And it's all okay, because love will find a way to be what love is.
The next couple weeks went by far too quickly. Work was busy, for both of them. They'd meet for the odd lunch and had managed to fit a few dinner dates in, followed by them staying at the other's place alternately. He kept giving her that look, though. He needed to stop giving her that look in work. The one that made her want to drag him into an on-call room with her. Work needed to stay strictly professional. She had a reputation to uphold, anyhow, she couldn't afford the distraction. If anyone at the hospital had caught on to the relationship growing between them, they didn't say anything.
She still found herself waiting for the other shoe to drop. He hadn't said more regarding his impending divorce since that night and she still wasn't sure how to bring it up herself without sounding so insecure about it., so she left it alone. She was sure he'd tell her if there was any news, at least she hoped he would.
Derek had another phone call with his mother earlier that week. He told her about Meredith. He told her he was happy. He acknowledged it was quick, and his divorce still hadn't gone through yet, but he knew this was what he wanted. She was what he wanted, and there was definitely no rebound involved here, as suggested by Nancy. He decided not to mention any names. He didn't want them to know her from a google search, he wanted them to meet her in person, but not right away. His mother was happy for him, she understood.
He had a new fellow starting today. Richard had created a fellowship and found the perfect student who was relocating from Massachusetts after doing her residency as Mass Gen. He didn't know who she was and hadn't caught on to the name he'd been given. He was too distracted fielding calls all week from his ex-wife. She must've finally received the divorce papers. All she had to do was sign them and it was done. She clearly wasn't in the marriage anymore otherwise she wouldn't have slept with his best friend. He'd even let her take most of their property, he didn't need it. He had his apartment in Seattle, and his land out on Bainbridge island.
He made his way to Richard's office to meet his new fellow. She had a slight frame and short, brown hair. Upon first look, she did look somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place why. And then he heard her name. "Dr. Derek Shepherd meet Dr. Alexandra Grey, your neurosurgery fellow," Richard introduced them.
"Please, everyone calls me Lexie," she responded with a smile, reaching her hand to shake his.
"Lexie… Lexie Grey?" He laughed softly and shook her hand; she had a firm handshake. He looked to Richard who gave a slight nod, confirming what Derek was thinking, "Welcome to Seattle, Dr. Grey."
At that moment, her pager went off, signalling her presence being required in the ER, "I best go, catch up with you soon!"
Derek turned to Richard once Lexie had left the room, "Does Meredith know?"
Richard shook his head, "Doubtful. They're half-sisters on her dad's side. As far as I was aware, she hasn't spoken to Thatcher in about five years. Maybe it's best if we don't say, leave it be for now."
Derek nodded, not entirely comfortable with having this knowledge and being unable to share it with Meredith. At the same time, he didn't think it was really his place to say anything, "I'd better get to work," he stated as he left the office.
After leaving Richard's office, she was a bag of nerves on the way to the ER. She never thought she'd make it into the fellowship, for starters. She was younger than most in her class, and she always felt like she had more to prove. Now, she was in a brand-new hospital, ready to start her fellowship in her chosen speciality, neurosurgery, studying under one of the best neurosurgeons out there.
Then there was the fact that she knew her half-sister Meredith Grey was also Chief of General Surgery here. She'd heard about her sister from her father, Thatcher. Not much, mind. But he kept pictures of her. He even had a picture up from her journal article on the abdominal wall transplant that earned her the Catherine Fox Innovation Award last year.
Coming to Seattle was more than for the job, or the chance to meet her sister. Her father needed her. Her mother had passed at the beginning of last year, and she knew her father wasn't taking it well. He needed her. So, she did her research, applied to fellowships in the area, and came home to be there for him.
She went to the pit and found head of trauma, Dr April Kepner. She was directed to multiple trauma bays where patients awaited neuro checks before they could be either admitted or released. She grabbed a tablet from the nurses' station and got to work.
