Meredith's day had been long. She had spent the entire day trying to convince a patient not to sue the hospital after almost botching his wife's surgery. Her first every day in cardio and she almost killed a woman, she sighed. Nurse Tyler peered into the intern's locker room.
"Hey Grey, Chiefs looking for you… nothing urgent but you know, don't keep him waiting" he shrugged.
Meredith looked over at Tyler and let out a forced smile acknowledging what he had just said before turning around to face her locker once again.
"Crap" she muttered under her breath. The hospital had already been in enough trouble today with the chief himself finding an old scrub towel lodged in a patient's chest from a few years ago that was sure to become a lawsuit. To make matters worse she had gotten non-stop phone calls off of her mother the entire day, phone calls she would continue to ignore. Maggie had left an hour before her and had gone home to get ready for Izzie's boyfriends welcome to Seattle party, something that Meredith was less than enthused about. As she stood up she grabbed her handbag from the locker and headed towards the Chief's office. On her way, she noticed the OR board with Shepherd's name printed across it. She smiled for a second before continuing her dreaded walk to the office. Out of all the bad things that had happened today, Derek had been there from the start. He tried his best to make her smile when she was frustrated and he never gave up. It was something that gave her day a small ray of sunshine through the dark black cloud that had enveloped it. The door was open as she approached it and gave a slight knock. Webber's head shot up from his desk and he let out a smile.
"You wanted to see me Chief?" she asked skittishly.
"Meredith.. come on in," he said reassuringly as he pointed her towards the seat where she sat down and soon began twiddling with her thumbs.
"Look, Sir, if this is about today-" Weber soon cut her off as he sat as his desk with his fingers laced together.
"Grey, your shifts ended, hospital matters are talked about during hospital hours. In your case that will be tomorrow afternoon." Webber said sternly. "I called you here to talk about your mother… has she contacted you?" A quizzed look spread across Meredith's face as she looked at the Chief.
"My mother?" she asked, now worried about what came next. Richard sighed.
"Typical Ellis huh?" Meredith smiled awkwardly at him and wondered what he had meant by had she talked to her mother. She and Ellis had more of an acquaintance-esque relationship and Meredith had hoped to keep it that way.
"Well, I thought she would have called you.. or your sister?" Merediths eyes not widened as Richard sat in his chair looking at her. Had Webber been talking to her mother about Maggie? Were they going to have some weird kind of Brady bunch reunion?
"Uh.. no, neither of us have heard anything from her since we moved here," Meredith said bluntly now semi-relaxed as Richards's face turned to confusion.
"Well then, better to tell you now than to let you wait." Richard took in a deep breath. "She's visiting Seattle… I asked her to come and perform a surgery that you interns could learn from." Merediths head cocked forward.
"You what!... she's-" Meredith could only express utter disbelief at her mother coming to Seattle. "W-When will she be here?" Meredith soon asked the Chief to get more answers.
"In the next few days I would hope, I've been trying to get in contact with her assistant to arrange a few things but have had no luck, I was hoping you'd know something?" he asked as he leaned back into his chair.
"She hasn't said a word to my sister and me, but if she does you'll be the first to know," Meredith said as she stood up from the chair. "Is that all?" Richard nodded and soon Meredith left the room now more angry than nervous. She knew from the second her foot pressed on the gas that she was in no way near in the headspace to meet Izzie's boyfriend or go to this party and as soon as her car pulled up on the drive her blood began to boil further. As she stepped out of her car and slammed the door shut she could see nothing but crowds of doctors and nurses crowding the entrance to her house. She was mad and she knew she couldn't get mad at Izzie because she was in surgery, but this was still her party and she was nowhere to be found. When Meredith walked in the door she soon saw Cristina to her left with Maggie. Both women were on cloud nine and had begun stomping there feet on the small coffee table that was centered in the living room. Cristina gestured towards Meredith who was too pissed at everything and she soon dropped everything and went over to Cristina. She grabbed the bottle of tequila from Maggie's hand and gulped it for about ten seconds before handing it back as Cristina cheered and Maggie laughed. "Moms coming to town." She said bluntly. Maggie's eyes dropped as she slid the bottle into her mouth and took a few gulps from it. Cristina cheered again and Maggie passed the bottle back to Meredith as the two girls began to dance with Cristina on the table taking no head to Ellis's impending arrival. The three women began stomping their feet and laughing at their drunken mishaps as Meredith spotted a sheepish George standing in the corner with a bottle of scotch. All three women motioned towards him to join and after much persuasion, he joined sharing his bottle of alcohol.
