At twenty two, Meredith Grey had just finished her under-grad pre-med at Darthmouth University. While at Dartmouth she gained a group of close friends and her person, Christina Yang. Her first year at Dartmouth she tried to make it work with her long time best friend Derek Shepherd, but a long distance relationship proved to be hard, too hard and they had broken up. It was a knock-out drag out break up that ended in tears and both of them swearing they would never speak to eachother ever again. They had realized along the way that they were holding eachother back and both refused to transfer to the others Universitiy, there were just too many things to be involved in and to many oppurtunities that would go to waste if they were constantly tied up to eachother. Right before exams her freshman year, Derek had decided to break it off and Meredith chose to spend that summer backpacking Europe rather than coming home and living next door to the boy that had broken her heart. That trend had continued over the course of the next years and even Christmas Holidays Meredith kept a low profile and avoided Derek and he seemed to do the same with her. She had heard through the grapevine that last year Derek had started dating a girl at Bowdoin and she was happy for him. She wanted to spend her summer after graduating exploring more of Europe with her friends and sleeping with cute Italian men but that wasn't going to be a reality this year. Her mother Ellis got diagnosed with Alzheimers and was going to be moving into a care facility close to her school which meant her old house needed to be cleaned out and fast.

It was late May as Meredith made her way out of her jeep and onto the home she spent her child hood in. The air was cool and she shivered a little in her tiny tank top and black yoga pants. She forgot about the sweater she had tied around her waist and stood with her arms crossed looking at the house that held so many memories. It was approaching 8:00 and the sun was starting to go down. From her point of view the house was beauiful and she would have no problem selling it. She made a mental note to contact her realistate agent tomorrow and see how quickly they could schedule house tours and get the place sold. Her best friend Christina was coming in a few days to stay with her and help the place get cleaned out. She decided that she would stay in the house until it sold that way she wouldn't have to waste money on staying somewhere until she could move into her apartment at Dartmouth. As Meredith looked at the house, a lot of memories came back to her, like the time her and Derek broke into her moms office to look at surgery tapes or the time her and Derek almost fornicated on the balcony. A small blush made its way onto her face and she relunctantly looked next door for the first time since her freshman year of college. She had always avoided that house at all means all the times she came home for Christmas. It looked exactly the same, white house, black shudders. It could use a new paint job but other than that, it still looked like her refugee house. She hadn't visited Carolyn since spring break three years prior, she hadn't meant to cut Carolyn off too but she was a direct link to Derek and she just couldn't bring herself to go over there. She went back to her car and sighed at how packed full it was. She was moving apartments which meant all of her belongings had to stay with her until she moved into the new one. She didn't even want to think about how many trips it would take her to get all of her stuff moved in.

"Well hey stranger" Meredith heard a voice boom from next door. She looked over and walking towards her was Mark Sloan.

She met him half way and threw her arms around him. They were never that close but with everything going on in her life with her mom it was comforting to see a familiar face. He hugged her back

"Let me look at you, stand back" Mark intructed her with a grin.

She stood back and looked at him questioningly

"Damn Grey, you got hotter. And your hair is so long, you know I dig women with long hair. Fuck, you should've came home sooner" Mark teased

"Ha-ha Mark, some things never change" Meredith said with fake annoyance as she rolled her eyes

"No they don't, but you have. I don't know what it is, but you're different"

"Maybe it's the fact that you haven't seen me in four years?" Meredith questioned

"Ah that's right. Last time I saw you, you were just a scrawny virgin, with a crush on my best friend" Mark teased and when she shot him mad glares, he laughed

"There's the Meredith I remember"

"How have you been?" Meredith asked wanting desperatly to change the subject

"I can't complain. Just graduated, I'm staying with the Sheps until med school starts up. You won't believe it but I got into Harvard."

"Mark, that's awesome! I'm happy for you"

"Yeah thanks I was shocked I got in, So I heard about your mom, I'm really sorry" Mark told her sincerly

"We were never really that close anyways" Meredith shrugged

Mark nodded, he knew the feeling. "But thanks" Meredith added

"You graduated right?" Mark asked her

"I did. I'm staying at Darthmouth for med school and then who knows"

There was a bit of silence

"So you're staying with the Shephered's?" Meredith asked trying to seem non-chalant.

"Yeah, Derek is staying at Bowdoin for med school and with me going to Harvard, man I can't stop saying that" Mark laughed then continued "It just feels right to be home for a little bit, before everything changes"

Meredith bit her lip

"Don't be nervous, you can ask me about Derek. I won't tell him" Mark said picking up on her apprehension.

