So for the past few days I've had this reoccurring thought: what if the intern mixer was two weeks before the interns started at Seattle Grace, what if Meredith and Derek met two weeks before they did on the show. How much can a fortnight change the direction of somebody's life?

Derek was never a fan of schmoozing, the way people went out of their way to try impress him and how he was supposed to do the same always disgusted him a little bit. He was a surgeon, a world class one at that, his work was supposed to impress his superiors not his ability to hold a conversation that he really wasn't interested in. However, when Richard Webber offered the Head of Neurosurgery job at Seattle Grace he knew that he would have to schmooze, with the board, his new colleagues and the fresh-faced, wide-eyed interns that were due to start in two weeks' time. The mixer was mean to be for them, to get to know each other and size each other up, so far none of them had the balls to even attempt to talk to him, a fact that he was fine with, the faster he could leave and head to the bar across the road, the better.

It was times like these Meredith hated her last name. Being herself was hard enough, but having the last name like Grey in the medical world meant that everyone knew her mother in all her greatness, casting a large overbearing shadow not only on her medical abilities but on most of her life. It was nights like tonight where people asked her how her mother was doing over how she, herself was doing. After spouting lie after lie of how Ellis was traveling, writing another book or taking some time for herself she had had enough, remembering the bar she had seen on her way into the mixer, Meredith downed the rest of her champagne, looked around at her future fellow interns and then promptly exited the building.

The bar wasn't particularly full when he arrived, tables were spotted with several different groups of people, young, older, male and female. It was almost glaringly obvious that this was the hospital bar however, the medical jargon floated in nearly every conversation and the exhausted looks that were on every patron's face showed signs of long shifts and taxing patients. Derek headed to the bar, knowing well his order and scoped out a place to sit. After receiving his scotch, he found a table near the dart board and observed. He was half way through his drink when the bell rang, signalling another entry to the bar when he first saw her. He somewhat recognized her from the mixer but she hadn't really caught his eye, he had been busy meeting the board but now he wished he had paid more attention. She was tiny, almost fragile looking in her dress that looked like it was made for her, showing the perfect amount of skin, her hair framing her face, she was beautiful, in every sense of the word. Derek was half way across the bar before he had realised he had no clue what to say to her.

Meredith had always liked tequila. It was in the first drink that had ever been handed to her at a party while she was a sophomore in high school, it was what she had drank her studies away while she was at college and it was the exact drink she needed to help her forget about the mixer and the weight of her mother's secret. After exchanging pleasantries with the bartender and realising that she would probably get to know him over the course of her internship she threw back her first shot, hoping to ease her pain and uneasiness that accompanied the mixer. Before she was able to gesture for a refill, a man she had briefly seen at the mixer leaned on the bar next her. She took every detail about him, how good he smelled, the way his hair was sitting perfectly, the way his shirt sat on his body, highlighting his muscles and mostly just how incredibly attractive he was.

"Double scotch, single malt" was his order, suited him Meredith thought, turning back to her empty shot glass, hoping he didn't catch her looking at him. She was quite ready to get herself blind drunk and forget every thing about the mixer and the handsome man standing next to her.

"So is this a good place to hang out?", So he was talking to her, she weighed up her two options, answer his question then ignore him so that he'd eventually go away or make small talk and then find an excuse to leave. She'd had banked on drinking for the rest of the night, and drinking at her mother's house alone would probably not be the best of ideas at the moment so she chose option one.

"I don't know, never been here before." Okay, it didn't look like he was going away, so Meredith decided that the completely ignoring this stranger was looking like the best bet.

"You know what? I haven't either, first time here. I'm new in town, never been to Seattle. Got a job so…" This wasn't going as Meredith had planned and the option of getting up, going home and drinking the tequila that she had there was looking more and more appealing. Mentally preparing herself to leave, apparently McChatty as she had dubbed him in her head wasn't finished talking to her.

"Ahhh you're ignoring me"

"Trying to." That's when she turned and fully faced him. The first thought that crossed her mind was his eyes. How can anyone even attempt to ignore someone with the most stellar eyes in history. It was then something shifted, somewhere in Meredith's brain a thought was formed, that she wanted the man with the stunning blue eyes and perfectly waved hair, badly.

"You shouldn't ignore me." So, the smirk was kind of sexy and Meredith was feeling all kinds of attraction towards him. So much for the ignoring option that was her initial plan, she thought.

"Why not?" Now it was Derek's turn to be taken aback, no woman had really challenged him while he was flirting with them, ever since he was a freshman in college girls always turned into giggling messes around him.

"Because I'm someone you need to get to know to love." He definitely was sure of himself, teetering on the edge of being cocky and Meredith had taken the bait. She was intrigued by the man in the red shirt, she was ready to dive right into the blue pools that were his eyes without a second thought.

"Oh, really"

"Oh, yes" his smirk grew into a full blown smile and McChatty became McSmiley or whatever, his smile was infectious and slowly Meredith found herself smiling herself.

"You really like yourself huh?"

"Just hiding my pain." Her giggle was intoxicating, all Derek wanted to do was to find all the ways in the world that would make her laugh again.

"So what's your story?"

"I don't have a story, just a girl in a bar." She wasn't the type of person to unload her problems onto a complete stranger or at all, she was more the suffer in silence type.

"Just a guy in a bar."

Meredith downed another shot that the bartender had poured for her and watched as her counterpart did the same.

"Do you wanna get out of here? I have an amazing bottle of single malt scotch and a bottle of tequila that will throw you into next week." Meredith surprised herself. Never had she felt as confident as she did in this minute. Derek was again surprised by the woman on his left, back in the early days of his dating life he was the one asking if his date/counterpart/whatever was ready to go, it felt different to be the one asked, but a good different.

"Let me get my coat." This was not what Derek expected when he approached her at the bar, he was however expecting to flirt a little, grab a final drink and catch the last ferry back to his new 'home', but he did like this new development. After he helped her into her coat, she grabbed his hand and headed outside and hailed a cab. She spouted off an address he hadn't heard and probably wouldn't remember and set off.

First Greys fic so critism and reviews would make writing easier and possibly better.

Hxxx