Hey guys…long time no see. Hehe. I am so sorry for not updating sooner. Life, college, and work got in the way. And I had some major family problems for most of the year and I couldn't find the time nor inspiration to write. But these past two months, inspiration hit me. I'm so glad to see so many of you interested I this story though! It gave me much motivation recently, reading your reviews and seeing you all follow/favorite my story. They truly made my day and pushed me to finish and publish this new chapter (right in the middle of finals season). I'm sorry if I didn't get to respond to your reviews or PM's, I've been so busy but I do read them. Keep them coming they mean so much to me. This chapter got away from me-it was originally going to be just the conference but well, what happened the leading up to it got a mind of its own and so there will be a second part to this. This is like 15 pages long on docs. Enjoy! I promise to hopefully have part 2 up soon. (:

The Conference Part 1

The following day Meredith ran through the halls of the hospital, making her way to the Chief's Office. She had a mission to accomplish and nothing was going to stand in her way. She bumped into someone, but she didn't slow down. As she looked up, she realized she ran straight into Cristina on the bridge.

"Sorry Cristina!" Meredith said as quickly as possible and began to walk towards the Chief's office.

Cristina was confused. "Where are you going Liz?"

Meredith decided to tell a half-truth. "I have a meeting with the Chief, I think something about my contract? Not sure but gotta go, see you later!" Meredith hoped her lie sounded believable but it was hard to lie and get away with it when Cristina was around. That girl knew it all.

Cristina was bewildered. A contract problem? Strange, something seemed up, Cristina thought. Maybe if I wait I'll ask Liz what her meeting is about. So Cristina waited on the bridge, partially spying into the Chief's office on Liz's meeting and to wait for her friend.

Meredith finally reached the Chief's office. She saw his secretary, Patricia, and waved hello. Patricia responded with a, "Hi Liz. The Chief is ready for you. Good luck."

Meredith smiled. "Thanks Patricia." She turned and knocked on the door. When she heard a "come in", she entered the Chief's office.

"Richard." Meredith said, hoping that the Chief realized that this was a Meredith the attending conversation, not a Liz the intern one.

The Chief looked up and smiled. "Meredith. How are you? Settling in well?"

"I'm doing fine Chief," Meredith says. "Got to love all the rain here."

Richard chuckles. "That is quite true, unfortunately. What can I do for you Meredith? This doesn't seem like a social call. It must be important if you are scheduling a last minute appointment on a Thursday to speak with me."

Meredith laughs nervously. "Richard," she began, "I need a favor. The annual East Coast Medical conference is this Saturday. My Mother called me last night to remind me, since I completely forgot about it. I am suppose to be speaking on my most recent research with my mother. Can I have the weekend off to go out there? I'll be back on Monday for sure."

Meredith looked as if she was about to continue her rambling but before she could, the Chief interrupted her. "Say no more Meredith. Of course you can have the time off, it is a huge honor to be able to speak at such a conference."

Meredith breathed a sigh of relief and went to hug the Chief. "Thank you so much Richard! I'm so sorry that it is so last minute."

The Chief chuckled and pulled back from the hug, resting a comforting arm on Meredith's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Good luck Meredith! I can't wait to hear all about it when you come back."

"I will fill you in as soon as I get back Richard," Meredith said walking towards the door. "Thanks again!"

"Anything for you Meredith Grey," the Chief called as Meredith opened the door to leave. Meredith flashed the Chief a smile and disappeared around the corner. Richard couldn't have been more proud of Meredith in this moment, speaking at such a highly regarded conference. Ellis Grey's little girl was all grown up. The Chief smiled in remembrance before getting back to his work.

Meredith left the Chief's office with a smile on her face. She's not surprised the Chief was letting her go he loves her. Meredith felt like she was almost on a surgery high: she got the weekend off and is presenting this week at a major medical conference. Nothing could ruin her mood.

Until she heard Cristina run after her yelling, "Liz! Hey Liz wait up!"

Meredith's smile faltered immediately. She knew Cristina would have questions, questions she couldn't answer truthfully and certainly wasn't prepared to answer at the moment.

So much for sneaking away from Seattle quietly for the weekend.

Cristina spoke first. "What was that about?"

Meredith decided to play dumb for a bit while she tried to come up with a plausible answer. "What was what?"

Cristina rolled her eyes. "What did the Chief want? He never calls interns into his office for an appointment, unless they're in trouble."

