Meredith was in shock from her run in with little Molly Grey. She stood stock still at the door to the parking lot, her mouth opening and closing but not saying anything. People pushed past her, ignoring her, figuring she was going over something in her head. Well, they certainly weren't wrong. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Derek came up behind her and touched her arm lightly. "Meri, are you okay?" he asked her, and she looked up at him.

"I just met my little sister. One of them at least," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "She's ten. Her name is Molly and I play her aunt in the party scene," she said softly. "Not only that, but her older sister is an apprentice and a soldier," she said, tears pooling in her eyes. She didn't know why she was upset; she knew she had two sisters. She just didn't know how close they actually were. "I can stay away from the older one. I don't know her name or what she looks like. But I can't stay away from Molly, I'm cast with her and I'm a professional," she said, leaning in to Derek and burying her face in his chest. He held her close to him and let her cry, kissing her forehead.

"Come on, let's go back to your house and we'll cuddle in bed and watch a movie or something, and you'll make your list of roles and ballets you want to be in.." That seemed to perk her up, and they walked hand in hand through the rain to his car.


True to her word, Meredith had made a list of her dream roles that she wanted to dance. It had taken her a week to make the list; there were so many beautiful and perfect roles out there that she'd dreamed of dancing and narrowing them down to ten had been insanely difficult. Derek had offered to help one morning while was making her pancakes, but she knew she had to do this herself. She stared at the page in her notebook; she had written it in pen, in no particular order, so there was no going back.

Kitri

Aurora

Lilac Fairy

Esmerelda

Firebird

Giselle

Odette/Odile

La Sylphide

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

La Bayadere

Meredith showed the list to Derek and he nodded his approval.

"And with many of those I could be your partner," he teased her, setting a plate of steaming pancakes in front of her. She slathered them with butter and syrup before digging in.

"These are amazing, how are you such a good cook?" she asked him, taking another bite.

"Four sisters. Four. Plus I've been on my own since I was seventeen," he shrugged, sitting down next to her at the table as they both ate and drank their coffee. They had 45 minutes to get to PNB and be ready for class, and then there was a day of endless Nutcracker rehearsals. Their first show opened in a week; they had 8 shows a week until New Years Eve, and there was no second cast. If someone got injured, the corps girls would have to double up or triple up on their roles.

"I grew up with a cook," she admitted, standing up with her empty plate to put it in the dishwasher. "A cook, a nanny, housekeepers. Because the great Ellis Grey didn't know how to be a mother. Did you know that she danced at PNB? Webber told me the other day. And I knew she danced in a company while she was pregnant with me, so I'm assuming it was PNB because I was born here," she said, leaning against the countertop and finishing up her cup of coffee and sticking her empty mug in the dishwasher with her plate. "And then suddenly when I was five, she divorced my father and we fled to London because she was offered a principal place in the Royal. She danced with Paris Opera for a bit, that's how I know how to speak French. I took ballet classes at the school there, but then she retired and was asked to be Mistress at the Royal," she said with a heavy sigh. She hadn't ever told anyone that much about her mother before, although she suspected Richard knew.

Derek nodded along as she spoke, washing off his own dishes and sticking them in the dishwasher.

"Ballet is in your blood, Meredith, kind of like your destiny," he teased her. "Come on, we don't want to be late," he said, grabbing her hand. They grabbed their coats and dance bags, Meredith's bigger and heavier than his because of her numerous pairs of pointe shoes, and they were out the door to his car and on their way to PNB.


As always, Nutcracker rehearsal was never ending. Today they didn't have the kids with them so they were able to skip a few of the dances like the angels, mother ginger, much of the party scene, a lot of the mice and soldiers, and the candy canes. They were doing the larger dances, the soloists, and the principal roles, which made up most of the company. The apprentices that had been called today, too. Meredith wasn't very fond of them but they rounded out the cast, so she couldn't complain, plus some of them were incredibly good. There was one in particular who was sweet; she knew Alex had her eye on her. Jo Wilson was English, which Meredith loved because the pair could sit for hours and talk about London together. She knew Jo from the Royal as well, but she was three years younger than Meredith was. She told Alex to leave her alone but to no avail.

Sitting on the side of the room with Cristina, she sighed as she watched Arizona and Mark's Arabian Pas de Deux.

"I wish I could dance like that one day," she sighed as she watched the pair.

Cristina looked at her point blank and raised an eyebrow.

"What!? They're perfect, Arizona is gorgeous. Her lines are absolutely beautiful, her back is so flexible." Meredith protested. Cristina shook her head again.

"It's true that we are our worst critic. Mer, you can outdance anyone in this company and everyone knows it. That's why no one will talk to you. You're inbred. You're the daughter of one of the greatest dancers of the past generation and it doesn't take a genius to see that you're following in her footsteps. I wouldn't be surprised if Webber promoted you after winter season, really, and didn't wait until the end of spring when he usually promotes people," she said, before sighing and standing up so that they could do snow.

