When Meredith woke up, she could immediately tell that something was wrong. The familiar dryness in her throat told her that she had been drunk and probably made some stupid mistake again. She glanced at the empty bed next to her, at the way the other pillow was still bent in from someone else's head being on it.

Great. She'd made another one-night mistake with someone.

Then she remembered that it hadn't been just someone.

It was Mark. Addison's Mark. Derek's Mark.

Shit.

She jumped out of bed and quickly wrapped her bathrobe around her, glancing around for some sign of him. The only clothes that littered the floor were her own.

"Izzie!" she yelled as she ran down the hallway in her bare feet. "IZZIE!"

"Jesus. What?" Her roommate, clad in a tee-shirt and boxers, opened her door and glared at Meredith from sleepy eyes.

"Did you hear someone leave?"

"No… it's four-thirty, Mer."

"Oh."

"We don't have to be in until seven." Izzie yawned.

"Oh."

"Did someone stay over?"

"Yes?" Meredith answered tentatively.

"Who?"

"Just a guy from the bar."

"No one I know?"

She shook her head empathetically.

Suddenly George brushed by them in the way down the hallway. "Whoever your friend was, tell him not to slam the door next time," George muttered under his breath as he passed.

Meredith winced. "Sorry," she called after him.

"You know, if you want him to stay here this time, you might wanna stop having one-night stands," Izzie said practically. "I'm going back to bed. Wake me up in two hours."

"Okay." Meredith turned and stumbled back to her own room.

She sank down onto her bed, her head pounding from more then the alcohol.

"What the hell did I do?" she muttered.

- - - -

She couldn't decide if being at the hospital that day was going to be worse than when she'd unexpectedly seen McDreamy for the first time, or worse even than seeing George the day after The Incident.

Thankfully, it went better than both the previous catastrophes.

She went through the first half of her shift without so much as a glimpse of him, but that didn't keep the news from spreading that he was at Seattle Grace.

"Did you hear? Mark Sloan's back."

"Is it true the Chief hired him?"

"God, I wouldn't want to be working near either Dr. Shepherd today."

The whispers, mostly from the nursing staff, continued to follow her around. Meredith almost laughed when Izzie came running up to her with the news.

"Did you hear?" Izzie asked breathlessly.

"Yeah," Meredith said calmly as she set up her patient's morphine drip.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Meredith countered.

"Well aren't you happy that he's probably going to break up… um, you know who?" she said, attempting unsuccessfully to be discreet.

Meredith tried to push down the rising hope in her chest when Izzie said aloud the one thing she was hoping for most. "It doesn't matter. Derek and I are just friends." The same words she'd been chanting to herself the past few months. Just Friends. Just Friends.

Izzie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it."

"Why am I not surprised that MY INTERNS are standing around gossiping?" Bailey demanded from behind them, causing both of them to jump. "Stevens, you're scrubbing in with Burke on the kidney transplant. Grey, you're with Montgomery-Shepherd."

Great. Meredith felt her stomach sink. This was just perfect. She really didn't want to be around Mrs. McDreamy right then.

With a sigh, she gave the patient a reassuring pat before going off in search of her attending. She saw the brilliant red hair from the back and said, "Dr. Shepherd, I'm your intern, where do you want me?"

Addison turned around slowly. Her eyes were bloodshot. Had she been crying? Yelling? Drinking? Meredith had no idea.

"Right, right. Um…" For once, the beautiful, competent woman looked a little lost. "You can start prepping Sandra Neill in room 114 for surgery. I just need to check on her labs before we start." She ran a hand through her hair and sighed.

"Okay." Meredith briefly considered asking Addison if there was anything she needed to talk about, but decided that it would be a bad idea, considering her position. Almost as bad as the Very Bad Idea of sleeping with Mark Sloan in the first place.

As she turned to find the patient, she saw Derek approach them and for some reason felt the guilt rising in her chest. Which was stupid, she knew, because after all, Derek was with his perfect wife. She was allowed to… to do what? Sleep around?

She pretended to study the board as she lingered to hear what McDreamy had to say.

"I need you for a consult," Derek said to Addison in a low, clipped tone.

"Derek, can't we just talk - " his wife's voice was quiet and pleading.

"No. I need you for a consult."

"I – please," Addison murmured. "Please don't take this out on me – "

"Not now, Addison," he snapped and continued walking.

Meredith winced as she snuck a glance at the redhead. Addison was standing still, taking in a deep breath and her eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

Addison saw her looking. "I'm fine. It's fine." She spun on her high heels and walked away.

So there was trouble in paradise. Yet again.

Meredith forced herself not to think about Mr. or Mrs. McDreamy or about the Dirty Mistress or about the Very Bad Thing she had done.

She guessed that she had done a lot of Very Bad Things.

- - - - -

She didn't see him at all until the end of her shift, when they ran into each other at the nurse's station.

"Hi, intern," Mark said with a secret smile when he saw her.

"Hey," she said stiffly as she handed over her last chart to the nurses.

"You done for the day?"

She managed a nod, heart pounding. What was she so afraid of? She hoped neither Dr. Shepherd was looking.

"I'll walk you out then," he said, and before she could protest he was lightly steering her by the elbow towards the door.

"So how was your first day?" she asked as they walk out the doors of the hospital, slipping on her jacket.

He shrugged carelessly. "I kicked ass." He smiled at her to show he was kidding.

She couldn't help laughing at his arrogance. "Good." She paused. "And?"

He knew what she meant. "And he avoided me and looked like he wanted to run me over with his car. Several times." He pretended to look around the parking lot carefully. "Tell me if you see a Range Rover headed this way."

She laughed again – and god, it felt so good to laugh. She didn't ask about Addison.

"You're still waiting out on him, aren't you?"

She considered the question. "I don't even know anymore," she said honestly.

He stopped walking when they reached a shiny black Porsche. "Want to think about it over a drink?"

"Not Joe's," she said automatically.

She knew she shouldn't get in the car.

But what was the alternative, really?

She was SO SICK of knitting.