Chapter 6
Present time
Meredith, Cristina and Owen make it a slow morning and decide to go to Seattle Grace Hospital for lunch with their friends. It is a familiar feeling to walk into the hospital. There are some curious looks in their direction when they pass by. The hospital gossip will start ASAP when people start to recognize them. They reach the nurses' station at the surgical floor. The nurses look at them with questions in their eye.
"Hi, can you please page Dr O'Malley, Dr Karev or Dr Stevens?"
From behind they hear steps and a well known voice.
"Dr Grey and Dr Yang, what do you think you are doing?"
They look at each other and turn around to look at the woman speaking with equally bright smiles.
"Dr Bailey" they both exclaim "we are just visiting." Meredith continues. Dr Miranda Bailey steps forward and gives them each a big hug.
"Where have you been? Are you doctors? Where do you work? You just left without a word."
"We work for Doctors without Boarders, the MSF, together with Major Dr Owen Hunt, trauma surgeon, over there. We just returned from Darfur where we have been stationed the last couple of months. We are surgeons, attendings since a year back. Cristina in cardio and I'm in neuro, we are also general surgeons. Owen, this is the famous Dr Miranda Bailey."
They exchange greetings and then Dr Bailey turns back to them.
"What are you doing here, today?"
"We came to have lunch with George, Alex and Izzy."
"Alex is in surgery with Shepherd, it will be a couple of hours more but the other two are somewhere around."
Izzy is just coming around the corner and greets them with a smile. They all go to the cafeteria. Bailey is full of questions and they answer them all. It is a comforting feeling being there, sitting in a corner, watching familiar faces eating lunch. Some people recognize them but not as many as it could have been.
Cristina is having a private conversation with Izzy and they both excuse themselves after Cristina has whispered something in Owen's ear. George and Owen heads for the pit and Bailey takes Meredith back to the surgical floor.
"Want to watch from the gallery?"
"Is there any neuro?"
"Let's see if the spina bifida is finished yet."
They move into the gallery over OR 1. Dr Derek Shepherd is working on the skin graft. They take their seats in the back row. Alex is sitting by the side waiting for Shepherd to finish his part. He notices the movement in the gallery and looks up. Meredith waves to him and he waves back. Shepherd notice that Alex is waving.
"Fan club in the gallery, Dr Karev?" he asks.
"You could say that."
"Tell Dr Stevens to flirt with you outside the OR."
"It is not her" Alex replies. Meredith is making faces to him and he can't help but laughing out loud.
"What's so funny?"
"Just the gallery, Dr Shepherd." The nurses are also looking into the gallery but they can't see anything. It looks normal.
"Stop fooling around, Dr Grey!" Bailey whispers with a smile on her face. They keep whispering with their heads close together. Dr Shepherd finishes his part and can finally look up into the gallery. He sees a blond petit woman talking to Dr Bailey but he can't see her face but she seems familiar. The strange part is that she is dressed in street clothes and civilians are not allowed up there. He scrubs out and decides to check it out but before entering the gallery he gets a 911 from the pit.
It is O'Malley with a car crash victim. O'Malley is also with a civilian, a man in his late 30th. The man is tanned and has experienced eyes. O'Malley makes the introductions. Dr Shepherd this is trauma surgeon Major Dr Owen Hunt who works for Doctors without Boarders. He is visiting me for a couple of days. Dr Hunt this is chief of surgery neuro surgeon Dr Derek Shepherd.
"Prepare an OR for craniotomy while this woman gets an MRI."
"You are as effective as my neuro surgeon." Owen comments. O'Malley looks at him with a smirk that Shepherd catches. He wonders what that means.
In the meantime Cristina and Izzy makes it to the neonatal floor and finds an empty exam room with an ultra sound machine. Izzy draws some blood from Cristina and then asks her to lay back. She puts some gel on Cristina's stomach and starts the ultra sound. She can see the fetus very close to the ovarian tube. That makes her a little worried and she wants Addison to take a look. Izzy beeps Addison and she arrives within a couple of minutes. She stops on the doorstep starring at Cristina. Cristina looks at her and greets her.
"Dr Montgomery"
Addison corrects her with a smile.
"Dr Montgomery Sloan, what are you doing here Dr Yang?"
"Well Izzy can explain why she wanted you to come."
Izzy starts explaining why and shows the ultra sound since Addison was the surgeon that operated on Cristina after her miscarriage more than five years ago.
"What are you doing here in Seattle?"
"I came to celebrate Izzy's graduation."
"Where do you study?"
"I'm already an attending in cardio and general surgery and I work for Doctors without Boarders. I came from Darfur yesterday."
"I have heard that they have a very extensive residential program."
"Yeah, I became an attending last year with double specialties."
"How long will you stay here in Seattle?"
"Until next week, we have a two week vacation every fourth week."
Addison continues with the exam and prescribes something against morning sickness. She wonders who we are.
The three visiting surgeons meet in the lobby and decide to go to Joe's and talk.
Derek scrubs out after his last surgery, changes into street clothes and walks to Joe's. He notices a large crowd in the corner but sits down by the bar and orders his regular drink. A pair of arms wraps around him from behind and then Rose snuggles under his arm.
"Would you like to buy me a drink sweetheart?"
No he thinks but nods his head.
"Joe, a Cosmo for Rose, please."
"Derek, we should start planning our vacation this summer. I would like to fly away to an exotic place with a long white beach."
"I'm planning a fishing trip with Mark." Derek lies. He would like to stay a fourth-night in the trailer all by himself.
"You can't be fishing all our vacation. What about us? We need to do something more permanent. I'm not getting any younger and if we shall have kids we need to start soon."
Kids, he want kids but not her kids. Meredith would be the perfect mother of his kids. A girl looking like Meredith would be adorable.
"Are you asking me for a ring?"
"Yes, we have been dating for more then two years and been living in our apartment for more then one and a half year. Don't you think it is time we move forward, sweetheart? We could go home and practise on making a baby right now and this weekend we could look for a house."
Meredith felt the moment Derek entered Joe's and her eyes never left him. He looked the same. She watches the nurse crawl all over him. He doesn't look pleased. He never shows any emotions towards the nurse. He just sits there nursing his drink. Her friends decide to go home so they wouldn't be tired in the morning. They all passes right behind Derek and Rose.
Suddenly, is Derek surrounded by lavender, he closes his eyes and inhales once more. It is still there but mixed with the perfume Rose use. He feels disappointed. He looks after the people leaving Joe's and that petit woman from the gallery is there. The man from the ER is there as well. He throws some bills on the disk and runs for the door. Rose looks stunned after him. He sprints up the stairs and sees Dr Hunt getting in a car with George. Another car passes by with Dr Karev at the wheel. He can't se more then a blond hair in the backseat.