Okay, so the idea here is that Meredith (who is a third year at Dartmouth that makes her about 21-ish) accompanies her mother to a surgical convention in New York, for interns… guess who's an intern in New York…? It's just a random story about a possible meeting between two characters way before the series begins. F.Y.I the italics are Meredith's thoughts.
Meredith Grey placed a hand on her stomach hoping that it may calm her nausea, no such luck. To take her mind off of the uneasiness of her stomach, she tried imagine what this conference would be like. Will people be impressed by my obvious connections? Will people already know who I am, or will have to tell them who I'm related to? No, if they don't know who I am, than I'm not going to tell them. All these thoughts and more were spiraling through her head, uh oh, spiraling, she cupped her hand over her mouth just incase, nope false alarm. She just needed to relax, the captain said that they would be landing in twenty minutes; all she needed to do was relax. She reminded herself to relax once more before closing her eyes, trying her best to sleep through the rest of the worst plane ride ever. Surprisingly it worked. The next time she opened her eyes, the plane had successfully landed at the airport.
Meredith could hardly wait to get out of the claustrophobic-ness that was economy class. She unbuckled her seatbelt as soon as she was allowed to and she hopped out of her seat to grab her carry-on. She just gave to flight attendant a smile as she zoomed passed her. All Meredith was focused on was breathing fresh air, that didn't smell of the plastic crap that they called airline food.
As soon as she stepped into the airport, she didn't like it. It's too busy. After ten minutes of searching she found the baggage claim, and then the restroom. Looking at herself in the mirror, she tugged on a lock of wavy, dirty blonde hair, willing it to stay straight, it didn't. She sighed, she looked… presentable in her straight-legged jeans and grey sweater. Though her mother did say that she should wear something more than jeans and a tee shirt when she arrived, but I'm not wearing jeans and a tee shirt, this is a sweater. Crap. She knew what she had to do. She riffled through her suitcase until she found what she was looking for; an emerald green tweed knee-length pencil skirt and an off-the-shoulder black cashmere sweater, the same outfit she wore to her Dartmouth interview. She locked herself into a stall again and quickly changed into her "dressed to impress outfit". She walked out of the stall holding the clothes she was just wearing in a jumbled ball. She turned to an elderly lady putting on lipstick,
"How do I look?" she asked. The lady turned to her, looked her up and down and said,
"The shoes have gotta go." In a Brooklyn accent. Meredith followed her gaze down to the beige clogs that sat happily on her feet. She nodded and grabbed a pair of black leather pointy-toed sling backs out of her bag and one by one, she slipped them onto her feet. God I hate these shoes. Meredith just kept thinking positive thoughts-like how her mother might not criticize her about her outfit-as she walked out of the washrooms and tried her best not to look like a hopeless tourist as she searched for the front of the building.
After asking a policeman for directions she found the doors and stepped outside into the brisk wind wheeling her suitcase behind her. Yellow taxicabs lined the curb; she smiled when she spotted an unoccupied taxi and made her way to it, trying to ignore the silent cries of help that her pinky toes kept sending her.
Meanwhile, just as Derek Shepherd was about to get into his waiting taxi, the wind pulled the pamphlet for the convention he was going to out of his hands and blew it away.
"Sorry, I'll be right back." He said to the taxi driver before quickly running after the important piece of paper. He got back to his taxi just in time to catch girl in a green skirt trying to steal it. "I can't believe you just did that." He told her in a jokingly tone.
"I'm sorry?" she asked as she turned around to face him, her look didn't turn from icy to soft when she set her eyes on him and that kind of caught him off guard, he was kind of used to girls throwing themselves at him. She raised a blonde eyebrow as she waited for him to explain his comment.
"Um, you stole my taxi." He said
"Uh, I kind of got here first so, there are lots of other taxis." She said, trying not to sound rude.
"Actually, all the other taxis are taken and my luggage already in the trunk of this one." he said giving her a quick smirk.
"What?" she turned and looked at the trunk, then back to him, "God damn it!" she said to her self, "Okay, well sorry, I guess I'll just wait for the next round of taxis to come or something." She said with a pout as she stepped away from the door and onto the curb.
"Well, hey, maybe we could share, where are you headed?" he asked, feeling slightly sorry for her, he could tell she wasn't from around here.
"Um…" she pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out of her carry on and quickly scanned its contents, "the Waldorf-Astoria." She said, looking up at him.
"Well that makes two of us." He said, a little shocked,
"Really? Okay, um are you sure?" she asked wrinkling her eyebrows.
