Meredith walked down the hallway, scanning for Miranda.
"Of course finding her isn't going to be easy." Meredith muttered to herself, "She'll be in the last place I look. Maybe I should stop looking. Maybe I should let her find me."
"Grey." Miranda said as she exited a patient's room which Meredith just walked by.
Meredith stopped and turned around.
Miranda nodded, "Yeah, I thought I heard you talking to yourself. Follow me."
Miranda led the way down the hall, Meredith trailing behind her. Every now and then a pain would shoot through Meredith's knee, reminding her of the fall that made her knee hurt in the first place. Miranda stopped outside a closed door and Meredith ran into her before she could stop herself. Miranda spun around quickly.
"Watch yourself, Grey." Miranda warned and cleared her throat, "Now, you will be looking after Jeffery Davis. He is a good friend of Chief Webber's and a major contributor to this hospital. Whatever he asks for, he gets, understood?"
Meredith nodded, "Yes."
Miranda swung open the door to reveal the private, single patient hospital room. It was larger than most hospital rooms and held one bed for Jeffery Davis, who was sitting up with a smile on his face. Meredith's mouth fell open slightly as she noted that Jeffery's wife and five children were all in the room also. Miranda entered the room and Meredith followed her in.
"Hello, Jeffrey." Miranda greeted warmly, "I brought you a helper."
Miranda indicated Meredith, who gave a smile.
"Ah, is this one of your interns?" Jeffery asked.
"This is Dr. Grey." Miranda answered him with a nod and then looked at Meredith, "Let me introduce you to the Davis family."
Miranda indicated with a nod or a point as she went around the room, "This is Jeffery's wife, Anne. The boy with the game is Dustin, and there's Harry and Brad. The girl with her headphones in is Clara and the little one there is Susan."
Meredith noted that Anne didn't look at her, but at her children as Miranda pointed them, clearly annoyed that they weren't giving their father the attention he deserved from his children. Dustin, sixteen, was in his own world playing his Game Boy while Clara, fourteen, was looking out the window with her iPod blaring. Harry, eleven, and Brad, nine, were playing with Power Ranger action figures while Susan, who couldn't have been more than four, was coloring in the corner.
Meredith nodded as she looked at Miranda again. Miranda looked to Jeffery.
"She's all yours until four o' clock." Miranda told him, "Then we'll prep you for surgery."
"Since when does the Nazi give up an intern?" Jeffery questioned, a smile on his face still.
"Since she was late." Miranda glared at Meredith.
Miranda looked back at Jeffery, "So, you take advantage of this opportunity."
Jeffery and Miranda exchanged a smile. Miranda turned to Meredith, glared again, and then left the room. Once the door was closed, Meredith faced Jeffery.
"Late, huh?" Jeffery asked, and then looked to Anne, "What should we do with her, honey?"
Anne shook her head, "Jeff, don't be mean."
Jeffery cocked his head to the side, "Well, Miranda said-"
"And if Miranda said light yourself on fire, I'm sure you would do that, too." Anne spat.
"What does that mean?" Jeffery asked.
Anne leaned forward, "You know exactly what it means. You joke with her all the time. You two are so buddy buddy."
Meredith took a few slow steps backward. She really felt out of place. Not only were Jeffery and Anne discussing some sort of infidelity, but they were including Bailey in this conversation, which only made Meredith even more uncomfortable.
"I don't know why you think that there's something going on between me and every woman I have a decent conversation with." Jeffery said, becoming angry and defensive, "If that's the case, then why don't we discuss you and the gardener, huh? You seem to be really friendly with him."
"Oh don't even start with that!" Anne replied.
Meredith backed into the wall. She really wanted to leave. She looked around at the children. Dustin and Clara were still ignoring their surrounding, Brad had gone on to taunt Susan by taking her crayons and Harry had made his way over to Meredith's side, looking up at her with chocolate smeared on his face. He opened his mouth and Meredith noted two of his teeth were missing. Harry scrunched his nose about to ask a question.
"What's your name?" Harry asked.
"Meredith." Meredith answered him, "And you're Harry, right?"
Before Harry could answer, Brad ran over and stood next to Harry, crashing into him and speaking quickly, "Yeah, he's Harry and I'm Brad. Do you want some ABC gum?"
"What?" Meredith asked, not understanding Brad because of the rate at which he spoke.
Brad grabbed Meredith's hand while he pulled out a wad of purple gum from his mouth and then he promptly squished the gum into Meredith's palm. Meredith pulled her hand away, disgusted, while trying to pull the gum off of her hand. Brad laughed and ran back over to Susan.
"This is disgusting." Meredith commented, still working the gum off of her hand.
"Sorry about that." Harry apologized, "It's ABC gum. Already Been Chewed. Brad thinks it's funny."
"Yeah, well it's not." Meredith replied and entered the bathroom, getting the gum completely off her hand.
When she exited the bathroom, Jeffery and Anne were now not speaking to each other. Susan sauntered over to Anne with Harry behind her.
"Mom, we're thirsty." Harry said.
Anne sighed and Meredith could see how exhausted she was. Anne looked at Jeffery, thought better of it, and then looked at Meredith.
"Would you mind taking them to get a drink somewhere?" Anne asked, "And maybe a snack, too? Is there a cafeteria or something?"
"Um... yeah, sure." Meredith answered, remembering her duty.
Anne reached into her purse and pulled out money. She handed it over her children's heads to Meredith, who placed it in her lab coat pocket. Anne looked over to Dustin and Clara.
"Dustin, Clara, do you guys want a snack?" Anne asked, to which they both shook their head 'no.' Anne looked back at Meredith, "Teenagers, you know?"
Meredith gave a smile and nodded. Brad ran over to his mother.
"I want a snack!" he exclaimed, "Can I get one, too?"
"Sure thing, kiddo!" Jeffery answered, cutting Anne off, "You, Harry, and Susan go with this nice lady and she'll get you some snacks, okay?"
"Okay." Brad and Harry replied, while Susan sucked on her thumb.
"Thanks, Dr. Grey." Jeffery smiled at Meredith and winked, knowing his wife was watching.
"That's real nice, Jeff, in front of the children and all." Anne said sarcastically.
"Uh... let's go kids." Meredith led the way to the door with Harry, Brad, and Susan following.
Once the four of them were in the hallway with the door shut behind them, Brad took off running down the hallway with Harry following him, yelling at him to stop. Meredith tried to keep up with the boys while dragging Susan by the hand behind her and her knee in pain. It was then that Meredith knew she was going to have one large headache by the time four o'clock came.