On Saturday, Alex had woken up early to take Meredith's kids to the zoo and come home with a week's worth of groceries. On Sunday afternoon, he recruited the kids to help him meal prep for the rest of the week.
"You're doing what?" Meredith had asked, staring oddly at the assortment of food and tupperware containers.
Alex had picked up the habit while living with Izzie and he swore it made healthy weeknight dinners with children a million times easier. He had tried explaining all of this to Meredith but lost her attention within minutes to the appeal of a warm bath while the kids were otherwise occupied.
She soaked in the lavender scented bath for almost an hour, allowing herself to reflect on the events of the weekend. She had known it was a long shot when she asked Alex to come back to Seattle and hadn't actually expected him to do it. She was glad he had, but also felt strange about how easy it was for him to waltz back into their lives. She had been stunned and heartbroken when he'd left, but often ruminated on some of his final words to her - 'you've always been your own damn person.' Through all of the heartbreak and betrayed feelings, those words had given her strength to get through her complicated life one day at a time.
Meredith had started to live by those words. She still had Andrew for sex and an entire village to help with the kids and bitch to at work - Jackson, Maggie, and Amelia definitely fell into the category of family, but she had learned that she was fine when they weren't there. She was at peace being alone and being her own damn person. At least, she had been. Now that Alex was back, it was as if all of the independence Meredith had built up while he was gone had vanished into thin air. He had done more of the cooking, cleaning, and caring for her children than she had since the second he walked through the door and she had let him with very little protest.
Meredith inhaled the strong scent of lavender that filled the room, trying to relax, only to find herself wondering what in the world had led her to just accept the domestic bliss she now found herself living in. Alex Karev, who had his own wife and children who would be arriving in Seattle in a matter of weeks, was downstairs with her children preparing meals and teaching them life skills while she took the day off. Sure, she didn't have this specific skill herself so she wouldn't have been teaching it anyways, but she could have put a frozen pizza in the oven or ordered Chinese take-out for them.
Meredith emerged from the tub and wrapped herself in a towel before checking the time. It was just past midnight in Zurich, later than she would usually call Cristina, but not too late to be reasonable. She threw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and dialed up her other best friend, desperately craving an outlet for her thoughts.
"Alex Karev is in my kitchen teaching my children how to meal prep." she said as soon as Cristina picked up, skipping the pleasantries.
"Meal prep?" Cristina asked, confused.
"It's this thing where people cook food on Sunday so they have meals to eat during the week. Izzie's domesticated him." Meredith explained.
"I see." Cristina responded. She paused for a moment before continuing to speak. "Are we freaking out because Karev's in your kitchen when he should be in Kansas with Izzie or because Evil Spawn is surpassing us both in adulthood by teaching your children healthy life skills?"
Meredith sighed and flopped down onto her bed, putting Cristina on speaker phone. "All of the above?" she tried. "He showed up here on Thursday night and we've sort of been playing house. He keeps doing these wonderful things like feeding us and entertaining the kids. Hell, he did the dishes Cristina. Since when does Alex Karev do dishes?" Meredith asked, frustrated, pulling a pillow to her chest.
Cristina's laughter rang out through her phone's speaker and Meredith glared at the offending device.
"So you're pissed that he's doing helpful things?" Cristina asked in an attempt to understand the point.
"No." Meredith groaned. "I'm pissed that I'm letting him and that I'm getting comfortable playing house when Izzie's going to swoop in with her perfect life and her perfect babies and take him away again."
"Swoop in to Seattle?" Cristina asked eagerly. "Dish!"
"Well I may have sort of told him it was about time he came home and he did. But he's got this family now and he's bringing them with him-"
"Obviously." Cristina cut in.
Meredith glared at her phone again and sat up. "Look, I just… I don't want to share."
"Mer, he's not your husband." Cristina said somberly.
"I know that." Meredith replied. "But he's my Alex and he's pretty damn good at whatever that means."
Cristina laughed again. "Look Mer, I gotta run, but you'll be fine. You just need to get laid or back to work. Try both! Go have fun in an on-call room and everything will feel back to normal. This domestic thing just isn't good for you."
Meredith laughed in agreement. "That's for sure."
After hanging up with Cristina, Meredith sent off a text to Andrew.
Crazy weekend. You should stop by my lab tomorrow. I could use the distraction.
On Monday morning, Alex fixed his tie at least twice, helped get the kids fed, and caught a ride to work with Meredith. He had spent the first half of the ride fidgeting with the radio stations until he finally found something he hated less than the current popular music.
"You ready for this?" Meredith asked him as they pulled into the parking lot.
