Carolyn Maloney Shepherd opened Camp Grace a couple years after the death of her husband, Christopher. Her son had been 15 at the time and her youngest daughter had been 7. She created the program for children of deceased parents, divorce, incarceration, and the foster system. She wanted them to know that they were not alone, and having attended summer camp as a young girl she thought it was the perfect way to develop that community. Sixteen years later, the summer camp in the mountains of New York had become a sought after destination by single parents and social workers.
The day of staff arrivals was always one of Carolyn's favorites. It had a quiet and peaceful start, but ended with the energy and enthusiasm that typified summer camp. She sat in the rocking chair on the porch of her family cabin early that morning with a shawl lazily draped over her shoulders, a cup of English breakfast tea, and a crossword puzzle. She spent a solid hour relaxing while listening to the music of the black-throated blue warblers that shared her summer home.
Carolyn spent the better part of her morning taking a walk around the lake, excited for what was to come. The returning staff were always thrilled to see each other and excited to get to work. The new staff arrived with stars in their eyes and the brightest smiles Carolyn had ever seen. She had a particularly soft spot for the counselors who had been her campers. Watching them grow in confidence and joy and learn to let people love them and then going on to share that impact with other youth was the best reward Carolyn could think of for the work she'd put in renovating the old campgrounds and developing the program.
This arrival day was the most exciting she'd experienced in a long time. Carolyn was sixty years old and had decided this would be her last summer as director of Camp Grace. She had convinced her son to come and work with her this year in the hopes that he would agree to take over. Derek hadn't been to camp in 12 years and she was beyond thrilled to spend the summer with him.
Carolyn always told her staff to arrive after lunch but in time for dinner. The dinner was optional, but she strongly encouraged it as a way for staff to get to know each other before they got started with staff training week on Sunday morning. She cleaned up her dishes from lunch and made her way over to the main lodge. As soon as she got there she chuckled at the sight of a familiar black SUV pulling into the parking lot at exactly 1 PM. She knew without seeing them who was in the car.
Carolyn walked towards the car with her clipboard and folders in hand and smiled while she watched the crew of fifth-year counselors filing out of the car.
Jackson Avery emerged first, leaving the vehicle running and leading them to meet Carolyn half-way. Jackson always rose to whatever the occasion was and she could go to him for just about anything. She typically faced a shortage of male counselors so he'd been a senior counselor since the age of 19, a rare exception as she typically required them to be 21 or older, but he had the respect of his peers and could keep the others in line.
Getting out of the seat behind Jackson was Alex Karev, finishing what Carolyn guessed was his second or third cheeseburger of the day. He was pulling a large black backpack out from the back seat. Alex looked as though he had just woken up and Carolyn couldn't help but chuckle at the contrast between two of her most responsible counselors.
Cristina Yang emerged from the other side of the back seat with her dark, curly locks tied up into a messy bun on the top of her head and a pair of oversized sunglasses covering her face. She slammed the door shut and didn't seem to care when she was chastised by Jackson for her actions. Cristina had originally arrived as a camper with no desire to be there at all and had since turned into someone who thrived in the camp environment. She always did what was asked of her, although not without complaining, and was the best archery shot Carolyn had seen since opening the camp. She would have blended right in with her campers as she stood in her oversized forest green Camp Grace t-shirt that covered half of her shorts, ignoring any words that Jackson might have been directing towards her while sipping from her grey Nalgene bottle.
Meredith Grey stood beside Cristina, holding a large cup of iced coffee from the shop in town with her eyes hidden by a pair of sunglasses that matched her friend's. She claimed she wasn't the best camp counselor, but she had an innate ability to connect with her campers. Watching Meredith laugh at something Alex said brought Carolyn back to her memories of the eighteen year old junior counselor who, when interviewing for the job, had honestly admitted that she had only applied because Jackson Avery had told her she would be good at it, and Jackson Avery was usually right.
Carolyn was harder on Meredith and Cristina than she was on most of her staff, but she had to admit to herself they were among her favorite counselors. She would never acknowledge it to the others though, as they weren't exactly role models. The four that had just spilled out of Jackson's car had been the cliquiest group of campers, and subsequently counselors, that she had ever worked with. She'd been called in for damage control for issues surrounding Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, and Alex Karev fairly regularly when they were younger, but something had possessed her to take a chance on them, and she was glad she had.
