"Hey, Mer," Izzie said as she approached Meredith from behind.
"What's up?" Meredith asked as she looked through the chart in front of her.
"My boyfriend is coming in tonight to visit, mind if I have some friends over at the house?" Izzie asked.
"You have a boyfriend?" Meredith said with a raised brow. They hadn't really gotten to know each other, just talked in passing.
"Yeah, he's a hockey player. They are on break and he wanted to come and see my life here," she smiled.
"Yeah that's fine," Meredith nodded, she had just finished up a coronary artery bypass graft with Hunt, she was so tired. She had to stand completely still while she held the woman's heart in her hand.
"Great," Izzie smiled happily as she walked off. She finished filling in the notes and went to place it back in the folder.
"Hey, I heard you did a CABG with Owen, how was it?" Derek said cheerfully as he approached her.
"Yeah, now I need to round on some patients," Meredith said with a smile, her emotions were still completely fried from the case they had worked together on.
"Pregnant lady is doing great, she is being released today," Derek followed, trying to make conversation.
"Oh, the case you kicked me off of?" Meredith said with a raised brow.
"Come on, no hard feelings Mer. You need a wide variety of specialties so you know which one is the best," he tried to say.
"Yeah yeah," Meredith said, shaking her head. She was glad that the mother and baby were alright, the girl was a fighter. Meredith had visited a few times, case wasn't surgical so she was pulled from the case.
"So what are you doing later?" He asked with a smile.
"No, not doing that. Stop trying to get me to go out with you," Meredith said, shaking her head.
"I wasn't trying to, just want to catch up with an old friend," he scoffed.
"Not a chance," she smirked at him, she felt so different with him. The past few weeks have been like she was running a marathon at full pace, it was finally catching up to her body. She got into the elevator, her stomach growled from hunger. She was already way past the halfway mark of her shift, she needed to eat. She made her way to the cafeteria, grabbing a sandwich and some fruit. She noticed George at a table with Lexie and Izzie, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go over. She managed to avoid Lexie at all cost, she didn't want to see her or talk about her past with her.
"Hey guys," Meredith sighed as she sat down across from Lexie and next to George.
"You did great today," George smiled cheekily, he always seemed to flirt with her. She didn't mind and mostly just brushed it off.
"Thanks, yeah holding that heart was something," Meredith smiled.
"Is that what you're going to do? Cardio?" Lexie asked.
"Probably not," she shook her head. Meredith was just observing the conversation between them, watching as Alex started to come over.
"Hey Grey," he smiled.
"What?" Meredith and Lexie both said simultaneously.
"I forgot you both are Grey, hey are you two related or something?" He asked. Meredith froze, looking over at Lexie. She had the same exact look on her face.
"Uh- she's kind of my sister," Meredith stuttered in a low voice.
"Half sister, her dad is my dad," Lexie replied, just as she quickly put a bite in her mouth.
"But we weren't raised together, I didn't know she existed until I was 18," Meredith said.
"Isn't that weird?" Izzie asked.
"What?" Meredith asked.
"You two are sisters and you don't even act like it," Izzie said again.
"Half," both of them said at the same time.
"Whatever, I meant Meredith. So there's a party at your place tonight?" He asked. Meredith furrowed her brows, looking over at Izzie.
"Not a party. Meet the boyfriend," Izzie corrected.
"You said you cleared it with her!" George quickly said to Izzie under his breath.
"I just invited a few interns, Mer it's not a lot," Izzie tried to say.
"Dude, everyone is talking about it," Alex chuckled. Meredith pager began blaring the alarm and she looked down.
"Shit, it's my cabg patient. Shut it down Izzie," Meredith said sternly before grabbing her stuff and hurrying to her room. As she arrived, she realized she was coding. Meredith immediately jumped into action, grabbing the paddles as the nurses had already prepped her.
"Charge 300, clear," Meredith said as she pressed the paddles to her chest and shocked her. She waited a second, waiting for her to come back.
"Charge to 320, clear," Meredith said, shocking her again. The alarm stopped as the heartbeat began again.
"What happened?" Owen said as he quickly entered the room.
"Not sure, I need a portable ultrasound machine," Meredith said, she suspected what it was but she wasn't sure.
"I got it," Owen said as he took it from the nurse and placed it on her chest.