Meredith bit her lip. Shit. She knew Cristina wouldn't by the contract thing she said earlier. Well plan B it was. "Well it was for two things technically. There was a slight contract problem but I asked to meet with him for a personal reason as well. "

Cristina looked shocked. "Oh. What-" Cristina started to say before Meredith interrupted her. "What was the personal reason?" Cristina nodded.

Meredith had a slight smirk and proceeded with plan B. "A family emergency came up. My mother has an accident and is in the hospital. So I have to fly out to New York to see her this weekend." Meredith crossed her fingers, praying Cristina would buy it. It was the best reason she could give and was kind of the truth since she was seeing her mom for a sort of hospital related thing.

Cristina's mouth was on the floor. "I-I had no idea. You've never really brought up your family. I'm sorry for you mom though."

Meredith snorted. "Don't be. My mother and I don't have the best relationship but she's my mom. She'll be fine though." Meredith glanced at her watch and realized she had to meet with Bailey to get her assignment. "I got to go. Gotta get my assignment from Bailey and I don't want to be late. God knows what horrible job I'll be stuck with."

Cristina and Meredith both shiver.

Cristina nods. "I'll see you for lunch?"

Meredith smiles. "Definitely." She turns and starts up a light jog to grab her assignment from Bailey for the day.

The rest of the day passes with relative ease and all Meredith wants to do is go home, open a bottle of red wine, and take a bath. But of course, the universe hates her and she bumps into the one person she was trying to avoid: Derek Shepherd.

"Dr. Harrington-Gray," Shepherd says.

"Dr. Shepherd," Meredith replies formally.

He smiles. "So rumor has it that you requested time off. As an intern that is quite unusual."

Meredith swears internally. Of course he found about her conversation. Meredith raises an eyebrow. "I didn't release you were so concerned about me enough to follow my every move." Two can play this game Shepherd.

"I-that's not what it is!" Derek says clearly flustered. "I was curious and didn't want to assume you were in trouble."

Meredith smiles a bit. He cares for her. That's more than her mother has ever done before. "A family emergency came up. I need to go help my mother."

Derek looks confused. "Your mother? Is she okay? You never brought her up befor-"

Meredith cuts him off. This is getting to personal and she knows Derek has his charming ways to get any information from her. "Look. My personal life is mine. I have to go Derek. I'll see you on Monday." And Meredith walks off, although she hears Derek call out, "Bye Elizabeth. I hope all is okay."

And while Meredith heads home to relax, she leaves behind a bewildered Derek who is trying to figure out the puzzle that Liz is.

She woke up with a feeling. A bad one. Meredith knew something was going to go wrong today and she totally did not want to get out of bed.

And once she got up, she knew she should've stayed in bed all day even though she had a flight to catch.

It started with the fire alarm. She accidently set it off while trying to cook eggs and instead she burned them. Meredith spent 20 minutes trying to get the smoke out of her house and getting the fire alarm to shut up.

Next it was the shower. The hot water wasn't working and Meredith had to endure a cold shower, something she did not want to do before her flight today.

Then she couldn't find her curling iron. All Meredith wanted to do was curl her hair a little bit to look presentable for her mom but instead she spent another 10 minutes trying to find it.

It was on her bathroom counter the entire time.

And just when she finally thought she could head to the airport, she not only had to run back inside to grab her passport, but her ID for Seattle Grace and Mass Gen.

Just when she thought it could not get any worse, she gets stuck in traffic on her way to the airport.

"Great, just great" Meredith mumbled to herself. "I better not be late for my flight. My mother will have an absolute fit if I don't show up on time."

She slams down on her horn hard while screaming, "Come on people! Move! Go around! Some people actually have places to be on time!"

Deciding she had enough, Meredith pulled over on the side of the road, thanking whatever higher power there was that she was not in a middle lane. She grabbed her purse and her ID's, got out of the car, and decided to see what the hell was going on.

As she started to approach the scene, she realized this was no small accident. The place was crawling with ambulances and fire trucks for a good reason. There was a semi-truck involved. The semi was flipped over on the side of the road, one car smashed into the nearby guardrail, and another stuck underneath the semi. Meredith began to sprint to the scene, cursing her poor judgment for wearing heels. She was a doctor, maybe she could help.

