"Alex!" Meredith called out as she saw him pass by the nurses station.
"Hey, how was D.C.?" He asked as she caught up to him.
"Amazing. Derek planned a date night which was awesome. I also saw her, you know?" Meredith said.
"How did that go?" Alex asked giving her a look which clearly stated which event he was referring to. He wanted to plummet Derek for kissing his research fellow and believed for a period of time that it was more than a kiss, but Meredith had assured him that it wasn't.
"Eh, I didn't know who she was at first. Then I also saw that the way Derek looked at her was in no comparison to the way he looks at me, or even looked at me while Addison was here." Meredith said, a tone of relief evident in her voice.
"So no McDreamy eyes, huh?" Alex joked, recalling the sayings from their intern days, glad for his best friend.
"No. No McDreamy eyes." Meredith indulged him, giggling slightly.
"Good." Alex was glad that her and Shepherd were back on track with their relationship. He did not want Mer to be unhappy, and that also meant that he wouldn't barge in on him and Jo early in the morning.
"Yeah, by the way, the reason I stopped you…. Uh…" Meredith started, unsure as to how to ask.
"Mer… what?" Alex asked.
"I want you to walk me down the aisle." Meredith said. Even though, Derek and her were doing half traditional and half as they wished, she wanted this. It was a nice practice which she wanted in her ceremony, and there was no one she would rather have her do this with her, than Alex. He was her family.
"What?" Alex was happily shocked by the question.
"I told you that I wanted you and Cristina to stand by my side, I also want you to walk me down. You're family to me. Please?" Meredith explained, playing with her fingers, showing her nervousness.
"Mer… I would be honoured." Alex said and pulled her in for a hug.
"Really? Oh, thank God! And you're staying at Cristina's place with us." Meredith informed him, proceeding to tell him about their plans.
"Obviously. I wasn't going to allow you two to put me in a hotel as it is. We three need to catch up. Its. been too long since I've irritated Yang." Alex said in an obvious tone. He was excited to go to Switzerland and spending time with their third mate. The honour of walking Meredith down the aisle, was an added privilege.
"Yeah, we do. Ughh, I won't be able to drink tequila! Stupid man penises." Meredith groaned. She wanted to get wasted on tequila like they used to in during their early years of residency. Growing up sucked.
"We'll have fun sober. Don't worry." Alex chuckled. He knew she was just momentarily saying stuff like this and was excited to have another kid.
"yeah…. Yeah." Meredith agreed, albeit grudgingly. "Hey guys. Meredith, how was Washington D.C.?" Maggie greeted, approaching them.
"Great. We had this awesome date at one of the city's best Italian restaurants and Derek proposed again." Meredith replied happily. She didn't want to tell anybody else about the other thing that transpired there. Alex was different to her and she was confident that he wouldn't tell anyone either.
"He proposed, like traditional, flowers and dinner proposal?" Alex asked, causing Meredith to realise that she omitted the fact before and that proposal wasn't exactly how the two of them did stuff.
"Wow! Mer, I'm so happy for you." Maggie gushed.
"Thank you." She said to Maggie. "Yes, sorry I forgot to tell you before." Meredith addressed to Alex, which he waved off.
"Do you have a dress? When are you going shopping? What else do you need for the ceremony?" Maggie fired questions at Meredith.
"Uh, I went to the mall last week and bought a dress. It's being fitted according my size right now." Meredith replied nonchalantly.
"Oh. That's great. Whom did you take with you?" Maggie smiled forcefully. She wanted to be a part of it all with Meredith, her sister, but apparently the feeling wasn't mutual.
"No one. I just sent Cristina a picture of it after buying to see if she found it appropriate, make sure that hers wasn't similar to mine."
"But why?" she asked confused.
"Why did I send her a picture of my dress?" Mer asked, not understanding Maggie.
"No. Why did you go alone?" Maggie pressed. she couldn't understand why someone would go dress shopping alone.
"Why will I… " Just then her pager rang, cutting the conversation short. "Bye guys."
"She isn't that person." Alex told Maggie after Meredith left. "She was never big on dresses and weddings. I can bet my career that her dress isn't even white." He got what Maggie was trying to convey to Meredith, even if the latter did not.
