Chapter Six: Cristina Confrontation

And so the rest of the day went smoothly.

Meredith was assigned to Addison and she tended to her new attending's patients with no hassles whatsoever.

She did not see Derek at all in the corridors in her part of the hospital and for the first time that day, Meredith found that could finally relax a little bit.

When it came time to have lunch Meredith didn't go to the cafeteria where she knew everyone else would be. She knew that Derek would probably be there waiting for her, wanting to try and talk to her about her transfer.

The idea of transferring could not help but bring a smile to Meredith's face whenever she thought about it.

All of the nurses and other interns that had seen Meredith working with Addison with a smile on her face had caused the gossip to quickly fire up again and it wasn't long till every other intern knew where Meredith was working in the hospital.

Everyone that is, except Derek.

Meredith was doing an ultrasound on a patient who was five months pregnant with her first child and was checking to see if there were any complications with the unborn baby when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Quickly looking over her shoulder, Meredith saw Cristina standing there with her arms crossed and a hard expression on her face.

"Meredith we need to talk."

The patient looked at Meredith then Cristina then back at Meredith with interest.

"It's ok Dr Grey, you can go talk to her if you want."

Meredith looked at her patient, a beautiful young 25-year-old woman with long brown hair and brown eyes. Her name was Sarah Pebbling and Meredith had already grown fond of her even though she had known her for only two hours.

"Sarah I need to finish your ultrasound first before I can. Your baby comes first." Meredith said with a smile before quickly glancing back at Cristina. "Cristina I will talk to you in a few minutes."

Cristina nodded once, said, "Fine." and walked out of the room.

Meredith sighed quietly and looked back at the screen where she could see the developing baby.

"She seemed to be angry at you." Sarah said, gazing at the monitor too.

"Well she has every right to be." Meredith replied quietly, carefully studying the screen looking for anything that looked unusual.

"Why?" asked Sarah in confusion.

Meredith printed off a picture of the ultrasound and removed the wand off Sarah's swollen stomach.

Turning off the machine, Meredith turned to look at Sarah with a smile, "Your baby looks entirely healthy and shows no signs that there are any complications in your uterus. But I will get Dr Montgomery-Shepherd to look at you just to make sure."

Sarah smiled gratefully at her but was a bit hurt when Meredith didn't answer her question.

"Why would she mad at you Dr Grey?" she asked again and Meredith looked away for a few seconds then back at Sarah with a sad smile.

"Because I am about to tell her that I am going to transfer from this hospital to Boston." Meredith said and Sarah just nodded understandably.

"Well whatever your reasons are Dr Grey, I hope she isn't too upset or angry at you." Sarah said with a hopeful smile and Meredith smiled back at her.

Walking out of the room Meredith wished that she was on the happy pregnant hormones that Sarah was because at least she would also feel optimistic that maybe Cristina wasn't going to hate her for all eternity and stop speaking to her ever again.

Meredith found Cristina waiting in the hall just like she had promised but the instant Christina saw Meredith, she quickly walked forward, took Meredith's arm and led her into a nearby storage cupboard for some privacy.

The sudden movement caused Meredith to be unable to speak but the instant that Cristina had shut the door, Meredith pulled her arm out of Cristina's hand and swung around to look at her.

"Let me just say ow!" Meredith grumbled at her, slightly rubbing her arm that had been in Cristina's iron grip.

"Oh don't be such a wimp Meredith." Cristina said, regarding her friend with a hard expression still.

Meredith stopped rubbing her arm and looked at Cristina's face with misunderstanding, "Huh?"

Cristina sighed in annoyance, "Meredith don't pull your confused look ok I know what you're doing. I can't believe you would go as far as to do something like that!"

Meredith, thinking that Cristina knew about her transfer, sighed in defeat, "Ok I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner but I had to do it and…"

"Meredith working with the She-Shepherd just to make sure you don't talk to Derek just so I will give twenty dollars is too extreme even for you!"

Confusion flooded Meredith but as she watched Cristina's disbelieving face, it suddenly dawned on her just what Cristina was on about.

The bet they had made only this morning.

"You're talking about our bet?" Meredith asked weakly.

Cristina looked at her with annoyance, "Yeah of course. What else did you think I was talking about?"

Meredith looked guiltily at her and Cristina's expression changed into one of confusion, "What were you talking about Mer?"

Meredith felt all of the strength slowly drain out of her legs and she sat on the floor and stared up at Cristina.

