Author's Note: All your continued support means the world to me! I hope you enjoy Chapter 3!

Chapter Three

The Loneliness Sinks In

An abnormal silence greeted Meredith Grey as she stepped out of the cool autumn air and into the dark foyer of her house. She started to call out, asking if anyone was home, when she remembered. There was nobody to answer her. Derek was stuck in surgery and her roommates no longer lived there. She was alone.

"Alone is good," she said aloud, knowing it was ridiculous to talk to herself. Nobody was there to mock her though, so what did it matter? "Alone is great." Yes. It was good to be alone. No. Correction. It was great to be alone. She smiled, setting her keys on the little table next to the door and then shrugging out of the light weight denim jacket. Since Izzie wasn't there to lecture her about leaving her things around, she tossed the jacket in the general direction of the coat tree and giggled when it hit the floor. Alex would get a kick out of it. Except there was no Alex. He was gone to. There was only Derek. No doubt it would annoy Derek, but he would pick it up without a lecture or teasing.

Sighing, she wandered into the living room. She supposed she could put in a movie, but she wasn't the greatest about picking out something good. Usually Izzie would put on some ridiculous, yet endearing, chick flick; or Alex would bug her until she agreed to watch one of his action films. "I could just grab one," she pointed out to herself. Crouching in front of the shelf where she kept movies, she closed her eyes and reached out. The first slender DVD box she touched, she grasped and pulled out. 'Love In The Time of Cholera.' She made a face and quickly put it back. Cristina had left it and if she remembered correctly she had fallen asleep half way through. She didn't need a sedative. She needed a laugh. "What would Izzie pick," she muttered, scanning the shelf. None of the quirky romantic comedies she had enjoyed with Izzie were there. Another quick scan revealed that all her favorite action movies were gone as well. "Figures." She couldn't be mad. Izzie and Alex had brought the movies with them when they moved it. It only made sense that they would take them with them when they moved out. It just sucked. It really, really sucked. She owned no good movies and the ones Cristina left were boring.

The growling in her stomach reminded Meredith that she hadn't eaten since early morning. She started to wonder what Izzie was going to cook for dinner but caught herself. Izzie wasn't there to cook. She would have to make dinner herself. It wouldn't be so bad. She could throw together something simple. How hard could it be to cook spaghetti? She'd seen Izzie do it enough over the years. Boil some noodles. Fry some hamburger meat. Add a can of sauce. Presto, dinner! She could do that. A faint grin spread across her lips as she opened to the freezer door. She could do it, but thanks to Izzie she wouldn't have to. The freezer was full of tupperware bowls. She pulled out the top one and hurried toward the microwave. Soon the smell of meatloaf and mashed potatoes was filling the air. She would have to remember to call and thank Izzie.

"I should call her now," she said around a bite of buttery potatoes. Shoveling in one more bite, she dialed Izzie's number. "Thanks for the food," she said when her former roommate picked up. "Seriously, I think I would have starved or burned down the house."

"I can't do this, Meredith," Izzie cried on the other end. She launched into a shrill telling of what an ass Alex was being. A moment later she let out a screech and her voice was replaced by Alex's.

"The trailer isn't big enough for the both of us, Mere. You're going to have to have Derek evict some one and I think we both know which one that should be!" Alex yelled.

Pulling the phone away from her ear, Meredith wincd. She had known letting her former roommates move into Derek's trailer was a bad idea. Had anyone listened to her? Of course not. They had all taken the easy, and quick, way out. She had known this would happen. There was too much history between them and they were both volatile when it came to the other. Cramming that into a tiny trailer had disaster written all over it.

"If all you're going to do is yell, I'm hanging up," Meredith threatened. The screaming match on the other end came to a halt. "I called to think Izzie and to tay that I miss you guys. I wanted to see if you wanted to, you know, maybe meet at Joe's for a beer...or something."

"Joe's sounds good," agreed Alex. Izzie sputtered something about him wanting to find his latest skank. "You're just jealous."

"Of your mission to catch an S.T.D.? Oh yeah, I am just eaten up with jealousy," Izzie sneered. She had somehow taken control of the phone again. "Meredith, I would be happy to meet you at Joe's. And I'm glad you're enjoying the food. I'll make up a few more on my day off. I hate cooking for myself, so I might as well pack some up for you."

In the background Meredith could hear Alex asking if she was going to refuse to feed him. She let out a laugh. She wondered if Alex knew how whiny he sounded. Probably not, and he wouldn't appreciate her pointing it out. "Hey, Iz, do you think I could borrow a few movies? Like that one with Patrick Dempsey where he's supposed to be a bridesmaid?"

"Made of Honor." Izzie signed. "Yeah, I'll bring it to Joe's along with some cookies. There's no way I can eat a whole two dozen by myself."

This time there was no hiding her laugher when Alex openly asked why he couldn't have the extra cookies. Of course Izzie had to tell him to just ask one of his bar whores to bake for him, that is if they had big enough brains to figure out how. Meredith yelled good-bye, hanging up before she could be drawn into the fight again. As she hung up the phone she decided she would have to speak with Derek about the trailer situation, because clearly her former roommates couldn't live there. Not together. They would have to come home where they belonged, whether he liked it or not.