Title: Tangled Web
Author: Farrah
Disclaimer: If I owned the wonderful show Grey's Anatomy, would I be here? I think not
Summary: Meredith didn't deserve the cards she was being dealt, so she took matters into her own hands. She left, but the death of a loved one brought her back. But when she returns, she's not alone. Post 'Into You Like A Train' episode. Set six years in the future.
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A/N: This chapter is sort of a filler but some important stuff happens in it. Italics represent telephone calls and Meredith's thoughts. This chapter continues from the one. It's the next day. Enjoy!!!
Chapter 4:
- Meredith's apartment, NYC, first week in January 2012 -
Meredith and Mark sit at the dining table, each drinking their coffees and reading the paper. They were waiting for Jeremy to finally come down and eat his breakfast. Meredith had already gotten his clothes ready, they were set out on his bed. She would have dressed him, but as of late Jeremy decided he wanted to dress himself, comb his own hair and brush his teeth all by himself. Basically, he didn't want his mom to groom him, he wanted to be a big boy.
"So, is lunch time good for you?" Meredith asked peering over her newspaper.
"I thought you might have wanted to do it this morning, but lunch time is fine with me."
"It's not that I don't want to do this early, it's just I don't want you skipping out on you patients for me"
"My patients are important to me, but like I said last night, your more important"
"Thank you for doing this."
"Not a problem" he says reaching over the table and planting a small kiss on her lips
"What is taking Jeremy so long?" Mer asks after a while
Before mark could answer Jeremy comes into the kitchen and stands by Meredith and places a kiss on her cheek.
"Morning mommy"
"Morning sweetie"
He then moves to the other side of the table and raises his hand to give Mark a high five
"Morning daddy"
Meredith begins to choke on the coffee she just put in her mouth and Mark reaches over to pat her back with a smile on his face. 'What did he just say'
"Mommy are you okay?" Jeremy asks full of concern
"Yeah Mer are you alright?" Mark asks in a smug tone of voice
"Fine, I'm fine" she replies with wide eyes still coughing slightly. "Jer, eat you food before it gets cold." 'Why is Mark smiling? Is he ok with this?'
"Okay" Jeremy sits in the chair placed in front of his semi - cold waffles and begins to eat his food.
Meredith stares at Mark. She opens her mouth to say something then closes it. She repeats the process about three more times. 'What do I say?'
"Your okay with it right?" Mark asks while motioning to Jeremy with only his eyes. He receives no answer from Meredith so he continues... " cas' I asked you about it last night, before..." he trails off.
"Last night?" contemplatively whispers while staring into her coffee mug. 'No you didn't, I would have remembered.'
Meredith concentrates on the events form the prior night and vaguely remembers having a conversation with Mark where the words talk, Jeremy, dad and okay came up. Then it hit her. Jeremy wanted to talk about calling Mark dad and he said it was okay. 'Oh My God'
"Mer, it is right, okay I mean."
"Of course, why wouldn't it be alright, it's fine, its great even" Meredith spat out in record time. Causing her to receive a suspicious glance from Mark
"I'm done!!!!" yelled Jeremy
"Okay bud then lets get moving, mom and I have a big day ahead of us. Plus I'm sure you want to go play with your friends at the day care."
"Uh huh, and I want to see Auntie Liz and Auntie Trish too." he says turning to his mother
"We'll as soon as I see them I'll tell them to stop by the daycare and see their Jeremy"
"Thank you mommy, now can we go now?"
"Yes we can" said Mark as he picked Jeremy up out of his seat and put him on his back
The drive to the Hospital was a quiet one. When they arrived Mark and Meredith both took Jeremy up to daycare, like usual, and then parted ways. Both off to tend to their patients as quickly and efficiently as possible. Hoping no emergencies occurred in the hospital until after their appointment with Dr. Aldridge.
Meredith went down to the waiting room only to see Mark in the corner patiently waiting for her.
"Sorry I'm late. I had to give my interns some assignments before I could leave." said Meredith causing Mark to stand and give her a peck on the cheek.