Once their patient was in recovery, Shepherd had decided to stay and watch him eventually letting the two interns go home. In the locker room, Izzie was grabbing her things and turned to Alex. The two had long made up and were now friendly enough to pass jokes at each other.
"I'm having a party tonight.. for Hank, you should come." Izzie smiled
"So it took a possible hospital lawsuit for you to invite me?" Alex chuckled as he gathered his things. "I think I might pass, I have to do a few things tonight." Izzie rolled her eyes in frustration at this statement and left. Alex in the meantime smiled at the progress he was making with Izzie as he never really had friends back home. On his way out he stopped to talk to Tyler about getting tickets for the game on Saturday which Tyler had boasted about getting but his attention was soon diverted outside to Izzie. She was standing next to a man who was only a few inches taller than her and he could see her expressions turn in a few moments. As he walked outside knowing what probably happened he stood behind Izzie.
"So what's your drink of choice?" he asked with his hands in his pockets as Izzie jumped not knowing that he was there.
"Holy crap Alex" she turned to him and whacked him on his shoulder as he laughed.
"I'm only trying to help, so what is it? Vodka? Gin? Tequila?" he asked with a smile.
Izzie rolled her eyes " you know I have a party to get to right?"
"A party without the guest of honor isn't a party now is it," he said pointing to Hank's car as it drove off and Izzie sighed. Alex shrugged " Joes it is then." Soon he and Izzie were inside the bar laughing and joking something Alex thought Izzie needed after being laid flat by the other guy.
Dr. Charlie Ryker was never a nervous man. He was always raised to be confident from the day he was born. But staring at the house crowded by colleagues and owned by Maggie he was nervous. It had been two weeks since they hooked up at Joes and exactly three hours since they last hooked up. To him Maggie was different. Sure she was younger, but she was intelligent and beautiful to him, she didn't look like an undergraduate student. No. To him, she was a person to be admired. Their relationship had to, of course, be kept a secret, not for his sake, but hers and her respect as an up and coming surgeon. She was only an intern and he was already an established fellow who hadn't much to lose unlike her. So to him walking into the house and rarely acknowledging her stung him a little. As he maneuvered through the crowds of hospital staff at the front door he soon found himself in the hallway where he turned and saw her. She was happy and dancing by her sister who was nursing a bottle of tequila as they both danced on a table. His smile was soon interrupted however by a slap on the back from one of his colleagues.
"Hey man, there's a brewery in the kitchen so help yourself." Charlie smiled as he took a flask from his pocket and shook it at his friend who laughed. Soon their encounter was cut short by shouting in the living room as it seemed two interns had decided to start a fight that had gathered everyone's attention including Charlie and his friends. However, when Maggie stepped in to try to de-escalate things she was met with a 200 pound giant of a man being pushed into her. He was able to catch his footing and shoved the other man back but Maggie being the size she was had flown back and a loud smack was heard across the room.
"MAGGIE!" Meredith shouted as she jumped off the table to her sisters' aid. She had fallen back and whacked her head off the side of the table before falling unconscious. After seeing this, rage-filled Charlies' blood as he pushed through the crowd and tore the interns off each other. He held both men at their chest and stared coldly into their eyes.
"Outside!" he said as he gritted his teeth together. The two men now visibly sobering had realized what they had just done and quickly left. Soon Ryker ran over beside Meredith and pulled a pen torch from his pocket opening up both of her eyes. He sighed a sigh of relief as he saw they were both responsive and that she had probably just been knocked out from the blow.
