A/N: So, I know the first few chapters were pretty angsty. I promise that it starts to pick up soon! I'm actually several chapters ahead of this one, although the updates will probably start to slow down from here on out. We'll see. Anyway, read, enjoy, and please...review! This is my first fanfic, so I'd love some feedback!
"I can't believe how many interns there are. Were there this many interns when we started?" Alex asked, annoyingly slamming his lunch tray down on the table so he could sit beside Meredith.
"You're in a lovely mood today," she responded. "What's got you all worked up?"
"Nothing," he huffed. "Just don't like being overrun by incompetent interns."
"I seem to remember you being not the most competent and warm surgical intern last year yourself," Izzie interjected. She had been stewing quietly beside Meredith throughout lunch, devoid of any of her usual bubbles of joy or laughter.
"Yeah, and how many months did I spend with a 'look but don't speak or touch' policy over me?" Alex shot back.
"ENOUGH!" Meredith yelled, far louder than she had intended. She sensed a few conversations and neighboring tables were pausing momentarily before resuming in far more hushed tones, probably with more gossip. "Do we really have to start in with this? Didn't yesterday suck enough for you people?"
"Sorry, Mere," Izzie whispered.
"Yeah, sorry," Alex echoed. He stabbed at the unidentifiable meat heaved onto his tray while his eyes continued to scan the crowded cafeteria scene.
So many interns.
So many naïve interns...
"At least some of them are hot," Alex murmured, his eyes transfixed on one group in particular.
"And which one are you preparing to pounce on now?" Izzie asked, trying to follow his gaze.
Meredith watched the two somewhat amusedly.
"That one. The one with the dark hair. Target number one. I bet I can bag her before the end of the week." He smiled impishly at the girls, proud of his planned conquest before he'd even done anything to conquer his next victim.
Izzie took a long swig through the straw of her Diet Coke, simultaneously disgusted by Alex's womanizing and yet a little impressed by his masculine confidence.
Meredith took a deep breath, staring in the direction where Alex's latest target sat unsuspecting.
"That's my sister," Meredith said nonchalantly.
Izzie's Diet Coke reversed course and started coming out her nose as she nearly choked. She frantically held up a hand to her face to obstruct the mess she was slobbering over herself as she gulped for enough air to say "What???"
"That…is…my…sister. Half-sister. Lexie. Lexie Grey. Of the Thatcher and Susan Grey clan." Meredith was a little amused by her friends' reactions. While Izzie reached for napkins to clean herself up, Alex just stared in bewilderment, slowly turning from Lexie to Meredith and back again so he could try to find some family resemblance. From what he could tell, Meredith and Lexie shared the same body types – average height but slender and curvy in the right places. Both girls had straight hair, although Lexie's seemed to be darker and shorter than Meredith's. He would need to get up closer to do any further analysis, but he doubted that Meredith was just messing with him.
"Have you met her? Do you know her? Is she weird? Should we hate her? Do you hate her? Because we'll hate her for you if you want us to." Suddenly, Izzie was a mass of rambly, but well-meaning incoherence.
"I met her this morning in the locker room, which was…weird…but she is not…weird. At least not yet. And you don't have to hate her for me. Judge for yourselves."
"Does this mean she's off limits?" Alex smirked.
Izzie threw a French fry at him, forcing his grin to broaden as he shrugged at her.
Meredith forced a small laugh back as she imagined her fake brother pining after the sister she had only met hours before. There was some sort of cruel irony about the way her life constantly weaved itself into these tangled webs, but she was too tired to think of the exact analogy she was looking for.
"Alex, do whatever you want. I barely know her. I don't care. Seriously."
"Alright then. The bet is on." Alex declared, not caring that neither Meredith nor Izzie had taken the bet as it was more with himself than anyone else.
"Bet? What bet? I want in on a bet."
All three residents looked up at the sound of a familiar voice hovering over them. Cristina Yang stood there, dressed in scrubs, placing her own pile of inedible cafeteria mush down on their table.
"What's the bet?" Cristina continued.
Meredith, Izzie, and Alex were too shocked by her presence to respond. None of them had expected to see Cristina at the hospital today. Eventually Izzie broke the silence.
"Alex is betting us that he can bag Meredith's sister in a week."
"Geez, Alex, you really are into mommies aren't you. Do you really think that Molly would go for you with a baby at home and a husband in Iraq?" Cristina huffed, somewhat surprised by the ridiculousness of this latest plot.
"No, not Molly. Lexie, the new intern," Izzie corrected.
Cristina's eyes widened in shock as she turned her stare toward Meredith. "Lexie is working here?" Cristina asked.
Meredith stared back, still in disbelief that her friend was sitting 3 feet away from her.
"What are you doing here, Cristina?" Meredith asked, very concerned.
"I work here. And right now, I am eating at this place we come to every day for lunch so we can clog our own arteries on this trash. Now, back to my question…Lexie is working here?" Cristina sounded like her typical dry and sarcastic self, far removed from the sobbing heap she had been the night before. She seemed fine now, but Meredith detected that things weren't quite right yet. How could they be?
"Yes, Lexie is one of the new interns at Seattle Grace," Meredith finally confirmed.
"Did you know about this?" Cristina asked, genuinely curious.
"She found out this morning. They met in the locker room." Izzie interjected, proud that she had the scoop.
"Wow. Seriously?...Wow" was all that Cristina could muster in response.
"No kidding. Crazy, huh?" Alex responded, clearly somewhat amused by the new circumstances and the challenge he had created for himself.
"Well, if you don't mind, Meredith, I'll take that action. Alex, 20 bucks says no way. Greys have better taste." Cristina snickered a little as she watched Alex smile at the dare. "But good luck trying to be a McDreamette."
