Chapter 5

Present time

Derek Shepherd is sitting behind his desk and looks at his watch and sighs. He should be out of here in an hour or so. Post-op notes had to be signed, OR-board checked for tomorrow and diplomas signed for the graduating residents.

Meanwhile Meredith is slowly descending the stairs to Joe's. She looks over her shoulder at Seattle Grace Hospital. It looks just the same as five years ago. Is Derek sitting in his office or is he in the OR? She cuts her thoughts and follows her friends into the bar. She can hear the doorbell and then Alex shouts for Joe. Izzy has already found an empty table in the far back corner. They sit down before Joe has the possibility to get there.

"Look whom I brought" Alex says.

"Yeah, look at us" Cristina says with a smirk.

"Grey, Yang, your back! And you brought a friend as well I see." He hugs them both and gets introduced to Owen,

"What brings you guys into town?"

"Graduation party"

"Tonight is everything on the house. What do you want?"

"Food" Meredith says "and a beer."

"No tequila?"

"Not yet, anyway. I am starving."

Derek pulls the diplomas closer and starts signing them. He read the names on the papers and his mind starts wandering. Two names are missing, names he really miss.

Five years ago

"Today your interns will be back" he says to Dr Miranda Bailey.

"Not all of them" she mutters "and they are not my interns anymore."

"What didn't they all make it?"

"Yes and no, O'Malley is redoing his intern year and Grey and Yang has transferred." She sends him an evil stare.

"Transferred" he can't really wrap his mind around that concept. Meredith is mot coming back. The love of his life is no longer here.

"Where to, where did they transfer to?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask the chief."

Derek turns around an almost stumbles over the pretty dark haired girl from Joe's that hit on him during Preston's bachelor party. Her eyes are wide and she says.

"Sorry but I overheard your talking. Is Dr Grey transferring?

"Why is that any concern to you?" Derek asks her.

"She's my sister, half sister and I have always wanted to meet her." She takes a look at Derek and says. "You're the guy from the bar."

"Yeah, I am and I work here. I'm Derek Shepherd."

"Oh, I was to get you for a consult."

After his shift is over Derek looks for the chief Dr Richard Webber. He doesn't know more about the transfer then that they both picked up their papers a week earlier. Derek drives to Meredith's house but Izzy only knows that they have left and didn't say where to. He drives to their spot and sits there for hours looking at the ferryboats. His mind can't comprehend that she left. He feels all numb and lost. Meredith is gone. It is over.

Present time

George O'Malley arrives at Joe's and sees and hears a loud party going on in the far most corner. It looks like the very old time when the five interns where throwing a party at Joe's. Walking closer he realizes that it is exactly what's going on. Meredith and Cristina are really sitting there. He sends Joe a questionable look and gets a huge smile back along with his beer.

"George" Meredith squeaks and jumps up to hug him.

"007" Cristina smirks.

"He is not 007 anymore" Izzy claims. "He is a very good general surgeon."

When Derek signs George O'Malley's diploma he is remembers when George got the opportunity to redo his intern test during a flood of the surgical floor. George scored top result anyway. Derek's phone rings. He looks at the display and sends it to voicemail. Rose again, this would be the tenth call today. He decides to go to Joe's for a drink instead.

Meredith, Cristina and Owen starts early to show signs that they are tired. They have been travelling for close to 24 hours and have passed 10 time zones. They all decide to make it an early night and stumbles towards the car. Meredith is the last to climb in. She gets to sit in Georges lap and giggles as the door close.

Derek is just stepping out of his car when hears a giggle he hasn't heard in a long time but there is no one around. He orders scotch single malt at the bar and sips it. It is getting late and he should get home to Rose but he doesn't want to. He remembered how easy it was when he had Meredith. She didn't crave things. She wasn't into things. She didn't even know how to shop for groceries. They ate at Joe's, ordered in or made pasta at home or went out to a nice restaurant. They were happy with each other and their friends. Where did she go? What specialty did she choose? He had tried to find her but no signs of either her or Yang anywhere.

Meredith stumbles downstairs to the kitchen in search for coffee. She finds George there at the table. He remembers her morning habit and hands her a mug before continuing reading the paper. She finishes the coffee and looks into the fridge for food. There is leftover pizza and she grabs a piece and looks at George with a question in her eyes. He nods and mutters something about a day before yesterday. Cold pizza is something she only eaten a handful of times during the last couple of years.

"What are your plans for today? George wonders.

"I don't know. The party is tomorrow, right?

"Yeah, it starts at 11 am with a ceremony in the auditorium. The party will be at the hospital and then continue at Joe's."

"I'll speak with Cristina and Owen and we'll decide what to do today. Are you working?"

"Yeah but I'm home around 10 pm. Shepherd has us all to end shift tonight."

"Is he a good chief?"

"Yeah, but he does a lot of surgeries. He has an assistant so he doesn't need to do all the paperwork by himself."

"Maybe we can come visiting you today since you all are on leave after graduation."

Derek wakes up by his cell phone. He answers without looking at the display.

"Good morning honey, where are you?"

He looks around and realizes that he is in the trailer. If he tells Rose that, she will nag him for the rest of the week so he claims.

"It got late and I slept on my coach."

"I'm walking towards your office right now, see you in a second."

"No. I'm at Mercy West now, early meeting with their chief of surgery."

He is getting used to lie about his whereabouts to Rose. She is lovely but the last year she had been dropping not so subtle hints about marriage. He doesn't know if he wants a new marriage. Rose seems to want something similar to the marriage he had with Addison. He steps into the tiny shower and lets the hot water pour over his head. Blindly he reaches out for the shampoo and pours some into his hand. The aroma of lavender surrounds him. Memories of Meredith in the shower hit him. The bendy thing makes him in need of a cold shower. He has not been able to throw her shampoo and conditioner out and it hasn't been necessary since he never taken another woman to the trailer. Not even Rose. The trailer is where he goes fishing and thinking by himself. Sometimes Mark Sloan is with him or Mark and Addison but no one else is allowed to visit his trailer. He dresses in clothes he keep at the trailer and leaves to catch a ferryboat.

Cristina continues puking through out the morning and Meredith corners her in the bathroom.

"You need to take a pregnancy test."

"I'm not pregnant. I can't be pregnant."

"Why so, don't you and Owen have sex?"

"Yeah, but we always use protection."

"Owen is out right now buying a test for you and you shall take it before we leave for lunch." Meredith stares at Cristina before turning and leaving the room.

Owen returns and Cristina takes the test. She walks into the kitchen carrying the results, sits down and cries.

"Positive" Meredith says.

"Negative" Owen says at the same time.

Meredith carefully releases the test from her hand. Two blue parallel lines, positive. She hands it to Owen who looks at it and then at Cristina. He pulls her onto his lap and cradles her. Kisses her temple and whispers to her.

"What do you want to do?"