Disclaimer: It's been forever since I wrote one of these so I could be wrong but I think I'm supposed to say that I own Grey's Anatomy. What?! It isn't? You mean I don't own Grey's? Well…that just…sucks and I don't think I want to write this anymore. I meant the disclaimer not the story.
A/N: So this is just like summary says. Missing scenes from Suturing a Heart. If you have any scenes you want to read then let me know and I'll try to write them. There won't really be any titles but I'll try to put the characters and episode or chapter at the top so you won't get lost.
Meredith and Alex
A Hard Day's Night
He found her in the basement. It was somehow appropriate that she was hiding in the bowels of the hospital. Far away from patients or doctors or any other human contact. She was stretched out on her back on an old gurney, her legs straight out in front of her crossed at the ankles and her arms behind her head. Her ever present phone rested on her stomach and her unblinking eyes stared at the ceiling above her.
"Hey," he said in a low voice, uncertain of how she would react to his presence in her obvious sanctuary.
Her eyes flicked over to him and then returned to the ceiling. "Hi." While her voice wasn't warm and welcoming it wasn't hostile or unfriendly either.
Knowing he wasn't going to be sent away, he left his spot at the corner and mirrored her position on the gurney lying end to end with hers. A few more inches closer and they would bump heads. Again he was struck by the appropriateness of their states. The basement was dim and quiet. It took someone just as damaged and every bit as dark to understand another. And he could tell, from the moment he met her, he could tell that she had taken some hits from life. But she just kept going. She obviously didn't know how to do anything else. A kindred spirit. It was comforting, even if she came to hate him.
"You're not a nurse," he whispered. He wouldn't give her an apology. He wasn't that kind of guy. But he could give her that comment. Something inside demanded it.
"I know," she returned, her voice as quiet as his had been. It was as though if they spoke too loudly then something would shatter irreparably. Something that was indefinable and precious. Something that was theirs alone. A beginning.
"I shouldn't have said it." He admitted, that thing inside pushing him a little farther, wanting to see what she would do with the words he was giving her.
"No," her voice had something in it. Forgiveness, amusement, determination…just something. Yes, she was a kindred spirit. She gave the words in the same way as he did. Weapons or comfort. It all depended on how the person receiving them took them. She would take them as they were meant. Always. And that was a comfort to him. Very few ever bothered to actually think about what they were saying much less what he was saying without using the words that everyone else did.
He sighed, contentment filling his empty heart, and his eyes drifted closed for a long moment. "I'm an ass," he eventually admitted. He wasn't apologizing. He didn't apologize to anyone, ever. He never lied either. He had a feeling that she didn't either.
"Yes," she agreed and the amusement was now even more evident. He didn't mind it. Something about her said she didn't find true amusement in very much. Neither did he. So it was okay that she was pretty much laughing at him. Maybe she'd tell him why one day. Maybe she wouldn't have to tell him.
They fell into silence again. It wasn't heavy or uncomfortable. It wasn't a silence where they were searching for something to say. It was just…silence. He rather liked it. It had been a very long time since he could simply be with someone else around.
Her pager beeped loudly and they both startled. She checked the read out, leapt from the gurney and hurried to the hall that led back up to the hospital. Back up to the noise and the people and the life they both sometimes needed a break from. She stopped at the corner, with one hand resting on the wall and looked back at him. "Alex?" Her voice still carried that hush of something beginning. "My best friend…he's an ass too. So, it's okay. I'm not saying I won't call you on it but it's okay." She turned and dashed away, her former amusement explained.
He smiled up at the dark ceiling knowing that something precious had started in that basement. Something that might prove to be the saving of them both. Because they were both damaged by life but they were still fighting. And she might be brighter than him. She might be a bit further along the path to shiny than he was but that just meant that she could show him the way. Yes, she was the kindred spirit he'd been looking for without ever knowing it and he followed her a single step up that path to shiny. He knew that he'd follow her anywhere now.