Okay I decided to wrap this up in two chapters instead of three because I didn't really want to split this part up. The lyrics and the overall title I borrowed from the Inara George song on the GA soundtrack. I thought it was fitting for the occasion.
Fools in love, are there any other kind of lovers?
Fools in love, is there any other kind of pain?
Everything you do, you do it for your baby love...your baby love...
Through their day at work, one thing was apparent; everyone seemed to be in a great mood, well everyone except for the two mopey interns. Obviously Alex and Izzie had plans, but even Christina of all people gave into the holiday festivities and had made plans with Burke for a nice dinner and a night on the town. It was like some kind of disease rapidly making its way throughout the entire hospital.
Meredith could only imagine what the two Shepard's had on their agenda. For the time being, she had been avoided either one of them, Derek especially, as much as possible. She just didn't want to think about it.
It had been the same with George and Olivia. They never did end it too well; George had just gotten angry and stopped talking altogether, apart from the times when it was absolutely necessary, but they just couldn't discuss what went so wrong. Frankly, at this point, he didn't care if they ever did. After all, she had been the main cause of Alex and Izzie's last squabble. And he had Meredith to think about. Olivia was nothing in comparison.
When it came to the possible career changing surgery hopes, the opportunity had not yet presented itself. Meredith had scrubbed in for yet another appendectomy, nothing out of the normal. George had been stuck doing paperwork and checking in on post-operation patients. He had two people throw up on him, luckily both times it had only reached his shoes. But not to mention, he had gotten his hand bitten by a little kid.
Meredith had it figured that when people were in love they were more likely to do something stupid to prove it. She of all people should be plenty aware of that. So one would assume that this mass epidemic would make for some interesting stories in the emergency room. But other than the man who had fallen while trying to climb his girlfriend's balcony, nothing too interesting had happened. Maybe it was wrong to find humor in other people's misfortune no matter how humorous it might have struck her, but on a day like today, she needed it.
When the end of shift rolled around, the two couldn't wait to get home. What more was there for them than at the hospital, they didn't quite know, but it would certainly be better than where they were.
On the way home, George prompted they take a detour from their journey to the grocery store. Izzie inquired as to why the stop was necessary. She was in a hurry to raid her closet for something to wear for that night. There was only three and half hours until she needed to be ready to leave and every minute he got back in the car he claimed they were all out of ice cream at home, but Izzie wasn't so sure, though she went along with it reguardless.
As soon as they returned home, Izzie rushed up the stairs to her room, to her closet more or less, dragging Meredith close behind. "Help me…" She mouthed back to George still standing at the bottom of the stairway. But he only muffled a laugh, there wasn'tmuch he could do. If he said anything he was sure he would be the one stuck with the sisterly duties. He wasn't their sister…if anything he was their brother, their big brother who wanted to so badly to scare their terrible boyfriends off the front stoop with a really big stick, but he was George. George was simply notthe person to do such things.
It was, however, like George to have immense sympathy for people, even more so when that person was Meredith. After they had both disappeared from his view, he begrudgingly trudged up the steps with clumsy not so quiet feet. It wasn't something he was looking forward to, but it was something that he felt he had to do.
As soon as he reached the top, he was spotted and was yanked quickly by the arm into Izzie's room. She was standing in the middle of the room wear a beautiful pink dress. Well, beautiful in the women's opinions, but to George it was just too pink and too low cut in the front to let her out of the house wearing it. He knew right then exactly what would happen next.
"Should I wear this…or the red one?" Yep, that was it. He was no longer George, man of the house, but more like a Georgia. "I need a guy's point of view…" She clarified. "Which would Alex like?"
The last question made him laugh. Alex would probably choose something skin tight and thigh high if anything at all. George, he was different. "Well, I…happen to like the red one." He stressed the I in his response.
Izzie picked up the red ensemble off the chair and held it against herself in the mirror. It was a deep red satin and fell to just below her knees and in comparison to the other it was more modest yet not matronly. She nodded. "Definitely the red…thanks George." That was getting off easy, one of the shortest decisions she had made, but of course she had yet gotten into the bathroom to really get ready. It could be hour or two yet…who knew.
"You like mint chocolate chip, right?" George yelled to Meredith who was popping a movie into the DVD player. He wasn't yelling in a angry tone, but because he was fiddling around in the freezer and he doubted he would be heard otherwise. He grabbed the two small carton and two shiny spoons from the silverware drawer, and went to join her in the living room. "When I got to the store, it was all they had left."
"How dare they steal our plan!" She responded in a faux shocked voice. "I love mint ice cream actually." She took the ice cream from his hand and took a seat on the couch.
