A/N: Oh my goodness, thank you for the amazing response to this, guys! I can't believe that so many of you reviewed! I have never had such a mind-blowing response to a story before. As for your guesses, I have to tell you this – some of you were extremely close. Extremely. Without further ado, let's see if a few more clues can help you guess what really happened...


...Your eyes whispered, "Have we met?"

Across the room your silhouette starts to make its way to me...

Meredith couldn't believe her eyes as she stared, open-mouthed, at Owen. He was standing right there, in front of her, in flesh and blood, mirroring her expression. And Meredith was having a hard time believing that Owen was alive after all this time...No, she was probably hallucinating or something. It wouldn't be the first time for her. She had experienced hallucinations multiple times in the past, though they had ceased altogether in the recent days. It must be one of her hallucinations. He was...Owen Hunt was dead. And dead people didn't pop out of nowhere one fine day.

"Meredith? Is it really you?" Owen said in a shocked voice, but his expression was not even close to Meredith's look of horror. Meredith looked like she had seen a ghost. Owen was a little more composed than that. He had always been a level-headed, calm and composed guy.

Great, Meredith thought to herself. Now, I am hallucinating that Owen is alive and here, talking to me. Just perfect. Snap out of it, Grey. Dead people don't come back.

"Meredith, I..." Owen started to say again, but he suddenly shifted his gaze and looked around at all the people bustling around. And just like he had magically appeared in front of Meredith out of nowhere, he caught Meredith's elbow and dragged her with him to God knew where.

Meredith allowed Owen to drag her along with him wordlessly. She was still in a stupor and had no idea where Owen was taking her. It was strange. No one had ever dragged her to places in her hallucinations before. She looked down at her elbow, where Owen's hand was gripping it, and tried to wrap her head around it. Could she feel people's touches in her hallucinations too? Because she could clearly feel Owen's warm touch on her elbow, even through all the layers of clothing. Maybe, she was hallucinating about Owen touching her too. She didn't know. It had been a fairly long time since one of her hallucinations, and none of them had ever been about Owen.

Owen opened a door and pulled Meredith into an empty stairway.

"Meredith..." Owen murmured, staring at Meredith's horror-stricken face with soft eyes, his hand still gripping her elbow. "You are alive...You...You don't know how happy I am to see you."

Owen's statement caused Meredith to snap out of her daze. She looked down at Owen's hand on her elbow and then looked back to Owen's face. "Owen, you...No, it can't be...I must be hallucinating again," she whispered to herself, studying Owen's facial features carefully.

"What?" Owen asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Owen...You are dead," Meredith said with determination in her voice. "You are dead and dead people don't come back from the dead. You need to leave my head and go away to heaven or whatever..."

Owen knitted his eyebrows together, trying to make head or tail of Meredith's statements. "Meredith," he said calmly, "I am not dead. I'm alive and I'm standing in front of you. So are you. You are not...You are not dead and neither am I. You are not hallucinating."

Meredith blinked a few times, staring at Owen wordlessly. And then, all of a sudden, she raised her hand to her elbow and pinched Owen's hand that was gripping it, hard.

"Oww!" Owen winced, pulling his hand back from her. "What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his hand.

"You can feel," Meredith stated, as if she was making a new discovery. "You can..." she trailed off and looking down to her own hand, she pinched her skin as hard as she could. Moaning softly in pain, she looked back up to see Owen still standing there.

"You – You are not going away," Meredith said, clapping her hands to her mouth. "You are not going away," she repeated, shaking her head.

"Meredith, are you alright? What are you saying?"

"When I hallucinate, I usually pinch myself or something to snap out of it, and then everything goes away. But, you...you can feel my pinch and I can feel your touch and...My point is, I pinched myself and you are not going away," Meredith said in a muffled voice, her hands covering her mouth.

"Well, that's because you are not hallucinating. I am alive, Meredith," Owen said, placing his hands on her arms. "I am not dead."

Meredith stared at Owen for a minute before suddenly flinging her arms around his neck. Owen was taken aback by the sudden movement, but he hugged her back presently.

"You are alive," Meredith whispered, tears rushing to her eyes. "You are alive," she reiterated, the tears rolling out of her eyes and slipping down her cheeks. "You are alive."

"I am," Owen said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Oh my God, I...I can't believe that...I thought you were dead...I thought you were...and now you are...You are alive. Owen, I – I can't tell you how happy I am to see you. I thought I was never going to see you again," Meredith rambled, not having a care in the world. Owen was alive. Owen Hunt, a person she had thought to be dead for the last six years of her life, was alive and well and hugging her at the moment. Meredith couldn't keep her tears or her rambling at bay anymore.

