Title of chapter: prelude. I think that about says it all! Oh, and we get to meet Bailey ;-)
Derek walks into the Dean of the Medical school's office, and says to the secretary, "I need to speak with the Dean, please."
"Do you have an appointment?" A petite middle-aged woman with straight nut-brown hair and 50's secretary glasses asks him from behind her desk.
"No, but I think that the Dean would like to hear what I have to say." Derek responds, as his eyes pass apprehensively to the closed wooden door from even his stance a few feet away he can here the very loud voice of a woman yelling at someone. "Well, she might not like to hear what I have to say, but she needs to hear it."
The secretary looks at him assessingly, and then decides something. "Well, as you can hear, she's on the phone with someone else right now. If you'd like to wait over there, I can see if she has some time for you after she gets off of the phone."
He looks over at the brown leather couch set against the opposite wall, and decides that he better wait. "Thank you." He says to the secretary with his best twinkling smile, and is rewarded by at least a glimmer of a smile and a slight blush from the woman.
Maybe his twinkling smile and other known charms will help him smooth things over with the woman inside the all-important University office, but somehow he doesn't think so. He plops down on the designated waiting area and rests his head against the back of the couch with a weary sigh. He would have been here earlier in the day, but it hadn't seemed fair to miss any more class than he had to. Hell, he might not even be teaching the class after today.
He looks from the glass front door on his left to the secretary directly in front of him (now back at work on her computer), and then to the door where his future lies. Everything had been going so wonderfully too. He had Meredith, he loved his job, and now his family liked Meredith too. He smiles just thinking about the scene he had walked into on the terrace restaurant yesterday. He didn't think his heart could hold any more happiness until he had seen his two favorite people in the world sharing a secret laugh over something they wouldn't even tell him about. His mom had even threatened bodily harm if he didn't bring Meredith to Thanksgiving!
The entire drive home had been a long one but a happy one, with both of them not able to stop themselves from sharing happy glances the entire way home. Meredith used the time to study, and he concentrated on the road, but not even stupid drivers and road construction could wipe the grin off of his face. His family liked her. His mom liked her. They knew every sordid detail, and they still liked her.
It had only taken two steps into Meredith's apartment and a five minute conversation with Christina to end that happy state, however.
Derek carries Meredith's suitcase in one hand and her garment bag in the other as he follows Meredith into the front entryway. They are both pretty exhausted from the entire weekend ordeal, but he has an exam to write and Meredith has multiple exams to study for. He's just going to drop her bags off, and head back to the hotel, when Christina quietly walks out from the kitchen.
"Hey guys, I...uh...need to talk to you about something." She says unsteadily as she holds the bottom of an almost-empty coffee mug.
"Can it wait until tomorrow?" Meredith asks with a yawn. "I am just totally exhausted and still have mondo amounts of studying to do."
Meredith hasn't noticed the quiet way that Christina is standing there, but he has. It is totally unlike her. She usually barely acknowledges his existence or is bouncing from here to somewhere else. And she never stands nervously in a doorway.
He puts down Meredith's bags, only to say to Meredith, "I think we might want to hear this right now."
Meredith looks up from rifling through her bag, takes a long look at his face, and then turns to look at Christina. "What's going on?" She asks worriedly, all interest in her bag forgotten.
Christina finally takes a step forward and distractedly takes a seat at the end of the long green couch. Meredith's stuff is on the other end, so Meredith walks around and takes the catty corner love seat position. Derek doesn't want to sit, so he just rests his back against the fireplace that is opposite the green couch.
Meredith and him stare at Christina in expectation of her announcement, but the only sound for a couple of minutes is the steady clicking of Christina's nails on the side of her coffee mug.
"Christina!" Meredith finally orders with impatience.
"You remember those many many weeks you spent in your apartment not answering the phone or using the internet or watching television?" Christina asks as she stares down at her now empty mug.
"Yes." Meredith answers slowly, not taking her eyes off of Christina.
His vision wanders back and forth between the two women, their two postures and the bringing up of what he knows is a very painful topic for Meredith, telling him that something is extremely wrong. He stays back against the fireplace though, not wanting to disrupt.
"And you know how you were kind of happy that your mom wrecked your phone, because you didn't want to talk to the wider world anyway?" Christina continues.
Derek only raises an eyebrow, but Meredith is reaching the end of her rope. "Christina." She warns again.
"Well, I think you might want to do that again." Christina rapidly fires off again as she darts up from her chair and runs off to the kitchen. Meredith takes a shocked look at the now-empty couch, looks up at Derek, and then runs after her friend.
"Christina Lee Yang, what the hell is going on?" He hears Meredith yell from the kitchen.
