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CHAPTER 1:
"God's Gift to Vaginas"
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There was a naked man in her mother's kitchen.
Meredith blinked once. Then, once again to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
Nope, he was still there, bending down into the fridge as he rummaged through its contents, his ass cheeks pale in the early morning light. Any moment now he was going to turn around and she had to be out of sight by then. She had no idea how he'd gotten in, but that was hardly important right now. She began to back away slowly toward the stairs, hoping to put enough distance between herself and the intruder before he spotted her. There was a baseball bat under her bed and he'd be in a world of hurt if he tried anything funny.
"Hey, you have any beer?"
Meredith jumped at the sound of the guy's voice, getting a good eyeful as he turned around to face her. He had a slice of cold pizza in his hand and he was smirking like he thought the whole thing was wildly amusing. Who did he think he was?
"You are naked!" So, that wasn't what she had intended to say, but he was very naked and it was distracting her.
"And you aren't the woman I slept with last night." He started munching on the pizza. "Unless you shrunk in the shower."
Great. He was Addison's... uh, something or other.
They'd only just moved in together, the other woman renting half of Meredith's mother's house, and already there were breaches of the boundaries. Namely naked penises in the kitchen and pizza theft. It was one with extra cheese and Meredith really liked it fridge congealed and everything. She'd saved it from the other night when Addison had moved in, with a meat lover's pizza and a 6-pack of craft beer.
"What are you still doing here?" Addison swept into the kitchen, past Meredith, engulfing her in the scent of expensive shower products and snatched the pizza slice from Penis Guy's hand. "I told you to be gone when I got down here." Thankfully, Addison was wearing clothes—a fluffy bathrobe, and she really didn't seem too big on the warm and fuzzy sentiments this morning as she threw away the pizza before crossing her arms to stare down their trespasser.
"Is that any way to treat a guest?" he wanted to know, shrugging his shoulders and opening the fridge again, seemingly to help himself to another slice. "You'd think after last night, you could at least feed me a bit of breakfast before I leave."
"You scratched an itch and now that it's gone, so should you be." Addison's eyebrow was raised, her lips pursed and Meredith had to marvel at the guy's composure, since she would be quaking in her boots if Addison looked at her like that. "Cover up your bits and get the hell out of our house."
"What's the big deal?" Naked Guy looked bored and pointed casually at Meredith, "Your sister doesn't mind if I have a snack first."
Meredith stepped forward, determined to back up her new housemate. Granted, she wasn't too thrilled at Addison bringing naked pizza-stealers into her mother's house, but they were a team, of sorts, and you backed up your teammate. Especially if they had the power to make your residency a waking nightmare. The way Meredith saw it, Addison Montgomery could be a recommendation letter to the fellowship of her own choice, or she could be the cruise director on Meredith's one-way trip through the fires of hell.
"That's my food and this is my first day at work! I can't be late. If you don't leave, I'll get my baseball bat and kick your ass! I'm a Red Sox fan, and we won the series last year!"
Both other occupants of the kitchen turned toward her, with nearly identical expressions. Neither seemed to have any understanding of the pride of a Bostonian of her home team, but that was okay. She should have figured the tall blonde—a New Yorker—was on the side of the Evil Empire. Damn Yankees! Meredith would have to set her straight if this living together, sharing a bathroom thing was going to work out.
"Um." Naked Guy looked her over. "I'm a wrestler, so even with that bat, I could snap you in two, Twig Girl."
Meredith bristled. "Yeah, well, if you weren't eating my damn breakfast, maybe I could manage to consume more calories!" She knew she wasn't big, or even average, but a naked stranger didn't have any right to come into her home and poke fun at her weight.
"Okay," Addison looked decidedly sour, "the sex was not good enough for this." She grabbed his private parts and Meredith closed her eyes when Naked Guy whimpered. "Now, we're moving toward the door... unless you want to lose the family jewels?"
They moved past Meredith, who tilted her head to better appreciate the view of the guy's ass as he moved away from her. He looked good, naked, even if he did steal her pizza. As apprehensive as she'd been to return to Seattle, Meredith couldn't help but feel that this was the start of something.
When Addison had first swept in to look at the house, when it was still up for sale, all leggy and fabulous, Meredith had felt such awe and so much like an ugly duckling. But then, they'd started talking and she'd discovered that the other woman was so, so nice and also, a doctor. A surgeon, even. One thing led to another and they'd agreed on a rental arrangement, and now, there were muffled noises coming from the front entrance, sounding suspiciously like a little bit of laughter.
The sex couldn't have been that bad then, after all, that it wasn't worth a slice of refrigerated pizza.
Meredith smiled. She would have thought she'd be the one to get drunk the night before starting a new job, just to take the edge off her nerves, and do some inappropriate guy on her mother's living room floor. She hadn't, though, not even one shot of tequila and Meredith was quite proud over how mature she was behaving.
Life wasn't a game anymore. She owned a house, payed the bills—so many expensive bills and today, she was set to become a grown-up for real. A doctor.
···
He'd expected blood, guts and death-defying action in the OR, but seven hours into his first shift as a doctor, it had provided none of that. Alex Karev had taken temperatures, filled in charts, and monitored really old people in post-op.
