Setting: Seattle Grace Hospital. Seattle. 3 years after Meredith left Seattle.
"Mom, I'm fine okay? I'll try to be there for thanksgiving. I promise. I need to go now. Bye, love you!" Derek growl after ending the call.
"She hasn't seen you for years man. It's Mom" Mark exclaimed the obvious.
"That's her 4th call for the week. I understand and I love her, but I'm not 16!" Derek sighed.
"You sound like one, now. That's for sure" Mark shrugged.
"Ass" Derek muttered.
Before Mark can say anything, they were interrupted by the Chief.
"Dr. Sloan, Dr. Shepherd" The chief greeted.
The two doctors nod in greeting.
"Dr. Shepherd, I need to talk to you about something. Are you free?" The Chief asked.
"Yeah" Derek nod before he followed the chief towards his office.
"The chief from New York General Hospital called, they are asking if they can get you for a consult. They sent this lab results for you to look at" The chief hand over an envelope containing the lab result of a patient.
"Mesial orbital frontal-lobe tumor" Derek muttered while looking at scanning the scans.
"VIP Patient of New York Gen, 26, 30 weeks pregnant consulted for sleep problems, she's kicking who she feels she wants to kick and grabbing butts, the husband thought it was just because of the pregnancy hormones but when they did a CT, they found the fontal-lobe tumor Dr. Bennet said it's inoperable"
"No, it's not." Derek claimed.
"His resident thought so too. He's a family of the chief at New York Gen, Dr. Bennet said it's possible to operate after recalculating but he never done it before that's why they asked you for a consult. They want you there tomorrow."
"Okay, I need to check the patient for myself first to confirm besides it's a VIP so I need to be 100% sure. You can tell them Chief, I'll be at New York Gen tomorrow"
Derek was just about to turn around and leave the office.
"Derek, there's another thing" Derek looked at the Chief waiting for the 'another thing'.
"Uhm, the Chief said Dr. Bennet and his 3nd year resident will assist you" Derek shoot a confuse look at the Chief.
"3rd year resident? Can't they get a senior resident? Chief, this surgery is beyond delicate and I'm going to need people who is knowledgeable and experienced about the procedure and I don't think a 3rd year resident is qualified.
"I know, but Dr. Bennet's resident is the one who told the Chief about consulting you. She told her Chief that she has seen and assisted you doing this procedure a few times. They also said she's the best resident for this case. Which leaves her the upper hand, among other residents."
Derek is surprised but furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He didn't work at New York Gen before but he knows Dr. Bennet, he's a colleague of Derek and done few surgeries before with him. A 3rd year resident is at question in his mind.
"The resident has seen and assisted me? And who could that be?" Derek doesn't really have an idea on this resident they are talking about.
The Chief paused at first with hesitation to tell Derek who's the resident.
"Uhm. Dr. Meredith Grey"
Meredith. His love Meredith? She's at New York all along. Derek and Meredith worked together in a similar case few times before. That's why she knows the tumor may not be inoperable. There's no doubt she's the perfect resident to assist. But this is Meredith, his Meredith, the one who left him because of him.
Made sense, she is interested in specializing Neuro, and to learn and work under Dr. Bennet is really a big opportunity. Why he hasn't suspected she's in New York all along? Does she kn -
"Derek? Derek?" He was pulled out from his own little world when he heard the Chief calling him.
"Uhm, yeah I – I'll be there tomorrow, Chief" Derek muttered before leaving the chiefs office. He walked towards his office, he's mind is racing of thoughts.
He opened his office; his mind is preoccupied. He didn't even noticed Mark comfortably resting on his couch with his feet rested against the table across it.
"Hey, Derek. What happened, did you knock out someone?" Mark chuckled to try lightening up the mood. He studied his best friend and all he can see was his face painted in confusion and sadness, with fear, longing and excitement. He has seen him in this state before. There's only one person who can make him like what he looks like right now – Meredith.
-
Meredith release a big sigh when she finished her 48-hour shift. She is walking like a zombie at the hallway, exhaustion consumes her body. She stopped moving when she saw a familiar figure then smiled weakly at him.
"Hey, you know you're the most beautiful - zombie I've ever seen." Nathan chuckled while he makes his way towards her glaring girlfriend. He welcomes her into his arms, she didn't have the energy to hug him back but she rested her head at the crook of his neck.