Meredith had been in back-to-back surgeries all day. She managed to have five minutes to herself for the first time, but of course that's when her pager decided to go off. She was needed in the ER. With a sigh, she headed down to the pit, coffee in hand, silently cursing whoever had decided to page her. When she got there, she found her best friend, Alex Karev, waiting for her by the admittance desk, "Did you page me?"
Alex shook his head, "Not me," he laughed as he noticed the expression on her face, "What's your problem?"
Her face relaxed a little and she binned the empty coffee cup, "I've been in surgeries since six this morning, and as soon as I get five minutes to myself I'm paged to the ER," she grumbled, "and no-one seems to be waiting for me here," she sighed as she looked around a little.
Alex shrugged, "I honestly couldn't tell you, but while you're here I do have something to show you," he nudged her shoulder as she rolled her eyes at him, "Look over there, bed six," he motioned over to where Lexie was seeing to a patient, "Shepherd's fellow started today, so you think she looks familiar?"
She raised her eyebrows as she looked from the doctor back to him, "No? Am I supposed to know her?" She asked as she looked back at the unfamiliar doctor, although the look in her face rang a bell deep inside her mind.
He grabbed her arm and made her turn around, backs facing the particular trauma bay, "Quit staring, Mer," he said with a laugh, "but apparently, her name is Grey," her head snapped up to look at him, "Lexie Grey."
"You're kidding, right? Is this some kind of joke?" She knew a Lexie Grey. She knew of a Lexie Grey. But that Lexie Grey was across the country, in Boston.
"Wait, do you know her?" he laughed at the expression on Meredith's face, "Oh my… you do?"
She groaned and her head fell in her hands as she leaned against the desk in front of her, "She's Thatcher's daughter, Alex. He told me about her when Mollie was having her baby, you know, when we were interns. She's supposed to be in Boston, at Mass Gen."
"You should go say hi," he teased, lightly jabbing her in the upper arm, she glared at him, "Or don't, your choice."
She shook her head, "I shouldn't. What I should do is find out who the hell paged me so I can go sleep," she stood up straight as she saw Kepner approach, "Who needs me, April?"
Kepner shrugged, "I didn't page you," she looked over at the ER board, "Nope, don't think you're needed here."
"Well then, I'm off to an on-call room to sleep," she eyed Alex, "do not do anything stupid while I'm gone," she warned before walking away.
He shouted after her, "No promises from me, Mer!"
She didn't respond but shook her head. She took out her phone as she stepped into the elevator, typing out a message to Derek. Meet me in the on-call room on 3. She hit send as she got off at the third floor and made her way for the on-call room which was, thankfully, unlocked and empty. She shut the door behind her and climbed onto one of the beds, laying on top of the sheets and staring up at the ceiling, her eyes starting to close. God, she was tired.
He was just getting out of surgery when he heard his phone go off. Once he scrubbed out, he checked the message. An on-call room? She never went alone with him to an on-call room. Part of him wished she had ulterior motives to sleeping, but then he remembered who had started at the hospital this morning. Maybe she'd found out. He also had another missed call from Addison. That could be ignored. He went to go update the family of the patient he'd just worked on before making his way to the third floor.
He knocked on the door to the on-call room, no answer. Keeping quiet, he opened the door partially and saw her asleep on the bed, no one else in the room. He locked the door behind him and watched her a moment, leaning his back against the door. She was sleeping with that worried look on her face. He should probably try and wake her, but she must be tired to be sleeping at three in the afternoon. As gentle as he could, he lay on the bed next her, brushing her hair out of her face. He leant down to press a soft kiss against her forehead as she shifted slightly, and he wrapped her in his arms, letting her head rest against his shoulder.
Five minutes passed, and she began to stir in his arms. He watched as her eyes opened and she smiled at him for a moment. He pressed his lips gently against hers and murmured, "Hey, sleepyhead."
She kissed him back a moment and then pulled back, "I'm supposed to be upset with you," her brow furrowed and he watched her cautiously, "it's hard to stay upset with you, though," she shrugged and kissed him again.
