Chapter 6 – Maha
Meredith's features were twisted up in some mix of confusion and thought. Izzie stared at her, jaw agape.
"You WHAT?"
They were alone in the elevator, returning to their floor after having breakfast and coffee downstairs. Izzie slapped her friend on the arm, and a smile began to form on her awe stricken face.
"I can't believe it! I never thought he had a chance." Izzie stared up at the ceiling in contemplation, chuckling to herself.
"I don't know what to do, Iz. What if it's weird with us now?"
"Of course it's going to be weird!" Izzie laughed, looking back to Meredith. The pitiful look on her friend's face chased the laughter away. "Look, Mer, you're in a transitional phase. You've upgraded from one night stands, at least!"
Meredith's features sunk further into confusion. "I don't want our friendship to be completely ruined, but it just felt so good to lay there with him last night."
"Well, yeah it did. He's in love with you, he'd do anything for you. But the thing is, did it feel so right because you feel something for him too, or just because you're lonely?"
"The million dollar question." Meredith sighed as the elevator doors opened. She and Izzie stepped out onto the floor and parted ways. Meredith's patient today was a middle aged man with multiple lacerations on his back from falling on a glass coffee table.
"Good morning, Mr. McKenzie, how're you feeling?"
"Wonderful, thank you." The man answered sincerely.
Meredith was surprised to see the woman she saw with him that morning was still there at his bedside, holding his hand. Mr. McKenzie smiled adoringly at her.
"I'm Dr. Grey. You are?" Meredith greeted.
"Joan Selling. Nice to meet you, Dr."
"So, David, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get this glass in your back?"
David laughed and Joan kissed his hand. "It was an accident. We were sort of in the throes of a…passionate moment and weren't paying attention to the location of the furniture."
"How long have you two been together?" Meredith asked with a smile as she readjusted the dials on Mr. McKenzie's heart monitor. They seemed so in love. David could hardly stop looking at her. Every few moments, Joan would bring his hand up to her face and cuddle it, kiss it.
David laughed, "About four hours." They kissed, and Meredith furrowed her brow.
Walking down the hall, Meredith passed Derek at the nurse's station. He looked up from his paperwork just as she glanced at him, and he smiled. Meredith gave a curt nod and continued on, but Derek jogged up to her.
"Hello, Meredith."
"Hello, Dr. Shepherd."
"How are you?"
"I told you yesterday, Derek, I'm fine."
"I'm just wondering if I should believe you or not."
Meredith stopped, looked at him, studied him, and smiled.
"What?" He asked, bewildered.
"I'm sorry, it's just that the irony of it is…breathtaking." She seemed amazed and pleased at the epiphany she'd just had.
"I'm not sure I follow."
"I am fine, Derek. This morning was the first morning in a long time that I didn't wake up thinking about you. I might even be more than fine... Are you?"
He was lost for words, and Meredith walked away.
Meredith had decided to keep Mr. McKenzie overnight for observation, just to be sure the lacerations on his back would heal without risk of infection. She had just cleaned the wound, observing its healing, when Mr. McKenzie asked Joan to go get them both some coffee, to which she lovingly obliged.
Once they were alone, Mr. McKenzie addressed Meredith.
"You think we're crazy, don't you?"
Meredith looked up in surprise. David was studying her with a faint smile.
"Crazy? No, of course not." Meredith refused eye contact.
"It's okay, Dr. Grey, I saw the look on your face. You don't understand how we can be in love in so short a time."
Meredith didn't know what to say. No, she didn't understand. There's no way you can love a person when you know nothing about them. There's no such thing as love at first sight. Lust, maybe, but you can't fall in love with someone in four hours.
"Joan and I passed each other on the street, but when we locked eyes we couldn't look away. I called her back and asked her to have coffee with me, but the waitress hadn't even gotten to our table when we had to rush back to my house. We just couldn't stand it any longer." Meredith continued fussing with his monitors, saying nothing.
