The divorce papers had been signed. The separation was going to be official in a few days time. The papers were just being processed by the court. Or whatever handled divorces. Meredith just had to keep telling herself that. Derek chose her. He might have chosen her after choosing Addison. But Meredith was convinced that he was only trying to save the marriage to do the right thing. He was trying to be a better man. Even though Derek had chosen Addison he wanted her. He wanted Meredith. Which was exactly why the entire prom incident had happened.
The prom incident. Meredith shook her head forcefully, twirling the straw of her milkshake about absently. Doctor Grey was positioned at one of the nurse's stations, working on case files for Bailey. She had the sneaking suspicion her Resident wasn't exactly over the fact that she had slept with Derek. She also thought that maybe Bailey thought, like many others, that Meredith was the single reason for the divorce. Meredith wasn't stupid. She had ears. Her eyes followed a pair of scrub nurses hurrying towards the OR. They were whispering, about her she knew, probably about how the dirty mistress broke up a happy marriage.
But no one knew the true story. No one knew what had really happened. The Shepherds had had problems far before Meredith had come into the picture. She had cheated on him. Then he had cheated on her. It was a cycle, like a carousel. Meredith shivered slightly. Carousels weren't exactly the best image for her. Carousels freaked her out. They held some pretty bad memories. Well, one memory in particular.
"Hey," Meredith murmured easily following Cristina's path as she made a sharp turn and headed for the stairs. "What're you up to?"
"Burke's got a baby with its heart growing outside of its body." She gave a dull chuckle at her friend's excited tone. "But the heart's damaged. He's got to operate on the organ and get it back inside. Should be good." Cristina was at the top of the stairs by this point, yelling down so the entire floor could hear her.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Cristina disappeared around the corner and Meredith was forced back to her paperwork, and the nagging voice in her head asking her where exactly Derek was. Grey sucked hard on her milkshake, gaze wandering the surgical floor. She needed to ask someone what procedure Shepherd was performing. But everyone was on duty. George was with Shepherd. Cristina was with Burke. Alex...was with Satan -er Addison. Izzie was somewhere having therapy or something. And she was stuck here filling out post-op forms. What a lucky, lucky intern.
Meredith heaved a long sigh, surprised to have it echoed by someone who she supposed was having an equally bad day. Not that Meredith's day had been terrible. She just had a feeling that today was going to be bad. And when Meredith Grey had a feeling it was normally right. Not looking up from her quick scribbling of a patient's mother's maiden name she spoke in a dull tone. "Mark," she tried to ignore the lump forming in her throat as she talked, "What are you doing?"
"Wishing I had a surgery scheduled," he answered casually, leaning his weight against the desk. "What, your Resident got you on chart duty?" Mark shook his head in despair. "What, is this national We-Hate-Dirty-Mistresses Day and everyone forgot to tell us?" Meredith laughed lightly. As soon as she had she wished she hadn't. McSteamy was shooting her that grin of his, the sexy, seductive grin.
"I wouldn't be surprised," she murmured, tapping her pen against her clipboard. "Bailey thinks I ruined the Shepherds' marriage." Mark tilted his head slightly to the side and draped his arms over the counter top.
"I ruined the Shepherds' marriage," he insisted staring her straight in the eye. Meredith simply shrugged lightly, signaling she knew this. Mark gave a small smile. "Look, Grey, I don't generally help interns out. I think the sucking up really helps mold you into great surgeons. But I also believe us dirty mistresses gotta stick together." God, Meredith hated it when he looked at her. No, she didn't. She just hated the way it felt like he was looking through her, into her. Mark was the one person she thought might be able to understand her for who she was. She thought maybe, with him around, she wasn't the only Dark and Twisty one in the hospital. "So, if you want I could tell Bailey to lay off. After all, I outrank her."
Meredith looked thoughtful for a moment. Allowing her gaze to drift back to the oh-so-interesting forms she was filling out she placed her pen between her teeth, thinking. Moving it to scribble something down (date of birth) she gave a short nod. "Yeah, I'd like that."
Mark flashed her that grin again, that seductive grin. The McGrin, she thought she'd call it. Meredith moved back on her wheeled office chair and frowned in his direction. "You are not hitting on me. You're not." She stood and moved to file the papers she had just completed and a nurse dropped a new stack in front of her chair. Meredith gave a low groan before flopping back into the seat and tapping her pen to the desktop. "The sooner you talk to Bailey the better."
"You know she might not listen to me," he murmured with a sigh. "I don't think Doctor Bailey likes me very much." Mark paused, a playful gleam in his eyes. "In fact, I think you're about the only person in this entire hospital that can even tolerate me." Meredith palmed her head in silence. True, Mark Sloan might have outranked Miranda Bailey, but Bailey didn't take crap from anyone, not even Attendings. The fact that Doctor Bailey seemed to be in on national We-Hate-Dirty-Mistresses Day only made the chance of getting out of post-op duty slimmer.
