A.N. Hi! I really want to thanks everyone for reading and leaving a review, I appreciate each and every one of them. Here's the next chapter, I hope you'll like it even if it's only kind of a necessary transition to later events.

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Meredith trudged her feet heavily down the corridor of the surgical unit. What an impressive start to career she had; she just killed off the twelfth participant of her trial. She probably had the highest mortality rate in the whole hospital. Who was she trying to kid, biting off more than she could chew? I'm not half the surgeon my mother was, she snorted grimly. No matter what she did, she would never stop being a failure. To cap it all, she became a serial killer, Seattle Grace brain butcher. That was going to end, though…

"Dr. Grey?"

She heard a familiar voice calling her name as she was passing through the ward.

"Dr. Grey?"

Meredith walked through the open door to meet Mr. Robinson, one of her first patients, sitting beside the bed of his girlfriend, Ms. Lewis. Both of them were recovering nicely , which made them antsy to leave the hospital.

"Ms. Lewis, Mr. Robinson," Meredith forced herself to brush off her depressive mood. "How are you doing today?"

"Great, fabulous!" replied quickly her patient, clutching tightly the hand of Ms. Lewis who was grinning madly.

"Do you have a free minute, Dr. Grey?" she asked glancing sharing a nervous look with Mr. Robinson. "We've wanted to talk to you for a few days now but Dr. Shepherd said that you were really busy."

"Is something wrong?" Meredith wore a worried frown. "Mr. Robinson, you should have informed me during the rounds. I'm not that busy as to not hear out my patients." The last thing she needed on her plate were patients dying after fairly basic procedures.

"No, no! It's nothing medical," stopped her Mr. Robinson. "It's… personal, to be honest," he went on, slightly embarrassed. "We've wanted to tell you the news together… that is, me and Jenny."

Meredith looked between them letting out a sigh of relief, "You've given me a scare."

"Well," the corners of Jenny's lips twitched, "knowing us, you should be scared!" She gazed lovingly at her boyfriend. "Dr. Grey, we've decided to go with our plans. We're getting married, we're taking the plunge!"

Meredith was startled. Taking the plunge… making a dive… whatever you called it, it meant the same – moving past your fears and getting on with your life…

"Dr. Grey?" Mr. Robinson noticed the lack of reaction on her part.

"Uhm, congratulations!" she blurted out hastily.

"It's not everything," noted Ms. Lewis. "We… we'd like to ask you to be my maid of honor."

Meredith opened her mouth in astonishment, "Me? "

Jenny nodded vigorously.

"But I… I'm a stranger," said Meredith. Deep down, though, the request made her feel… nice and warm.

"You're not a stranger!" disagreed the future bride. "You saved our lives. You and Dr. Shepherd saved our lives. Twice!"

Meredith smiled shaking her head slightly.

"We're aware that's your job," Mr. Robinson took the floor. "But it doesn't change the fact that we owe you so much. You saved our lives, there, in the operating room and later… mediating between us."

"We wouldn't imagine having other people as the maid and the best man," Jenny backed up his fiancé.

"You've asked Dr. Shepherd, too?" inquired Meredith. "Has he agreed?"

"Under one condition," Jenny smiled knowingly. "He said he'd agree if we persuaded you."

Meredith put her hands on her hips, "He said that, huh?"

"Please," pleaded Jenny. "Say yes!"

Meredith's face softened at the sight of Jenny's eager one, "Oh, okay… if it's that important to you… I'd be honored. Although, I should warn you I'm not exactly a relationship fairy."

"Dr. Shepherd seems to think otherwise," hinted Jenny. It wasn't difficult to realize that Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Grey weren't indifferent to each other. Jenny only assumed it fair to help them out the way they did for her and Luke. "He talks about you a lot."

"He does?" Meredith's cheek were tinged with pink.

"Yeah," Jenny's voice sank to a theatrical whisper. "Actually, he's like really smitten, head over hills."

"Oh…" Meredith's face fell slightly. "I'm… I've got to go. I'll catch up with you later."

"You pushed your luck," commented Luke after her departure.

"I… don't get it," Jenny muttered distractedly. "I thought she'd be happy to know. She obviously carries a torch for him. I mean what woman doesn't like to hear that the man she's in love with loves her back?"

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Meredith paused a few meters away from Ms. Lewis's room. Was she just told by a patient that Derek was in love with her? She heard a lot of that staff, mostly in the firm of jokes, form Cristina but Jenny's statement made her reevaluate her internal monologues on the nature of Derek's feelings for her, something she hadn't dwelled on since her flight for Seattle. She left the town with the conclusion that it was chemistry, attraction he found difficult to deny himself combined with the thrill of the chase. Nothing beyond the attraction, though.

