Chapter 1
Meredith slowly opened her eyes to the soft glow of a 6 o clock morning sun. She pulled her blankets tighter around her body as the cold seemed to seep into every pore of her skin. Sighing, Meredith shifted slightly to gain better access to her alarm clock and pressed the off button for the alarm; she was up so she might as well get ready. She grudgingly threw her covers away from her half cold, half warm limbs and propelled herself into a sitting position, putting her hands on her face in a motion to get rid of whatever sleep was left. Meredith listened intently for any signs of life in her house but when she heard nothing she figured Izzie was still sleeping since…lucky her…she had the day off and Alex had already left for an early start to the day…that or he just hadn't woken up yet. She pushed herself up and grabbed a towel from the closet near her dresser and trudged wearily to the bathroom and the shower. She quickly freed herself from the confines of her pajamas and stepped lightly into the shower, taking her time in washing herself up.
When she stepped out 30 minutes later, Meredith couldn't help but glance at the mirror over the sink, admiring her bronze glow she had obtained from her two weeks with Christina on her honeymoon. She smiled slightly and wrapped her towel tightly around herself, tiptoeing to her room to towel dry and get ready for her shift in the hospital. She and Alex were the only two residents on call today (Izzie and Christina getting the day off and George still an intern) so she figured it would be a rather busy day. Meredith smiled and looked at her closet choosing a light blue pair of distressed skinny jeans, a gray over shirt, and a maroon camisole. When she was fully dressed, she quickly tiptoed her way back into the bathroom and dried her hair into long natural waves that fell just past her elbows. She had gotten it re-highlighted while she was in the Bahamas and it had grown considerably since her first day as an intern at Seattle Grace…almost four years ago.
Meredith sighed again at her reflection, applying a light bronze eye shadow and clear lip gloss completing her natural tan look. Walking back into her room, she grabbed her new brown leather high healed knee boots and slipped them over her jeans and grabbed a black scarf from the top of her dresser. After she was done with what she needed to do, she grabbed her purse from the bed and quickly jogged downstairs, no longer worried about waking Izzie since she could hear her in the kitchen. When she passed the doorway she waved at her roommate and smiled exasperatedly at the amount of pancakes she was piling on three plates.
"Izz…you do know that both Alex and I have to go in today right?"
Izzie glanced up from her stirring and frowned in her direction. "Yeah, what makes you think I'm making this stuff for you?" Meredith shrugged and grabbed her white winter pea coat from the coat closet near the door and pulling it on in one smooth motion. "If you must know they are for Christina and George. They are going to hang out with me today."
Meredith stopped her hand on the doorknob and turned back to face her friend, "You mean Christina is actually choosing to do something other than stay home and mope on her day off?"
Izzie smiled and shrugged her shoulders, silently indicating that it was just as much of puzzlement to her as it was to Meredith. "Anyways have fun today! First day back…so exciting!"
Meredith grimaced at Izzie's happy tone and twisted the doorknob and pulled the door open revealing the cold dreary weather that was Seattle in November. She shuffled her feet through the thin layer of snow that covered the ground and made her way over to her jeep that was parked in the drive way.
--
It was quarter of seven when she finally parked the car in front of the hospital, stopping for a minute to study the one place that held so many good and bad memories for her. Meredith smiled and continued her way through the large sliding doors, accepting that she was a surgeon now (resident!) and this was what she wanted to do with her life for the rest of her life. Disregarding the certain blue eyed dreamy neurosurgeon that had stopped near the elevators, Meredith quickly walked over to the stair case in hopes of avoiding a scene with her ex. They had broken up just after Christina's wedding when he hadn't agreed with Meredith's decision to help her 'person' instead of leave with him for the weekend like he wanted to. There was more to the break up than that (the fact that he was the adulterous whore who had slept with her half sister and then had the nerve to say that it shouldn't matter) but Meredith had been given the reason she had been looking for to break it off with him. He hadn't been too happy with her and had called her many times over the first week of the honeymoon to either yell at her voicemail or plead with it to take him back, that he was wrong and he had made a mistake. The only time she had answered one of these calls, he had yelled and berated her for leaving him in Seattle while she was in the Bahamas and that she should and will come home. Of course it ended up with her hanging up on him and after that they hadn't talked since…Meredith was hoping to keep it that way.