"Shit, her aorta is ruptured, we need to get in into an OR stat," Owen said, they quickly got her ready for transport as they rushed her down into the OR.
"What do you think caused it?" Meredith ask as she was scrubbing in next to Owen.
"She probably got an aneurysm from the surgery earlier and it got too big too fast," he said as he finished scrubbing in.
"You coming?" He asked. Meredith finished up and followed him in. She got on the opposite side of him, watching as he opened the incision from earlier. Meredith had never seen so much blood in one part of the body.
"I need suction," he said as he immediately shoved his hand into her chest. Meredith tried to suction but it was just so much blood.
"I can't see anything, Grey I need more suction," he repeated as he was searching around. Meredith grabbed one of the retractors and pulled more, using the other hand with the suction. Owen was scooping blood out by the handfuls, trying to just get a visual. The alarm on her machine started blaring.
"She's coding," Meredith said. Owen shook his head.
"I can't find this and I can't shock it until I find this," he said as he searched around her chest.
"Grey, more suction and start cardiac massage," he said in a very demanding voice. Meredith was trying her best to follow his moves, they were erratic as he searched mercilessly. The seconds turned to minutes of the flatline.
"Dr. Hunt, it's been 7 minutes, she gone through 2 units of blood," Meredith said, knowing she was bleeding out and there wasn't anything else they could do. Her hand was starting to cramp from the squeezing.
"I know that Grey," he said, still focused on finding the tear. There was no hope, she had lost so much blood already. She stayed working along side him, trying to help in any way she could.
"Damn it," he said, pulling his hands out. He looked up at the clock, reading off the time of death. Meredith was shocked, this was her first death. The one that she had saved earlier was now gone.
"I'm going to inform the family," he shook his head, walking toward the scrub room. Meredith followed him, pulling off her blood filled gown.
"I can come with you?" She offered.
"It's been a long day Grey, go home and get some rest," he shook his head, scrubbing out and leaving her standing there. She felt so helpless, she looked back as they were cleaning up everything and sewing her chest back up. She lowered her head, going to the locker room. It was past dark outside, she was late for Izzie's thing. She didn't even want to go home. She wanted to go across the street and drink her troubles away. It was hitting hard, realizing that it was gone. Her first big procedure, she had held a heart in her hand twice today, one beating and the other not. She looked at her hand, remembering the feeling of that beating heart in her hand that was now replaced with a weak feeling.
She slowly made her way down to her Jeep, sitting in the driver's seat for a few minutes to process her day. She finally got the energy to crank the car, driving slowly to her home. To her surprise, her driveway and road was packed out with cars.
"What the hell?" She murmured under her breath, seeing the large party that was overcoming her home. She wanted to come home and relax and now she had to kick basically the whole hospital out of her house. She pulled in the grass beside her driveway, getting out and slamming the door. She stormed into her loud home, people so close they were stepping over each other. She looked around, seeing George walking around trying to babysit everything in the house.
"Sorry," a man said, placing her mother's Tiffany lamp into her hands before moving along. She groaned, sitting it back on to the side table it came from. She managed her way through the crowd, she couldn't help but remember the raging party in this same house she and Cristina had thrown her junior year of high school. It was just as crowded, her mother had came home from the hospital. She was scolded for weeks after the incident.
"Where is Izzie?" Meredith hissed as she finally got to George.
"Oh boy, I guess people didn't get the memo that it was cancelled," he sputtered nervously.
"This was suppose to be a meet-the-boyfriend small get together thing!"
"Izzie has a lot of friends," he found himself surfing through the crowd of people as Meredith followed him.
"Izzie doesn't know this many people!" She shouted back at him over the loud music.
"I told her this was a bad idea."
"I can't handle this! I've had the worst day," she shouted to him. He stopped in his tracks, turning to her.
"Do you want me to kick everyone out? I'll do it. I'm gonna kick everyone out," he assured her. She looked around and saw out of the corner of her eye a familiar face dancing on their coffee table.
"Baby! You made it!" She giggled as she drank from the bottle of tequila in her hand. Meredith let out a small chuckle, looking at her best friend completely wasted. Memories flashed in her head, she quickly decided what she was going to do next.
"Screw it, give me this," she took the opened bottle of tequila from him. She took a large swig, enjoying the burning sensation down her throat. She walked over, hopping on to the table with Cristina.
