A.N. So, here it is! I really hope you'll like it; your reviews so far have been very encouraging. Enjoy!
P.S. When I was imagining the dance scene, I was listening to the song by Butterfly Boucher – "I Can't Make Me Love You". If you'd like to check it out, the links are on my profile page.
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Several minutes later, Meredith was standing at the sink in the scrub room, washing her hands energetically. She was getting nervous. No! She was actually freaking out!
Calm down, Meredith, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Calm down. It's a typical, textbook case. You've operated on similar cases.
But she's just four-year-old, barely older than Bessie, said another vice in her head inadvertently.
Calm down! she urged herself. This little girl's life is in your hands; keep emotions out of it!
She raised her eyes to the ceiling. Judging by the loud thuds, the gallery above her seemed to be filling in with people. In her mind's eye, she saw her fellow IEPSs, then her old friends from Seattle Grace and probably other curious members of hospital staff. Was he among them?
Against her will, the possibility of him watching her perform sent thrills through her body. Fate was mocking her, laughing straight into her face. She was about to enter the same OR in which she assisted to her very first procedure. And there was no point in pretending, the moment when she took the place at Derek's side when he was operating on that annoying teenage beauty queen proved decisive to her future as a surgeon.
During her time at Seattle Grace choosing a specialty was a great dilemma. Having left the Rain City, her mind cleared miraculously. It was so obvious and natural, really, to go for neuro. As she travelled from city to city with two suitcases and Bessie in her arms, she felt that no ghost from her past, either of her mother or of her past relationships, could reach her. She left them all in her closet in Seattle. She was free to make her choices without being judged or frowned upon.
After crossing the threshold to the OR, she would be in the spotlight again.
That's right, in the spotlight, she said to herself confidently. She was going to be the main star in this show and she was gonna rock. Well, literally!
The door opened and Meredith entered the OR, immediately sensing dozens of gazes on her back.
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To say that the gallery was full would be an understatement. It was bursting at the seems.
Mark, Derek, the Chief Webber and both Warren doctors were sitting on the lowest bench, directly overlooking the OR.
For Dr. James Warren it was a wait full of anticipation. Over the years, he had stayed faithful to the rule not to pick favourites among his residents. However, with Meredith Grey, he couldn't help it. Although he was careful never to show any signs of favouritism towards her, he and Stacy regarded her practically as a daughter they never had. Meredith had grown on them, she was truly unique, and the fact that she was pregnant additionally brought the three of them (well, four, to be precise) closer together. Initially, she was wary, determined to keep the distance. But she needed somebody stable to trust, and as the time passed she put down her defences.
James relied his full confidence in Meredith. She was talented, enthusiastic and undeniably possessed a drive for neuro. After two and a half years of training, she became an unquestionable professional. She was their girl though; he had a right to be nervous for her.
The rest of spectators were attracted to the gallery mainly out of curiosity. The rumour was slowly spreading that the prodigal daughter of Seattle Grace was back.
Cristina Yang was having the time of her life. She had seen all that coming- the whispering, the juicy gossip and the curious stares. Yeah, thanks to Meredith, life was going to spice up again. She chanced a look at her friends Alex, George and Izzie chatting excitedly beside her, and then at Shepherd. Little drama this way comes…
Derek took a sharp intake of breath as he registered the silhouette of the woman in the room beneath him. For the second time that day, he asked himself if he wasn't hallucinating. The woman had her back to the gallery and her hair was hidden under a plain scrub cap, but her petite figure seemed all too familiar with her bare neck, her slim waist and her curves. Only he had always seen her in light blue scrubs, not navy…
Derek rubbed his eyes. His condition was evidently getting worse. He shouldn't be allowed to hold a scalpel if he kept daydreaming about his long-gone ex-girlfriend.
"You owe us, babe," bellowed a blond guy from the opposite corner of the gallery where the IEPSs were huddled together.
"Yeah, don't be a bitch, brain girl!" sounded a feminine voice.
Did that mean he wasn't mental after all?
"Told ya, a bunch of kids," muttered Mark with an air of superiority.
Derek didn't respond; all his senses were directed at the would-be-Meredith who had just started to do something very weird indeed…
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Meredith had barely left the scrub room when she heard the muffled cries of Ned and Ingrid from the gallery
Ok, let's set the ball rolling! she exhaled, taking sensuous steps to the rhythm of a song playing in her mind.
