Obligatory disclaimer: sadly, Grey's Anatomy is property of Shonda Rhimes and ABC, not me.
Meredith had been back at work for a week and felt like she was going to collapse. Knowing that she still had 26 hours left on her shift, she stumbled into an on-call room, pleasantly surprised that it was empty. She threw herself on the bottom bunk, not bothering to lock the door or take off her shoes and fell asleep quickly, oblivious to the world. Meredith remained that way for the next 4 hours until her pager went off, waking her up abruptly. Feeling much better, she stretched and adjusted her scrubs before reaching for her pager. The message she saw brought a smile to her face, even if she had been woken up. 'Meet me in the NICU- Addison.'
She took off to the NICU at a brisk pace, waving to Alex who was leaving for the night and heading for the stairs. She figured that since he would be back in less than 16 hours she should start avoiding them now. When she got up to maternity she saw Addison leaning over an incubator, checking a baby's heart and lungs and cooing at him. 'She would make a good mother,' Meredith thought idly. After Addison had made a few notes in the baby's chart and was just staring at him, Meredith snuck in behind her and put her hands over her eyes.
Addison jumped, startled. "Jesus Meredith, are you trying to give me a heart attack!"
Meredith smirked and leaned against the counter. "Maybe. What did you page me for?"
She sighed and put the chart back. "As you know, your shift doesn't end until 2pm tomorrow and mine ends now, so since you're on my service I wanted to go over the patients before I left. Mrs Henderson in 319 is still under observation for her pre-eclampsia, if all goes well tonight I can release her tomorrow morning so I would like you to check on her once tonight. Baby Smart is, as you can see, doing well and he should be fine, I've asked a nurse to keep a close eye on him." Here she pointed at the baby she had just been checking and then moved down a few incubators.
"The Barry twins are recovering well from their surgery this morning and I would like you to check on them every hour until 3am when Olivia is up here again. We had to drain Maria's lung and Stephen coded once but they are stable other than that. The nurse on duty has instructions to page you if you're needed. If anything happens and you get paged to the pit, page a nurse to supervise the twins. If they code or complications arise, page me immediately and I'll be in as soon as possible."
She turned away from the babies and looked at Meredith closely. "Did you sleep? You look a bit better now."
"Yeah, I was sleeping when you paged me, I got about 4 hours."
"Are you nervous?"
"About him being back? Definately. It's been too easy so far."
Addison hugged her tightly. "You'll be fine. Feel free to come and hide up here, it won't be that suspicious since other than tomorrow when you're with Dr. Burke you'll be with me."
"Alright. How do you think he'll react?"
"To us being friends? Not well, but he's a grown man. Just remember how much he hurt you when he tries to turn up the charm and you'll be fine. Now- you said that Stevens was taking your car when she gets off tonight, right?"
Meredith nodded.
"Okay, so I'll pick you up at 2 when your shift is done, I'm officially off tomorrow. We could go out for lunch if you'd like, or if you think you'll be too tired we can go to your place?"
"Well we'll see how I feel when I finish, I might get some sleep tonight. He's due around 10 tomorrow I think so I may just spend the last four hours of my shift up here if Dr. Burke finished with me early. Am I meeting you here or at your car?"
"I'll meet you up here." Gathering her stuff, she gave Meredith another hug. "Be strong, alright? It will all work out." Impulsively she kissed her on the cheek before walking out of the NICU. "See you late Mer!"
Mer smiled and waved. "Ciao Addie!"
After Addison had left the room, she sank into the chair next to Maria's incubator. Seeing that the baby's bright blue eyes were opened, she slipped her finger inside and let her grab it. "Well aren't you a nice strong little girl!" she cooed. "With those pretty blue eyes and your dark curls your mommy is going to be beating the boys away from you!"
Maria gurgled in response. "And you're smart too! Just remember that boys are bad for you Maria and you would do well to go and be a nun. Or not, because then all the sisters will walk around singing 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?' and then you'll be sent off to be a governess and you'll fall in love, get your heart broken and then get married anyway… so maybe you should just stay away from pink hair, alcohol and inappropriate men. Like best friends or people who tell you to take the rest on faith and turn out to be married! Those, Maria, are always off limits." She nodded seriously at the baby, glad that no one else was in the room.
