Other Side of the World:.
Disclaimer:. Shonda Rhimes is my God.
Summary:. Even when you feel like the world around you is being turned upside down, you wait for something to get better. You pray that you'll be granted a second chance, or the ability to turn back time. And when the worst happens, you deal with it. Because no matter what, life goes on.
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It has been two weeks since the prom incident. Izzie is still moping around the house, spending most of the time locked inside of her bedroom. George is busy looking for the key that will open Izzie's door... and he's still with Callie. Alex is being very "non-Alexish". He has been visiting Meredith's house more often in hopes of getting Izzie to come about. Cristina is still trying to be her selfish, hardcore self, but is failing miserably. Right now, Burke seems to be the highlight of her life. Derek is leaving for Manhattan, along with Addison. Apparently, he was upset when Meredith walked away, choosing neither himself, nor Finn. And Meredith has lost almost every ounce of faith that she had left.
"You're wasting your time," Alex mumbled from the couch.
"And you're not? I'd like to hear what you've accomplished this week," George fumed, while he continued to walk about, carrying a small ladder under his arm.
"Believe me, Georgie-Boy, you're not going to find anything."
He sighed, "What makes you think that?"
"Well, maybe because during the past few days, you've checked the top of every door frame at least fifteen times, the fan, countless cupboards in the kitchen, under the rugs, under the tables, inside the mailbox, in your room, in Meredith's room, inside every book, every corner... please, tell me if I forgot to mention another place," Alex smirked, as he flipped through the various television channels.
"Every lock has a key, Alex. Jeez, I thought you would have known that," George muttered, struggling to compose the ladder.
"Yea, well not every key is lying around waiting to be found by some dim-witted imbasul like yourself, George."
"Whatever, love you too, Alex."
Alex laughed, "Love isn't the issue here, it never was," he paused. "Look, I know you're worried about Izzie, but believe me, I'm sure that all of your clattering and banging around isn't helping. Just... wait it out and see what happens. She'll come around eventually."
"Is that your answer for everything?"
Alex thought for a moment, "Yea, pretty much."
Fuming, George dropped the ladder with a clang, "Fine. If you think that she's just going to waltz out on her own, you can sit on your ass and wait for her. Meanwhile, I'm going to hospital."
Alex paused, "Why? You're off today?"
George grabbed his keys, "I just need to think, okay?"
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Bailey meandered down the hallways of Seattle Grace Hospital. She was on the hunt. There was one intern on her mind, and she wasn't going to rest until she found her.
As she turned the corner, she ran smack into a tuft of tangled blonde hair, "Jesus!"
"Oh, ummm... I'm sorry," Meredith stuttered, her voice cracking, before turning to walk away.
"Ah, hah! Finally caught my prey..." Bailey snickered.
Meredith looked confused, "Excuse me?"
She nervously waited as Bailey surveyed her up and down, from her drowsy eyes down to her wobbling legs.
"Listen, Grey. You look like a train wreck. You've already passed the 60 hour work limit; you're lucky I didn't stop you earlier," she stated.
"I'm sorry, I thought that..." Meredith started.
"Did you hear me? Are ya deaf, woman? I said, get out now! Do yourself a favor, for once in your life," Bailey screamed barely two inches from Meredith's face.
"But, what am I going to..." Meredith stammered.
"Do?" Bailey finished. "You're going to haul your work-heavy ass out of this hospital, go home, take a shower, eat some food, and relax."
Meredith shrugged, giving in, "Okay, I'm going, I'm going."
As soon as Meredith had slumped away in the direction of the locker room, where Cristina was motioning for her, another voice popped in,"Good day, Dr. Bailey."
"Pardon?"
"Just saying 'hello'," Derek smiled, continuing on his way.
But Bailey forcefully reached out and grabbed his left arm, guiding him back to her, "You listen here, Dr. Sheppard. You do not talk to me."
"Okay, I thought that colleagues..." he began.
"Oh, no. Don't give me your "I thought that colleagues" crap. You lost the right to talk to me the moment you looked at my intern. You sank even lower when you lied to her and caused her to collapse in front of everyone. And now, just look at what you've done. I swear, if it wasn't for your position, I would seriously slap you in the middle of this hallway for everyone to see."
He frowned, "Well, I guess you've made yourself clear."
"And by the way, you're not my colleague anymore. From what I've heard, you leave tomorrow night for New York."
"Right you are."
"Well, I hope you feel guilty."
"For what?"
"You know what."