Meredith turned to the nearest EMT. "What's going on? What happened? Who's injured?"

"Miss," the guy began, "This is a very dangerous scene. The semi could blow on us any second. You need to back away. There's-"

Meredith interrupted him. "I'm a doctor," she says as she accidently flashes her old Mass Gen. ID. "I am a general and a neurosurgeon. I can help. Who's in critical condition?"

The EMT leads her to a young woman who's trapped in the car underneath the truck. It was obvious that the woman had some sort of head trauma and something metal is poking through her abdomen.

"She's in the most critical condition. We were about to pull her out. Do you think it's safe Doctor?"

Meredith walks up to the young woman, her heart going out to her. Meredith observes that the wound through her abdomen is straight through and is not anything attached to the car. She also notices that the head injury seems to be pretty serious and should be stabilized before the woman is cut out. She takes the woman's heartbeat and flashes some light into her eyes. Her pupils are blown. This woman needs a CT immediately and most likely surgery.

"The wound to the abdomen seems stable for now. The metal goes straight through and she's not in danger of bleeding out. What is more concerning though is her head. Her pupils are clown and she has suffered massive blood loss." Meredith takes a deep breathe before continuing. "I would recommended stabilizing her head before cutting her out. After that, have her sent to Seattle Grace. I have rights to operate there and I'll be able to help her out."

The EMT nods. "Thanks you Miss." He turns away and starts barking out orders for the young women.

Meredith can hardly watch as the women is cut out of her car and put on the gurney. Meredith then rushes over to her, climbs in the same ambulance and starts taking her vitals.

A driver hops in. "Go to Seattle Grace. She get the best care."

The driver, who didn't realize someone was in the back, is startled. "But Ma'am, Dillon is closer and she'll be able to—"

"I don't care what's closer! Seattle Grace is the best goddamn hospital around and this woman is going to get the best care possible! I'm a doctor I would know! Now go!" Meredith all but screams at him.

Startled, the man takes off down the highway, putting the sirens on full blast. Meredith sighs. She hopes this girl will be alright.

She also sure as hell hopes no one will recognize at Grace. She looks older and different enough not to be, as Meredith decided to wear make up and her more "fancier and professional clothes", as her mother would call them, that she used to wear in Boston.

But most of all-Meredith should've listened to her feelings and stayed in bed. She knew today was going to go to hell.

So much for making that flight.

As soon as the ambulance began to pull up to Seattle Grace, Meredith noticed doctors waiting outside, ready to help.

"Shit," Meredith thought to herself. "Please don't let it be Bailey or any of my fellow interns."

But Meredith theme of crappy luck continued. Bailey, Alex, Izzie, and George were there.

"Cristina must be on another patient that came in," Meredith whispers to herself. "Hopefully."

As the ambulance stops, the doors open and all four of her fellow doctors help unload the patient. Meredith waits a minute, collects herself, and transforms herself into her old Mass General work demeanor, the always "calm, cool, and collected" Meredith. 'The steely and deadly Grey'.

And with that, she hops out of the truck.

Time seems to slow down as she does.

Bailey takes a double look at her, almost as if she recognizes Meredith, but then shakes her head as if suddenly realizing how ridiculous that would be. George is staring at her openly, with drool ready to come out of his mouth. Alex is in shock, wondering why such a smoking hot lady is in the back of an ambulance.

It's Izzie's comment that makes Meredith smirk.

"She's calm, gorgeous, and dressed as if she's best. Now that's how I want to be."

Meredith realizes that she has to be the first one to get them all moving. "Jane Doe, 20 to 30 years old. She's got a piece of the truck wedged into her abdomen, but the wound isn't bleeding. She's taken some blunt force trauma to the head, her pupils are blown, but nothing stuck in it. She's stabilized at the moment."

With that, everyone seems to snap back into action and begins to push the young women inside.

Bailey was the next one to say something. "Lets go people, get her into Trauma Bay 1!"

"You!" Meredith says as she points at Karev. "Book an OR and then scrub in."

All four of them stare at Meredith in shock.

Izzie begins to stutter. "But-but the trauma bay-"

Bailey is the only one to say something of meaning. "I don't know who you are but you cant come in here and start ordering us around. There's protocol to follow. This woman needs a CT of both her head and her stomach. You can't go in-"

"Blind?" Meredith says finishing her sentence. "Yes I can and I will. This woman needs surgery immediately. She may not even live to be hooked up to a trauma bay and then taken for a CT. I know what I'm doing."