He laughed softly as he returned the kiss, his body shifted slightly so that he was above her on the bed, "and why are you upset with me, can I ask?" He kept his eyes on hers.
She bit her bottom lip as he moved above her, "Lexie. Your new fellow," her head tilted back slightly as he left soft kisses down her neck.
"And what about her?" he murmured softly against her skin, one hand holding her waist.
"She's," her breath caught slightly as he gently nipped her, "she's Thatcher's daughter, Derek. You know, my estranged father Thatcher."
His lips moved back up her neck and he looked into her eyes before responding, "I didn't know, Meredith, honestly. I just met her this morning. I knew I was getting a fellow but I didn't even know their name."
"You didn't?" she questioned as her upset with him faded more and more.
He shook his head and kissed her lips again softly, "I didn't know. The fellowship with her was already set up before I even got the call about this job from Richard, he organised it all."
He watched carefully as a look of rage flashed in her eyes, "Did he now?" she scoffed. And then she sighed, "I need to go. And you need to stop being so… irresistible. Otherwise I'm going to end up breaking my own rule," she started to sit up and he moved to her side.
"And what rule is that?" he questioned with a soft laugh, getting up off the bed as she did.
"No sex in the hospital," she laughed with him, which faded quickly as she caught a devilish look in his eyes. He stood in front of her, moving her back against the locked door. His lips landed hard against hers as his hands gripped at her waist, his body sandwiching hers against the door, earning him a moan from her.
"Now that's a silly rule," he murmured as he smirked against her lips and pulled away suddenly, leaving her stood there, in a slight daze, "I guess we'll have to wait then, till tonight."
She laughed and rolled her eyes at him, "and you say I'm a tease," she shook her head, putting her lab coat back on.
"I'm just following the rules," he said with a laugh, sitting on the bed. He watched as she left the room, waiting a few minutes before leaving the room himself. Tonight, would be fun.
She'd received the documents from the lawyers earlier that week. Divorce papers. She knew it was coming, though. She had been avoiding the calls from her attorney all week. She couldn't deny that it was going to happen, and she thought she was prepared for it, she honestly did.
It's not like she didn't know he'd moved on. His sister had let it slip when she didn't think she was listening. He'd been on the phone with his mom the previous night, supposedly.
Addison knew the gravity of what she'd done to him. She'd broken him. He had gone and moved all the way to Seattle. Cold, rainy, boring. Richard called and he'd taken the job at the drop of a hat. Barely even told his own mother that he was leaving, never mind his sisters, leaving her to explain to her extended family of eleven years what had gone down that night. She let him go; she didn't try and stop him.
It wasn't like it was much of a shock. The cheating? That was a shock. Who she'd cheated on him with? Also, a shock. Their marriage ending, not so much of a shock. They'd been growing apart for a long time now. It almost felt like pretending for the sake of appearances. They both worked late and they both got up early to work. They never planned for days off together, nights out together. They were practically just roommates at that point. And then she found herself doing the unspeakable and when she eventually got caught, he ran.
Now it was all too real, and he wasn't returning her calls. She knew had to speak to him in person. She needed to know he was definitely done. She had to at least try, and she didn't want this conversation through lawyers.
She knew there was no way he'd come back to her if he'd known the full story. He simply saw one night and that was enough for him to up and leave without even saying goodbye. She didn't want the truth to come from anyone else. Not even Mark. She knew it wouldn't be too much longer before Sloan made his own way to Seattle to track Derek down. They were practically brothers after all, since well before Addison had even entered their lives.
She'd ruined it. She took the easy way out, and it resulted in more than the destruction of their marriage.
She took the e-mail from Richard Webber as a sign. He requested her expertise on a case that required a foetal surgeon – her speciality. She asked in return that he not tell Derek she was on her way. He might just run again, and they needed to talk.
With her newfound excuse to go to Seattle, she boarded the mid-afternoon flight to Sea-Tac. She'd be at the hospital by 8pm Seattle time.
And it's all okay, because love will find a way to be what love is.
It's All Okay - Julia Stone.