"So did I, Meredith...So did I," Owen said as Meredith pulled back from him.

"You – I – but how?" Meredith asked amidst her silent tears. "I thought there were no survivors."

"I –"Owen started to say, but Meredith cut in.

"You know what? It doesn't matter," Meredith said, "You are alive and that's all that matters. Owen...You don't know how good it feels to see you again. I never thought I'd say this to you, but I...I missed you."

Owen gave her a soft smile as he enveloped her in his arms once again. "Oh Meredith...I missed you too," he murmured, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to her forehead.

"Hmmm..." Meredith sighed, unable to believe her luck. She had so many questions – so many unanswered questions, but all of them could wait. She had set foot inside Seattle Grace Hospital that morning in the hope of starting her life afresh, and see her luck. She had stumbled into a person from her past – a person she had thought to be dead – first thing in the morning. But, at the moment, Meredith didn't regret seeing Owen again. She was ecstatic to see him again. He had been an important part of her past, and seeing him again when she hadn't even expected to do so, felt good. It felt incredibly good and maybe due to that reason, Meredith's tears just wouldn't stop flowing.

"How have you been?" Owen asked as he pulled back from the hug. "And what are you doing here? I thought you were...But, even if I hadn't thought that you were dead, I would have least expected to see you here, of all places," Owen remarked, taking notice of Meredith's light blue scrubs and white lab coat for the first time since he had laid eyes on her a few minutes ago.

"I have been..." Meredith paused, not knowing what to say. She had been miserable and unhappy and she had been suffering for the last few years, but Owen didn't need to know that. He didn't need to know anything about how she had ploughed on for the last six years. "I'm fine now," Meredith said with a soft sigh. "The first few years were...difficult, but I have learnt how to cope," she said with a firm nod. "And I am an intern here. It's my first day at work. How have you been?"

"Same," Owen said, looking away. "Still coping, but better than what I used to be during the first few years...And wow, an intern? You went to med school? I thought you said you'd never do that," Owen finished with a small laugh.

Meredith chuckled bitterly. "I never thought I'd do that either, but I did. Guess circumstances and time change people...So, you work here as a trauma surgeon now?"

"I do," Owen rejoined with a nod. "That makes me your boss. Wow, I am your boss now. Never thought that would happen...But then again, I never thought that..." Owen trailed off. He didn't need to finish his sentence in order for Meredith to understand.

The twosome lapsed into silence for a few minutes, both lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Meredith spoke up again. "I still can't believe all this. It feels so...surreal," she said, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"It does," Owen rejoined.

"By the way, I'm on your service today, boss," Meredith said with a wan smile.

"Please don't call me that," Owen said, shaking his head. "And it's good that you are on my service. Gives us time to catch up," he said with a smile of his own. "Come on, let's go now. Otherwise, people will think that I'm giving you special treatment due to our history."

Meredith sighed and followed Owen outside. "As far as my experience goes, people will think that irrespective of anything else," she said, "So, no one can know that we know each other from before, okay? I'm starting afresh, Owen. I don't want my other bosses or my colleagues to think that I'm getting special treatment from you."

"Whatever you say, Dr. Grey," Owen said with a wink, causing Meredith to laugh.

"You will never change, will you?"

"Nope." Owen shook his head as the duo walked down the corridor towards the elevator.


Derek Shepherd collapsed on the top bunk in the on-call room, utterly and thoroughly exhausted from the day's work. He had been on-call the previous night too and so far, his day had been long and boring. His intern, O'Malley, was most probably the most clueless intern in the history of interns. Derek knew that new interns were supposed to be a little clueless and nervous on their first day of work and so, he had tried his damndest best to stay patient and calm with his intern. But, O'Malley was making it impossible for him to stay cool and calm, with his stupid questions and gabbling and...Derek was beat-up and he just wanted to sleep at the moment, before O'Malley hunted him down and bugged him with his stupid questions again.

