Disclaimer: I don't own Grey`s Anatomy or Sleepless In Seattle. If I did, I`d be a very happy woman.
First of all: I`m absolutely, completely sorry for the hiatus! The truth is I was way more sad by the death of my Grandmother than I thought. I think that I only "realized", only let myself miss her about a month after she passed away. I was very depressed, my grades went down and I just wasn`t able to write for a long while. AGain, I`m terribly sorry, but I promise I will never abandon a story like that. I may take a break from it, but never abandon. Oh, and a very special thanks to CileSuns92, AddieBlake and MerDer4aeternity for the heartfelt words. You guys can`t imagine how much that meant to me!
Oh, nobody told me what they thought about the drawing I made of the fic. Was it that bad? 'Cause if it was, you can tell me. I can take constructive criticism. I just wanted to know what you loved/hated about it...
A/N: I was just rereading the chapters and besides some horrible, horrible grammar and spelling mistakes I made, I noticed I wrote `sighted` instead of `sighed` every single time. I`m terribly sorry and I promise I`ll correct every mistake I found as soon as I hate the time.
A/N2: Well, I have a little surprise. You will decide if you want Cristina to marry Burke or be left at the altar(and sometime later meet a certain trauma surgeon) and if George and Callie should break u or not, it`s up to you.
CileSuns92: I`m glad you liked that tittle too. I actually had the idea as I was about to fall sleep. Go figure. Thank you so much for understanding the situation. I`m so sorry about your Grandmother. It`s never easy. :/ Oh, Derek is finally taking guts to get what he wants and Izzie`s interventions are not even close to be over. ;) He you like this chapter too. :D
kate9801: Thank you! And I promise the next update won`t take half as long.
AddieBlake: Thank you so much! I always love to hear you opinion. :)
TVAddicted1: Don`t worry, I won`t. And thank you.
MerDer4aeternity: Of course I remember you. And thanks so much. I can honestly say that I`m better. ( a few months ago it would have been total BS). I hoe your grandmother is somewhat better. Much Too Much is one of my favourites episodes. Gosh, Derek`s face when he realized Steve slept with Mer... Jealous Derek is so sexy! I have to confess, I actually laughed out loud with your comment about Addison being Satan. But I think we`ll have to agree to disagree. I agree that Addie screwed up big time, but (not that I don`t think it`s right) considering the lonely life she had in New York it`s a little understandable for her to seek some attention... She just chose wrong every single time... But I thought she aborted the baby after she discovered Mark having an affair. Oh, and I love when she figures it out that Derek is jealous of Finn. McJealous indeed. lol
Bri: Glad you liked the way I tried to adapt things. Well, I always try my best not to make any mistakes, but I always miss something.
e13: Here you have it. X)
Michs240: If you haven`t watched the movie yet, wait a little bit more. Der`s encounter with out favourite Grey is very close! Glad you like it!
Destiny Takes A Hand
Chapter Ten: Let's Get It On
Sex. That was the only thought occupying Meredith`s head as she woke up to a silent and empty house on her day off. She still was feeling a bit awkward with what happened with Steve so she didn`t know how she was going to approach the subject with him.
15 minutes later, as she was drinking a cup of coffee the answer came to her. Steve called and asked if she wanted to jog with him and despite not liking to exercise very much, she saw that as the perfect opportunity. Yes, tight clothes, sweat and stretching may not be so bad after all.
She glanced at the clock wall. She had 20 minutes to shower, shave and find her tightest pair of yoga pants.
Izzie left Seattle Grace in a hurry. It has been a week since Steve had been discharged from the hospital and she was pretty sure Meredith was planning in "sealing the deal" with him. And that was why she was in her lunch break driving to their place like a lunatic- she just had to stop them.
Her friend may not agree, but she knew Steve was not the man for her.
Her worst fears came true as she parked her car and saw Steve's vehicle there as well. As she hurried up the front stairs and started to look for her keys she heard something that made her stop dead on her tracks: a loud gasp followed by a muffled response from a masculine voice.
Shit!
She slowly put the key in the lock while trying to listen to some more.
"Meredith, do you want to stop?" she heard Steve ask.
