Meredith Grey was no stranger to love triangles. She'd been involved in an unfortunate amount of them throughout her lifetime, however, she usually found herself drawn to one person more than another. This time was different. She still cared for, and believed that she loved Andrew DeLuca, but she'd also found herself growing incredibly fond of the company of the new Chief of Peds, Cormac Hayes, who'd happened to have been sent into her arms, all the way from her best friend's hospital in Switzerland. He understood her pain better than anyone in the hospital, aside from Amelia. Plus, he was respectful of Derek and his memory. This was something she hadn't seen from Andrew many times. But some part of her deep down still cared deeply for DeLuca, and the fact that he was going through a rough time made it harder for her to even think about her options. The fact that she even had options again was hard to fathom for her. Not even a year earlier, she was making a decision between DeLuca and Atticus Lincoln. She never regretted the decision to date DeLuca over Link, as it led him and her sister Amelia to each other, who now had an adorable son together. However, her decision now was much tougher. She'd already been with DeLuca and seen how they worked. She hadn't with Hayes, which made her more inclined to give Hayes a fair chance. She never gave Link much of a chance because Andrew was persuing her so consistently. This time around, DeLuca was so caught up in his own head that she didn't even think he'd noticed her forming a connection with Hayes. Amelia and Jo, on the other hand, had figured everything out and had made it abundantly clear who they wanted her to be with.
As she got Bailey and Zola ready for school one morning, she deliberated on her predicament with Maggie, who was a pro and con master.
"I don't know what to do Maggie, Hayes is great and I'm pretty sure he's interested, but I feel like getting into something new while Andrew is going through his mental health issues is just... wrong." said Mer, as she handed Ellis her favourite toy.
"Meredith, you know as well as I do that going on a date with Hayes doesn't make you a bad person. You said it yourself, Andrew is fun but you didn't see the relationship going any further than it did. Why not explore something new? It could be something great. You chose Andrew last time and look how it ended up. Give the other guy a chance this time." Maggie responded, knowing full well that she was right. Meredith knew she was right too.
"Fine," she said, "You're right. I'll talk to Hayes today. Or I'll try, at least."
"That's all you can do, is try. You said Hayes is a good guy. Let him try as well." Maggie said, giving Meredith a sympathetic smile.
The women packed the children into the car and headed off. Meredith was looking forward to work today. She hoped it wouldn't take long for her to bump into the Peds doctor.
Sure enough, it didn't take long at all. They always seemed to be in the same place at the same time.
"Morning, Grey. Coffee?" Cormac asked. Obviously with 3 kids, coffee was a morning staple, so she never denied. This had almost become a morning ritual for the 2 chief's. As he passed her the coffee cup, she remembered that she had to take him up on his drinks offer at some point, and there was no one around them which made everything much easier for her.
"So, Hayes," she began, his gaze catching hers. "About that question you asked the night of Richard's surgery? I'd like to take you up on the offer. Maybe even dinner instead, if that's alright with you?"
Hayes seemed taken aback, he hadn't expected Meredith to be the one to re-ask him out. He figured he'd have to wait another week or two and ask her again when the moment was right.
"Uh, yeah. Dinner sounds great. How about 7?" He responded, feeling an abundance of different emotions at once. Realistically, he knew Abigail was cheering him on, and that she wanted him to be happy. He just wondered if he was moving on too fast? But then, he thought, he's not "moving on." And neither is Meredith, who he knew understood his conflicting feelings.
"7 sounds perfect." Meredith said, smiling. Hayes could always find himself smiling if Meredith was smiling. There was something about her smile and laugh that made it so easy to laugh along with her. It was no surprise to him why everyone admired her.
They didn't have a case together that day, which made the anticipation for their outing even bigger. Obviously Meredith told Jo, Amelia, and Maggie about it, and all 3 were ecstatic. Hayes didn't really have anyone to tell, nor did he feel too strongly about publicizing anything anytime soon, either way. And neither did Meredith - but Jo, Amelia, and Maggie were her family and they deserved to know. However, telling Amelia also meant telling Link.
As Mer finished up her work for the day, she began to think about the date, and how refreshing it felt to be potentially starting something new. She clearly wasn't the only one thinking about everything, as Hayes appeared at the door of her office, right as she began thinking about it.
"Oh, hey! I'm almost ready. Just have to make sure everything is good with the kids first." Meredith smiled at Hayes.
"All good, take your time. I gave Austin and Liam money for pizza, so as long as they don't set anything on fire, they should be able to take care of themselves for the night." Hayes laughed. Meredith laughed and smiled at him.
"I don't want them to grow up, but I also wish my kids were old enough to take care of themselves. Although, somedays I think Zola is 8 going on 45."
"How many kids do you have?" Hayes questioned, realizing he'd never really asked. Meredith grabbed her stuff and walked out of her office beside Hayes.
"Three. Zola, who Derek and I adopted when I was a 5th year resident, Bailey who is 6, and little Ellis who's 3 and who Derek never knew about or got to meet."
Hayes looked at her sympathetically.
"That must have been hard, being pregnant while you were grieving."
"It was. He said he wanted more the morning before his accident. She was a complete miracle, but I didn't know how I could do it without him. I didn't know if I wanted to. But I had Amelia, Maggie, Alex, and more." Meredith paused, reflecting back to when Ellis had just been born. She was missing Alex and Cristina in the moment, more than she was willing to admit. She wanted nothing more than to go home and drink and talk to them about this date. Sure, she could call them, but it wasn't the same.
"You okay, Grey?" Hayes inquired.
