"What do you mean? I have to be on that plane!" Meredith shouted loudly in sheer panic. She was going home. She wanted to go home. She needed Derek. And now what? Now she was stuck.
"What's the problem here?" Ian asked as he walked up to the flight attendant.
"Excuse me, who are you?" The flight attendant asked as she looked up at Ian.
"I am a friend. A concerned friend. And Ms. Grey-- Mrs. Shepherd needs to get on this plane." He said forcefully as he got into her face.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. It's against policy. We cannot take the chance of your giving birth in the air." She said as she tried to be a little more cordial.
"You don't understand... I need to get home. I want to go home!" Meredith said quickly as she waved her arms around.
"Ma'am, please calm down." She said reassuringly as she reached for her arm.
"Wait. Just wait a second..." Meredith said as she pulled out her cellphone. She listened to it ring on the other end. This was bad. Really bad.
"Hello?" Addison said quickly. She heard sobbing on the other end and looked at the screen to see who it was.
"Addie?" Meredith sobbed. "They-- They won't let me on the plane!" She cried loudly.
"What?" Addison said in shock. "Why?"
"The note is no longer valid..." She cried out as she looked at the piece of paper.
"Oh god. 48 hours. That slipped my mind." Addison admitted regretfully.
"Slipped your mind? Slipped your mind!" Meredith shouted. "I can't-- I-- Oh god!" She cried as she struggled to breath. "Thing One. Thing Two...Derek... Home..." She cried as she started to panic. She struggled to breathe. "Oh...god..." She said as she heaved.
"Meredith!" She shouted into the phone. "Meredith!"
"She's panicking!" Ian said quickly. The flight attendant immediately called for help and rushed to Meredith's side. Ian rubbed her back while talking to her.
"Calm down... Breathe." She said as she helped her to sit down. Ian held Anna's hand tightly.
"It's okay, Anna." He told the frightened child. The EMTs quickly rushed up and put an oxygen mask on Meredith. She looked around. Everyone was watching. Everyone was staring.
"Breathe...Mer, breathe..." Ian said as he stroked her back.
"Mer!" Addison shouted. Ian grabbed the phone off the floor.
"Hello." Ian said into the phone.
"Where is Meredith?" Addison asked with concern in her voice.
"She's right her. They have oxygen on her. She panicked. She's okay now." He said reassuringly.
"What's going on?" Addison asked as she tapped her foot.
"She needs a doctor's okay. An exam." Ian told her quickly.
"I-- I don't know anyone there..." Addison said. "She'll need to see someone. Either way, she can't come home today. Not after a panic attack. It's just not safe." Addison told him frankly. "How is she doing?"
"She's breathing. She's alright. She's worried, but she is okay." Ian said reassuringly.
"Good. Can I talk to her?" Addison asked as she looked around the busy hospital.
"Hello?" Meredith said into the phone. Her voice was weak.
"Meredith. Listen to me. You need to breathe. Calm down. We will get you home. After this attack, it's not safe for you to fly, even if they will let you." She told her firmly. "I will see what I can do, see if anyone knows a good obstetrician over there. We will get you home..."
"Okay." Meredith said firmly as she looked around. Everyone was still watching her.
"Are you going to be okay?" She asked her.
"I'll be fine. I'll call you later." Meredith explained as she flipped the phone shut.
"If I'm not on that plane, I want my bags back. And I don't give a shit what you have to do to get them back!" She shouted at the attendant. The attendant looked at her wide-eyed and grabbed her radio.
After a fight, Meredith got her bags back, causing the flight to take off an hour late. Ian was in shock at how forceful she had been. She wasn't letting them walk all over her. But at the same time, she was backing down. Something wasn't right.
"Let's go." Meredith said as she walked away.
"What are we doing?" Ian asked as he walked alongside her.
"I don't know..." Meredith muttered as she thought. "But I know one thing, I have to go home today. I don't care what I have to do to get there." He looked over at her with worry. She was upset, she needed to go home.
"Love, if you need to get home, damn-it, we will get you there." Ian said convincingly. "I don't care what we have to do..." He said with a smile as they walked out.
Meredith and Ian dragged the luggage back out to the car. Meredith was fuming. She was upset. She was sad. All she wanted to so was feel Derek's arms around her. She was getting scared. Panic was setting in. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to get home to him.
"Damn-it!" Meredith shouted as she hit the door with her hand. She shook it, amazed at the pain that was shooting up her arm.
"Calm down, Mer!" Ian said in shock as he looked over at her.
"How the hell do you expect me to do that?" She said as she glared at him.
"Breathe. Relax..." Ian said with a chuckle.
"No. Oh no. No chuckle. No ha ha funny shit. This is not funny. We are not having a good time. I am a prisoner. They won't let me go home!" Meredith said as she started to gasp for air. "I just want to go home."
"Meredith...breathe. Everything will be fine, I promise." He said softly as she rubbed her leg.
"Mommy. Why can't we go home?" Anna asked as her own eyes began to tear up.
"They are afraid that I will have the twins on the plane." Meredith explained as she cried softly, trying not to let Anna see.
"You're having the twins!" Anna cried out in a panic. She grabbed her bag and started fishing around in it for the cell phone.
"No! No, Anna. I am not in labor. The twins aren't coming anytime soon." Meredith told her. Anna breathed deeply and looked at Meredith. "The airline is just not convinced of that. Everything is okay. I feel okay."
"Oh. I was scared. You can't have the twins without daddy. Daddy would be really upset." Anna said frankly as she looked up at her mother.
