The O.R. Truth
"Oh my god, what happened," Derek asked as he surveyed the chaotic scene around him in the E.R.
"Twenty car pile up on I-94," Dr. Burke says sadly as he hustles about trying to help everyone in sight.
"Ok Karev, you take Mr. Freeland right over there. He's got a concussion, possibly even brain damage. Get an MRI and a cat scan. Report back to me when we get results," Bailey tells Alex somewhat impatiently. "O'Malley, you're with Betty Shiling, that's the lady with the blue blouse on. She was smashed into the windshield, has some cuts and bruises. See what you can do for her. Maybe prescribe some pain medication."
"Ok, says George reluctantly. "Why do I always get stuck with the easy cases?" he comments as he walk by Izzie. She just shrugs and looks at Bailey.
"Stevens, Dr. Shepard has requested you for help with the case of at 19 year old pregnant female. She says for you to meet her in room B92 immediately. Go now," Bailey comments.
"I'm on my way," says Izzie as she heads off to the 2nd floor.
"Grey, you'll stay here and assist anyone in the ER that you can. If it's minor, give them some pain medication, and send them on their way. We need as much room as possible. This place is way to crowded to get anything done right now," Bailey says while motioning for Derek to come over where they are standing. "Dr. Shepard, Dr. Grey is covering the ER right now, so when things have settled down and she can leave, do you have a surgery that she can scrub in on?"
"Um yeah," says Derek, while staring around the room. "It looks like there'll be plenty of surgeries today. Just come find me whenever you're ready," he says to Meredith.
"Ok, I will. Thanks," she says kind of shyly.
"Dr. Yang, you'll be scrubbing in with Dr. Burke on a brain surgery for a 57 year old male. Go now", says Bailey.
"Right away," Cristina says, happy that she gets to work with her boyfriend.
Meredith looks around the ER and just sighs. There are at least 100 people, over half of them bleeding, crying, or complaining loudly about the lack of care that they are currently receiving.
"This is going to be one long day," say Meredith wearily. It just figures that her day off wouldn't really end up being a day off. I mean she's a surgeon. Surgeons are on call 24/7, right? She's really rethinking her choice of career right now. She walks over to a woman, maybe 30 years of age, who is holding her arm and sobbing hysterically.
"Miss could you tell me where it hurts? If I can figure out what's wrong with you, I'm sure I could fix it right up," Meredith says to the woman.
"It's my arm!" the woman says loudly. She removes her coat, to show Meredith the bone sticking out of her arm.
"Ok," says Meredith with a look of disgust. "It's a broken arm obviously. I'll just take you over here and get it cleaned up and have a splint put on. You'll need to go to your doctor's tomorrow though and get a cast put on it."
"Ok," says the woman, starting to calm down.
Meredith bandages up the lady's arm, gives her some pain medication, and sends her home. "One down, 99 to go," Meredith mumbles to herself as she goes to help the next person.
Three hours later, the ER is much quieter. There's only about 10 people remaining now, and they don't have anything to do with the car pile up, just other various accidents and mistakes. She grabs a cup of coffee and is on her way upstairs to see if she can find Derek, when she runs into him while turning the corner.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Meredith says, after she realizes that she spilt some of the coffee on Derek.
"No problem," Derek says while brushing off his scrubs. "I was in your way, and not really paying attention to where I was walking."
"Yeah me either," says Meredith kind of starting to get jumpy. "So, you have any surgeries left for me to get in on?"
"Actually I do," says Derek while smiling sweetly at her. "There was just a man brought in about an hour ago who's waiting for a liver transplant. You can scrub in if you want to."
"That sounds good," says Meredith. They head off towards the OR and go into the prep room. As they start washing their hands, Derek turns to Meredith and speaks.
"Meredith, I hope you know that I didn't just forget about us. Just because I went back to Addison doesn't mean that I wanted to throw away everything that you and I had," he adds quietly.
"Oh. Ok," Meredith says, totally taken back by the comment just coming out of nowhere. "I'm glad you didn't forget about us. I thought that what we had was special. I have to admit that I was shocked when you picked her, because I thought you loved me," she says with tears in her eyes.
"I did love you Meredith," he says sadly. "Maybe I still do. I don't know. I'm just so confused right now. The only thing I do know is that I have to try and make this marriage work with Addison. If I didn't try, I'd regret it for the rest of my life."
"I understand," she says. "I'm glad that you're trying. It just shows how good of a person you are. I just hope that we can at least be friends. I miss talking to you."
"Yeah, I'd like that too," he says. "Ok, well I think this man has waited long enough for a new liver, so…"
"Oh yeah," Meredith says, completely forgetting the real reason they're even here. That seems to happen quite often when she's around Derek. They enter the OR and Derek begins the surgery. They wait in quiet for about 2 hours, with Derek asking Meredith medical questions every so often, about the procedure. Meredith enjoys these surgeries because not only does she get to be with Derek, but she also learns a lot from him, and he's a great teacher.
"Ok looks like we're done here," he comments looking up at Meredith. He instructs the nurses, and other staff members what to do then walks out of the OR with Meredith in tow.
"That was a good surgery," Meredith says kind of nonchalantly.
"Yes, very successful. Now we just have to pray that the liver works out for the poor guy."
Meredith doesn't answer him, just continues washing her hands and surveying the happenings in the OR. Meredith turns and looks at Derek, and he looks at her. She opens her mouth, about to say something, but nothing comes out. The next thing she knows, her and Derek are embraced in a passionate kiss, which came out of nowhere. She has absolutely no clue what's happening, but goes along with it since this is what she's been longing for, for over three months. He gently bites her lower lip, asking for permission to let his tongue enter her mouth. She immediately agrees and opens her mouth wider. The kiss gets just to its peak, and Derek pulls away.
"I am SO sorry Meredith," he mumbles. "That was NOT supposed to happen. I just…" he drifts off.
"Oh, no… it's ok, really. You're right, it shouldn't have happened," she says already on the verge of tears.
"Look Mer, please just pretend this never happened," he pleads with her.
"Yeah, nothing at all," Meredith says quietly.
"Thanks. I've got to go. I'll talk to you later," he says reluctantly as he brushes past her.
When Derek leaves, and his shoulder brushes her shoulder, it's almost too much for Meredith to take. She tries her best to stop the tears, but they flow out of her like a dam. She hates him for making her feel this way. She exits the OR, and goes to the locker room. She gets changed out of her scrubs, and gets back into her clothes. As she's about to leave, she remembers that she came here with Derek and Addison, and that she needs to go get her jeep that's still at the mall. She runs into Addison and asks her if she could get all of her bags out of the car.
When she finds George, she asks him to take her to pick up her jeep. They head toward the mall with George being the only one willing to participate in any conversation.
"Are you okay Meredith?" he asks her.
"No," she says plain and simply.
"Well is there anything I can do for you?" George asks.
"I don't think so," she says, "unless you know how to repair a broken heart."
George leaves her there reluctantly after he's sure that she's in her car and safe. When she gets home, she goes straight to her room and buries her head in her pillow so that no one will be able to hear her crying.