Meredith woke up to her alarm blaring, she hadn't even felt like she had slept any. She heard commotion coming from downstairs and knew Cristina was up. She managed to climb out of bed, her whole body was sore from being on her feet for the better part of two days straight. She threw on some clothes and pulled her hair back, not feeling like even showering.
"Morning, you ready to go at it big shot?" Cristina smirked as she shoved coffee at Meredith.
"Please don't call me that," Meredith shook her head.
"You got in on a brain surgery your first day. You diagnosed a patient that no one else had answers for. If that isn't Ellis Grey, I don't know what is," Cristina said with a chuckle.
"Please don't ever say that again. It was pure luck and you helped to," Meredith replied, holding on to the coffee like it was a drug.
"How was it?" She asked.
"Like I had done drugs. It was such a high, the feeling of it all just kept me going. I've never had that feeling and I know why my mother loved it so much," Meredith said.
"It always feels that way. Man when I'm holding a heart in my hands, I just feel this rush. You will know when you found your specialty," Cristina said as she lead them to her car.
"Seeing that girls brain, it just brought this tingly feeling to my stomach. I might be a brain girl," Meredith shrugged, "oh and did I tell you that my sister is an intern?"
"You have a sister?" Cristina questioned.
"I told you about her. We went to high school with her, she was that girl with the photographic memory," Meredith reminded her.
"Oh shit! She's number 2, my intern," Cristina laughed maliciously.
"Wait, you number your interns?" Meredith chuckled light at her twisted friend.
"I don't have time for names," she shrugged.
"How do you not remember that?" Meredith chuckled.
"I don't pay attention to other people, you know this. If it doesn't have a medical relation, I don't care," Cristina said bluntly.
"Yeah, yeah," Meredith just shook her head.
"What are we going to do with that spare bedroom?" Cristina asked.
"I don't know, I was thinking of renting it," Meredith shrugged.
"I'll ask a few residents," Cristina said.
"One of the interns I work with was asking if I knew of any places. I thought about offering it to him," Meredith said.
"Please tell me it's not Bambi," Cristina groaned.
"Who?"
"The weird one, with the hair and is in love with you."
"George? No. His name is Alex Karev. He's pretty chill, very cocky. They say keep your friends close but your enemies closer," Meredith shrugged as she got out of the car as Cristina parked it.
"Don't think I know him. I don't care, it's your house," Cristina said as the two walked in together. Meredith saw him immediately, standing at the nurses station with Mark Sloan. His eyes immediately met with hers, a small smile grew on his face.
"You ever going to tell me what the deal is with you two?" Cristina asked, pulling Meredith's attention.
"Who?"
"You and Shepherd. He asked you to get in on his surgery. He has always been an egotistical ass who never let interns in on his surgery. You show up for one day and he's got you on his service."
"I'm on his service?" Meredith croaked.
"Did you sleep with him?" Cristina asked.
"Look. I am going to say it once and I don't want any reaction of any kind. No smiles, no jokes, nothing. I don't want to talk about it or anything."
"Just spill," Cristina said.
"We had a thing. It was a long time ago and that was it. He was my mother's intern and the neighbor," Meredith said.
"He was the hot neighbor you blew me off for?" Cristina said in shock.
"Not another word," Meredith said, leaving her with so many questions. She had mentioned him a few times to Cristina when they were teenagers. She never told her much about him so it would stay a secret between the two. Meredith found her way to the locker room, quickly changing herself into scrubs.
"Hey Karev," Meredith said, looking over at him flirting with one of the other interns.
"Sup Grey," he smirked, he had a devious look on his face as if he was trying to flirt.
"No. Please don't even try, you have no chance," Meredith said as she shook her head.
"I know you want me," he winked at her.
"Ok, no. You aren't even close to my type. I was going to off you a room at my place. It's just down the road, but since you wanna be all this," she said as she motioned to the stance he took next to her, his shirt off showing his tones stomach.
"You're just skipping to the good part," he smirked as he leaned in closer to her. She quickly grabbed his face and shoved him against the locker.
"Not a chance," she said to him with a growl.
"What the hell is going on here?" Bailey said as she stepped into the locker room after she heard the commotion.
"Nothing Dr. Bailey," Meredith said as she quickly let him go.
"That's what I thought. Rounds, let go," she said as she rounded up her interns.
"I like em tough," he whispered in her ear with a chuckle and she just glared at him.
"Alex, stop being such an ass," Izzie said from behind them.