"Yeah," Meredith muttered, beginning to flip through files. She was clearly distracted. Who wouldn't be with a hot, sexy man just standing in front of you, watching you work. It was more then slightly distracting even if she didn't want him within ten feet of her. And Meredith did not want Mark Sloan within ten feet of her. Twenty even. But she would admit it was very distracting.
He was staring at her. Even though Meredith was busy writing away on her forms she just had that feeling that someone was staring at her. She also had that tingling, hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck-stand-on-end sort of feeling teenage girls got in high school when the hot guy was staring at you from across the classroom. She paused her work to think, tapping her pen against the desk in an attempt to keep herself occupied. If Meredith wasn't occupied she might look at Mark. If she looked at Mark he might offer to buy her a drink later. If Mark offered to buy her a drink later and she accepted Meredith had not doubt in her mind that she would end up naked in bed with him.
And Meredith didn't need that. Like Alex had said, 'she gets drunk and sleeps with inappropriate men'. It's her thing. But after today it wouldn't be her thing anymore. After today she and Derek would be together and happy for the first time since Addison had showed up. She was daydreaming and Mark was taking advantage of her current lack of attention. He was staring at her, admiring her, and cursing under his breath. He and Derek always did have the same taste in women. But it would probably be stupid to make the same mistake twice even if Meredith was currently only Derek's dirty mistress.
A shrill beeping sound tore both surgeons from their thoughts. Meredith's gaze drifted to Mark, who was staring at his pager with his eyebrows arched. Clipping it back to his jacket the plastic surgeon turned to leave. Meredith gave a relieved sigh though she couldn't help but wonder what that odd, wistful sensation in the back of her mind meant. Upon reaching the stairs Mark cast a lazy glance over his shoulder and nodded in Meredith's direction. "I've got a facial reconstruction in twenty. I'll need an intern. Know anybody...?"
Meredith gave a short sigh, tapping her lips with her pen as if in thought. "George, Alex, and Cristina are all busy," she paused moving to dump her unfinished patient forms into the 'in' slot. "But I know someone who might be interested..."
GA
Plastics might not have been at the top of Meredith Grey's 'must see' list but she had to admit the view was good. And she wasn't necessarily interested in the view of the surgery, either. In all honesty, if Meredith really wanted a good view of the surgery she would have been better off in the gallery. In the packed OR where scrub nurses, a few scattered residents, the anaesthesiologist, a bemused intern, and oh, right, the actual plastic surgeon were crammed, it was hard to get a clear view of anything. It was all better for Meredith, though. Everyone else was distracted by Doctor Sloan's brilliant work. She could stare at his ass as long as she wanted without anyone questioning her about it.
Mark did have a nice ass. The low murmur of a 'beep' rang out in the operating room, pulling Meredith from her daydream. Mark flung his scrub cap on the floor as he slipped out of the room, leaving the rest to clean up his mess. Meredith's gaze moved from the now dead patient lying on the table to Mark through the window, washing his hands. Turning to one of the nurses the intern pulled her mask off and spoke. "What happened?"
"Patient was prone to blood clots. It's probably been there for months." Meredith stared. "There was nothing Doctor Sloan could do..." She turned her attention back to the scrub room. Mark was gone. Quickly exiting the OR and dropping unneeded surgical clothing Meredith scrubbed her hands and left the room without drying them. She knew it was hard to lose a patient. She also had a feeling, you know one of Meredith Grey's special feelings, that Mark wasn't having the best day. A patient death probably wasn't helping.
Wiping her hands absently on her scrubs Meredith began searching the hallways. This hospital was big, but there were generally only three places people tended to hide here: the bathroom, the on-call room, or a supply closet. Her gaze shifted to the hallway around her. There was a men's restroom down a ways, but she didn't exactly want to waltz right in there to find Mark Sloan. Who knew? Maybe the chief would be in there. That would be embarrassing. Letting her eyes wander Meredith came face to face with an on-call room. She moved to open it but her hand recoiled upon hearing a voice inside. It was a very familiar voice.
"God, my life is so screwed up right now." Meredith pulled at the doorknob but as she turned it stopped dead in her tracks. Another voice was answering.
"I know, Derek..." Meredith's throat clenched. What the hell was going on in there? "But maybe you're making a mistake. Maybe we're making a mistake. I mean..."
"Maybe the divorce isn't such a good idea." Meredith dropped the doorknob. She didn't need to open the door to know what she'd find behind it. The first voice belonged to Derek. She'd know that voice anywhere. The second voice she thought belonged to Addison, which didn't make the situation any easier, especially since the sound of pleasured laughs and groans was coming through the door.