The height of excitement was bumping into the overly skinny, and weird, sister of the previous night's hook-up. She was an intern at Seattle Grace too, which was a bit of a coincidence but nothing he couldn't manage. They were in different cohorts, for one, and he was destined for glory in plastics while she'd likely take an easier route. Like the Vag Squad. Technically certified to dabble in the OR, but how hard was it to cut an opening and yank out a baby?
A bit more perplexing was all the buzz about the new surgical superstar on staff. Some Dr. Montgomery. Apparently the guy was a living legend in Fetal Surgery and all the other interns were dying to work with him, which was just fine with Alex—less competition for surgeries that he actually cared about. As remarkable as everyone said this Montgomery dude was, Neonatal was one of those fuzzy and pink specialties, and definitely not Karev's thing.
He stopped by the nurse's station to grab some charts and was met with his third surprise of the day, standing there in pink scrubs and looking at an equally pink chart. He took a moment to look her over—even in those ridiculous looking scrubs she was a beautiful woman. Although, she definitely looked hotter naked. So they were coworkers... Well, as much as you could be with a nurse working at the maternity ward.
Suddenly Karev felt like his day was looking up. "You know, I can get you a real case if you're interested." Addie looked up from the chart and arched an eyebrow at him, giving Karev flashbacks of their meeting the night before. Okay, so she was playing hard to get, but he could handle the chase. She'd make him work for it, but that would also make the end goal ultimately sweeter once he got there. "No offense, but the Vagina Squad isn't exactly the height of excitement."
"Should I be flattered or insulted?" She closed the chart and put it back on the rack, giving him a look like she wasn't sure what to make of him. It was a bit disconcerting but also hot and Karev found himself wondering where the nearest on-call room was. "I take it you're not a fan of vaginas?" She tilted her head to look at his ID tag. "Dr. Karev?"
"Not professionally. Off the clock, I'll do whatever you want."
He liked the way she said his name. Really liked that she called him 'doctor' and she smelled fantastic. "We can find a supply closet later, if you're interested, so I can show you more of my vagina skills. If I don't get pulled into the OR, that is." Karev shrugged, taking a step closer and meeting her gaze head-on. There was pretty much no chance in hell that an intern on his first day would get a surgery but a nurse wouldn't necessarily know that.
"You're working on that mysterious neuro case that has all the interns excited about scrubbing in?" Addie looked amused as she pushed a blonde lock of hair behind her ear. "As appealing as the supply closet sounds, my boss wants me to actually earn my paycheck. I wouldn't want him to think he's overpaying me." She turned to leave.
"Your loss," Karev shrugged, feeling her eyes turn back onto him as he grabbed a chart off the rack and flipped through it. He had no idea who the patient was or what the notes said. It wasn't his case, but he felt foolish and clumsy, and Karev didn't want her to know that he had no idea what he was doing. "You know, your boss—Dr. Montgomery—is probably a lecherous old bastard anyway. Feeling up the nurses and sexually harassing interns."
Alex knew he was being an ass and he could tell Addie was starting to get annoyed... not like that was necessarily a bad thing. The way she'd descended upon him in the kitchen early that morning was a fond memory. It would have been hot as fuck, if her twig of a sister hadn't been there.
"Needs to be the rooster in the hen house to compensate for his very tiny dick." A feisty nurse in his hospital would make Karev's forty-eight hour shift a lot more enjoyable, in more ways than one. "When you get tired of fetching ice chips for pregnant chicks, you know where to find me."
"I do hope you have the skills to match your ego," Addie commented, looking him up and down in a way that reminded Alex of how she'd sized him up at the bar the previous night. It was both intimidating and hot and Karev swallowed, trying to keep his cool. He didn't want her to think he was some loser. He'd come to play ball.
"You know I don't need any help," he called after her retreating figure. "I'm that gifted!" A hip thrust punctuating his words.
Karev turned to find another woman looking him over with an arched brow, this one a surgical resident. "You Karev?" He nodded in reply. "You need better game, man."
She showed up to insult him? The women at this hospital were a tough crowd. The one saving grace was that he hadn't been assigned to the Nazi. Trying to please her seemed like it would be a nightmare.
"I've got game," he scoffed. "I could get you to sleep with me if I wanted." She was tall, pretty and obviously bossy—he'd hit that.
"Right," she patted his shoulder. "I've got a case, if you're done deluding yourself." The resident looked him over like Alex was a piece of meat. "I need someone with upper-body strength."
He looked at her suspiciously. There had to be some kind of catch because no resident would offer a case to an intern out of the goodness of her heart. Knowing his luck she was probably on gerontology and he'd be stuck with endless old people for the rest of his shift. "What kind of case are we talking about?"
She smirked. "If you have better offers then, by all means, feel free. I won't be offended."
"Do I have to do enemas?"
"Only if you're into that." She turned and walked towards the elevators. "We're going to break some bones."
···
Derek stepped out of his car and found himself immediately surrounded by tiny disapproving faces. There were five of them circling him, with another few hanging in the background. Plenty of Shepherd scowls to be seen and he was already realizing that coming here was likely a big, big mistake.