"But you're so young!" George finally says.

Meredith raises an eyebrow. "So? Age doesn't mean anything. I've done this numerous times. But if it pleases you, send in a portal CT to my OR. I'll use it if necessarily."

Alex finally recovers from his shock and says, very rudely, "you need to have special privileges to operate here."

Meredith rolls her eyes. "I already have them. Take it up with Chief Webber if you have a problem."

Alex is confused. "How do you-"

Meredith sighs in impatience. "Look there is a women dying here. We don't have time to waste. Do you want to scrub in or no? Time's ticking."

Alex is speechless. He mutely nods his head and runs to book an OR.

Bailey is stunned. She isn't sure whether to by pissed off by someone taking control in her hospital or do admire this fine young lady. "I'm scrubbing in."

Meredith, once again rolls her eyes. "I don't need you. I can do this myself."

Bailey stares at her and Meredith stares back. "I don't know you. I don't know your skills and until I deem you acceptable to do this on you're own, I'm scrubbing in."

"Fine. But you only help when I say so." Without leaving any room for arguing, Meredith turns to Izzie and George. You two bring our Jane Doe down to the OR. Prep her, get her ready for surgery. You can scrub in as well, but stay back."

With that, Meredith turns her back and begins to walk, with a purpose, down he hallway to find some navy blue scrubs.

"I hope the Chief doesn't kill me," Meredith mumbles to herself.

Well, let the games begin.

As soon as Meredith finds and puts on her navy blue scrubs, she feels much better. She felt like her old self, getting ready for surgery back when she was at Mass Gen.

Although this time, she knew no one, her mother wasn't there, and she was going in blind. Not that was a problem though; she had done it a multitude of times before with injuries pertaining to the abdomen and such.

Not ever with a brain injury.

Meredith specialized in General, not Neuro, even if she had started an unofficial fellowship back at Mass Gen. Yes she had done different types of brain surgeries, but then she had CT or MRI results and knew exactly what procedure she was doing.

Now Meredith was going in blind, performing a craniotomy, to in hopes to save this girls life.

Of course Meredith was nervous. She had no idea what the brain injury even was or the extent of the woman's injuries. And Meredith knew she would need to move fast, as the girl also had an injury to the abdomen, even if it was stabilized.

As Meredith approached the OR board, she saw that she was in OR 4. Meredith took a deep breath and went to go scrub in. As she got to the scrub in room, she saw that Bailey and her interns were also scrubbed in and waiting for her.

"Thank god", Meredith thought. "I couldn't scrub in with them, it could give me away."

Once she entered the OR, she proceeded to head towards the girl's head and the nurses proceeded to put on the headgear used by Neuro surgeons.

Doctor Bailey raised an eyebrow at her. Meredith rolled her eyes. "Yes?" she stated with an edge.

"Why are you not dealing with the injury to her stomach first?" Bailey stated. "The portable CT has yet to arrive and she could be bleeding internally in her stomach."

Meredith rolled her eyes again. "Because Doctor Bailey, her injury to her stomach, although it has something dislodged in it, is doing no harm to the women. I looked her over thoroughly and the object passed straight through. If the object got stuck in her, some of her organs or major arteries could have ruptured and she could be bleeding out and thus I would've made my first cut there. But that is not the case. The more pressing injury that needs to be dealt with is the trauma to brain. Her pupils are blown and she could be bleeding into her brain majorly. I thought you would've known this Doctor Bailey, as you are specializing in General correct?" Meredith watched the look of shock cross Bailey's face and couldn't resist adding, "This is pretty simple stuff that you should already know as what, a 4th or 5th year resident? Perhaps you should consider changing specialties."

Bailey gave her a look of hate and anger but knew she was outmatched. Meredith gave Bailey her 'Grey glare'; she couldn't resist putting Bailey in her place. Meredith knew what she was doing and it was bad enough Bailey couldn't see what Meredith did. She had honestly thought that Bailey was better than that. It disappointed her greatly. Perhaps she'll have to talk to Richard about this, Bailey could benefit from some Grey teachings.

Meredith looked around her OR and was about to give the go head to the nurse to hand her a ten-blade but a thought occurred to her. "Courtney's working today!"

