THE VIEW FROM HERE
FADE IN
INT. – MEREDITH'S HOUSE – MORNING
Meredith and George are in the kitchen. Meredith is making breakfast and George is reading the paper.
MEREDITH (V.O.)
In Michigan they have a saying…if you don't like the weather just wait five minutes. I've been to Michigan before. It's beautiful. Who would have thought that a state shaped like a mitten would have sand dunes and some of the most beautiful beaches you've ever seen.
Sometimes a change in surroundings is all it takes to recharge your perspective. It can happen in a day or over a long weekend…but sometimes what you need is a more permanent change in scenery. I've come so far and I feel like I am an intern again looking at everything through the same eyes of fear, intimidation, and uncertainty…learning a whole new game with different rules. But this time it's the game of life…and the rules are not conveniently typed up in a policies and procedures manual or diagramed in a medical journal. Sure would make things a hell of a lot easier.
"Hey Mer…can I ask you something?"
"You can ask me anything. Whether I answer or not is another thing" she teases.
"It's just that the last time I lived here you could barely boil an egg. Izzy pretty much did all of the baking. When and where did you learn to cook like this?"
"Well, I knew Derek didn't know how to cook and someone had to feed us. I mean, the days of living off half eaten grilled cheese and cold pizza had to end some time. And then living out in the woods where we were so far away from the nearest restaurant or grocery store…my only choices were to learn how to forage for berries, eat fish everyday…or learn how to cook. And since I'm not really even sure what forage means…I took a couple cooking classes…here…taste my homemade bread."
She opens the breadbox and pulls out a round loaf of bread, tearing a piece off and handing it to George. He takes it from her and immediately puts it up to his nose.
"Oh my God…I love you."
"Aww, I love you too" Meredith says back.
"Well this is awkward…I was talking to the bread."
Meredith laughs and pretends to grab it from him.
"Not a chance" he says. "Do you have any butter?"
Meredith grabs the butter from the fridge and at the same time there's a knock on the front door. She tosses the butter to George who catches it in his free hand as the other is being used to hold onto the bread as he tears it apart like a wild animal devouring its prey. Meredith runs to open the door and finds Cristina on the other side.
"Good morning. Are we having breakfast?"
"Come on in. He'll be down any second" Meredith says.
The two of them run to the kitchen and quickly grab a seat. A creak on the steps diverts everyone's attention toward the hallway door. They watch as Koty descends the steps in his worn out grey sweatpants and then appears in the kitchen doorway shirtless with his long blond hair still messy from what apparently is the true definition of the phrase "beauty sleep."
"Good morning everyone."
"Morning" everyone repeats back.
"Mmmm, that smells delicious. Mer, where's the dishes."
"They're down in the bottom cupboard" she says.
Cristina is confused. "The bottom cupboard? Who put's dishes in the bottom cu…"
Meredith quickly hits her in the arm to shut her up. Koty walks over to the cupboard and bends over to get a dish revealing the red waistband of his aussieBum underwear and a butt that runs a close second to the homemade bread George was currently biting into. Meredith cranes her next to watch. George tries to pretend he's not watching and Cristina nods her head in approval. "Yes…that's where I keep my dishes as well. The "bottom" cupboard."
Meredith laughs.
INT. – SGH OWEN'S OFFICE – MORNING
Larry Jennings appears in Owen's doorway and knocks even though the door is open.
"Larry…come on in. Thank you for coming on such short notice."
"So what's going on? You sounded concerned on the phone. Should we schedule a meeting where all of the board members can be here?"
"Not just yet. I wanted to talk to you first. Please…sit down."
Both Larry and Owen sit down and Owen breathes a heavy sigh to prepare himself.
"I am thinking about resigning my position as Chief."
"What! Resigning? If you miss surgery or want to spend more time in the O.R. we can get you an assistant to take care of some of your administrative tasks."
"That's not it at all. I'm contemplating leaving Seattle Grace."
"Leaving? That doesn't make any sense. What's going on? Did something happen?"
Owen considers his words carefully. "Yes…I mean no. It's hard to put it into words. There comes a time when you think about the things you've done with your life and decide what's important to you…and not that being Chief wasn't important…it's just that there are other things I could be doing that would feel more rewarding."
