Thursday, April 16th.

As if her day couldn't get any more hectic, her phone would not stop ringing. She pulled it out as it rang for what must have been the fourth time that day as she sat down to lunch. She vaguely recognised the New York number that lit up the screen and picked up, "Meredith Grey speaking."

"Good afternoon, Miss Grey," the voice on the other sounded as though it belonged to a young woman, the background noises making it obvious she was calling from a hospital. Must be her mother's assistant, "We've been trying to contact you all morning, as the emergency contact of Dr Ellis Grey?"

Meredith's brow furrowed, earning her questioning looks from her friends sat with her, although they continued with their conversation, "What's happened?"

"Your mother has been admitted as a patient, Miss Grey, I've been instructed to ask you to come to New York as soon as you can," the limited information she was given irritated her. Why can't people just be straight with what they want to say? She prayed the woman would just get to the point.

Don't even get her started on the fact the woman had said Miss Grey instead of Dr Grey, it wasn't a secret Ellis' daughter was a doctor, was it?

"Again, what exactly has happened? Is it life threatening?" The words 'life-threatening' piqued the interest of her colleagues and their conversation with each other died out as they focused on Meredith.

"Unfortunately, I can't divulge much information over the phone, I have only been told to request that you come to New York Presbyterian as a matter of urgency, we hope to see you soon."

Meredith groaned in frustration as the line dropped and she let her phone fall on to the table in front of her as she spoke, "Looks like I'm off to New York for a few days."

"What was that about?" Cristina spoke first. Being the person closest to Meredith, she knew most of Meredith's frustration came about because of her Mother who lived in New York.

Meredith simply rolled her eyes as she stood up with her tray, "My mother, who else."

While Cristina understood on a more personal level the relationship between mother and daughter, the others in the group had always begged to learn more about the famous Ellis Grey, and didn't understand Meredith's frustration with the current situation, and sat there with perplexed expressions.

Meredith simply shook her head and walked away from the group, discarding her tray on her way up to the Chief's office to explain the situation and request emergency leave. Knowing how interested Chief Webber appeared to be in her mother, she knew it wouldn't take much more than a few words for him to agree and let her go. It didn't even cross her mind who else was waiting in New York for her.

Friday, April 17th, 07:30am.

As the plane touched down in New York, the rain was hitting down hard. April Showers, was the first thought that came to Meredith's mind. Having checked the weather waiting for her in New York, she grabbed the raincoat she'd brought with her out of her carry on and put it on before she got off the plane. If her mother ever taught her anything, it was to always be prepared.

She may not have had the best relationship with her mother, but she couldn't help replaying the different scenarios going through her mind as to what could have happened for Ellis to have been admitted as a patient. As she walked across the airport, a memory flashed through her mind of the second time she'd said goodbye to him. She shook her head of the thought as she collected her suitcase from baggage claim. She'd only packed for a week, unsure of what she'd actually find when she got to the hospital, and how long she would need to stay for.

Sat in the back of the yellow cab, she looked out the window at the pouring rain that didn't look like it was about to let up. She couldn't deny that she was slightly panicked at the idea of running into Derek at the hospital. As far as she was aware, he hadn't cottoned on to the fact that she was the daughter of his Chief of Surgery, and she much preferred it to stay that way.

Part of her did want to see him again. Get lost in him and his deep, ocean-blue eyes again. The hospital was big though, she doubted she'd see him, even if just from afar. He'd probably found someone else to occupy his time, anyhow, since she hadn't plucked up the courage, or stupidity, to message the number he'd given her.

She snapped out of her thoughts as the cab pulled up outside said hospital, and she paid her fare before getting out, pulling the hood of her raincoat back over her head and retrieving her suitcase from the trunk of the car. She took a deep breath before heading inside to the front desk, pulling the suitcase along beside her. She lowered the hood as she walked inside and made eye contact with the young woman sat behind the desk, "I'm looking for Dr Ellis Grey."

"You must be Meredith," the woman said with a sickeningly wide smile. It always mystified Meredith how people could look so happy with mundane life.

She nodded, slightly impatient after her long flight, "Yes, and I need to get to my mother, if you could tell me her room number."

The woman nodded, probably now recognising the similarities between Meredith and her mother. Direct. Straight to the point. Not about to make small talk. "She's in room 2319, do you need help getting there?"

"No, I can find it," Meredith realised she may have been a little too cold towards the woman, and after all she was trying to be less like her mother so much, "Thanks."