"What? How can she not have a white dress?" Maggie was genuinely astonished at Meredith behaviour.
"That's how she is. Her and Cristina, both. Derek's and her first wedding, Izzie had planned, the whole nine yards. They only indulged her because she had cancer. Even that wedding was gifted by them to us. Derek and her got married on a post-it note in the resident's lounge."
"They never had a proper wedding?" Maggie asked wide-eyed, and post-it?!
"Nope. The went to City Hall to get it legalised when they were adopting Zola. That was a couple of years after their post-it. They considered themselves married for all those two years. Inspite fo all our mocking, they stuck to that. I'm guessing part of the reason they are doing such a ceremony, that too in Switzerland, is because none of us were there in their previous two 'ceremonies', both of which did not have Meredith wearing a dress, let alone white."
"Wow! I didn't know that." Maggie exclaimed, realising that there was a lot to her sister that she didn't know. "Oh. So according to Meredith, going alone to buy the vow renewal dress which isn't white, is normal?"
"Totally. She doesn't do family, she doesn't know family; I don't mean her kids. Ellis Grey was never a mother, her father wasn't even in the picture. Her first actual family were Izzie, O'Malley, Yang and I, in our most dysfunctional dynamic."
"But Derek has sisters, is he fine with it?" Maggie too came from a conventional family like Derek, inspite of being adopted.
"I guess. He loves Mer way too much for this to be a problem, and he understands where her opinions come from. I got to go too. Don't think too much of this." Alex told her, heading to the Peds division, leaving Maggie alone, pondering.
Maggie was dumbfounded to say the least. Even though he had an adoptive family, she grew up in a home full of love and warmth. Meredith, even though being with Ellis, never got the real family experience. And to say that Maggie was jealous of her sister, Maggie shook her head. She understood that she had to take small steps with Meredith and not push her beyond it.
Meredith was sitting in her lab, researching while the 3-D printer was working to print the structure of the nerve that she needed. She wanted to first use regular polymer and then switch to nerve cells. Jo was her intern on her case who had been instructed to look over the project when Meredith wasn't in Seattle and give her daily updates. Cristina had also informed her that the two of them would be scrubbing in on at least on procedure together while they would be in Zurich.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Derek asked, entering the lab.
"Just some research. They first nerve replica is getting printed. I'm reading about the technique to use live cells instead of polymer." She explained, pointing to the stacks of articles in front of her.
"Alright, then. I'm done for the day, do you want me to wait for you?" He asked, rubbing her shoulders soothingly.
"If you can... I'll just take an hour or so more. You can head down to daycare. Please?" Meredith pouted, not in the mood to drive herself home. Most days one of their cars remained at the hospital, thankfully for them, it was in the area reserved for board members, so no one questioned it.
"Of course, Mer." He kissed her head and left to see his kids.
The next day was important for the hospital, especially for the board members. Both Bailey and Dr. Grant were giving their final presentations, after which they would select the new Chief of Surgery. They were pretty impressed by Dr. Grant as well, who was providing them with ideas to go around the problems they faced during surgery. Surprisingly, Bailey called all of them to the OR for her presentation and showed them, why she was the best fit. The decision was unanimous and Bailey was appointed Chief of Surgery of Grey Sloan Memorial.
It was the day after that, the Meredith was in a soup. Bailey had dumped her entire schedule on her as she was busy transitioning into the Chief's position. Meredith needed to rest for a minute.
"God! I'm tired." She groaned, plopping down beside Derek on the couch in their office. She was happy to see Derek in the office as well. He always knew just how to comfort her.
"I know... what is Bailey thinking today? She gave the team a next to impossible task, and is over exerting you. Amy was so confused she willingly approached me. She does know that you're pregnant, right?"
"The Nazi is back." Meredith stated.
"Oh, yeah... We were joking about it in the observation room. Owen and Amy were shocked. Ben looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but there." Derek chuckled. He then properly saw his wife and her tired body. "Have you eaten?" He asked, looking at her worried.
"No. Was in surgery. Have another in ten minutes" Meredith said, glancing at her watch.