"Thanks, but I won't need it," Alex said, standing up. He had decided that he was done poking at the heap of food on his plate, and while he didn't have a strategy for catching the eye of the younger Dr. Grey just yet, he doubted any successful strategy would include remaining in his seat with these women. He grabbed his trash and started to head out, making sure his path casually walked by Lexie's table so he could scout the competition.
"I should probably get going, too," Izzie piped up. "I haven't seen George yet today and that seems weird. I'm going to find out if our new chief resident knows anything. I'll catch you later."
"Sure thing," Meredith said, as cheerily as she could. She was relieved that both Izzie and Alex were leaving, sensing that it would make an honest conversation with Cristina much easier.
As soon as Izzie was a safe distance away, Meredith let out a deep sigh that let her stress and sadness flood back to her face. Now that she was with her best friend only, she didn't feel like she needed to maintain any façade of being bright and shiny.
"Meredith, I know what you're doing, and…don't," Cristina said tensely, studying her friend.
"What am I doing?" Meredith asked defensively.
"You're doing this sad, weepy thing, which was fine for last night, not that I'll ever acknowledge that anything like last night ever happened. Come to think about it, I'll even disavow this conversation, but I don't want to be weepy anymore, and when I see you looking weepy, it makes me feel guilty – like maybe I should be weepy – so you need to stop. I don't do weepy."
"Cristina, I'm not doing the weepy thing for you."
"Really? Because you seem awfully weepy today all slouched in your seat, eyes bloodshot, and weepy-like. You weren't left at the church yesterday. This really isn't about you anymore, so spare me the looks."
"Cristina," Meredith interjected, a bit more forcefully this time. She lowered her voice a little as she sensed that it was going to sound weepier than Cristina would tolerate. "I…I broke up with Derek."
"Oh, so this is about you." Cristina sputtered, more than slightly surprised. "There wasn't enough drama yet? What happened? Did his other wife show up? I always suspected he was a polygamist."
Meredith's eyes shot Cristina daggers that told her that she had definitely crossed a line with the comments, making Cristina immediately feel sorry for jabbing her friend.
"Sorry, Mere, my sarcasm defenses are on overdrive today. Seriously. What happened?"
"Yesterday, in the locker room when we were getting ready to go," Meredith started, "he was all McDreamy about how I am the love of his lilfe…"
"Sure. Sounds like as good a reason as any to break up," Cristina interrupted.
"He said I was the love of his life and that he couldn't leave me, but that I leave him a lot, and that I need to put him out of his misery and end this. So I did." Meredith sighed, still feeling tingles run up and down her spine as she recounted the conversation. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, and part of her wondered if anyone else would ever consider her the love of his life.
"Are you for real? McDreamy says you're the love of his life and you end it?" Cristina asked, struggling to comprehend. "Did it ever occur to you that he didn't really want you to end it? That he was just looking for you to affirm his feelings or something?"
"I don't think that was it…" Meredith was feeling a bit defensive now. "I think he was asking me to end it."
"Meredith…" Cristina was a bit exasperated.
Meredith continued to look down at her lunch. She didn't have the confidence to meet Cristina's critical gaze at this moment.
"Are you ever going to forgive him?" Cristina asked.
"Huh? Forgive him? For what?" Meredith asked. The question took her by surprise and forced her to look at her friend.
"For being married to Satan."
"Oh…" Meredith paused. The question seemed silly to her at first. Of course she had forgiven him – he picked her. It took him a while, but he chose her. She couldn't possibly be mad at him about that still, could she?
Cristina studied Meredith's reaction. She could sense that Mere was going to be dismissive of the idea, so she continued, "I know that I am not exactly Shepherd's biggest fan. He really fucked you over, and I'm not sure that I've forgiven him for that, but I think he's trying. I think he wants to make you two work with his 'you're the love of my life' crap and all, but you've gotta let him try. You can't run away from him forever."
"Do you think I run away from him a lot?" Meredith asked, desperate for her friend's insight. It was rare that Cristina offered relationship advice about Derek, and even though Cristina's track record with men was not exactly stellar at the moment, she was the one and only person Meredith trusted in this area.
"Um…yeah. I do. You do that with everyone. You run from scary social situations. It's your dark and twisty way." Cristina said, feeling like she was stating the obvious.
Meredith considered the response. She couldn't help but think of her reaction to Derek's "love of my life" speech.
I can't…Cristina's getting married…
And then this morning, how she literally ran away from Derek on the bridge. Perhaps Cristina had a point. She continued to mull it over.
"So what should I do?" Meredith sighed.
"Un-break up with him? Fuck if I know. I'm obviously not very good at figuring out relationships right now. But I just think…" Cristina paused, her voice softening. "We're not happy people, Mere, you and I. It's not in our nature to be happy. So if something, someone makes us happy, we need to work to keep that."
Meredith looked over at her best friend, tears welling up behind her eyes as she studied Cristina.
"Weepy thing! Enough already!" Cristina snapped, using the comment to fight back her own tears.
Meredith giggled a little. She had never known anyone quite as hardcore as Cristina. As much as Meredith struggled to show her emotions, Cristina had firmly mastered the art of repressing them. She was a rock at the hospital, and there were so few times when Meredith could even remember her wavering. This was clearly not about to be one of them.
"Thanks, Cris," Meredith finally smiled.
Cristina waved her hands in front of her while making a face that immediately warned Meredith not to proceed with any further comments along the strand of this conversation.
"Eat. Work. Whatever…" Cristina finally responded.
The two women continued to eat in a comfortable silence, each pondering their love lives before returning back to work.