Meredith felt this odd sense of relief and exhaustion. It feels like she had just closed her eyes when her alarm started ringing. She turned over, she knew she had to wake him so he could sneak away. It feels oddly familiar, probably because she pictured herself doing the same thing when she was in high school. She just wanted to lay here five more minutes with him. The previous night was amazing, they sat in his car most of the night, just laughing and catching up. He opened up in a way he would never have before, he told her about his family which she wondered about for years, and his struggles that he found in his career.
She was surprised to learn that neuro wasn't always going to be his specialty, he focused on Cardio most of his residency but one neuro case completely changed him in his fourth year. Richard had taken a big risk for him to come to Seattle, he had only been an attending for two years when he moved out here, not much under his belt but Seattle had given his opportunities he would have never got in New York. When he switched specialties, he had told her that was the demise of his relationship with Addison. He had to basically restart fresh with only one year left to learn everything he could about neuro. He spent so much time at the hospital between sitting in on surgeries and research, Addison had told him to chose between her and neuro.
"Derek," she said quietly, running her hand over his chest and down his abdomen.
"Yeah?" He said with a yawn, looking over at her. The street light that came through the window was just enough to show his face.
"You gotta go, they are going to be up soon," she whispered back.
"What time is it?"
"5am," she replied, pulling the sheet up to cover herself as she sat up.
"Just a little longer," he said back to her, reaching his hand up and caressing her cheek.
"You have to go Derek," she sighed, his touch made it so hard for her to kick him out.
"You should come to my place tonight, little more privacy," he smirked.
"Can't, already blew off Cristina last night for you. She won't let me live it down," she replied.
"Ok, well Monday night, you are mine," he smirked, pushing the sheets off him as he grabbed his jeans and shirt.
"Night shift all next week," she replied.
"I'll stay late Monday and we can have dinner," he offered.
"Ok," she smiled back at him. It all felt so surreal, she felt like she was in a dream waiting for the other shoe to drop. She got out of bed, finding her clothes to put on. She walked out the front door with him, walking with him to his car.
"I had fun," she said to him just before he got in the car.
"Me too, see you there later," he walked back over, taking her into a kiss. As he pulled away, smiling down at her, she felt so weak in the knees the way he looked at her.
"Ok," she turned and went to her car. Her shift didn't start for another hour but she wanted to get an early start on the day. She also wanted to go check on Mr. Levangie. She had a soft spot for the stubborn man, he reminded her oddly of her mother. She missed her sometimes, though she would have something to say about every life choice she had made but she knew Ellis would be secretly proud of her.
She got to the hospital, taking her time getting her scrubs on. It was rare the locker room was ever quiet, always someone in there at most times either between shifts or just to have a moment to theirselves. She grabbed her things, shoving them into her pockets and grabbing a new battery for her pager. She made her way through the halls to his room, knocking lightly.
"Mr Levangie?"
"Blondie, it's too early for all this," he said, barely opening his eyes to her.
"Just wanted to do a little work up before rounds. How are you feeling?" She chuckled, shaking her head at him.
"Tired, you people don't know how to let someone sleep," he said groggily as he let her put the cuff on his arm to measure his blood pressure.
"I meant post-op but good to know, I'll tell them to calm down," she shook her head as she listened to his breathing as the machine took his blood pressure.
"I finally stop shaking for the first time in years, getting to sleep in peace," he started in.
"I understand, I'm almost done and I'll make sure you're last in rounds so you can get some extra rest. Any nausea or dizziness?" She asked.
"No, now will you let me sleep?"
"Yes Mr. Levangie," she smiled at the man before going to walk out, running right into Derek.
"Hey," he smiled at her, he handed a coffee to her that he had picked up.
"I wouldn't go in there, he's a little grouchy," she said as she sipped on the coffee.
"How is he?" He asked, walking with her as she left the room.
"He's doing good, says no post op complications. Blood pressure holding steady and good breath sounds."
"Good, come here," he smirked as he grabbed her arm, dragging her through the empty halls.
"Where are we going?" She whispered to him, "you aren't being very secretive."
"No one is here this early," he said back to her, looking around as he opened the on-call room. He pulled her in, immediately kissing her.
"Occupied!" Someone said from the bed, startling them both as they jumped away from each other.
"Mark!" Derek said in a low, confused voice.
"Lexie!" Meredith gasp.
"Oh my god," Lexie said with a gasp as well, pulling the sheet over her naked body.
"You're sleeping with an intern?" Derek said confused.
"Hey, looks like you were doing the same thing!" He said defensively.
"I uh-" Meredith stuttered, still in shock.
"Not a word, to anyone," Mark said to them.
"I won't say anything if you don't, and lock the door next time," Derek replied, grabbing Meredith's hand and hurrying out of the room.
"What the hell did I just see?" She said to him.
"I don't know if I should be concerned?" Derek asked.
"I am."