"How's her pulse?" he asked Meredith with a worried tone.
"Stable" she replied with a sigh of relief before Maggie's eyes soon opened and she sat up.
"Careful, you just hit your head pretty badly," Charlie said to her as he and Meredith helped her get into a chair. Meanwhile, Cristina was ushering people to get out and began to throw popcorn at those who weren't moving fast enough. Meredith took the case off a nearby pillow and held it to her sister's head as it was visibly bleeding.
"We need to get her to the hospital, she's still pretty out of it and this laceration looks pretty deep." She said showing Charlie the deep wound beneath the pillow cover as he nodded.
"I haven't been drinking, I can drive you both." He said reassuringly while looking worried into Maggie's eyes.
"When did I get home" she blurted out, obviously still dazed from the accident. Meredith turned to Charlie and nodded as he picked her up in his arms. He didn't care what anyone saw or thought at this stage, Maggie was visibly hurt and if that meant showing her any kind of care then people could shove it.
"Oooo car trip, can I come," Cristina said enthusiastically as she jumped in the front seat still snacking on the bowl of popcorn as Meredith stared at her confused.
Cristina rolled her eyes "Don't worry, Bambi's inside, I'm sure nothing will get stolen except the dignity from the girl he's with right now."
Charlie sighed as he started up the engine and drove toward the hospital. Meredith had Maggie cradled in her arms as she held the cover to her head and looked at Cristina. "Did you see who she was?" she asked inquisitively.
Cristina rolled her eyes " No but I heard her," she soon turned around to Meredith and offered her some popcorn which she declined. "You know you'd think he'd have some respect to at least put a sock on the door, I mean what's gonna happen when Izzie and McMacho walk through the door?"
"Crap! Izzie." Meredith said realizing that she never left her a note to say what had happened and she left her phone back in the house.
"Don't worry, I told George... somehow, I'm sure he'll pass on the news," Cristina said as she started playing with the windows in the car. A few moments of worrying silence had finally passed and they were at the hospital. In the ER Maggie was lying in the bed as Ryker refused to take his eyes off her. Cristina had gone to wander around the hospital as Meredith went to find Dr. Shepherd for a neuro consult as she believed that the ER staff was incompetent.
"Why are we in the hospital?" Maggie said as she shut her eyes tight from the light.
"You hit your head and passed out, remember?" Charlie said smiling at her.
"When did you get here?" she asked still confused about the accident.
"I drove you here, Meredith's here too, she should be back in a second," Charlie said with a reassuring smile
"So who won the fight?" Maggie said with a smile as she turned to Charlie.
He pushed part of her hair out of her eyes and smiled "I did" before kissing her on the forehead. She smiled and squeezed his free hand. For a moment they were locked in each other's eyes smiling at each other. Eventually, they broke their seal as they heard footsteps approaching and the curtains swung open. Derek stepped forward as Meredith walking behind him.
"How's everyone tonight," he asked cheerfully as he checked Maggie's pupils and general responses before writing in her chart. "Alright, well it is more than likely a concussion, but I'm still going to send her up for a CT to see if there are any cranial bleeds due to the force and then we can get her stitched up." Derek looked over to Meredith and smiled. Dr. Ryker could you kindly escort Dr. Grey here up to an MRI while I go over a few things on Maggie's chart with the other Dr. Grey?" Charlie looked at him confused as to what else they had to go over but soon nodded in agreement as he called over a nurse to help him wheel her up to the MRI room.
"Thank you," Meredith said with a sigh.
Derek smirked, "It's no bother, I understand you want the best when it comes to family, I'm just glad that you finally found out who the best is."
Meredith crossed her arms smiling "You're doing this now?"
Derek shrugged as he skimmed over the chart "I'm only doing what you're provoking , but you know since you woke me from an empty on-call room-"
Meredith laughed " you're unbelievable, you know that?"