She sighed and leaned her back up against the glass of the railing on the deck. She closed her eyes imagining the warm beaches she had recently been to.
"So how is my favorite dirty mistress today?" Meredith nearly jumped a foot in the air, apparently caught off guard by how easily Mark had been able to catch her unawares and turned to face the handsome surgeon.
"She is doing great…though she hasn't had her dose of coffee yet soooo" She left the last words hanging while eyeing the Styrofoam cup in his left hand with envy.
Mark Sloan quickly pulled his drink away from under her hungry gaze and laughed at the dejected look on her face. "If you want I'm heading that way myself for a refill and I can join you, while listening to you talk about how you were able to get the perfect tan I am currently jealous for."
She smiled in reply, shrugging her shoulders letting him know that she was okay with his company. "Bahamas."
Mark looked at her sidelong and raised his eyebrows in admiration. "And what were you doing there?"
Meredith smiled evilly and crossed her arms over her chest. "I was on a honeymoon."
At her statement, Mark stopped dead in his tracks staring down at her partially concealed right hand, searching for a sign that what she was telling him was true. "Honeymoon? The dirty mistress actually settled down only a mere two weeks after she broke up with her ex? That has to be a record…even for me."
She laughed at his words and pulled both hands out in front of his face showing that there was no ring. "Christina's you idiot, she had hers from the wedding so I suggested she use it to get away from everything and everyone after Burke left her. She generously asked me to go with her."
They had finally made their way over to the coffee stand and were waiting patiently for the fellow doctors in front of them to finish up. "Oh well then…" Mark didn't know what to say after his initial shock at her honeymoon comment. He didn't want to admit how much his heart fell when he thought she had eloped over the two weeks he hadn't seen her. He couldn't really explain why it had bothered him so much, so he put it down to him not liking that she never told him before hand. Their turn had come and he handed his empty cup to the guy, telling him his usual. He watched as Meredith ordered a medium caramel cream coffee and grabbing a small scone for breakfast.
"So yeah, beautiful tan and everything was thanks to Christina. Though I must admit I think I got the better end of the bargain; not having to deal with Derek all the time, giving me time to realize that breaking up with him was what I really wanted, spending every day I could on the beach and eating take out at fancy restaurants, every night in a five star hotel…and all pretty much for free since Christina's parents had paid for the whole thing!" She had closed her eyes again, briefly imagining her vacation and when she opened them she smiled up at his blue ones. "It was the exact thing that I needed."
Mark nodded and picked a piece of bread off from the corner of her scone she was eating and popped it into his mouth. Again he wasn't sure why he felt so thrilled that Meredith had finally broken up with Derek once and for all but he knew that if she kept telling him stuff like this he would have to flirt in earnest. "Soooo you and Derek are done huh? For real or are you just on one of those temporary stand stills that you two are known so well for."
Meredith glared at him from over her coffee cup and shook her head as she continued walking over to the new resident's room she was now able to use. "Yup, no more dark and twisty Meredith." She stopped outside the door and stared at it for a few seconds before turning around and sticking her tongue out at Mark.
He chuckled good naturedly at her and walked away muttering something about cheeky blondes.
Meredith silently watched his back for a few seconds after he left, before turning around and going into the new locker room. She glanced around, realizing that she was alone since Alex had most likely gotten here much earlier to get a head start on the better cases. She smiled and dropped her bag on the bench near her locker, pulling her over shirt over her head at the same time. She quickly got dressed into her light blue scrubs and took her time rearranging her stuff into the locker that she had been given.
The new resident quarters weren't all that different from the intern locker room, except that they now had access to a small living room with couches and chairs placed in a half square. It looked rather cozy and Meredith had the insight that the room would be filled with her friends the second they realized it was there. The lockers had also changed; they were now made of wood and a lot larger than they were before. They could now hold their scrubs, a change of pair, her out-of-hospital clothes, and some more room for whatever she felt like putting in. It wasn't too much of a step up but compared to the cramped locker room that was their place for three years it was an improvement.
