WOW. I know its been soooo long since I updated, and I want to apologize - college apps and work got the best of me. But, alas, I am back and better than ever.

/

Meredith was unable to focus for the remainder of her shift - not that she had much to accomplish. It being nearly 10:30 at night, the cafeteria was virtually empty. She sat at a table, keeping Tina entertained with a cup of JELLO and shifting through paperwork.

She couldn't believe it had been Owen Hunt who had operated on her. God, that had to have been almost a year ago. Even so, her abdomen still twinged if she sat in the same position for too long. The scars on her abdomen had just started to fade into pink. Owen. It all led back to owen.

Despite her desperate attempts to cling to reality, Meredith could feel herself fading. Nurse Paula had had to restrain her when they brought her unit back after the explosion. Four out of seven were declared DOA, and the other three died in surgery. Frankie had been one of those three.

She had been able to hear her flatline through the thin walls in the medical tent. She had screamed herself hoarse, begging to be let into her OR, convinced she could save her. Paula and two other nurses had to grapple her back into bed and strap her wrists to the bed rails. Her IV came loose in the struggle, and blood spurted everywhere. Red on her white sheets -

"Meredith?"

Startled, Meredith looked up and saw Cristina standing over her. She scooped up Tina and balanced her on her hip. "You gave her JELLO. She's not supposed to have sugar this late."

"Sorry," Meredith mumbled. She stared down at the pen marks she had made on a patient's chart.

Frowning, Cristina sat down across from her. "You seem weird."

"I said I was sorry."

"Is this about the engagement party?"

Meredith snorted. "Its not an engagement party, considering we're already married. I thought you and Izzie were calling it a reception."

Cristina shrugged. "Whatever it is. Are you really that upset over it?"

"No." Shaking her head, Meredith sighed deeply. She was about to bullshit her way out of the conversation, when it hit her - this was Cristina. Her person. She could tell her anything.

"Owen Hunt is here."

"Owen who?"

"The guy who cut out my baby maker and threw it in with the medical waste."

"The guy who -" Sudden realization dawned on Cristina's face. "Oh." she looked at Meredith with interest. "He was in Iraq?"

Meredith nodded. "Yeah. And he came in with the triage, you know, all macho-like. Field surgeons can't resist a big trauma like that." She stabbed the tip of her ballpoint into her stack of papers, creating small specks of ink. "And we ran into one another. He announced that he was the one who did the hysterectomy."

Cristina stared at her blankly for a moment before blurting, "Did you guys sleep together?"

"What?!" Meredith's head snapped up. "No! Gross! No way! We weren't even in the same unit."

Holding up her hands in a surrendering gesture, Cristina smirked. "Just making sure. Who knows, maybe philandering whore Meredith made an appearance overseas."

"She did not," Meredith insisted adamantly. She picked up her stack of paperwork to shove it into her bag, when a brochure fell out. Cristina snatched it up before she could grab it.

"Pathways to Parenthood," she read out loud, grinning. "I take it this is 'the pamphlet'?"

"That's the one."

She watched as Cristina unfolded it and scrutinized the pages. "I hope you don't think I'm being Mommie Dearest here."

"I wouldn't want you to," Meredith said, grabbing the pamphlet back. "And I take it that you've never seen 'Mommie Dearest'."

Cristina cackled. "Speaking of Joan Crawford, how's yours?"

"My what?"

"Your mother."

Meredith felt her blood turn to ice. She froze on the spot, watching Cristina, calculating.

"Dead."

"What?" Cristina demanded at a volume that caused Tina to jump.

"Yeah, sometime last year," Meredith trailed. "I got, um, a letter from the nursing home. I could have gone back for the funeral, but she never wanted one. I had her cremated. She's… in my closet."

Cristina shook her head in disbelief. "That's a new level of fucked up, Meredith."

"Yeah. I have no idea where she would have wanted to be… spread. I don't know how to get rid of her." she shrugged helplessly. "It would have been nice if she, you know, talked to me once in a while." Meredith stared down at the smiling faces on her pamphlet and frowned. "Can I do this, Cristina?"

"Well, you can't go wrong with a nice beach -"

"No," Meredith cut in. "Do you think I can be a mom?"

Cristina furrowed her brow. "Yeah, I do."

"I mean, when I die, I want my kid to know where I want my ashes thrown." her eyes fell to Tina, who was forcing her entire fist into her mouth. "Does Tina know where you want yours?"

Cristina ruffled a hand in her daughters curly hair. "No. Tina knows I want my body donated to science. She's going to have my skeleton preserved in a high school biology classroom."

/

Some nice thorough reviews for my comeback, please!