Meredith turned towards George. "You!" She pointed at him. "Go find Nurse Courtney and tell her she's needed in OR 4. Tell her it's an emergency." When George looked ready to protest, she gave him her 'Grey' stare. George ran out of the OR after that.

Meredith sighed. At least Courtney would be here soon to help her.

Meanwhile over in OR 1, Derek was in the middle of surgery, with Courtney was assisting him when George came into the OR.

"Doctor Shepherd," George said quite nervously.

Derek looked up and sighed. "Yes O'Malley, what is it? I'm trying to save a life here."

George responded with, "Nurse Courtney is needed in OR 4. The surgeon has requested her specifically. She said it's an emergency."

Courtney looked shocked. What in hell was Mer doing?! She was supposed to be on her way to New York! Something big must have happened. Courtney put down the tools she was holding and looked at Shepherd before saying, "I'm sorry Doctor. This is an emergency." Courtney turned to another nurse and said, "You! Step up," before rushing out to Meredith's OR.

Derek is stunned. Why did one of his lead nurses run into another surgeons OR? Derek is very much confused. "O'Malley. Find out what is going on and whom she is going help. Report back to me later. I want to know why my best nurse just ran out of my OR" Derek ordered.

George looked Derek before carefully saying, "Doctor Shepherd, this surgeon came in off of the ambulance with a women in a critical condition, with an object lodge through her abdomen and trauma to the head. The women-the surgeon is preparing for a craniotomy now."

Derek was even more shocked. He didn't even have words, never before had he seen this in his entire career as a doctor. When O'Malley didn't move, he said, "Go!"

As George left, Derek thought to himself, "Well time to pay a visit to OR 4 as soon as I'm done."

Back in OR 4, Courtney came rushing into the OR and Meredith looked up and gave her a smile. "Nurse Courtney!" she exclaimed. "Come here, you'll be my main nurse. We are preforming a craniotomy on this young women to see how bad the head trauma is before proceeding to deal with her injury to the abdomen."

Courtney looked at the women and back at Meredith in shock. "Of course doctor." She took a deep breath before hesitantly stating, "You're going in blind, I assume?" She could see that Meredith was a tad bit nervous, but it was only obvious to her, as she knew her friend well.

Meredith put on a bold smile. "Yes. There's no time for a CT and the portable one hasn't arrived. Shall we proceed?" Courtney nodded her head.

Meredith closed her eyes, took a deep breath in and let it out, before opening her eyes and saying, "It's time to save this young women's life. Ten-blade please, Courtney."

As soon as part of the skull was remained and Meredith could see into the brain, she knew that she made the right call. The woman's brain had swelled up and Meredith, from what she could see, could tell that there was also some bleeding.

Meredith took a deep breath. "Suction please." As soon as she was handed the correct instrument, she began to do what she does best: surgery.

Meredith was surprised at how fast she remembered how to deal with this big of a brain bleed and was quite please at how the surgery was advancing for far. It was simple, once part of the skull was removed: suction out the blood very carefully, use small little pieces of surgical cotton to dab up what was missed, and finally stitch back up the ruptured vessel. All in all, Meredith thought she did a pretty decent job. She was about to announce that she was going to leave the skull flap off to allow the swelling to decrease but she never got the chance, as Derek Shepherd burst into her OR.

Meredith sighed and rolled her eyes. Of course something would have to not go her way. She had no time for this.

"Yes?" she snapped at him. "Who are you and why did you just barge into my OR? AS you can clearly see I'm trying to save a life."

Derek looked shocked. AS soon as he ran into the OR, he noticed the women was performing a craniotomy on a woman who clearly also needed abdominal surgery. "I wanted to know why you needed my scrub nurse in your OR when she was in mine?

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I happen to know nurse Courtney as she has previously been one of my scrub nurses in previous OR's. I knew she would be working today and as I only really trust her to be my nurse, I had her come to my OR. AS you can see I most definitely have the need for her more. Besides," Meredith smirked. "I'm sure nay other scrub nurses will do, as you most likely consider yourself a god and are above everyone else."

Derek was dumbfounded. And angry. "Do you eve have rights to operate at this hospital?"

"I do. Go ask Chief Webber and get out of my OR so I can move on to my next surgery!" Meredith all but yelled at him.