"No, no. Just hold still for a sec. It`s been a little while since I did this."
"It`s better if you do it quickly. I think going slow will only leave you sore afterwards."
"Okay."
Izzie almost broke the doorknob with the force she used to twist it. Panicking, she barged the open.
"Meredith, no! You`ll regret it for the rest of your life!", she yelled, expecting to find them in a pale naked of limbs on the floor.
Instead,she stood in the living room looking like a deer caught in the headlights while Meredith laid on her stomach on the floor trying to bend her body backwards in what looked like a yoga pose while Steve helped keep her balance.
"Can`t you change your flight and go tomorrow?" asked Addison as she watched her husband carry a small suitcase down the staircase.
"The surgery is schedule for tomorrow and you know I like to study the case on double-check the exams before operating." Lied Derek, amazed by his abilities to come up with excuses when it came to Addie.
"When you get back, I`ll be gone..." She trailed off and opened the front door, seeing the taxi he had called for waiting.
"Then I see you in Seattle.", he said as he close his suitcase and pecked her cheek.
She accompanied him to the taxi and waited for him to close the car`s door. "Call me later, okay?"
"Sure." Derek gave her a small smile and turned to the driver, giving the directions for the airport. In reality, his flight was late in the afternoon, but he decided that waiting at the airport would be better. He could think all he wanted about a certain dirty blonde without Addison interrupting. He knew he should be feeling guilty, but his anxiety in what was to happen erased every other thought from his mind.
Just as she finished putting on her sports bra, the door bell rang. Running down the stairs, she opened the door and smirked at Steve`s expression upon her appearance.
"Hi Steve." She said sweetly, after he stared at her, his mouth opening and closing but no sound coming from it.
"H-hi...Meredith." He finally managed to say and bent to kiss her cheek.
"Won`t you come in?" She stepped away to let him in and closed the door. "So, I thought we could do some stretches and yoga before we jog. Just to get my muscles to collaborate." She shrugged nonchalantly. If her plan worked, there wouldn`t any jogging going on as they would be doing a much more pleasurable exercise on her living room floor.
"Sure." He seemed to have finally regained his motor function and took out his jacket and laid on the back of the couch. "Let`s start with those stretches, shall we?"
I must be having a freaking dejá vu, thought Meredith as Izzie barged in and yelled, interrupting yet again Meredith`s plan of getting laid. She looked over at Steve and noticed he didn`t seem very pleased with the intrusion.
"I...thought...uh..." Stevens mumbled, trying to find an excuse.
"Shit, Izzie, what the hell is wrong with you?" asked Meredith as she untangled herself and stood up.
"George had a fight with Callie and went after her to God knows where...and he asked me to ask you to cover for him." Replied Izzie, secretly proud of herself for yet again finding an excuse. "And as for the `you`re making a mistake` speech, well...I though you guys were going at it in the kitchen table and that is forbidden territory."
Meredith eyed Izzie suspiciously, sending her a glare that said she didn`t believe the ex-model.
"And you couldn`t have called?" asked Grey, crossing her arms.
"I could, but since I had forgotten a change of clothes I thought it wasn`t necessary."
"Well, clearly you were mistaken." Snapped Meredith.
Steve, uncomfortable with the tension in the room, cleared his throat. "So, Meredith, I think that`s my cue to go." He went to the couch and picked his jacket.
"I`m so sorry, Steve." Meredith apologized and followed him to the door.
"That`s all right. Call me when you have time, okay?" He kissed her cheek and closed the door after him.
As soon as she heard his car leave the house she turned to Stevens with a murderous expression.
"Isobel Stevens, you`re so screwed." She hissed, slowly approaching the tall blonde.
"Mer, listen to me." She raised her hand as if surrendering to her tiny friend. "I`m sorry, okay? Well, not sorry about interrupting, but sorry about pissing you off."
"You should be sorry about interrupting!"
"Please, just hear me out, okay?", she pleaded and upon seeing her friend agreed, she continued. "Look, I`m just trying to do the best for you. I don`t have anything against Steve but I don`t think he`s the guy for you. You shouldn`t settle for some guy just because he is the most convenient one."