Without waiting for a response, she made her way to the aforementioned hospital room, still pulling her suitcase alongside her. Walking through the hospital, she tried to ignore the slight shake of her hands as her nerves kicked in, anticipating walking into him. She took a deep breath as she entered the room, leaving the suitcase to the side of the door and taking her coat off. Her eyes looked over to the single bed in the private room as her mother looked up from at the newcomer to the room. Her expression clearly indicated he had been expecting someone else.

"Meredith, why have you come all the way out here? You need to focus on your residency, I'll be fine," Meredith simply rolled her eyes at her mother's comment as she picked up the chart that had been left at the end of the bed, scanning her eyes over the new information as she flipped through the pages.

It seemed her mother had experienced a stress-induced heart attack, revealing an arrhythmia that was causing bradycardic episodes, the reason for her admission. She took a breath before speaking, looking directly at her mother now, "When you get a phone call to say your mother has been admitted as a patient at her own hospital, you're expected to drop everything and go see her, aren't you? Also, your chart explicitly states you can't be discharged without my being here, so you don't really get a choice in the matter, and it's not my fault that no one would tell me what was going on over the phone so I could make that judgement myself."

At this, her mother began one of her stubborn rants about incompetent colleagues, and stupid doctors with stupid orders, as Meredith continued reading through the chart. Meredith simply rolled her eyes, with no response, even if her mother would have registered her responding. A brief thought crossed her mind, I clearly inherited my mother's stubborn rants. Her eyes then looked over the attending practitioner's name, but her gaze was caught by the name underneath displaying the resident assigned to the case. Derek Shepherd, M.D. Crap. Just her luck that he'd be the resident on her mother's case. She needed to leave that room, for more reason than one.

Derek strolled down the hall, ready for morning rounds on the Chief, having been assigned to her at her request when she'd been hospitalised the day before, having collapsed after a 12 hour surgery. He heard voices coming from the room. Her daughter must have arrived. He stopped just outside the room, unseen as he heard her voice. Her voice. His mind worked quickly. Meredith. Meredith Grey. Why hadn't he thought of it before? At that moment, the comment that brain surgeons are brainless really rang true. That's why she was at the hotel for the intern mixer. Everything she had ever told him started to fall into place and make sense now.

He'd heard about Ellis Grey's daughter, and not just from Ellis herself. People would comment on how she had chosen not to do her residency at her mother's hospital and didn't understand why. He had heard Dr Grey boast somewhat about her daughter's talents, she would compare the progress of his residency group to her, even compare her talents to those residents who were a year ahead.

But from what he'd heard from his Meredith, she didn't have a good relationship with her mother. She would berate her, and hardly ever have a nice word to say about her. He remembered then one of her mutterings about her mother not accepting the fact she wanted to go into neurosurgery instead of general surgery. He'd also heard from Ellis Grey herself how she was disappointed in her daughter's decision to specialise in neurosurgery, much like himself. Had he avoided thinking about her so much it had stopped him from making this connection? He didn't actually connect the dots until now. He really felt much like a brainless idiot for having been top of his class at Columbia.

He heard her melodic voice again, but sensed the slight annoyance in her tone, as she approached the door, where he still stood unseen, "I'm going to the cafeteria, I need coffee and haven't eaten since yesterday morning. Try not to cause too many problems. I know you're everyone's boss here, but they're only looking out for you."

A slight panic ran through him. He couldn't meet her again here, not like this. He turned and moved behind the nearby nurses' station, just as she left the room. He hid behind one of the computers, watching her. He noticed the tired look in her eyes, the damp in her hair from the rain outside. He held his breath a moment, hoping she wouldn't see him. He watched as her brow furrowed slightly and then she shook her head, and he stood from where he sat to see her retreating figure walking down the hallway. Had she seen him?

Once he was sure she had gone, he went into Ellis' room, almost afraid to make eye contact with the woman as he worked around her, "I was told your daughter arrived, Chief?" He didn't mention he'd only heard because he'd been eavesdropping on their pair.

"Yes, and it's ridiculous they dragged her all the way out here. I'm perfectly fine now, there was no need to disturb her studies," he listened carefully to Dr Grey's complaints as he checked the monitors, scribbling notes down in her chart.

"I'm sure she'd rather be here for you," he tried to add some conviction to his voice as he spoke, but from what he knew of Meredith, which was more than she thought he knew about her, especially now, she hated missing out on surgeries, so maybe she would've preferred staying in Seattle.

"Ha. She's probably cursing me for having dragged her away from the OR," Ellis explained, unaware of how much Derek knew this to be true.

