p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a9216e29a37c1a5b474c37733cb5faf1""So come on, tell me about Ireland." Meredith's eyes held a glint of playfulness as she looked up from the body cavity to the paediatric surgeon./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a695cacf38e074474368ea6689163443""Ireland?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f853c6ba58f0defa8f55f0b960871af4""We have time to kill."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="c12a4f479c8ca351a4908a39342a4d20"It had become a sort of tradition between the two of them that when they were in surgery together, they would end up sharing stories with each other. Cormac couldn't help it, storytelling was in his Celtic blood and for Meredith... well she had enough stories to last them 100 surgeries./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="580b61be9d6916de894d0045676b66d2"Meredith would be lying if she was to say that she wasn't curious about Cormac's time back in Ireland. He had shared a lot about Abigail and the boys, their years in America and his short tenure in Switzerland but Ireland hadn't come up in conversation at all./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6ad1f527991edf27ee145356b956fb05""What do you want to know?" Cormac's Irish accent had become surprisingly soothing to Meredith./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="1949f61bc7aac6a41afa982749bc9fc6""Where in Ireland are you from?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="8fa3f0e34b8d21d0056e3460ac0b8e60""Athenry, it's not far from Galway." A nostalgic smile was placed upon Cormac's lips as he thought about his hometown. "Beautiful place and thankfully was never privy to the tourists Galway had to suffer with."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="970fc92dbbedfb7210e3caf4c780837c"Meredith continued to work rhythmically as she listened to Cormac./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="17d467d759274f62cdc5c75c30e32455""Full of fields that were miles long. Ma would have to tear me and Aoife away from them when it was time for dinner."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="c18803001234751d620311a4cf3a702e""Aoife?" Meredith asked about the unfamiliar name./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="d359cedafa4b80091d4a08d29243ae96""My little sister, pain in my backside most of the time," Cormac answered with an eye-roll./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="704272d171448e1fdec302656579864a"Meredith's laughter filled the OR room, "Must have been nice growing up with a sibling though."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="4974a08d84e1a1276cc2864691df493a""You should know, with Maggie."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="af3e10a4e736510ca3ab38b4090616d6"Sometimes, Meredith forgot how much Cormac didn't know about her or this hospital. She felt like she had known him for years but there were moments like these when Meredith remembered that Cormac didn't know her entire life story like everyone else in the hospital. It was refreshing to know that there was someone who didn't know how many times she had been admitted as a patient into the very hospital that she worked in./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6a4f9b40f30e8ce9a240a316d369fd5a""Actually, I didn't even meet Maggie until a couple of years ago," she said sheepishly./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="28b69b21d88ac63f51360650516428a3"Cormac arched an eyebrow at her, ready for her to continue but Meredith just shook her head. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="30c793bd01676539f5b89602843669da""My family history is... messy, it's a story for another surgery. I want to hear more about Ireland."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="2e5d378dd2f2bd3f015d40bea5e3c7a3""I'll hold you to that, Grey."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="12bf050227ea2bdd42bc11b545617ad9"The playful glint in his eyes made Meredith's stomach do flips and she felt like she was a teenager all over again. She quickly moved her eyes back to exposed organs in front of her, not trusting herself to look back up at Cormac./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="428535246fe21a727fa60f102d84472e""Do you miss it?" Meredith finally asked when she managed to control her butterflies./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="26a2632617b3370fe1c8befe261decdd""Home? Every damn day." Cormac's voice held a sense of longing. "No place like it. I'm planning on heading back there when the boys are off for Summer. My ma's going to kill me if she goes any longer without seeing her grandsons."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="0c64a7210d8aff4b2c87f6b5324cc990""You know, I've visited Ireland before."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a21e3119d31f6d94d5a6d48183970477""Oh really?" Cormac was always a little sceptical when people told him they'd be to Ireland. The most they'd seen was Dublin, a lot of pubs and the Guinness Factory and whilst they were great places to visit, Ireland was a lot more than all of that./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="be06422ffa6a1c5c5c1ad646f2c145d9"Meredith smile as she thought about her trip made the corner of her eyes crease. It felt like a lifetime ago. "I did a gap year before Med School and went backpacking around Europe with a friend. Spent a week longer in Ireland that we thought we were going to. It was beautiful though, did a few days in Dublin and then headed to Killarney. Kilkenny was just out of this world and then did a few days in Kinsale before we headed to Galway."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="ca3166dac9dc73f8e26721e05651a24e""I'm impressed, Grey, most people just see the inside of a pub whilst they're there."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="b07c9572e8cea4343df168fa974143f7"That elicited another laugh from Meredith and Cormac suddenly found himself in awe of the spitfire that stood opposite him. She'd been through a lot in her life and yet still laughed so freely, the darkness she had faced had not overshadowed the hope she had in life./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a08127b784d9423d015166d34225f7c2""I would be too impressed, I did spend an awful lot of my evenings in the pubs. Gave a lot of the men there a run for their money, they didn't think I could keep up with their drinking games."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="3f1111510351d7480468295c0570f439""And naturally you proved them wrong," Cormac smirked./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="d8c8bcce21e4595b0d0004ffbbcc5686"Meredith gave him a smirk of her own in response before continuing with her sutures./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a595c68309ab18d87cbd2a796470c8e7""So, are you going to tell me more about this gap year of yours?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6c2e2cd0091342c5b417ff8a9744f909""Only when you tell me about that electric fence story."/p