She stood up and took out her stethoscope. "Now Maria this is going to be a little bit cold, okay sweetie? Oh shh, don't cry, it will be over in a minute."
After recording Maria's lung progress in the chart she checked on Stephen and then went to catch Mrs Henderson before she fell asleep.
Seeing Mrs Henderson and her husband having a rather intense conversation, she knocked politely on the door before entering.
"Mrs Henderson? My name is Dr. Grey, I just need to do a quick ultrasound and check the fetal monitor."
Picking up her chart, Meredith read that Margaret Henderson was a 26-year-old primary school teacher and marathon runner who had a family history of pre-eclampsia and was in the 25th week of her pregnancy. She had been admitted that morning after suffering unusual fatigue, dizziness, cramping and some spotting.
Looking up from the chart Meredith saw that Mr. Henderson was scowling and walking towards the door. "Mr. Henderson? You can stay, I'm not going to be very long."
He shook his head. "No, I need to get back to the firm. Margaret will be fine."
Meredith just looked at him as he stormed out the door and then grabbed the cart with the ultrasound machine from the corner. "Okay, so if you could lift up your gown for me Mrs. Henderson… there, that's it. This is going to be a bit cold."
Mrs Henderson hissed when it came into contact with her skin. "You can call me Maggie, everyone does. Is the baby alright?"
Meredith had been using the wand to locate the baby. Flipping on the volume, a soft whooshing sound filled the room, signalling the baby's steady heartbeat. "Yes Maggie, everything looks fine. The heartbeat is nice and strong and I'm sure Dr. Montgomery told you how well the baby is developing so far. The only concerns so far are the pre-eclampsia and the baby's positioning, but the baby may still turn and if you take it easy you should be fine. That means no more marathons until this baby is officially in this world!"
Maggie nodded. "Yes, Dr. Montgomery explained that to me. That's what Greg and I were arguing about, he wants me to run my race next week but I told him not to be stupid. He doesn't really want the baby; he says it will take up too much of our time. He also thinks it's stupid for me to wait to find out but what does he know! I want to be surprised."
"He'll come around Maggie, a baby is a wonderful gift." Meredith said sympathetically. "Now I have to go check on a few other patients and then go find some food. I'll see you in the morning, hit the call button if you need anything!"
After checking on one other patient, Meredith made her way to the cafeteria to grab some fries and water. While she was sitting and eating, someone sat down across from her. "Dr. Grey. How are you?"
Meredith looked up from her food to see Mark Sloan. "Dr. Sloan. I'm still not going to sleep with you."
Mark pretended to look offended. "Meredith, you wound me! Maybe I just want to enjoy your lovely company."
She rolled her eyes. "Honestly Mark, just because we're the co-founders of the DMC doesn't mean you need to sit with me. Don't you have anything else to do?"
He shrugged. "Not really. Derek's not back here until tomorrow and even then he's still not speaking to me, Addison won't talk to me and the nurses have formed a coalition. It's just you and me babe. Us dirty mistresses have got to stick together!"
"Fine, whatever. If you touch my food I'll kick your ass."
After a few minutes of eating in silence Meredith spoke again. "You realize that by the shift change tomorrow morning it will be all across the surgical floor that we slept together, even though all we did was sit here and eat? I'll bet you twenty bucks that Derek punches you in the face again."
"Fine then Grey, but if I win then you owe me coffee." There was a pause in which he picked up a piece of food off his plate and offered it to Meredith. "Want my pickle?"
Meredith laughed and slapped him on the arm. "Mark! No means no, okay?"
He pouted. "Fine, just wanted to try. Are you heading back upstairs?"
She had gotten up and thrown out her garbage. "Yes, I was planning on heading to the coffee cart first."
"Mind if I come with?"
She just looked at him strangely. "Sure, why not? Since you're such a gentleman you can even buy me coffee."
Mark sighed. "Fine. What do you want?"
Meredith grinned. "Extra-large caramel macchiato please!" She took extreme satisfaction to the sight of Mark fetching her coffee since he normally made interns get his. 'And the tables have been turned!'
Suddenly she heard laughter behind her. "Well Meredith, I never thought I would see that!"
She turned around to face a grinning Callie Torres. "I know! How are things with you and George? Are you liking the new apartment?"