He tentativly reached out his hand, "Nice working with you Dr. Bailey."
Surprisingly, she joined him and they shook.
"The pleasure's all mine."
With that he went on his way, calling over his shoulder, "Have fun being the Nazi!"
"You think I'm a Nazi? You haven't seen half of what I can do!" she shouted after Derek's retreating form.
"Screwin' up my interns left and right, ruinin' lives... for god's sake, I should take away his medical license," Bailey muttered under her breath as she turned the corner, and got back to work.
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George sat on the bench, clutching his head in his hands. The worst things always seemed to happen to him. Always. Love was his enemy. Heck, life was his enemy. Everything was his enemy. He had no friends.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself, George thought to himself. You've got a great group of friends: Izzie, Cristina, Alex... Meredith. Okay, so maybe one of them treats you like a little brother, and the other one, well, you're not sure if she even likes you that much, considering she laughs at you on a regular basis and bosses you around, same pretty much goes for the other guy, expect multiply that by like, a million, and then the last one barely notices you exist. And when she does, you have to swoop in with some lousy, pathetically lame comment which drives her back to ignoring you, because no matter how much you try to tell yourself that she's just your friend, you can't stop loving her. And now there's Callie, and she actually does care about you, and notices you, but you're still too caught up in Meredith's life to realize it. But, when you do realize that she loves you, you remember that even though you so desperately want to be with her, Meredith is always going to have your heart, and the sad thing is, she doesn't even want it.
"Life sucks," George spat to no one imparticular.
"I know," a quiet voice agreed.
He whipped around like he'd seen a ghost, "Meredith? What's wrong?"
"Life."
"Yea, it... sucks," he mumbled.
"It does," she replied, leaning her head on his shoulder.
They remained that way for a while, until George asked, "Why does it suck?
Silence.
He chuckled, "Stupid question. McDreamy's at it again, isn't he? He's bothering you again, isn't he?"
She slowly raised her head, "More like he's doing nothing at all."
"What-what do you mean? Isn't he in love with you and everything," George said, annoyance lining his every word.
"He's gone. Out of the picture. Done. Never coming back..."
"Mind if I ask where he's going?"
"New York," she stated.
Surprised, George muttered, "Really, I-I just kind of thought that..."
"No, he doesn't care George. He obviously wants nothing to do with me."
"Isn't that, ummm, kind of a good thing? Considering that you want to move on and everything?" George struggled.
Meredith sighed, lowering her head to her hands, "Well, Finn's gone, you know that. And, even though I just want to move on with my life, and get over him, I can't seem to do it. I need him to be there, with me, every step of the way... I mean, if he just knew what I've been going through, if he actually cared, like he seemed to about two weeks ago... Seriously, why does life have to throw you all of these frickin' hoops. I'm just sick of it. One minute it's Bailey, the next it's just... LIFE. What do I look like, a dolphin? I'm sick of these hoops..." she cried. "I'm just sick of them."
Her whole body began to tremble as she pulled her knees to her chest and clung to them for dear life. George couldn't stand it. Sure, she may have made some mistakes in the past... okay, a lot of mistakes, but she shouldn't have to pay this severely. Meredith was a smart girl, she understood that she had been wrong before. It pained him to see the world crashing around her.
He snaked his arm around her shoulders, and reeled her towards his side.
"You know, Meredith. I may not be McDreamy. I may not be dreamy at all. And, well... I know that I'm not always the best in bad situations and all, but... well, you can always count on me. I'll be there, I promise," George whispered.
"Thanks, George. But, I'm not sure if you're up for this..."
"Umm, what?"
She hurriedly collected herself and rose, "Oh, nothing. Just life, and it's little problems."
And with that, she headed for her Jeep, George trailing, slightly confused, behind her.
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"Is that you, Derek?" Addison called when she heard the creak of the screen door.
"No, I'm just some random man who stumbled into the forest, saw this trailer, and decided to stop by," he quipped.
She laughed sarcastically, "Funny. So, are you packed and ready to go?"
Derek looked puzzled when he saw her standing before him, suitcase in hand.
"Umm, almost. But, we still have a whole day to clean up and everything..." he stopped when he saw a look cross her face. "Addison, we still have time, right?"
Her eyes cast downward, "Well, our plans kind of changed."
In one swift motion, he whipped off his jacket and threw it onto the couch, along with his briefcase.
"And when you say changed, you mean... what exactly?" he questioned, curiously.
"Our flight leaves tonight, at 10:30."
There. It was out. Finally.