"Oh wait…"George turned to grab the grocery bag he had left on the end table and took out the white box from inside. "You know…I thought…" He began nervously stuttering a bit. "It is Valentine's Day…so…flowers, they die…so I…"
"You got me a box of chocolates?" She finished his sentence with what she thought he had meant to say, but couldn't quite get the words right.
"Well I thought since you're feeling like crap…chocolate always helps." He said coyly with careful explanation.
"Thanks…and, ooh…they're the good kind."
"The good kind?" He wrinkled his nose slightly as he asked her to clarify it further. He hadn't the least idea what she was talking about.
"You know, the ones with the littleroad mapin the top of the box that tells you exactly what you're getting. That way you don't have to poke holes in them." If life was like a box of chocolates, this was exactly the kind she wanted.
He finally took a seat as well, though a careful distance from her. "You got me something and not Izzie?" The previews began to roll and she began with both kinds of sweets in front of her.
"Well she's got Alex to give her things, so…" He just left the sentence unfinished. He didn't really want to remind her of how alone she was.
"Thanks anyway…" She lifted the box over in his direction. "Want one?"
"Oh, no thank you." He shook his head. "So…what are we watching?" He asked awkwardly. Everything about him screamed awkward; his rigid posture, the way both his hands laid on his lap, both very unnatural, uncomfortable.
"Indiana Jones." She answered with a smile.
"No sappy love stories to cry over?"
"I didn't think you'd appreciate it, youare not mysister…you're a guy…uh…a manly…man."
"No…that's pushing it." He laughed with a mouth of ice cream.
"Well, I don't need to watch a tragic love story...I'm living my own. They could make a hell of a movie out of me."
"Don't be so hard on yourself."
"No...it's that bad." She corrected him and he was not about to say anything to challenge it. "I wonder what they're doing right now?"
"The Shepherds'?…No, you can't be thinking of that…no." He tried to convince her, but failed to do so.
"You know, their place probably looks like a soap opera set threw up all over it. Rose petals here and there…candles…music...everything."
"They're living in his trailer!" He chuckled as he spoke. "And please…don't say that."
"You…you are supposed to be supportive. Listening to what's on my mind...I think I might have to fire you."
"That's not what I meant…it's just I've had to clean my shoes off twice because of that, and I highly doubt I smell like roses…even after I took a shower. So…sorry."
She braced her hand on his shoulder as she took a whiff. George had no idea whether she was serious or not, butthe smile on her face spoke for itself. "It's all good." He smelled not like he had said and not like any kind of cologne, instead it was just…George.
"I wonder what Olivia's doing right now?" He changed the conversation away from how weird things were heading.
"George…" She said in a scolding tone.
"Why can you go on about Derek, but I can't say anything about Olivia?" At this point they had pretty much forgotten about Harrison Ford's adventures playing on the screen in front of them. They were too deep into the conversation.
"Do you still love her?" Meredith asked honestly.
It caught him off guard. He actually had to stop to think about it for a moment. "You know…I don't really think I ever did." It took him a while to get started, but once he did, he couldn't stop talking. He set his empty bowl on the coffee table and propped up is feet. "It think…I think I was more in love with the idea of Olivia than Olivia herself. I mean, I had no life…I was hung up over someone else with whom I knew it would never work…" He was very vague when he mentioned the part about the other woman. He didn't want her to know the truth about it. "…and then she came along and she was actually interested…interested in me."
"Why do you find it so amazing that someone could actually be interested in you?" It was a sincere question. George was a good guy. She was sure that if he was married, he would definitely share that information with his current girlfriend. Actually...a guy like George would never really be in a situation like that in the first place.
"Have you taken a look at me …I could stand to lose a few pounds…and I'm kind of…clumsy…when it comes to women, you know…I'm not exactly a guy like Alex…I'm just George."
"Precisely…and if you one day became anymore like Alex I might just have to disown you." He wasn't sure what all she meant by her last comment. A silence ensued between the two. George returned to the movie that had been previously forgotten, but he had seen it so many times before it didn't matter.
It was then Meredith chose to shatter that silence. "George…" She asked quietly, as not to disturb him. "...what's wrong with me?"
He looked away from the television as soon as he heard her. He couldn't believe she would ask anything like that. Didn't she already know the answer. "What do you mean, Mere?"
"Why didn't he pick me?" He tone gave off such vulnerability when she finally spoke. It looked as if small tears were forming in the corners of her eyes, but instead of letting then fall, she forced them to stay right where they were. She had been doing plenty of crying lately, and she wasn't about to breakdown now.
