You're Not The Only One With Secrets
Chapter 1
~x~
"Invasive non-cell with a history of COPD. That guy's pretty much a goner, huh?"
"Sensitivity, I like that in a stranger" Meredith smirked, she turned around to face the man and stood shock still.
"Wouldn't say I was a stranger huh Mrs Sloan?"
"Don't call me that" she reprimanded "Why are you here?" she asked curiously.
"Visiting. Confounded by all the rain and it's only my first day in town"
"You get used to it" Meredith shrugged.
"Makes me wanna stay in bed all day"
"You've been here 5 minutes and you're already talking about bed, nothing changes"
"Subtle has never been my strong suit. So….do you ever go out with co-workers?"
"I make it a rule not to"
"Then I am so glad I don't work here"
"Are you hitting on me? In a hospital?"
"Would it be so wrong to hit on my own wife?" he smirked getting close to her, he took her fingers in his and played with them softly, she glanced down briefly and sighed heavily, the next thing she knew Mark was on the floor bleeding, she looked up to see Derek Shepherd shaking his hand in pain.
"What the hell was that?" she exclaimed.
"That, was Mark"
"Oh my god" Meredith gasped.
Mark clambered up from the floor clutching his face "I see you've met my wife"
A resounding "YOUR WHAT?" came from Derek and Addison, who had been watching the scene unfold.
"I am not your wife" Meredith said firmly.
"The 'Certificate of Marriage' I have in my suitcase proves otherwise" he smirked.
"I think we need to talk" a voice bellowed from behind them, they turned around to see the Chief standing with his arms crossed angrily against his chest.
"Yes, I think we do" Derek said through gritted teeth.
~x~
The four doctors followed the Chief into the conference room, Meredith grabbed ice-packs for Derek and a suture kit for Mark. Derek sat down in one of the chairs, Addison sat a few seats away from him, Mark sat on the table while Meredith stood in between his legs cleaning his wound, the Chief paced the room angrily.
"Punching out people on my surgical floor! My head of Neurosurgery punching out people on my surgical floor!" The Chief shouted.
"Put the ice pack on your hand" Addison said to Derek.
"My hand is fine!" Derek snapped.
"Put the damn ice on your 2 million dollar a year hand! Now, would someone tell me what the hell happened?" the Chief said angrily "Who are you?" he said looking over at Mark.
"Dr Mark Sloan, pleasure to meet you"
"I hate to say I can't reciprocate that pleasure, not until I know what the hell is going on, Addison, you go"
"He and Derek used to work together back in New York, and um, they ah, we were all close friends, until, Derek found us, in bed together" she sighed, a look of pure shame washing over her face.
The Chief paused and turned to Derek "You put your weight behind it?"
"Yes sir"
"Well alright then. I still don't know how you come into this Meredith"
"Yes Meredith, how do you come into this?" Derek asked through gritted teeth.
"Oh my god" Mark gasped "Your Derek's lusty intern! Heard about you all the way back in New York. You're famous" Mark said smiling playfully at Meredith.
"Hmm, well I heard about you all the way here in Seattle so I guess we have a lot in common"
"We're the dirty mistresses"
"Yes, I suppose we are, although technically, you could call us adulterous whores, you cheated on me?" she mocked putting her hands on her hips.
"You cheated on me" he laughed "If you hadn't have disappeared off the face of the earth we could have gotten an annulment but no you had to run off without leaving a number and now we have to get a divorce" he smirked.
"Oh I'm sorry, you can keep the wedding video and I'll keep the pictures" she giggled "Anyway, we couldn't have gotten an annulment"
"Why not?" he frowned.
"Because to get an annulment you're not allowed to 'consummate' the marriage" she whispered.
"Oh, well, we certainly did a lot of that" he smirked, they both locked eyes and burst out laughing, losing control of their breathing, as it slowed down they looked at each other both biting back another laugh.
"Ok seriously, what the hell is going on!" Addison exclaimed.
"Remember that trip I took to Vegas about 3 years ago?" Mark asked.
"Erm, yeah, I guess" Addison stuttered.
"Well Meredith here was there with her friend, wait, what was her name Die?"
