Short, no real spoilers, but could be post-(As We Know It). Review?

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When Cristina blurted the news out in the middle of the OR, Meredith only just managed to hang on to the scalpel poised in her hand.

"They're getting divorced."

Derek was getting divorced. Addison and Derek were getting a divorce. Addison was leaving Derek. Derek was leaving Addison. Derek wouldn't be married. Addison would go back to New York. Addison would stay.

These thoughts flooded Meredith's brain too fast to process, so she willed herself back into the mindless state she's been in since the female Dr. Shepherd rolled into town. After thirty seconds of deep breaths she was back to focusing solely on the surgery being performed by a politely quiet Dr. Burke.

Unfortunately, however, instead of the blissful white noise she'd been forcing herself to hear for the past few months, there was a hot buzz filling her head, jumbling her thinking and making her see, she swore, white pricks of light floating in front of her.

Meredith moved robotically for the next half hour as the procedure was finished, grateful that Cristina has sensed her anxiety and taken the reins entirely into her own hands.

The door banged against the wall as Cristina flew out after her but Meredith kept marching shakily down the hallway.

"What are you going to do?" Cristina drilled her as she struggled to keep up. "Are you going to see him? What are you going to say?"

Meredith opened her mouth to respond but couldn't find the words. "I—I don't know. I think I need to lay down."

Sighing, Cristina narrowed her eyes and led the other intern into the on-call room around the corner. "Okay, I get that you're confused or whatever, but you need to tell me what you're thinking. I'm dying here."

There was a long pause before Meredith could answer. "Is it wrong that I'm terrified out of my mind? I mean, maybe it's worse when the man you've always wanted is finally unattached. Because then if he doesn't come running into your arms, it no longer means he simply loved someone else more. It means he didn't love you enough. And I think that might actually kill me."

Cristina sighed dramatically and sits next to Meredith on the cot. "Look. We both know I'm not exactly the poster child for optimism. And we know that I'm not McDreamy's number-one fan after what you've been through. And maybe the Shepherds would have called it off even if you weren't in the picture, but the truth is, it's obvious you're the biggest reason he couldn't force himself to play house with Dr. Stethoscope-up-her-ass."

Meredith frowned. "What am I supposed to do? Jump back into his arms? Just because he left his wife doesn't erase the fact that he chose her over me in the first place."

"Nope, it really doesn't," came the calm agreement.

"I wish it did."

"Meredith, all you want me to say is that it is okay. That no one will look down on you for going back to him, that he won't hurt you again, that you're going to live happily ever after. We both know that's not exactly my style."

The flicker of hope that had been kicking at her heart for the past half an hour flared up again against her will. "So it would be okay?" she asked in a small voice.

It took Cristina a great deal of self-restraint to not roll her eyes. "No offense, but you're crap to be around without him."

Meredith rolled over onto her back and occupied her mind by counting the squares tiling the ceiling, her lips curling into a smile. "Sometimes it pays off to be patient, huh?"

A smirk spread over Cristina's face and she pulled her friend to her feet sharply. "Go get your man, Grey."