Meredith smiled slightly at herself in the mirror on the back of the door and pulled the doorknob open barely running into a nurse who had just happened to walk by. Muttering a quick apology, she hastened over to where she figured Bailey would be and waited patiently flicking through charts in the meantime. It wasn't long before the short woman walked over to her and smiled, gesturing to the new blue indentation near her name on the white doctors coat. "Finally you're not one of my snobby interns anymore. But that doesn't mean you can slack off, Grey."
Meredith smiled while shaking her head quickly, trying to control her laughter at the thought of whoever would get to be the Nazi's new group of interns. The smile was quickly wiped off her face when the nervous thought ran across her mind…she was going to get interns too! She hurriedly brought her thoughts back to Dr. Bailey and listened to her rant about how the hospital was way too quiet for her liking. She even mentioned something about a quiet board, but Meredith decided that she was going to ignore that little part since the last time someone had said that she had ended up with a bomb in her hands.
"Grey you go and cover the pit for a bit, and then around noon you should trade places with Karev since he seems to have disappeared somewhere…" At this Bailey had stopped and looked around suspiciously as if she was searching for wherever Alex had gone to. "Anyways if you have any problems, ask one of the attendings but other than that you're pretty much on your own today." Bailey smiled up at her for a second longer before barking an order at some nurse who was sitting staring off into space near the corner.
Meredith looked fondly at her mentor and friend but then shook herself free from the thoughts clouding her mind and jogged over to the elevator pushing the down button. She waited for a few seconds before the doors opened before her and revealed an empty room. Walking over to the number board, she quickly pushed the first floor and hoped that no one would join her on the way down. Her wish was granted as it only took two minutes to get from where she was and where she needed to go without any interruptions. The pit looked empty as she walked up to the main desk, grabbing a few charts in her hands while she overlooked the room. Meredith glanced down at the first chart and saw that it was a small 9 years old whose parents who had brought him in for a high fever and a breathing abnormality.
She walked swiftly over to the curtain the boy was behind and pulled it open revealing him as he laid back on the cushions of the large bed. His forehead was drenched in sweat and his eyes were closed as if he was in pain but was too brave to admit it. Meredith smiled reassuringly at the parents and checked his vitals before turning back to the mother and father and explained that she was going to have a nurse put him on a mild form of azithromycin (a form of IV antibacterial.) She explained the same thing to a short nurse who was standing next to her giving explicit instructions to have someone check in on him in another hour or so to make sure his breathing was not worsening and the fever had abated.
She accepted the 'thank you's' from the parents and dropped the chart into the waiting nurse's hands before looking down at the next one. This patient was a reoccurring patient who usually came in for pain medications for her broken ankle that was set weeks ago but still somehow managed to keep bothering her. Meredith shook her head slightly and prepared herself for a fight with the young woman and a psych consult since she was obviously abusing the drugs. When she flipped the curtain open her breath caught in her throat when she looked at the deep gash that ran along the side of her leg. She took a few deep breathes to calm herself and smiled encouragingly at the 17 year old…Rebecca was her name.
"Hi Rebecca, I'm Dr. Grey and I am going to be your doctor for today. Do you mind if I take a look at that cut?" The teen shook her head but Meredith could tell she was in pain since her face was screwed up with the effort not to cry. She dragged a small stool over to the side of the gurney and pulled on the white plastic gloves needed to examine the cut. Meredith carefully poked around the wound making sure no arteries had been torn and no major muscles shredded before sighing and motioning for a nurse to come over. "Can you page Dr. Sloan please? Tell him he is needed for suturing." When the nurse nodded and hurried off to locate a phone Meredith turned back to study Rebecca's face. "How are you doing Rebecca?"
"Fine…or as good as I can be with a slash on my leg." She laughed at the irony of her remark and grimaced again when she shifted to get a better look at her doctor.
"Hmm I can only imagine. Hey can you tell me what happened?"
"Nothing really I just fell from a tree."
It seemed like Mark was pretty near to the pit when she had him paged since it didn't take him very long to sidle up to her on her left, examining the cut with a plastic surgeons eye. He muttered to himself before he gently pulled Meredith up from her seat on the stool and replaced her with himself as he quickly pulled on his own pair of plastic gloves and grabbed a suture kit.