He just stared at her in disbelief, not saying a word at first. She put another piece of chocolate into her mouth in the mean time, quite pathetically."Honestly?" He asked.
"Well I don't want you to lie."
"I have no idea why he would ever choose Addison when he had the chance to be with you."
"What did I just tell you!" She didn't believe him. "That's just one of those friend kind of answers, you know, the kind that are exactly what someone wants to hear. A non-confrontational…dishonest answer and I don't want to hear it!"
"Mere, no it's not." He approached her harsh tone with a surprisingly soft one. "You're…you're smart…and…you're funny…beautiful…and you care about people…you love with your whole heart, but for some reason…people just can't appreciate that…and they should…you…Meredith, you deserve someone so much better than Derek or some random guy you bring home from a bar…you need someone who knows how lucky they are to be the guy that you pick…that you choose…that you love…and nothing less than that…" He was rambling, a typical George-like nervous ramble. George forgot about what all else he had meant to say. It wasn't working. He reached his right hand to wipe away a small tear trailing down the side of her face, one that she hadn'tbothered to hide any longer. While his hand was there it took a detour to the side of her neck. From there everything was simply on impulse. As soon as Meredith looked up from where her box of candy was lying in her lap to meet with his own pair of brown eyes, he drew her closer to him, until their lips met softly somewhere in the middle.
As an after thought, George considered himself incredibly stupid for doing what he had just done. While silently cursing himself, he failed to realize she didn't seem in the least bit against the idea. Her fingertips where tangled amongst the brown curls of his hair, and he hadn't the slightest idea why. That moment he pulled away from her and just watched as her eyelashes fluttered open to meet again with his own.
"I'm sorry Mere…" His eyes returned to the box of chocolates she had dropped upon the floor in the process, avoiding the spark he saw in hers like the plague. "I didn't mean--" She stopped him from rambling once again and spoke herself.
"Save the apologies for someone who really needs them." She touched him gently on the chin hoping to redirect his eyes to hers. "I'm sorry…"
"Why should you be sorry?" He interrupted.
She laughed slightly. "Izzie wasn't the other woman was she?" The look upon his face showed he didn't remember to what she was referring. "You said when you were with Olivia, you were in love with someone else, but you knew that nothing would ever happen…I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like that."
"Well…how you know I was talking about you when I said that?" He asked, but judging on the rosy color his cheeks had become, she knew she was right. "I know you've got some other things to sort out for now…and I know I'm the last thing that you need at the moment, but…I love you, Mere…" He knew he had to tell her now or there was a chance that he never would.
"Are you kidding me…George, why would you think I didn't need you right now…I do."
"I would make things complicated right now…we live in the same house…your house…you didn't need to know that…not now…McDreamy…uh, McMarried…a whole big McMess right?...And I'd only make things worse."
"George…just stop talking…" She grasped the collar of his shirt and pulled him closer to herself.
When Izzie returned home the next morning, in the same dress she had left the house wearing the night before, it was nearing nine o'clock. They didn't have to go into work that morning, but she was sure at least one of the two would be awake and downstairs doing something, whether it was eating breakfast or falling back to sleep on the couch in the living room. Either way, she was bound to have an interrogation by one of them, Meredith not nearly as bad as she could imagine George could be about her having been out all night.
On the off chance, maybe they weren't home. Meredith liked to geterrands done whenever she didn't have work, the only thing she could think to do with her spare time. Maybe they were off at the grocery store. She had just finished off George's last box of Frosted Flakes and hadn't bothered to tell him. Perhaps he ran out to get more.
Though when she unlocked the front door and walked in she saw what faintly looked like two lumps on the couch from where she was standing. She walked closer, quiet as to not wake the lumps, to get a better look. Meredith head was resting upon his lap and his laid awkwardly on the arm cushion of the couch.George arm was draped across her back and she took note of the box of chocolates that was still on the floor. She hurriedly ran into the kitchen and grabbed the Polaroid and snapped a picture of the two then ran up the stairs to act as if she had been their all along if anyone happened to ask.
Thanks to the fact the house had was rather old, having been in Meredith's family for some time, the third step up made a loud creek as she put her weight on it. It caused Meredith to stir from her sound sleep, but Izzie was already out of sight by then. What was within her sight was the photograph last tossed on the coffee table. She picked it up and read the caption that had been scribbled in the white border at the bottom. "Valentine's Day isn't as bad as it may seem…" She recited before resting her head back down with the still sleeping George. Maybe it really wasn't half bad after all. She closed her eyes and drifted of almost instantly.
Fools in love they think they're heroes
'Cause they get to feel no pain
I say fools in love are zeros
I should know...
I should know because this fool's in love again.