Chapter Eleven: Day One, Morning

Meredith had guessed correctly.

When she had turned up in the locker room that morning, all of the other interns were looking at her and whispering behind their hands to each.

Meredith knew that everyone knew about her transfer.

But she didn't care.

With a smile she walked off towards the place she was going to meet Addison on what was going to be, hopefully, a Derek-free day.

But still it didn't stop her from looking over her shoulder every now and then just to make sure he wasn't there watching her.

When she finally found Addison, Meredith noticed there were great black rings under her eyes and she looked exhausted.

"Morning Dr Shepherd." She said with a nice voice.

Addison shut her eyes the instant she heard Meredith's voice and she internally counted to three before opening her eyes and forcing a happy smile on her face.

"Good morning Grey."

Meredith immediately knew something was wrong with Addison and her immediate guess was Derek, but rather than say anything or even ask she quickly asked, "What do we have today?"

Addison handed her a large case-file and Meredith opened it to examine it, but she was sorely surprised when she saw it was filled with an enormous amount of paperwork. Quickly she looked back at Addison with confusion but Addison just looked at her with a half-smile.

"Today Grey you will be doing the paper work for all of my patients."

Meredith's heart sank.

She knew that this had been going to happen.

She had been foolish to allow her mind to think that Addison Montgomery-Shepherd was going to treat her like any other intern.

Her disappointment showed on her face and Addison just raised an eyebrow at her.

"You have a problem with that Grey?"

Quickly Meredith straightened up and her face changed into a blank expression, "No ma'am I don't."

"Then get to work Grey. I need you to immediately go and get to work while I go and get the results on some patients that had stayed here last night for observation." Addison said, her voice clipped and slightly harsh.

Meredith quickly nodded and set off without another word.

The instant she turned away from Addison, Meredith allowed her face to crumble with sadness and embarrassment.

A deep part of Meredith felt that Addison was doing this to her for revenge for something. She could not help but think that maybe it was about her transfer but Meredith could guess that Addison must be over the moon that she was going to be leaving for good.

It would mean that she had officially 'won' with Derek with a finality that caused to nearly crush Meredith but she knew that she could not allow it to swallow her whole, so she held her head up high as she walked down the corridor.

So Addison could give her hell on Earth for the next two weeks…Meredith promised herself that she would survive and be stronger for it.

What can kill me will only make me stronger…or something like that…

As she found her way to an empty office, Meredith sat herself down in a chair and placed the heavy folder on the desk. Glaring at it, she concentrated on it and tried to will it to set itself on fire, but with no such luck.

"She really is Satan." She muttered under her breath as she leant over and opened the folder and began the huge pile of paperwork.

3 hours later

Meredith finished the last sheet of paper and placed her nearly empty pen on the desk.

She could not help but give a small cheer and raise her arms up in the air in victory.

She had kicked the paperwork's ass!

"Down with the She-Shepherd's paperwork!" she cheered, grinning and swirling around on the chair.

"Geez Mer, you really hate paperwork that much?"

Instantly Meredith stopped her spinning and turned around to look at the door.

When she saw Alex standing there, arms crossed with an amused smile on his face, Meredith smiled back at him.

"You damn right Alex, especially when it's an attending's who absolutely hates you and wants to give you hell on earth."

Alex chuckled as he walked inside the office and pulled up a chair next to her.

"And why are you doing the She-Shepherd's paperwork?" he asked in confusion.

Meredith looked at him in shock, "You don't know?"

Alex shook his head, "No. I've kinda been outta the loop with things for a little while."

Meredith looked at him in surprise for a second before just saying 'Oh.' in an understanding tone.

"So what is it?" he asked in curiosity.

Meredith looked at him with a serious expression, "I'm transferring to Boston Public in two weeks."

Alex suddenly started to laugh but he stopped after a few seconds when her face didn't change from her serious expression. He blew out air in shock and disbelief.

"Dude, I didn't think you'd go that far just to avoid Shepherd."

Meredith suddenly huffed in anger, "I'm not going just to avoid him. Alex I'm going to clear my name as an intern and to have the opportunity to learn to become a surgeon without all of the crap that I get here from everyone else."

Alex's smile dropped off his face as she looked at the floor and he saw hurt there.

"Ah crap, I'm sorry Grey for laughing." He said quietly, causing her to look at him in surprise.

Alex Kirev was apologising to her.

"It's ok." She replied and half-smiled at him.

Immediately he smiled back at her.

"So two weeks huh?" he asked and Meredith nodded.

"Yep, two weeks then I'm off."

Alex rubbed his hands together and he looked at the floor.

"I think it's a really brave thing to do." He said, looking back up at her with a serious expression.

Meredith now smiled fully at him. "Thanks Alex."

He smiled back, "You're welcome Grey."

Leaning back in his chair, he placed his hand behind his head and began to slightly swivel on the chair.

"So who else knows?" he asked.

"Everyone now I think." She said. "But I told Cristina, George and Izzie yesterday."

Glancing at him, Meredith saw a flash of hurt on his face so she quickly continued, "I was going to tell you too but by the time I could you had already gone home."

Alex just grinned at her, "Meredith you don't have to lie just to make me feel better."

Meredith looked at him seriously, "No Alex I'm being serious. By the time Addison had let me go, you and everyone else had gone home and I didn't get the chance to ask you."

Alex looked at her, confused, "Ask me what?"

"Whether or not you wanted to move into my room when I leave?"

Alex looked at her in utter disbelief, but the longer he looked at her in silence, the more he started to belief her.

"Mer, you've got to be kidding me." He said with a disbelieving grin.

Meredith's eyes widened, "Don't you believe me?"

Alex shook his head in amusement. "Not a single word Grey."

Meredith looked at him with slight annoyance, "Alex I'm being serious. I couldn't offer my room to Cristina because she's now living, well unofficially, living with Dr Burke and you were the other person who instantly came to my mind."

Alex's expression slowly started to change, "Really?"

"Yeah." She said, slowly beginning to grin.

"Huh." He said with an amazed grin.

"Huh." She repeated in the same tone, grinning away too.

"So…would that mean that I would have to put up with Bambi?" he asked and Meredith couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes Alex, but there's a big plus." She said, causing him to look at her in confusion again.

Meredith suddenly got off her chair and collected all of the completed paperwork in the folder.

She began to walk away but Alex spoke.

"What's the big plus?"

Stopping, Meredith turned around and looked at him with a big smile.

"You'll be living with Izzie."

She watched as the smile slowly crept onto his face and his eyes lit up.

It was so obvious that he liked Izzie, that Meredith could not help but make him notice it every chance she could.

Alex caught her looking at him and looked disgruntled at her, "Shut up Grey."

Meredith still smiled at him and he just smiled at her.

"You love it Alex." She said before turning her back on him and walking out of the door before he could say another word to her.

Meredith knew he would take the room and so that fixed another problem on her never-ending 'to do' list before she had to leave.

A/N:Sorry for taking so long to update but I've been fully tied with school (we just started the year) so I'm gonna be slow updating and answering reviews. I'll answer ALL reviews next chapter but I'm glad it seems everyone is enjoying the story so far. :)