"Excuse me?" Derek started.
Addison gave a deep sigh, "Derek, I just thought that it would be easier to leave tonight. I mean, everything's ready, and we won't have to face everyone at work tomorrow. You know that they're just going to be all sappy and emotional. We don't need that, do we?"
He stuttered, "Well, I mean, I guess not. But, why...?"
"It's not like you have any goodbyes left or anything, right?"
She searched his face for any sign of emotion as he responded carefully, "No. I guess not."
Smiling, she embraced him in a grizzly hug, whispering in his ear, "So, are you finally ready to start over?"
He forced his mouth into a small grin, "Of course, nothing's holding us back now."
"Right."
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Izzie groaned as the phone rang, jingling around on the receiver. Isn't Alex going to try to pick it up? Lazy ass...
"Alex, get the damn phone!" she shouted from inside of her bedroom.
"Get it yourself, Stevens! You haven't had any human interaction, let alone a decent conversation, for days. It'll be worth your while," he smirked from the other side.
"Ass..." she muttered under her breath, before gripping the side of her bed and struggling to reach for the phone.
"Hello?"
There was silence.
"Is Meredith there?"
What the hell is he doing, calling here? God, he is the last person on earth that I want to talk to...
"No, bye."
"Wait!" he begged.
"Fine, what?"
He tried to cut corners, "Umm, are you okay? I mean, haven't seen you around the..."
"Shut up! What do you want?"
Long exhale.
"Is Meredith there?"
She contemplated, "Why?"
"I- I need to say goodbye."
She looked smug, "Oh, that's right... you're leaving for New York, right? Have fun with that. Anyway, you can tell her tomorrow."
"No, I can't."
"Well, I'm sorry, but she's not home yet."
He began to speak, though she cut him off, "And I don't know when she will be, either."
"Damnit. I thought that..."
"Wait, I thought you were leaving tomorrow or something?" Izzie asked.
His voice crackled, "Yea, things change."
"I guess I could tell her you said 'goodbye'," Izzie offered, her tone softening.
"That- that's really okay," he finished.
"Well, bye."
"Uh huh."
She could have sworn she heard a muffled sob escape him before the phone clicked.
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"Guess who's home!" George exclaimed, as he entered the house, with Meredith and Callie behind him.
"Oh, Bambi's here! And he brought his little forest friends! What a surprise," Alex laughed.
Meredith immediately went into the kitchen in search of food, while George and Callie gathered in the living room with Alex.
"So, Grey finally left Grace. Jeez, I was afraid she was going to start living there or something," Alex said.
"Hello?" Callie responded, obviously hurt.
"Kidding."
Suddenly, they heard a cry from Izzie's bedroom, "Someone called!"
"And she speaks!" Alex snickered.
"Okay," Callie said.
"For Meredith," Izzie continued.
Meredith's head popped out from the kitchen, "Who?"
"Someone," Izzie responded.
"Thanks for the help, Iz," George laughed.
"It's him. He's leaving. Tonight."
"Izzie, what are you talking about?" Meredith asked tentatively.
Without warning, the bedroom door flung open, "Derek is leaving for New York tonight! Plans changed, things happened. He wanted to tell you goodbye."
Everyone sat in complete silence. Finally, Meredith stammered, "He's lea-leaving? To-tonight?"
"Yes."
"How did... when did... why?"
"I don't know, Meredith. That's all he said."
She started hyperventilating, "Why did... how did... how come... I don't understand."
Alex jumped up, helping her to stand, "Meredith, calm down."
Everyone joined, as she fought the urge to sink lower into the ground.
"I need to go- go to the air- airport," Meredith cried.
"Meredith, are you sure?" George spoke softly.
"Yes!" she screamed.
"This, this doesn't seem right. Meredith, what's going on?" Alex questioned, worried.
"Nothing, just get me to the damn airport!"
"Meredith..." Callie began.
"Someone get her to the frickin' airport, NOW!" Izzie belted out at the top of her lungs.
In a hurry, George ushered a startled Meredith to the car with Alex's help.
"Callie, stay here. You might not want to join us," George ordered.
"Yea, I think I'll be fine here," she replied.
As soon as they were out the door, Callie turned to Izzie, "You know something."
Izzie nervously brushed a stray piece of hair behind her, "What are you talking about?"
She shrugged, "I could tell; you understood why she was so... frantic."
"I found something."
Callie leaned closer, "What? What are you talking about?"
Izzie's eyes penetrated through hers, "Listen to me, Callie. I found something..."
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