"Definitely." Alex replied confidently, although his brain was racing with anxious thoughts of everything that could go wrong. Bailey would probably chew him out about how he left before, Jackson didn't seem too happy with him, he was certain Link wouldn't be either, and seeing Jo… Well, seeing Jo was something Alex was pretty sure he'd rather avoid if possible.
"I should probably tell you…" Meredith started slowly, looking over at Alex. "Jo stayed. She and I work pretty closely."
Alex's fingers froze over the button for his seatbelt and he looked into Meredith's eyes, searching for any more information she may be trying to convey, but he didn't catch anything other than a hesitant look - cloudy pale blue eyes that appeared uncertain as to whether she should have said something or not.
"Does she know I'm here?" Alex asked.
"I have no idea." Meredith confessed. "I haven't talked to her since I left work on Thursday, but Bailey may have said something."
Alex sighed and clicked the hard, plastic button under his fingers. "Let's go."
Unfortunately for Alex, his security blanket for the day was paged to the pit as soon as they walked in the door, so Meredith had run off leaving Alex to fend for himself on the walk to Bailey's office. With every step he took, Alex scanned the hospital for things that had changed and people he knew. For the most part the hospital looked and seemed to operate the same way. He was thankful to have the elevator ride to himself and was feet away from Bailey's office when he heard probably the last voice he needed to hear before his meeting that morning.
"Karev?"
Alex wiped the grimace from his face and turned to face Dr. Atticus Lincoln, who was standing in his scrubs and holding his tablet out in front of him. The two men regarded each other for a moment. Link had a look of surprise on his face, probably questioning whether or not Alex was really there, whereas Alex was nervously sizing the other man up. He knew this was Jo's person and if anyone were to throw a long overdo and much deserved punch his way, it would be Link.
"Here for a consult?" Link asked.
"No, um… I'm back. Working for Hayes."
Alex was saved from any additional awkwardness by the comfortingly familiar sound of Dr. Bailey yelling his name from the doorway to her office. "Dr. Karev!"
"I should, um…" Alex said to Link, tilting his head towards Bailey's office, where the chief of surgery was waiting somewhat impatiently.
Before Link could say another word, Alex was already halfway to the chief's office.
He went to take a seat when Dr. Bailey stopped him.
"No. You will stand while I yell at you, Karev."
Alex couldn't help but smile as Bailey, as expected, chewed him out for his behavior two and a half years prior. It was good to be home.
"Karev!" Bailey chided, unhappy with his reaction. "Are you listening to me?"
"I fucked up. I was inconsiderate. I won't do it again. Can I sit now?" Alex summed up what he was sure Bailey had said and flashed her his biggest, goofiest smile.
Bailey sighed, but walked up to Alex and gave him a big hug. "You better not do that to me again."
Alex grinned at Bailey and nodded. "I won't." he promised. "I'm home."
"Good. Now sit." Bailey said, instantly switching back into boss mode and going to sit behind her desk. She rattled off something about HR paperwork and updated policies while Alex looked around at the office that had once been his, however temporarily.
He couldn't help but wonder if this was what he had given up by coming home to Seattle. He had been the head of his department at Shawnee County and had been on the fast track to replace the soon-to-retire chief of surgery, which had been confirmed to him when he put in his two weeks notice. While there had been moments he'd hated the job, he also loved that he had been good at it once he got the hang of things. Alex had learned that he could delegate, make decisions, and command a room full of other surgeons in a way that made him feel confident and successful. Had he really given that up to come and work for one of Meredith's ex-flings who probably already hated him?
"Karev?" Bailey sighed, noticing that once again her former intern wasn't paying attention. "Are you here today? Mentally?"
Alex nodded. "Sorry, Dr. Bailey. It's just a little surreal being back."
Bailey nodded in understanding, softening again.
"Look, Karev. I convinced Dr. Hayes to take you on by telling him you were one of the best doctors and best men I've ever trained. Don't disappoint me?"
Alex was taken aback that this seemed to be more of a question than a command. Bailey wanted to know if he could live up to his reputation or if he was going to walk out again. "I'm here, Bailey." Alex reassured her.
"Good." Bailey stated, her tone flipping back to serious Bailey. Alex made a mental note to figure out how to go from kind and understanding to absolutely terrifying in .2 seconds. "Now, since you're new, you'll be spending the day with Dr. Hayes. Do not be a jerk, do you hear me Karev?"
Alex grinned and nodded his head. "Yes, Dr. Bailey."
Thanks nourseholly and guest for your reviews on the last chapter! I hope you all enjoyed the latest update. I've started to tie up the loose ends in my storyboard and I think it'll come in at around 20-ish chapters with a couple side-stories that keep distracting me from the main plot being published separately. More to come soon!
xx Lissa