Carolyn met them halfway and greeted Jackson with a hug. The other three stood, as usual, a couple of feet behind him.
"So we're just going to camp out in Cabin 10, that cool?" Jackson asked with a knowing smile.
Carolyn gave Jackson a look that he knew well. The look that said she was going to tell him what to do but didn't give a damn what he actually did as long as she didn't find out about it. They'd all been very clear that this was their last summer, and she was certain they had a few shenanigans up their sleeves, but as long as they at least tried to hide their discretions Carolyn knew she'd turn a blind eye.
"Meredith," Carolyn spoke, waiting until Meredith removed her sunglasses to confirm she had her attention. "Cabin 4. Cristina, 5. Alex, 6. Jackson, 8."
"Yes ma'am." They said in unison. Jackson nodded and took the stack of folders from Carolyn.
"Cristina, you're with Izzie, and Meredith, you're with April. Be nice." Carolyn commanded sternly as they headed back towards the car.
Meredith and Cristina shared a look and groaned. Carolyn felt solid in her choice but was glad she'd had a chance to give them a heads up about who their co-counselors would be. Meredith and Cristina were both wonderful, but they each needed to be paired with someone a little more type A to balance out their laissez-faire attitudes.
Carolyn always moved them right into their cabins for the summer during training week so they could bond with their co-counselors, but she knew this group never did. She watched as Jackson's SUV pulled out of its parking spot and drove down the trail towards the boys' cabins.
Jackson drove his car up as close to the cabins as he could get and they moved the majority of their belongings into their assigned cabins, claiming their preferred bunk space, before settling into Cabin 8. Jackson's cabin was usually the one they chose to crash in for training week because no one hated Jackson. It was always pretty easy for him to sweet-talk his co-counselor into finding another place to sleep for the week.
The two counselor beds lived against the wall closest to the door and the rest of the cabin was a long building with five sets of bunk beds along one wall and some storage space along the other. Meredith and Cristina came bounding in with full-size duffel bags and set-up camp in the two bunks furthest from the door, causing Alex and Jackson to wonder what in the world they'd unpacked in their own cabins.
They hung out in the cabin for a while, the girls unpacking onto the empty top bunks and the guys chilling on the porch. Jackson made arrangements with Tyler, the counselor next door, for his co-counselors to stay there for the week before scrawling a note to whomever would be joining him.
They still had a few hours before dinner, so the four friends headed down to the lake. Early June in the mountains was still somewhat chilly, so they just sat on the dock catching up to kill time.
"The water's probably not that bad, right?" Meredith asked after a while and reached her hand down into the water.
Jackson laughed. "Let's find out!" he said, stripping down to his boxers and jumping into the lake.
"Holy shit! That's cold!" he exclaimed, swimming back over to the dock and pulling himself up only seconds later.
"It's the first week of June. What did you expect?" Cristina scoffed.
Jackson shot Cristina a look and Alex smirked. "I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Oh yeah?" Jackson asked. He didn't hesitate for a second before pushing Alex into the water fully-clothed and jumping back in after him.
"Jackson Avery!"
The four of them froze at the sound of Miranda Bailey's voice ringing out from the shore. Their assistant camp director was quite possibly the most intimidating human being that any of them had ever met.
"Hi Mandy!" Alex grinned as he hoisted himself up out of the water with Jackson not far behind him.
"Do you all have a lifeguard on duty?" she asked as she walked out onto the dock, clipboard in hand.
"We have two." Cristina spoke calmly. "They're both idiots but last I checked they had their guard certs."
Meredith bit her lower lip to keep from laughing and Miranda rolled her eyes.
"Just try not to drown yourselves before the children get here." she reprimanded. "And Alex, dinner's in half an hour. I'd suggest you go change. And you, Jackson…" Miranda trailed off and shook her head. "Go find yourself some damn clothes."