"Who are you?" the tallest girl stepped forward, hands on her hips and while Derek couldn't remember her name—Ashley? Amanda, maybe?—the glare she was giving him told him that she was most certainly one of Nancy's. He'd been on the receiving end of that look too many times to count in his lifetime and although this girl couldn't be older than seven, she already seemed to have it down pat. "We don't know you."
Was she serious? Derek quickly tampered down his annoyance and flashed his most charming smile instead. "Of course you do, I'm your Uncle Derek. Your mom's brother, remember?"
The kids exchanged uncertain glances.
A younger boy shook his head, gripping the handlebars of his tricycle as he looked up at Derek. Judging by his size he was probably one of Kathleen's, although Derek couldn't be completely sure. "You're not Uncle Derek. He's always busy, and besides, he never comes without Auntie Addie."
"I love Auntie Addie!" A small, grubby looking child pulled his thumb out of his partially toothless mouth to impart this information and a few of the other kids nodded in agreement. "She's pretty and has long red hair." Well, yes, Derek had noticed. So had Mark, and who knew whoever else... Apparently, you only needed to have reached the ripe old age of about five to be drawn into her net.
"I don't think my mom has a brother." A boy with bangs that hung down into his eyes regarded him suspiciously. "Maybe you got the wrong house."
"Of course Mom has a brother! It's Uncle Mark!"
Derek closed his eyes and took a deep breath. They were children and he should avoid telling them that Mark was nobody's uncle, just a philandering bastard. None of his sisters would like it if he did that. They might all be adults now, but they would still make it hurt. He had vivid memories of his pre-teen self saying something unfortunate in front of one of his sister's boyfriends and then being hunted down by three angry girls at once.
"Uncle Mark is cool. He always plays with us."
Yes, and once you're old enough to marry, he will sleep with your wife. Coming to this barbecue was a mistake. Derek should have stayed at home, nursing a drink and his bad mood.
"If you're really Uncle Derek, then where's Aunt Addie?" the tall girl demanded, her look reminding him of Nancy's expression when he'd just done something particularly boneheaded. He'd been dreading the inevitable cross-examination from his sisters about why Addison wasn't showing up but apparently their children had beaten them to it.
"She's coming, right?" A very little girl looked imploringly at him, her lower lip wobbling as tears glistened in her eyes.
This was just perfect. His family had been nagging him about this barbecue for weeks, going on and on and on about how his nieces and nephews would love to see him, only to have said children burst into tears at the sight of him. This day just kept getting better and better.
"Derek!"
He looked across the yard and saw to his relief that Nancy was on her way over to him. Thank god. The children were still staring at him, but Derek tried to make his way through the horde to the safety of his sister's presence. At least Nancy was happy to see him. She would claim him as her brother and protect him from the underage mob at his feet.
"Where's Addison?" Nancy tried to look around Derek, as if his wife was hiding amongst the children still standing behind his back.
Addison might be in the Hamptons or a hotel, or even hiding in Mark's bedroom. "She couldn't make it."
Nancy looked confused. "What do you mean, couldn't make it? This barbecue has been on the books for two months... Did she get a last-minute case? She hasn't messaged me."
Derek wished he could go back to being questioned by the kids. "She, uh, was called out of town."
Nancy looked suspicious, but also like she might give him a pass. At least for now. Once they didn't have a pint-sized audience, she would have regrouped and she would be coming for his tender underbelly. She had missed her true calling as a prosecutor, or maybe torturer at a CIA black site.
"Mom," the tall girl stepped forward again, looking downcast. "If Aunt Addie isn't coming, who's going to teach me how to suture a hot dog?"
"Oh honey," Nancy wrapped her arm around her daughter. "I know you're disappointed, but I'm sure Addie will make time for you when she's back home."
Derek knew he should offer to teach his niece—he did know a thing or two about suturing!—but held back as the girl gave him another suspicious look before turning back to her mother. "Is Uncle Mark coming? Maybe he can teach me?"
Nancy looked at him. "Don't tell me Mark got called out of town too."
Okay, this was really too much and Derek wished he could get back into his car and drive somewhere far away where nobody would ask him about adulterous wives or bastard ex-friends.
"Why would you ask me? I'm not his keeper. He's probably screwing some nurse." Or somebody's wife.
"Derek!" Nancy made a sweeping gesture towards the children who were all staring at him, but Derek wasn't feeling particularly sorry. It was better they knew now what 'uncle' Mark was like. Less disappointment later.
"Is he really your brother, Auntie Nancy?" The kid on the tricycle wheeled up to them, managing to hit Derek on the shin. "I don't like him."
Nancy covered a laugh with a cough. "That's not a very polite thing to say when Uncle Derek came to see all of you. He won't want to play with you unless you're nice."
The kid looked up at Derek for a moment, taking his measure, before turning to Nancy. "That's okay. I don't want to play with him anyway."
Derek really wanted to say that it was fine, he didn't want to play with them either, but getting into an argument with children was bound to call attention to himself and he was still hoping to get out of here without having to discuss the abysmal state of his marriage, if he even still had one. He made another attempt at a winning smile instead, flashing it at the child. "That's okay, maybe you'll change your mind when you get to know me better."
The kid didn't look any more certain than Derek felt. Which wasn't surprising, given that all his nieces and nephews had made it abundantly clear that Addison and Mark were their real family. It was just as well that Derek had skipped most of these gatherings in previous years. He only wished he'd skipped this one too, but it was a little late for that.
