Chapter 3: Notes
"You can come in if you want?" Addison said as they rounded the corner onto their street. She had done great. They had done great and they deserved to celebrate.
"Sure, I'd love to." Meredith grinned.
Addison smiled back until she looked at the second car in her driveway. Meredith turned to look at it as well.
"You expecting someone?" Meredith asked.
"I wasn't." Addison frowned.
"Addison, stop frowning like that. It looks like Dr. Bennett and a teenager?" Meredith chuckled.
Addison parked and made her way out grabbing the food from the backseat. Meredith followed suit and walked around the car to stand next to her. Naomi walked over to them with the teenage girl following behind, carrying a large box of pizza.
"Maya!" Addison smiled at the girl who smiled right back.
"Addison! I'm so happy you're back. You remember about the 'you know'?" Maya lowered her voice a bit and she chuckled recalling their last conversation before she went to Seattle about the boy she was crushing on.
"Any big news?" Addison asked and Maya nodded excitedly.
"Also we brought pizza from the place you like." Maya said lifting the box a bit with a smile that fell as she noticed the bag of take-out. "Unless you have food already." She added in a sad tone.
"Oh Maya, I…" Addison began, feeling guilty.
"Addison, thanks. I can carry my own food, you know?" Meredith took the bag of food, swooping in as her savior.
"That's yours? All of it?" Naomi asked clearly not catching on.
"Yes. All of it, Dr. Bennett." Meredith's cheery tone went away suddenly but it returned once she looked back at Maya. "She thinks just because she was my boss in Seattle she still needs to take care of me." She rolled her eyes playfully.
"I was just being polite." Addison groaned playing along.
"That Thai place is good too. Right mom?" Maya said with a smile and Naomi nodded. "I'm Maya." She said happily.
"I'm Meredith. It's so very nice to meet you Maya." Meredith grinned.
"You do have a lot of food. But you could eat some pizza as well and maybe leave that for tomorrow." Maya offered.
"It's very tempting but maybe another time. I need to call a friend, who's been blowing up my phone for the past hour." Meredith said with a slight chuckle.
"Cristina?" Addison guessed.
"Cristina." Meredith sighed.
"I can save a slice?" Maya said.
"Yeah. You go ahead and save me a slice and tomorrow Addison can give it to me." Meredith smiled.
"I can do that." Addison chirped and Meredith looked at her with her smile.
"You have pretty eyes." Maya said, tilting her head with a smile.
"Right?" Addison agreed and smirked as the statement sent a blush crawling up Meredith's features. The blonde gave her a playful glare and then turned back to Maya.
"You have a beautiful smile. Don't ever let it fade." Meredith smiled sweetly and Addison felt a thump in her chest at that. "Anyway, you should all go enjoy your pizza." She grinned.
"Right. Maya there's something for you in the living room. Why don't you go in?" Addison smiled at the teen. "Nae, here, take the keys I need to talk to Meredith. I'll be in soon." She said handing the keys to Naomi, who looked a bit confused but took them and left anyway.
"Meredith uh have a nice night." She said sheepishly.
"You too Dr. Bennett." Meredith simply said and turned to Addison.
"You really don't like her." Addison said when Naomi went to unlock the door and slipped inside with Maya.
"I guess I don't." Meredith shrugged.
"She's not bad." Addison shook her head with a small smile.
"She's… I don't know." Meredith shrugged again.
"Are you the jealous type, Meredith?" Addison asked, overly amused by her attitude.
"No." Meredith said with a frown.
"You sure?" She continued to tease, wiggling her brows.
"I know what you're doing." Meredith rolled her eyes.
"You're no fun." Addison said with a pout.
"Whatever. I had fun today." Meredith said changing the subject.
"Good. Thanks for tagging along." Addison smiled.
"I was happy to. Besides, I really would've died of boredom here." Meredith admitted.
"I know." Addison smirked.
"I still don't see why you decided to become a practice medicine doctor." Meredith frowned a bit.
"I'm trying to discover some magic. By the way, thanks for covering for me with Maya." Addison smiled, placing a hand on Meredith's shoulder.
"Not a problem." She said leaning into her touch.
They were quiet a while, looking at each other. Suddenly, Meredith jumped and Addison flinched back, retrieving her hand.
"Damned Cristina." Meredith rolled her eyes grabbing her phone from her back pocket.
"You should go talk to your person." Addison chuckled and then leaned in. "Tell her of all of your adventures with Satan." She husked and smirked as she saw the effect she had had on the now shivering blonde.
