Title: Rewind

Author: Poliwonk

Rating: T

Plot: An AU fic. What would Meredith's life be like had Richard divorced Adele all those years ago and married Ellis?

Disclaimer: I'm not Shonda Rhimes, I don't own these characters, I just like to take them out and play with them sometimes, so please don't sue me. Oh and reviews are nice- they make me happy.

Chapter 1: World Spins Madly On

Meredith Grey stared out the window as she waited for the plane to come to a stop at the gate. She was coming home for vacation before she was to begin her internship and the thought was both happy and nervous. They hadn't made it out to her med school graduation because of her mom's health and this would be the first time she had been back for a year.

Exiting the plane Meredith looked around the terminal for her step-father.

"Meredith!"

He saw him waving and grabbed her bags.

"Dad!" She had thought of Richard Weber as her father since she was 5 and he had married her mother. She had never asked for details about their relationship, but by age 15 she had put together enough of the clues to understand that her mother had left her father Thatcher to be with him. She didn't hold it against her step dad though, he loved Ellis and made her happy, and that was what mattered.

Richard wrapped her in a huge bear-hug.

"It's good to see you. How was the flight?"

"Long, but mostly empty so I had a seat to myself."

"Here, let me get your bags. Is this everything?"

"I shipped everything else home so it should be there tomorrow." Meredith walked next to her step-dad and tried her hardest not to ask the question she needed to ask, it would only upset her and she needed to be happy to just be home, at least for a little while.

They walked quietly to the car. She had to ask.

"How's mom?"

"Not good. She's lucid some moments, but their getting shorter and farther apart. Meredith, I hate to ask you this, but we need to talk about your internship."

Richard was focusing on the road to avoid looking at her while he asked her the impossible.

"What about it?"

"Look, I know you were planning on working at HUP A/N: For those of you who don't know HUP is the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania but I- I need you to come back home and be here for your mom. I think it would be good for her if you were around."

"I can't do that."

"Meredith, please- she needs you. You could do your internship at Seattle Grace."

"I can't transfer to Seattle Grace! You're the Chief of Surgery, everyone will think you're playing favorites."

"People won't think that."

"Yes they will! Anytime I get to scrub in on a surgery the other interns will assume it's because you're my step-dad."

"No, they won't, because I'm retiring."

Meredith sat stunned, he was retiring.

"Oh."

"I can't be Chief and take care of your mother. I'm retiring and taking a teaching job with the university. It'll give me more time to be with her. Please Meredith do this for your mother."

"I'll think about it." Meredith decided to change the subject. "So when do Chloe and Angie get in? Last I head they were coming home tomorrow?" About two years after Richard and Ellis had married, when Meredith was 7, Ellis had become pregnant with twin girls, Chloe and Angela. The twins, much to their parents chagrin had decided to go to Harvard together. Angela was pre-med and planning on a career in medicine like her parents and sister, but Chloe was taking a different path and had decided to study political science in the hopes of becoming a journalist. While at medical school in Dartmouth Meredith had tried to get to Boston every so often to see them.

"There plane gets in at 7 tomorrow, so it's just you and I for dinner tonight."

"I guess that means pizza?"

"Pizza it is."

Meredith lay in her bed that night and thought through all the pros and cons of coming back to Seattle. If she came back she would be close to her mother and be able to lend her step-father a hand. But, she would be at Seattle Grace where everyone knew her parents and would doubtless have certain expectations, expectations she had been striving to meet for years.

Waking up the next morning she knew what she had to do, there was really only one option.

She walked into the kitchen where Richard was reading the paper at the table. Sitting down across from him with a cup of coffee she grabbed one of the sections off to the side and started to read.

"Alright" she said from behind the paper "I'll stay"

"Thank you."

Nothing else needed to be said. They sat there each drinking their coffee and reading the paper.

A/N: Yes, I know its sad Ellis still has her Alztimer's. Unfortunately despite her happy ending with Richard, Alztimer's is genetic and no happy ending changes that, trust me if I could cure it I would.