Derek smiled "I'm not implying anything Dr. Grey that's all you." The two looked at each other both smiling this time as they walked fast but respectfully to the empty on-call room in the empty hospital. However, this increased noise wasn't left unnoticed as Bailey turned her head around the corner and saw them walk into the room together.
It had been a long day and Richard was finally glad he could leave the hospital. Of course, Adele would be none too glad at the hour he was coming home but he'd hope she'd understand. As he walked down the hallway he spotted a young boy probably a preteen maybe even a teenager staring at the OR board. Richard smiled as he saw the take in all the complicated names of surgeries and decided to go over to him.
"Difficult to understand isn't it?" he chuckled. The boy spun around and looked at Richard who towered over him.
"Oh uh, not really, m-my moms a surgeon I learned all this stuff in kindergarten," he said with a smile covering his face. Richard looked at the boy confused for a moment. He usually met or had seen all of the staff especially the surgical staff's children but not this one. He tried to vision who the dirty blonde teen belonged to but he just couldn't place him.
The boy shrugged "she doesn't work here though, she just came to look for my sisters and left me in the lobby, so I went looking for this thing… they're pretty easy to find yano." Richard was relieved that the boy wasn't waiting on a relative to finish surgery but something about him that had caught Richard.
"And who exactly is your mother?" Richard asked, puzzled by the boy. This was however soon interrupted by the sound of quick approaching feet and a familiar voice.
"William Michael Grey! Have you not learned what sit still means!?" the voice shouted as Richard's eyes widened as soon as he turned and recognized it.
"Guess I'm in trouble now." The boy chuckled as he tried to hide behind Richard. Soon the footsteps came to a halt as the woman came eye to eye with Richard.
"Richard Webber, it's been years…" she said with her voice trailing off. Richard still in disbelief at what he was seeing smiled in shock before responding.
"Ellis Grey… we weren't expecting you for days." He said still in disbelief that the woman he left at the carousel 23 years ago was now standing in front of him. She like him had aged but Richard still couldn't believe that she was here. He needed days to prepare a conversation about her, a conversation about Maggie. But now she was here, and she was here with another child. The boy had soon slid over to his mother who held a firm grip on both of his shoulders. Ellis looked back at Richard, she had grown to not love him anymore, after how he had left her but a part of her still longed to be by his side. It had taken her years to pluck up the courage to finally come to Seattle she hadn't been in the place since she divorced Thatcher and left with Meredith to start and new life in Boston but now she was back…
She struggled to make words and form a sentence but eventually, she was able to blurt something out.
"Can you point me in the direction of the MRI ?" she asked politely as Richard looked at William.
"Is he alright?" he asked puzzled wondering if Ellis had come early because something was wrong with the boy.
Ellis sighed "I was informed by my daughter's half-dressed roommate that she had been injured and was brought here, the nurse told me she was getting an MRI done to check for bleeds, so can you help me?" Ellis didn't have the time to even think about revealing that he was Maggie's father and Richard could see that, he could also see a very stressed old friend who needed help and decided that it may be smart to confront her when the timing was better.
"It's on the second floor, I can walk you there if you'd like?" however Ellis' eyes widened as she soon realized what daughter was getting an MRI and knew she couldn't have Richard there. Having only gotten off a plane and driven to the house to be met by a semi-naked intern, she was exhausted and clearly couldn't think straight. Having Richard on her like a hawk about Maggie wasn't something she needed right now. She knew the man was intelligent and could put two and two together but she couldn't fathom why he hadn't asked Ellis about her in their previous phone call.
She shook her head "No thanks, we can find it, I'm sure you need to get home to your family anyway" Ellis said as she grabbed William by the hand and lead him down towards the elevators. Richard watched as the woman disappeared down the hallway as a feeling of regret soon filled him.
Upstairs Meredith and Derek were getting dressed when there was a knock on the door. The two of them looked at each other with shock written across both of their faces as the person at the other side began to speak.
