"Meredith Grey?" A male voice said from behind her. She didn't quite know where she was or who could be calling her name. She turned her head around to see a semi-familiar face looking at her. Meredith knew him from somewhere. This place was where her mom did her residency, she thought. Maybe he was one of her friends. The strange man trotted towards her. As he crept closer and closer she thought hard and still, no memory of the man. Who was he? "Meredith…I…What are you doing here?"

"I don't believe that is any of your business." Meredith replied to the strange man, with the attitude that she swore to herself she would leave behind, behind in Boston with her mother. 13 years ago her mother took her across the country, and never looked back. Never explained why to her either. At the age of 18 she was able to make her own decisions, and that included running away. Her mother resented her for everything, from standing in her way of her career to her failed relationships. It's not Meredith's fault her mother was a surgery junkie who never had time for her let alone men. It was aggravating, so she took off and flew across the country with her mom's credit card.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Richard Webber, your mother and I were great friends during our residencies. You're so grown up. Is your mother here with you?"

"Uh…No…I…I came alone." The man, Richard, looked at her strange. Almost like she was broken. "I'm going to look around." She told him as she began to turn and walk away.

"Wait, Meredith, does your mother know you're out here?"

"I don't know does she?" Meredith turned and walked away leaving "Richard" to ponder the question. Reverse psychology, worked every time.

XXX

She wondered the halls turning corners, staring at nurses and doctors just like her mother. She came across this man wearing the light blue scrubs. He was gorgeous, perfect hair, perfect eyes. The eyes were so dreamy. She hadn't even realized that she was starting at him until his head turned and met her eyes. She ran to the closest door in reach. She traveled inside only to realize that it wasn't a closet but an on call room. With beds. She saw the door handle turn slightly, she lay on the ground and rolled under the bed to hide. She heard the door close and feet sweep next to her and pass, and the door close again. She let out a sigh. "Ah ha!" she heard someone exclaim.

She rolled out from under the bed and saw the dreamy eyes staring at her. "Crap."

"Crap? You're lying on the ground, and all you think to say is crap?" The stranger asked her as she began to stand up. "I'm Derek."

"Meredith." She told him as she began to walk out the door.

"Would you like to get a drink with me?"

"I…um…I…I have to go." She responded as she began to bolt out the door when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I would really enjoy a drink, will you please do me a favor and have a drink with me. I've had a bad day and I'm in need of a drink. And you… you look like you need a drink as well." He looked her up and down and saw her disheveled look. He knew she'd had a rough day too.

She stared into those dreamy eyes and melted. How could she say no, besides the fact that she was only 18, "You don't even know me."

"That's why I want to buy you a drink."

"No, now if you excuse me I have to go."

"Where? I'll drive you. My shift is over."

"Um… where I go is none of your business, and I have a ride, thank you." Meredith turned and walked out the door.

Derek stood in the on call room just staring wide eyed the piece of wood that had just closed.

XXX

"Mom, it's not that big of a deal." Meredith told her mother as she stood in the outskirts of the kitchen, while her mother stood by the fridge. Meredith knew that if she made eye contact this conversation would go downhill, so she just stared at the ground.

"Meredith, I don't have time for calls from your school. I am a surgeon, and I have surgeries to do. Don't tell me it's no big deal. For god's sake you are not a child anymore, and Meredith look me in the eye. I taught you better than that."

"Mom, it's just high school, calm down. I'm a minor; it's not going to go on my record." Meredith fought back the urge to look her mother in the eye; she was not going to give her heartless mother the satisfaction.

"Meredith Grey, you turn 18 tomorrow which makes you an adult. If you want to go to med school and become a surgeon you have to look me in the eye, how are you going to look your attending in the eye if you can't even look your own mother in the eye?"

Meredith turned to her mother and shot her a disgraceful look. "What makes you think I want to go to med school mom? What makes you think I want to become anything like you? For you information you are not my mother, you may be my mom, but you are not my mother. A mother is loving, and caring. They sit by you bed when you don't feel good. They don't leave you at the age of 10 to fend for yourself. You make my life miserable, I don't have a mother. I sit here in this boring house thinking about all the times you have stood me up at school plays and spelling bees. You always say that you are saving lives and people need you. Have you ever thought that your own daughter needs you? When I was 12 and got my period and had no one to talk to, and was scared because at that age you don't know anything about that. I can't even talk to you anymore."