"I`m not settling. Steve is a nice guy."
"I know and I agree, but can you honestly tell me that you feel any sparks with him?" Taking her friend`s lack of response as a no, she added, "You should be with someone you love, someone you want to send the rest of your life with."
"Izzie", she sighed, "the probability of that happening to a woman like me is near zero. Besides, how can you know I won`t learn to love Steve? I heard stuff like that happens."
"Because I fell in love once and I know that it doesn`t happen like that. You feel it as soon you look into his eyes, as soon as you touch his hand." She said sadly.
"Denny?" Meredith asked, hating that her friend lost the love of her life.
"Yeah." She blinked away the tears that threatened to fall. "My point is you deserve that. You too can find the love of your love. Just think about it, okay? For me, please?"
"All right, I`ll sleep on it." She sighed. "Now, you better get back to the hospital."
"You aren`t coming?"
"Wait, you were actualling telling the truth?"
"Not about the clothes I forgot here, but George did leave early and asked me to call you to cover his shift. Besides, what better way to enjoy your day day off than scrubbing in a surgery?."
She smiled at her friend`s enthusiasm. "All right, just give me 5 minutes to change these clothes."
One thing Meredith realized when she became a doctor is that you can learned a lot about life with your had been working with Dr Burke on a patient that had had a heart attack and needed a pace maker. He was married for 32 years and his wife doted on him, obviously still in love with him after all these years.
Maybe Izzie was right,maybe she was entitled to love. After all, if Ellis Grey, workaholic and surgeon extraordinaire had that, maybe she had a chance, even if remote. She took out her cellphone and dialed.
Just as Derek sat in the airplane, his phone began to ring. Taking it out from its holster, he checked the screen and didn`t recognize the number.
"Dr Shepherd."
"Hey man." Said the voice of his best friend.
"Mark, why are you calling me from an unkown number?"
"My phone is dead and the gorgeous Lizzy here let me borrow hers."
"Who is Lizzy?"
"My new friend." The grin was clear on his voice.
"Once a man whore..." He sighed half heartedly.
"Yeah, yeah. Just wanted to say I found certain papers on to of your desk that Addison would not have liked to see. "
The info and the photos Detective Powell got for him. His blood ran cold. "Holy shit! I forgot to put them back on my bottom drawer."
"No need to. Done that already." Sloan chuckled on the phone. "But I have to say congratulations, man. Your Meredith is a total knockout. If you weren`t that crazy about her, I`d fly to Seattle right now, show up at her doorstep and demonstrate the advantages of being with a Sloan."
For the second time in his life, Derek felt jealous and the mental image of Mark touching Meredith made him see red. "Meredith is mine!" He practically roared on the phone, making a couple sitting in front of him turn around at the noise. He lowered his tone, still trying to control his urge of punching his friend. "You can have any woman you want, but Meredith Grey is off-limits. Do you hear me?"
His threat only made the plastic surgeon chuckle even more. "And you say you feel nothing for her. I can only imagine what will happen when you meet her in person." He cleared his throat and spoke in a serious and concerned voice. "But Derek, you don`t need to need to worry about me making a pass at Meredith. I`d never try something with someone you care about, even if I wanted it more than nothing else."
"I know, I trust you. Besides, I dob`t even know what I feel about Meredith. The only thing I do know is that I can`t stop thinking about her." He confessed, way too distracted to notice how strange Sloan sounded. "Look, I`ve got to hung up. The flight will take off in a few minutes and it`s the second time the flight attended tells me to shut my phone down. I`ll call you when I get there."
"All right. Bye."
"Bye." He shut down his hone and look up as a middle aged woman sat down to his right. Mark was right, he was a bit crazy about Meredith.
"Don`t you just hate flying?" The woman sitting next to him asked, breaking his line of thinking.
"Yes. I just told a terrible lie to my wife. Do you think that any lie is a betrayal?" Did he have a "liar" expression on his face? Did Addie noticed that too?
The woman just blinked and stared at him with a strange expression on her face. "I said flying." She turned back to the book she had in hands and Derek had the impression that she wouldn`t stop reading it until they reached Emerald City. Oh, well...He turned to the window and resumed his earlier thoughts.