"Dr. Shepherd, I came to let you know that Grey's results are up and that you should probably check on them. Dr. Grey, I came to tell you to go bring your sister home." Bailey said bluntly as she walked away from the door not impressed. "Crap" the two of them muttered as they threw on their clothes and bolted out the door. When they looked around they couldn't see Bailey anywhere and headed up towards the MRI room.
"Do you think she saw us?" Derek said almost worried.
"Well she wouldn't have knocked now, would she Derek!" Meredith said in a stressed tone as she threw her hair into a ponytail and headed up the elevator.
"I mean I'm her boss, she can't do anything can she?" Derek said as he looked to Meredith who was now visibly sober and visibly worried.
"Derek, she's my boss, she could have me on scut for a year because of this!" she said placing her hands on the back of her head. When the elevator dinged they both jumped out with Derek ahead of Meredith who walked into the radiographers' room first. He stood still at the doorway for a moment as he looked forward.
"Dr. Grey.." he said shocked at the sight of the woman. However, Meredith had yet to see her and thought that he was referring to her.
"It's Dr. Grey now?" Meredith said rolling her eyes as she walked into the room only to be met by the glaring eyes of her mother and a huge smile from her younger brother while Dr. Ryker stood in the corner with Derek skimming over the scans.
"Mom!? What are you doing here?" she said visibly shocked by the woman's presence as she didn't expect her for another few days. However, Meredith's shock was soon broken as she was slightly pushed back by a hug from her younger brother. She pulled him into an embrace before shaking his mop head of hair and looking at him with a smile.
Derek soon rose from the screen and looked at the two women now at opposite ends of the room "Well her MRI shows no signs of a bleed so I'm diagnosing her with a vestibular concussion, she may be dizzy for a few days and even nauseous as you may already know. I'm recommending that she stay away from surgery for at least a week and only observe, but other than that she should be alright, we'll send her back down to the ER where she can get staples given the location of the head lac.
Ellis nodded "Thank you, Dr. Shepherd." Derek nodded back to Ellis as he left the room and smiled at Meredith. There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Dr. Ryker spoke up.
"So do you and Maggie still need a lift home, I can try and find Yang?" Charlie said noticing the awkward tension in the room as Maggie was put into a wheelchair and brought back down to the ER.
"Yeah if you could, that'd be great." She said with a smile as she had her hands tightened around her younger brother's shoulders not knowing what was to come out of Ellis's mouth once Dr. Ryker and the technician left the room.
Ellis looked at her daughter with her arms crossed "what were you thinking, you never think, what am I saying?" she said throwing her arms into the air. "Meredith you're a surgical intern not a member of a frat house! What even was tonight? Because if my time as a surgeon serves me correct you still have work tomorrow! Work with ill individuals who need your brain at full capacity to help them!" Meredith bit her lip unsure if she should respond to her mother as her younger brother copied her actions. Ellis huffed.
"I raised you all to be extraordinary individuals, not idiotic stereotypes, if you want to be a surgeon then I suggest you begin to act like it or you won't have a career by the end of this internship!" Her mothers' words had always hit hard and overtime Meredith had built up a brick wall to them. So naturally, when Ellis began to lecture her she re-lays the foundations of this brick wall because one day she knew she could prove her mother wrong and become something Ellis never expected her to be. Extraordinary.
Ellis sighed and motioned them to leave as the radiographer had other patients scans to complete and they headed towards the ER where Dr. Ryker was standing beside Maggie as she was getting stitches.
"I couldn't find Yang, I'd call her but I don't have her number and I doubt she has her pager," He said with his arms crossed facing the Greys as Maggie realized her mother was now present.
"Mom… Will.. w-when did you both get here?" she said readjusting herself as the final stapled was placed. Ellis placed her hand on Maggie's ankle happy that her daughter was awake and responsive. Although Will was her youngest child Ellis could never shake Maggie growing up, maybe it was because she excelled so rapidly in school and matured so quickly but it was something she could never shake. She has always expected Meredith to mature and make her own choices in life but that took more time than necessary, unlike Maggie. She had the best of her and Richard in her genes and Ellis could see that in every day of her life.