"Meredith." He got up and moved to his desk. "Here take have this energy bar for now. After that surgery, please eat a sandwich."
"Thank you, and no promises. I will if I have time." Meredith pecked his cheek.
"But-" Derek wanted to object, but was cutoff by Meredith.
"Got to go. I need to see if my intern has prepped the patient." She said, rushing out of the office, energy bar in hand. Derek too, left the office and headed to his lab, shaking his head, and hoping that she wouldn't go beyond what her body allowed.
"I shouted at Bailey, a while back." Meredith said, resting her head on his shoulder. Derek was leaning up on the nurses station talking to Amy when Meredith wanted to vent. She had done two surgeries after her talk with Derek, and badly wanted to go home and rest, but Bailey wasn't sparing her.
"Im sure it'll be okay. It's not as if she can fire you." Derek said, rubbing her arm, trying to lighten her mood.
"If this continues, she wouldn't have to fire me, I'll have quit." Meredith stated, slightly angry and very annoyed.
"Don't say that. You're capable of handling anything she throws at you. Be strong." Derek encouraged her, but despite his words, he wanted to have a serious talk with the chief of surgery. He was sure the Dr. Meredith Grey would excel at the challenge, but he was concerned for his pregnant wife.
"Hmm... Switzerland sounds very good, want to move there? They have good schools." Meredith asked. Derek knew she was joking. Meredith wouldn't even leave Seattle for D.C. But Cristina was there in Zurich, so maybe he wouldn't bet on his assumption.
"Grey." Came Bailey's booming voice. Meredith silently groaned and turned to face the Chief. She wanted to run away now.
"Yes, Chief." She greeted, her voice half sarcastic.
"I want you to be my Chief of General Surgery." She told in a normal tone, like it was everyday conversation.
"Uh, what?" Meredith asked confused. Derke had a huge smile on his face. He was glad that there was a reason behind Bailey pushing Meredith today. She was testing her, at which his wife had excelled.
"I want you to be my me. The way I was when Webber and Hunt were Chief. My go-to person." Bailey elaborated.
"Really?"
"Yes. You proved that you were that today. You did everything I told you to do, and did it well. I can't think of a better person for the job. So, You accept?" She asked, her voice maing it clear that she had no option but to accept.
"Of course, I do. What happens during my maternity leave?" Meredith had to make sure. Even though she knew that Bailey really cared about her, she ws taken back to her initial days of internship that day, when Bailey had no room for emotions.
"Dr. Webber and I will take care of it. So, you accept?"
"You bet I do." Meredith grinned.
"Good, come by my office tomorrow, I'll have your contract ready." She said.
"That's my wife." Derek said proudly and hugged her.
"Derek, I have another position for you as well." She said, turning to the senior doctor.
"Bailey, I need to manage my..." He started denying her offer, not wanting any new position, his kids and Meredith were priority right now, not any titles or jobs.
"Listen, will you?" Bailey said, annoyed. "I want you to be Head of Research. Not just Neuro related, all."
"That will increase my working hours..." He didn't want to go back on his promise to Meredith as he had done before.
"You just need to review proposals, track progress, etc. Half of it you can do from home. You wanna focus on research, so focus on research."
"It's a great thing, Derek. The hours will be on your terms." Meredith encouraged. "Hell, you can do most of while looking over the kids."
"Derek, you are working here, for the board, technically for yourself. Any difficulties can be managed. There aren't restrictions or strings attached here. We can have someone like the Chief resident to help you out as well, a deputy head for research at the fifth year level. And then when the board sits together to provide funding, your input will matter the most." Bailey explained to him.
"You love reading about ideas and innovations, Der. Now you decide which ones have potential and which don't." Meredith understood what Bailey was implying, that the wouldn't allow the situation to become like the previous one had.
"You sure?" He asked his wife.
"Completely. We will be the Grey-Sloan power couple." She joked.
"We are the Grey-Sloan power couple." Derek corrected. Even though their positions came with more work, it gave them the ability to manipulate their hours. They would make it, he was sure of that. He wasn't going to let there be any other result of the second chance that they gave themselves. He loved her too much for that to happen.