That first shift went well for Meredith, besides Derek paging her to the patient's room. She saw no more of him than from a distance, and didn't have the misfortune of encountering Addison either. Unfortunately the next shift was much different; she had run ins with both of the Dr. Shepard's. First she encountered Derek in the hallway. As they approached one another he stopped.

"Meredith, can we talk now?"

"Not unless it's about work." She stated emphatically.

"It's on both a personal and professional level." He replied.

"What is it Dr. Shepard?"

He leaned towards her and said, "I miss you."

"That doesn't sound professional at all to me."

"Well it is both. I miss not only being with you outside of the hospital, but also alongside a patient and across the operating table. I know I'm not supposed to, but I do." He said quietly.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before your wife showed up. Now I have to go and assist Dr. Burke. Tell Addison that I said hello." And with that she walked off.

After assisting Dr. Burke in surgery, Meredith was cleaning up when Addison walked in to scrub in for her own surgery she was getting ready to perform. Meredith was attempting to ignore her, but Addison would have none of that.

"Dr. Grey, I want you to stay away from my husband. I'm here now and we are going to work things out."

Meredith said nothing.

"Do you understand Dr. Grey?"

"There is nothing for me to understand. That works great for me because I don't want him anymore, so he is all yours for the taking! Now you'll just have to convince him that he wants you back!" And with that Meredith walked out.

As she walked out to her car that evening, Meredith noticed someone standing near it. When she got closer she realized it was Derek standing next to her car. When she got to the car, he asked, "Could we please go somewhere and talk now?"

"No, but I do want to relay a conversation that I had with your wife earlier. She informed me that I was to stay away from you because she was here now to work things out with you. I in turn told her that was great because I no longer wanted you. Now would both of you please leave me out of your personal lives and stay out of mine!"

"Mer, I don't want her, I want you! There is nothing for Addison and I to work out, we are done and over with, all but the waiting period for the divorce to be final. You and I on the other hand have plenty to work out. I don't want to stay out of your personal life because I want to be a part of your life."

All Meredith kept thinking was 'if that was all, then why didn't he tell me this before?' As she went to get in her car she said, "Goodnight Dr. Shepard," and she drove off leaving Derek standing in the dark parking lot by himself, more frustrated than ever with himself, Addison and even Meredith.

The next few days went by with relative calm concerning Meredith's personal life. She and Derek didn't have any words unless they were regarding a patient or work, and Meredith managed to not have any more run ins with the other half of the Dr. Shepard's duo. Alone after work is when Meredith had the most difficult of times. It was then that her thoughts got the best of her, and her emotions took a front seat instead of a back.

One evening Dr. Bailey came up to her and said, "I realize you're near the end of your shift, but I need you to scrub in, you're the only one available at the moment Dr. Grey. With Yang out this shift we are busy and running tight."

"Okay no problem let me just get a coffee and I'll be off to the OR. Is that okay?"

"Yes, but one more thing Grey. It's with Dr. Shepard. I'm sorry, I've done my best on the distance thing, but now I have no choice. You can do this, right?"

"Yes, of course I can Dr. Bailey, don't worry. I shouldn't have put you in this situation in the first place, and I appreciate your consideration this past week or so. I'll be fine, thank you."

When Meredith entered the OR a little later, Derek looked up at her, but neither spoke a word. He was just so glad to be in the same room with her, without her being so visibly upset with him. The only words exchanged over the next couple of hours were those pertaining to the surgery. When she came to stand next to him, he could smell the distinctive smell of her hair. Their eyes met numerous times and spoke volumes of the feelings that were there, even now. There was hurt and pain there too. The last time their eyes met at the end of the operation they held for longer than a moment. Suddenly Meredith couldn't look away, nor could she stop the tears beginning to form in her eyes. Derek noticed the tears welling up, but felt like his hands were tied and he was unable to respond, to put his arms around her like he so desperately wanted to do. She decided to excuse herself before the others in the OR noticed what was going on. She was tired; she told herself that was all. She just needed to get out of here and away from Derek. Being this close to him for an extended period of time was more difficult than she thought it would be, and she hated him for that. She hated him for that and the fact that he had a wife that he never told her about. She felt like she was coming apart at the seams! She needed to sleep; everything always looked and seemed better after sleep.

Meredith didn't hear the phone ring, but Izzie came and woke her to tell her she had a call. When she answered the phone it was the residence home where her mother stayed.

"Dr. Grey"

"Yes"

"We wanted to let you know that your mother was just taken to Seattle Grace Hospital."

"But why, she seemed fine when I visited with her last?"

"She had a seizure, and is now unconscious, other than that we really don't know."

"Thank you."

Almost mechanically Meredith got up, showered, dressed and headed back to the hospital. Her life felt as if it were spinning out of control