"I figured as much. Your interns are Rosemary's babies" he says matter of factly
"No they're not" Mer giggles as she playfully smack him on the arm, receiving a pointed look from Mark that just screamed 'who are you kidding'.
"Okay maybe they are, but their mine nonetheless. Anyway, come on. We have to be there in twenty minutes." she admitted with a smile on her face.
The ride to the home in which Ellis stayed was an uneventful one. It was silent, but it was a comfortable silence. They were both had different thoughts running through their heads. Meredith was thinking about all the possible treatment for her mom and Mark, was thinking about whether or not Mer was truly okay with Jeremy calling him dad.
"Mer?"
"Hmm?" she answered still peering out of the window.
"Are you really okay with Jer calling me dad?"
"Of course I am." she answered honestly but when she turned to look at him she could tell he wasn't convinced.
She turned her entire body in the seat and put her hand atop his hand, which was resting on the gear.
"I am" she said once again, this time with more surety and sincerity in her voice.
He glanced at her and then returned his eyes to the road. Few moments later he murmured, "good"
"Are you?" she asked
By this time he had stopped the car and turned off the engine. They had reached their destination.
He unbuckled his seat belt but made no effort to exit the vehicle. He then turned to her and looked at her, his eyes displaying overwhelming amounts of happiness.
"I'm more than okay with him calling me dad, Mer. I love it. Hell, I've wanted it since the day he was born. The moment I held him in my arms, I knew. I knew that I wanted to be his dad, that I wanted to be there for him, for the both of you. But you weren't ready yet, I knew that you weren't completely over Jeremy's father, that you needed time, and I was okay with that. I was okay with just being your friend, being there for you and Jeremy in anyway you needed me, because that's all I want, to be there for you. Now were together, and were happy. Jer wanting to call me dad just makes me happier."
By the end of his speech Meredith had tears streaming down her face. She couldn't speak, all she could do at that point was pull him into one of the most passionate kisses he had ever experienced in his lifetime.
Separating for air, they pressed their foreheads together and looked at each other, peering into one another's souls with smiles on their faces.
"Wow" he whispered, his hot breath tickling her lips
She nodded affirmatively, then looked at her wristwatch and yelped "were late!!"
The meeting with Dr. Aldridge was a very long one. Two hours to be exact. They went over every possible treatment for the lung cancer, where she would receive such treatment and the need to keep this quiet. Dr. Aldridge was very understanding about Meredith wanting to keep the whole matter secretive, keeping it on a need- to- know basis. He knew very well who Dr. Ellis Grey was and her wanting no one to find out that she had the Alzheimer Disease (AD).
They all went in and spoke with Ellis, she was having one of her 'good days', which had become a rare occurrence over the last eight months or so. She expressed her feelings about the matter and made what she wanted known. Meredith got some time to speak with her mother alone before her 'good day' came to a close and she started to relapse. They talked for a while, covering everything because they weren't sure when they would get the opportunity again.
At the end of the meeting it was agreed that Ellis would be heavily medicated, to help with the pain that and she would receive treatment within the facility with Dr. Aldridge as her private physician.
After they left they were heading towards the hospital but Mark could tell that Meredith was not ready to go back yet, even if she wouldn't admit it. He knew this was hard on her, and that she was putting up a brave front but he could tell by the look in her eyes that it was already starting to take a toll on her. So instead of turning left towards the hospital, he made a right.
Meredith was so distracted by her reverie that she didn't see his wrong turn. Meredith was barely paying attention to anything, it wasn't until he stopped that she realized where they were. He brought them to the ferryboats. He knew she and Jer loved to ride on them. Although Mark didn't quite understand their intense love of ferryboats, he accepted it. All he knew was that his two favorite people in the world liked them, that was more than good enough for him.
He brought her there because it was somewhere Meredith could clear her head. It always made her relax, and most of the time open up to him about things that were bothering her.
He stopped the car and shut the engine off. Mer opened the door and raised her head only to see the ferryboat lift. She then look over the hood of the car at Mark, was wearing a comforting smile.
"What are we doing here?"
