Walking around the corner, Dr Cormac Hayes sees a very tired looking Dr Meredith Grey heading out of the hospital, he speeds up and calls, "Grey, heard about Webber. Incredible Catch."
"Ya it is. Team effort," she replies tiredly.
"Want to grab a drink to celebrate?" he asks, finally getting up the nerve to ask her on a date. He hadn't asked anyone on a date since Med School. He'd been so nervous about asking, but she'd intrigued him. She wasn't as tough as Dr Cristina Yang, her fellow twisted sister. He'd worked with Dr Yang for almost 2 years after his wife passed away. Running to Switzerland had been a good decision, but now he was back working full time in Paediatrics, which is his love. Yes Seattle could also be considered running away, but he is closer to his sister-in-law, the kids aunt. And they are far enough away from his in-laws so he doesn't feel obligated to visit them. His parents were still in Ireland, but his boys wanted to be in the US for high-school. Although it isn't Philly where their grandparents live, Austin and Liam are happy to be back in the States. They've already adjusted to school here.
"Rain check?" she says smiling, knowing she'd love to go out, but isn't sure she was awake enough to drive home, let alone hit Joe's. If they went to Joe's, it would be likely she'd fall asleep in the bar.
"Sounds good. Get a good night sleep," he says heading to the exit. He admitted to himself that he was disappointed, but could tell that the sparkle in her eyes was dimmed due to exhaustion. They'd sparred since his first day at Grey-Sloan, and he'd quickly learnt she was an amazing surgeon with great instincts. He enjoys working with her, and wants to get to know her on a personal level. They've shared a few short conversations about both being widowed, single parents with kids and surgeons.
She turns the corner and sees someone sitting on the floor. Their arms resting on their knees, head held in their hands. She notices who is on the floor and goes to walk past but her conscious won't let her. "Damn!" she mutters turning back to Andrew DeLuca.
"Andrew, come let's go home," she says holding her hands out to Andrew to help him up. She really doesn't want to do this. She wants to go home and crash on her bed by herself and forget the world. Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep is the goal. Now she doubts she'll get that. She wishes she could have just left him. But she did love him in a way. Maybe not as the love of her life, but she cared. She couldn't leave him just sitting on the floor of the hospital. If it wouldn't take so much work she'd just drop him at psych for a 24 hour hold. But at this point he's not a danger to anyone, he's just plodding along beside her and climbing in the car.
The drive to her place is done almost completely on autopilot and uneventful. Thankfully the weather wasn't bad, a little wet, but it is Seattle. She parked in the driveway, grabbed her bag, and went around and opened the door for Andrew. "Andrew, undo your seatbelt. Let's go inside," she instructs.
He manages to get out of the car, she wraps her arm around his waist and leads him to the front door. She helps him to the couch and helps him lay down and removes his shoes. She went and grabbed a blanket for him and threw it over him.
She wants to head straight to bed. But first steps, she thanks the nanny and sends her home. She then heads into the kitchen and gets out two glasses of water, drinking one and placing the other on the coffee table.
She notices the nanny didn't get the dishwasher on, so she fills up the dishwasher and turns it on. She looks in the fridge to see what is edible, and there is some leftover pasta. Grabbing the pasta and a fork, she sits at the breakfast bar and eats the cold pasta. She would have preferred cold pizza, but she can't complain. Filling her glass again before heading into the laundry room to turn off the light she gets distracted by the dirty laundry. Amelia has laundry on the go, and so puts the rest of the load in the dryer while putting household towels into the washer. It's now after 11pm and she still hasn't made it upstairs.
She turns off the kitchen lights, checks the doors are locked and heads upstairs. She's too exhausted to have a bath, scared she'll fall asleep in the water, she slips on her Dartmouth t-shirt and climbs into bed.
Just as she's about to fall asleep her phone buzzes. She'd missed 2 calls and 5 messages from Carina and she's in a panic because Andrew wasn't answering her messages. She knew she'd forgotten something. Not wanting to deal with the hot headed Italian sister of the guy on her couch, she texts "he's safe on my couch".
The next morning Zola wakes her, "Mommy! We can't be late for school."
"What time is it ZoZo?"
"7:57" she says.
"Oh, we better get moving. Can you and Bailey get dressed and get your own cereal?" she asks. They have 33 minutes to get out of the house and get the kids to school. She'll skip making lunches and go to Subway after dropping them at school.
"Yes mommy," Zola says scurrying off to get Bailey up. Meredith decides a two minute shower is better than nothing, turns on the water and jumps in. A quick wash and she's out again before the water ever warmed up, gets out, towels off and throws on leggings and a long sweater. She heads to Ellis' room and gets her moving. "Wakey, Elli! We need to get moving."
Thankfully Ellis is easier to get moving than Bailey and soon all of them are in the kitchen. "OK we have 15 minutes to eat breakfast, grab a snack and out the door. I'll drop your lunches off after I drop you off."
"Ellis, yogurt or cereal?" Meredith asks, grabbing herself a bowl of yogurt.
"Yogurt, please."
"Bailey, please put your dishes on the counter and go brush your teeth. Don't forget your book for class. Zola, do you have your homework packed?"
She looks over and Andrew is still sound asleep. She fills up his glass, and writes him a note "Headed to work. Please let me know when you leave. -M"
Meredith and her kids race outside, into the car and she manages to get into the drop off lane just before the bell sounds. She zips to Subway and while waiting in line for lunches for the 3 kids she places her Starbucks order. Ellis happily carries their lunches as they grab her coffee off the counter. A venti quad shot to start the day!
Lunches are dropped off at school, Ellis dropped at daycare and she arrives in the Attendings lounge and crashes onto the couch. She has no clue what her schedule is today. Maybe if she sat here someone would just page her and tell her what to do.
"Dr Grey, you look like you could use a coffee," Cormac says, offering to fill her cup.
"Thanks, I slept through my alarm today. Got the kids to school on time."
"A good start! Now what does the rest of your day look like?"
