Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and other recognizable content belongs to Shonda Rhimes and ABC- sadly, I don't profit from this.
The first thing Meredith thought when she opened her eyes was ouch. Then it was where am I, and finally what the hell happened?
Then it all came back to her. The bathtub, Elliot Bay, drowning, Cristina pouncing on her the minute she woke up, promising Derek this would never happen again, her mommy dying, Dr. Montgomery talking to her while she was in a drug-induced sleep… wait, hang on. Dr. Montgomery? What? Why was Dr. Montgomery talking to her, Meredith Grey, adulterous whore and co-founder of the Dirty Mistress' Club?
Wait. There's Izzie! Maybe she'll know.
"Hey, Izz!" Meredith called out into the hall. "Come here for a sec!"
Izzie bounced over and sat down next to her. "Hey Mer! I'm so glad you're awake again, how are you feeling? Do you need more morphine?"
Meredith's eyes widened. "No! No more morphine! Do you not remember the last time I had morphine, Izzie? That was horrible and mortifying and never happening again!"
Izzie laughed. "Who doesn't remember that Mer? Fine then, it's not my ribs that are cracked and sore. What did you want?"
Meredith lowered her voice. "Uh, Izz, Dr. Montgomery wasn't in here while I was out, was she? I seem to have some sort of fuzzy memory, but that can't be right because she hates me!"
Izzie looked at Meredith strangely. "Dr. Montgomery was in here quite a bit over the last two days Mer, she was really worried about you. You should have seen her; she was almost as upset as Derek! She doesn't hate you Mer, she's not going to kill you. You should talk to her. I think she's in surgery now, but she'll probably be by later."
Meredith looked shocked. "Okay, Izz. Well, thanks! I'll see you guys later, right?"
Izzie smiled. "Of course you will! I've got to go Mer, I'm scrubbing in with Sloan on a facial reconstruction soon."
Meredith was jealous that her friend had surgery while she was stuck in bed but waved anyway. "Bye Izz!"
It took another two hours for someone to come into her room. This time it was Nurse Tyler, in to take her vitals. Meredith was bored out of her mind and was starting to realize why Katie Bryce had paged her 911 when she was bored. Tyler told her that Derek was in a surgery that had 3 hours left and then another one right after.
Meredith decided that she might as well just try and sleep since the only thing on TV was more coverage about the ferryboat crash, something that she didn't really want to think about.
Scrubbing out of her emergency C-Section, Addison decided that she should go check in on Meredith to see how she was. It had been 2 days since the crash and Meredith had been unconscious most of the time since she was still recovering from her injuries and had had a lot of drugs in her system. The discovery of her feelings had hit her like a train and she had been looking for reasons to check on Meredith or just sit with her so that she could make sure she was still alive and breathing. Derek had found it odd at first but had been grateful that someone else was watching over Meredith when he had to be in surgery or sleeping.
Addison walked over to Meredith's room and saw that she was asleep again. Seeing that her vitals were stable, Addison pulled up a chair next to Meredith's bed and sat down. She, Addison Forbes Montgomery, double board certified OB/GYN and neonatal surgeon was afraid to talk to Meredith Grey unless she was sleeping! Addison took a deep breath before speaking.
"Hey, Meredith, it's Addison again. Do you have any idea how much you scared all of us? Derek was devastated, Yang went crazy, the Chief lost it, Miranda Bailey cried and so did I. Don't ever do that again, you hear me? I know you guys call me Satan but Meredith, I really would like to be friends with you. I think that if we had met under different circumstances we would be great friends. So you know, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm right here."
When Addison took a breath, she looked up and met Meredith Grey's grey-green eyes.
"Dr. Montgomery?" Meredith murmured sleepily.
Addison was embarrassed that she had been caught and stood up to go. "Um, I'm sorry, I'll just leave."
Meredith reached out and grabbed her wrist. "No… stay."
Addison looked at her closely. "Are you sure?"
Meredith smiled, now fully awake. "Yeah, I'm sure. Sit down, we can talk."
Addison sat back down. "So how are you feeling?" Addison asked lamely.
"Well I feel like I got hit by a truck, my ribs hurt quite a bit and so does my back where I hit the water." Meredith winced when she sat up.
"Are you sure you don't want any painkillers for that Meredith?"
Meredith laughed and then winced. "Dr. Montgomery, last time I was on morphine you talked to me and I remember nothing of it. This time I'd like to remember. Besides, I can deal with the pain, it's not that bad."
Addison sat there in silence for a minute, thinking. "You know Meredith, you can call me Addison. Dr. Montgomery is a little formal if we're going to be friends."
Meredith looked surprised. "Oh… okay, then. Are you sure? I mean, I'm a dirty mistress; I broke up your marriage and stole your husband! You're like the perfect person, leggy and successful, rich and famous… why would you want to be friends with me? I heard that part of your talk. I'm just little Meredith Grey, intern and adulterous whore. My mommy wished she hadn't ever had me, my daddy left me when I was five and has a new perfect family, I drink too much tequila and sleep with inappropriate boys. Like George! I even gave up for a second in the water because my mother was lucid for the first time in five years and is ashamed of me and says I'm a disappointment since I haven't decided a specialty and I'm ordinary! Why bother with me?"
By the end of her tirade Meredith felt exhausted and drained and even less confident than usual. There was no way Addison would want anything to do with her now.
Addison was shocked when she listened to Meredith's speech. Meredith thought she was leggy! Hold that thought though- Who had known that she had so many problems?
Addison spoke in a soothing voice and took Meredith's hand. "Meredith, I want to be friends with you because you are an extraordinary person and you're strong. Do you think any other person would be able to go through all of this and come out on top? Most people would have given up years ago if their mothers constantly told them that they were a disappointment. You fought, proved her wrong and succeeded. You are the most promising intern at Grace this year and are going to go on to do great things. I didn't declare my specialty until right before the deadline and look at me now! Let me make one thing very clear: my marriage was dead long before you came into the picture, and if anyone is an adulterous whore it's me. I slept with Mark before you even met Derek. He was absent Meredith, that's what ended our marriage. I just didn't believe it and both of us needed closure. I'm sorry that what we did hurt you. Meredith… whenever you're ready to talk about what happened the other day I'll be here. Friends?"
Meredith thought about what Addison said and smiled. Did she really think that Meredith was extraordinary? The thought that she could was absurd but comforting to know that someone felt that way. "I… yeah. Friends."
"Excellent." Addison grinned and stood up, smoothing out her scrubs. "I have surgery soon so I have to go make sure the patient gets prepped. And Meredith?"
Meredith looked back up at her. "Yes, Addison?"
"As soon as you're out of the hospital and walking, we're going shopping. My treat." Addison smiled at the young intern.
"I… okay." Meredith grinned back, surprised. "Bye, Addison."
"See you later, Meredith."
A/N: Do I deliver on my promises or what? I promised that it would be up by mid July and here it is! It's 2:30am my time though, so I'm not too sure what you guys will think of it. Addison seems a little OOC here but I'm trying my best to get into her head. This might turn into a two or three story series, I'm not sure yet. Let me know what you guys think so I can make improvements!
Posted July 16th, 2009