She spent most of the day in bed reading magazines or trying to convince her parents she was fine. Surprisingly, she fell asleep early and woke up right on time to go to work only to find she wasn't feeling any better. Brushing it off, she quickly decided that no matter what she was going to work. She wasn't going to let her parents find out either.
When she got to the hospital, she quickly changed and set out to find her interns. She found them lazily hanging around the empty pit.
"How are my patients?" She asked walking toward the area her interns were crowding. They all quickly jumped to their feet and mumbled off some sort of response. "Alright, lets go. We have rounds." They all quickly followed after her as she led them to one of her patient's room. A wave of nausea hit. "Ugh, go in there and… um, get ready to present." She mumbled before walking over to the nursing station. Leaning forward on it, she laid her head down on her crossed arms.
"What's wrong with you?" A voice came. She glanced over at Alex.
"Nothing… Just a bug or something."
"Maybe you shouldn't be here."
"You sound like my parents." She swallowed hard standing up straighter.
"He's right, Meredith." Her mother's voice came.
Rolling her eyes, she glared at Alex. "I am fine." She looked between her mother and stepfather and Alex.
"Just get checked out, Meredith." Richard said in a calm voice.
"I need to meet some people who aren't doctors. Who think an upset stomach is a bug not appendicitis or who think a headache is just a headache not a possible concussion." She rolled her eyes as she grabbed a chart, but Richard stopped her.
"As your boss, I'm telling you that you aren't working if your sick. As your father, I'm telling you that you need to get checked out."
She rolled her eyes glaring at them. "Fine! Let me finish rounds and you can poke and prod me with needles for all I care." With that she stormed away.
--
"Happy?" She asked as she held some gauze over the small needle hole in her skin.
"Not until I see what they say." Richard said.
Rolling her eyes she stood up. "I'm going back to work."
"I'll get these to the lab and put a rush on it."
"There are probably patients who lives depend on their results. I on the other hand am fine."
"You know I can't take you seriously when you say 'fine."
"What am I supposed to be, Dad? My life is falling apart and I can't get a grasp on it." She nearly shouted.
Richard sighed giving her sympathetic eyes. "I'm sorry, Mer." He moved to hug her, but she jerked away.
"My real father is in the hospital… who, by the way, I haven't seen in years. I'm sick. Mark is in New York, and I can't hate him. So, no, Dad, I may not be fine, but it's a whole lot easier to sat than admitting that my life has turned to hell." She almost yelled before storming out of the room.
He sighed as he watched the door latch shut. His stepdaughter practically became his daughter before he and Ellis were ever married. When Meredith was born, Ellis's career wasn't anything superior to other intern's. Richard instantly became involved in Meredith's life. Her mother was busy with her career, and Thatcher tried not to be busy with his own. But eventually an "opportunity of a lifetime" came fell Thatcher Grey's lap, and he put everything else on hold to pursue it. For the second year of Meredith's life, Thatcher was in and out of the country going between his home in Seattle and a small tribe in Africa leaving Meredith alone without her father's and mother's attention. Over the course of that year, Richard got closer and closer to the young girl. After Ellis and Thatcher's divorce and Richard and Ellis got married, Richard assumed the fatherly role in her life completely. He was the one who said "you aren't leaving the house like that" when she was a teenager. He was the one who danced with her during the father-daughter dance at her wedding. Just because technically he was her stepfather, he never treated her as anything less than his own blood.
Now, he hated seeing her in constant pain. Her eyes were always full of the unwavering sadness that he never wanted to see.
--
She sat in the gallery watching as her husband skillfully preformed a surgery on a patient who had crawled out of a burning car only to face at least four surgeries and a lifetime of constant burn treatments. She watched as he sewed up the layer of skin he was repairing. He glanced up and smiled a light smile at her. She returned it before looking down at the charts lying across her lap. After a few minutes, she glanced up again. Noticing he was done, she decided to meet him in the scrub room. She was already off and had been for an hour, but she had decided to wait around for him. Gathering her charts, she headed out.
She got downstairs ten minutes later after being distracted by a conversation with a fellow neurosurgeon who she had been working on a case with for over a week. As she played on her phone, she walked down the hall until she reached the scrub room door. Just when she was about to open the door, something through the window caught her eye knocking the wind out of her.