The green eyes opened to find the one place she vaguely remembered. From the memories she placed herself at her old house. In her old room, very pink old room. "What the hell happened?" she asked herself. She stood up and began to wonder around the house. She knew her mother kept this place, but had never visited. She only knew the address. But how the hell did she get home last night. She heard a sound coming from her parent old room, the one where they used to be happy. At least they looked happy to her. But who was she to tell she was five. She wondered to the room where her parents used to sleep thinking that maybe happy memories would come sprawling back. But instead they didn't. "Jake? What the hell, get out of my parents room." She looked at her best friend sitting by the bed looking at pictures from her so called childhood.

"Hey sleepy head, first of all good morning. Second it's not your parent's old room. They split like 13 years ago, remember? What's wrong with you?" Jake looked up at Meredith, and knew something was wrong.

"Nothing I'm fine." Meredith looked at her long lasting friend. He knew her like the back of his hand. Saying 'I'm fine' isn't going to fly with him. She took the chance anyway.

"Meredith you can't tell me your fine. I see right through it. What is your problem?"

"It's just… nothing. It's nothing

"Meredith it's not nothing. You have to tell me what's wrong so I can fix it. You have so many problems you try to solve on your own. I won't let you. Now be the eighteen year old you are and grow up. You have to lose your pride around me.

"Fine, but I still hate you."

"Good, now spill!"

"It's just this place… I thought that being here I would see how it used to be a happy place. But now I see that it never was. As a 5 year old you don't hear your parents screaming at each other. You don't see everything that's wrong. But now looking back at it I do. Everything! Ellis yelling at my father and looking at me with the cold eyes that showed regret, the regret that I always knew was because of me. Looking back at this house I thought I used to be happy, and I don't even know why I thought it. I had nothing to be happy about."

"Mer, your life has never been happy. You came out here to find some way to be happy. Now go and find it. Why don't we go back to the hospital and ask that guy you were talking to, what's his name?"

"Derek. I think it was Derek. I don't really remember."

"Right, Derek. Why don't you say yes to that drink he offered you? Meredith you deserve to be happy. Whether you think so or not, you do. So like I said swallow your pride and have fun."

"Okay."

"Now go take a shower, and wash away the alcohol off you. You smell like a dirty bar."

"Thanks a bunch, you're a great friend." She laughed at his comment.

"Hey! It's what I'm here for."

Meredith sat on the bathroom floor leaving the shower running, feeling to dizzy from her hangover to even stand in the shower.

"Where the hell do you think you're going young lady?" Ellis screamed as she ran down the stairs with a backpack and a suitcase lugging behind her.

"Anywhere but here!" Meredith looked at her mother just as she was about to turn the brass knob on the door that led out into the world. She was going to be free, free from her mother and free from the dreaded hospital she spent years sitting in.

"How the hell are you going to get your life together if you run away from every little problem you have? Huh! Answer me that Meredith. You're incompetent, and everything in your life shows it."

"Don't you dare call me incompetent? You have no right. You made me this way. This…" Meredith took a pause and pointed to herself. "…Is completely 100 percent your fault. So yes I am leaving and you have no right to stop me." Meredith looked at her mother's face. Ellis was in complete awe. The first time in Meredith's life that her mother had no witty comment, Ellis was obviously in shock. Her daughter had never spoken to her like that.

The conversation jumped out of her head as she heard a knock at the door. "Mer, are you okay. I hear the shower going but I'm not convinced you are in it.

"Yeah I'm f… I'm good." Meredith caught herself not wanting to start the 'I'm fine' conversation again.

"You sure, it kind of sounds like you're crying." Jake noticed. Meredith hadn't even realized that tears were falling from her eyes. She just sat naked on the ground, and didn't say a word. "Mer, I'm coming in whether you're decent or not." The door knob began to turn slightly, and Jake's face appeared through the crack. His eyes looked at the pulsing body curled up on the bathroom floor. "Oh my god, Mer? What the hell."