First her dog died. She lost her McDog. Now she was losing her McDreamy. Meredith was losing her entire McLife! She slid down the wall alongside the on-call room's door and buried her head in her hands. Here she had thought things were looking up, and then she has to get one of those feelings again. It might not have been so hard to take if she hadn't known something like this was going to happen. The damn feeling had assured her that today was not going to be a good day.
"Slutty intern?" Correction, today was a terrible day. She looked up through watery, puffy eyes. Mark was hovering above her, head titled to the side. "What's up? You look like a train hit you or something." He gave a short laugh. She could tell it was forced. Meredith's eyes must have darted to the door and back to the ground quickly, because Mark's gaze fell upon the on-call room. "Oh, God. Did you walk in on the chief and Adele again?" She wished she would have been able to stop him, but even as she opened her mouth to protest Mark yanked the door open and Meredith assumed he found exactly what she had expected. The guy she loved was sleeping with the girl Mark loved. What a pretty picture.
"Addie?"
"...Mark?"
"Mark?" Came Derek's muffled voice. Then, "Meredith? Damn."
"I'm just gonna go..." Meredith mumbled, scrambling to her feet and walking in the opposite direction of the on-call room so she wouldn't have to pass the open door. Once she rounded the corner she broke into a sprint. Where was Cristina when she needed her? Where was George? And Izzie? They were all busy having lives. Meredith reached the elevator and took comfort in the fact that it was closing. She leaned her forehead against the cool metal wall, glad to be alone.
Suddenly the elevator lurched. Meredith squinted out at the world through closed eyes. The elevator had stopped. She blinked, pushing off from the wall on the prospect of moving toward the keypad and jamming the alarm button. She took one step and stopped, now eye to eye with Mark Sloan. Meredith bit back a sigh. "Mark," she stated dully, "If you think you're getting any in an elevator think again. That's Derek's thing anyway..."
He was staring at her. Why was he staring at her? She probably looked like she'd been through a train wreck. No, Meredith Grey looked like the love of her life had just cheated on her with the wife he was supposedly divorcing. Mark Sloan didn't look much better. She supposed they were in the same elevator, literally and figuratively. They were in the currently stopped elevator and they both had the people they loved cheat on them for their supposedly ex-spouses. "I wasn't planning on giving any to you, Grey. I just needed to get away from them before I beat Derek's face in." His voice was hollow, indifferent.
"Yeah," Meredith answered with a heavy sigh. "I wouldn't mind accidentally dropping a scalpel and slicing Addison's million dollar a year hand, either." She caught Mark's gaze. She'd made him smile, a small smile but a smile none the less. She glanced away, examining a poster on the wall and biting her lip lightly. "Sorry. I know you loved her."
"Don't be. Us dirty mistresses gotta stick together." Mark leaned in, tipping her chin back and pressing his lips forcefully to hers. Meredith lost her balance in surprise, now backed against the wall. Mark pulled back, a question poised in his eyes. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him in, kissing him hard and powerful. He ran his hands through her hair, along her back, then up her arm and traced her jaw line. Mark placed a series of heated kisses along her neck, moving up and meeting her lips.
He switched positions with her, moving his body sideways so he was against the wall, and she was in front of him. She pulled at his shirt, but he was too busy running his hands over every bit of Meredith he could get at. After another deep kiss they pulled back, staring into each other's eyes and breathing hard. A few minutes had passed without a word being said. There was only touching and kissing, only jealousy-driven passion. Their eyes met in harmonious agreement. Both Mark and Meredith had needed that. Neither seemed to care of the consequences that might arise from this situation.
Suddenly the elevator doors flew open. Meredith and Mark were at opposite sides of the car in an instant, she messing with her hair and he moving forward. Cristina blew by him and leaned against the wall opposite Meredith as Sloan exited the elevator. She couldn't help but notice the lingering gaze he shared with Meredith. "Doctor Grey," he murmured gruffly, adjusting his lab coat.
"Doctor Sloan," she returned in a slightly high-pitched voice. Cristina stared from one to the other until the doors finally slammed shut.
"So, getting the dirt on McDreamy from his ex-best friend? Sneaky, Meredith."
"No," she returned with an exasperated sigh. "I'm over Derek. And I made out with McSteamy."
A pause.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Rogue: There you have it, folks. A little bit of MerMark goodness. Oh, and I forgot this before.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Grey's Anatomy or any of its lovely characters. If I did Denny would be alive, McDreamy's divorce would be final already, Mark and Meredith would have done a little something during the last episode, Alex would find a steady girl, and I would be a happy person.