He hears the shifting of the coffee pot moving around, and then a few hurried whispers. He's about to move from the fireplace, and satisfy his curiosity, when he hears a loud, "You have got to be kidding me!", followed by a few more hurried whispers, and then silence. He swiftly makes his way to the kitchen, thinking something really bad has happened. Maybe it's Meredith's mom. Maybe she had another spell or something. But when he gets closer, he hears a loud splutter, and his first site of the pair of them is both of them with their heads down on the tiny kitchen table, laughing their heads off.
Okay, he is really confused now. "You got him drunk on strip poker?" Meredith sputters out between laughs, and then dies laughing even more when Christina just shakes her head in the affirmative.
"Okay, can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" He asks when no one seems willing to share the joke.
His voice is like a cold bucket of water on the proceedings. Both women raise their heads to look at each other, the laughter killed as quickly as it had been born. They both turn to face him.
"We've been found out." Meredith tells him soberly, no trace of her former amusement, or earlier happiness. Only a vacant dread that scares him to no end.
After what must be at least an hour, the door to the office finally opens and a small but very powerful black woman walks out. She has on a very professional and obviously expensively tailored suit. Her hair is cut short into a face-shaping bowl, but you wouldn't call it anything feminine. Everything about her is exact and direct. One might even say she's even a little scary. But you don't get to be the Dean of the Medical School at Dartmouth University for being a nice guy. Or girl, in this situation.
She walks directly up to him, holds out her hand, and says very directly, "Dr. Shepherd, for what do I owe this pleasure?"
Derek shakes her hand with his most charming smile, but then looks wearily at the secretary before remarking, "Dr. Bailey, nice to see you again. I think what I have to say is for your ears only though."
Dr. Bailey raises an eyebrow and follows his eyesight to the secretary. She looks back at him assessingly for a couple of seconds, and then just as promptly as she came in, goes back into her office.
He's a little surprised by the non-communication, so he has to be prompted by the secretary with, "That means you should go in."
"Oh, thank you." He responds, gathering up his jack and briefcase.
The secretary flashes him an encouraging grin, but he hardly notices as he walks into the office and takes one of the chairs doubly set before the humongous mahogany desk. He places his things on the seat beside him, and watches Dr. Bailey close the door and take her seat like a queen holding court.
She places her hands on the massive desk. "So what is so important that you had to disrupt my entire schedule for? For your sake, it had better be good. I have better things to do than listen to overly-moussed professors and their petty complaints. It's not petty, is it?" She asks dampeningly.
"Uh, no, not petty at all." He says as he thinks about what he had learned last night. "It actually pertains to the University. I thought it only proper to inform you of a personal situation that may have an impact on the medical school."
Dr. Bailey kind of looks at him speculatively, cocking her head to the side at his carefully placed words and phrases. "Personal situation, you say? Would you care to expound on that?" She says, giving nothing aware as to her thoughts.
He shifts a little, knowing that what he is about to say can only come off as sounding very bad, very bad indeed. "Well, yes." He begins with a tiny pause. "I think you were aware of the personal issues that I was a party to earlier in the summer."
"Ah, yes, the double-dealing Duke or some such nonsense." She says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I thought we had dealt with this issue at your time of hire. You would go by your professional title, and we would put the incident behind us."
He blushes at the insinuation, but must continue. "Yes, well, the incident seems to have followed me here." He expounds vaguely.
"Continue." Is all Dr. Bailey says, as she leans back in her massive leather straight-back chair.
"Yes, well, I think I should tell you the entire story. It'll make more sense that way." He says as he searches through his mind for the best way to relay what he has to relay.
"I'm waiting."
"Well, I think you know the story of my cancelled wedding." He offers, assuming that unless you lived under a rock, or in Meredith's case went into self-exile, you at least knew the particulars.
"Something about getting your hand caught in the cookie jar, was it?" Dr. Bailey asks flatly, not sounding particularly interested.
He coughs a little in embarrassment, but must continue. "Yes, well, it turns out that the cookie is a student at this University." He finally reveals.
She finally starts to look interested, sitting up in her seat, indicating that he should continue.
"In fact, she's a student in my class."
"And you were going to tell me this, when?" She asks, the infamous Nazi temper starting to boil beneath the surface.
"Meredith and I were actually..." He starts to say, when she cuts him off with, "Meredith and I? Just how well do you know this cookie, Dr. Shepherd?"
Well, this is now or never. "Actually, she's the love of my life." He answers truthfully.
This seems to knock Dr. Bailey back a few paces or two. The volcanic storm seems to leave her and is replaced by an inquiring gaze.
So he continues. "I had no idea she was a student here when I started. I took this job, in part, because I thought she was lost to me. I thoroughly enjoy this job; I can't tell you how much I appreciate the opportunity to work here. But if my personal actions are going to damage the Universities reputation, I thought it might be better for all involved if I remove myself from the Universities payroll."
Dr. Bailey thinks about what he has said, after a few minutes finally says, "And just how many people are aware of your relationship with this student?"
Ah, so this is where it's going to get sticky. "Well, right now only our friends and family. I only just returned from introducing my family to Meredith, when I was apprised of the news."