"I…can't…feel…anything" Meredith said between sobs.

"Meredith!" Jake sat next to her and pulled her body close to his, and let her cry.

"Jake," she spoke once her sobs began to settle down. "I have never been happy. How am I supposed to start now?"

"Everyone finds someone who makes them happy. You just need to get out there and find that someone." Jake helped her up and led her to the shower. "Now get in the shower and get dressed." He ordered her.

"Okay."

Once out of the shower, Meredith got dressed. She washed off her feelings from this morning, and called "Jake I'm going out." She yelled as she flew down the stairs. The evidence of her breakdown in the bathroom completely disappeared.

"Mer, are you okay?" He looked at her just to make sure. She actually looked cute. "Where are you planning on going?"

"I think I'm going to try and find that Derek guy. So I guess I'm heading to the hospital."

"Good. Call me if you need me. I love you mer."

"Yeah, yeah. Love you too." Growing up Jake was like her brother. Lived next door since she moved to Boston they had been inseparable ever since.

XXX

Meredith walked through the same doors as she had the night before. It all looked the same, the hustle and bustle of a hospital. The normal thing she was used to back in Boston. She approached the front desk and asked the nurse "Is there a Doctor Derek…?" crap she thought. She didn't even know his last name. They weren't going to tell her his name.

"Shepherd? Dr. Derek Shepherd?" the nurse finished for her.

"Yeah, that's him." She made sure she looked convincing that she knew him.

"Yeah he's here. Want me to page him for you?"

"Um…" she hesitated due to the fact that he probably doesn't even remember her. "No, that's okay. Do you know when his shift ends?"

"Should be off in a few minutes."

She thanked the lady at the front desk, and walked towards the coffee cart by the entrance. A little caffeine never hurt anyone. As she sat in line to get herself a coffee, she noticed a man get in line behind her. Then she heard that voice. The voice she would recognize from anywhere. "Crap!"

"Again with the crap, are you following me?"

"Psh…No, why would I be following you? I don't even know you." She turned to look him in the eye. Bad idea.

"You seem nervous. Are you nervous? You keep turning up at the hospital. You have no bracelet on, so you're not a patient. You might have family here, but your face proves otherwise. Usually when people have family their upset, and you're not upset. So, that leads me to believe you are following me." He said with his dreamy charm.

"First of all, wow, you sure do know how to read a person, and second of all just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm following you. Maybe I'm here for someone else."

"Yeah like who?"

"Like that guy over there." She pointed to the tall black guy she spoke to yesterday afternoon.

"Oh, you mean Richard Webber, the chief of surgery? Why would you be here to speak to the chief of surgery?"

"That's for me to know and you to never find out." She looked towards Richard's direction only to see him walking over here. "Crap!" she muttered under her breath.

"Again with the crap." He looked at her and smiled.

"Dr. Shepherd. Meredith?" Richard looked towards Meredith as he walked by.

"Wait? You were serious?" Derek asked Meredith.

"Would I lie Dr. Shepherd." Meredith said playfully.

"Earlier it was Derek, now it's Dr. Shepherd?" Meredith stepped forward and ordered her coffee. When she received it she took a sip. "So you drink it black huh?" he noticed.

"Yeah, it is my forte." She put of a flirty smile.

"My shift is over, you wanna go get a drink?" Derek looked at her with pleadingly. "Don't say no again. I don't think I'd be able to take another rejection."

With a laugh she responded, "It's four in the afternoon, you drink this early?"

"Well, it's been a rough day, and it's five o'clock somewhere right?"

"Fine I'll have a drink with you. But you're buying, and I have to warn you I'm not a cheap date."

"Woah! Who said this was a date. I just want company while I drink the sorrows from my day away."

"I never said it was a date."

"Yes you did."

"You're confusing me. Stop or I'll let you drink your sorrows away by yourself."

"Fine! Let's go."

