A/N: Thank you so much for the great reviews! I'm sorry I haven't had a spare moment to reply to more of you personally - I will soon, I promise! In the meantime, know that I love hearing from you and getting your input, so please keep it coming!
Also, thank you for your input on the new stories. The Mer/Alex story seemed to be drifting and the characters are getting a bit too out of character for my taste, so I need a bit more time to fix that one before posting it. Therefore, I'll be starting with the Mer/Lexie story. It will be called "The Last Thing She Said," and should be up later today. I hope you'll all check it out and let me know what you think!
This chapter is sort of short, and light on a lot of details, but I just needed to move the days forward a bit and then I'll fill in more of the details that I know you guys want in the next few chapters. Enjoy!
The next morning, Meredith slowly opened her eyes to find Lexie and Cristina staring anxiously at her from either side.
"Well, its about time! You'd think after sleeping for nearly a week, you'd wake up a little earlier than eleven in the morning!" Cristina snapped.
"Huh…you'd think after being in a plane that slammed into the ground from 20,000 feet, my person would be a little more understanding," Meredith teased.
"Fine. Maybe you have a point," Cristina acknowledged begrudgingly. "But if you'd slept much more, we wouldn't have had time to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?" Meredith asked in confusion.
"I'm pretty sure we told you last night, but you are on a lot of drugs, so I'm going to let the memory slip slide by this time," Cristina said.
"Do you remember anything about yesterday?" Lexie asked.
Meredith smiled coyly, a slight twinkle in her eye. "Well…yeah, I remember a few things."
Lexie laughed and Cristina groaned, knowing exactly which "things" Meredith was referring to.
"So, why are we saying goodbye?" Meredith asked again.
"Seattle's falling apart without me. The whole hospital's gone to hell and the chief has begged us to return," Cristina said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"Ha!" Meredith said. "More like, you're going insane after a week of no surgeries, so you're running back to beg Hahn to let you into one."
Lexie laughed again. "The chief really did say we had to come back. Apparently everyone is pretty overworked right now, and he can't ask the residents to pull too many more double shifts."
Meredith nodded. "Got it. Well, I'm really glad you guys were here, at least for a little while. I'm sorry I wasn't more entertaining company, though."
"Are you kidding me? I like you best when you don't talk back," Cristina said.
"Very funny. Say hello to everyone for me when you get back, will you? Tell Alex I'm still waiting for that picture he promised," Meredith said.
"Oh!" Lexie exclaimed, suddenly reminded of the card he had sent. "He did send you something. Let me see," she muttered, digging through the pile of cards on the windowsill. "Yup, here it is. I think this is what you were waiting for."
Taking the picture in her hand, Meredith laughed softly. "Lexie, you seriously did all that with one punch?"
"She did," Cristina affirmed.
"Well, you sure do pack a punch, Lexie. I never would have guessed it by looking at you," Meredith smiled at her sister. "Remind me not to get on your bad side again. Where'd you learn to hit like that, anyway?"
Lexie grew quiet, staring down at her feet. "Well…I…I kind of have a black belt in karate…" Meredith and Cristina stared at her, stunned as she continued, "…and another one in tae kwon do…and I sort of taught kickboxing to earn extra money in med school."
Meredith laughed. "Cristina, my sister is a certified ass-kicker!"
Despite her best efforts, Meredith found herself sleeping through most of the day. Although not unusual given the amount of pain medication she was taking, she was still annoyed that she had lost yet another day. She vaguely remembered saying goodbye to Lexie and Cristina, and in her mind, she thought she remembered a few snippets of a conversation with Molly, but she couldn't be certain.
The next thing she clearly remembered was waking up before her surgery Saturday morning to the sounds of Mark Sloan swearing loudly into his cell phone while a nurse prepped her for surgery.
"No, that can't be right!" Mark shouted. "You heard wrong!"
He paused for a moment, obviously listening to whatever the other person had to say.
"Well, isn't there some sort of rule against inside information? She had to have cheated!"
After another paused, Mark laughed. "Fine, I guess I see your point. And yes, this is definitely better than if it hadn't happened at all."
Looking up from the phone, he smiled when he saw Meredith awake and staring at him with confusion in her eyes.
"I've got to go...Mer and I have another hot date in the OR. Talk to you later, Torres," Mark said, quickly closing the phone.
"You know, McSteamy, you have a very dirty mouth. What's got your panties so bunched up this morning?"
Laughing, Mark walked over and took the seat by her bedside.
"I lost a big bet," he sighed.
"I'm sorry. How much money did you lose?" Meredith asked, trying to sound sympathetic.
"200 bucks."
"Damn. You must have really thought you were going to win to lay out that kind of money in a hospital betting pool," Meredith replied. If her time at the top of the SGH gossip list had been of any benefit to her, it had saved her the small fortune her friends and colleagues were always losing in Debbie's betting schemes - especially Izzie Stevens, who seemed to have the worst luck at betting.
"I was going to win," Mark protested. "I haven't figured out how, but she cheated. Somehow, Stevens cheated, and when we get back to Seattle, I'm going to figure out how."
"You lost to Izzie? Izzie hasn't won a hospital bet in two years, Mark," Meredith giggled, simultaneously shocked and pleased that Izzie had finally broken her losing streak.
"Shut it, Grey. I don't want to hear it."
"Well, what was the bet about?" Meredith asked, realizing she still didn't know just what Izzie had beat Mark on.
"Oh…um…well, that's not really important right now," Mark stammered.
"Which means it either has to do with me or with Derek. Since I'm here with you, if the bet were about me, you'd be the one with inside information. Since Izzie and Derek are both in Seattle, I'm going to guess it has to do with him. You can tell me, Mark, I'm not going to flip out or anything," Meredith assured him.
"It was about when he was going to end things with that nurse," Mark informed her.
"Oh," Meredith said, averting her eyes from Mark's gaze. "So Izzie won, huh?"
"Yup. He ended it last night."
"And what was your bet?" Meredith asked, once again looking at him curiously.
"Knowing Derek, I put my money on a few hours after he hears you tell him that you'll take him back and give your relationship another chance," Mark said.
Meredith sighed, a few tears appearing in her eyes. "You would have lost anyway," she whispered softly.
"Excuse me?" Mark asked, slightly confused.
"You would never have won that bet," Meredith said, her voice shaking as she looked Mark straight in the eye. "You couldn't win, because there aren't any more chances left, not for Derek and I. I'm done with living like that, waiting for him to decide my future. Third near-death experience is the charm, right?" Meredith asked, a slight laugh escaping through her silent tears. "I may not be bright and shiny, but I'm ready to do something more than just exist in a holding pattern, waiting for Derek to accept me. I need to do more than just exist, I need to learn how to live again, Mark."
As he looked at her face while she said those words, Mark found himself thinking that maybe, just maybe, Meredith Grey had finally found the understanding that all the tequila and men in the world hadn't been able to give her. Maybe, he thought, it's time for Meredith to just be Meredith.