"Kids, why don't you go play for a while?" Nancy suggested and Derek felt a surge of gratitude towards his sister. "Let's let Uncle Derek settle in first."
···
She had made a list in her head:
Starting a new job on the same day as a new crop of interns: not a great idea
Sleeping with random guy in a bar: definitely not a sound choice
Driving cross-country and tossing her clothes out the window somewhere around Iowa: liberating
Changing her hair color for a fresh start: not as empowering as you'd think
Addison had to go down to HR to get her pager, ID card and keys for the doctor's lounge, and she wished she'd had worn some more neutral looking scrubs than salmon color. Surgeons at Seattle Grace wore blues, so she stood out more than she was comfortable with, already being too tall, too blonde and too damn new at this hospital. Unfortunately, her scrubs were the only garments she didn't throw from the car during her trek across America's heartland.
She felt naked. She was alone, starting over in a new city, at a new hospital and she had never done this without Derek. They'd met in med school, so she had always had a built-in companion for these things. Now, she was just standing around, jabbing at the elevator button in the hope that it would arrive faster so she could get to the things that felt comfortable and familiar. Like cutting body cavities open.
The doors finally opened, people poured out and then, there was last night's conquest. Again. Because of course he was working in her hospital and he was wearing blue scrubs. Sleeping with strange men to shake off the loneliness was a monumentally bad idea, and not only because you might end up murdered. They could also show up at your place of work with a cocky swagger.
She might be blonder and freer, but West Coast Addison was off to a spectacularly bad fresh start.
"We meet again, my naughty nurse." He smirked like the smug schmuck that he was, but before she had a chance to collect her wits and rip him a new one, his friend, a tall raven-haired woman, called out for him to hurry the hell up. "Later."
Later, he'd get his ass handed to him. Judging by the baby blue color of his stupid scrubs, he was just a junior resident. She had been insulted over her specialty before, but not once had anyone ever assumed Addison was a nurse. Naughty or otherwise. In her current mood, she would be more Nurse Ratched than whatever was going on inside his head.
Addison had worked hard to become one of the most highly skilled fetal surgeons in the world. She was double board certified, had two fellowships to her credentials, and had sacrificed children and marriage to get there. She might look ridiculous in her salmon colored scrubs, but she was not a damn nurse. Not that anyone should disrespect nurses either. Everybody with half a brain knew that they were the nuts and bolts of any hospital, but that wasn't the point.
The most important point was that she should just zip up her pants and be celibate because she made the most terrible choices in sex partners.
She was still fuming when the elevator stopped at basement level. It was a curious place to put HR. The usual suspects were the morgue, radiology and the incinerator, but there were no signs for Human Resources. Addison was faced with a choice of left or right. "What the..." she muttered, irritated at the neverending maze.
The doors to the other elevator opened to reveal Meredith Grey with a bedridden patient. "Meredith!"
"Addison!"
"She's lost," the teenaged patient added.
"I'm not lost."
The answer came too quick and Addison smiled. She wasn't alone with her first day jitters, running around the bowels of the hospital. She liked Meredith, who was intelligent and well-traveled, and having a friend in this wretched new reality where she was hiding from her old life felt good.
"Well, I am," Addison confessed. Her housemate looked completely frazzled and Addison suspected that Meredith's first day wasn't going any smoother than hers was. "I've been looking for HR for the past half an hour."
Meredith peered down the dimly lit hallway. "I think we might have passed it a few minutes ago. Down that way, I think."
"Uh, yeah. Right by the sign that said HR." The teenager added sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "We've been on this floor before. Half an hour ago." The girl reminded Addison of Amelia in her angry, dismissive phase of teenage... before the drug addiction, when she was so desperate for any scrap of affection that she tried to push everybody away from her. Cry for help and all that.
"Well I had better get over there then," Addison smiled at the girl. She must be scared of what was happening to her, hence the bratty behavior. "Before I get fired on my first day."
"You're an actual doctor, though, unlike this one here," the teenager jabbed her thumb in Meredith's direction.
Poor Grey, getting stuck with an angry teenager on that first 48-hour shift. "You pregnant?"
"No, I do pageants! You'd look like a hippopotamus doing rhythmic gymnastics if you're knocked up." She rolled her eyes again, like this was all too much.
"Then you're better off with Grey here than me. I'd be happy to fix any problems with your uterus, but Dr. Grey is definitely your woman for a neurological issue." Addison made eye contact with Meredith. "She'll make sure you get an MRI to check your subarachnoid space thoroughly."
Meredith tilted her head, and Addison could see the gears turning. "Yes!" She suddenly looked excited. "You might have a tiny bleed, because of your fall, and I am going to have it fixed." She pushed the bed decisively down the hallway, turning back to mouth a 'thank you' at Addison.
···
"She left me, okay?" Derek stabbed at the potato salad on his plate. "We had an argument and she left."
He may not have been to a family barbecue in ages, but surely, they were never this horrible before? There were always a lot of children and people poking their noses into his personal business, but Derek could remember laughing and trying to prevent Addison from eating all the food off his plate. Granted, before this his wife hadn't cheated on him. Well, not that he knew of anyway. Maybe she'd always been sleeping with his friends.