Derek was confused. One surgeon doing both a Neuro and a general surgery? It was practically unheard of! Very few people were qualified to do so. SO Derek took a risk and asked, "You're doing both surgeries? A brain and an abdominal one? Are you-"

Meredith rolled her eyes and interrupted him. "Yes I am now leave!"

And with that, Derek ran out of the OR and Meredith was praying he bought everything he told her, even if she stretched out the truth. She wasn't completely double certified yet…

Ignoring the stares she was receiving, she took a deep breath and said, "Alright, lets start on removing this piece of metal from her stomach, shall we? Scalpel please." And with that, she began to remove the object from the young women.

As promised, Bailey kept out of her way, for which Meredith was grateful. She knew what she was doing, she had done it before and Bailey, no matter how good she was, was not taught by Ellis Grey or Meredith herself. She would get in the way.

She could feel the stares of the interns; she knew they were impressed and that they wanted to do something. Too bad. If Bailey wasn't helping then they surely weren't helping.

Just as Meredith was about to finish her repairs on the organs and close up, the machines began to beep, indicating erratic heartbeat and that the blood pressure was dropping. Meredith sighed; she knew this would happen, it almost always does every time she does a surgery similar to this one.

Meredith knew the best thing to do was put the last stitches in place and back away from the young woman, as the vital signs usually stabilize on their own. Bailey, on the other hand, didn't seem to understand what Meredith was doing.

"What are you doing Doctor?" Bailey exclaimed while stepping forward. "Her vital signs are dropping!"

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I can see that Doctor Bailey. As you have clearly never encountered this before," Meredith began with sarcasm infused into her voice, "the vital signs will stabilize on their own. I've done this enough before to know it."

As soon as Meredith finished saying that, the vitals signs did indeed level out on their own.

"See?" Meredith said to bailey? "It's fine."

She turned to face Bailey completely. "Since you seem desperate to help out in someway, you may close. I have somewhere to be."

With that, Meredith strolled out of the OR and into the scrub room. As she was scrubbing out, someone approached her. It was Courtney. Meredith smiled.

Courtney, on the other hand, raised her eyebrow at Meredith. "Its not what you think-" Meredith began to explain before Courtney interrupted her.

"Is it really?" Courtney began. "Because it just so happens to seem that you found a pretty convenient excuse to get out of flying to New York and seeing your mother earlier than necessary."

Meredith rolled her eyes and sighed. "I promise! I was on the way to the airport when I got stuck in traffic. I went to check out what was going on, and well here I am. Before you say it, I know I need to go. And I promise I will get on the next flight out."

"Alright, I'll believe you this once," Courtney responded with a smile. "This was risky though, operating in the same hospital and OR as where you are uncover and your coworkers work? You could've been found out."

Meredith winced. "I know. I accidently showed the paramedics my old Mass General ID at the scene and I couldn't just leave the girl behind to go to a second rate hospital. But thankfully I look like my Boston self, which is way different from Seattle Meredith."

Courtney laughed. "You're right there, I almost didn't recognize you! You look older."

Both girls laughed and proceeded to leave the scrub room. "I know right? I kind of miss this look. I should probably get going before I run into Shepherd again and I really do need to catch the next flight, or my mother will have my head."

Both women hugged briefly. "Best of luck Mer! Ill see you when you get back."

"Thanks Court," Meredith said with a smile.

As both girls turned and walked in different directions, Meredith quickly headed to change in the attending longue, where she left her stuff, so she could avoid confrontations with other coworkers. Meredith knew she'd have to deal with weber, but she really needed to catch a flight.

As soon as Meredith was ready, she quickly left the hospital, left a brief message to Webber explaining what had happened and if he could follow her patient through recovery until she got back, and hailed a cab to the airport.

Although Meredith was anxious to leave the hospital, she was not excited to see her mother. The wicked witch would not be happy with Meredith's late arrival.

Six and half hours later, Meredith was in a cab in New York and heading to the hotel where her and her mother were staying.

Meredith arrived at the hotel and entered in dread. Standing right in the middle of the lobby was Ellis Grey herself, hand crossed over her chest, a stern look in her eyes, and her left foot tapping on the floor.

Meredith approached with trepidation and decided it was better to get the introductions and scolding over with.

"Mother."

"Meredith Elizabeth Grey. Impeccable timing as always: almost a whole day late this time. I wonder what exaggerated excuse you will use this time. Please do regal me with all the details."

Meredith sighed. It was going to be a long weekend.