"Rebecca this is Dr. Sloan. He is going to sew up that cut of yours so that you won't be left with much of a scar, though in order for him to do that you need to be very still while he gives you some numbing medicine."
Rebecca nodded her head and kept her eyes on Mark's face; ogling the fact that such a handsome doctor had come to fix her leg up. Meredith laughed quietly from behind Mark and nudged him playfully pointing out the fact that he attracted teenagers too. He didn't do anything to acknowledge her laugh but his mouth did quirk up slightly in amusement.
"So anyways, you were telling Dr. Grey about how you injured yourself?"
Rebecca cleared her throat and dragged her eyes away from Mark to look back to Meredith. "Yeah I was pretty high in the tree when I lost my balance and fell. I must have cut myself on the way down."
Meredith nodded slightly, furrowing her brow at the young woman. "What were you doing in a tree with an ankle as bad as yours?"
The teenager smiled sheepishly, "Trying to sneak out from my room. My parents banned me from going anywhere's until they got back from work…but I wanted to hang out with my boyfriend."
Mark chuckled and pulled the stitches tighter around the cut. "I'm sure you have done that Dr. Grey, haven't you?"
Meredith lightly slapped the chart against her leg, frowning when she remembered her teenage years. "Never really had to, my mother didn't really care where I went as long as I didn't involve her in it." She smiled softly when she saw Mark grimace when he realized that he had hit a rough spot with her so she quickly changed the topic. "Anyways, I hope it was worth it. You're lucky you didn't reinjure your ankle. Do you need to call your parents?"
Rebecca shook her head and held up her bright pink cell phone indicating that she had already called. "They are on their way."
"Okay all done. You need to come back in another couple of days to get these taken out, kiddo. But other than that you're all good." Mark wiped his hands together and pulled the gloves off from his head, smiling down at Rebecca's face. He glanced slightly at Meredith and gestured for her to follow him as he moved away from the bed and pulled the curtain back. He grinned wickedly at her. "Did you miss me or something Grey? You could have done those sutures just as well as I."
Meredith blushed slightly and glared at him, "Old habits die hard Sloan; I used to be an intern remember? Always had to call for an attending to do something like that…won't happen again I assure you."
Mark smirked at her tone and gestured to the elevator and the rooms above, "No biggy I wasn't doing anything anyways. It seems that no one wants new boobs or a smoother nose."
She laughed and then her voice quieted "So is it true? The quiet board I mean?"
He shrugged his shoulders but he nodded nonetheless. "Yup not one surgery scheduled until late tonight, got everyone on their toes though. Except Karev…seems happy to be able to fetch me my coffees this morning in hopes of getting in on a big surgery tomorrow."
She smiled and poked him in the arm, "Why are you still making Alex run your errands for you? He is a resident now…not your exclusive odd job guy."
"Hey it's the dudes problem not mine, if he still wants to take my orders and not stand up to me…well that's his problem. Besides this way I have so much more free time that I can enjoy in other peoples company!"Mark glanced down, gave her his best Mcsteamy smile and then laughed loudly at the look of consternation on her face.
"Hey you're breaking all those rules again! Anyways I still think you should give him a break, he has put up with you for this long…can't say I see how…" The last part she had muttered under her breath but when she looked back up from her charts in her arms, Mark was grinning again.
"Grey you know you would miss me if I left, who would be left in this hospital who understands that dirty mistresses like to stick together."
She shook her head and then glanced down at the last chart in her hand before beckoning to a nurse nearby telling her to check his pulse and then discharge the person since she didn't see anything wrong. She turned back to Mark and watched as he unconsciously moved a hand up to his hair in an attempt to fix its messy state. She didn't say anything to him as they reached the end of the hallway but he stopped and stared at her for a few moments before she asked what he wanted.
"I was uhh…wondering how you were doing with the whole…Derek and you thing."