The scrub nurses preparing the OR for the procedure froze in astonishment, so as the audience in the gallery. They gaped with their eyes wide as Meredith raised her arms locking her wrists in the air. She bent her knees and curved her back, throwing her head behind. Her hips swayed audaciously as she span around. She half-closed her eyes flirtatiously but carefully avoided meeting any face. Then, still swinging her body, she crossed her hands close to her chest and buried her face in her shoulders feigning shyness. Her little dance culminated in her stopping straight, bending one of her legs seductively, her chest inflated proudly and her arms behind her.
Her fellow IEPSs whooped with elation, applauding wildly her performance.
"Naughty as ever, Mer," she heard Ned's jubilant jest.
She gave them a tiny bow with her head but her eyes swept involuntarily over the gallery. She caught sight of many familiar faces and among them… Derek's gawking at her, wearing an inscrutable expression.
Thank God for the mask, or everyone would be made aware of the furious blush that graced her cheeks.
The rest of the gallery stayed temporarily stunned with her actions and only when she turned away to busy herself with final preparations for the procedure did the whispering, buzzing, giggling and even wolf-whistling begin.
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"I'm starting to change my mind about them," declared Mark, visibly impressed.
Derek was speechless. He was fighting a silent war with himself not to run into the OR and rip the mask off the woman in question.
"Please, forgive my kids," said Dr. Warren apologetically. "It's sort of their… tradition."
Dr. Webber looked at him and nodded, his eyebrows raised so high they faced a risk of disappearing.
"Wow, the IEPS curriculum is really comprehensive," chortled Izzie.
"It was kinda hot," commented Alex.
George nodded in a daze.
"Don't get your hopes up, Frat Boy," jeered Cristina. "She's out of your league."
Cristina glanced at Meredith who was giving instructions to a scrub nurse. The bomb's going to explode real soon…
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The operation was about to begin. The patient had just been moved to the OR, her little head shaved.
"We managed to find her parents," Fowler informed Meredith. "They're already at the hospital; I've filled them in."
"Good," Meredith nodded. "What's her name?" she asked softly. She always wanted to know the name of a person on whom she was operating.
"Dora."
Meredith acknowledged the information and ordered "Nurse, gloves, please."
That's it, that's the moment, thought Meredith moving forward to the operating table. She felt Derek's presence with every fibre of her being. But she danced; she danced and nothing was to break her composure. The charm worked.
She halted at the head of the table and said "Good morning, I'm Dr. Meredith Grey and I'm pleased to work with you today. Let's save Dora's life, shall we?"
"Blade fifteen, please," she commanded and reached out a hand for the scalpel, ignoring the agitated murmur going through the gallery.
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"What has she just said?" Izzie asked feverishly. She was fidgeting in her seat to get a better look at Meredith.
"She's just said that she's Dr. Meredith Grey and she's pleased-"started George in a daze.
"I know what she's said. It was a rhetorical question," barked Izzie irritably.
Cristina smirked; the emotions were running high. All around her, doctors, nurses even were gossiping like mad, craning their necks.
Derek was not capable of formulating any coherent thought. He was completely and utterly dumbstruck. He hadn't blinked once, as he observed Meredith's, his Meredith's every move hungrily. He was amazed with her presence at Seattle Grace. But he couldn't ignore the dexterity, precision and speed she was exhibiting. Her hands were working swiftly and purposefully, there wasn't a moment of hesitation.
"McDreamy, I'd watch out for your post if I were you. I'm sure the Chief's willing to make her his head of neuro," Cristina's provocative remark sounded behind him.
"And I bet you wouldn't mind that," Mark whispered suggestively to his ear.
"McDreamy?" mouthed James wordlessly to his wife, his eyebrows raised meaningfully.
"Looks like it!" she mouthed back and shot a curious glance at Derek.
James squinted at him from the corner of his eyes. Neurosurgeon, of course. I should've known. And that hair…
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At the same time, Meredith was halfway through the procedure. At some point she spotted his intern's unease.
"Dr. Fowler, is there something wrong?" she demanded.
"No, it's just- I mean, the arteries are so small. Her age makes the procedure more complicated, doesn't it?"
"To some extent; but it also makes the chances for successful recovery more promising. It's up to you how complicated and successful it'll be." answered Mer.
Some half an hour later, she had successfully removed the aneurism but come across a complication not detected by the CT.
Fowler frowned with concern.
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A.N.2. A little cliffie here I really, really hope you've enjoyed it. Post reviews and let me know, please. The chapter 6 will appear in the course of the next few days, sometime over Christmas.
In the meantime, let me wish you Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or Happy Holidays!
