Summery: Meredith has never had the vision of been a mom. But when one of her one-night stands gets her pregnant, she's forced to deal with the consequences. Making matters worse, she falls for her new doctor whose brother, Mark Sloan, is the father to her baby. Merder, Mermark.
A/N: Oh how I love sibling rivalry. I've never done anything like this before, so I hope it turns out good. But, like always, there are lot of twists and turns and drama, and this is one story I am actually planning to stick through till the end. But you must review (!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!) so I know whether or not to continue. Its pretty choppy in the beginning but it will flow a lot more easier once I get into it. So, read and review please!
Now
He sat back in his leather chair, the upholstery squeaking lightly from the movement. He rubbed the sides of the frame between his thumbs, his fingers sliding gently over the picture, covered protectively by breakable glass. He drew the outline of her face, the outline of her child, his child. The tiny baby had her eyes and his mouth. He placed the picture frame back on his desk, unable to look at it any longer. Thinking better of it, he gingerly tucked the frame into one of the many empty cabinets in his desk. She didn't know he had a picture of her, of the baby. He didn't know that his brother had a picture of his child. It was ridiculous, really, that he was hiding this. But what had happened between them was unspeakable, silent. Never to be mentioned. It was the rule; the rule between them, the rule between his brother and himself, the silent, unspoken rule.
"Dr. Shepherd?" Anna, his secretary asked, entering his office, "There is someone hear to speak with you."
He nodded, standing up from his chair, the creases of his lab coat still bunched up against his chest. "Is it a patient?" he questioned before straightening out his coat.
"No, sir," Anna shook her head, slowly opening the door. "It's your brother."
Mark hesitantly entered, that same expression etched on his face.
"I'll leave you two," Anna stated before disappearing through the swinging doors.
Derek cleared his throat, tucking his hands into the pocket of his lab coat. "Mark," he nodded, his eyes trained on his.
"Derek," Mark nodded back, seizing the opportunity to take a seat. "Sit down," he instructed, running his long fingers through his un-kept hair. "I need to talk to you."
Derek slowly sat down, his hands resting gently on his desk. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"
Mark looked up, his eyes red and blood-shot. "Tell me what happened."
Derek raised his eye brows, knowing far too well what this was about. He straightened himself in the chair, letting out a deep sigh. "What do you mean what happened?"
"Cut the shit Derek!" Mark snapped, abruptly standing up from the chair, purposely knocking over the picture frame of Derek and himself. "Tell me!" he panted, his lips trembling.
Derek looked on, his eyes filling up at the sight of his brother-his own flesh and blood-looking so desperate, so hurt. Standing up from his own chair, he took a deep breath, deciding once and for all to let out all the secrets, all the lies, and all the betrayals. "Alright," he swallowed, "I'll tell you."
And then, just like that, the silent, unspoken rule was broken.
Then
"Let's play a game!" Marissa enthusiastically clapped, gulping down another apple martini. "We can each pick a guy and hook up with them!"
Meredith raised her eye brows, her eyes dancing around her very, severely drunk friends.
"I love that!" Izzie giggled, throwing her beer can at the bartender. "Hey!" she barked, "How about another round for my girlies!"
"I think you've had enough, miss," the bartender replied, rolling his eyes at the women.
"What?!" Cristina swayed, her hair sprawled all over the front of her head. "That fair not…sue we could and they, the cops, come would they!"
"See?!" the bartender pointed, his finger wiggling at Cristina. "She can't even speak properly!"
"I'll take care of it," Meredith mumbled, pulling Cristina's arm towards the doors. "Come on Cristina, it's time to go home."
"NO!" she howled, pulling herself away from Meredith's grasp.
"Cristina!" Meredith groaned; giving up once she stole a shot of tequila off some random guy's table.
"Hey!" the guy exclaimed, "That was mine!"
"And now this, it's, mine!" she mocked, her words still slurred and incoherent.
"Give that to me," Meredith demanded, snatching the glass from her pursed lips, and politely handing it over to the man. "I'm sorry about her," she apologized, motioning towards her friend who always already laughing and drinking some more with the girls. "Birthday party."
"Those could get ugly," she man laughed, extending his hand. "Mark Shepherd."
"Meredith Grey," she smiled, shaking firmly. "Nice to meet you."
"So can I ask you, Meredith, why you aren't getting drunk with your friends?" he flirtatiously questioned, lifting the tequila up to his lips.
"Uhm," Meredith paused, looking back at her friends. "I don't really like getting drunk with them."
"And why is that?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"They're annoying when they're drunk," she replied, a smile plastered to her porcelain face.
"And you're not?" he laughed, pulling out a chair for her.
"Well let's just say I'm less annoying than them," she giggled, plopping down into the seat. "So. What's your story? Why are you here alone?"
"You're here for a birthday party. I'm here for a pity party," he sighed, drying the glass of the tequila in no time. "My girlfriend of three years just dumped me."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Meredith murmured, twirling her fingers. "That must have sucked."
He shrugged, running his thumb around the edge of the glass. "It was weird. I'm not a relationship guy. But she just hit me like a ton of bricks. Then, just as quickly as it happened, it was over."
"Well relationships always end," she said confidently, reaching over for a peanut. "None of them work."
"Hmmm, why do you think that?" he asked, his head tilted towards hers. "Not much of a relationship person either?"
She shook her head, her eyes concentrating on the peanut in front of her. "I could be. But none of them end up successful. So what the hell is the point?"
He grinned, leaning back in his chair. "I like you."
She glanced up, pushing back some of her golden hair, the green layers of her eyes shining against her skin. "Want to buy me a drink?"