"Are you two children still arguing?" Bailey said as she came to an abrupt stop.
"No," they both said, glaring at one another.
"Come on people, grow up," Bailey said with an eye roll, "Now George you are running the code team, Meredith I need you with the trauma pager, Alex deliver the weekend labs and work on discharge. Izzie, you're on sutures in the ER. We clear?"
"Yes Dr. Bailey," they all said before they were off to do their duties.
"I heard you have a room for rent? I'd be a great roommate," Izzie said as she followed Meredith to the ER.
"I need it more Meredith, my mother irons my scrubs. I have to get out of there," he said as he followed behind them.
"No. I wanted Alex because he seemed like he wouldn't be much of a bother but since that fell down I'm looking for a complete stranger," Meredith said as she shook her head.
"Come on Mer, I'm clean and I cook," Izzie said.
"We already spend 100 hours together, you want to spend every waking moment together," Meredith said to them.
"You won't even know I'm there. I'll be like a mouse," George said quickly.
"If I say I will think about it will you two leave me alone?" She asked.
"Yes!" They both said with unison.
"Fine. I'll think about it," she said and stopped at the elevator. As the doors opened, she just froze. Derek stood their, his eyes busy into the chart. He was the only one there, she had never really taken a good look at him, he had definitely changed since their affair so many years ago. His dark hair had streaks of gray, he held himself in a different manner than he did before. He looked up from the chart at her, his face turned to a slow smile.
"Need a ride?" He offered with a chuckle.
"God, why," she said as she looked away from him. She stepped on to the elevator, just the two of them. She pressed the button to head down to the ER.
"We aren't doing this thing, this whole I missed you for so many years blah blah," she said.
"I never said anything," he smiled and shook his head over at her.
"You're my boss now, actually my bosses boss, that is it," she said.
"Mhm," he just hummed to her.
"Stop looking at me like that," she huffed.
"Like what?" He said with a chuckle.
"Like you want to undress me, I'm drawing a line. The line has been drawn," she said with a huff.
"So this line, is it imaginary or should I get you a marker?" He laughed at her, shaking his head. She took a deep breath, turning to him. The look in his eyes drove her mad, it made her do irrational things. She couldn't help but push him against the elevator with a kiss, she felt as he immediately responded as his lips danced with hers. She felt a fire light inside her that she hadn't felt in years. She felt so complete just kissing him. She heard the ding and quickly pulled herself out of the state he put her in. He stood in shock as she quickly left him speechless.
Meredith found her way down into the ER, she felt her heart beating faster than she had felt. It was such a rush to kiss him but she immediately regretted it, she knew she shouldn't have.
"What's got you in a mood?" Cristina asked as she came beside her, leaning against the counter as she crunched on an apple.
"I kissed Derek," Meredith spewed in guilt.
"Come on Mer," Cristina said, "I said get under a wing, not the whole attending."
"Hush. It was a one time thing. It just happened. He was standing there all dreamy and the next thing I know I have his lips against mine," Meredith groaned.
"Mhm, next thing I know he's going to be sneaking out of our house in the middle of the night," Cristina joked.
"Not funny. Speaking of, the Alex thing was a complete bust," Meredith said with an eye roll.
"Most of the residents are married or already have roommates so my end is dead," Cristina shrugged.
"I was really banking on that extra money. You would have thought my mom would have paid the damn thing off," Meredith replied.
"You would think. Did you have anyone else in mind?" Cristina asked.
"Not in particular. Two other interns asked me about it but I'm not sure if I can live with them," she joked.
"It's not like you don't spend every day here. Like I said, don't care really. It's your house," Cristina said.
"Have they found another head of cardio yet?" Meredith asked.
"Nope. I need Richard to step his game up," Cristina laughed.
"He only wants the best," Meredith shrugged.
"Well I'd be happy with a fellow by now," she said with an eye roll. Meredith heard her pager begin blaring as she looked at it.
"Trauma incoming," Meredith said.
"I want in on this," Cristina said as she followed Meredith to the bay.
"What do we got?" Cristina said as the paramedics hopped out of the truck.
"25 year old female, rape victim. Found her in the park, Blunt force trauma to the head, right pupil is blown," the woman said as she unloaded the patient. She looked like she had really been beaten to the core.
"She put up a fight I see," Cristina said as she followed them. Meredith couldn't help but follow, she felt overwhelmed by the whole deal. This was her first trauma call and it just happened to be a rape victim.