"Goodnight, Addison." Meredith managed to recover. "I'll save your food." She added before turning.
"Meredith?" Addison called as she was turning.
"Hmm?" Meredith looked back at her.
"Thanks for today. Really, I needed someone. Thanks for being there." Addison smiled gently.
"Any time, Addison." Meredith smiled back.
"Have a good night, Grey." Addison waved and making her way inside once Meredith nodded and waved back.
"Nite!"
Meredith made her way inside with the bag of Thai takeout and chuckled a bit. At least she'd eat well tonight. Still she would save some for Addison, she knew how much the redhead had been craving this. Again her phone started vibrating and exasperated she picked up without looking at the caller ID.
"Cristina Yang, I swear to god if you don't leave me alone I'll come back only to choke you and dig your eyes out." Meredith huffed.
"Such violence." An amused voice replied.
"Addison?" Meredith choked out.
"Maya wanted me to tell you we already saved the pizza." Addison chuckled on the other side of the line.
"Really? You could've texted me." Meredith rolled her eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me." She could hear the smirk in her tone. "Also," She said in a softer voice. "Do not eat all of the curry puffs, I want some. And leave me some unagi don, I really wanted to try it."
"Go eat your pizza, Montgomery." Meredith said.
"Addison, Meredith. Addison." She corrected.
""Fine. I'll save some food, Addison." Meredith sighed and chuckled lightly.
"Thanks." She heard her chirp on the other side. "Gotta go. Bye." And with that the line clicked off.
Meredith made her way to her kitchen window and caught a glance of Addison wrapping Maya in a hug. She wished Addison was hugging her instead of the girl. Was she really jealous of a young girl? She shook her head and pulled out the food before reaching for her phone to call Cristina.
The food was delicious but she wasn't sure if that was because it actually was or if it was because she was starving. Either way it was hitting the spot. As she continued to dig in she called Cristina, who had threatened to tell the universe about her secret crush if she didn't call back.
"Finally." Cristina exclaimed on the other side of the line.
"You are insufferable. I had to assist on a C. Why couldn't you just be patient?" Meredith asked, shaking her head.
"You assisted on a C? So you assisted Satan." She could hear the smug smirk in her tone and rolled her eyes.
"Yes. It's whatever, Cristina." She said as she plopped a curry puff in her mouth.
"It's not whatever though. You've had the biggest crush in Montgomery and now she's your neighbor. Who would have thought?" Cristina chuckled.
"I do not have a crush…" She began to defend.
"Yes you do." Cristina interjected. "So? Is she being nice? I mean you helped her in surgery so I'd say things are going well." Cristina mused. "C'mon Mer. How's she been to you?" She asked.
"She's been fine." She replied and heard her friend groan. "Fine. She's been nice and pretty amazing and kinda…" She stopped herself before she continued.
"Kinda what?" Cristina pushed.
"Kinda nice." She said quickly.
"You already said that. Tell me. I demand details." Cristina urged.
"You are in no position to demand anything." She huffed.
"So there is something else. What? Was she a bitch?" Cristina asked.
"No." She replied.
"Mer…" Cristina whined. "Give me something, I beg you."
"Cristina it's nothing." She said but she knew ultimately Cristina was going to know, because she was Cristina and she was her person. "Ok so she was... a bit flirty." She finally admitted and heard her friend gasp.
"A bit?" Cristina continued.
"Well, a lot. But she's just playing around. It meant nothing." She explained though in the back of her head she wondered.
"Why don't you try to flirt back?" Cristina suggested.
"Because I'll make a fool out of myself. It's like I'm a damn mess every time she gets like that. I can't compete." She let out before she could check herself.
"You are Meredith Grey. What do you mean you can't compete?" Cristina asked with a chuckle.
"I don't know I just... I just..." She tried and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Just try. Or don't and tell me how far she goes. Maybe she has a crush on you and you just don't want to see it. You've always been way too oblivious. Or you know what's happening but refuse to accept it." Cristina said with a chuckle at the end.
"I'm not…" She began.
"C'mon Mer. Just go with the wind. I mean there's no obstacles over there. No McDreamy or McSteamy or Evil Spawn." Cristina said.
"I don't even know if she likes girls." She said back in a sad tone.
"Oh Mer, she does like girls. Trust me." Cristina replied.
"How do you know?" She asked unconvinced.
"My gaydar is never wrong." She could feel her shrugging on the other side of the line.
"Hmm." She hummed in response and then heard a pager in the background. "You have to go." She said.
"Yeah. But talk tomorrow. I need to have my daily venting section. Izzie is too busy moping around with George and so is Evil Spawn with Ava." She could see her rolling her eyes.
