Authors notes:

I joined and I didn't really know what I wanted to write about, then I read someone's story about Avery when he was younger and it gave me the inspiration to write about Meredith and Ellis. I really wanted just wanted to show Ellis' human side, because it hasnt really been shown that much. I'm also thinking about doing something set in season 8.

Mom, I wanna be a surgeon

Meredith walked into her house in Boston, she didn't think for one minute that her mother would be there, Ellis usually had surgery all day everyday. She'd get home late at night and leave before Meredith got up, she was hardly ever there when she got home from school. She walked into the kitchen to get a snack, when suddenly she had a gnawing feeling in her gut. She could tell her mother was home, there was that feeling she got when she was staring at her with her "death eyes", she had no idea what she had done this time, but then again she never did.

Ellis was leaning on the door frame to the kitchen, Meredith spun round so fast she felt dizzy. She saw that (as she'd expected) her mother was wearing "the look"

"What did I do now?"

"You got an A"

"An A?" meredith said in disbelief, was that all?

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Um, getting a snack?"

"Don't get cheeky with me"

"Yeah I'm working my ass off"

"Don't you use that language with me young lady! You're wasting your life. You have so much potential! when I was your age I..."

"Oh here we go again! When you were my age you were taking 5 AP classes and top of your class for all of them, I know the story"

"That's enough from you! You could go so far, but all you want to do is dress in black dye your hair pink and bunk off school, and I'm not having it!"

"Doesn't that tell you something, the fact I bunk off school and still manage to get an A in all my classes? I'm still top of my class!"

"That doesn't count for anything! If you're top of your class full of kids that actually have half a brain between them it might be better, or if you had a teacher that could tell the difference between a white blood cell and his ass..."

"Mr Kent is a biologist, he used to be a surgeon"

"That's BS if he was any good he wouldn't have given it up to be a teacher " she said the last word with venom on her lips

"Right because no-one would choose children over cutting people open!"

"Don't start this again, I do my job so that you can buy your gothic clothes and hair dye. It's because of my job that you can go round slacking off "

"Maybe we should be saving up for medical school"

"Medical school? Who's going to medical school?"

"Me"

"YOU? There's no way you could get into med school"

"Why not?"

"You don't have what it takes"

"I am going to be a surgeon "

"No you're not, maybe you could be a dermatologist"

"You've gotta be kidding me"

"How come? Dermatology is...fine and takes a lot less focus, i think you could achieve that"

"No Freakin' Way!"

"yYou don't have the self-discipline that it takes to be a surgeon, you know that means you actually have to turn up to your classes, and to get into any decent college you have to get better than an A!"

"Maybe I'd be more committed if you didn't crap on my dreams all the time!"

" Dreams are not your reality, you can't get what you want just because you dream of it"

"Dad would've supported me"

"Do not bring up your father, he was a spineless weasel and you barely knew him"

"Yeah and who's fault is that?" she muttered under her breath

"DAMN IT MEREDITH! How many times do i have to tell you..."

"Oh just give it a rest will you... I'm going upstairs to do some homework, or not, depends how I feel"

She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked up the stairs to her room, slamming the door and put on her heavy rock music, at least her mom would think she was slacking off, little did she know that when Meredith said she was working her ass off she actually was.

Meanwhile Ellis was still going over their argument in her head, she cared for Meredith deeply, she just wanted her to reach her full potential. If that meant pushing her down so she can push back then that was what she had to do. Being a surgeon ruined her, she didn't want Meredith to be as emotionally crippled as she had become. She knew what being a surgical resident could do to a person, how involved you could get with co-workers. She just wanted her to be the best that she could be, of course she'd never tell Meredith how she felt but that didn't mean she didn't feel it.