"That doesn't sound like Addison. Just leaving like that," Nancy's voice was gentle and for some reason, that annoyed him even more. "What did she say, before she left?" Well, she was crying so it had been hard to make out her words through the glass pane of the door, but it had sounded like, 'Derek, please!' He didn't want to think about that, though, so he stuffed his mouth with a forkful of potato and stared at the kids playing across the yard. "Derek?"
He sighed. "I found out she was cheating on me. I lost my temper and threw some of her clothes out the door." Off the look on Nancy's face, Derek felt stupid and defensive. "I was angry." He probably shouldn't disclose that he'd manhandled Addison out the front door. He was clearly already losing the high ground.
"You... You threw her clothes out onto the street?" Nancy's eyes flitted about the yard, as if reality had just shifted and she wasn't quite sure she belonged in this timeline. "What about Addison herself?"
Derek rubbed his temples in frustration. Nancy was always the difficult one. There was such a small age gap between them and everybody always used to think they were twins because Nancy, being Nancy, had a tendency to try to finish his sentences for him. As if he was incompetent to do so himself.
"She cheated on me!" He wasn't sure why he had to reiterate this. Addison was a cheating, lying Jezebel who defiled their bed and their marriage, and he didn't have to justify his own anger. "She wouldn't stop shrieking."
"So you threw her out of the house?"
Derek briefly closed his eyes, "Yes." He could still hear Addison crying and begging and pleading behind the closed door. Please, Derek. Please.
"On top of the pile of her clothes...?"
"I walked in on her, okay? With another man, in our bed, Nancy." He exhaled in frustration as he jabbed again at his plate, accidentally puncturing the styrofoam with the tines of his fork. "I'm not the bad guy here."
"Wow." Nancy blinked, looking at him with an expression that he couldn't read. He didn't quite know what he'd expected, and Nancy and Addison had always been close, but he hadn't expected his own sister to side with his cheating whore of a wife. "I can't believe it, Derek. That's just..."
"Malicious? Horrendous? Cruel?" He stuffed another forkful of food into his mouth. He was regretting having started this conversation, or having come to this barbecue at all, but the only thing he could do now was to try to extricate himself. "I know everyone here thinks Addison walks on water but I'm sorry, cheating is a deal-breaker."
Nancy covered his hand with hers, stopping him from doing further damage to his plate. "That's very hurtful and she shouldn't have done that." Derek felt the sting of tears in his eyes and tried to pull himself together. He did not want his mother to see him crying because she would have too many questions and far too much advice. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Derek."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"Her family, though." The rest of the Montgomery clan was about the last thing Derek wanted to think about. "They're really messed up. The Captain cheats habitually—he's hit on me every time I've seen him and Archer is just," Nancy made a distasteful face, "a lothario. Worse than Mark, really, and Bizzy... I don't know. Addison grew up in such a dysfunctional environment."
"So you think that's an excuse for her adultery?! It's just how they do things? And fuck Mark!" He had to reign his anger in, Derek knew that. Others would sense something was wrong and Nancy would realize that his wife had screwed his best friend.
"I'm just saying that Addison hasn't had the best role models for a healthy marriage," Nancy patiently pointed out, still holding onto his hand. "That doesn't mean that what she did was right, or that this shouldn't be painful for you."
"Well, it is," Derek admitted, staring down at his plate to avoid his sister's expression. "I know the Captain and Bizzy are no picnic, but we made vows, Nancy. You were there for the part about forsaking all others."
"I also heard you sing about how you met Addison in the summery. In front of Bizzy, of all people. You'd have to be a fool or incredibly brave to do that. About how she would breathe life into you."
Derek remembered that too. It had seemed like a bright idea when he composed the song and he had known Addison would find it romantic, even if it was corny, because he had written it for her. The disapproving face of his new mother-in-law hadn't even occurred to him until he was singing about her daughter's 'fine ass.'
"In the summer. She..." he said almost to himself, correcting Nancy.
"What?"
"The lyrics, it's supposed to be 'I met her in the summer. She...' Summery doesn't mean anything."
"Well, it's an adjective, but Montgomery doesn't even rhyme with 'summer, she.' My point is, I just think you need to process everything. Don't go making any big decisions, or do something you can't take back later on." Nancy gave him a wry smile. "You have every right to feel angry and hurt by what Addie did, but eleven years is a long time, Derek. Whatever you end up doing, I just want you to be sure that it's the right choice for you."
···
So far, being a surgical intern wasn't anywhere near as exciting or glamorous as Meredith had pictured. She'd been stuck in the pits of hell with an annoying teenage beauty queen for most of the day and then all the other interns were gossiping about her, about how she was inbred and got her spot in the program because she was Ellis Grey's daughter.
As if. Her mother would never have called in favors on her behalf, would never have wanted to owe anyone in return and Meredith had worked hard in medical school. Hard enough that Rude Pizza Dude had no business insulting her for being a better diagnostician. Rude Pizza Dude—her roommate's illicit one-night stand—who also happened to somehow be their colleague.
Regardless.
Things were looking up because she had been paged.