The foursome held in their laughter until Miranda was out of sight and then they absolutely lost it. Alex pushed Jackson back into the lake before heading off of the dock after Meredith and Cristina.
When they arrived at the dining hall, Miranda made them each pause at the doorway so she could take a polaroid photo of them for the staff wall. Jackson snickered at Alex's wet hair and flashed his million watt smile for the camera. Alex followed and the two bickered like brothers while Meredith and Cristina pushed past them into the line to get their food.
When they emerged with their plates, Arizona, one of their former counselors, called to them from the table closest to the kitchen door.
"Meredith! Cristina! Come join us!"
Meredith and Cristina looked over to see that the peppy blonde woman was sitting by April Kepner and Sydney Heron. Meredith and Cristina exchanged a look before going over to say hi.
"We promised Jackson and Alex we'd sit with them." Meredith told Arizona. "But we should definitely catch up later!"
Arizona smiled and nodded. She had been the pair's cabin counselor so she knew how fruitless her effort would be, but her optimism wouldn't let her stop trying.
"Okay. This is Lucy, Stephanie, and Penny, by the way." Arizona introduced the three girls at the table that they didn't know. "Girls, this is Meredith and Cristina. They've been around this place almost as long as I have, so if you have any questions they're a great resource!"
Meredith stepped on Cristina's foot before she could say anything rude and gave the table a sickeningly sweet smile. "It's so nice to meet you all." she said. "I'm sure we'll get a chance to talk at some point this week!"
Then she grabbed Cristina by the elbow and guided her to an empty table in the opposite corner of the room. Jackson and Alex soon joined them.
"Does that guy look familiar to anyone else?" Alex asked, motioning to the table next to them. "The redhead?"
Meredith looked over to the man Alex was talking about and shrugged. "Not to me." she said. The man was at least a few years older than we were, if not in his early thirties.
"Dude! I think that's Owen!" Jackson told them. "He was our cabin counselor our first year at camp." he mentioned to Meredith and Cristina.
Jackson and Alex got up to go say hi to their former counselor, leaving Meredith and Cristina alone surrounded by tables of six to eight when Carolyn walked in halfway through the meal.
"Forget Owen." Cristina muttered to Meredith. "Who's that with Carolyn?"
Carolyn greeted each of her staff upon arrival, so her walking into the dining hall typically didn't garner a lot of attention. Tonight, however, there was an unfamiliar, overdressed man by her side, which pulled the attention of the majority of the counselors in the room and had caused a low buzz of chatter throughout the room.
Meredith looked up from her food and froze. The man standing next to Carolyn in a deep blue button-down and grey slacks was the man from Friday morning.
"Mer?" Cristina asked, turning back to her. "Why do you look shocked? What do you know?"
Meredith picked up her water bottle and took a few sips to buy some time. "That's my Thursday night." she finally confessed.
Jackson slid back into his seat next to Meredith and whispered quietly so that only their table could hear. "Mer, is that the guy I left you with the other night?"
Meredith nodded.
"Well, according to Owen, he's also Carolyn's son." Alex commented, leaning in closer to them.
Meredith peeled her eyes from Derek to look at Alex. "You're kidding, right?"
Alex tilted his head pointedly towards where Derek and Carolyn stood. Owen and another man from his table were approaching them and Derek greeted them each with a hug.
She couldn't tear her eyes away as he chatted amicably with the two other men and Carolyn stood close with a huge grin on her face. When Owen and his friend started to walk back to their own table, Derek's eyes scanned the room and eventually locked with Meredith's.
"Fuck." she spoke softly and looked back down at the food she definitely wouldn't be finishing.
Thanks to Jasmine, nerdydisaster, and Patsy for your reviews on the first chapter of my crazy idea! Don't worry - this is definitely a MerDer fic! The next chapter will bring us into Derek's POV. For those of you also reading The Long Game, don't worry! I have an update drafted for that as well, likely to go live this weekend.
I won't be using camp names in this fic because I don't want to make it even more complicated, but I'd love to hear what you all think our favorite characters camp names would be! I have a strong belief that Arizona's camp name is Arizona and no one believes her when she tries to tell them it's actually her real name.
xx Lissa