XXX

Derek's fingers brushed her palm, and gripped her hand as they made their way across the street to the bar. She looked up at his dreamy eyes, and she saw his cocky surgeon grin. She couldn't help herself, she smiled back. They took some of the last steps before crossing the threshold into the bar. Derek's eyes wondered to the open table in the back corner of the bar. He led her, using their attached hands, to the table.

"What are you drinking tonight Meredith?" he asked her as she began to sit down. Her heart almost popped out of her chest. She could get used to the way he said her name.

"Um…I guess tequila?" she looked at him. He seriously didn't realize she wasn't 21 yet? Oh, what the hell. Now at least she won't have to dig it up from the house again like last night.

"Seriously? Okay, I will be right back." Derek trotted up to the bar and looked at the bar tender. "Hey Joe, double malt scotch, and a shot of tequila."

"Aye, Aye Sir." Joe looked at him and smiled. Joe handed him the drinks, and he headed back towards the table. He looked at the beautiful woman sitting at the table, eyes staring into space. She really did look like she had a long day. He set the drinks on the oak looking surface and looked into her eyes. "Meredith? Meredith, can I ask you a question?" He asked her as he took a seat across from her. He liked the name Meredith. He could definitely say that name one hundred times a day and not have to worry about it getting old.

"That depends, is it about my life? My family?" she asked him as she took the shot glass off the table and poured it down her throat. She hated the burning feeling in mouth, but it always made her motherly problems disappear. Well that is the idea right?

Derek laughed, "Um…no…not really."

"What's so funny?"

"You just don't seem like the type of person who could down a shot of tequila that fast. But okay back to the question, I'm just a little curious as to why you look like you got hit by a bus?"

"Well if that's the case then there's a lot about me that will surprise you, and very that's a very nice question to ask a girl who you had to beg to get a drink with you." She responded hastily.

"If that's the case then I will be glad to learn all these surprising things. And I was just curious, 'Cause you look like you had a worse day then mine, and mine was pretty bad."

"Well, if you must no. I still am a little hung over from last night. Seriously, how bad was your day?"

"Hung over huh? Well, my soon to be ex-wife accepted a job at Seattle Grace. The reason I work there was because I tried, but obviously failed, to escape her in New York."

Meredith looked at him with sympathy eyes. However she definitely had it worse. "Wow, that's rough. I think I still win."

"Oh really, is that so?" He said flirtily.

"Yep! But it's not really a bad day, mostly a bad few years." She said as she took another shot of tequilla

"Well, why was your year so bad?"

"Can't tell you."

"You can't tell me? I just poured my heart out to you and you can't tell me?"

"Nope, and I don't call that pouring your heart out.

"Well why can't you tell me?"

"Because you will freak out and stop buying me drink. And god knows I like drinks."

"Doubt it. I like drinks to, and the company they come with." Derek looked at her with the I-want-you-in-bed-look.

"Oh, don't look at me like that.

"Like what?"

"You know what. And I'm just trying to enjoy myself here. There is no need for your face. I see it too often on other men. I don't need if from you."

"At least tell me your last name so I can at least find you when we leave."

"Believe me, you don't want to know my last name."

"I bet I do."

"Nope, it will give away too much. Too much I am not willing to share yet."

"Come on, please?"

"No way in hell. You'll stop buying me drinks and run for the hills."

"I highly doubt it. Last names are kind of common. I doubt I'd be able to put two and two together."

"Believe me you will."

"Well then, try me."

"Can't!"

"Can."

"Can't!"

"Can."

"Fine, but you have to promise me you won't freak out. You can't stop buying me drinks. You can definitely not run for the hills, or freak out, promise?"

"Okay I promise."

"Grey. My last name is Grey."

"Grey? As in Ellis Grey? Like one of the best female surgeons in the United States, Grey?" he said with the tone of his voice getting louder and louder by the second. Once the name of Ellis Grey was mentioned the bar full of doctors turned heads.

Okay this is a longish chapter. So don't expect every chapter to be this long. I'm not quite sure how this chapter turned out, so I would appreciate it if you guys let me know what you think. Lots of reviews. I'm still debating on whether to continue. LET ME KNOW! Thanks :D