Larry quickly responds. "More rewarding? You are running a hospital and managing thousands of people while ensuring that we provide the best care to our patients in the entire State of Washington…and you don't find that rewarding? There was a reason those Iraqi victims were flown here. People know us for providing quality care. What we do is exceptional."
Owen looks down and away from Larry.
"Wait a minute. This isn't something you are thinking about. You've already made a decision."
Owen looks up at Larry. "I have. I'll be leaving at the end of this month."
"Well alright then. I guess there's no sense in trying to convince you to stay. I'll schedule a meeting of the board and we'll talk about a replacement."
"Thank you." Owen stands to shake Larry's hand.
Larry tries one last time. "Sure I can't talk you into staying?"
"No. I'm sorry…"
Larry turns to leave. "Ok then. I'll be in touch."
INT. – SHG ELEVATOR – MORNING
Callie is waiting for the elevator and the doors open revealing George standing on the other side. She hesitates at first and then steps on, walking to the back before she turns around, focusing on the changing floor numbers to avoid looking at George.
But George breaks the silence. "So…how are you doing?"
Callie snaps an answer back to him. "Good…thanks for asking."
George tells her he is fine but then realizes she didn't ask. Callie is still staring up at the numbers hoping he doesn't say anything else. The elevator stops on her floor and the door opens. As she begins to exit she stops for a moment still looking away from George. "Thanks…for before" she says as she turns and walks away.
George smiles because he knows it's a start. "No problem."
INT. – SGH NURSES STATION – MORNING
Callie walks up to the nurse's station where Mark is standing and laughs when she sees him hitting on a nurse.
"Hey…"
"Hey yourself" he says. "Ah-hem…you left these in my bed this morning."
He pulls a pair of underwear out of his pocket.
"What are you doing waving my underwear around in front of people. Give me those." She grabs them from Marks hand and then attempts to explain the situation to the nurse about how she's staying at Marks until she gets her own place and he slept on the couch…but the nurse just smiles and walks away apparently not believing a word she says.
Callie looks to Mark. "God…I've forgotten what a toad you are."
"Number one…there's no need to call me God and two…every toad is only one good kiss away from becoming a prince."
"Well, this princess is not kissing the toad again. Been there…done that my friend and it didn't stick the first two times so why would it now?"
Mark shrugs his shoulders. "Third times a charm?"
Callie laughs. "Well, you'll just have to aim all of that charm in a different direction because I'm not interested."
Callie walks away and Mark watches, checking her out from behind.
"Meet me in the on-call room at noon."
Without turning around she answers. "Not if you were the last toad on earth."
INT. – SGH LOCKER ROOM – AFTERNOON
Meredith and George walk into the locker room where Alex is sitting alone.
"There you are" Meredith says. "You keep disappearing. What's going on with you?"
"Nothing" he answers. "For once in my life I can say that there is absolutely nothing going on in my life. I'm in my 30's…I don't have a wife or a kid let alone a girlfriend and my days are exactly the same from one to the next. So I can honestly say, that in terms of anything going on…you'd find a more interesting story if you read Clifford the Big Red Dog over and over again."
Meredith sits down on the bench and George leans up against the lockers.
"So, I heard you talked to Izzy. How is she doing?" she asks.
"How did you find that out? I wasn't planning to tell anyone. I mean, what's the point?"
"You told George because he told Bailey and she told me."
Alex is irritated. "I didn't tell George."
Meredith looks to George for clarification and George is stoic.
"Well, if you didn't tell George…then George, how did you find out?"
"I talked to Izzy. Seriously…she was my best friend before I left and that hasn't changed. We tell each other everything."
His confession causes Meredith to point her questions away from Alex. "Why didn't you say anything about talking to Izzy?"
"Because I thought it would make Alex feel bad so I didn't say anything."
Alex brushes it off. "Ahh, don't worry about it. I'm glad you keep in touch with her. She was a part of our family once…if you can call what we have a family."
Meredith agrees. "Of course it's a family. The sad thing is it's actually less crazy than our actual families. So how is she doing?"
"She's doing really great. She's moved on ya know...had a big job offer from UCLA. I'm happy for her. In fact, next time you talk to her…tell her I said that."