Meredith quickly narrowed her eyes at him in disbelief but when she saw that he was actually serious and not playing some sick joke on her she closed her eyes and smiled at him. "That is usually Izzie's job; you know…making sure dark and twisty Meredith doesn't get too dark and twisty." She slid her hands through her long hair and glanced up at his sincere face. "But thanks Mark, for asking anyways. I'm doing fine…the good fine. I'm not sure I'm exactly over him but I am definitely going to try this time. No going back whenever he flashes me those mcdreamy eyes and smile." Grinning, she gently poked his folded arms. He looked about to say something but it was then that both their pagers went off and she jumped at the sound. Looking down at the little black electronic she read the words 911 and Bailey. Meredith gave Mark a quick look before putting the object back on her belt and turning around to go down to where she figured Bailey was, Mark following quickly at her side. "What do you think this is about?"
He didn't say anything, just shook his head in uncertainty and continued to walk towards the ambulance entrance. Both pushed past the doors and turned to stare at Bailey who was leaning against the brick wall looking miserable and unhappy about having to wait around in scrubs in the cold snow and chilly winds.
" Took you two long enough." Bailey said crossly. She was glaring at the sound of the ambulance sirens in the distance, no doubt yelling at them to get faster.
Meredith looked around at the courtyard and smiled ironically at Bailey's accusation; they were the first ones out. Alex probably was busy with something and Callie and Hahn had yet to get here. "So whats this about Dr. Bailey?"
The attending glanced over at her and then turned back to staring up at the sky. "Chief said something about multiple trauma patients and a shooting at some restaurant. Don't ask me when and where since I have no idea."
Meredith only widened her eyes at the word shooting and shot Mark a somewhat panicked look, the last time there was a shooting the hospital was packed and they were stuck in the pit all day and all night. He only smiled reassuringly at her and then pulled his gaze away from her face and back to the approaching ambulances backing into the courtyard.
"Alright Grey you take the next one, make sure you page Karev again to tell him to get his ass down here quick or he is going to be an intern all over again. Sloan...help with whatever you can. Where the hell is Sheppard and Torres!"
Everything happened rather fast after that since Meredith's time was now divided between three different patients; one with a gunshot through the leg, another with a small head concussion (which wasn't much but since she didn't have any interns under her she had to monitor the patient herself) and another that she was getting prepped for surgery for a shot to the chest. Alex and Mark had gone off to do some sort of surgery that she wasn't invited to and Torres and Bailey were in another major surgery in the next OR room. Dr. Hahn was scrubbing in on Meredith's patient and was waiting in the washroom while she pushed the gurney with a nurse into the OR room. Meredith wasn't allowed to scrub in on this surgery since she was the only resident on call (Alex in a surgery with Mark) in case more victims show up (didn't make her feel any better since she was missing out on a no doubt amazing cardio surgery) so she was forced to leave and let the nurses finish the prep as her beeper went off multiple times.
She groaned dramatically and began to make her way back down to the pit in hopes that it wasn't another page from the frantic nurse who had no idea what to do so was resorting to paging the only resident she knew of. This was the fourth time the woman had paged Meredith, only to have simple procedures that any nurse should be able to do and she was getting very frustrated with her.
She shook her head and waved at Nurse Tyler who was putting a small bag of fluid near a patient's bed, no doubt getting ready to start an IV. Gaining speed she headed over to the nurses desk and pulled her pager out waving it in front of a small intern. "Who paged me and it had better be for a good reason." The terrified intern didn't say anything but she checked the number on the screen and pointed to the doors in which an EMT was dragging a large man who looked to have a wounded leg. Meredith quickly went over to the left side and helped support some of the weight while listening to the pre medical history that was being given. The man had been found at least a mile from the site and was presumed to have dragged himself away from the shooting before collapsing due to the loss of blood the wound had given him. She quickly brought him into an empty exam room and motioned for the EMT to leave, but not before grabbing a nurse to help.
Meredith gently pushed the man back on the bed and looked at his leg that was covered in fresh and dried blood. The torn jeans were sticking to the wound site so she grabbed a pair of scissors the nurse handed her and cut the irritating fabric away, revealing a hole of about 2 cm in width and looked to be in a weird angle....almost as if someone had shot him in a downward slant. She grimaced and pulled the suture tray closer to the stool where she sat. Her pager went off again and she glanced down at it noticing that it was from Tyler. Standing up quickly she shrugged at the nurse who was busy getting stats on the man and walked out of the room to find the nurse who had paged her.
