Derek had, for the first time since becoming a surgeon, found his mind wandering towards a blonde intern while drilling a hole through another man's brain.

He had almost finished the first stage of endoscopic brain surgery when, like a light flickering on in his brain, he'd experienced a jolt of something completely Meredith. He couldn't really explain the feeling, except that it was similar to the one he had whenever he caught her watching one of his complex surgeries from the gallery back when they were together; a small swell of pride to know that she was watching, and that he was good.

Distracted by the sudden recurrence of the feeling, he had straightened up, cracked his neck, stretched, and tried to shake off whatever fleeting sentiment he'd just had. Almost as if it had never been there, the light flicked off and the feeling vanished. He went back to work.

Half an hour later, the jolt happened again. He had smiled and glanced up at the gallery window, fully expecting to see her green eyes looking back down at him, but she wasn't there.

"Yang, have you seen Meredith?"

"You're thinking about Meredith while you have some guy's brains on the table?"

He laughed shakily and held out the clamp for her to hold while he cracked his knuckles, "I just haven't seen her in awhile."

"You've been in surgery for four hours."

"Never mind."

She eyed him strangely for a second before sighing and turning back to the man on the table, motioning for him to do the same. They went back to work.

Half an hour later, he was grinning broadly and announcing to the room that he had successfully removed the tumor.

A couple of the nurses applauded, and a slow, genuine smile crept its way on to Christina's face, "Wow, you really-wow! You didn't kill him!"

He frowned, "Did you expect me to?"

"Yes-well, no. I just…you're drilling into a guy, pushing back the tissue, and removing a tumor. Not a lot of people can say they've done that successfully."

"I'm not most people."

"Clearly," she said, then added in a voice barely audible, "not everyone can break a girl like Meredith."

His eyes narrowed, "What was that, Yang?"

"Nothing, Shep. Just that Meredith's making frequent trips to Joe's because of you."

"Yang, I wouldn't go any further if I were you."

His words were even, measured, low. She could barely hear him, but held her gloved hands up in mock-surrender anyway.

"Whatever. Just realize how much she's going through right now."

He snapped off his gloves, throwing them in a nearby wastebasket and brushing past her on his way out. Just before reaching the sliding doors connected to the scrub room, he looked over his shoulder.

"Tell her I'm sorry."

--

"I'm sorry? That's seriously all he said?"

"Yep. Did I mention he saved a guys life today?"

Meredith looked confused, "Isn't that his job?"

"Yeah, but this was an endoscopic surgery, Mer. This was hardcore."

"I thought only like five surgeons in the world could do that."

"Uh-huh. And he didn't kill the guy."

"Wow."

"I know."

"So what did you say?"

"Nothing. Just that you were going to Joe's a lot, but that was before."

"So you basically told him I was an alcoholic?"

Christina shifted uncomfortably, "No…." before she could think up an excuse, she noticed something move above Meredith's left shoulder. Squinting, she tried to make out who it was, "Meredith-"

Footsteps. It was a man, she could tell that now, and he was headed straight for her best friend.

It was too late to warn her now.

--

For the first time in his life, Mark Sloane had nowhere to sit.

Having no idea where Addison or Derek were- and not really believing they'd have lunch with him- he was left alone with a tray full of barely-edible food in the middle of the outdoor Seattle Grace cafeteria after a hellish morning full of paperwork.

And then he saw her.

Her hair was pulled into a loose bun at the nape of her neck and she was tipping back a bottle of water, something between a grimace and a smile working its way onto her lips. She looked mildly interested in what the woman across from her was saying-she was nodding at certain intervals-but it was obvious her mind was elsewhere. Taking one last gulp of water, he watched her set the bottle down and make a grab for the yogurt container on her tray.

He could only see her profile, but he knew it was her. He'd know her anywhere, after the way she'd looked at him the last time he saw her.

She hadn't noticed him yet, and before he could fully comprehend what he was doing his legs were propelling him towards her.

The Asian woman saw him first and tried to warn Meredith, but she was too late, and before he knew it the words were slipping out, one after the other, nine years of guilt wrapped up in one long string of words that didn't even make sense to him, let alone her.

"I didn't mean to-I didn't want to leave you, believe me…I'm sorry, for the way I left and the way I ended things. Hannah, she just….the idea of having a baby, I mean, I was still in high school for God's sakes I didn't know how amazing she'd be or how much it would hurt you…" when the woman just stared, no recognition sparking behind her green eyes, he began to worry, "You-you're….You are Meredith Grey, right?"

She looked scared.

"She's Meredith Grey," her friend interjected when it was clear that the blonde was unable to speak, "Who the hell are you?"

"Mark Sloane…" he held out his hand, still dumbfounded that she was here, in Seattle, with Addie and Derek and Hannah. The blonde's eyes widened.

"Christina Yang," she greeted before turning back to Meredith and giving her a noticeable thumbs up.

Meredith rounded on Christina, spitting her words out like fire.

"Do you know what he did?" she asked, "Do you know what he put me through when I was seventeen and pregnant?"

"Mer…"

"Don't. Christina? We're leaving."

"Wait, Mer, I'm sorry…God I'm sorry. If I could take it back…"

"But you can't."

He nodded.

"I know."

"You can't expect me to forgive you."

"I know."

Her voice lowered, "Do you see her? In New York?"

He didn't hesitate, "Yes."

"She's smart."

He nodded again, seriously beginning to wonder if he could come up with some other gesture, "So you've met her?"

"You mean the daughter I was forced to give up? Yeah."

She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down at her converse. His temper flared.

"Wait a minute. I didn't force you to do anything. You wanted to give her up for adoption, and I just gave you a family that was trustworthy!"

"And look how well that turned out."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean," she gritted out, "look who just divorced."

"They're just separated, Meredith," he winced inwardly, "They'll work it out."

"I don't care," she mumbled.

"Well it sounded like you-"

"I don't care!" she shouted, and several heads turned in their direction. She pursed her lips, "I can't do this."

"What, so you're going to run away?"

"What else is there for me to do? You want me to argue with you all day?"

"Maybe, if that's what it takes to get you to talk to me."

"And what would I say?"

He opened his mouth, reply halfway out of his mouth when, as powerful as it was unexpected, a fist collided with his left cheekbone. A shock of pain filled him with one, insane, thought-that he'd have to get stitches. Then, he was up, a feather light touch on his arm-Meredith, as she helped him to his feet- and he groaned, clutching his jaw with one hand as the other clung to the small blonde intern supporting his weight.

"Okay, so I know I deserved that but-"

Meredith was looking between the two of them, brows knitted together.

"You're right, you did deserve that."

"Derek, what the hell? We were just talking-" Meredith assured, leaning against the chair she'd just abandoned to pull Mark to his feet.

"This isn't about you, Meredith."

She shrunk back like she'd been slapped and Mark jumped in instinctively, "Hey, don't bring her into this!"

"You don't even know her Mark, so stop trying to hurt me," Derek hissed.

"Hurt you? What the hell do you mean?"

"Don't try to deny it, okay? You knew that I was seeing Meredith and now you're trying to move in on her."

Silence.

Both men turned to her, identical incredulous looks splashed across each face.

"Huh?"

AN: Another cliffhanger. I made this one longer, did you notice?

Review, as always.