"Grey," Meredith looked up from her tablet to see Nathan Riggs standing there in a set of navy scrubs and a lab coat on, there was a crooked smile on his face.

"Nathan!" She put her tablet down and walked over to him, enveloping him in a hug. "What are you doing here? Are Megan and Farouk around?'

The smile dropped from Nathan's face momentarily. "It's-uh- we aren't together anymore, Grey."

Meredith stepped back and looked at Nathan. She didn't understand, it had been years since she had last seen him since they'd last contacted each other. He had been so content when he had left with Megan and Farouk, it had never been something she had resented him for. They'd both known that if Derek had walked through the door again then she would have gone to him straight away without a second thought. Why in the world was Nathan back here without Megan?

"What happened?"

Nathan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It wasn't going to work. We tried, for years, but it just wasn't right. There were too many cracks, Meredith. I care for her, but I just don't love her like I used to."

Meredith had no clue what to say to him. What were people meant to say in these situations? She had known that Megan and Nathan had their issues before she had disappeared and that they were probably going to need to work through a lot of things, but she hadn't expected this. Meredith had honestly thought that they would manage to make it work. After not hearing from him in so long she just assumed that Nathan was happily settled with his family. Instead, he was here and dressed like he worked at the hospital...

"What are you doing here?"

Nathan chuckled, "Always straight to the point, aren't you, Grey?" He shoved his hands into his coat pockets. "I was talking to Owen on the phone, I thought he would be angrier, but he seemed to understand. Told me that there was a cardio attending job that was open. So, here I am."

"So, you just drove all the way back to Seattle to work here? Did you even talk to Megan about this?"

Nathan clenched his jaw, "Really, you still think the worst of me, Grey? After all this time? You think I wanted this to happen? That I didn't want to just be happy with Megan and Farouk, my own little family? Not wondering why I still don't have a stable relationship!?"

Meredith flinched at his tone. She realised that a lot of the nurses had now stopped what they were doing to stare at the two of them. Grabbing Nathan by the arm, she dragged him into one of the nearby on-call rooms. He moved without much resistance which she was thankful for. She'd just gotten through the latest lot of hospital gossip after being fired, having a criminal record and having Andrew break-up with her. She really didn't need anything else.

"Look, I'm sorry." She closed the on-call room door as Nathan sat down on a bed. "I didn't mean it like that. It just seems too sudden."

"To you, maybe. We haven't spoken in a while but Megan and I, we've been having problems for a while. Things felt awkward and we both realised we were better as friends. Life's too short, we both knew that."

Nodding along, Meredith was glad that he had calmed down. She hadn't meant to sound like he hadn't tried with Megan, even if it had come out like that. Nathan was the kind of person that would always put his full effort in. She was just still in shock that he was here in front of her for so long. She may hate to admit it, but Meredith had missed him. Having him back here, especially after everything that had happened over the last few months, was a welcome surprise.

"I'm really sorry that things didn't work out for you guys but I'm glad you're back."

A signature cocky smile graced Nathan's face again, he stood up, towering over Meredith's small frame. "Missed me, did you, Grey?"

Meredith scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You wish, Riggs." She looked around the room, "We should probably get out of here before the rumour mill starts turning."

Laughing, Nathan opened the door and gestured for Meredith to leave first. Taking a glance up and down the corridor, she walked out when she realised that there was no one else around. Meredith began walking her way over to the elevator, she needed to head up to her office for some files for a newly admitted patient she was working on. Nathan quickly fell into step with her. She glanced over to see him unashamedly staring at her as they walked. Shaking her head, she pressed the button, waiting for the lift door to open. She ignored Nathan as she stepped into the lift with him still following her. When the lift doors closed Meredith turned to face him.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, Grey? I'm just following you." Nathan shrugged.

Raising an eyebrow, Meredith looked ahead at the doors again. "Why?"

"Maggie told me that you needed a cardio consult on your patient, so, here I am!"

Of course, Maggie had something to do with this. It was so typical of her little sister to stick her oar into everyone else's life, but Meredith couldn't help but love her for that. "Here you are..." Meredith muttered.

"So, let's keep things strictly professional for now, Grey."

"Excuse me, when do I not keep things strictly professional?"

The lift doors finally opened allowing Meredith to escape Nathan's piercing gaze. "I think can recall a few moments," there was a glint in his eye that made Meredith's stomach flip. "So, I hear you have a criminal record now."

Meredith stopped in her tracks, "How do you know about that!?"

"Not even trying to deny it, I see. Owen told me, I always ask after you, Mere." His tone had softened towards the end.

"Stop that!" Meredith continued to walk, trying to get away from Nathan.

"Stop what?" There was no getting away from this man as he jogged to catch up with her.

She opened the door to her office, hoping that Nathan wouldn't follow her inside, but he had no boundaries and followed her right in, taking a seat on the sofa in there. "Whatever you keep doing. With your words and smile and things!"

"How very specific of you, Grey." Nathan leant back, resting his arms on the back of the sofa.

Sighing, Meredith picked up the file she needed and leant her back against the front of her desk. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." His shrug just infuriated her.

"Nathan, stop it. You've just come back here and you're saying these things that sound more than friendly and you've just broken up with Megan and-"

Nathan stood up from his seat and took swift steps towards Meredith, holding the top of her arms. "How about you just take a break for a second?" He quickly cut her off, "Megan and I broke up five months ago. I wasn't that recent and even before that, we knew that it wasn't going to last. We just weren't admitting it to each other. And maybe I am being more than friendly, but can you blame me, Meredith?"

"Yes! Nathan, just stop. It's been so long, and we've changed."

"I know, you went and won a Catherine Fox Foundation award."

Meredith rolled her eyes, reluctantly pulling away from his grasp. "You know that isn't what I mean."

"I know but I also know from very reliable sources that you aren't seeing anyone. So, there's nothing really holding either of us back from getting to know each other again."

Taking some time to mull over his words, Meredith bit her lip. "I only just got out of a relationship, Riggs. I'm not even trying to jump into anything else right now."

"I'm not asking you to. All I'm asking is that you keep an open mind when it comes to us. Let us get to know each other again, to be friends again and we can just see what happens from there."

Although she was still a little apprehensive, Meredith slowly nodded making Nathan grin and open his arms. "What?" He asked when she didn't move. "Friends do hug you know."

Laughing, Meredith put the file down and wrapped her arms around his body. A voice in the back of her mind told her things were about to get a whole lot better in her life

a.n I have mixed feeling about Nathan's time in the show. Part of me is happy that he found Megan, the other part of me kind of wished he had stayed with Meredith to see what happened. I don't know, I don't think we really got to see enough of their relationship to really know how I feel about them.

What would you guys like to read next?