Callie and George had gotten an apartment together after Meredith and Addison had pointed out how silly it was for them to live apart or in a hotel since they were, after all, married. They had found a place across from the hospital and had just finished redecorating. In the process, Meredith and Callie had gotten past their issues and were now good friends.
Callie grinned. "It's fantastic, Meredith! George seems to be trying more now, which is so good. I really want this marriage to work, you know? I think it's easier now that we're living together and he's not around Izzie as much since she doesn't like me. Speaking of her, did you know that her and Karev got a lease on an apartment about a block away from us? I heard her telling George this morning, she said she was moving all her stuff today since she's not in until 5pm."
"What?" gasped Meredith. "Are you kidding me? She hasn't told me at all, and I'm basically her landlady! Not to mention, what the hell am I going to do with that house all to myself? I can afford it, that's not the problem but it's huge!"
She shrugged. "I don't know, Meredith, but I'm sure you can figure something out. At least now you can redecorate it if you wanted to. Oh- here comes Mark with your coffee."
Sure enough, there was Mark with not two, but three cups of coffee. "Meredith, Callie." He handed one to both of them, looking pleased with himself. "There you go ladies… Callie I saw you talking with Meredith while I was in line so I got you your usual."
"How do you know mine, Mark?"
Mark laughed. "Steve, the coffee cart guy knows you two pretty well. I pointed to where you two were standing and he goes 'A caramel macchiato for Grey and a double-double for Torres?' and I just nodded since that sounded about right."
Both girls smiled at him. "Well thanks Mark!"
"Well I'm off to the NICU again," Meredith said looking at her watch. "Callie, are you headed up to the surgical floor?"
"Yeah, I have emergency surgery in an hour, I have to make sure George knows what he's doing for pre-op. I would have asked for you but he was on call and you were in the middle of a shift owned by Addison."
They waved to Mark and headed over to the stairs, Callie knowing why Meredith was avoiding the elevators without her saying anything.
By the time 5 am came around, Callie had scrubbed out of surgery and Meredith had just come up from the basement where she had spent the last two hours asleep. They crossed paths on their way to the locker room from the coffee cart.
"Callie."
"Meredith."
"How did your surgery go?"
"It went well, a few complications but Mr. Johnson will definitely walk again. How are the little angels up in the NICU?"
Meredith laughed. "All of them are good, none were very fussy last night and no one coded. Is your shift done now?"
Callie yawned and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not in again until tonight. When are you off?"
Callie had followed Meredith into the intern locker room to wait for George. "2pm. It won't come fast enough. Maybe his flight will be delayed and he won't be here until 3 so I'll be out of here." She finished putting her hair up just as George came in.
"Morning George."
George smiled at Meredith and kissed Callie on the cheek. "Morning Mer, Callie. Ready for rounds Mer?"
"Oh you bet I am," she said sarcastically.
"You'll be fine."
Callie kissed George quickly. "Anyway George, I'm off. I'll see you when I come in, you'll be done by then right?"
"Yes. Have a good day!"
He watched Callie leave the room before plopping down on a bench across from Meredith. "I am so exhausted."
Meredith snorted. "Seriously? God George, I'm on hour 39 of my 48-hour shift. I could just curl up and die right now. At least you had an exciting surgery."
George knew better than to argue with a tired Meredith so he just nodded. Needless to say he felt extremely grateful when her phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Morning Meredith, how are you?"
Meredith smiled through her yawn. "Addison! I'm good, a bit tired. How are you?"
"Good… I'm going to sleep again after this but I wanted to catch you before rounds. How long do you have?"
"Rounds start in 40 so I'm good for a while. What's up?"
"How did everything go last night?"
Meredith rolled her eyes. "Everything went fine Addie, if there had been a problem that I couldn't deal with I would have called you or paged you. It went well, everything was quiet."
"How's Mrs Henderson?"
"She's also doing well, the fetal heart beat was strong both last night and 20 minutes ago when I checked on her. Her cramping has finally stopped so you should be able to discharge her today."
"Good, good. How are you?"
"Honestly I'm trying to keep busy. I'm with Dr. Burke this morning and I just checked the board so I'll be in surgery from 7 until 9 and again from 10 to 1. Hopefully McAss will leave me alone."
"Okay. I'm coming in around 1 to check on my patients, so I'll page you when I'm done with them so we can go, okay?"
"Alright Addie, that sounds good. I'll see you later."