"Ah, Sadie, also known as Die, I was Death, we have serious problems" Meredith chuckled "The adventures of Death and Die stay locked away in the back of my mind never to be spoken of again"
"Ah yes, Death and Die" Mark laughed "Anyway I met Death and Die, we all got very drunk and one thing led to another and we were at the The Little White Chapel being married by someone dressed as Elvis"
"I'll never get my head around the fact that they let people as drunk as we were get married, drunk is probably an understatement" Meredith laughed.
"Yeah, I can only remember it because of the video, the rest is a little, hazy"
"Wait, so your telling me that you had a drunken wedding in Vegas?" the Chief exclaimed "Meredith what were you thinking? Your mother…."
"Would be very disappointed, I know Chief but if you remember my mother had just been admitted to a home because of her Alzheimer's, I wasn't exactly feeling like myself, I just wanted a little fun, ok so I had too much fun but fun all the same"
"Ellis would have never have gotten drunk in Vegas but you do remind me of her, you know what you want and you'll try your hardest to get it, you wanted fun so you went out and got it" the Chief smirked.
"Damn straight" Meredith muttered.
The Chief groaned as his pager bleeped "Can I trust you to be in a room alone without hitting each other?"
The four doctors nodded, the Chief gave them one last worrying glance before he left the room.
"Hey! Do you still have your ring?" Meredith asked curiously, he pulled out his wallet and opened the coin pouch, he took out a bright blue plastic ring that had 'Caesars Palace' written around the band "Where's yours?" he smirked.
"In my bedside table, thought it was appropriate considering" she grinned.
"I can't believe you Meredith, you're such a hypocrite!" Derek exclaimed.
"It's hardly the same Derek! I had a drunken night in Vegas you've been married for nearly 12 years! It's not like me and Mark were in love or anything, we were just having fun! I was young and stupid and irresponsible, things happen. You however have no excuse!"
"I guess I should've known something like this would've happened to you Mark" Addison sighed "He has quite a reputation Meredith"
"Oh, I know, he told me" Meredith smirked "Anyway, we should get onto those divorce lawyers honey"
"Oh but sweetie we should try and work it out"
"But we can't baby, we screw around like whores on tequila"
"Still a tequila girl hey?" he laughed "I would've thought you'd have learnt your lesson"
"I learnt from the best manwhore in America, now seriously, we should go before the Shepherds have embolism's" she smirked, she took Mark's hand and pulled him from the room, only to be greeted by Cristina, Izzie, George and Alex.
"I think you have some explaining to do Dr Grey" Cristina smirked.
"Ok, I'm going to do this once and only once so listen up" Meredith sighed "I met Mark 3 years ago in Vegas, we got drunk, we got married, I left before getting his number and we haven't seen each other since, it turns out in some weird twist of fate that he's the guy who slept with Addison, and was Derek's best friend"
"Wow" Izzie gasped "Can't really blame her can you" she muttered into Cristina's ear.
"No, not really" Cristina said looking him up and down.
"So, what happens now?" George stuttered.
"We're going to call our lawyers and get a divorce, but not before we fix your face, lets get you to x-ray hubby" she said patting his chest.
"Yes dear" he smirked.
~x~
"So, why are you really here Mark?" Meredith asked as they looked over his x-rays.
"I love her" he sighed.
"You want to take her back to New York" she stated.
"I do, I screwed up Meredith, look Derek doesn't know this but after he left, me and Addison stayed together, for over 2 months"
"So what happened?"
"I cheated on her, I know, the irony is painful, she caught me with a peds nurse and she wasn't the first"
"Oh Mark" Meredith sighed.
"I know"
"She won't leave him y'know, they're really trying with this marriage thing"
"Maybe we should try"
"Try what?"
"The marriage thing" he smiled sincerely, she burst out laughing, her laughter slowed as she noticed him staying quiet "Oh, you're serious" she stuttered.
"Why not? We find each other attractive, we know about each others dirty pasts, it's perfect"
"Apart from the fact that you love Addison and I…." Meredith paused.
"Love Derek?"
"I don't know anymore" Meredith sighed.
"Come on, it'll be fun"
"You can't just leave New York"
"Of course I can" Mark smiled "Come on, you know you want too" he said nudging her leg.