"Ok. Then call me tomorrow and you can vent to your heart's content." She chuckled.
"Sounds like a plan. Bye Mer. Miss me, I won't miss you." Cristina called out and clicked off the line before she could reply.
"Such an idiot." Meredith said to herself as she continued to eat her dinner.
She thought about Cristina's words and recalled Addison's own words. 'I wouldn't call myself straight.' She had been joking around before that but the look in her eyes told her that she was being serious. Still though she didn't dare hope. Hope was a bad thing. Hope made you see things that weren't there. Hope could make or break your heart and she didn't need that right now. She was curious though. She wondered if Addison would keep up with her flirting or if she would stop.
She glanced over the kitchen window and frowned as she found Naomi looking over at her. She threw her a withering look but waved with a fake smile, which was replaced by a real one once Addison came into view and waved at her. Meredith waved and decided to go up before she could embarrass herself with the idiotic smile that she knew was adorning her face. She didn't mind Addison seeing it but Naomi and her judgement stare was annoying her.
Clearing everything up and putting away the leftovers she glanced once more out the window to find it empty. She had wanted to see Addison once more. She sighed and made her way upstairs. It had been a crazy day, full of new found emotions (not really new found but she kept telling herself that) and flirtatious interactions and she needed rest.
The next morning she surprisingly woke up around 9:30 am. The ocean breeze making the curtains flow and the sounds of the crashing waves reminded her of where she was. It was a nice way to wake up though in all honesty she missed the rain from Seattle. Storms still freaked her out on occasion but she still missed it.
Not wanting to get out of bed yet she reached for her PDA to check on any emails. The first one was from one Charlotte King, Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose. She sat up with a jolt clicking on it and reading through it.
"Dammit! Ok I have an hour and a half. I can make it." Meredith said to herself.
The email requested her to come by the hospital today at noon to grab all of her things, badge, parking pass, and key cards. Also she was to start in the afternoon shift because a resident had gone on leave and they were now short staffed.
Meredith showered quickly and got dressed trying to look as presentable as she could. She went down the stairs to grab something quick to eat when she found a box of pizza on the counter with a note on top. She recognized the box and frowned as she took the note and read it.
Morning Idiot,
What the hell are you thinking leaving your door unlocked like that? Anyone could walk in on you while you sleep. They could kidnap you and then I'd have no friendly neighbor. Anyway there's three slices there. Don't eat them cold. Thanks for leaving me curry puffs and the unagi. I'll be taking that for lunch. I'd take you with me but I hear you snoring so loud I guess you need sleep, so I'll let you.
Bye fake girlfriend, lock the damn door. - A.M.
Meredith read and re-read the note and chuckled. She opened the pizza box, took a slice, and stuck her tongue out towards Addison's house before eating it. The pizza was great, even if it was cold. Once she was done she grabbed pen and paper so she could write a note to take it over to Addison's. She kept chuckling to herself as she noticed the redhead had put all of the lounge chairs as well as the grill in front of her door. She was out the door soon after locking the sliding door as she had been told, feeling happy and warm at the thought of Addison being so worried she built a small barricade to keep her safe.
Addison walked into her house feeling so not magical. Yes she didn't have to deal with Derek or Mark, or Alex but everything was so boring at work. She hadn't been able to bring Meredith along either, though she supposed she'd have to get used to that. Besides it was only one day she couldn't let herself become so attached.
Still, she wanted to see her. Just to make sure she was still safe. She peeked out her kitchen window and saw the house looking empty. She supposed Meredith had gone out, most likely enjoying her freedom before she had to dive into work. Addison sat on her couch and caught a glance of a paper taped onto her door waving with the wind. She stood and went to retrieve it. She unfolded it and read it with a growing smile.
First of all I'm not an idiot. I only forget things sometimes. You know you could've texted. Do you not like to text? Whatever, I got called into work so I couldn't thank you personally. So, thanks for the pizza it was great, even cold. Also thank you for not kidnapping me and for the amazing defense system. And I don't snore that loud.
Bye not girlfriend, lock your door too. - M.G.
Addison giggled to herself as she read the note and walked back inside. She rather enjoyed having Meredith as a neighbor. She was a bit sad she wouldn't see her tonight but still she supposed there was a bit of magic here so she'd roll with it as long as she could.
And then there were 3! Guess we got some time for this story. It's definitely fun to write and sorta different from my usual stuff so keep on letting me know what you think about it. Anyway stay awesome. Until next time. ;)