The whole hospital was abuzz with the new head of Neonatal Surgery and how the expansion was going to bring interesting cases, grants and more money for everyone. Everybody wanted in on the service. Especially if you were an intern, and Meredith had been summoned. She had no idea what the case was or the possible surgery she could be scrubbing in on, but she was finally ascending from the bowels of the hospital, literally, as she stepped out onto the fifth floor.
"Meredith!" Her new housemate waved to her, smiling brightly as Meredith walked toward her, slightly confused.
Did Addison have the lead on a case for her? She hadn't expected to deal with the boss herself; chaperoning first-day interns seemed way beneath the esteemed Dr. Montgomery's pay grade. At this point, though, Meredith didn't care that it would give the other interns plenty more to talk about. She would get to see the inside of an OR and they could all eat her privileged farts.
After twelve hours straight of either wandering around the hospital basement or having to listen to the endless moaning of a bratty teenage patient, Meredith desperately needed a change of pace. She would grab onto whatever grace was offered, with both hands.
"I just got paged myself, so I only have a moment here," the other blonde apologized as she handed over a plastic bag. Meredith looked down at the styrofoam containers and back up at her roommate, puzzled. This was what she'd been paged for? What about the case? Food was... nice, but it wasn't a surgery. "I know you've had a long shift already and hospital food is passable at best, so I got you some takeout. I hope you like Thai."
"Um, yeah, Thai is fine," Meredith managed to choke out, hoping she didn't look too let down. The gesture was a nice one even if she was bitterly disappointed not to be getting a case, and since she and the other woman would be living and working together for the foreseeable future, Meredith wanted to stay on good terms. "Thank you, Addison, that was really nice of you." She wasn't ungrateful. She just wanted to get inside the OR more than she wanted food.
"Enjoy!" the taller woman called out as she retreated. Rushing off to save lives without an intern sidekick.
Meredith turned around to get on the elevator again, back to the basement. She sighed, feeling dejected. She'd done everything right.
She hadn't gone out after the mixer, hadn't gotten drunk, or slept with anyone inappropriate. She'd changed her whole pattern of behavior: West Coast Mer—an entirely different creature from East Coast Meredith and still, she was suffering the consequences of everybody else's poor decision making. How dumb was she, really, to believe that an attending—even one living in her house and having questionable sexual liaisons under the same roof—would let an intern be present for some cool and, in this particular case given the specialty, life-affirming procedure?
The food did smell good, though, and Meredith stabbed at the button for the basement floor, suddenly famished. She may be a grunt at the bottom of the surgical food chain, but she might as well feed herself. The current goal was to find a corner somewhere and stuff her face with whatever was in those containers. She needed all the carbs she could get to keep up with Katie Bryce's ridiculous 911 demands, so she might as well eat her feelings while she was at it.
Apparently her bad luck hadn't run out yet, though, because when the elevator doors opened, Rude Pizza Dude was standing there with that annoying smirk of his. Meredith felt her spirits plummet again as he raised an eyebrow when she tried to brush past him.
"You have food? Good—I'm starving!" He snatched the bag out of her hand and peered inside as Meredith let out a yelp of protest.
Seriously, this was getting to be too much. She hadn't exactly been an angel prior to moving to Seattle, but she was really trying to turn over a new leaf and yet somehow, the universe kept punishing her. Why was this guy always there, in her face, rubbing his casual male privilege all over the place? "Hey, that's mine!"
"Come on, you have enough to share. There's no way you'll be able to eat all of this—I'm doing you a favor." He hoisted himself up onto a nearby gurney and took out a container and a pair of chopsticks for himself before offering the bag back to her.
Meredith stared at him with what she hoped was her most intimidating glare, arms folded across her chest, but Rude Pizza Dude only looked amused. Addison totally owed her a surgery for inflicting this evil spawn on her. Meredith grumbled to herself as she scrambled up on the gurney and snatched up her half of the food before he ate that too.
"So, have you misdiagnosed any other patients than that old one in post-op?" Being petty felt good. Meredith supposed he couldn't help it if he was just too stupid and cocky to draw accurate conclusions, but he'd been rude and insolent, not only to her but also to the nurse who probably had 25 years worth of experience in patient care.
"From what I hear, you haven't managed to diagnose your patient at all." Great, he talked with his mouth full. "The new asshole has me running all over with lab results and wiping up bodily fluids... I've changed scrubs three times today already."
"The new asshole?" This was their first shift, how many old assholes could there be? There were a couple, like the Neuro attending who'd dismissed Meredith's theory on rhythmic gymnastics, which meant that her patient was still officially undiagnosed. He was kind of old and rickety, but the only other familiar asshole at this point was sitting right next to Meredith. Eating her food.
"The Vagina Squad General, Dr. Montgomery. It's his first day too, apparently, and he needs to make everybody know that he's The Man."
Wait a minute... "Dr. Montgomery?"
"I get why Dr. Burke has it in for 007, but I haven't even seen this bastard and he's already torturing me. I have been doing pregnant lady enemas all fricking day." Oh, Evil Spawn hadn't been introduced to Dr. Montgomery! Seemed like Addison was running a game from Meredith's playbook: no sharing of personal details, just the scratch of an itch. She almost felt sorry for the idiot. Almost.