She and Cristina were the soloists in snow, and as such they were on stage almost as much as Callie was. As she danced, she reflected upon what Cristina said. It was true; Izzie despised her for simply walking in and tenduing her foot with a perfect arch. April was jealous because she was getting soloist and principal roles when she used to. Amelia felt threatened because she was a soloist and Meredith was encroaching on her territory. Addison hated her simply for being in a relationship with Derek, when she had dumped him for Mark. At one point in the dance when her head was down, Meredith rolled her eyes at the insanity of it all, how it felt so juvenile and high school, but at the same time, no one in the company had ever gone to high school. Maybe that was the problem.

After Snow she had a few dances to regain her bearings before Marzipan was up. The dance wasn't difficult and once again, she was cool and collected and didn't get out of breath as she danced. She adored Marzipan though; it was a fun and articulated dance and you had to have a certain sense of artistry to do the particular style if demanded. Striking her final pose, Meredith finally dared to look in the mirror, knowing everyone's eyes were on her. Tough luck. She was good and she wasn't going to dumb down her dancing for anyone.

Bailey deemed the girls good enough; she didn't seem to want to run things much today, which was good, and Meredith retreated to the side once again, taking a sip of water. Mother Ginger should have been up next but since George was the only one here and he didn't actually dance, they skipped it. Meredith stretched out her legs on the barre, feeling like she'd blown out her calves, but it didn't matter. She'd run down to the PT room later. Flowers was next and she ran to the other side of the room to prepare for her entrance. As the music started and they got into the dance, she felt more like a wilted flower than one in full bloom. She was exhausted and drained; Thursday was Thanksgiving and the next night was opening night. She needed to pick up the pace and give the rehearsal her all. Taking a deep breath she plastered on a smile and threw her high energy into it, waltz turning in a circle with thirteen other girls, jumping, leaping, pirouetting, before finally taking her final pose. Waltz was the last group dance of the show and they were there to entertain. The flowers were shooed so that Addison could do Sugar Plum's dance, then there was the Pas, then the Tarantella, and the Coda. Meredith watched, wishing and hoping that someday, that would be her, that she would be the shining principal of PNB.


The week passed quickly and soon it was Thanksgiving. Most of the younger people in the company either lived in Seattle with their parents, or flew home to be with them. Meredith was not one of them, so she had decided that she was going to order chinese and watch old videos of her mother dancing on tv. That was, until, Wednesday after rehearsal Addison strode up to her.

"Meredith!" she said with a smile, and Meredith turned around with a brow raised. Addison was actually talking to her?

"Yes?" she questioned, suddenly anxious.

"So I know your mom lives in London and you're not doing anything for Thanksgiving so I was wondering if you'd like to come over to my apartment, Derek's invited too, and I know you don't know all of us that well and we'd all love to get to know you better." Meredith nodded with a smile on her face. She was being accepted into the inner circle of soloists and principals. She wasn't sure if it was because they liked her or found her threatening but now she had somewhere to be tomorrow.

"I'd love to come, Addison," she smiled, reaching out and touching the older girls arm.

"Alright! Dinner is at four but people usually come around one so we can drink and have fun," she smiled, before heading towards her dressing room to change. Meredith stood in the hallway, dumbstruck, until Derek came up behind her.

"You okay?" he asked, and Meredith nodded.

"Addison invited me for Thanksgiving. You too," she giggled.

"Ah, yes, Addison and her famous Thanksgivings. They're actually a ball, we're all so drunk we can't taste how terrible her cooking is," he teased. She couldn't help but laugh.

"Give me a second to change and then we'll go home?" Lately all Derek did was stay at her home, and she really couldn't complain about it. Half of his things were there, he would up with her in his arms, and they fell asleep telling stories from when they were growing up in ballet schools. She was falling so hard for him, it was ridiculous. She quickly changed out of her leotard and tights and into jeans and a long sleeved shirt, slipping her feet into ballet flats, before leaving her dressing room and finding Derek to go home. She was exhausted and was glad they had the day off tomorrow.


Thanksgiving morning was great. The pair were able to sleep in a bit longer than usual, and upon waking up they had waffles, which ended with them having a fight with the whipped cream. Laughing hysterically, they climbed the stairs again and took a shower together, Meredith teasing Derek by using her lavender shampoo on him.

Once her hair was dry, she pulled on a cream colored dress with a brown floral print to it, brown tights and a brown ankle boot. Her hair was so damaged from pulling it back all day, every day, so she straightened it and left it down. Slipping the necklace from her mother around her neck, she looked at herself in the floor length mirror and smiled. She still looked much younger than eighteen but oh well.