"Meredith?" A voice came. She jumped up and banged her head on the bottom of the top bunk. Instantly she fell back against the pillow putting her hand on her forehead and groaning in pain. She felt the bed dip down on one side and a hand touch hers. Opening one eyes, she looked at her mother. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She sat up beside her careful not to hit her head again.
"You know you're off now, right?" Ellis asked. She nodded but stayed silent. "You seemed to be having a nightmare."
"I was thinking about that day." She said after a few seconds.
"I'm worried about you, Mer."
"There's nothing to worry about Mom."
"Meredith, I know that it's hard and it's just easier to bury yourself into work than face your problems. But, it doesn't solve anything. It creates problems. I know what I'm talking about."
Meredith stood up and looked down at her mother. "I'll see you tomorrow." Leaning down, she kissed her cheek. "Love you, Mom."
"Yeah, I love you too." She sighed watching her daughter walk out.
--
She stared at the TV as she shoveled some cereal into her mouth. She had gotten home only twenty minutes before and the words her mother had said echoed in her head. It was so much easier to bury herself in work than think about her problems. The doorbell rang pulling her from her thoughts. Letting out a sigh, she muted the TV, set down her bowl, and walked to the door.
"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?" She asked with confusion evident in her voice since they were supposed to be working late. Moving out of the way, she allowed them to come in. Then, she noticed her father was carrying a manila envelope. "What's going on?" Both of her parents shifted their feet and avoided eye contact. "Are either of you guys going to say anything cause I'm not in the mood for a guessing game." She said dryly before brushing past them on her way back to the couch.
Richard cleared his throat. "Mer, we got back your results back."
She looked at him hearing a bit of worry in his voice. "Oh… do I have the flu or something? Fine, whatever, I'll take a few days off."
"No, Mer, you don't have the flu." He answered slowly playing with the envelope in his hands.
Ellis sat down beside her. "Mer, you're pregnant." She said softly.
The words hit her at a thousand miles per hour. She couldn't breathe. Tears flooded her eyes. But, she couldn't believe it. "What?" She asked in a shaky voice. "No, I can't be pr… pregnant." A tear made its way down her soft cheek.
"I'm sorry, Meredith." Ellis whispered.
Meredith just stared at them for what seemed like forever. A couple tears made their way down her cheek every few moments. Richard stood there waiting for her to move. Ellis held her lightly shaking hand.
She abruptly stood up. Their eyes followed her. "This can't be right. I just had my period a… oh my god, I haven't had my period. I can't be pregnant." Sobs started to shake her body as the room started to spin out of control. Her legs went weak and caved in under her. Richard caught her on the way down. All she could do was sob.
--
It was like her world stopped for just a second. Tears gathered in her eyes as she watched as the girl stepped away from her husband. She pushed the door open and stared at her husband through heartbroken eyes. He looked over the girl's shoulder.
"Meredith…" He breathed out.
"How could you do this to me?" She cried just above a whisper.
The girl turned around. Meredith couldn't believe her eyes. Lauren stood in front of her. Lauren the one who told her that she heard from the night nurses Mark was cheating on her.
"I guess you didn't just hear it from the night nurses." She said in disbelief before turning and walking out.
Mark wasn't far behind her. "Meredith!"
She turned to face him. "Save it, Mark." Her voice was low and stern as tears rolled off her cheeks.
"Meredith! Please, listen to me." He yelled after her, but she didn't stop.
She jerked awake from the memory when her mother touched her holding out a glass of water. Meredith took it and set it in front of her without sipping from it. She had been sitting at the kitchen table staring out the window for two hours or more. Ellis took the seat across from her. Meredith turned her attention back outside the window. She wanted to cry more. She felt like she needed to, but she just stared.
"Meredith?" Ellis said quietly.
"Not now, Mom." Meredith replied in the same manner. "I just want to be alone."
Ellis nodded and looked out the window. They sat in silence for nearly ten minutes before Meredith spoke again.
"We thought we couldn't get pregnant after the accident. The OB/GYN said that there was only a fifteen percent chance. He said that if I couldn't get pregnant, then I never would be able to. But if I could then everything would be just fine… And I believed him." She looked at her mother. "Here I am. Pregnant. Everything isn't fine."
Ellis took her hand. "It will though."
Meredith let out a disbelieving, sarcastic laugh. "Right." She took a sip of the water. Slowly, she lifted herself out of the chair. "Goodnight, Mom."
"Goodnight." She responded quietly.
Richard looked up as Meredith walked by. "Goodnight, Dad."
"Goodnight, Mer."