.
"But you need to get use to it," Cristina finished.
"I'm just afraid that if the yelling continues and he brings it home… the last time he lost his temper he didn't talk to me for over a week," she said truthfully. "I'm just afraid he'll get use to the yelling," a lone tear fell down Meredith's cheek.
"He's McDreamy, he wont," Meredith couldn't help but laugh.
***
Derek walked into the room, filled to the brim with fresh new interns. He noticed they all looked confused with a hint of terror in their eyes. He did notice the blond sitting next to her Asian friend, averting his glance. "Good morning," Derek began, looking around the room as he spoke. "I'm going to something pretty rare for a surgeon. I'm going to ask interns for help. I've got this kid, Katie Bryce. Right now…she's a mystery…."
He quickly explained the fundamentals of her case and gave his proposal that whoever diagnosed her correctly would get to scrub in with him on her surgery. Looking back towards his wife, he noticed her eyes were still focused elsewhere. He wasn't mad at her as he suspected she believed, but the only way she'd get back on the case is if she earned it.
***
Later in the day, Meredith and Cristina sat on the floor in the research library, books scattered around their scrubs clad legs. They'd teamed up to diagnose Katie under the pretences that Cristina got the surgery if they figured out the mystery. There was nothing she'd want more then to actually perform a surgery beside her husband but there'd be plenty of opportunities in the future.
"Remind me why you're giving me the surgery?" Cristina asked slamming a book shut and shoving it off to the side.
"Because, once people realize we're married, which they will, they'll think he just gave me the surgery because I'm his personal bed warmer," Meredith answered.
"Ok. Whatever," Cristina said, "Better for me. What about an aneurysm?"
"No blood in the CT," Meredith reliped.
"Okay, so there's no trauma, no pregnancy."
"What happens if we can't figure this out? She's never going to turn into a person, never going to know who she really is. She'll just die this shallow wannabe beauty queen."
"This is going to sound awful," Cristina sighed. "But I really wanted that surgery."
"She does rhythmic gymnastics," Meredith said, the beginnings of laughter pulling at her vocal chords. "What is that? I can't even say it…." she laughed and Cristina joined in. Suddenly she pulled Cristina to her feet, dragging her to the door.
"Where are we going?" Christina asked.
"Come on," they ran down the hall and Meredith explained what she was thinking,
"Dr. Shepherd!" Cristina called as Derek was getting on the elevator.
"Yes?" he stepped away from the elevator.
"Katie competes in beauty pageants," Cristina said.
"I know that but we have to save her life anyways," he joked flatly.
Cristina continued. "There's no medical proof of an aneurism…"
"Right…"
"But what if she has an aneurism anyways?" Cristina asked, hopefully.
"There are no signs," Derek shot her down.
"She twisted her ankle a few weeks ago when she was practicing for the pageant…" Meredith said.
"I appreciate you trying to help-"
"When she twisted her ankle she fell. It was so minor that her doctor didn't even mention it when I took her history," Meredith cut in again, "not even a bump on the head, she got right back up, iced her ankle and everything was fine. But she did fall."
"The chances that a minor fall could burst and aneurism are one in a million," Derek began to walk away. He turned back. "Let's go."
"Where?" Cristina asked.
"To find out if Katie is one in one million," he smiled.
Meredith and Cristina shared a smile and followed Derek. They found Katie and got her tested. It turned out she was one in one million. Because of their excellent teamwork, Cristina and Meredith were both allowed to scrub in on their first surgery.
***
After Katie's successful surgery, Meredith and Cristina slumped into chairs by the nearest nurse's station. It was nearing the end of their first 48-hour shift. "You should get some sleep. You look like shit," Cristina commented truthfully.
"I look better than you," Meredith countered.
"Not possible," Cristina smiled and walked off.
Derek walked through the doors of the restricted area behind her, pulling the scrub cap off his head, letting his raven curls loose. She followed him with her eyes as she walked up to the nurse's station. "Can I help you Dr. Grey?" he asked, noticing her stat
"That was amazing," Derek smiled and nodded. "You practice on cadavers, you observe and you think you know what you're gonna feel like standing over that table but, that was such a high. I don't know why anyone does drugs."
"Yeah. You heading home soon Dr. Grey?" Derek asked smiling. To an innocent bystander he'd come off as friendly. Meredith knew that was not a friendly smile. That was a dirty, McDreamy smile.
"I told my husband I'd meet him in about two hours."
"So this husband of yours, is he good looking?" Derek asked chuckling.
"That's a rather personal question Dr. Shepherd."
"My wife is hot," Derek raised his eyebrows.
"Dr. Shepherd!" Meredith said with fake shock and stood up, walked past Derek. She lingered at his side, "I'm meeting my really hot husband at home in two hours," Meredith whispered in his ear.
***
Meredith walked out with her fellow interns then turned towards her jeep to go home. The first 48 hours had been brutal and she was utterly spent. She quickly drove home, sure to keep her eyes open as best she could. Hurrying into the house she dropped her bag and coat on the floor and dashed up the stairs as fast as her tired legs would take her. Reaching her room she found Derek already asleep in their bed. Meredith quickly changed into flannel pants and her Columbia t-shirt and slipped under the covers. Derek wrapped his arms around her instinctively and she fell asleep.
***
A/N: if you notice it's a lot better and longer than it was.