"And just what news would that be?"
"That pretty much the entire world shall know of our relationship by tomorrow."
Meredith looks down at her phone one more time, knowing that it will be Derek's number in the display again. She knows that he was going to talk to the Dean of the college today. He must have his answer by now. He was going to talk to Dr. Bailey right after class. She has already driven the two hours and change to make it to her mother's house in Boston. She just isn't quite ready to hear what he has to say. She has to do something first: she has to talk to her mother.
Meeting Derek's mother, well the entire family, had made her realize just how warped her relationship with her mother really was. She had first met Derek on a trip that was designed to get away from her mother's influence and figure out just what the hell she wanted out of her life. Ironically, losing Derek was what had given her the final impetus that she needed to break free from familial obligation and do what she wanted to do. She had seen what it had done to Derek.
She hadn't consulted her mother on her decision, only calmly informing the University of her Decision and moving forward with her plans to move to Dartmouth. The incident of the phone breakage being the result of her calmly marching over to her mother's townhouse to inform her of her decision. She realizes now that the more frequent bouts of anger and frustration might have been a product of her mother's Alzheimer's. Her mother had always been a strong influence in her life, and expected a lot from her, but she had never been physically violent.
The next time they had 'spoken' had literally been the night that Derek had had to intervene. The woman who's entire life was a surgical OR had not been allowed to set foot in one ever again. The hospital had had to be immediately notified of her diagnosis. They couldn't risk her going into one of her spells while operating, so she had been relegated to a quiet sabbatical and an eventual forced retirement. It was a lot to have to absorb and handle.
And now her only daughter was going to be famous again. Well, infamous would be a better description. Christina had been able to finagle a few details of the article, but the editor had been adamant in keeping the basic facts. They couldn't stop the article from being printed. Everything in it was technically true, so they couldn't argue defamation of character. Derek and her were ready to face the world, but she thought it only fair to notify her mother in person.
"Mom?" She calls out as she uses her own key to let herself in the front door.
"Meredith? Is that you?" Her mom calls from the kitchen. She can hear her voice coming closer as she says, "What are you doing here on a school day? Don't you have exams that you should be studying for?"
"No, exams aren't until next week. You're looking good, mom." She says as she notices a new energy and vibrancy around her mother. The last time she had seen her she had been withdrawn and despondent. She wonders what has caused the change.
"You did not come all the way from Boston to tell me how good I look." Her mother remarks after taking a hard look at Meredith and then without a by-your-leave, turns back around to walk back into the kitchen. "Spit it out. You haven't gotten kicked out already, have you?"
Yep, her mother is definitely back to her old self. She is not going to get in a screaming match today. She is going to tell her mother the news and then leave. So she follows her mother in the kitchen and says impatiently, "We haven't even had exams yet, mom."
"Well, I don't know. They could have made up some special reason." She says with a wave of her hand. "Why else would you have come down here on a Monday?"
"Maybe I just wanted to see how my mother is doing?" Meredith tries with an edge to her voice.
"Oh, cut the crap, Meredith. Just spit it out." Ellis spits out impatiently, hostility brimming just below the surface.
"Fine." Meredith answers just as bristly. "Yours truly is going to be in the paper tomorrow as an international home-wrecker/hussy that is having an affair with her professor. I just thought you should know. My face will probably be splashed on every news outlet as the supreme sluteth of the universe."
Her mother only stares back at her in extreme distaste, but for once in Meredith's life is too shocked to say anything. "Does that make you happy? Have I lived up to every once of your exalted expectations of me?" Meredith quips in a cold voice.
The barbed words seem to finally shake something in her mother. "Why are you telling me this? What is it that you want me to say?" Ellis asks in almost a frustrated hiss. "Do you want me to applaud you for your total lack of discretion? Do you want a pat on the back and an everything will be alright?
"I don't want you to say or do anything, mother." She tells her coldly, stressing the word mother in calm anger. "We love each other, and are willing to ride it out to be together."
Her mother once again too shocked to say anything. Those cold words used to mean so much to her. She would be lying if she didn't wish that just once that her mother would praise her instead of breaking her down. But at this moment in time, she doesn't care. She has a life of her own, she has a man that loves her, and for once she's confident that she's on the right path.
"I just thought you should know." Meredith finishes sagely, standing tall and proud before turning around to walk back out the door.
She is almost to the door, when she hears her mother's footsteps running swiftly over the polished wood.
"Meredith." Her mother calls simply as Meredith's hand is on the door.
She pauses to look back and sees for the first time the hard and lonely woman that is before her. This is no longer Ellis Grey the surgeon or Ellis Grey the mother. This is a woman that has reached the end of her life, to find that she has no one. "You should visit when all of this nonsense dies down."
Meredith knows that that is all she is going to get from her mother, but somehow it is enough. She nods her head once in agreement and shuts the door.