Glory Days
By Misha
Disclaimer and Notes in Part One.
Chapter Four- Long Way Down
"You've changed." Mark told Meredith when he had finally managed to corner her. He had a feeling that she was avoiding him.
"You haven't." She said quietly and then she smiled. "You look good Mark."
"So do you, Merry-girl, so do you." He told her appreciatively, giving her a once over. The beautiful girl had grown into a beautiful woman. "Can I buy you dinner and a drink and tell you just how good you look?"
"Don't flirt with me." She told him. "We both know that you didn't come here for me."
"No, I didn't." He agreed. "That's because I didn't know you were here."
If he'd known, if he'd ever heard the name of Derek's intern… Well, he didn't know what he would have done, but it would have changed things. If he'd known where Meredith was, he didn't think he could have resisted coming to her, just to talk to her. It was more complicated because he came for Addison, had been determined to win her back; now he didn't know what he wanted to do.
"It's been a long time, Merry." He said after a moment. "Don't you think we should catch up?"
She was still for a moment, obviously considering her options. "Okay," she said finally, "you can buy me dinner."
Mark grinned. "Perfect. First though, I have surgery. Lionitis, your pal Karev tipped me off to it. Best part is its Derek's patient."
Meredith shook her head and sighed. "Is that a good idea?"
"Probably not." Mark told her. "But nothing about this mess is and it's too good of a surgery to pass up on. Even if Derek hates me."
"You slept with his wife." Meredith pointed out.
"And he slept with mine." Mark replied. "Though, to be fair, he didn't know it. Still, isn't it interesting that of all the women in the world, it's that Derek ends up running to?"
Meredith just looked sad and tried. "Fate likes to screw with me. That's the only answer I can come up with." She said softly, pushing her hair back out of her face.
"Not just you." Mark told her quietly.
It had seemed so simple this morning. He had come to Seattle for Addison, to get her to come with him, but now there was the complication of Meredith. He'd spent almost ten years trying to forget her and had never really succeeded. He loved Addison, but he had also never stopped loving Meredith, something he'd realized the second he had seen her again. She'd fascinated him from the moment she'd walked into his life and nine years apart hadn't changed that.
The woman in front of him wasn't the Merry Grey he remembered, but then he had known a rebellious, defiant girl and Meredith was definitely not a girl any more. She was a woman, though he could still sense her vulnerability and there was a sad, broken quality about her. Mark didn't know if Derek was the cause or her mother or even if some of it was from him.
"I need to get back to work." Meredith said after a long moment.
Mark nodded. "Me too. So dinner tonight?"
It was Meredith's turn to nod. "Dinner."
With that she turned and walked away, leaving Mark staring after her, wondering what his next move should be. He'd come to Seattle for Addison, but now he didn't even know if he should try and talk to her or if he could concentrate on Meredith for now. Things were definitely more complicated than they had been that morning.
Fate hated him. That was the only answer Derek could come up with. Not only was Mark here, but Derek had to work with him. He'd tried arguing with Richard, but he'd lost. Not that Richard seemed thrilled about Mark's presence, but in the end Richard had acted as the Chief and had decided that it was too high profile of a surgery to turn down.
Still, Richard had seemed relieved that Yang and Karev were his interns that day, he'd made a point of asking. It seemed Richard didn't want Mark anywhere near Meredith, which made Derek even more curious. Obviously Richard knew their history and it didn't please him.
Derek couldn't help but wonder what had happened? What had they shared? What had torn them apart? Was it her relationship with Mark that had turned Meredith into the woman she was now, so broken inside? Derek hated that possibility, the idea that Mark had had that kind of effect on Meredith. It was bad enough that they had been involved, that they had been married, but Derek hated the idea that there might be any lasting attachment or damage.
Derek had to admit, if only to himself, that he was being tortured by the image of Meredith and Mark together, making love. It fact, that image bothered him more than the very real memory of seeing Mark with Addison. Something that Derek didn't want to examine too deeply. He hated the idea that Mark had not only made love to Meredith in the past, but that she'd been his wife, that he'd had a claim on her that Derek never would.
That part really bothered him, probably much more than it should since he'd been the one to leave Meredith and go back to Addison. But, deep down, he still thought of Meredith as his; his love, his salvation and the knowledge that she'd belonged to Mark first… It didn't make him happy, that was for sure.