"She sounds like a dedicated surgeon; does she have a speciality?" He asked, pretending still to not to know exactly who she is.

"She's still just a resident, second year like you. You'd get on with her, seems she also would rather cut brains open than use her inherited gifts elsewhere," Ellis gave him a pointed look, they'd had this talk about his own 'inherited gifts' before. She didn't understand why he'd go into neurosurgery when his own father was a successful, well-known trauma surgeon. His father fully supported his venture into neurosurgery, however. Derek looked toward her now from where he stood with her chart in his hands. The chart Meredith had previously had in her hands. Did she see his name printed on there?

Derek chuckled with a small shake of his head, "Maybe I'll chat with her later on, find some common ground."

"Oh no, you're not good enough for my daughter. She doesn't need distractions right now," he tried to not take offense at her words, but they did hurt him, nonetheless. He set the chart back down, "Anyway, aren't you seeing that Kepner girl, April is it?"

He simply nodded, feeling a shock of guilt run through him as he just now thought about that situation. "I'll leave you to rest. Have the nurse page me when your daughter is ready to take you home," he gave her his warm, albeit fake, smile and she grunted in response, waving him out of the room as he retreated.

He ran his hand through his hair as he walked down the hallway, a deep sigh escaping his lips. They may have somehow met twice already, probably by some pure coincidence, but he really didn't think he would see her again for a third time, and now not only was her mother his patient, she was his chief of surgery. He had to believe now, there was something more at play. Fate, maybe?

She sat in the chair in her mother's room, having just had a conversation with the cardio attending overlooking her care. Her mother was sleeping at the moment, and she had the latest neurosurgery journal on her lap as she flipped through the pages. She finished off the last of her coffee and stood up, placing the journal on the side table before going to dump the empty cup in the small bin by the door. She had a strange feeling that someone was watching her, but she shook it off and went to sit in the chair again, picking the journal back up to continue reading the article she was on.

"Of course, you're still stuck on neurosurgery," she heard her mother's voice, "I still don't get why you're so stuck on it."

Meredith looked up with a small laugh and shook her head, closing the journal and putting it back down as she stood up her back turned to the door, "This argument is long over, Mom. Your doctor said I can take you home later this afternoon."

She felt the atmosphere change in the room all of a sudden and didn't realise why straight away, but then her mother spoke, "Dr. Shepherd, I hope you have my discharge papers?" She looked up to where Ellis' gaze was fixed, biting her lip gently as her eyes met the mesmerising blue eyes, belonging to the man stood in the doorway.

He cleared his throat a little as he tore his gaze from her, addressing Ellis, "Just a few more tests before I can get the papers for you, Dr. Grey." Meredith stood to the side of the room, closer to the door as he approached the bed to take a sample of Ellis' blood. He glanced to her a moment before giving Ellis his full attention, "So, this is the famous Meredith Grey, then?"

The way he spoke confused Meredith a little. Famous? She furrowed her brows and looked to her mother who started to explain as she caught Meredith's expression, "Yes, this is Meredith. And Meredith, I'm allowed to brag about my daughter when she has more talent than the majority of the fourth-year residents here, don't let it get to your head."

She rolled her eyes again. She felt like she was constantly rolling her eyes since she'd arrived that morning. She saw the small smirk on Derek's lips, and she crossed her arms over her chest, "Well maybe everyone else back in Seattle can catch up while I'm stuck here with you. I'm going to go find more coffee."

She walked out of the room, feeling a slight shake of nervousness in her hands, and headed down the hall where a vending machine stood, programming it to get herself a black coffee. She'd come to the conclusion she'd be spending the weekend, so while waiting for her coffee to pour, she pulled her phone out and booked a flight back to Seattle for Sunday night, as well as sending a quick message to Dr Webber to update him of her situation. Maybe she would also let Derek know she was saying.

A moment later, as she leant against the wall sipping on her coffee, she received a response from him telling her to take all the time she needed, and to send his best wishes to her mother. She rolled her eyes again with a small sigh. She knew they did their residency together, but it's not like her mother ever mentioned him.

She looked up as she put her phone away, narrowing her eyes at the dark-haired male approaching her. He stopped close to her as she felt the electricity in the air between them as he spoke, "Hey, mystery girl. You become less of a mystery each time I see you."

She laughed softly and lowered her eyes to the floor as he spoke, shaking her head a little, "I'd make a comment about you stalking me, but I guess it was me this time, wasn't it?"