"You might wanna sit down when I tell you this." Meredith said and when concern showed on Cristina's face Meredith felt even worse.

This was going to be the hardest thing to tell Cristina but she knew she must do it otherwise it would be unbearable if she heard it from someone else.

Cristina sat on the ground in front of Meredith and stared at her with such concern Meredith felt the pricks of tears at the back of her eyes.

"Mer what's wrong?"

Staring at her best friend, Meredith quickly gushed, "Do you promise you won't hate me and never talk to me again when I tell you this?"

Cristina studied Meredith's worried face for a few seconds before she finally nodded.

"Yeah I promise I won't hate you and I will still talk to you afterwards when you tell me whatever it is you want to tell me."

Meredith, now slightly relieved, she took a deep breath and opened her mouth to talk when suddenly Cristina cut in, "You didn't sleep with McDreamy again did you?"

Glaring at Cristina, Meredith said, "No!"

Cristina smiled at Meredith, "Well that's ok then. Spill." And she gestured with her arm for Meredith to continue.

Looking away from Cristina, Meredith opened her mouth and finally let it out.

"I'm going to transfer to Boston Public."

Glancing back at Cristina, Meredith saw such hurt and shock on her face that Meredith couldn't think to say anything except, "I leave in two weeks."

Cristina looked away from Meredith and stared at the floor that she was sitting on.

A terrible silence filled the storage cupboard and just when Meredith was about to say something to break the tension, Cristina spoke quietly, "Well I didn't think you'd ever go that far just to avoid Shepherd."

Cristina looked at Meredith with such seriousness Meredith found it impossible to look away, "Mer have you…have you told anyone about this?"

"I spoke with the Chief this morning. That's why he wanted to see me."

"What did he say?"

"He tried to talk me out of it…"

"But?"

"But once I had explained to him that it was the right thing to do and why, he approved."

Cristina was silent again and Meredith looked away.

"Thankyou for being able to tell me…but you could have spoken to me before it had been finalised. I wouldn't have told anyone about it."

Meredith quickly looked back at Cristina and saw her looking sadly at her.

"I know Cristina but I didn't know how you would have reacted about it. I was worried that maybe you would have tried to talk me out of it."

Cristina looked at her friend and suddenly gave her a small smile, "I would have tried too."

She's not going to hate me.

Knowing now that their friendship was safe even after the revelation, Meredith smiled slightly back at Cristina.

"Then I'm glad I told you now."

Cristina gave Meredith a slight push on the shoulder and shook her head and gave a small chuckle.

"Dirty ex-mistress." Cristina said with a smile and Meredith now smiled fully.

"Well this dirty mistress is not going to be dirty anymore where I'm going." Meredith said happily and Cristina just smiled sadly.

"Well Boston Public isn't as good as Seattle Grace but…it was a very brave decision for you to have made all by yourself." Cristina said and looked admiringly at Meredith. "You'll be fine Mer and we will all manage without you. Just."

Meredith looked at Cristina with a grateful smile and suddenly leaned over and gave her best friend a tight hug.

Cristina, despite the hate of having people touching her, hugged Meredith back tightly.

They did not separate for a full minute but when they finally did Cristina just looked at her in embarrassed disbelief.

"Did we just hug Meredith?"

Meredith gave her the same expression, "Yeah I think we just did…"

"Gross."

"Yeah I know."

They shared a smile and both stood up at the same time.

With no other words that needed to be spoken they exited the storage cupboard and went in opposite directions.

But just to make sure of something, Meredith suddenly turned around and called out, "Cristina?"

Cristina quickly turned around and looked at Meredith inquisitively.

"Am I still your person?"

Meredith watched Cristina as she gave a slow smile and nod before turning around and walking off.

Meredith's heart now felt lighter as she went off to find Addison to show her the ultrasound picture.

Now that she knew Cristina was ok with her leaving, Meredith felt like she could face anything. When she looked ahead in the corridor though she suddenly saw Derek standing with his arms over his chest at the end of the corridor waiting for her.

Well…almost anything.

A/N: Hey guys, I'm a bit short for time to answer reviews at the moment but I promise I will have all of the replies for them in the next chapter. And the next chapter is the first confrontation between Meredith and Derek! Dun dun DUN! We all knew it was going to happen and I couldn't hold it off for much longer. I will update ASAP and if anyone thinks this chapter isn't written properly please tell me because I am not a hundred percent happy with this chapter. Thanks. :)