Chapter Two

The bell indicating that someone was coming in rang through Joe's. Meredith turned to the door out of habit, even though she knew it wouldn't be Derek. Izzie sighed as she watched her friend stare hopefully at the door. Poor, poor Meredith. Instead of McDreamy, an unfamiliar teenage girl entered the bar.

"Is she even allowed in here?" Izzie whispered to Meredith under her breath.

Joe, unfortunately, heard her, and looked at the girl inquiringly. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-one." the girl said hopefully.

Izzie snorted disbelievingly, causing a confused Meredith to look up from her tequila glass.

"You need an ID before you try and order anything." Joe reminded her.

She nodded. "Obviously." She sank onto the seat next to Meredith, who surveyed her as her unkempt auburn hair flew of its own accord in front of her face, looking thoughtful.

"Are you really 21?" Meredith asked skeptically.

The girl just stared at her with familiar light blueish-green eyes. "Are you kidding me? I'm just exhausted and need somewhere to sit down."

"Where'd you come from?" Izzie asked, sounding interested.

"New York."

"Wow, that's a long way."

"Yeah, it is." the girl said with a nod of agreement. She sighed, forcing herself to stand up. "I better go. This probably isn't where teenagers hang out." She raised her eyebrows at the empty shot glasses in front of Meredith. "Nice meeting you..."

"Meredith Grey." Meredith said with another gulp of tequila.

The girl smiled, extending her hand to Meredith. "Becca Montgomery."

As she made to get up from the stool, still concentrating on Izzie and Meredith, a piece of paper fell out of her jacket pocket. Izzie leaned down and picked it up. Becca took it from her, blushing. "My birth certificate." she said as she noticed the curious glances the two women were giving her. "I think my family lives somewhere around here."

There was an awkward pause. "Oh. Well, good luck with that." Meredith said.

Izzie glanced at her friend scoldingly. "We'd love to help you find who you're looking for, if you want."

"Thanks, I'll keep that it mind." Becca said, waving to Joe and turning toward the door. "Oh, and it was nice meeting you two." she called as the door clanged shut behind her.

Three hours later, Izzie's proposal was the only thing on Becca's mind. It had started to pour about an hour after she left Joe's, and the rain was soaking her clothes, which had begun to stick to her skin about half an hour after that.

"I hate Seattle." she muttered to herself. Becca then noticed a taxi pulling up in front of Joe's, and Izzie standing next to it. After a moment's hesitation, she ran over, smiling at Izzie innocently.

"Hey, Izzie." Becca greeted. "Long time, no see."

Izzie looked her over with raised eyebrows. "You need somewhere to stay, don't you?"

Becca sighed. "Is it that obvious?"

Izzie nodded with a small smile. "Hop in."

"Thank you so much." Becca gushed, sliding down the seat until she was next to Meredith. "Hey, Meredith."

"Hi." Meredith said, trying her hardest not to slur.

Becca grimaced at the strong smell of alcohol surrounding the woman next to her, resisting the urge to scream out in relief as the taxi pulled to a stop in front of a huge brown house. Izzie led Meredith inside, followed by Becca, who was shocked at the size of the house. A man came down the stairs, not seeming at all surprised by Meredith's state. "What happened this time?" he sighed, not noticing Becca standing behind his friend.

"I don't know, I think she saw McDreamy with Addison again or something." Izzie said, not sounding concerned.

Becca just stood there, listening in confusion as the adults prattled on and on about this "McDreamy". When finally she could stand it no longer, she inquired "Who's McDreamy?"

The man jumped as he spotted Becca standing behind Izzie. "Who are you?"

"Becca Montgomery. Izzie said I could stay here until I found my family. Supposedly, they live somewhere around here."

The man regarded her suspiciously.

"No, really. I even have my birth certificate." She waved a crumpled piece of paper at him in desperation.

His expression softened. "Nice to meet you, I'm George O'Malley."

"So, who's McDreamy?" Becca repeated.

Noone replied. The silence was broken only when Meredith stated "I think I'm going to throw up.", and ran for the bathroom.