"Well, you must have done something to get on his radar," Meredith offered helpfully as she scooped up another mouthful of noodles. She might not have a proper case yet but watching Rude Pizza Dude make an ass out of himself would be entertaining in the meantime. "He has to know who you are in order to punish you."
"That's the thing, I've never laid eyes on the dude!" He stabbed at his food in frustration, almost poking a hole in the styrofoam while he was at it. "Everyone talks about him like he's God's gift to vaginas everywhere, but seriously, the guy is way overrated. If he's really all that, you'd think he'd be busy saving babies instead of making my shift a living hell."
This was just too funny and Meredith was feeling better than she had all day. Not that she was a vindictive person, she didn't actually wish ill on Evil Spawn, even if he did make sexist comments and ate her breakfast, but on the other hand, if the universe was punishing him for his uncouth behavior, then it might yet reward her for how good she was being.
"Maybe you stole his food too?" He shot her an unimpressed look and slurped up a noodle. "Did you sleep with his wife?"
Rude Pizza Dude chewed thoughtfully. "Is your sister Monty's estranged wife?"
"My..." Addison wasn't her sister, but Meredith was pretty sure that Montgomery was the other woman's maiden name. "...sister is not married to a Montgomery." Addison had never mentioned a Mr. Montgomery.
"Then no," Rude Pizza Dude shrugged, "I didn't bone his wife."
···
Derek saw his mother approach from across the room and took one last swig of his beer as he flashed his best 'I'm fine' smile at her. He doubted Nancy had said anything to her about their conversation earlier—Nancy could be difficult but in her favor, she was discreet—but Carolyn Shepherd had an uncanny ability to sniff out when something was wrong and Derek didn't feel up to having that conversation today.
"Derek! You made it!" She set down two plates in front of him and wrapped him in a big hug. Derek swallowed, touched by how happy she was to see him. At least someone in his family appreciated him. "How are you? It's been so long."
"Fine. Busy, but fine." He picked up a plate and poked a fork at it. "You made your famous tuna casserole." He'd consumed more starch this afternoon than all the last month's meals combined.
"The kids are growing and with the way they're running about, they need something filling." She sat down next to him and looked him over. "You're working too much."
"Mom..."
"You both do. I wish you two would slow down, add to my collection of grandchildren."
"Mom." He really didn't want to have this conversation. None of the children present wanted to have anything to do with him and had Derek had one or more of his own, they'd be part of his marital mess. Besides, they would probably hate him too, so it was just as well that Addison had never agreed to try for a baby.
"Derek, neither of you are getting any younger. You have good careers. Addison is a natural with children and you are the last Shepherd. I would like to see the family name continue."
Yeah, that wasn't going to happen because his wife was never ready. Maybe because she was too busy sleeping with men who weren't her husband. At least Derek didn't have to raise Mark's bastard. That would have been the ultimate indignity, if his own child wasn't even his.
"Eat your food, mom." Derek gestured to the other plate of casserole.
"Oh, that's not for me!" Carolyn laughed. "It's for Addison, but I assume the kids dragged her off like they usually do."
Well, wasn't this fun? Derek was half-tempted to go along with the conceit but that would almost certainly end up backfiring on him. He took a deep breath and tried to sound as casual as he could manage, "Addison couldn't make it today, Mom. She got called away on a case out of state, something last-minute. She asked me to send her love to everyone here."
Carolyn frowned and Derek felt his heart sink. "I'm surprised she didn't call me herself to let me know. Addison is normally very good about that sort of thing."
Of course she was. His cheating bitch of an estranged wife was tighter with his family than he was, as today had so thoroughly proved. "I'm sure she will soon, Mom. Like I said, it was a very last minute thing."
"Is everything all right, with you and Addison?" His mother put a hand on his arm and Derek didn't know if he felt comforted or even more anxious. Maybe a combination of both. "You're both working all the time, it's been ages since the two of you have been able to come to family gatherings together. I know you have demanding jobs but you have to make time for each other, if you want to keep your marriage on an even keel."
"We're fine." Or as fine as you could be with a generous helping of adultery.
"The last time you attended a family get-together was Christmas, Derek. I've seen Addison show up alone for birthdays, Easter dinner and Memorial Day, and I see how sad her face looks when we ask her about you. I may be old, son, but I'm not stupid."
The tuna casserole felt lodged in his esophagus. Being sad wasn't grounds for cheating on your husband. If Addison was that unhappy, she should have told him, her spouse, not whined about it to all Derek's female relatives and then slept with his best friend. That was not how you fixed a failing marriage.
"I know it's hard for you, being the only man in a family of so many women. If your father were here, you'd have had someone to talk to about things like these. I know you have Mark, but I'm not sure he has the required maturity to provide a helpful male perspective."
Derek gritted his teeth at the mention of his traitorous bastard of an ex-best friend. His failing to show up to this fiasco of a family gathering was just about the only thing that was going Derek's way today, although the thought of where Mark might be instead wasn't exactly comforting.
"I can't imagine that having a heart-to-heart with Archer or the Captain would be particularly productive." His mother looked pensive. "I always felt sorry for Addison, growing up in that cold and unloving household."
"I know it's your job to worry, Mom, but Addison and I really are fine. Things have been pretty intense lately on the work front but it's nothing we can't handle." He shot a smile at his mother, hoping to appease her but he could tell from her eyes that she wasn't exactly buying this.
