Chapter 5:

January 11, 2007- New York City, New York

Jacob hit the alarm after it started going off at 5 in the morning. Meredith was still cuddled up on him, clinging to him for support and she didn't even stir when it went off. He tried to get up without waking her, but when he heard her sweet moan, he knew she was awake. "Good morning beautiful," he whispered into her ear. She smiled without even opening her eyes or moving. "Come on," he said, trying to get her up. She opened her eyes and looked at him. For a moment her smile dropped, but she smiled again once she realized that it had. Jacob dismissed it and went into the kitchen to make her some coffee.

Meredith forced herself up and she stumbled over to her dresser. She opened a few drawers, looking for some clean scrubs, but couldn't find any. She bent down to the bottom drawer and opened it, without thinking about what was inside. She lifted a few sweaters and found something that was red. She pulled it out and sat on her bed, looking at the red shirt in her hands.

Tears rolled down her already tear stained face as her fingertips grazed the fabric and memories of the night she first saw this shirt flew through her mind. "Meredith?" she heard coming from down the hall. The voice brought her back to reality. She heard footsteps coming into her room and she jumped up to throw the shirt back into the bottom drawer and close it before Jacob walked in.

"I was just making sure you got up," Jacob said with a smile.

Meredith sighed and looked at Jacob, "Yeah, I'm up. I'll be in there for breakfast in a minute," she said with her back leaning against the dresser. Jacob nodded and turned around to leave. Meredith closed her eyes and slid down the dresser to the floor as her head fell to her hands.

Meredith realized what she was doing and made herself stop crying. She got in the shower and let the hot water run over her body as flash backs ran through her head of moments with Derek. She had finally gotten herself away from all of this, but the more she thought about it, the more reminders she had of him all over the house. She looked at her conditioner and saw Lavender written on it in big letters. She worked it through her hair and remembered Derek's comment about it. She felt like his memories were consuming her and she didn't know how to make it stop, or if she really wanted it to.

She stepped out of the shower and blow-dried her hair quickly before getting dressed and making her way to the kitchen. She sat down next to Jacob, just like she did every day and began to notice how her life had turned into some type of routine. She began eating her breakfast that Jacob had forced her to start eating months ago, until she realized Jacob was staring at her. She put her fork down and looked up at him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

Meredith shook her head and began eating again, but she could tell that that was not enough for Jacob because he didn't go back to eating. "Jacob, that part of my life is not something I'm proud of. I really just want to move past it and that's what I've been trying to do since I got here. That's why I haven't opened a single one of those letters."

"Why didn't you just throw them away? Why keep them all?" Jacob asked.

Meredith sighed and decided to be honest, "I have no idea. It just felt wrong throwing them away. It was just too soon when I first started getting them and then it just became a habit, I guess."

Jacob opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the phone ringing. He looked at Meredith and then got up to answer it. "Hello?" Meredith heard him say. "Okay. One moment please," he said before putting the phone down and walking back over to Meredith, "It's for you."

Meredith got up and walked over to the phone, "Hello?"

"Meredith, you better get your ass to the airport right now."

"Cristina?" Meredith asked with both confusion and excitement in her voice.

"Yes, Cristina. I tried calling you about ten times last night. I don't even want to know what you were doing that made you unable to hear me, but it is raining here and I don't like rain so get your ass here," Cristina said.

"If you don't like rain, then why do you live in Seattle?"

"Meredith, just get here," Cristina said.

"I can't. I have to work, but I'm sure my boyfriend Jacob can pick you up," Meredith said looking at Jacob who just nodded.

"Sure, that'll be great," Cristina said with a very sarcastic tone before hanging up on Meredith.

Cristina paced around her gate waiting for some guy whom she had never heard of before to pick her up. An hour passed and she finally saw and guy with reddish brown hair and green eyes come towards her. He seemed muscular and was pretty good looking; Cristina was impressed.

"Are you Cristina Yang?" he asked when he finally caught up with her.

"Yes and I'm guessing you're Jacob?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorry it took me so long to get here. The traffic in New York is horrible. I can take you back to the apartment and you can wait there for Meredith, but I've got to go to work after that," he said as he led her down the escalator.

"Alright," Cristina said trying to get a good sense of this guy.

"Well I've heard lots about you," he said trying to make more conversation.

"Really? I haven't heard a thing about you," Cristina said honestly, "How long have you and Meredith been dating?"

"Almost six months," Jacob said surprised that Cristina didn't know who he was.

"Really? That's probably a record for Meredith. I don't think I've known her to get any farther than two official months," Cristina said as they walked out of the airport.

"Official months?"

"Well yeah. She dated a guy for two months, but after they broke up they still stole glances and things. It was actually very sickening," Cristina said as she chose her words strategically.

"Really?" Jacob asked interested.

"Yeah and then they just had sex about a year after they broke up. Meredith and her sex problem," Cristina said shaking her head.

"Sex problem?" Jacob asked a little concerned now.

"She was sleeping with a lot of inappropriate men and then one of her best friends. She tends to sleep with people to cope with her problems. I really shouldn't be saying these things, I'm just going to shut up now," Cristina said as she got into Jacob's car. When he wasn't looking she smiled and little, realizing that this might be easier than she expected.