"Wow, ok well that just makes things more weird but it won't last long," Derek shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Meredith asked.
"Mark is a one-night stand kind of guy. His longest relationship lasted maybe a month. He doesn't like being tied down," Derek replied.
"He's been sleeping with her since the mixer," Meredith said.
"Shit, I forgot. Well this makes things a little weirder. It's been over a month and he's still sleeping with her?" He said confused.
"I don't know if it goes farther than sex because we don't talk much. She was freaking out about it our first day, she didn't know who he was," Meredith said.
"I can't believe it," Derek said, still in disbelief.
"I don't know either of them too well but Lexie just doesn't peg me for the whole no strings thing," Meredith replied.
"You got to go do rounds, I'll see you later," he said with a smile. She could tell he didn't want to talk about it anymore. She wanted him to kiss her so badly, just quick but it was too risky. Anyone could come by and see the two, then she would be blacklisted and everything with him would be gone forever this time.
"I'll see you," she smiled lightly, turning and going to the locker room. George and Izzie finally arrived, both seemed to be in bad moods.
"Why are you here so early? You were out half the night," Izzie asked as she changed into her scrubs.
"I have a life too, you know? I wanted to come check on Mr. Levangie before rounds. You guys coming to Joe's tonight?" She asked.
"Yeah, I invited Lexie if that is ok," George said.
"I guess, I mean I don't care or anything. Anyway, what's going on with Alex?" Meredith asked.
"I don't know, I don't talk to him," Izzie said, the three looked over at Alex. He had been acting different, like he was capable of actually being sad.
"I see you two in the halls," Meredith smirked.
"Absolutely not," Izzie scoffed.
"What do you think George?" Meredith asked.
"Izzie's not his type," George replied nervously chuckling.
"Oh, then who's type am I George?" Izzie said with a raised brow.
"I-uh - that's not what I mean," he scoffed.
"You two are too much," Meredith laughed loosely.
"Alright listen up everyone, we got a pile up in the pit. Skipping rounds today, but I still expect you all to check on your assigned post-ops at some point today," Bailey said, peaking her head into the locker room.
"I am ready to cut," Izzie said excitingly, the three bolted down to the ER.
"Grey, room 17 needs a work up, abdominal pain and fever. O'Malley, we have an incoming in five minutes need you out in the bay. Stevens, I need you over in trauma bay 2 for multiple bone fractures," Hunt instructed as they all got in.
"How come you two get the fun stuff," Meredith groaned, grabbing the patient chart before heading over to the room.
"Claire, I told you not to go on that stupid trip. You probably have some parasite," the woman from inside the room said as she opened the door.
"Hi, I'm Dr.Grey. I am here for the work up," Meredith smiled as the silence filled after.
"This is Clare, she's 17. I think she has a tapeworm," the woman said, very derogatory toward her daughter.
"Mom, I'm fine. It's just a little stomach bug," she girl said, chewing on her fingernails.
"She's been sick ever since she got home, won't eat and she's lost a lot of weight," her dad said from the other side of the room.
"I'm fine, it's just a little fever. Can I just have some antibiotics and go on," she said, Meredith looked closely at her. She looked scared, terrified actually.
"Well I need to do a little work up to see if I notice anything and run some test," Meredith said to her.
"No, I'm fine. Can we just go home please,"
She said to her parents.
"Claire, just let the damn doctor do her job. I don't want to be here all day," the mother said. Meredith looked between the two, noticing what was going on.
"Well this can be a little private matter, if you two will wait outside, we can get this exam over quick and easy. You guys will be on your way shortly," Meredith said as she grit her teeth, trying not to show the annoyance she had with the girls parents. Her mother scoffed, leaving along with her dad. Meredith pulled the curtain in front of the door to keep anyone from looking.
"If you will lay down and pull up your shirt so I can make sure there's not any fluid or anything in your stomach," Meredith asked nicely as she washed her hands and put gloves on. The girl reluctantly laid down, pulling her shirt barely above the hem of her jeans. Meredith begin pushing lightly across her lower abdomen.
"Not so hard please," she said, wincing in pain.
"Will you pull your shirt up a little more?"
Meredith ask her nicely. She just looked at her, slowly lifting her shirt to uncover four scars on her abdomen.
"When did this happen Claire?" Meredith asked, noticing how pink and fresh the scars looked.
"Please don't tell my parents," she said quickly.
"Did you get this in Mexico?" Meredith asked again cautiously. She started to cry and shake her head yes.
"We need to run some test, do a CT. Do you want to tell me what you had done?" Meredith asked.
"Please don't tell them," she said again.
"Claire-"
"I'm not telling you," she said shaking her head as she cried hysterically.
"Look, I'm going to start and IV then take you for a CT," Meredith said, she knew the girl would eventually budge and if she didn't, the CT would give her all the answers she needed.