"Let's get her set up for a head CT and X-rays on the chest. I hear deflated breathing sounds on the left. Could be a puncture," Cristina said. Meredith jumped in and started a central line.
"Page Shepherd," Cristina instructed as she immediately started to intubation the patient.
"Dr. Grey, get me updated vitals," Cristina said as she slipped the tube down her throat.
"Blood pressure is 80 over 60, pulse ox is 85," Meredith replied.
"Where do you want her belongings?" The paramedic asked. She held a plastic bag of bloody clothes and her shoes. Meredith froze when she saw the same shoes she had worn on her feet earlier today. She hated those shoes, they were uncomfortable in every way possible but for some reason this morning she decided to slip those on.
"Dr. Grey," Cristina said, pulling Meredith out of her haze.
"Pressure's dropping, we need that CT scan!" Meredith said as she snapped back into reality. Derek arrived, quickly assessing the damage.
"We can grab one on the way to the OR, let's move people!" He said quickly as they got her ready to move. Meredith's mind still swayed to those shoes, it was like that could be here laying there. She felt this intense feeling that she needed to save her. They did the CT as quick as they could, Derek pushing them to the OR before the results even go in.
"Dr. Grey and Dr. Yang, scrub in. Bohkee, please page Dr. Hunt," he said, rushing the situation. Dr. Hunt was the head of Truama and since they didn't have a cardiologist, he was in charge of most cases that came in.
"She's going to spend a hell of a lot of time in recovery and rehab," Derek said as he shook his head. Dr. Hunt finally arrived, stubbed and immediately opened her chest.
"If she even survives this thing," Owen said along with him. They worked well together, Cristina was assisting Owen while Meredith held the suction tube for Derek.
"What is she, like 5'2? 100lbs? If she's still breathing after what this monster did to her, it will be a miracle," Derek said as a whole. He tried severing all the veins as he worked to find the one causing the bleeding.
"Look at her hands, they are shredded to pieces. She tried to fight back," Owen said as he was trying to find what was constricting her airway.
"Tried to? Her rape kit came back negative. She totally kicked his ass," Cristina said as she worked along side Owen.
"So we got a warrior on our hands," Derek said with a small grin on his hands.
"Her name is Alison. I looked at her ID," Meredith murmured as she watched closely at Derek's techniques.
"I think I found it," Owen said as he pulled out a large piece of skin from her throat.
"What is that?" Derek said as he glanced up.
"Not sure," Owen said as he examined it a bit closer. Meredith looked at it, looking at Cristina.
"Oh my god," Meredith said out loud, shocked at what he had found.
"What is it?" Owen repeated.
"That's a head," Cristina said as she couldn't help but hold back a little chuckle.
"A head?" Owen asked as twisted it around to look closer.
"His penis, that's the head of his penis," Meredith said more clearly.
"Gross," Owen said as he threw the piece of flesh into a dish.
"Got it," Derek said as he finally found the main bleeder.
"Good work Dr. Shepherd," Meredith said as she watched closely. She was so intrigued by the brain, it was such a complicated organ.
"It's what I do," he smirked under his mask as he slowly started to finish up.
"Alright, I'm done here. Dr. Yang, finish stitching her up. I'll check back when she's in recovery. As long as she can fight any infections, we are in the clear," Owen said as he stepped back, letting Cristina take over. Derek finally finished, choosing to sew up her hair on his own.
"Good work in there Grey," Derek said with a smile at her as the two of them were scrubbing out.
"You did all the hard work. Man that is such a rush," Meredith said with a sigh, looking up at him.
"It always is," he smiled back at her, "do you want to talk about what happened earlier?"
"No, that was an accident. It won't happen again, it can't happen again. It was a one time deal. I got all of it out of my system now," she said to him in a hushed tone.
"Mhm, I'll see you around," he smiled over at her, leaving her with a wink and that dreamy smile. She breathed deeply, she couldn't fall under his spell again. Those looks always got her. Not this time, not any more. She made her way back to the intern locker room, the day had gone by so quickly for her.
"Look, you two. You both can move in. I have two bedrooms available, just need to clean one out. First months due up front," Meredith said as she closed her locker, looking at George and Izzie.
"You won't regret it Meredith," George said with a smile.
"You can move your stuff in sometime next week. Whenever you get a chance, should have the room cleared out by then," Meredith said, giving both of them her address and leaving before they could say anything else. She hoped that she wouldn't regret it.