Chapter Ten
Alex had felt like he was walking on a cloud all morning. The kiss he had shared with Meredith was unlike any he had ever had. It had sent electricity through his entire body, and he craved more. He was looking forward to their date tonight, no longer nervous. He knew now that he had not been imaging the chemistry he had felt between them for so long.
So caught up in the unexpected turn of events was he that he had actually forgotten about Jo. Had forgotten completely until he physically ran into her going around a corner.
"Watch where you're going!" She bellowed at him.
He felt terrible when he realized not just that he had run into her, but that he had actually forgotten about her.
"Jo, I'm so sorry." It was all he could think to say.
"Save it, Dr. Karev. Just get your crap out of my loft!"
She looked at him with venom, and stormed past him. He felt terrible about how their relationship had ended, especially since it appeared that she had done him a huge favor. He loved her, a part of him would always love her. However, he knew there was nothing he could do to make it better, so he shook his head and continued on with his day.
Meredith scrubbed in for what was sure to be a lengthy surgery. As she scrubbed, she glanced repeatedly at the door to the scrub room. Jo had been scheduled to scrub in with her, but she was not returning Meredith's texts. She was almost finished scrubbing in when the door opened and Bailey entered, scowling.
"Grey, you want to tell me why I had to re-arrange my day to scrub in with you on this surgery?" Her voice was tight, and she enunciated every word as she spoke.
"Where's Wilson?" Meredith asked, her voice sounding higher than she had intended.
Bailey began scrubbing. "Doctor Wilson came in to my office today to tell me that my head of General Surgery was impeding her education. And if that wasn't bad enough, she claims that my head of General Surgery also ruined her love life. Refresh my memory, Dr. Grey. Do I like hearing about my resident's love life?"
Meredith stared stone-faced into the operating room. "No."
"That's right, I do not like hearing about my resident's love life. So, can you tell me how you have managed to sidetrack her education and her love life? And why she's demanding to be off your service?"
Meredith closed her eyes and blew out a sigh. She had barely come to terms with the events of the last twenty-four hours herself. How was she to explain it to the Chief of Surgery? "It's…complicated, Dr. Bailey."
Bailey had finished scrubbing in, and the doctors entered the operating room. "Well, at least explain how you're impeding her education!" she demanded.
The doctors took their places at the patient's side. "Ten blade." Meredith began. Once she made the initial incision, she continued. "We were in surgery together yesterday, and we were discussing preparing for the boards."
"Okay…sounds pretty normal so far."
Meredith nodded. "And then she asked me for advice on the placement interviews. Suction, Hellmouth," she ordered the intern.
"Also normal." Bailey observed. Meredith shot her a look. Bailey squinted. "Not normal?"
"She told me she's always seen herself at Mass Gen, and was hoping to interview with them."
Bailey's mouth opened slightly in surprise.
Meredith sighed. "We've been training her for five years. It never occurred to us that we've been training her to leave."
Bailey scrunched up her face behind her surgical mask. "Well, what did you think was going to happen?"
"More suction, Hellmouth. Over there. That's good." She glanced up at Dr. Bailey. "I thought I'd give her the General fellowship. I thought she'd stay in Seattle. We both did."
Bailey finally understood what Meredith was saying. "Wait, both of you…"
"I didn't handle it well when I realized she was planning on leaving."
"Because it meant that he would be leaving, too."
Meredith nodded. "So, I threw her out of the OR for something that wasn't her fault. It was barely even a thing. That's why she said I was impeding her education."
Bailey took a minute to digest this information. "That's not so bad. I'm sure if you two sat down together…" she stopped speaking when Meredith again sent a sharp look her way. She was no longer interested in the drawn out version of events. "Oh, out with it, Grey!"
Meredith spent several minutes focusing intently on the surgery, which Miranda knew was her way of avoiding answering, if only for the moment. Finally, she looked up at Miranda. "After the surgery, Alex and I spoke. He never realized it either- that we were training her to leave. They had never even discussed it. I went home, but they fought. It apparently got pretty bad because they wound up breaking up. That's pretty much it." She decided against telling her that she was going on a date with Alex. She didn't feel Miranda needed that information. Not yet, anyway.
Miranda regarded her Head of General Surgery. What she explained seemed innocuous enough, yet she sensed there was something more. She decided to drop it for now, but she was confident she would soon find out the rest. She was, after all, Dr. Bailey.
Over the course of the next several hours, Meredith found herself replaying their conversation in her bed last night, and the kiss they had shared that morning. The kiss had sent heat to all of her important places and had sent her whole body humming with anticipation. Knowing now that it was Alex about whom she had been dreaming, she couldn't help but compare the dream kiss to the real kiss. While the dream kiss had been passionate, it only left her frustrated. The only frustrating part of the real kiss was that it had been interrupted. She glanced at the clock on the wall and smiled. Only three more hours until their date.