Meredith started the bag of fluids for her, ordering some antibiotics before taking her for a CT. She paged Bailey to the CT room, knowing she would want to be there. Meredith got her set up and went into the box with the lab tech.
"What's going on Grey?" Bailey asked as she walked in to the room.
"The patient, Claire, had some kind of laparoscopic surgery in Mexico a few weeks ago. Wouldn't tell me what it was," Meredith said.
"Grey, it's your job to find out these things from the patient," Bailey said with an eye raise.
"I know, but she just wouldn't stop crying. I'm going to wait for the scans to see what it shows," Meredith said with a sigh. A few minutes passed of silence between Bailey and Meredith before the scans finished and showed up on the screen.
"She's not fat, is she?" Bailey said as she looked up and saw the girl still on the table.
"No," Meredith said shaking her head.
"This girl got a gastric bypass in Mexico," Meredith said with a shocked look.
"And a bad one at that," Bailey said shaking her head.
"Let's go tell the parents," Baileys said shaking her head. Meredith took Claire to her room, Bailey following closely behind. Her parents were waiting outside the room.
"Can we talk to you guys for a second?" Bailey asked the two of them. Meredith got her into her bed and returned to Bailey.
"A gastric bypass?" Her mother said.
"It's a surgery done to help obese patients to lose weight," Bailey explained.
"What? She's not fat, she doesn't need to lose weight?" Her father said.
"Are you kidding? This means the world to her. But of course she had to take the easy way out. Done it since she was a little girl," her mother replied.
"Mrs. Rice, nothing about this will be easy. She's going to face a lifetime of malnutrition unless we do surgery to reverse it," Bailey replied getting a little heated with her parents. Meredith just stood there watching, not sure what to say. Her parents begin arguing over the fact of the matter.
"Well let's do the surgery and fix her mistakes," her mother said.
"There were some complications from the surgery. She has an abscess in her diaphragm and edema, which is swelling in her bowel. She might not have a full recovery," Bailey said.
"Well what are we suppose to do?" Her father asked.
"I will do surgery and try my best to fix what I can. I can't promise much," Bailey said before walking away.
"Do you need me to do something Bailey?" Meredith asked quickly as she followed.
"Book an OR, update her chart and check on your other patients Grey," Bailey said as she continued to walk off.
"Hey, can I talk to you?" The familiar voice said behind her again.
"If you can walk and talk," she said with a smile up at him.
"Do you think they saw us? This morning?" He said in a hushed tone.
"I don't think so?" She said with question as she got to the nurses station.
"I have George on one of my cases this morning and he's been acting weird," Derek replied.
"George always acts weird, it's not out of the ordinary," she replied.
"I mean, what if they did?" He asked again.
"I'll talk to Izzie," Meredith sighed before telling the nurse to book and OR for Claire. She walked through the halls, finding Izzie and George in the locker room.
"Hey guys," she said with a smile. They both just looked at her.
"Anything good you guys are on?" She asked as she grabbed a battery for her pager.
"Just a tumor resection with Shepherd," O'Malley said, getting a look from Izzie.
"What's the deal?" Meredith said with a sigh.
"The deal? What deal?" Izzie said with a raised brow.
"This morning you were fine, joking and laughing and now you are being weird," she said.
"Oh just think it's a little funny how you somehow keep getting the good cases with McDreamy while we are stuck doing scut and clinic work," Izzie said with a scoff.
"I'm working my ass off to make it in here and I don't know what you think you are thinking but you're wrong," Meredith huffed, realizing they knew.
"Look, I just don't think it's right you go sleeping around with your boss just to get in on good surgeries," Izzie spat.
"Oh no, you don't get to start the favoritism. I work just as hard as the rest of you and you don't get it. You don't know everything so how about you ask someone before you start assuming," Meredith said angrily through her teeth.
"Yeah, ok," Izzie scoffed.
"I think you need to move out of my house," Meredith scowled.
"Oh no problem, me and George can find our own place, right George?"
"Izzie, I mean you did just kind of assume," George said.
"I saw him this morning! And you saw him the other day at my party!" Izzie scoffed.
"But you don't know the whole story, you should have just asked her," George shrugged.
"Unbelievable. Don't worry, I'll have my stuff out by the weekend," Izzie said with an eye roll before storming off.
"Thank you George. And there is a lot more that you guys don't know," Meredith sighed.
"Do you want to talk?" He offered.
"Just know, it's got nothing to do with surgeries and special treatment. I've known him for a long time, we have always had a connection and I've always believed if things were meant to be, the universe would make it happen," Meredith said honestly.
"Ok, that's all I need to know. I'm here if you ever want to talk. I mean I know Cristina is your best friend or whatever but I care about you Mer, we are in this together," he said with a smile.
"Thank you George," she said again, relieved at least he would understand. She would tell him eventually but as long as he knew that it wasn't for professional gain, and he accepted that, then that was all she could do.