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Chapter 9: "Tell it Like it Is"

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Cristina was staring at him and it was really starting to freak him out. "What?" he asked, barely looking up from his charts. It had been two days since Alex had seen Meredith, three since anyone else had seen her.

"I don't care if you're sleeping together."

Alex's head snapped up. "Yang, you're so far off-base," he growled at her.

"So you don't know where she is?" she asked.

"She just saw her father for the first time since she was a kid. Give her a God damned break, would you?" He jumped off the gurney and went to find some place quieter, some place where his fellow interns couldn't bug him.

"I just. I'm her person," Cristina yelled out. Alex stopped. He didn't want to do this here, or now, but part of him felt like he owed it to Meredith. Cristina jogged to catch up with him. "She has no one else. I mean, her mother is off doing whatever it is that she does in another country. Her father is lying somewhere in this hospital on his deathbed, and she's got, like, a family, and everything that she never knew about. I just want to know if she's in a ditch somewhere that I need to dig her out of, or whatever."

It suddenly occurred to Alex that no one else knew that Chief Webber was her dad. It made sense; Meredith hid everything else in her life.

"Yang, she's a tough broad. She's probably fine."

Cristina grabbed Alex's arm roughly. "I need to know that she's fine."

Alex looked around to ensure that they were alone. "She's fine."

Cristina looked utterly relieved. Then her stoic face returned. "You tell anyone about this, I'll kill you," she added before hurrying off.

Alex took out his Blackberry and sent a message to Meredith: "You'd better not be at a baseball game without me." He imagined her opening it and giggling, which gave him motivation to get through another twenty minutes before he was off of work.

After he changed and gathered his things, Alex went in search of Chief Webber. He found him talking to Dr. Shepherd, or rather, trying his best not deck Dr. Shepherd in the jaw. "This is utterly irresponsible. She can't just miss three days of work, during an internship and expect to come back and step back into it! There need to be repercussions!"

Chief Webber stood with his arms crossed and his face hardened. "Dr. Shepherd, this is my hospital. If you have a problem with how I run things, perhaps you should find another hospital."

"She is here to learn, how can she learn if she's not even here!?"

There was entirely too much emotion in his voice. His wife stepped up beside him and grabbed his arm gently. "Derek, her father … you just operated on her father." Alex witnessed the Chief wincing at these words. "You can't honestly expect her to be here!"

"Whatever, if you all want to be so flippant with her career … just don't expect me to let her scrub in on any of my surgeries anytime soon." He walked away, and Alex saw a look of relief in Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd's eyes. She gave an apologetic look to the Chief and followed Derek into the elevator.

"Dr. Karev," Chief Webber said. "My office?" he asked. Alex nodded and followed the Chief. "I suppose you'd like to know how Merry's doing." Alex nodded. "She's fine. I expect her back at work tomorrow. I have a surgery scheduled tonight, but you're more than welcome to go see her if you'd like."

"I don't want to step on any toes-"

"Karev, don't insult me or my daughter by trying to be polite." Though the statement was rather caustic, Chief Webber winked at Alex, which was all Alex needed to know that he was expected at the Webber house as soon as he could get his car there.

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"I was wondering when you were going to come rescue me. I feel like Rapunzel. My car's still at the hospital, you know." Meredith ushered her friend into her father's house. Alex wasn't sure what he should tell her about his days at the hospital without her. So he let her talk. "He's been feeding me junk food. It's like he feels guilty for all the junk food he never let me have when I was a teenager." Meredith disappeared upstairs and reappeared with a bag. "Are you ready?"

"Are we running away?" Alex asked.

"I am! Take me out of this house! Dad doesn't even have cable!"

A laugh bubbled up from Alex's stomach. "Come on, Grey, let's go." Meredith squealed and jumped up to hug Alex. She ran out to his truck, nearly forgetting to lock the door behind her.

"He made me suture bananas and chickens all day." Meredith changed the radio station. She reminded Alex of a teenager who was enjoying her first moments of freedom after being grounded for weeks. "That's what I get for saying I needed to cut something open. Bananas and chickens." For the first time, it Alex realized that the reason was a great surgeon Meredith might be because of her step-dad and not because of her mother.

"Yeah, well, things weren't all roses with you gone from the hospital." She nodded, as if she already knew that. "I mean, Yang's a mess. Izzie's treating me like I took you out into the desert and dumped your body there. And George, yah, well, he's on his rag." Meredith fell over in a fit of giggles. Alex liked that Meredith thought he was funny. It was rare that anyone found him amusing in a good way.

"Have you seen him?" she asked, becoming suddenly sober.

It took him half of a moment to figure out what she was talking about. "He'll be okay. Shepherd operated on him. His … are you sure you want to hear this?" he asked as he sent a glance her way.

"I guess … I should probably know before I go in tomorrow. Don't you think?"

Alex nodded. "When we get out of the car, we're done talking about it." Then, "Is that cool?" Meredith smiled in agreement. "His wife is fine. Minor scrapes and bruises. Their daughter," he paused to see if that elicited a response from Meredith. When she said nothing, he continued, "is going to be okay. She was in ICU for blood loss for a day or two. And her baby was premature, but it's okay. In an incubator."

"Does his daughter … do I look like I'm part of their family?"

"His daughter doesn't hold a candle to you, Grey."

"Thank you, Alex."

"You're not going to get all sentimental and crap on me, are you?"

Meredith guffawed and hit Alex softly on the arm. "No. I've been to a baseball game. There's no crying in baseball."

"That's my girl." Alex sent a reassuring look at his friend and the two rode the rest of the way home in silence.