Derek came out of the bathroom dressed in dress pants and a buttondown and she smiled at him as he tugged her closer.

"Happy thanksgiving," he said with a smile and her smile widened.

"Happy thanksgiving," she returned, "Our first of hopefully manly," she giggled.

"Definitely many," he replied, leading her downstairs. It was raining outside, typical Seattle, and he slipped into his coat, handing her hers. She pulled it on and followed him out to his car. Addison lived downtown, not too far from Meredith's house, so it was a short drive. He parked in the lot behind her building and they walked in, riding the elevator up to her apartment and knocking on the door. Mark answered, welcoming them inside.

"Well well, it's the corps girl," he smirked, and Meredith rolled her eyes. She hated being called that. "I'm so much more than a corps girl," she retorted, brushing by him with her newfound air of confidence, the one that had gotten her through twenty shows of Romeo and Juliet. Mark looked after her, slightly shocked, shaking his head a bit.

Meredith found Amelia on the sofa, grinning up at her.

"You just stood up to Mark? I've been wanting to do that my entire life, he grew up with us in our goddamn house and he's an arrogant asshole," she laughed. Meredith decided now was as good a time as any to sit down and get to know her boyfriends little sister.

"He really is an arrogant asshole. Brilliant to partner with but I wonder if that's just his insanely inflated ego, or if he really is that good," she giggled, looking up when Derek handed her a glass of wine, before going back to talk to the wounded Mark. Meredith smirked and turned back to Amelia. "So when did you join PNB? I hear so much about you from everyone else, but I realized I've never actually spoken to you," Meredith said shyly. Amelia smied.

"I went to the Jacquline Kennedy Onasis school most of my life and they offered me a position with the company, but my sister was already with American Ballet Theater. So I was an evil little sister and auditioned here and got in. Everyone says they're going to make me a principal but who knows? Addison would blow a gasket though," she grinned, sipping on her own wine. Meredith looked down at her lap.

"There's rumors I'll be promoted after Nutcracker," she whispered, taking a long drink. "I don't know how true they are, they never promote in the middle of the year!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. Amelia grinned and slung her arm around her shoulder.

"Girl, have you seen yourself dance? You should've been hired as a principal straight away." Meredith laughed and shook her head, blonde hair flying.

"No, totally not true."

"You're so your mothers daughter."

"Oh my god Amelia take it back!"

It was so easy to talk to Amelia, it was like the pair had known each other their entire lives and she felt so comfortable talking to her, she loved it. Plus, she was the only other person at the party who wasn't a principal. Yet. They two girls chatted all afternoon and soon were best friends. Eventually Addison announced it was time for dinner and Amelia and Meredith headed to the table, arm in arm, Derek sitting on Meredith's other side.

The food actually wasn't terrible, so she knew Derek had been exaggerating, and everyone was eager to get to know Meredith outside the studio. They were all half drunk and open books, so it was fun answering questions and asking them. She learned that Callie was from Spain, Arizona had a brother in the Army, Teddy and Owen were dating, Erica grew up on a farm in Idaho of all places, and Burke was from Baltimore and went to the Washington Ballet School. Everyone kept peppering her with questions about Ellis Grey and the Royal ballet and she kept laughing, insisting there was nothing to tell, besides the fact that Ellis was cold and tough, and the Royal was just like any other ballet school, except they had exams and followed a syllabus and she hated the style of dancing and much preferred Vagonava. RAD just wasn't her cup of tea. After questioning Meredith they all started sharing stories from ballet school, each one worse than the next. By the end of the night they were all crying from laughter, and Meredith hugged Addison goodbye.

"Thank you so much for inviting me tonight, I needed this," she grinned, as she and Derek departed for her house.


The next day they rose bright and early at 6 am, having to be in the studio by 7 for warm up. The company was in one studio, while the children were in another taking class. After classes were finished they had a complete dress rehearsal that would take up to 4PM, and the show started at 7.

Meredith couldn't help but laugh as she and Cristina twirled around onstage in their ballgowns and hoopskirts, character shoes on their feet. The curtain was up but no one was in the audience. The stage was set and this was about to be fun. Soon enough more dancers joined them on the stage and they stopped twirling, but mingled with their fellow company members. The only one who wasn't in the scene was Addison, but Amelia made her way over to Meredith in her Clara costume and pointe shoes.

"You look adorable!" Meredith giggled, fingering the pink velvet dress that came with a very fluffy petticoat and a set of pink ribbon trimmed bloomers. Amelia rolled her eyes and tugged on one of her expertly curled curls.

"I look thirteen. I mean, I'm supposed to look thirteen, but I LOOK thirteen, you know?" and both girls laughed. Webber suddenly came into the theater and sat down, clapping his hands.

