D Day had arrived…Departure day. It was Saturday morning and the house was in a frenzy…well Izzie was in a frenzy, but what else was new? She was rushing around making sure Alex and Mer both had everything…'Alex, do you have enough underwear and socks?', Mer, did you pack your tampons'? Finally it was time to leave and Alex and Meredith couldn't have been more ready by that point. They declined Izzie's offer to take them to the airport, cause they would have needed a lobotomy before they got there. The cab was just fine, Izzie was assured by both of them. The three months now seemed really more like a vacation and less like work. They got to ticket counter and were led to a private jet.
"Wow…so this how the other half lives." Alex said.
"Yep." She had traveled this way some growing up with 'The Great' Ellis Grey when she deemed to remember she had a daughter that couldn't always be left alone…at 8 years old. They got situated and settled into comfortable silence. This is what she liked most about Alex. He didn't feel the need to fill every moment with inane chatter, for which she was grateful. If she had been with Izzie, she would have felt the need to go skydiving…without a parachute. She loved Iz, she did, but the girl was way to happy to be normal. She felt her eyes grow heavy halfway into the flight and decided to have a nap to pass the time more quickly.
She was awoke by Alex gently shaking her shoulder. She realized she had been sleeping on his shoulder. She was embarrassed to see the drool stain on his shirt. She blushed and looked at Alex.
"I'm sorry. Oh god, how humiliating."
"No problem. The drool was quiet at least, just wet. Your snoring however…"
She shoved at his shoulder.
"Shut up Evil Spawn. I do not snore." She hissed.
"I hate to break it to ya Mer, but yes you do…loudly. Your screaming orgasms have nothing on the loud sawing of wood that exits out of your mouth every time you breathe. I almost plugged your nose."
"Hmmpf." Meredith crossed her arms and pointedly ignored him for the rest of the flight.
**************************
"This place isn't half bad." Alex said walking into their new digs for the next 3 months.
"It's okay. Kind of generic. No personality." She said referring to the drab beige walls and nondescript furnishings.
"Mer it is an apartment, not a person. It has a couch, a chair, a kitchen table, a TV, two beds and dressers and a bathroom. What more do you need?"
"You forgot to mention the stove."
"No I didn't forget it. You are not allowed to touch that thing. It will get no use at all. Do I have to remind you of the spaghetti incident?"
"That wasn't technically my fault." She said sheepishly.
"Mer, you caused a fire boiling water…water. The directions said to boil the water for 10- 15 minutes before adding the noodles, not to let the water boil out until it was empty and then add the noodles."
"I told you I missed that part of the directions and it was 2 years ago. Are you ever going to let me forget it?"
"Hmmm…let me think…no." He dodged narrowly missing the shoe that she hurled at him.
"Temper, temper Mer. You must learn to control that."
"Eat me."
"Now there's an idea." Alex smirked.
"Whatever, I am going to go unpack." Meredith grabbed her bags and lugged them to her room.
Alex watched her go. Meredith was definitely something. What, he didn't know. She had the ability to see through his shit and to keep him in line. She had encouraged him to go after Gynecology instead of Plastics when he discovered he really liked it. He had been really embarrassed about his change of heart, but she had told him he would be wasting his talents in Plastics. She saw the compassion that he kept a tight reign on. It made him feel weak and he had felt that enough in his own childhood just as she had. She was infinitely kind, even when the world kept kicking her down. Shepherd had ground her heart into hamburger meat and she had never been the same since. But she still had not lost her compassionate and insightful nature as was proven when his apartment had been condemned. His mind wandered back to that fateful conversation 2 years ago.
He was sleeping which he was thankful for, 20 hours into his 36 hour shift. He was under an impossible amount of stress. His apartment had been condemned effective immediately two days ago and he had been living out of his car and the hospital. All of his worldly belongings stuffed into 3 boxes. How sad. He really didn't have the money to get a hotel room indefinitely, he still had an exorbitant amount of student loans to pay back. Housing was a nightmare in Seattle and he didn't have a whole lot of options. But right now he was sleeping. He jackknifed up in bed as the door slammed open and hit the wall. Standing before him was a very pissed off Meredith Grey. His eyes widened as she glared at him. She walked up and punched him in the arm. Hard.
"Ouch! What the fuck was that for?"
"That is for you living out of your car. What the hell are you doing?"
"Oh, nothing just in between apartments. I had to get out of my old one and my new one won't be ready until Friday." He lied.
Her eyes narrowed at him. He winced. She always had the ability to see right through him and he could tell today was not an exception.
"Bullshit. I was not born yesterday. You are homeless Alex."
"It is not a big deal. It's not the first time."
"Well it will be the last…you are moving in with me."
"George and Izzie live with you in a three bedroom house and unless you have made O'Malley's dreams come true and he is now sharing your bed, you have no room for someone else." He pointed out.
"I will make room for my family. And you Alex, whether you like it or not, are part of my family. I will make the den into a bedroom. We will make it work. Besides, George and Izzie are driving me crazy. They are too…happy. Ugh. I need someone to be dark and twisty…like me."
Alex started to protest and Meredith put up a hand to stop him.
"Please. You helped me when…well you know." She said sadly her eyes looking at the floor.
"How did I help you?"
"By not babying me like Izzie and George. You and Cristina just told me to shake it off and keep going. So it is my turn to help you. I wont take no for an answer. Rent is due at the first of the month. There is no need for you to pay a deposit. Use it to buy a bed. Here is your house key. " Her hand held out the silver item and he hesitated until he looked at her determined face. He reluctantly took it from her. She got up and walked to the door.
"Thanks Grey." He said sincerely.
"Anytime Karev." She smiled and was out the door.
Alex shook himself out of the memory. He had half a mind to fall in love with her, but knew that she didn't have a heart to give him. He still had it. After over 3 long years, she still had not completely healed. She got back to living after a few months of crying, vomiting tequila and unneeded weight loss. But her eyes still held a note of sadness there that hurt all of her friends to see. But she had survived, a little more wiser, a little stronger, she always said. He took a deep breath and went to go unpack.