"I will. We're having dinner tomorrow night" George says.
Alex is surprised. "She's in town? What is she in town for?"
"I'm assuming it's just for dinner. She didn't say anything else."
Alex gets up to leave and George feels bad. "Alex…are you sure you're ok with me hanging out with Izzy?"
"Dude why would I care? She's not my wife anymore. She can hang out with whoever she wants."
Alex leaves the room.
INT. – SGH O.R. – AFTERNOON
Richard is walking out of surgery and his beeper goes off. He removes his gloves and checks the message. It's a phone number.
"This is Dr. Webber."
"Richard, this is Larry Jennings. How are you?"
"I just stepped out of a six hour surgery so I'm exhausted and in need of a shower. How's it going? Is something wrong?"
Larry continues. "I talked to Owen earlier today and he is resigning his position as Chief by the end of this month. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind stepping in…at least in the interim…until we find someone permanent."
"Stepping in? What did the board say?"
"I've already talked to everyone. They are all in agreement that it would be the best idea. The search may take longer than we have time for and they want to ensure there's consistent leadership. The last thing we need is the uncertainty that comes with a lack of guidance."
Richard thinks about for a few seconds. "I don't know. With Adele being sick I'm just not sure it's the best thing right now. Would you mind if I took some time to think about it?"
"Of course. Can you call me by the end of the week?"
"I will. Thank you." Richard no more than hung up and his beeper goes off again. He looks to see who it is and it's another phone number.
"This is Dr. Webber."
Hearing a familiar voice makes him smile. "Hey…how have you been? Oh you're welcome…you deserved it. You're in town? Yeah, I'll meet you for dinner. Ok…7pm. See ya then."
INT. – MEREDITHS KITCHEN – MORNING
Meredith is making breakfast and George is reading the paper. There's a knock at the front door and Meredith runs to answer it. Flinging the door open, she doesn't know if she's more surprised by who isn't there than who is. "It's you."
"It's me" Derek says.
There are a few seconds of silence that seem to go on forever until Derek breaks the tension. "So, how have you been?"
"I'm good. How are you?"
"I'm good. Look…I stopped by because I want to talk to you about something. I've been approached by Doctors without Borders to go to Iraq for three months."
Meredith suddenly feels sick to her stomach. "Wow…three months. That's a long time…and Iraq? When are you leaving?"
"I haven't decided whether I'm going or not. I didn't know how you would feel about it."
Meredith is irritated. "Why would I have anything to say about it? We haven't talked in over three months and are basically living separate lives. Why should you care what I think now…after all this time?"
"Meredith…I miss you."
"I miss you too. But we've proven time and again that you and I just can't make it work. We've been here so many times that the thought of starting over again just makes me wonder how long it will be before we're back here again. My opinion is…if you have an opportunity to go and work with Doctors without Borders for three months, maybe you should consider taking it. Of course, you'll need to tell Owen about it and he'll have to agree."
Meredith brings up Owen hoping it will be a way she can keep him from going. Maybe she can get to Owen first and convince him it's not a good idea or maybe Cristina can convince him. Her head is spinning with possibilities on how she can intervene.
"I talked to him already. He said it was my decision."
"You talked to Owen first? Then why even bother asking me?" She turns around and shuts the door. Derek stands there for a few seconds and then turns to walk away as Meredith watches through the glass.
MEREDITH (V.O.)
Watching Derek walking away is nothing new…the view from here looks exactly the same as it always has. The only difference between this time and what seems like hundreds of other times is the reason. Forget about finding 50 ways to leave your lover. Derek and I have that record beat hands down. I don't know…maybe the trip will be a good idea. Maybe the time away will be a good thing for us. Maybe we both just need a different view for a change…although Iraq is not much of a view.
Koty comes down the steps. "Morning Mer."
She watches Koty walk into the kitchen.
MEREDITH (V.O.)
But the view from here is not bad at all.
INT. – SGH PHYSICIANS LOUNGE – MORNING
Richard is in the Physician's Lounge and waits until he is alone before making a phone call. "Hello Larry…this is Richard. Ok, I'll do it…but on one condition…"