Chapter 22:

January 17, 2007- Seattle, Washington

Meredith walked up the stairs of an apartment building she'd never been to before. Derek said that Izzie had moved in after she and George sold the house for Meredith. He said that George had moved in with Callie, but they broke up a few weeks ago and he was staying with Izzie. As odd as Meredith found it that Derek knew all of this information, she took it thankfully and walked up to the door. Derek had offered to come with her, but she needed to do it herself. She had left her friends without any words or explanations and now she was back.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Meredith heard the moving foot steps coming towards the door and she got an overwhelming urge to run back down the stairs and get into Derek's car and drive off, but she knew she couldn't do that. If all went well she'd be back under Bailey's watch, working with Izzie, Cristina, George, and Alex soon and she didn't want it to be awkward. Well any more awkward than her life usually was.

The door opened and Meredith didn't move. Actually, she was pretty sure that she looked as though she'd just been petrified. Izzie quickly returned the same look. The silence was just the thing that Meredith had been trying to avoid: awkward. Once Izzie spoke however, Meredith began to prefer the silence.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Meredith was speechless. She knew the cold, bitter, pissed off Izzie was going to come eventually, but she had just hoped that the loving, compassionate, forgiving Izzie would come first. Apparently not everything in your life can go right all in the same day. Meredith decided to smile a little, receiving a glare from Izzie.

"I'm back," she decided to say. What else could she say?

"I can see that. Why?" Izzie asked as if Meredith had no business being in Seattle, let along on her doorstep.

"Derek brought me back," Meredith said sighing.

"It's all about Derek isn't it? You drop everything for him. You left because of him and now your back. I bet you didn't tell your friends in New York that you came back didn't you? I'll have to call them. We'd be able to relate nicely," Izzie said harshly. Much more harsh than Meredith had ever expected. It was almost like she was talking to a pissed off Cristina. That reminded her: Cristina. She was so screwed.

"Izzie, you don't understand."

"You're right, I don't. What to know why? Because you never gave me the chance to understand. You never told me enough for me to understand. You just immediately assumed that because my name was not Derek or Cristina, I couldn't understand."

"Cristina didn't know I was leaving either," Meredith said, pointing out the fact.

"She didn't seem surprised."

"She probably guess it," Meredith said not surprised. Cristina seemed to just 'get' Meredith sometimes.

"Izzie? Who's at the door?" a voice in the back room said. Izzie looked back and Meredith immediately recognized the voice: George.

George walked out of an opened door. His hair was disheveled and he was wearing sweat pants and a gray tee shirt. After living with him for over a year, Meredith was used to seeing him like this. It was basically his pajamas. She smiled at the familiarity before George even looked up to see who it was. Izzie gave Meredith one more glare and then moved away from the door to let George easily see.

His head lifted up and his eyes looked Meredith up and down, not believing she was real. Meredith stood there uncomfortably as George rubbed his eyes, hoping that she wouldn't disappear when he looked again. George walked closer, still not saying anything. He seemed to be completely in a daze. Izzie gave him a freaked out look and he didn't take the time to notice: he was too fixated on Meredith.

"George?" Meredith asked getting a little freaked out.

George finally reached the door and stopped. He looked at Meredith for a moment and then slammed the door in her face.

Meredith stood in the hallway, quietly tapping her foot. She focused on the quiet noise as it echoed through the almost silent apartment building. She kept thinking about the constant, steady rhythm, trying to ignore the tears she was fighting. She had never completely thought about what she had done to George and Izzie. Whenever she had thought about leaving Seattle, her mind turned to Derek. She thought once or twice about Cristina, but she only thought about Izzie and George when Richard had called and told her that they had sold the house for her like she had wanted. Meredith began to find it odd that she had kept in touch with Richard, but not her friends. She kept in touch with the man that broke her family and not the people that had given her another one.

Meredith finally turned on her heel and walked down the hall, her footsteps painfully echoing through the hall. She made it down the stairs and towards Derek's car. She liked driving Derek's car. Once she had moved to New York, she had gotten rid of her Jeep. There's no point having a car in New York and then she met Jacob who did. But now she was driving Derek's. It just made her feel even more like they were really together forever this time.

Before pulling out of the parking spot, she looked over the car. Derek's hospital ID was sitting in one of the cup holders along with his sunglasses that she always made fun of him for wearing. She told him they made him look stupid, but honestly, she just didn't like the fact that they hid his eyes. There was also a pack of mints in the holder. Meredith smiled remembering the day he decided that he needed to carry those around just in case she decided to kiss him in random elevators. Meredith sighed, trying to get the image of George slamming the door out of her mind and then turned the car on, deciding right now she didn't want to be anywhere but in Derek's arms.

Meredith stumbled into the small trailer and found Derek sitting on their bed, surfing the Internet on his laptop. She stopped in the small doorway to the bedroom, looking at him. He closed the laptop and put it next to him before looking up at her defeated looking face.

"Where's the tequila?" Meredith asked dryly.

"The tequila?"

"You do have tequila, right? If you expect me to live here, you better have tequila at all times," Meredith said.

"I have tequila, I'm just not sure if I want to give it to you," Derek said as Meredith slowly made her way to the bed, sitting on the edge next to him. "I'm not sure you should have tequila tonight, Mer."

"Why?" Meredith asked in a whiny sounding voice.

"Because you, Dr. Grey, have to go to work at Seattle Grace tomorrow as the returning intern of Dr. Bailey," Derek said unable to hide his smile.

"You actually talked Webber into it?" Meredith asked, "He seriously said 'yes'?"

"I told you I could," Derek said as he wrapped his arms around Meredith and kissed her. Meredith began to agree that maybe she didn't need the tequila. Derek could be her comfort tonight.