It meant nothing. It was a silly, stupid one-night stand. He was just like the others. No one special. Except, there was something about him that intrigued her. Something about him that just…amazed her. So as she tip-toed out of his room, making sure not to wake him, she was surprised that she had the self-control to actually leave. But she managed, shutting the hotel door hard on the way out.
"Ei Carumba!" a Spanish maid whispered to herself, seeing Meredith run out of the room.
"Excuse me?" Meredith asked, whipping her head around. "Were you referring to me?"
The woman looked up, her chocolate eyes wide against her caramel skin. "Si," she sighed, tucking a few fresh towels beneath her arm. "You're another one?"
"What?" Meredith asked, her eye brows knitting together. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Everyday with another girl!" she went on, her thick Spanish accent apparent in her speech. "I swear to you, a different woman leaves that room every time I clean!" she continued, flying her arms around as if she was swatting at a fly.
"Oh," Meredith said; her voice lowering. "He's one of those."
"You didn't know?" she asked surprised, clicking her tongue. "Just be careful. You seem like nice girl."
"Thank you," Meredith smiled to the maid, turning slowly towards the elevators.
"Adios!"
"Adios," Meredith replied, pushing away all the feelings, thoughts, and 'what could have beens' out of her head. He was a player, a bachelor, a manwhore. She couldn't deal with all that right now, especially after the sudden death of her mother. It was all too much.
"He was just another one-night stand," she said to herself, pushing down hard on the shining arrow.
But as she stepped into the elevators, she couldn't help but think to herself that he wasn't.
6 weeks later...
"Maybe its food poisoning," Izzie guessed as she held Meredith's hair, allowing her head to fall into the toilet. "Or typhoid."
"It's not," Meredith moaned, vomiting for the fifth time. "Oh my God," she groaned, curling up into the fetal position.
"Mer, you need to find out what it is," she gently said, pushing back her friend's hair. "You've been throwing up for a couple days now."
"I don't know," Meredith shook her head, wiping her mouth. "I honestly don't know."
"Do you usually vomit during your period?" Izzie asked, wiping the drops of sweat on Meredith's forehead with a cool towel.
Meredith looked up, rubbing her tired eyes. "That can't be it. I haven't had my period since February 12th."
Izzie's eyes widened, realization creeping onto her face. "Oh my God…Meredith are you pregnant?!"
Meredith turned towards the toilet and, for the sixth time that day, threw up.
"Let's go over everything," Marissa instructed, grabbing a pencil out of her tight French twist. "When was the last time you had sex?"
Meredith rolled her eyes, her cheeks reddening. "I don't know."
"Oh come on! You gotta know," Cristina pressured, picking at her salad.
"Uhm," Meredith hesitated, scratching her head. "I guess it was at your party about a month ago."
"Wo!" Izzie gasped, dropping her hamburger, "I didn't know you had sex that night!"
"It was the guy that Cristina stole the drink from," she murmured, sipping cautiously on her water.
Marissa's eyes widened. "NO WAY! Meredith! He was GORGEOUS!"
Meredith shook her head, rolling a French fry in ketchup. "It doesn't matter. Because now I might be pregnant and I have no clue where this guy is."
"Well there is a chance you might not be pregnant," Cristina pointed out, sinking her teeth into the other half of Izzie's burger. "Ever think of that?"
"I don't know," she sighed, throwing the fry across the table. She threw a hand over her pale face, her stomach doing flips. "This sucks."
"Why don't we get a pregnancy test?" Izzie suggested, throwing money on the table. "Then we'll know for sure instead of speculating."
"Now?" Meredith asked; her cheeks flushed. "I feel like I'm gonna be sick again," she groaned, sinking in her chair.
"Let's go," Cristina demanded, pulling Meredith onto her feet. "You'll thank us later."
"But-" Meredith started before being dragged to the nearest drug store where, in the tiny, disgusting cubicle of a bathroom, she peed on a stick and found out she was indeed pregnant.
Meredith twitched in her seat, placing her feet onto the cold, metal stirrups. She hated hospitals. They had the distinct smell of death in the air, and the clear, beige walls seemed to stare at you as you waited patiently to be taken care of…which, could take several days.
"Miss Grey?" a tall, rather handsome doctor asked her as he stepped into the tiny room. "You are here because you are pregnant?" he continued with the questions, looking down at his chart.
"Mmhmm," Meredith mumbled, staring at her lap. "Can we just get this over with? I mean, isn't there a chance that I could not be pregnant?"
"Well it says here you took a home pregnancy test and it was positive. So, we will follow up on that with a blood test just to make sure. But the odds of you not being pregnant are rather slim," he smiled, pulling a chair up to her. "So…congratulations."
"Yeah, well just take the blood test then," she snapped, avoiding eye contact. "I'm not really happy about this."
The grin on his face immediately vanished and he turned away. "Oh, I see."
"But I don't want an abortion," she made sure to add, sitting up. "I could never have one of those."
The doctor smiled, backing out of the room. "Great. Well then I'll get a nurse to do your blood test, we'll see if it is positive, then progress from there."
She hesitantly nodded, sucking in puffs of air to keep her from vomiting all over the perfectly clean floors. "Oh, doctor?"
He turned around, his green eyes shining. "Dr. Shepherd."
"Oh, Dr. Shepherd," she continued, squinting her eyes at the name. It sounded…familiar. "Um, this is all private right? I mean, I don't want…"
"Oh yes of course," he answered immediately, his strong hand resting on the hinge of the door. "No one will know about this except us."
"Okay," she smiled; nodding appreciatively at him. "Thank you."
"Of course," he grinned back, lingering a little longer than he should. "If you have any questions, just ask."
"Sure," she nodded, falling back onto the bed. "I will."