She looked up as he stepped closer, and she caught his eyes looking around as she also stepped a little closer. She stood on her tip toes, pressing her lips into his as his arms slid around her waist, reciprocating her actions. She lost herself for a second, about to grip the front of his lab coat, before pulling back, realising where she was and let out a soft sigh, "I can't do this here. Not with my mother down the hall, and her blood in your hand," her eyes glanced to the vial of blood in the clear bag he was holding.

He chuckled at her remark, "Maybe I can see you later on, or tomorrow if you're still here?"

"I'm around till Sunday night, maybe we can catch up," she gave him a small smirk, "Get back to work, Dr Shepherd." She felt his eyes on her as she walked back to the hospital room, her fingers tapping against the coffee cup and unable to keep the smile off her face, which she didn't even realise was there until her mother spoke. Part of her was glad he knew who she was now, as dangerous as the situation was.

"What's got you all smiley?" Ellis inquired, causing the smile to drop from Meredith's expression.

"Nice coffee," Meredith excused, not able to make eye contact with her mother.

"He's probably the best resident I've seen come through here in a long time," when Meredith gave her a questioning look, she explained further, "Shepherd, he was in here earlier. Keep up."

"Oh, right, yeah," she didn't really want to talk about Derek, but she had to remind herself that her mother was none the wiser about… well whatever was going on between them. But what her mother said next shook her to her core.

"It's a shame, really, he's supposedly seeing some April girl, not someone I'd pick to be a surgeon, he'll probably be snapped up before it's time for you to even think about marriage," her mother's statement drew her attention as her head snapped up, but Ellis didn't seem to register the panicked look that momentarily flashed in her daughter's eyes.

I heard you're moving on,
Heard you're growing on to her like a flower of spring.

She decided to change the subject, "Richard Webber sends his best, by the way."

"Right, well, are you going to hang around here all day?" Her mother sounded a little impatient with her, but she couldn't figure out why. Was it the mention of Richard Webber?

"I guess that's kind of the point," Meredith said, eyeing her mother suspiciously, trying to figure out exactly what the problem could be, "Where else would I go?"

Her mother waved her off, "Go watch a surgery or something while you wait, no need for you to be sat in this room with me. I'll have someone find you when they discharge me." Apparently perpetual avoidance runs in the family.

She eventually found her way to the OR floor, ignoring the various strange looks she was getting from the doctors and nurses. It was a look that she knew they found her familiar, and she looked like she belonged in the hospital, but they couldn't quite pinpoint who she was. No-one bothered to question her. It made Meredith question the actual security of the place.

Her eyes glanced over the board, no actual surgery taking place now that caught her attention. There was one due to start in an hour or so, a frontal lobe tumour resection, and the resident was listed as Shepherd… maybe she could come back later on to watch. For the surgery, of course. Derek Shepherd was probably the last person she wanted to speak to right now, after hearing the little piece of information from her mother.

The rain was still coming down hard, so she stopped by her mother's room and picked up her raincoat, no words passing between the two as she left the room again and made her way to front of the hospital, zipping up her coat and pulling the hood her head as she stood in the rain. There was something about the rain. It just made her feel better, it soothed her almost. She needed it right now, her nerves were shot, and she didn't even know how she'd be able to face Derek again today.

Bedsheets tangled in your bed,
Bet she's laying on your left,
Only picture in my head.

"Derek!"

I been going Jack Nicholson, crazy in my living room,
Can't stop thinking 'bout you kissing her neck.

She heard the voice from behind her, recognising it from the phone call she'd received the previous day. Her brow furrowed as she realised, she hadn't even seen him walk outside, so why was his name being called? She turned and she felt as though her heart had dropped into the pit of her stomach.

Been going Jack Nicholson, crazy in my living room,
Running like a movie round and round in my head.

Derek was a few steps away from her, his back turned toward her as he faced the woman who had called him, and her eyes followed his gaze to her. The red-haired, mousy looking woman. Was that her? Was that April? Meredith watched, unable to stop the hurt she was feeling, as April approached Derek, her arms circling his neck and pulling him closer to her to kiss him. So, she did what she normally did to protect herself, her expression became unreadable and she used one of the many talents passed down to her from her mother, the ability to become stone-cold in her interactions with others.

When April showers, you wash her hair, she's got your heart inside her hands.
As the water falls, I bet it's gonna wash out every thought you ever had of me.
Every hour, I'm more aware, she's in your eyes, no underwear,
As the water falls, I bet it's gonna wash out every thought you ever had of me.

April Showers - Maisie Peters