"Meredith?"
"Steve, hey. Is this a good time?"
"Sure, I just thought you would call me much later."
"I`m on a coffee break. I..." Courage, you can do this! Just tell him you need space or something.
"Is everything okay?"
"I..." Get a grip, Grey! Say something! "A break!", she managed to say.
"What?"
"Listen, I don`t know how to say this, but I need a break from this, us."
"Are you breaking you breaking up with me?" He asked in a sad voice.
"No. It`s not like that. I just feel that this is going to fast for me. You see, my last relationship was sort of serious and I think that maybe because i jumped into things too quickly it didn't work. I mean, I know it was not my fault that the bastard cheated on me with that whore, but I did make the mistake of letting her rent a room in my house and I even made her a grilled cheese sandwich once, when her patient died." She rambled on. "My point is, I just need some time to think and put some things in perspective..."
"Okay." Steve sounded like he was a bit confused with her rambling and was looking forward to ending the call. "So call me when you done...thinking, I guess."
"I will. You`re a great guy, Steve. See you." She ended the call without waiting for his reply. Had she done the right thing? Not wanting to dwell any longer in the subject, she pushed it from her mind and went to check the post op on her patient.
As she got into the room, she noticed his wife was absent.
"Hello, Mr O'Connor, how are you feeling? Any pain?" she asked as she checked his incision.
"Aside some soreness, I m okay. You did a good job, Dr Grey." He smiled at her.
She smiled back and checked on his chart. "Mr O'Connor, your wife said she got home and found you unconscious on your room. Were you having any extreme exercise or an stressful situation that may have caused the increase on your blood pressure?"
"Well, to be honest, Dr Grey, I was having some fun in the company of my lady." He said sheepishly.
"But your wife only got th..." She trailed off and shock and surprise marked her features. "Oh! Yes, I...I see. So, you were..." She didn`t want to hear this.
"Look, Dr Grey, I`m not a bad person but I also won`t live a lie. I don`t plan on keeping my wife-"
"BASTARD!" The yelling voice of his wife interrupted his speech as she entered the room. "I went home to grab a few things for YOU! And I go into your study and find this!" She showed him several pictures of him with a much younger woman. "Along with a voice message of your lawyer telling he will drop the divorce papers next Wednesday!"
"Now, Anna, calm down." Said her husband, trying to get her to stop shouting. "I planned on telling you, but the time never seemed right."
"The time never seemed right?" She asked him in a small voice, trying to hold her tears. "I`m your wife, Albert! For 32 years I stood by your side! Thirty two years and I had to find out by your "girlfriend" that showed up in my house that you're dumping me like a piece of garbage. And to make things worse you had sex with her in your bed! Our marital bed that I bought in our honeymoon. How could you?" She apparently had given up holding her tears as they were running freely down her face.
"I`m sorry, but what do you want me to say?" Was all he said to her.
She shook her head and sobbed. "There`s nothing more to say. My lawyer will contact yours as soon as possible. Have a nice life." She put the pictures on the table and left the room.
An embarrassing silence filled the room and Meredith shift from one foot to the other, not knowing what to say or do.
"I`m sorry for that Dr Grey." said Mr O`Connor.
As she was to reply, her ager went off. Thank God!
"No problem. I have to go, but if you need anything just ask the nurse." She smiled at him and stormed out of the room, relieved to scape to scene. She walked to the nurse`s station.,
"Somebody paged me for a consult." She said to Nurse Tyler.
"Yeah, I did." Said Yang, that was sitting behind the desk. "What was going on in room 2305? We could hear the screams two corridors away"
"apparently my patient is cheating on his wife and filed for divorce without telling her anything. She had to heard it from the dirty mistress herself." She said as she propped herself on her elbows facing her best friend.
"Ouch. Poor woman."
"Tell me about it." She looked around and saw said woman sitting by the waiting area looking lost. "See that woman in the red sweater? That`s her. I`ll be right back.", she said as she walked away.
"Mrs O`Connor, are you all right?" She stopped a few feet from her.