"Places everyone!" he shouted, and Meredith and Amelia ran off the stage. The orchestra started the familiar intro music, and when it was their time, Clara and Fritz skipped onto the stage. The part scene had begun


After the party scene, the corps girls and Callie made a mad dash for their dressing rooms to change for Snow. They had enough time, but they always felt like there was never enough time. Meredith stripped off her Party costume and left it in a heap on the floor, wiggling into her tutu for Snow, fumbling with the bobby pins needed for her tiara. She had to change her makeup a bit, using blues, whites, and silvers for her eyeshadow, dusting her shoulders with shimmer and glitter so she was more ethereal and snowflake like. After tying her pointe shoes and stitching them on, she ran back to the stage area and dipped herself in the rosin box. Clara the the Nutcracker prince were doing their Pas in the winter scene. She took her spot in the front wing, opposite Cristina. They were the first two on in the entire dance as soloists, and as Clara and her prince exited, Cristina and Meredith did a sauté, pas de chat, into a soutenu turn. Everyone else took their cues from them. What Meredith loathed, however, was when the fake snow started falling from the rafters of the theater. It got everywhere. In her hair, in her mouth, down the front of her costume. It was almost blinding. There were parts where Clara danced between her and Cristina and she smiled as she caught Amelia's eye as they moved seamlessly together. Callie did a spectacular job in her lead role and the dance went off a hitch, except of course there was fake snow everywhere.

Meredith did a quick change into her Marzipan costume, grabbing the set of reed flutes that went along with it and stood backstage, waiting for act two to start. The angels were adorable, and Addison made her spectacular debut with jumps higher than Meredith could ever imagine doing. She found herself growing jealous – of what, Addison? She thought. She had everything that Addison wanted – a body predisposed for ballet, Derek, and a title of ballet royalty. But she wanted to get fantastic featured roles.

Soon enough her dance was on, and as she and her corps bowed to Sugar Plum, the music started. Despite her corps dancers being apprentices, they were spectacular and performed to Webber's standards. Once the music was over, they curtsied to Sugar Plum again, running off. Mother Ginger was next, and Meredith had a quick change into Waltz of the Flowers. She pulled on the fluffy, layered pink gown, another tiara fixed to her head before she ran back upstairs just in time for the dance. Making her entrance, she danced her heart and soul out, putting her everything into the dance. She knew Webber was watching her every move. Once flowers was over, they exited the stage and the entire company jostled to watch Addison and Derek perform the grand pas. Once It was over, there was the finale, and then everyone took their bows.

And then it was over. Webber had no complaints, he didn't want anyone to go over another dance. He stood up and clapped his hands with a smile.

"Ladies and gentleman, that was great. You have a few hours before the show, use it wisely. Eat, hydrate, keep your bodies warm. I'll see you back here at five."

Meredith couldn't believe it and quickly ran up to Derek, he still dressed as the Cavalier and she dressed as a flower. She grinned and threw her arms around him, accidentally showering him with glitter.

"That was great!" she laughed, as he laughed into her tiara. "I really want chinese takeout because I don't feel like leaving this building," she smirked.

"You should probably take off your costume, don't want to damage PNB property," he laughed at her, and she did the same.

"Hey, I'm not the one wearing all white," she pointed out, as Amelia came up to them, wearing a white sleeveless nightgown for Clara.

"What are you guys doing? I don't feel like leaving," she said, and Mere rolled her eyes.

"We literally just had this conversation, we're getting takeout chinese, we're eating it in whoever has the cleanest dressing room," she laughed as she started to walk backstage. Once she was in her dressing room she got out of her flowers costume, taking off the tiara and pulling on sweats and her down-filled booties before finding Derek in Amelia's dressing room. She shared it with Callie and Arizona. "Yours is the cleanest, you're hosting the dinner party," she laughed.


At 7PM sharp, the show started. Meredith was nervous but fortunately, no one messed up, not even the young children. She was still nervous about Molly Grey, and wondered which one of the soldiers was her other sister, but she was quick to brush it off. She got lost in the music and the dance and let herself have fun. Even during snow, when she had to hold those obnoxious pom poms and be showered in one ton of fake snow, she couldn't believe that she was on the PNB stage, doing what she loved. When it came time for Marzipan she made sure she shined bright, trying to impress any critics in the audience who might remember her and write a review again. But it was during Waltz that she truly lost herself in the steps of the six and a half minute song, soaring across the stage with every leap, landing every pirouette gracefully, and flicking her arms and hands just right. When it came time for the soloists to take their bows she realized she was a part of them, having danced two soloists parts, and as Marzipan she took a deep curtsy, her smile outshining the stage lights.


Oh my god this is the first time I've written over 4000 words! Eek! And I just updated yesterday too! This story isn't getting many reviews; if there's something you're not liking please let me know!

I have plans for Meredith and plans for Lexie so just hold tight! I write really fast so ;)