"Positive, you want some help with your luggage?" he asked
"Uh, I got it." She said with a smile
"Oh, so you're not as high maintenance as your clothes and the fact that you're going to the Waldorf-Astoria predict." He said with a laugh,
"Trust me, twenty minutes ago, I was wearing jeans and sneakers" she said returning his laugh with a laugh of her own. Derek smiled, he liked this girl, and she had the kind of laugh that makes you want to laugh with her.
"That's refreshing." He said as he got in the car and wait for her to get in beside him.
Meredith slammed down the trunk of the taxi that she was sharing with a guy who had the dreamiest eyes she'd ever seen. She slide in beside him and buckled up,
"So, what brings you to New York?" he asked, God, I've know him for like, what, a minute? And I already love the way he looks at me, what's wrong with me…? She smiled,
"I'm meeting someone." That's not a complete lie; I mean I am meeting my mother, who is at the convention.
"Someone, like a boyfriend." He asked,
"I hardly know you, and you're already hitting on me?" she said with a laugh.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Derek Shepherd" Derek held out his hand, Meredith took it.
"Meredith" she replied, deciding not to tell Derek her last name, because chances were, he was going to the convention, and would have defiantly heard of her mother.
"Just Meredith?" he asked with a smile
"No, but if you're lucky you might find it out later." She smiled back
"I hardly know you, and you're already hitting on me? You have no self control, its sad really." He gave her a smirk and she just laughed. "So, you're meeting your boyfriend?"
"No, I'm single, and I'm meeting my mother, she's at a convention."
"Oh, the surgical convention?" Meredith nodded, "Does that mean I can assume you're an intern?" he asked
"I'm in my third year at Dartmouth. I'm only allowed to come as a guest of my mom's, but I thought the experience would give me the upper hand, you know?" Derek nodded, "But are you an intern?"
"Yep, I'm from New York."
"So what are you doing at the airport?"
"I was visiting someone in Ohio," he replied
"Someone, like a girlfriend?" she asked mirroring the exact tone he used when he asked her the same question. He just laughed.
"You are quite the woman Meredith." He said with a smirk, she just smiled, "I'm here for the convention too, it's probably going to be really boring, but Ellis Grey will be there, so it's bound to have some interesting moments."
"You're avoiding my question."
"I was visiting my sister, but I do have a girlfriend," Meredith frowned, "at least I think I do."
"That's reassuring; tell her that you and you're golden." Meredith scoffed. She had been sitting here, flirting with this guy who is utterly perfect, all to find out that he has a girlfriend.
"Well before I went to Ohio, she said that we should see other people. So…" he trailed off
"Well, then yes, you are defiantly broken up." Meredith said proudly, "and if she's just really weird, and you aren't broken up, you probably shouldn't tell her that you spent your whole ride to the hotel hitting on a tourist."
"You're not a tourist; you're here for the convention." Derek corrected her as the cab driver pulled up to the Waldorf-Astoria.
"I know, but the convention is a week long, and I was going to spend a second week here, to be a tourist." Meredith explained as they stepped out of the cab.
"Maybe I'll show you around." Derek said smiling, as he pulled both their luggage out of the trunk and handed the cab driver a twenty, "keep the change" Derek said to him.
"Maybe you will." Meredith replied, "And, you're not paying for the ride," she said to him as they walked side by side into the hotel
"Well, I just did," he said being stubborn
"Well, then here," she held up a ten dollar bill in front of his face, "We'll share"
"Fine," Derek said, snatching the bill away from her hand. He was too busy looking at the fiery red-head waiting by the elevator, to argue. Meredith noticed where his gaze was directed, as the red-head turned to look at him.
"So either, that's your girlfriend with that other guy trying to make you jealous, or you're a very insensitive man, checking a girl out while talking to another." Meredith said turning his attention back on her,
"I'm not an insensitive man" Derek said, pretending to be hurt by what Meredith just called him.
"That's what I thought, who's the guy?"
"That's Mark, she's just trying to make it look like she moved on, but I don't buy it, Mark's my best friend." Derek said, trying not to be concerned that the red-head was staring at him and Meredith.
"What did you say her name was?" Meredith asked
"Oh, I didn't, but its Addison."
"Ah huh, and all your friends are here?"
"Like I said, we're interns" Derek gave her a smirk
"Okay, well I'd better check in, but thanks for sharing your taxi," Meredith leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek, "Maybe I'll see you around." With that she walked to the check in desk. Derek stood there for a second, thinking about what just happened, he quickly glanced at Addison, she was fuming. Huh, maybe this convention wouldn't be as boring as he thought it would.
"We'll talk later" he called after Meredith, who turned around and smiled at him before continuing to walk to the check in.