"I made it baby," Meredith smiled as she took another drink from the bottle. The two giggled, she felt like she was in high school again as the two danced on each other to the music.
"George! Georgie, come here!" Cristina agged, motioning for him to join.
"Yeah come on George!" Meredith let out another giggle as she tipped the bottle to her lips again. She watched as he smiled and walked over. She held out her hand and helped him get on to the table. The three laughed as they danced with each other. The music was getting into her bones as the alcohol slowly took affect on Meredith's body. The song came to an end.
"Who wants to play cards," Cristina whispered loudly then giggled, dragging the three of them to the office. Meredith laughed, grabbing the deck of cards from the table. The three took turns drinking from the now almost empty bottle of tequila.
"Why did we want to be surgeons again?" She giggled, shuffling the cards and dealing them out. Cristina was completely wasted as she started placing cards on her face.
"Surgery is cut throat, hardcore!" Cristina laughed.
"No really, it's like death all the time," she mumbled, taking another drink of alcohol.
"We get to save lives," George said as he took the bottle from her and started drinking. They played a few rounds.
"Yeah but it's stupid, like who wants to cut people all day," she said as she slurred her words, things were mixing together as she looked at her cars.
"Full house!" George said happily as he laid the cards down.
"Guess what baby boy, royal flush," she flung the cards and a loud laugh erupted from her.
"Get naked," Cristina chuckled. George groaned as he started to remove his shirt.
"You so sexy," Cristina said in a cheering voice.
"Like really, who's idea was it for everyone to become surgeons?" Meredith kept carrying on the conversation with herself.
"Give me that, you're drunk," Cristina slurred as she took the bottle from Meredith and turned it up.
"I'm not driving, I'm not on call. I'm in my own house and my life sucks," Meredith said as she took the bottle back.
"It's hot in here? Is it hot to you guys to?" Meredith asked as she pulled the scarf she was still wearing away from her neck.
"Nu-huh. You're just drunk," Cristina sputtered.
"I'm going outside," she stood up, wobbling to catch her balance. She slowly made her way out the door, carrying the bottle of tequila. She heard the music from the outside on her porch. She felt the breeze against her hot skin as she slowly felt herself waving to the music. She tipped the bottle up again, watching people enter and exit her door.
"You wouldn't hang out with me but you'll throw a party?" A voice said from the street. She looked up, stunned to see the man standing there. Her memories flashed, remembering the first time she had ever seen him on this street.
"What's it to ya?" She asked, slurring as her body moved to the music slowly.
"You know, in some states you can get arrested for that?" He laughed, moving slowly toward her.
"It's my house," she said, she felt her cheeks flush red and a smile creep on to her drunken face. He still made her feel the same way she had felt all those years ago.
"What are you doing here?" She asked as she got closer to him.
"Grace is at her moms and I heard some interns talking about it. Thought I'd pop by," he shrugged.
"You just wanted to see me," she mumbled, getting closer and closer to him.
"So what if I did?" He whispered, he was close enough that she could smell his cologne. It was the same he had worn years ago. Smelled like vanilla and bourbon. Something overtook her body as the heat radiated from her core. She reached out, tracing his chest with her fingers. She closed her eyes and felt fireworks explode as she felt his lips crash into hers. She felt so good kissing him, something she had craved for so many years.
"You want a drink?" She asked, pulling away from his lips.
"Early surgery tomorrow," he mumbled against her lips, closing the gap between them again as he attacked her lips. She felt his arms gravitate around her waist as she moved her body against his.
"Come inside," she grabbed the collar of his jacket. She didn't give him a chance to attest as she took him through the garage and straight to the stairs. She brought him into her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him. She immediately pushed him against the door, kissing him the way she had wanted to for years. Their tongues melded together and danced to a sweet symphony together.
"Meredith, I can't," he said breathlessly, pulling away from her.
"Oh god, you don't want me," she said, realizing what she was doing as if his kiss had sobered her up.
"You don't know how much I want you, but you're drunk and will regret it tomorrow," he said, shaking his head. She grabbed him, holding him against the door.
"I will never regret you, or anything I do with you. I want you to do me the way you use to," she said to him. She saw the way he was looking at her change, his eyes darkened as the lust took over him. He pushed her away just so he could take control. He kissed her in a longing way, one like he had missed her for years. In that moment, it didn't feel wrong. The whole world seeming to seize to exist as he was kissing her.