David smiled, "I asked her to marry me just before you came in."
"Oh?"
"She agreed. We've found Maha, Dr. Grey, the greatest love a soul can give. I'm a very spiritual man, and I believe that Joan was predestined for me. It doesn't take a lot of dates and expensive gifts for us to know. We connected in a deeper way than I ever thought possible. We're meant to be together, I just know it."
"How? How do you know?" Meredith asked urgently, her gaze suddenly imploring. David smiled sympathetically.
"You just do. If you're not sure if you've felt it yet, then you haven't. You'll know when it hits you; it's like a ton of bricks falling on your head. Like your heart is too small to hold all the love you feel, and you're not sure what you want to do most; make love, ask her to marry you, or die in each other's arms."
Meredith chewed on this strange information as she mulled about her daily routine. She was in the elevator alone, leaned against the back wall with some folders pressed to her chest when the elevator stopped to pick up another passenger on its travel downward.
George looked up to the opening doors and froze when he saw Meredith standing alone. His heartbeat increased at an alarming rate, and he didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to run away, take the stairs, anything to avoid the awkwardness of being alone with her after what had happened. But the other part of him wanted nothing more than to take the opportunity to be alone with her again.
So, knowing running away was out of the question, George turned his eyes to the floor as he boarded the elevator. He stood close to the door, in front of Meredith, his sweating hands shoved nervously in his pockets. The doors slid shut and the elevator began descending.
Meredith watched his back observantly.
"Hi George." She smiled when he started at the sound of her voice. He turned around to face her.
"Hey Mer." He said timidly. Meredith chewed on her lip.
"I suppose…we should talk about last night?"
"Why? I mean, I don't see why we have to say anything. We both know what it was, there's no need to beat it to death." He nearly slurred his words, he spoke all in one breath.
"So what was it, George? What do you think it was?" Meredith asked directly.
He looked at her curiously, not liking this turn of conversation. With sudden poignancy and calmness, "You were sad. And I love you." There it was. George put it almost too simply. "You were confused and lonely, and I took advantage of that." George shrugged, as much as it hurt him.
"No, George." Meredith nearly cooed, and George slid his eyelids shut as if to block her out. "I wasn't confused then. I knew exactly what I was doing. When I started to think about it, that's where I run into trouble."
George didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. And in that silence, Meredith found herself in an unexpected moment of clarity.
All of a sudden, her hands started to tingle, and she didn't notice that she'd dropped the folder she held in her arms. It seemed as if she was suddenly too big for her body, and all of her soul was crushed inside. Meredith wanted to bounce off the walls of the elevator and scream at the top of her lungs. She felt giddy, her limbs were weak, and she threw herself into George's embrace.
She had looked at him so strangely, George didn't know what to do. Her eyes were happy and excited and some other unidentifiable emotion was clear. George held her trembling body to his, her arms were wrapped tightly about his neck.
"Meredith?" He asked breathily, confused.
She pulled back and tried to speak, but no words would come out. So she just sighed as tears stung her eyes and leaned in to kiss him. A deeper, more passionate kiss than any Meredith could've imagined. Her head spun, and George responded equally to the urgency she felt.
When, despite their best efforts to make the kiss last forever, they pulled apart, Meredith's eyes were still closed. George searched her face for some sort of clue as to what the hell was going through her mind.
"Meredith…" He begged, and she opened her eyes to his questioning ones. She smiled adoringly.
"So that's what it's like." She breathed, almost to herself.
"What? What what's like?" George was desperate for answers. He was on the verge of getting everything he ever wanted, he could feel it. There could be no doubt about her feelings after a kiss like that, but he still needed Meredith's audible verification.
She answered simply, as she leaned in for another kiss, "Maha."
El fin! So very gushy and mushy and all that fluff. I love it. Maha does not exactly translate into "soul mate" but it's the same sort of deal. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thank you all for taking the time to review, it is appreciated more than you know!
Love -- Aleks