"I know it's not easy, juggling demanding careers like you both have. Marriage isn't always smooth sailing and your father and I had our rough patches just like every other couple. The important thing is to keep working at it, together. Have you thought about marital counseling?"
Derek looked at the children chasing each other across the yard, wishing that someone, anyone, would swoop in and rescue him from this conversation. He hated lying to his mother and he really didn't want to talk about Addison and it was all her fault for putting him in this position to begin with.
···
Meredith was shattered by the time she walked through the door, exhausted and exhilarated at completing her first shift as a surgical intern.
Okay, so her fellow interns still thought she'd gotten her placement handed to her on account of being Ellis Grey's daughter but at this point Meredith didn't care. She'd gotten to scrub in on Katie Bryce's surgery, and she'd earned her place in the OR by being the one who'd worked out what was wrong with the girl to begin with. She didn't need her mother, or Addison, or anyone else to pull strings for her, thank you very much. She was doing just fine on her own, with her brains and her hard work.
"Meredith!" Addison looked up from the sofa, where she was curled up with a journal article. No sign of Rude Pizza Dude, thankfully, although there was a large pizza box perched on the coffee table. "How was your shift? Are you hungry?"
Her stomach rumbled as she sank down into a nearby chair, opening the box and helping herself to a slice. It was sausage with extra cheese, her favorite, and she shot a grateful glance at her roommate. "I think I forgot to eat. Things got kind of busy last night."
"First shift is brutal. You like your cohort?"
"They're good people." Meredith paused to bite into her pizza and sighed with pleasure. "We're only six women in the whole group and half of that are my cohort."
"Wow. I was the only girl in mine." Addison looked thoughtful and a little sad. "Lots and lots of testosterone."
Meredith tried to picture how rough her shift would have been without Cristina and Izzie. With only the likes of Rude Pizza Dude, and George. Sure, Izzie was too... happy, gullible, sweet, but to spend all day, every day with bozos who sexually harassed you and called you a nurse? That must have been a rough ride. Especially if you were better, smarter and prettier than the lot of them.
"Speaking of testosterone, I bumped into the pizza thief of the other morning." It was only 48 hours ago, but it felt like a lifetime. So much had changed.
Addison made a face. "Not one of my brightest decisions for sure. I, uh, had a conversation with him myself. Let's just say he didn't make my would-do-when-sober list."
Meredith smiled. "I've had a notch or two on my belt for those kinds of boys. You want a drink?" She got up to head over to the kitchen.
"There's a bottle of red aerating on the counter and beer in the fridge. I also got some juice and a gallon of milk."
"So we've got options." Meredith felt bad for how empty her fridge had been. "I'll do the next grocery run." Apart from the pizza, which had been appropriated by their rude house guest, there had been a bottle of ketchup and a few cans of soda in the fridge before Addison had gone shopping.
"I heard you cracked the Katie Bryce case," Addison commented as Meredith took two beers from the fridge and returned to the living room. "You saved that girl's life, on your first shift, no less. And scrubbing in on a craniotomy on your first shift—you should be proud of yourself."
Meredith's cheeks flushed at the praise and she busied herself with taking a swig from her beer. "It was really cool being in the OR. I know I'm still learning and it'll be years before I'm ready to go solo, but... yeah. It was awesome." She felt stupid for asking but, "Is it always such a rush?"
Addison grinned as she leaned over and clinked her bottle against Meredith's. "There's nothing like being in that zone."
This was nice, the coming home to someone, talking shop, getting advice. It made the move back to the Pacific Northwest feel a little less forced, like she wanted to be here, instead of having to relocate because of her ailing mother. "How was your, um, second day, I guess?" Meredith suddenly realized that Addison must have had a nice relaxing evening at home in between shifts in the time that she herself had run around like a headless chicken at the hospital.
"Lots of paperwork. I had to talk to the board about the expansion." Addison made a face which made it clear that she wasn't fond of the administrative side of her duties. "I'm just as eager to get into the OR as you are," she laughed as her phone suddenly buzzed.
"Speak of the devil..." Meredith grabbed another pizza slice while Addison looked at the display. She might as well eat as much as she could now, before some pasty-assed thief got into her food. "You have to go back in?" She knew that people who went into OB/GYN were pretty much always on call, that's why the general talk at med school had discouraged people from that specialty. Well, that and no one cared about women's health issues. Very little funding.
"No, it's not the hospital. I'll call back tomorrow." Addison looked tired and sad. "I need to get some sleep because I have a surgery on the board for 7 am." She stood up and collected her dishes before heading off to the kitchen.
"Oo, can I scrub in?" Meredith called after her. She didn't care what it was, she just wanted back into that OR. It was like a drug, but better! Better than sex, even, but maybe that was because she hadn't had any for ages. She'd been too busy and she hadn't even missed it. Well, not that much. Okay, so she did miss it, but surgery was still better.
Addison showed back up in the doorway, "If you impress at rounds, but I'm not promising anything. You have to be prepared."
Challenge accepted. Meredith scrambled up from the couch, snatching up her bag and the pizza box too while she was at it. "I'll be the intern to beat." She rushed past Addison, up the stairs. "See you at the crack of dawn, Dr. Montgomery!"
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