Disclaimer: None of GA is mine, sadly enough. I do own the new character, though (: Oh, and this is a REALLY long chapter. So don't say I didn't warn you!

Chapter 9: Surprises

Meredith Grey's alarm clock went off promptly at 4:15 the next morning, loudly announcing the start of a new day, which for the young woman meant new patients, new stresses, and new annoyances. One thing that being an intern guaranteed was that you would never, ever know exactly what would be coming; be it gunshot victims, record-breaking tumors, angry video-making patients, juju from Addison, Seattle Grace was always full of surprises. Today would be no exception to that rule, except for one minor detail: the surprise which fate held in store would alter Meredith Grey's world forever. She stretched as she reluctantly threw the covers off and climbed out of her large double bed- the very same bed she had spent months sharing with a certain Dr. McDreamy. Not allowing herself to go there, since it would be a poor way to start the day (denial really is the best option sometimes), Meredith wondered into her bathroom to brush her teeth and to get ready for what was sure to be a long day.

By 4:25 she was downstairs, making coffee and searching for some cold left-over grilled cheese to nibble on en route to the hospital. Luckily for her, both of her roommates were still on call, which meant she had some time to herself. She stood there, sipping her black coffee and greatly appreciating the quiet. The quiet before the storm, she mockingly thought to herself. Meredith finished her mug of coffee, poured some more into her metallic travel mug and left. About fifteen minutes later she arrived at the hospital, surprisingly refreshed and ready. As the slender intern entered the interns' locker room, she smiled to herself.

Christina gave her a strange look. "What are you so damn happy about? Did the Easter Bunny leave you something under the pillow?"

Meredith laughed at Christina's expression. "No, no Easter Bunny. That'd be really creepy. Just looking forward to surgery with Dr. Burke, I guess. And I actually got some sleep."

"Whatever," replied Yang.

Meanwhile, Alex was talking to another resident's intern about the unknown patient who had come in and the surgery he had gotten to scrub in on. Actually, bragging was probably a more accurate word for describing the one-sided conversation. "Man, you should have seen him… Internal bleeding, bruised like Ali threw around him in the ring for an hour or two or something… But his brain, dude, it was pretty screwed up. Like, I mean really screwed up. Royally. It'll be a freakin' miracle if he wakes up, let alone if he's ever coherent or anything again, even if Shepherd did perform this crazy technique, just incredible."

Unfortunately for Alex, Izzie had overheard some of his little speech. Mostly the "It'll be a freakin' miracle…" tidbit. Nonetheless, the blonde was not too pleased. "Shut up, Alex. His vitals were really strong this morning. And you don't know. He could wake up. And he could even be ok. He'd certainly be more of a human being than you."

"Seriously, Izzie. You've gotta stop with this optimism stuff, especially at 5 am. You know he probably won't wake-up. 87 percent of those with brain hemorrhaging in that area don't survive," opined Christina, always ready to throw in some statistics to back her up.

"That leaves 13 percent," threw in Meredith, to everyone's surprise. "So there's still a chance. You never know." At that, her fellow interns asked at her askance. "What? I'm just saying…"

"Thanks, Mer," said Izzie as they walked out.

"You're welcome. Maybe he will wake up."

"I hope so."

"I know you do. We'll just have to wait."

"Yeah. Ugh."

"Are we rounding on him this morning?"

"Yup."

The five interns exited the locker room to the hall where their resident, good old Bailey, was waiting. "Ok, people. Let's go, rounds!" Following her obediently, like students following a teacher, the group entered the room of the first patient.

Twenty minutes later, four patients had been rounded on, and the group was coming up to the mysterious John Doe from previous evening. Dr. Shepherd was already in the room, talking with a nurse about how his patient had been faring. "Good morning, Dr. Bailey. How's my favorite resident this morning?"

Bailey glared at him, not answering, then turned to her interns. "Who's presenting here?"

Alex smirked, then began diagnosing the problems and explaining how they had gone about treating them and what would be needed in the future to sustain the man's life. Meredith, who had been lingering near the back, moved closer and finally got a glimpse of the patient. The man was lying there, cold and still, a handsome face marred by ugly bruises and scarring. Someone had shaved his face recently and his hair obviously had been cut for the surgery. Arms were limp and unfeeling, hands scratched and grey and damaged, with only the dull platinum giving any light or sign of life. When she saw him there, so helpless and so battered, she couldn't help but let out a gasp. This was probably the worst shape she'd even seen anybody in, even worse than the rape victim, Allison, who had had her shoes. Then again, this was different. Because it wasn't just another patient.

At the sound of her startled gasp (which Meredith hadn't realized had been out loud), Bailey turned to her. "You got a problem, Grey?"

All of a sudden, Meredith couldn't find her voice. She just couldn't. The only thing she could do was push Alex and Izzie out of the way to move closer to the bed. There was nobody else there, not in that moment of complete recognition. Her blue-grey eyes went totally wide with shock, but with something else, also. Relief, the type that comes only when you know you can really, truly breathe again. Now, with this man's return to her, she could. She didn't even think about it as she took his left hand and placed her delicate hands around it, her eyes nowhere but on the patient.

"Dr. Grey!" snapped Derek sharply, not appreciating the scene before him. "What the hell is going on here?"

Admittedly, everyone else was pretty damn curious about what was unfolding in front of their eyes. "I guess we are going to find out who he is after all," whispered George to Izzie.

Meredith ignored him. Ignored everyone, really. Instead, she focused on the man before her, the one she had thought she had lost forever but was who now, by some miracle, lying in a hospital bed in front of her. She closed her eyes and leaned in to whisper into his ear. "Hey, baby. You came back to me. Only you could do that. I missed you so much, so very much. I love you. The taste of love is sweet/ when hearts like ours meet," she couldn't help but singing that one line, hoping it would somehow reach him. She leaned back, and with one hand gently stroked the swollen cheek, totally oblivious to her fellow doctors, who were desperately wishing they knew what she had whispered.

To everyone's surprise (including Meredith's), the man's eyelids began to flutter at her touch. "Mer..?" he asked in quiet, hoarse hush, his deep green eyes immediately focusing on the woman whose name he had spoken.

Izzie couldn't help but smirk at Alex and whisper quietly, "Told you so."

"Whatever," he replied, trying to hide his annoyance at being proved wrong on such a grand and immediate scale.

Meredith smiled, laughed, and let the tears flow as she tenderly looked down. She sniffled, causing him to laugh. "I fell for you like a child/ oh, but the fire went wild," he half-sang, off-key as ever, causing her to simultaneously laugh and cry more. The look on her face was one no one, not even Derek in his McDreamy days, had even seen. "I missed you, baby," he whispered tenderly, kissing her hand.

"I missed you, too. More than anything in the world…" They smiled at each other, totally unaware of anyone or anything else in the world. After years of unasked for separation, they were together once again. Knowing the questions which were about to come, Meredith began to speak, not taking her eyes off of him. "His name is Joshua Delmante. He's 32 years old, and most importantly, he, he's …" Her voice trailed off for a moment, but she gathered herself. "He's my husband."