"I figured you might need some time before we head back to the hospital." he answered while going around to her side and placing his arm around her waist
"You know me well" she admitted while walking toward the boat.
"That I do" he proclaimed softly
Once they boarded the ferry the found a quaint little bench to sit on, there they snuggled and enjoyed each others company. Meredith visibly relaxed and Mark was indeed proud of himself and his decision to bring her there. They sat in comfortable silence watching looking out over the water.
"I need to call Richard" she mused
"What did you say babe?"
"Oh I said that I needed to call Dr. Webber" she said, coming to her feet
"Okay, go right ahead babe. I'll be here when your done." he smiled reassuringly at her
She nodded and then made her way over to the railing of the boat.
She dialed the number out of memory and held the phone against her ear, breathing in anticipation of the conversation about to come.
"Seattle Grace Hospital, Chief Webber's office, how may I help you?"
"Hello, Patricia, it's Meredith Grey" she said in a short breath
"It's nice to hear from you, Doctor Grey! I'll put you through right away."
"Thank you",she said, while absentmindedly tapping her fingers on the railing
"Hello, Meredith" Richard greeted, his voice full of warmth.
"Hello Dr. Webber!" she exclaimed
"Now Meredith, you know you can call me Richard."
"Yeah, I forget sometimes. So how's everything going?"
"Everything's going well down here. How's New York?" He asks while shuffling papers around
"New York's good"
"How about my grandson? I haven't spoken to him for the week yet."
"Jeremy's fine, he can't wait till his birthday. You know, the usual"
Richard chuckles on the other end but becomes serious. "Alright Meredith, are you going to tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to drag it out of you?"
"It's my mother" she spat
Papers suddenly stop shuffling "Ellis? How is she? Is something wrong?"
"She has lung cancer. Small cell. Stage three Bronchioalveolar Carcinoma to be exact."
'There, I said it. Straight to the chase, no beating around the bush. Ripped off the bandage with no anesthesia' - She thought
"Stage three? When did you find out? How long before..." he asked still shell shocked from the news he just heard.
"Last night. I looked at the films, I think she has about 3 to 5 months."
"Oh I'm so sorry Meredith. Does Ellis now? I mean was she..."
"She had a good day today. Which is rare. We talked, about what she wanted done, that kind of stuff you know."
"That's good, that's really good. Mer will you hold on a second so I can check my schedule so I can see when I can make a trip out there?"
"That won't be necessary."
"Pardon?"
"Mom" she sighs "I told her that I was going to tell you about her cancer. She told me she didn't want you to see her like that, medicated and in pain you know. She doesn't want anyone to see her. She wants to be remembered as Doctor Ellis Grey, the amazing surgeon. Not as Ellis Grey, the cancer sufferer. I'm sorry."
"It's quite alright Meredith, your only obeying her wishes. Thank you for telling me though, it means a lot. Do you need anything?"
"No, I'm fine. Besides, I have Mark to help me through this. He's been great."
"Glad to hear it. Umm so sorry Meredith but I have to go. Tell Mark I said hello and give Jeremy my love okay."
"Will do, goodbye Richard."
"Goodbye Meredith"
Mer hung up her phone and placed it back in her pocket.
She made her way back over to Mark just as the boat was docking. He stood and pulled her into a hug.
"Richard says hello"
"I think he's starting to like me"
"I think so to"
"You ready to go back to the hospital?"
"Yeah, I'm fine now. Thank you... for everything."
"You very welcome, beautiful."
They walked to the car with their hands intertwined, separated to get in and once again locked once they were inside. They listened to the radio during their short drive to the hospital, singing along horribly to some Duran Duran.
What do you think? This was touch and go for me. This was suppose to be split into two chapters, but I figured that would have drawn it out a little too much. I know you guys are ready for Seattle. For those who have asked questions in your reviews, believe me all will be revealed shortly. Just stick with me, I'm sort of figuring this out as I go. I have some main events planned out but the fillers are getting to me. Please REVIEW. I love them!!! They are my sustenance. So again please review!!!!!