"He's Meredith's ex-boyfriend, as of three weeks ago. Or was it four, time seems to fly by when you work your life away." Izzie answered. She immediately changed the subject. "So, um, I'll get you an old T-shirt or something and make you comfortable on the living room couch. Eventually we can fix our spare room for you, but we have to be at work early tomorrow and its already around one."

Becca nodded gratefully. "That's fine withe me. Thanks again for letting me stay here."

Izzie smiled compassionately. "No problem, Becca."

Once Izzie and George found two blankets, a pillow, and an old Dartmouth T-shirt of Meredith's for Becca to sleep in, she settled down onto the couch, folded her birth certificate carefully into her bag, and fell into an uneasy sleep.

Becca awoke early the next morning, too nervous to really sleep. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, wanting to go back to sleep but not wanting to deal with the nightmares that would most likely follow. She heard footsteps on the stairs and quickly turned around to look at whatever person who was coming down.

"Hi, George." she greeted with a yawn.

He jumped. "God, Becca, you scared me."

"Sorry." she said apologetically.

"You're up early." he stated.

"Yeah, I don't sleep very well." she replied.

"You want something to eat? I have to be at work soon, so I was going to make some cereal."

"Sure." Becca agreed, pushing herself into a standing position and following George into the kitchen. A puddle of water was sitting near the refrigerator, unseen.

"Hey George, do you guys have any milk?" she asked, reaching towards the refrigerator door. Her foot slipped, her ankle twisted, and she immediately fell backward, her head colliding with a bang into the hard kitchen floor. Her vision spun for a moment before everything went black. George heard the noise and turned around to see Becca sprawled across the floor, unmoving.

"Becca?" he asked uncertainly, stepping closer to her. He saw the water sitting innocently next to the fridge and realized in seconds what must have happened. "Becca?" he repeated loudly. She still didn't move or reply.

"Izzie!" he yelled up the stairs, fearing to move too far away from Becca in case she woke up or showed any other sign of movement.

Izzie peered over the railing of the staircase at him, too far away to see Becca. "What?"

"It's Becca, I think she's had a concussion." he answered, his tone worried and almost frantic.

"Seriously?" Meredith asked, craning her neck around Izzie to try to get a better view of the situation. When this attempt failed, she headed down the stairs to stand next to George and the unconscious Becca. "Have you called an ambulance?"

"I'll do that now."

"I guess I'll go get her birth certificate. They might want to contact her family if she's in the hospital." Izzie said, going down the stairs and grabbing Becca's bag that was resting on the floor next to the couch.

Meredith knelt down by Becca and took her pulse. "Her pulse is pretty normal."

Izzie nodded, not even able to crack a smile. George reentered the room with a grim look on his face. "The ambulance is on its way."

The ambulance arrived in a few minutes, getting them to the hospital within fifteen minutes of the time Becca had collapsed. She still hadn't moved, even with the constant bumping of the ambulance as it sped down the streets to Seattle Grace Hospital. The three interns watched motionlessly as the stretcher was wheeled into the hospital. They remained like this until George finally checked his watch.

"We're going to be late." he stated quietly. "We'll check on Becca during rounds, okay?"

The others nodded, following George into the hospital to find Bailey and their fellow interns; Meredith praying that neither of the Shepard's were in charge of Becca's case. Mercifully, Meredith, George, and Izzie made it to the locker room with five minutes until the beginning of rounds, leaving just enough time for them to throw on their scrubs and follow Bailey out the door to begin the day. They reached Becca's room after a few minutes, with Christina and Izzie already assigned to their cases for the day. Meredith read her chart, too nervous to look up and see which attending was assigned to this case.

"Good morning, everybody." greeted the cocky, overly chipper voice of Derek Shepard.

Meredith shut her eyes tightly, then ever-so-slowly reopened them. Nope. It was still Derek. Where was a shooting star when you needed one?

A/N: I am SO SORRY it took me this long to update! I already have the next chapter or so written, so it all depends on when I can get it up tomorrow since I get to go paint things at my pool from 9-5; then go to a friend's party after that. Again, I apologize for the inconvience, and hope some of you guys are still reading and enjoy this chapter. It was meant to be longer, but I'm getting kicked off the computer so...sorry for the filler too. ;). It gets better. What more could you want then Derek on Becca's case since she's staying with Meredith? ;)

-Allie