Chapter 20 – Beautiful war

A/N: Sorry for the loooong wait! Again. I really need to get some routine in, but you know I love you all! Sorry if it feels rushed. I just want to get on with the story ;) Also: I know I'm not a responder to reviews, but I really do read and appreciate all of them.

Bite your tongue
Don't make a scene dear
Everybody's been here
At least once before

(Beautiful War – Kings of Leon)

"Mrs. Grey" Carolyn's voice was kind but reserved. Meredith had no doubt she had heard stories of the infamous woman before her. Certainly nothing good, judging by the look on her face.

"Mrs. Shepherd" Ellis said. She had an air of business around her. This was no "get better"-visit.

"I don't think we've ever had the pleasure…"

"How are you feeling?" Ellis cut the sitting woman off. It was almost unbearably rude and Meredith scowled where she stood.

"I'm great, Mrs. Grey," Carolyn said, making no comment on the cut-off.

"Oh, call me Ellis. Please."

Meredith's eyebrows rose to her hairline in surprise. Since when did Ellis Grey ask people to use her first name? This was a very irregular occurrence, no doubt.

"Oh. Right, Ellis," Carolyn said, smiling slightly. There was a brief silence. Ellis was no doubt waiting for the other lady to offer the same as she herself had done. Carolyn didn't say anything of the sort.

"So, I gather we seem to have something in common," Ellis stated finally, getting straight to the point.

"I doubt it, Ellis," Carolyn said calmly. Meredith put her hand on her mouth to hide her smirk.

"A common problem, that needs to be rectified," Ellis continued as if she hadn't heard her.

"Really? And what would that be?"

"Are you deliberately being obtuse?" Finally, impatience colored Dr Grey's voice and some light foot tapping could be heard from her side of the room.

"You must excuse me, what is this problem that we supposedly have in common? As far as I know, you and I have never met before." Mrs. Shepherd was no woman to be trifled with. Both Meredith and Derek were waiting expectantly for a shoe to drop.

"Of course not, but our… children seems to have made quite a mess together." Ellis grimaced at the last words as if she was disgusted to even be forced to talk about it out loud.

"Now I must say that you've lost me, Ellis." Carolyn seemed unaffected, but if you looked closely you could see that her jaw was tensed and that she was sitting much straighter than before. Her eyes were following every little move the standing woman before her was making. Meredith shivered for some reason.

"Very well" Ellis stated, stretching out into her most professional pose. "Your son has been cause to a great disruption in my reputation. Meredith would never have been acting this way if she had never moved here in his company."

"Oh?" Carolyn asked, overly sweetly.

"I have no doubt that you know about this, as every nurse from here to New York seems to have the gory details." Ellis sighed and shifted in her stance. "I suspect you have had some trouble of your own."

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"Hm. Not surprising. You've just been through major surgery. But as soon as you return back home, you'll understand what I am talking about."

"You'll have to excuse me again, Ellis. What are you suggesting? That my Derek is at fault for your bad reputation? You must see that this is an awful accusation." Mrs. Shepherd spoke just a tad bit too slowly, making warning bells ring in both Meredith and Derek's heads. Ellis, however, seemed unmoved.

"Oh, I am not blaming you. And I'm definitely not saying that Doctor Shepherd is alone at fault here. After all, Meredith is the one with a bad judgment in character. The both of them has grossly overstepped the line, and I feel that some sort of action needs to be taken."

Carolyn stared at Ellis as if the woman had suddenly grown two heads. It would have been comical, if it wasn't so scary.

"Are you saying that Derek and Meredith should be punished for their lack of discretion?" Her voice was incredulous and filled with anger.

"Oh, I don't have the time for that." Ellis scoffed. "All I'm saying is that a little bit of motherly scolding should be enough to make them realize that staying away from each other might be the best course of action in this case." She smiled harshly in an attempt to soften up the situation. It didn't work.

"You are suggesting that I speak to my son and tell him to stay away from your daughter. Am I understanding you correctly?" Carolyn's voice rose with every word. You could feel the tension all the way through the door. Meredith and Derek looked at each other worriedly, thinking that an interruption would soon be needed.

"And possibly leave town," Ellis nodded and smiled with a superior expression on her face. Mrs. Shepherd's eyes widened and she looked as if she was about to rise from her sitting position and punch the other woman straight in the face. Before anything violent transpired Meredith grabbed the door handle. She and Derek almost fell through the opening in their haste to stop this ill-fated meeting.

Both women looked up at their children who were awkwardly shuffling their feet in front of them. They tried desperately to look like they had in fact not heard the entire conversation.

"Ah, Mrs. Shepherd." Meredith said after a tense moment of silence. "I see you've met my mother. Mrs. Shep-… Carolyn, this is Ellis Grey. Mom, Carolyn Shepherd."

Ellis raised an eyebrow and regarded her daughter impassively.

"Stop fooling around, Meredith, and tell us the reason for your interruption of this private conversation."

Meredith searched around the room for inspiration. She saw the chart lying on the table next to Derek's mother and grabbed the opportunity.

"Ah! I'm just checking everything's OK with Mrs. Shepherd here… before she leaves this evening."

"Yes, right. And I'm just in to say that I'll be ready to drive her to the airport by six," Derek put in, even though everybody ignored him.

"Well, go on then!" Ellis said impatiently to her daughter. Meredith hurriedly examined Carolyn one last time, which was completely unnecessary, since she had done so just a few hours prior. All the while she was feeling her mother's judging eye in the back of her neck. Meredith finished nervously, saying that Carolyn was free to go. When she was done the awkward tension returned. She stood anxiously by the bed, tapping her pen on the chart in her hand. Derek was still standing squirming by the door. It seemed like an eternity before Meredith took a steadying breath and straightened her back.