He kissed her head before slightly pulling away to face her. "And certainly, smell like a zombie too – ouch" He earned a pinch from Meredith as he overacted his pain.
"I talked to Chief Webber earlier, he said Derek will be arriving tomorrow to be a guest resident for the VIP case." Meredith weakly shared to Nathan.
She continued talking before Nathan can reply.
"Yes, he knows that Dr. Bennet and I will assist on the surgery"
Before he muttered anything, he slightly laughed when the silence was replaced by a growl of stomach.
"Hmm. Okay, First, let's feed that stomach of yours before you eat my brain – ouch" Nathan earned another hit in his chest.
"Okay, okay sorry. You and your tiny ineffectual fists" He chuckled before kissing the back of her hand. They walked towards the resident's lounge to get her ready to go home.
They quickly had breakfast at one of the nearest cafés from her home. Meredith quickly proceeded to the bathroom in her bedroom as soon as he unlocks the front door. They did their usual routine when one of them is at night shift. Meredith, getting herself ready for bed while Nathan busied himself by cleaning a bit, fixing her things, and preparing a food.
He made his way in her bedroom and propped himself on the bed as he heard her unlock the bathroom door and quickly let herself in the covers. His arm voluntarily wrapped around her arms as he let her snuggle into him.
"I have a night shift, I'll go in around 8pm later. I'll wait for you at the hospital tomorrow" He felt her nod.
"I'll not be able to see you until then, do you want to talk about what will be your arrangements tomorrow?" He asked as he slightly rubbed his fingers up and down of her arms.
"He will just be here and be a guest attending for the case, a VIP case which means he'll stay here until the patient is cleared to leave the hospital. The chief insisted I assist, because I am the only resident to have a real experience about the case. That's the only reason he'll be here tomorrow.
We - we had a thing in the past and it's been 3 years he probably moved on already with his life. So, we will coexist professionally at the hospital" He noticed she was irritated in her tone, that makes him nod and decided to let it go.
She's just tired – he thought.
He tightened his embrace around her and kissed her head to let her drift into deep sleep.
"I love you" He muttered but not really expecting a reply since he heard her breathing became shallow and even.
Meredith woke up that day around afternoon, she smelled the aroma of food from the kitchen. She walked towards the kitchen, she smiled when she saw Nathan cooking, he's so focused that he didn't noticed her enter the kitchen.
She slowly made her way to him. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulders. He was slightly shocked at her gesture, but smiled when he knows it was her.
"Hey, mister" She greeted.
"Sneaky again huh?" He chuckled lightly then turn around to face her, wrapping his strong arms around her tiny waist and rested his chin on her head while she rests hers on his chest to hear his heart beating.
She always liked the feeling of being on his embrace, she felt warm, secured and loved by him. She always liked it, but there's always something that she felt missing, she thought at first it was just because she's still moving on from what happened from her previous love life. But even after 3 years have passed, there is still the missing piece she's feeling.
She felt incomplete. She feels a part of her is missing and that made her felt bad for Nathan. She wanted Nathan to be happy, she wants to give everything to him for him to be happy because he deserves it. After everything she has been through, Nathan was there for her. He walked inside the Dark and Twisty world just to make sure she's not alone anymore.
And every time she felt incomplete, she felt guilty. He deserves her completely, she wants to be complete for him but didn't know how to because she didn't know what the missing piece is, which makes her guilty.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked when he heard her release a sigh in frustration. Slightly pulling himself away to face her. His heart pinch when he saw her eyes with tears threatening to fall while biting her lower lip which she does every time she's nervous, sad, confuse.
She smiled at him and rested her head back on his chest before speaking.
"I'm fine, just – uhm, tired. And I miss you" She bit her lower lip trying to prevent the tears that are threatening to come out.
"I miss you too and I love you" He replied while hugging her tighter and caressing her arms slightly with his fingers.
The tears suddenly escaped from her eyes, which she hated because she didn't even know why she felt pain in her heart on his words.
'The worst kind of sad, is not being able to explain why'
AN: Thank you for the reviews. I really appreciate it. I will try to update with longer chapters, thank you. :')