As Derek lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, his mind automatically went back to the green-eyed blonde he had met in the church on Christmas. Ever since he had met that feisty and lippy blonde, he had been unable to take his mind off of her for some weird reason. She had been unbelievably rude to him on the very first meeting, saying to his face that she didn't like him, and yet, he couldn't stop thinking about her. He couldn't stop thinking about her cat-like grey-green eyes, her blonde tresses and the look of sheer sadness and despair on her beautiful face. She had been sad – she had been desolate as she had sat in the church, and Derek couldn't help but wonder why. He knew he shouldn't be wondering why some random blonde stranger had been sad, but the look in her green eyes...It had been heart-rending and for some reason, Derek felt impossibly sympathetic towards the beautiful stranger. He wondered if he'd ever see the blonde again, and if he'd ever get to know why she had been so doleful. Probably not. What were the odds of meeting that beautiful, rude girl again? Slim to none. So, he should stop thinking about her now and go to sleep.

Derek's eyelids started to droop, and slowly, he fell into a deep slumber, with the image of a certain green-eyed, desolate-looking blonde in his mind.


Derek's deep, peaceful slumber was disrupted by a rather loud whimpering sound. His eyelids flickered and he groaned and buried his face in his pillow, trying to ignore the sound. But, the sound not only persisted, but also grew louder. Derek groaned in a low voice and opened his eyes, mentally cussing whoever was disturbing his nap. Rubbing his eyes with his hand, he heard the soft, whimpering sound again and sat up on the bed. Looking around to find the source of the sound in his sleepy haze, he heard a pained moan right from underneath him. The source of the sound was occupying the lower bunk of the bunk bed. Fully awake by now, Derek slowly climbed down from the bed and squinted his eyes to see who was lying in the lower bunk.

His eyes widened when he saw the face of the person lying in the bed. The girl in the church! She was lying supine on the small on-call room bed, her eyes closed and her fists balling up the sheets. She was whimpering softly as she slept and rivulets of tears were streaming down her face.

"No...no...Please, I...no..." she mumbled incoherently in her sleep, writhing in the bed as if she were in pain.

She was having a nightmare. That much was pretty patent to Derek as he stood by the side of the bed, watching the girl twist and turn in the bed as she emitted pained moans and whimpers. And as shocked as he was to see the girl from the church there, in the on-call room of the hospital he worked in, he knew he couldn't just stand there and watch her stricken face. He had to do something.

Damn it, Derek Shepherd. You are a neurosurgeon. You should know what to do to help the girl, Derek thought to himself. He should probably wake her up. Yes. That was it. He had to wake her up and scotch whatever horrible dream she was having. But...But, he hardly knew the girl.

So what, Derek? You just have to shake her a bit and wake her up. You don't have to go and marry her, Derek's inner voice said. And it was right. He just had to shake the girl and wake her up from her sleep. He could do that. He should do that. He was a surgeon, and before that, he was a human being. He had to help the girl and put her out of her misery.

And so, Derek hesitantly sat down on the edge of the bed, being careful to sit as far from the girl's lying form as possible, and reached out tentatively to touch the girl's shoulder. His hand stopped midway as Derek hesitated once more, but another pained moan from the girl scotched Derek's hesitation once and for all. He touched the girl's shoulder and shook her gently. "Wake up," he said in such a low voice that it was impossible for any human being to hear him, let alone a sleeping one.

Gathering his wits, Derek shook the girl's shoulder a little more persistently and said in a stronger, louder voice, "Wake up. Wake up."

The girl stopped writhing and all of a sudden, she clutched Derek's hand with all her might. Her eyes flew open and she sat up straight with lightning bolt speed, emitting a loud scream.

"NO!" the girl cried out, clutching Derek's hand on her shoulder with her own, her nails digging into his skin.

Derek reacted spontaneously, climbing into the bed and draping an arm around her trembling shoulders.

"Shh, shh...It's ok, it's ok. You are ok, you are ok," Derek whispered to her as the girl sobbed loudly, not letting go of his hand.

"I – I..." The girl gasped as tears streamed down her face and sobs wracked her fragile body.

"It's ok...It was just a dream...You are ok," Derek whispered again, trying to free his hand from her death grip.

The girl shook her head and sobbed, leaning into him slowly. Derek tightened his arm around her as he murmured, "Do you want some water?"

The girl nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. Derek tried to withdraw his hand from her vice-like grip, but she refused to let go.

"Uh – um – You need to leave my hand so that I can get you water," Derek pointed out, his arm still wrapped around her.

The girl stopped sobbing midway, and her grey-green eyes snapped up to his. Before Derek could even realize what was happening, the girl pulled back from him and shoved him hard with both her hands and Derek fell out of the bed and landed on the floor square on his butt.