It didn't take long before she found him, and saw that he was busy talking to a couple of police officers that seemed to be pretty harassed. "What can I help you with Tyler?"
"Dr. Grey, these guys here are looking for a patient that might be the shooter. They say he escaped from the scene but not before they saw the gun accidently go off." She nodded her head before staring at the officers trying to find out more information.
One of them took the hint and motioned to the room filled with patient beds, "We think someone brought him here, all we know is that the gun was pointed down when it went off so whoever he is he probably has a hurt foot or leg. If you can check the charts for someone who resembles that, we could check him out to see if that's our guy."
Meredith closed her eyes for a second before motioning for Tyler to look at the nurse's desk for the patient roster. "I'm sorry I can't be of much help gentlemen, I have a lot on my hands right now so I'm not sure I can tell you everyone who matches that, but Tyler can get you the roster that has all the emitted victims and he can take you around to whomever you need to see. Now if there is anything else I have a patient waiting for a bullet to come out and another with a head injury that needs checking." With that she turned around and made her way back to the exam room with the gunshot man.
"Doctor!"
Meredith looked back over her shoulder, still walking and raised her eyebrows in question.
"The guy, he is armed so if you see anyone like that be careful." She just nodded again and closed the door of the room and went back over to the suture tray pulling on gloves as she did so. He is armed…
"Was that the cops?"
She looked up to see that the nurse was no longer there and she was alone with the guy. A downward shot…foot or a leg…She nodded again still musing over what the cops had told her wracking her brain to see if she could remember anyone fitting the description.
"What'd they say?"
Meredith glanced over at him and saw that the man's eyes were wide and had an almost hysterical glimmer in them. "Nothing…just that they were looking for the gunner." She went back to examining the wound, not being able to get what bothered her about it. It was a gunshot that probably happened while the guy was standing, but how does a bullet get put into the leg in a downward position? "Sir, can I ask how you got this?"
The man's eyes widened even fuller, if it was possible, and he began trembling…his right hand inching itself under his back. Downward shot…found a mile from the scene…downward shot… Meredith's eyes snapped up to his face, her own eyes widened when she felt the cold metal against her head. She sucked her breath in quickly and put her hands up in front of her in a gesture of backing off.
"You don't need to know how I did this, just fix it."
She gulped and felt the slow trickle of sweat trail down the side of her face. "Sir I can help you, but you need to put the gun down." She winced when she felt the gun being forced into her temple harder and she tried to control her shaking hands.
"Not going to happen, Doc. Just get the bullet out so I can leave this damn place."
Meredith gulped again and shifted slowly in her chair, the gun still positioned at her temple. "I could work a lot faster without the gun pointing at my head."
"Shut up and do what I say, bitch. The gun isn't going anywhere." The man's eyes had now taken on a rather demented look that made her feel even more uncomfortable…if that was possible.
She closed her eyes and counted to ten before grabbing the medium sized tweezers from her chair on her right and gripped them tightly in her hand. "Okay, let's just calm down." She lifted her other hand and grabbed the small needle lying near the previous instrument.
"What's that for?" The gun had been jerked tightly against her soft temple again and she flinched. Closing her eyes again, she tried to even her labored breathing so that it would seem normal and not cause the man to get any jumpier than he already was.
"It's a numbing shot, so that you won't feel anything when I remove the bullet." She was secretly hoping to inject enough numbing liquid into his leg so that when she was finished and he tried to stand up to leave his leg would give out and he would fall; giving her a chance to either get the gun or flee from his prone body….or so she was hoping.
"I don't need any pain meds…just take the damn thing out!"
Meredith flinched again and protested, "The bullet is lodged too deeply into your leg, it would be too painful to go without."
"I said I don't want it so drop the needle, Doc" He gestured with his other hand roughly in an attempt to get rid of the needle in her hand.
"Sir if you would just let me-"
"No. Shut up and get it out."
"But-"
"I said NO!"
Meredith closed her eyes again and raised the hand with the tweezers. "It would make me feel-" It was the last thing she was able to say as she heard the shot echo in the room.