Chapter Five: Mrs Meredith Sloan
Meredith had been in Seattle for almost 2 weeks now. She had mostly hung around her parent's house, Mark had called her every day, he was too busy in New York to join her in Seattle but he was trying to get there to be with her. Meredith had still not told Mark about the pregnancy, she wanted to tell him in person. Morning sickness was starting to really take over Meredith which led to her feeling very crappy in the mornings. She had decided to tell Richard, he was after all a doctor and would have figured it out sooner or later. Both Ellis and Richard were very excited at the prospect of becoming grandparents but Meredith was still unsure of it all. Izzie, Alex, and George had discovered she was in town and she had organised to visit them at the hospital for lunch.
"So, Mer when are you going to tell us all about this mystery husband of yours?" The first thing Izzie had noticed about Meredith was her wedding rings. Of course Meredith had not wanted to tell them about Mark; even though they were her best friends she just wasn't sure how they would take the news.
"Please Izzie, can we not have this conversation again, you might just be able to meet him soon. He is trying to get time off work so he can come for a holiday or something."
"Don't you have to go back to work soon or something?" George had been wondering why Meredith had so easily been able to get time off work and stay for so long.
Meredith had been put on the spot there, she couldn't actually tell them the truth, sure she trusted them but she was working hard enough to salvage what was left of her career as it was. Between being pregnant and losing her job there wasn't a great deal of options left.
"Like I said I have a fair bit of time off work." Meredith really hate lying to her friends but it was the best thing she could come up with for now. She just hoped they would get off her case and soon. At that moment the group was approached by a familiar presence.
"Meredith, I haven't seen you in a while." Derek had been trying to get in touch with Meredith since the day he had run into her outside her mother's hospital room. He had even tried asking Richard and Ellis to help him get in touch with her but they had just advised him to keep his distance from that she had a lot going on right now, he knew they had meant more than Ellis' recent accident.
"Hi Derek, yeah I've just been hanging out at home really, staying quiet." Meredith had actually been avoiding Derek it was only a matter of time before the truth came out about her marriage to Mark, and she really didn't want to be around when it occurred. She knew Derek would be angry.
"We really haven't had a chance to catch up, how would you feel about going to dinner with me tonight?" Derek flashed Meredith that McDreamy smile that used to make her heart melt but seemed to have no effect these days.
Meredith contemplated saying no, but she knew he would only keep on her case until she agreed. "Um okay, pick me up at seven?"
Derek was actually rather surprised that she had agreed, he had been preparing himself to put up a fight. But there was no need at all. "Sounds great, see you then. I have patients to check on so I will see you later."
Once Derek had left Meredith could feel George, Alex, Izzie and Cristina glaring at her. Cristina was the first to speak. "Are you serious Mer, dinner with Derek, what are you two going to talk about, your husband?"
Meredith knew by Cristina's tone that she did not approve of this at all. But it was just dinner, Meredith wasn't exactly thrilled with idea herself but she knew this was the only way that Derek would see the person that Meredith had become; her chance to show him that she had truly changed. "Cris, it is just dinner, and you know why that I'm not going to be telling him the details of my marriage."
"Yeah you won't tell anyone about the details of your marriage, he must be a real loser then." Alex of course was being his blunt self, he didn't care about Meredith's love life he just didn't understand why it was such a big secret.
"He isn't a loser, he just so happens to be one of the best doctor's in the country, he used to be a bit of an ass, but he changed, and that is why I fell in love with him." Meredith had gone into defensive mode. She had gotten used to defending her relationship, particularly to her parents.
"Then why don't you just tell us about him Mer, come on we promise not to say anything, we're your friends, I'm still mad at you that you didn't even tell us you got married and that we didn't get invited but please just tell us about him."
Meredith could feel Cristina's eyes on her, she knew the only way they would stop bugging her about this was if she told them. They might even be surprisingly okay about it.
"Fine, if I tell you who he is you have to promise you won't talk about it here and you won't say anything to anyone, if Derek finds out from someone else I can't even imagine what will happen."
"Why would Derek care?" George was puzzled why this had anything to Derek, he was the reason why Meredith had left 5 years ago and had only just returned.
Meredith looked at her friends nervously; the only way they were going to understand was if she told them the truth. "George, Derek would care because I um, I married his best friend." Meredith looked around at her friend's faces. It seemed they still didn't quite understand what she was saying.
"I am Mrs Meredith Sloan. Now do you get it?"