Authors Note: Hi readers! I have finally mapped out a plan for this story so I will be continuing it. The story is not going to appear in chronological order and will closely follow specific Taylor Swift songs that inspired the chapter. I will do my best to identify the time period so you can at least understand where Meredith and Derek are at in their relationship at the time the chapter is written. I'm looking forward to trying something different with my story telling and hope you each enjoy the ride!

Tolerate It

Song: Tolerate It by Taylor Swift

Time Period: It's Fall 2021 (Covid doesn't exist in this story).

Her boyfriend had been…different. It started 3 months ago, around the time period when the new surgical interns started. She went over it again and again in her head. She could trace it back to the night of the intern mixer. The mixer that was reserved for only the new interns, surgical residents and surgical attending's and of course the Chief of Surgery Richard Webber. Of course, as the Chief of Neurosurgery her boyfriend had to be there. She was supposed to be his date, but the mixer coincided with her best friend's bachelorette party and she couldn't miss it. He seemed fine to go stag. He said he understood and even encouraged her to go out with her friends. He said he would stay for an hour tops and then meet Mark out for a drink.

The next day, her sweet, charming, neuro God of a boyfriend was gone. It seemed like ever since that night, he simply tolerated her presence. He made new excuses as to why he couldn't move his stuff in with her like they were planning. He cancelled lunch, dinner, and weekend plans last minute. When he was with her, he was absent, and his mind seemed elsewhere.

Today she was going to repeat the same process she had been carrying out for the past week. She would study his every move all day. She would figure out what was going on inside the brain of her guy so they could go back to before. She deserved to be celebrated not nearly tolerated by the man she loved.

She watched him at the nurse's station as his eyes lingered on a blonde, she recognized but couldn't quite place a little longer than she would have liked. His eyes wandered from the blonde walking past back to his chart. She breathed a sigh of relief until she watched his jaw clench and he stalked off after said blonde and then pull the blonde into a supply closet.

She waited by the desk to see how long they would be in there. Time was frozen. Seconds felt like hours. She didn't even know long they had been in the supply closet when her supervisor pulled her out of her trance. She needed to go prep for an oncoming surgery with Dr. Nelson. She had to take off and never got to see her boyfriend leave the supply closet with a pleased look on his face visibly much more relaxed. She didn't get to see the young blonde intern emerge a few seconds later from that same supply closet, hair a mess and a small smile on her face.

She later identified the girl as a surgical intern assigned to Miranda Bailey. They must have met the night of the intern mixer. Maybe Derek had been cheating on her for the past three months. Maybe not. Maybe it was all in her head, but she needed Derek to tell her that somehow, she was getting him all wrong.

That night Derek showed up to her place as he promised. She was surprised that he didn't blow her off like he had been doing. She waited eagerly by the door. She felt like a little kid about to play with her favorite toy and groaned inwardly at her own desperation.

Before he could knock, she opened the door and plastered a grin on her face.

"Rose" he stated at the sight of her face

"Come in. Come in. I was just trying out different color patterns for the table." Rose stated nervous

"Rose" he repeated not budging from his spot in her doorway.

Rose sighed "The past couple of months. Just tell me it was all in my head." She pleaded

The look on his face confirmed what she needed to know.

"There's someone else."