"Your brother and I will be staying at the Archfield for the week, I have worked here so I may see you both on and off but get some rest and I'll call by tomorrow." She said before turning to Meredith. "Take care of your sister and watch her tonight, I don't want anything else happening to you two while I'm in town and next time, pick up your phone when I ring," Ellis stated as she grabbed Will's hand and left the ER into the streets of Seattle. Once she left Meredith erupted into laughter as did Maggie. It was a coping mechanism for the two girls when it came to Ellis.
When Cristina had arrived at the hospital earlier she had no intention of staying by Maggie's side, instead, she went to find Dr. Burke. She knew he had a late shift and wanted to find him. Earlier in the day, he had handed her a cup of coffee, the two of them had grown close since the death of nurse Liz and their bond was now getting stronger. As she was somewhat tipsy Cristina decided to take it upon herself to find him and see if he felt the same way she did. As she wandered through the hospital she saw his name wasn't on the OR board so she soon headed for the on-call rooms. There she found him standing up and stretching. It was quite visible that he had just woken up and was shocked when Cristina entered the room as he didn't expect her to be in the hospital this late.
"I came to thank you for the coffee… earlier." She muttered which was soon followed by his smirk.
"It's no problem, always makes the morning easier anyway." He said to her smiling as she edged closer to him.
His smile was something that had always intrigued Cristina. To her, it brought about a sense of arrogance while also showing his passion for his work. She decided to take the jump and leaned forward to kiss him, but he had beaten her to it. The two of them were now locked in a kiss that seemed like it could never as the two of them leaned back into the lower bunk and let their hands do the talking.
At home, Charlie had helped Maggie up the stairs and into bed as Meredith followed. She had gotten a text off Cristina to say that she had gone home and would take to her tomorrow and hoped that everything was alright with Maggie. Meredith was relieved that at least Cristina was alright and now Maggie was her only problem.
"Thank you," she said to Charlie as he helped Maggie carefully on to her bed and then proceeded to leave as he had work in the morning. Meredith had found it strange on how helpful he had been from driving them to the hospital to accompanying Maggie for the MRI and then driving them back. However, she decided not to think too much about it as she believed it was only the nature of his work that leads him to help them out. As she sat into bed beside Maggie she thought about Derek.. then about her mother… then about Bailey. Oh god, she thought Bailey! The incident had wiped past her mind until now and she would have to face the wrath of the nazi tomorrow. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by someone coming through the front door, obviously drunk. She hopped out of the bed where Maggie was now sleeping and looked down the stairs. Alex and Izzie were laughing as they supported each other heading towards the kitchen and both were too hammered to know how loud they were being. Meredith had wondered where Hank was but was sure she would be told a story in the morning as she hopped back into bed beside her younger sister and watched her until she too fell asleep.
At home, Richard sat into bed beside a sleeping Adele and thought of his encounter with Ellis earlier. He couldn't believe that she had another child with part of him wondering had she gotten back together with Thatcher given the boys' name. He was slightly envious of the fact that Ellis had moved on from him and led this whole other life where she won countless awards and became this world-renowned surgeon. Meanwhile, he had stayed in Seattle where he began his internship and remained until becoming the Chief of Surgery later. As he shut his eyes he wondered what type of life he would have led had he gone with Ellis that day. Meanwhile at the Archfield, after putting her son to bed Ellis watched over him. Every part of the boy resembled his father and she admired that. The man who she had met at the end of her residency in Mass Gen who later stepped up to be a parent to Maggie and Meredith when she couldn't. The only regret she had was that he never lived to see the day his son was born. She had lived in solitude from that day onwards and buried herself deep into work, this, however, had many repercussions mainly her strained relationship with her eldest daughter. However, she had come to Seattle for more than just surgery, and for a woman like Ellis she had a lot of loose ends to tie up.