"Yeah. Just thinking about my friends. It feels a little lonely here now."
"I get it. I haven't made any real friends at this hospital aside from you. I sometimes wish I could bring back some friends from residency, who knew Abigail and I, and the kids." Hayes empathized a lot with Meredith. It was hard being alone. But maybe, just maybe, the two of them didn't have to be as lonely anymore.
As the two surgeons reached the restaurant, Hayes decided that the conversation would likely do better if it wasn't so sad. It was nice to have someone to be vulnerable with and open up to, but this was a date and they were there to have fun.
"So, tell me a bit about Karev. I've heard a few things, however they mostly came from Jo, and from what I can tell, she's got a pretty biased opinion." Hayes chuckled.
"Well, I've known Alex since we were interns. Cristina, Izzie, George, and I hated him at first, he was an asshole who was only looking out for himself. But as time went on, that rocky exterior broke down into one of my best friends. Someone I could really rely on after Cristina left for Switzerland and after Derek died. And now he's a dad to twins." Meredith said, smiling as Hayes pulled out the chair for her to sit down.
"Well thank you." Meredith said, smirking.
"Sounds like Karev was a great guy. Do you think we would've gotten along?"
"Oh yeah, definitely. You both have that rugged exterior with a heart of gold, and a deep passion for the kids and the work. You two would have been best friends." Meredith said with a laugh, which of course made Hayes laugh too.
"Well, consider me flattered then. I hope I'll get to meet Alex someday."
"I'm sure you will. He's doing what he knows how to do best right now, which is hide away and avoid contact with many, many people. But he'll get over it to come visit the kids. They miss him, and he knows it. Zola isn't very good at hiding her feelings well."
"That kind of change is hard on kids. Especially when it's so abrupt. Abigail was sick for so long, but her death still rocked Liam and Austin to their core. It felt so out-of-the blue for all of us, even though we'd seen it coming for months."
"It definitely wasn't easy for the kids after Derek died. It happened so quickly, and the next thing they knew we were in San Diego, far away from anything that could remind them of Derek. Zola could hardly understand that she was getting a new little sister."
"I get it, but I also couldn't even imagine. I wouldn't wish what we've gone through on anyone."
"Yeah. Although, you don't even know the half of it." Meredith said, laughing slightly.
"Well, now I'm curious." Hayes inquired, his interest peaking.
"Depends on which story you want to know about first. I could tell you about the bomb, the drowning, the George story, the shooting, the plane crash, Cristina leaving part one, Cristina leaving part 2, you've already heard the Derek story, the patient attack or the "i may have accidentally killed someone" story. Take your pick."
"Okay yeah, I definitely get the 'twistedness' now. But that last one caught me off guard. You may have accidentally killed someone?"
Meredith laughed. A lot.
"Okay, well, basically at my trial for my license, one of the doctors on the panel had been one of the doctors on Derek's care the night of the crash. He didn't get him a head CT, which is why he died. So when he started questioning Zola's adoption, I snapped. I called him out for killing Derek in front of the medical board and all my friends and family, including Amelia. He stood up, seized, and they took him to Grey-Sloan. He died on Koracick's OR table. Amelia and I still laugh about it to this day. Not my finest moment, but I'd been waiting to confront him for so long." Meredith said, smiling so devilishly at the thought of Paul Castello rotting in hell.
"You know, at the conference I did the same thing. The guy who sold the machine that spread cancer all throughout Abigail's body and killed her, showed up beside us at the conference and was asking Teddy to partner with Grey-Sloan. I may or may not have lashed out on him and threatened to stick a pen through his throat." Meredith laughed, and held out her hand in a high-five. Hayes returned the gesture and smiled at her, in only the way her laugh could make him smile.
"It feels good to know that you got some kind of justice or closure surrounding their death. Or at least that's how it felt for me. It felt like Derek had finally gotten the justice he deserved. He couldn't fight for himself when he was brought into the hospital, so I was glad I had the chance to fight for him and stand up to the person who made it so that he couldn't meet his daughter, or walk the girls down the aisle, or teach things to Bailey and the girls as they grew up. It's all on me now, and that anger had been bottled up inside me for so long."
"Yeah, I get it. It makes my blood boil that so many other women were probably harmed and potentially killed by this device, and the manufacturers are still openly selling it, knowing the harm it can cause. I think my confrontation was also for all the families that have gone through the same heartache me and my boys went through. They might not have ever have the chance to stand up to these sales reps." Hayes said, looking down and running his hands over his head.
"Anyways, I'll get angry if I keep thinking about it, so how about we shift the conversation to something a tad lighter." Meredith sighed and nodded her head in agreement.
"Do you have any good stories from when you worked in Switzerland? I'd love to hear what you and Cristina were up to while you were there. Cristina tells me pretty much everything but I imagine you'll probably have some interesting takes on things and other stories that I haven't heard." Meredith said with a wide smile. She relaxed in her chair and rested her head on her palm.
Hayes sat in contemplation for awhile.
"Ooh, here's a good one." Hayes started. All throughout the night, the two of them ate dinner, exchanged stories, and reminisced on their spouses. They seemed to get lost in time, as Meredith looked down at her phone and realized that it was 10pm.
"Oh god," Meredith said with a laugh. "It's getting late, and I have to work early tomorrow morning. We should probably head out."
"Do you need a ride home? I would be glad to give you one."
"I'd appreciate that a lot, actually." Meredith said as she put out a $20 tip for their waiters. Hayes had graciously paid for their food, and he matched her tip. The two got up and left the restaurant, all smiles. Meredith hoped that this was the start of something good.