"Well. I should be going then," she said, overly eager. "It was nice to meet you again Mrs. Shepherd," Meredith smiled at her patient.

"Please, it's Carolyn, Meredith," she responded kindly, if a bit stiffly.

Meredith nodded and rushed out the door. She felt Derek sprinting up after her and heard him call her name, but she ignored him and walked swiftly towards nowhere in particular.

Meredith thought she heard him sigh before she disappeared out of hearing distance, but she could just be imagining things.

A week went by, but Ellis didn't take a hint. It hadn't taken long for her to realize that Meredith was living alone in the old house, which was technically her property. She had moved in swiftly, stared disgustedly at Meredith's mess and sprayed essentially the entire house with disinfectant before claiming the master bedroom and throwing Meredith's stuff out into the hallway. The daughter didn't have energy to fight it, knowing she could never win this argument. This was technically her mother's house after all. So, there was nothing to do but go back to the shallow and bleak space that was her childhood room and past sanctuary.

Ellis had showed no intention of leaving anytime in the near future, despite her daughter's insistent advice. "Don't you have patients back home, mother?" Meredith had asked numerous times. Ellis simply waved her away with her hand, claiming that she was on "vacation". Meredith, of course, knew better. Her mother didn't take vacations. She was too much of a workaholic to ever relax in a setting that wasn't an OR. Ellis Grey's version of a holiday would be a marathon of complicated surgeries for 42 hours.

Truth was, nobody really understood what she was even doing there. Some nurses speculated that the good old doctor was just here to spend time with Meredith.

Good grief.

Others claimed that she was thinking about moving here indefinitely and maybe take over her daughter's job. Meredith shivered at the thought. If Ellis Grey started working at Seattle Grace Mercy West, her daughter would be gone quicker than she had arrived.

Meredith herself was not okay. Her relationship with her mother had never been great, but now it seemed the entire situation had turned catastrophic. They snapped at each other at every turn, making Meredith constantly on edge when they had to be in the same room. On another note, she had never been so calm in the hospital before. Every surgery flew by without much complications and it seemed she was on a streak. Honestly, Meredith thought, it seemed she hadn't really fully appreciated an environment without her mother's presence before she started being accosted by her everywhere she went. Now she took full advantage of the controlled pace of the OR where she was queen.

She thought calmly about this fact as she cut into the man on the table confidently. Nothing would disrupt her calm in here. She was completely safe. That was, until she was roughly pushed from the body in front of her and abruptly replaced.

"Mother!" Meredith gasped, outraged.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Grey. I tried to stop her!" came a nurse's voice from somewhere behind them.

"Dr. Grey, I'm taking over this surgery," Ellis said simply, looking closely at what she had before her. Meredith scowled.

"What possible motivation do you have for this crap?" she asked in a growl. Ellis didn't even spare her a look.

"I haven't been operating for almost a week. I'm bored. Clamp," she stated and put her hand out to a nurse.

Meredith stared at her.

"So you just decided to take one of my surgeries?!" she exclaimed. Ellis nodded solemnly.

"Yes."

"Why don't you just move back if you're so bored?" Meredith asked in exasperation. Her mother gave her a glare at that.

"I can't. I'm needed here," she said and continued to work. Meredith glowered at her murderously.

"Look, I don't know what more you think you can achieve here. You have said what you came here to say, now get the hell out of here!" Meredith turned around swiftly and stalked out towards the scrub room, knowing that any fighting to get her OR back was futile. Ellis Grey always got what she wanted.

Later that day Meredith and Christina were making their way towards the cafeteria, when they spotted the she-monster walking in their direction. It seemed Ellis had not seen them yet, which Meredith took quick advantage of as she dragged her friend behind an open door. Just as they breathed a sigh of relief they saw Ellis stopping right in front of them. Holding their breath they waited to see if she was going to approach them, but they needn't have worried. It seemed Ellis had found another poor surgeon to pester.

"Doctor Shepherd," Ellis greeted with a sickeningly sweet tone.

"Doctor Grey," came Derek's voice in response. He seemed exceptionally cold and distant, which made Meredith curious to know his thoughts.

"I should have thought you were on your way out of here by now," Ellis said with a calm voice.

"Oh?" Derek asked, just as calmly.

"Seeing as your wife has disappeared and your mother gone back to New York… Clearly you have nothing keeping you here," she said disapprovingly. There was a tense silence. Even Meredith, who was some distance away, could feel the strength of the stare Derek Shepherd gave her mother. She heard him take a deep breath before speaking

"Alright, let's cut to the cheese here," he said with a voice as cold as ice. "I'm suspecting you are bringing this point up because of my past relationship to Meredith." Ellis didn't respond, which was enough encouragement to keep him talking.

"Even though I think this is absolutely none of your business, I want to make this clear. I am completely and utterly in love with your daughter."

Meredith's eyes widened. She had not expected those words to ever spill out of his mouth again.

"Yes, I have made some awful choices, and yes, she has a right to despise the ground that I walk on." Derek tried to hide the heartbroken tone of his voice, but didn't entirely succeed.

"Still, if Meredith decides to forgive me some day in the near or far future... nothing you or anyone else says will make me walk away from her again. Good day, Doctor Grey," with those words Derek strode away from the scene, leaving two Grey-women gaping in his wake.

"Oh man. McDreamy has balls," Christina whispered in awe.