"Bye Mer."
"Bye."
She hung up and put her phone on her belt next to her pager, making sure the volume was up on her pager but only on vibrate for her phone. Looking at George, who had fallen asleep on the bench, she stood up and slapped his arm. "Hey, George. Get up! Let's go, we can wait for Bailey outside."
Pulling George up they went and found Dr. Bailey at the nurse's station filling out a chart.
"Morning Dr. Bailey!" Meredith said smiling.
Dr. Bailey looked at the clock, then the two interns in front of her. "Grey, O'Malley. You're half an hour early for rounds and Grey, you're happy. What's going on?"
"Nothing Dr. Bailey, just excited for my shift to end and I already had coffee. George was on-call and in surgery last night and I was in the NICU keeping an eye on the twins Dr. Montgomery operated on yesterday. Babies make me happy."
"The fact remains Grey, that no one who has been on for 40 hours is ever this happy. O'Malley, rise and shine. Where are Yang and Karev?"
George yawned. "Don't know, Dr. Bailey. They aren't here yet."
"Hmpf. Something fishy is going on here today… you two out here before Yang? Now, don't you do anything stupid today, you hear? If I hear one word about any funny business from the pair of you…" she trailed off, looking at them menacingly.
They both nodded obediently and there was silence for the next 20 minutes while Dr. Bailey finished her charts.
"Right. You two were extra early and since it is now… 5:50, I'll tell you two what you're doing today. Grey, you already know that you're with Dr. Burke this morning. O'Malley, you can be with Sloan on his facial reconstruction, if you get him a coffee you might even get to assist. The other two will get what they get."
George looked at Dr. Bailey. "Um… Dr. Bailey?"
She sighed. "Yes O'Malley?"
"Can I go and get that coffee now?"
"Run, O'Malley!"
George took off, returning seconds before 6am yet beating Alex and Cristina who stumbled out of the locker room at 6:00 and 6:01 respectively.
"Let's go Karev, Yang! You're late!"
They both grumbled but followed Dr. Bailey into the first patient's room where George took the chart from Dr. Bailey and then silently handed Dr. Sloan his coffee, earning a nod of approval from him.
"Dr. O'Malley, I like your style."
Dr. Bailey rolled her eyes. "O'Malley, present."
George cleared his throat. "This is Meaghan Waters, 37, admitted yesterday for facial reconstruction following a car accident. Dr. Sloan has OR 2 booked for the procedure at 7am."
After Dr. Sloan had asked George a few questions, Dr. Bailey nodded. "Good, like I said before you can scrub in."
Moving on to the next room, Dr. Bailey turned to Meredith. "Grey, present."
Cristina scowled, having wanted on Burke's service today.
"John Foster, 45, admitted last night following a collapse on the job site. He was found to be have excessive blockage in his arteries and Dr. Burke will be performing a triple by-pass at 9am."
"Good, Grey, you already know that you're with Dr. Burke today."
After rounding on two more patients they came to their last one. "Hm… Karev, go."
Alex smiled. "This is Ann-Marie Hutchings, in to have an aneurysm clipped at 11 am when Dr. Shepherd returns."
Herding her interns out into the hallway, Dr. Bailey turned and addressed them, handing them the appropriate charts. "O'Malley with Sloan, Grey with Burke. Go." As the two of them left she returned to the remaining two. "Karev, you're on clinic duty with me until Shepherd gets here for surgery and Yang, you're in the pit."
"But Dr. Bailey-" Cristina was cut off.
"Don't but me, Yang. If you had wanted a surgery then you would have been here early like Grey and O'Malley were or on time. Now get going, your patients are waiting!"
With that, Cristina went down to the pit and Dr. Bailey followed Karev to the clinic, leaving the nurses to gossip about why Dr. Grey had been seen eating with Dr. Sloan last night and looking so happy that morning when she had showed up early for rounds.
A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers! I had originally intended to post this chapter once it got to the scene with Mark but then Callie made herself known and I had to continue. Once again, this chapter has stolen the title of 'longest chapter yet.' Chapter 9 has been started and if I have time it may even be up before Saturday since I got a lot done this weekend. Thanks once again to CordeliaHalliwell for reviewing and OTH4EVR, georgi and SVU-4-eva for adding this to their story alert!
Posted October 13th, 2009