"Goddamnit!" Derek cussed loudly, wincing at the pain that shot through his butt to his hip.

"You?! What the hell are you doing here?!" the girl shouted.

"I work here," Derek murmured, rubbing his hip. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I work here too," the girl replied, her eyes wide with shock.

"Since when? I have never seen you here before," Derek said, not getting up from the floor.

"I'm one of the new interns. It's my first day of work," the girl croaked out.

Derek stood up from the floor, still rubbing his ass as he noticed the girl's light blue scrubs for the first time. "Well, I'm the head of neurosurgery...And thanks for breaking my hip," he said, wincing once more.

"You are the head..." the girl whispered, looking panic-stricken. "Oh, I...I am so sorry. I didn't mean to push you, but I – I...It's your fault!"

"What? It's my fault?!" Derek said. "How is it my fault?"

"What the hell do you think you were doing, climbing into bed with me? Were you...Oh my God, were you trying to...come on to me?" the girl asked, her mouth falling open.

"Whaaaat?! No!" Derek exclaimed loudly. "No, I wasn't...God, no!"

"Then why did you climb into my bed?"

"Okay, first of all, this is not your bed," Derek emphasized. "This is a communal bed. And second of all, I didn't climb into bed with you. I was just trying to help –"

"Oh, right," the girl said with a roll of her eyes. "You were trying to help me. Who ever said that I needed your help?"

Derek stared at the blonde, agape. This was why people didn't help other people these days. He had tried to help the girl, and she was accusing him of trying to molest her instead? What had happened to the world?

"Hey, listen to me. I wasn't trying to rape you or anything, okay? And besides, don't you think you should talk to your boss a little more politely?" Derek asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

The blonde laughed sarcastically. "Please, don't pull that 'I'm your boss' card with me. Just because you're my boss doesn't mean that you can get away with trying to come on to me. I know guys like you very well," she said bitterly.

Derek couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it. How could someone be so damn rude and ungrateful? "For the last time, I wasn't trying to come on to you. I was trying to comfort you. You really don't have any manners, do you? When you were rude to me on Christmas, I just thought that you were having a bad day. But no, you just break all records of being impudent and ungrateful," Derek said, shaking his head.

The girl climbed out of the bed and stood in front of him. Poking his chest with her index finger, she said, "I don't need your comforting. Think whatever you want to think. But, if you ever climb into bed with me again or try to come on to me, I swear you'll lose all your precious family jewels. Do you understand?"

"But, I wasn't –"Derek tried to say, but he wasn't given the chance to speak.

"You better understand," the girl said in a baleful voice before turning around and storming away, slamming the on-call room behind her, leaving a bewildered and shocked Derek in her wake.


Meredith walked out of the on-call room, the door shutting with a bang behind her. She pressed her palms to her cheeks and started to walk down the hallway in long strides. She needed to hide somewhere. She needed to hide somewhere where she could cry out in peace – where no one would disturb her. She remembered the nightmare vividly, the images fresh in her mind, as if it had all happened yesterday. She needed a secluded place to fall apart.

It took everything in her not to fall apart right there, in the middle of the hallway. She wiped her cheeks with back of her hand and tried to regain her composure. Get a grip on yourself, Meredith. You can't sit down and cry in the middle of the hallway. Get ahold of yourself, she told herself as her legs moved in as long strides as possible.

She stopped in front of the door of a supply closet and gripped the doorknob with her hand. After her first surgery with Owen, she had come to that very supply closet to grab some materials. She knew it was a good, secluded place to hide. Pushing the door open, Meredith walked inside the supply closet and shut the door behind her. It was then that she allowed herself to break down into loud sobs. She sobbed and sobbed, not bothering to cover her mouth with her hand as she cried. She slid down the wall of the closet and slumped on the floor, recalling the nightmare she had just had.

"Are you okay?"

Meredith stopped mid-sob, her face freezing. She hadn't realized that she wasn't alone in the supply closet. Shit. Her eyes snapped up and locked onto a pair of deep blue orbs. A familiar pair of deep blue orbs.

Meredith gasped. The guy in the church! He had the same eyes! But, as Meredith's eyes took in the rest of the person's form, she discovered that it was not the guy from the church. In fact, the person was not a guy at all. The person was a girl – a young, short brunette with the same eyes as the guy in the church. Meredith let out a partially relieved sigh as she stared at the brunette's face. For a minute there, she had thought that the guy had followed her from the on-call room to the supply closet.