Meredith stared at him blankly for a few seconds "Fine, ok" she sighed.
"Ok? You're saying yes?"
"I'm saying yes" she laughed "Do you think…."
"What?"
"We'll ever not be in love with other people?"
"Love hurts but this, this feels like…."
"It could be happiness?" Meredith finished.
"Yeah, I think it could" he smiled.
"We should have a scale"
"A scale?"
"To measure how much we love them, a 1-10 thing, a bit like they use for hurricanes and earthquakes except we'll call it, 'The Shepherd Scale', where's Addison right now, on the scale"
"Pretty sure it's a 10, Derek?"
"10, maybe a 9" she nodded "Maybe the next time we ask it'll be lower"
"I hope so" he sighed "Now, do I get to kiss my wife or not?"
"I think that can be arranged" she giggled leaning in to kiss him hard on the lips, their tongue's finding each other quickly, his hands moved up into her hair, they pulled away gasping for breath "I forgot how good you are at that" Meredith smiled.
"Hmm, you too"
"I guess you need a place to stay?"
"I do" he grinned.
"I have roommates"
"It's not the tense girl is it?" Mark shuddered.
"Cristina?" Meredith laughed "No, she is my person though so she'll probably give you a tough time"
"Your person?"
"Yeah, my person" Meredith nodded "I live with Izzie, the blonde and George, the shy awkward one"
"Ok then, well we should go and tell them"
"My shifts nearly over but I think I can get off now if I go and speak to the Chief, meet me outside the intern locker room in half an hour"
"Ok, see you there" Mark smiled "Goodbye kiss?"
Meredith leaned into him and kissed him softly "Goodbye kiss" she laughed before walking out of the room and to the Chiefs office.
~x~
"Ready to go wifey?" Mark said stepping into the locker room.
"I still can't believe you're married to Mark Sloan" Alex snorted "How long you staying here man, I'm really interested in plastics so I'd love the chance to work with you"
"Aww, Alex has a man crush" Cristina smirked.
"Shut your mouth Crack Whore!" Alex snapped.
"He's staying for quite a while actually guys" Meredith smiled.
"What are you talking about Mer?" Izzie asked curiously.
"We're going to try out the marriage thing" Meredith shrugged.
"But don't you still love McDreamy?" George blurted "Oh god I did not just call him McDreamy?"
"McDreamy?" Mark smirked "What, do I not get a nickname?"
"Ladies" Meredith said pulling Izzie and Cristina into the corner of the locker room.
"McSexy?" Meredith suggested.
"No, McYummy?" said Izzie.
"No, no that's not it" Cristina sighed.
"Ah, McSteamy" Meredith smirked.
"Oh, there it is" Cristina grinned.
Meredith walked back over to Mark and grinned "You now have your own McName"
"Oh yeah, and what would that be?"
"I'll tell you tonight" she whispered "Come on, lets go home"
"Home" he grinned, he took Meredith's hand and led her out of the locker room, they reached the lobby, just as they reached the doors they were stopped by a familiar voice.
"Mark, what are you still doing here?" Derek seethed.
"I'm taking my wife home" Mark smirked.
"I thought you were getting a divorce?" Addison asked.
"We're giving the marriage thing a try right Mer?"
"Right" she smiled.
"But you don't even love each other, you don't even know each other, it was just a drunken mistake" said Derek.
"That may be true but at the minute we're both looking for an inch of happiness so we're going to have some fun for a while" Meredith shrugged.
"He'll never love you" said Addison.
"I don't expect him too just like he doesn't expect me to love him " Meredith replied.
"You're making a mistake Meredith" Derek sighed "He's no good for you, you can't trust him"
"I trusted you" she shot back "I let you in Derek, I gave you everything to have it thrown straight back in my face, don't you dare try and tell me how to live my life, you lost the right to even think about me a very long time ago, come on Mark, lets go home"
"Yeah, come on" Mark smiled, they turned around and carried on walking out of the hospital, Meredith giggled loudly as Mark picked her up and carried her too her car "Come on Mrs Sloan, lets get you to bed"
"Absolutely Mr Sloan"
~x~~x~~x~