Meredith's face dropped. At the moment she felt no hope. At the moment she was wondering if she would be having the twins here because apparently they didn't want her to go.
"Daddy won't miss it." Meredith said as she looked out the side window. There was no way she would let that happen.
She watched out the window as Ian drove down the busy street. A week ago she was happy to be here. A week ago she was ready to have a good time. And now. Now she wanted out of this prison camp. She wanted the hell out of this godforsaken place.
"What are we doing here?" Meredith looked up with concern. There they were, parking in front of her former home. It looked the same. It hadn't changed. And this was the last place she wanted to be.
"Where else would you like be to take you? You checked out of the hotel. And I'm sure you don't want to get another room, considering you are insistent on leaving today." Ian said frankly as he opened the door for Anna, and then looked over at Meredith with a sigh.
"Where are we?" Anna asked as she looked up at the large home.
"My house." Ian said with a smirk. He frowned as he looked at Meredith's sour face. "Come on, Mer. Let's go figure this out." He said as he grabbed Anna's hand and walked to the door.
Meredith didn't want to be here. She walked away. She left this place, never planning on coming back. And even after making amends with Ian, she still wasn't planning on coming back. There were too many memories. Good. Bad. Just too many.
Ian pushed open the door. Meredith's eyes got wide as she looked around. It hadn't changed. Not at all. It was like absolutely no time had passed. All of the furniture she had taken was gone. But everything else was there, and there were pieces similar to the ones that were gone. She looked over to the table. Her frown grew when she saw their wedding photo on it.
"I--" He said as he looked at the picture and then looked at her. He felt somewhat foolish. She was a married woman. A happily married woman. And he was still holding on to nothing.
"It's okay." She said, brushing it off as she walked to the sofa. Anna walked around looking at every little thing.
"Don't open anything! No doors, no drawers, no looking under the bed and absolutely no looking in the cupboards!" Meredith warned with her eyes bugging out.
"Mer- It's okay." Ian said as he looked at her. He looked over at Anna, who was completely focused on the bookshelf.
"No!" She said quickly as she dropped her voice. "No. I don't want her to find any of your toys..." She said as she clenched her jaw and gave him the look.
"I don't have any." He said simply as he looked at her.
"Bullshit. The last thing I need is her running around pretending she's riding a horse with a whip that's touched only god knows who's ass." She said quickly. "And condoms...we don't need that again."
"I don't have anything. I've changed." Ian said with a grin. She frowned and he tried to convince her with a look.
"Uh huh." Meredith said, rolling her eyes.
"The handcuffs, the chains, they're all gone." He said quickly. "I got rid of them when you left." He said truthfully as he looked down at her. "What did you mean, you didn't need that again?" He said with a grin.
"You don't want to know." Meredith said as she grabbed her cellphone out of her purse.
"Oh, come on." Ian teased. His interest was definitely piqued.
"I'll just say this. Anna. Used condom. That is all I'm saying." Meredith said with a frown.
"Wow." Ian said as he shook his head. "That's wrong..."
Meredith grabbed the book and began looking up numbers. She didn't care what she had to do, she was getting home. She looked up several obstetricians and doctors. She had to have an exam. Just what she was looking forward to, a stranger looking at her cervix and giving her an exam. Not what she wanted. She had to have an actual recent exam, Addison couldn't confirm anything from across the ocean. And so it began, it was her last hope.
"Mr. Ian?" Anna said softly as she grabbed his hand and led him to the table.
"Just all me Ian." He said with a smile as he let her drag him over. "You make me feel old."
"Why is there a picture of you and my mommy dressed up like you're getting married?" She asked as she pointed to the picture.
"Well--" He looked over at Meredith who was lost in conversation. "Well, because I-- I was married to Meredith." He finally said as she looked at the picture.
"You were?" She asked in shock as she looked at Meredith and Ian, and then at the picture.
"Yes we were." He said as he nodded his head an looked at her light brown eyes.
"Why aren't you anymore?" She asked as she cocked her head, like Derek.
"Well... I messed up. I messed up really bad." Ian told her with a frown.
"What did you do?" She asked as she looked up at him.
"I waited. I waited too long. I didn't realize what I had until it was too late." He said as he patted her on the head, then walked away. He walked over to see Meredith, head in hands, crying.
"What's wrong?" He asked her softly as he rubbed her back.
"I-- I-- I can't-- I can't get in for three days. No one will let me in. A ten minute exam, and they won't do it." She cried. "I just want to go home."
"What's the big deal? It's just three days." He said as he looked at her.
"What's the big deal? The big deal is that I can't sleep. I haven't slept well in seven days. I can not sleep without him. I need his arms around me. I lay there at night, eyes wide open. I'm fucking exhausted. I can't smell him. I can't feel him. All I want to do is hold his face. I want to feel his arms around me telling me it will be okay. I can't take it. I need him. I need Derek. I need him and I can't take it anymore." She cried. Ian pulled her close as she sobbed.
"Oh..." He said as he stroked her hair. His heart was breaking for her. Then it hit him. He pulled away from her and grabbed his phone, walking into the kitchen.
"I'll be right back." He said as he closed the door. She could hear him talking. She had no Idea what he was doing, but he seemed to be on a mission. He came back twenty minutes later with a smile on his face.
"Let's go..." He said with a grin as he walked to the door.
"What's going on?" She asked as she struggled to her feet.
"Just make sure you have everything." He said as he opened the door. They both followed him out with looked of confusion on their faces.
So...what is Ian up to?