She gave him a bewildered look.

"You and Derek were glued to eachother's sides, I picked up on some of your habits Grey and lip biting is tell-tale that you are nervous."

"I'm not nervous...it's just..."

"Weird, I know" Mark agreed

"Things ended badly, I know we're going to run into eachother at somepoint and when we do...I just.. I want to be prepared"

Mark laughed "Prepared?" he asked her

"Yeah...like if Derek has a girlfriend or something, I'd like to know so at least if we ever talk and he tells me, I won't show my feelings on my face, which I do sometimes" Meredith rambled.

Mark gave her an understanding smile.
"Actually, it doesn't matter. We've both moved on" Meredith said now getting self-conscious.

"Do you need help moving all this shit in?" Mark asked her.

"That would be lovely" Meredith agreed letting out a deep breath

"Some things do never change Meredith Grey" Mark teased.

She hit him playfully and he threw his head back laughing. Mark Sloan laughing at her again, never ever changing.

Mark helped her unload her stuff after about 6 trips and hemmed by the door way

"Do you want a beer?" Meredith asked him

"Yeah, thanks. Corona?" he asked

"Duh" she responded. Thats all they drank in highschool

"You want one?" he asked as he made his way to the fridge

"Yeah" she called as she took a seat on her sofa. This place was never super homey but it was homey enough. Waiting for Mark, she took a look around.

"My lady" he said as he bowed and passed her the drink.

"Thank you kind sir" Meredith teased back and before Mark could respond his phone rang.
"Hey Man" he answered

"You have news? Yeah, I know my cars there. I'm still in the neighborhood...Um well..I'm at Meredith's" there was a pause in the conversation

"Uh...yeah she is...I will. I'll be over in a bit"

Meredith looked away

"Derek says hi"Mark informs her

"Oh. Cool"

"Well thanks for the beer, I think its a pretty fair trade off for lacky-ing around all your crap for you" Mark teased

"Hey, you offered. I didn't ask for your help"

"But you certainly took advantage when you got it"

Meredith shrugged

"You gotta get back?" she asked

"Yeah. Derek has some news or whatever. He sounded a little urgent. I should go"

"Well thanks again for your help, and everything. Come back by. My best friend Christina will be here in a few days, you can meet her"

"For sure" Mark agreed "See you later Mer"

Mark left and the house felt too empty. Meredith tried to keep her thoughts off of Derek and in order to do that, she needed to finish her beer then head to bed. She couldn't help but wonder what Derek's news was and if he really was sincere about saying hello or if he just said it out of obligation. She decided to not worry about it and head to bed, she had a long day ahead of her.

Mark had gotten back to Derek's house and Carolyn was in the kitchen baking

"Did you see Meredith?" Carolyn asked him as he made his way into the kitchen

"Yeah, I did, I helped her move her stuff in" Mark said nursing the beer he had gotten form her fridge

"How is she? Poor thing. Her and her mother were never close but still thats hard news to swallow. I'm going over there tomorrow to bring her these cookies, she always used to love them when she would come over"

Derek sat silently on the bar stool.
"She seemed okay, just different" Mark informed them

Carolyns eyes scrunched up in confusion "Well ofcourse she's different honey, you haven't seen her in years"

"No, thats not what I mean, she's just different"

"What did she gain 200 pounds?" Derek asked with a smirk

"She's hot man, like really really hot. She filled out. She's beautiful. You fucked up" Mark said taking another chug of his now half empty Corona.

"Derek, you need to go over there tomorow and make things right" Carolyn told her son.

"I think it's too late to make anything right, so much time has passed"

"That's nonsense Derek, you two were best friends for your whole lives" Carolyn pestered

"I agree with mama Shep, thats bullshit Derek."

Derek waited until everyone went to bed and then he walked out onto the balcony of his room. He could always see Meredith's balcony from his so easily. They used to sneak and talk across yards back when they had curfews and were supposed to be sleeping. He hadn't been on that balcony in years. He did his best to get Meredith Grey out of his mind for years and sometimes he succeeded but she always remained there. Truthfully he was scared to see her, he didn't know if his heart could take it. He was so in love with her and deep down probably still was. He was scared that he would see her and she would take his breath away and he would begin to question all of his feelings for the girl he was planning on marrying. This could be a total disaster but maybe it wouldn't, maybe he would see her and realize the person he remembered wasn't actually as great as he thought, but he sincerly doubted it.