"Yes, I`m fucking great." She said bitterly and looked up, meeting Meredith`s eyes. "I`m sorry, I`m just not myself at the moment."
"It`s all right. I can`t imagine what you must be going through." She said as she sat in a chair next to her.
"You know, when we met I was already engaged to another man. His name was Henry Osborne. He was a really nice man, but when I met Albert... Henry was the safe choice. He was the man that would give me stability and a nice life but when I met Al I didn`t want that anymore. I mean, why would you settle for someone if you think you found the love of your life in someone else? I should never have been so stupid to think what we had was magical." She shook her had. "Now look at me, 51 years old and completely alone. Albert never wanted children so it was just the two of us." She chuckled dryly. "I don`t even have a lawyer anymore, because the one I had, became not only my husband`s own lawyer but his best friend. I should never have married him." She got up from her chair and slid the strap of her purse on her shoulder. "I must go, I have a life to rebuilt. It was nice meeting you Dr Grey." She said as she left the room.
Meredith sat there for some time, comtemplating what she had heard. She was right after all. What she had learned with what had happened is that life had no guarantees. If she decided to listen to Izzie she most probably would spend the rest of her life alone and that was one of the things she feared the most. Her "family" had been reduced drastically with the death of her mother and Alex. As much as she hated to think about it, after Alex died death was something she thought about it and feared often and if something happened to her remaining family she would be lost. It was hard enough thinking about the "what ifs" concerning Izzie or George`s possible sudden death, but to think about something happening to Cristina as well knocked the wind out of her.
No, she would not be alone, not if it were up to her. Screw what her mother or Izzie said. She wouldn`t spend the rest of her life alone waiting for the love of her life, if said person really existed.
Reaching into her pocket, she took out her phone and dialed Steve`s number.
"I did my thinking."
"So, we`re not on a break anymore?"
"No, but I was thinking that since we keep being interrupted, how about we go away somewhere on Valentine`s Day on our own?"
"I would love to."
"Well, my shift actually ends 10 pm that day so we won`t have problems finding hotels available and such."
"That sounds fine. Do you have any particular place you would like to go?"
"Not really. Hey, would you like to stop by the hospital tomorrow and have lunch together?"
"Oh, I have to go to New York tomorrow for the baptism of my friend`s daughter. I`ll be back in two days."
"Oh."
"I would have asked you to come with me, but since you wanted some space..."
"No, no. That`s fine. I don`t think I`m ready to meet the friends yet. Hey, do you want me to give you a ride to the airport?"
"I really want to bother you..."
"It`s okay, really. What time is your flight?"
Meredith was sitting in an empty gurney when Cristina came in and sat by her side.
"So, what happened? You disappeared."
"Oh, I had to call Steve. We`re going away for Valentine`s Day."
"That`s good, right?" Yang asked, seeing her person`s lack of enthusiasm.
"I guess." She shrugged. "He`s a good guy."
"Way too nice for me, but sure." Noticing by her demeanour that whatever was bothering was unrelated to her quasi relationship, she spoke again, trying to find out what it was. "So, you`re concerned Steve maybe be lousy in bed?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
Yang shrugged. "You just seem preoccupied. I just thought it had something to do with the guy."
"No", she shook her head, "just...don`t ever die, Cristina." She said as she laid her head on the raven haired`s shoulder.
"I`ll do my best." She repeated Burke`s answer when she begged him the same thing. Not really comfortable with hugging but wanting to comfort her person at the same time, she put her arm around Meredith's shoulders and the two stayed like that in the silent hallway, content in each other`s presence.
"You`re right, Izzie. It`s a really good latter." Said O'Malley as they were lying in her bed, inebriating themselves with a bottle of vodka.
"I told you, George. I should write him." She said as took a big gulp from the bottle.
"Mer will be royally pissed at you."
"I don`t care. It`s M.O.P."
"What`s that?"
"My only hope."
"Well, you`re at your own risk there, Princess Leia."
"Oh no, no, no. You`re in this with me. If I go down, I`m bringing you with me. Now, grab a pen and write that down. 'Dear Derek..."
So, what did you think? Loved it, hated it? Please do review, I love to hear your thoughts! Seriously, reviews make my day!