Meredith had never been good at sleeping on planes, even when she was younger. Thankfully, the combination of tequila at the bar, wine in her business class seat, and the soft oversized sweatshirt she'd stolen from Andrew last time they'd hooked up in the attendings' lounge were the right formula for her to get a brief nap in during her 9 hour flight.
It was just after 2:30 in the afternoon when the plane landed in Zurich. She pulled out her phone to text Cristina and saw that she had a text from an unknown number with a 785 area code. Reading the text brought a smile to Meredith's tired face.
Hey Mer. I hope you made it uneventfully to Zurich. Give Yang my love.
It was just like Alex to let her know he had a new number without acknowledging the change. She quickly sent off a purple heart emoji in response before sending a text to Cristina that they were on the ground and packing her book, sweatshirt, and headphones back into the large tote she'd managed to cram underneath the seat in front of her.
Meredith purchased a double latte on her way to baggage claim where she found a young man wearing a porter's cap and holding a Klausman Institute branded sign with her name on it. She laughed and greeted him before going to collect her bags. The young man, who Meredith learned was named Simon, drove Meredith to the Klausman Institute in a small black car and carried her bags as he guided her to Cristina's office.
Upon first impression alone, Meredith could see why Cristina had been lured away so easily. There were rows upon rows of the latest 3D printers and doctors engaging in conversation over cappuccinos next to large floor to ceiling windows that provided views of the lake and mountains. Meredith became so distracted for a moment that she had to jog to catch up with Simon before he turned the corner.
They took an elevator up two floors and Meredith was met with a long hallway with hardwood floors and images of cities from the US west coast lining the walls. She smiled warmly when she noticed that the two flanking the door they stopped at were Berkeley, California and Seattle.
Simon knocked at the door and Meredith heard Cristina invite him in.
"Dr. Yang, Dr. Grey has arrived." the young man said with a heavy Swiss accent after opening the door.
"Thank you, Simon." Cristina spoke and Meredith could hear the clack of high heeled shoes against the oak floors.
Cristina Yang appeared in the doorway. Her usually unruly hair was tied into a knot at the nape of her neck and she was wearing a maroon dress under her white coat, the line under her name read only one word: Director. Meredith was glad she was so excited to see her friend, or else she would have had to laugh at the contrast between Cristina's highly polished look and her grey v-neck sweater and jeans.
"Can I get you anything else, Dr. Yang?" Simon asked.
Cristina eyed the paper cup in Meredith's hand and rolled her eyes. "Please bring a real latte for Dr. Grey and tell Dr. Ross I need to speak with him within the hour."
"Yes, Dr. Yang." Simon responded before turning to leave.
As soon as Simon had turned his back, Cristina pulled Meredith into her office and wrapped her in a tight hug.
The two squealed excitedly and jumped up and down before they finally burst into a fit of laughter.
"Glad to know you're still in there." Meredith grinned.
"And it's good to see you smiling again!" Cristina exclaimed. "Didn't I tell you you'd be fine without McDreamy?"
Meredith sighed wistfully and nodded. "Yes you did."
Cristina shut the door to her office and motioned for Meredith to join her on the couch. "So, when Simon comes back we'll do the tour, because this place is amazing! Then we'll go pick up some food, because I don't have any, and head back to the house."
"You have a house?" Meredith asked skeptically.
"It's pretty much a townhouse, but yeah, we call it a house."
"We?" Meredith asked. "Cristina, have you been holding back on me? Don't tell me you married Burke and are playing mommy to his two kids, because I've had one best friend leave me for a secret family and I don't need another-"
Cristina cut Meredith off with laughter. "Definitely not. But Shane was spending so much time there and I had the extra room so I told him he could just move in."
Meredith raised a curious eyebrow at Cristina but let it go. Living together may be serious for a lot of people, but Cristina and Shane were busy running a hospital together and occasionally had sex, at least as of the last time Cristina had mentioned him. That all checked out in Meredith's book.
"Speaking of secret families though…" Meredith doubled back. "You'll never guess who I ran into in Chicago."
"Evil Spawn!?" Cristina exclaimed excitedly. "Do tell!"
Meredith smiled and told Cristina all about her encounter with Alex. Cristina cut her off while she was gushing about how happy Ellis had been to talk to him.
"Mer… do you need to tell me something about Evil Spawn?"
Meredith shot Cristina a disapproving look just as Simon knocked on the door with a cappuccino and a message from Shane that Cristina could find him in her lab when she was ready for him.
Cristina spent their tour of the Klausman Institute highlighting many of the things Meredith had noticed on her way up to the office. Cristina was quite proud of the 100 printers they now owned and pointed out every major renovation she'd made, from the floors to the lighting fixtures, since taking over from Burke. The highlight; however, was seeing the test model of a full 3D printed heart. As she sat there listening to Shane Ross brag about his mentor with nothing but sheer admiration in his eyes, Meredith realized that as much as things changed in their lives some things would always be the same.
"Okay, so I've forwarded my pages to you. Only call me if you don't feel confident handling it yourself." Cristina spoke. There was a light tension to her tone that implied she wasn't one hundred percent okay taking two full days off, but time with Meredith was so rare that she had to make the most of it.
"Of course, Dr. Yang. Enjoy your time off."
Shane practically had to push them out the door, reassuring Cristina that he had everything under control.
An hour later, Cristina was unpacking their bags of wine, ice cream, cheese, and chocolate and Meredith was attempting to help put away the dishes from the dishwasher.
"So back to the topic you dodged earlier." Cristina stated clearly as she uncorked a bottle of pinot noir from the nearby vineyard. "What's going on with Evil Spawn?"
"Absolutely nothing." Meredith insisted. "It's just that he used to help me raise my kids and now he's off raising Izzie's kids. And I know they're his kids too, but… Cristina, he told me last night that we're his family and I just hate that he's not there and then one second on a phone screen after two years of nothing and Ellis has him wrapped around her finger all over again."
Cristina handed Meredith a glass of wine and went to move the bowls that Meredith had put away to the cabinet they actually belonged in.
"Pick a cheese and go sit down." Cristina told her. "You were right before. We really shouldn't talk about this. Let's talk about your hot sex with the resident instead."
"He's an attending now." Meredith giggled and grabbed a block of Gruyere from the counter before heading back into the living room to get settled on the couch. "And a damn good one at that."
When Shane got home four hours later there were two half-eaten blocks of cheese and three empty bottles of very expensive red wine sitting on his living room table. His roommate and her best friend were passed out together on the couch. He couldn't help but chuckle before grabbing the duvet off of Cristina's bed to cover them with and heading to the kitchen, hoping that Cristina had been sensible enough to purchase something other than wine and cheese for dinner.
I had to throw Cristina some love here! I promise this won't be the last of her in this story. She's always so much fun to write, especially as I'm writing a very different, much younger and moodier, Cristina for an upcoming story.
Thanks to XantheIris for the review! The next four chapters are all partially written so hopefully there's more to come soon!
xx Lissa