"I – I am sorry," the brunette said in a soft voice, "That was a stupid question. You are clearly not okay. What's wrong?"

Meredith stared like a fool at the brunette's face. She didn't know what to say. The brunette had just caught her sobbing loudly and from the looks of it, she worked in the hospital. But...Meredith didn't even know the girl. How could she tell the girl what was wrong?

"I don't know you," Meredith blurted out, unable to come up with a better, more tactful answer.

A sheepish expression came over the brunette's face. "Uh...You're right. You don't know me. I don't know you. We are strangers to each other. I get it," she said, "So, let me introduce myself. I'm Amelia. My friends and family call me Amy, so you can call me Amy too. I'm a second year resident here."

Meredith stared at Amelia, dumbfounded. For a few minutes, Meredith just blinked and stared at Amelia. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she croaked out, "I'm Meredith. I'm one of the new interns."

A look of realization spread over Amelia's face. "Oh," she said, "You are an intern. Welcome to Seattle Grace Hospital. So, Meredith, why are you crying? You can talk to me, I don't bite." Amelia gave Meredith a tender smile as she took a few steps towards Meredith.

Meredith was at a loss for words. She didn't want to talk. She just wanted to be alone and cry out. And she definitely didn't want to talk to a complete stranger who, by the looks of it, had lost her marbles. But, she didn't just want to tell Amelia to shove off either. Something about Amelia was strangely comforting.

When Meredith kept mum, Amelia looked down and shook her head. "I...uh...I am sorry, Meredith. I am a stranger to you, and you clearly don't want to talk to a stranger. I am sorry. I didn't mean to pry or intrude or anything. I just thought that...But, never mind. I'll leave you alone. And I swear I won't blab to anyone about what I saw inside this supply closet. I know what you must be thinking of me – that I am a pushy busybody or something like that, but I'm not. I just wanted to help. And they say that sometimes, talking to a stranger can be more comforting than talking to someone you know. But, I am really sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you like that. I'm not a nosy little –"

"I had a dream," Meredith chimed in, causing Amelia to stop mid-ramble. For the first time in her life, Meredith had found a person who rambled just like she did. So, Meredith couldn't hold back anymore. Besides, Amelia really didn't look like one of those blabbermouths who went and spread gossip. Amelia looked...nice and friendly. Not that Meredith wanted to make friends or anything. "I had a horrible dream," Meredith said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh, Meredith..."Amelia said, walking up to her and crouching down in front of her.

"It was a really really horrible dream, about a really horrible thing," Meredith continued, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Which is kind of clear, because a horrible dream means that it is about something horrible, but you know what I mean? The dream...it was a nightmare. It – It reminded me of something horrendous from my past...It was...I don't want to remember my past, but the nightmare – it reminded of that horrific thing and I..." Meredith couldn't continue anymore as she broke down into sobs once more.

As Meredith sobbed, she half expected Amelia to say something like "I'm sorry" or "It'll be alright" or something like that. Because, that's what people usually said. People who didn't understand a damn thing about what Meredith was going through. But, Amelia didn't say any of those things. In fact, she didn't say anything at all. And before Meredith could realize what was happening, Amelia had wrapped her arms around Meredith and enveloped her in a tight hug.

Meredith was shocked, to say the least. No one had ever hugged her like that, not even her closest friends, so forget about complete strangers. She gasped softly as Amelia hugged her, her own arms gripping her thighs. She hesitated a minute, at a loss for what to do as she had never dealt with a situation like that. Everything about Amelia and the situation was singular, but after a few minutes of hesitation, Meredith wrapped her own arms around Amelia, accepting the strange but oddly soothing hug.

Meredith didn't know how long Amelia kept her arms around her, but by the time Amelia was pulling back, Meredith felt much better than she had been feeling previously. Not fully okay, but she was getting there.

"Better?" Amelia asked, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"Much better," Meredith said with a nod, managing to give Amelia a wan smile. "Thank you, Amy. Thank you for...listening to me, the hug and...everything. Thank you."

"Don't thank me," Amelia said with a shake of her head. "My mom and my brother always say that bear hugs make people feel better. I grew up getting bear hugs, so I'm basically a closet hugger. And I was just doing my job, as a human being, a surgeon...and a friend."

Meredith smiled again, her smile much brighter this time. "Hmmm...You are nice, Amy. A very good human being, and an excellent friend," she said, her eyes twinkling.


A/N: Hope I made up for the month-long delay with the update. Leave me a review! :)