He didn't hold much regret discarding her when he thought it was time to settle down. He jumped at the prospect of hooking up with that nurse, didn't he? Rose, the stupid slut… she made Meredith throw away all the flowers that were in the close proximity while everyone around her blamed pregnancy hormones.

Then again, Meredith left and let Derek the open door to pursue his family oriented dreams with the nurse. Only… he didn't. Neither with Rose nor with any other woman. Meredith returned to the Emerald City to discover Derek was still in the square one… eager to go McDreamy on her all over again.

Meredith shook her head. It wasn't the right time to ponder her love life. She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from the pocket of her lab coat. It was the previous day's memo from Institutional Review Board allowing her to perform one last operation until midnight, today. Was she unsuccessful, she'd be obliged to terminate the trial.

And that was it. She successfully… murdered the twelfth patient, teenage Jeremy.

All that was left to do now was to tell her thirteenth patient, Beth, a young girl that had been transported to Seattle Grace along with Jeremy, that her surgery was being cancelled.

When Meredith came into her room, she was struck with the mournful mood. Her eyes slipped from Beth's mother sobbing quietly on her husband's arm to her patient who was eerily calm despite the continuous trail of tears running down her cheeks.

"Beth?" Meredith asked anxiously, swiftly approaching her bed and taking out a flashlight pen from her breast pocket. "Are you in pain? The nurse hasn't paged me."

"I am in pain," whispered the girl. "But you can't do anything about it."

Meredith checked her vitals and reached for Beth's chart. Everything was as normal as her state allowed.

"When can I have the surgery, Dr. Grey?" asked Beth with a hollow voice.

Her mother broke from her husband's embrace and bent over her daughter. "You're not having this surgery, sweetie."

"Yes, I am," countered firmly Beth.

"I know you feel bad, honey," her mother searched for the right words. "It was unfair Jeremy had to die."

"You knew Jeremy?" asked Meredith quietly.

Beth's father sighed, "He was… her friend… more than that, actually, he was…" he looked uneasily at his daughter.

"The love of my life," whispered Beth, a faintest trace of smile on her lips. "He loved me, he really loved me…"

"Dr. Grey," sobbed Beth's mom. "They were… so attached to each other and now that Jeremy passed away, she wants to die with him. That's why she wants the surgery."

"I don't want to die," Beth shook her head. "Jeremy wouldn't want me to die."

"I don't want to lose you," whispered her mother tearfully.

"You won't," assured her Beth.

"You'll die with the surgery. I can't let that happen, we're taking you home."

"I'll die anyway, within months, weeks or days," the girl's eyes bored determinedly into Meredith's. "I want the surgery."

Meredith observed the scene with a heavy heart. Beth was desperate to undergo the surgery. What she said to her mother was nothing but true. There didn't exist another course of treatment. Her death was only a matter of time.

Meredith weighed the arguments in her head. She could… bend… the rules a little… She wasn't supposed to experiment on any more patients… But… her trial didn't officially end until midnight. Meredith had time… She could work on improving the viral cocktail until the deadline… She had been so close to achieving her goal with Jeremy.

Meredith swallowed hard and nodded in Beth's direction. "I'll schedule the procedure for tonight."

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"Two trial procedures on the same day?" asked Cristina standing behind Meredith who was filing the surgery's details on the board.

"Yep," she replied shortly.

For the last few days, her relations with Cristina were tense, to put it lightly.

"You… you want me to scrub in?"

Meredith pocketed the marker and turned to Cristina, grateful for the veiled peace offering.

"Thanks, but…" she would be more than glad to have her person at her side. Nevertheless, everything indicated the failure of the procedure and consequently, trouble for Meredith. "I have a resident assigned."

She didn't want to drag her best friend to the bottom, as well. She could be held responsible as well for deliberately disregarding the Board's wishes , due to the obvious truth they were friends. Cristina had already risked a lot for her.

"I'll see you later Cris." She smiled slightly and left Cristina alone.

Oh, what did you do again, Meredith Grey? Cristina groaned inwardly, watching her retreating back.

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Derek was impatiently awaiting Meredith's operation from his seat in the gallery. He was there for the majority of the trial procedures. He wanted badly for her to succeed and for mostly egoistical reasons, as he realized guiltily one day.

Their relationship was on hiatus and Derek subconsciously regarded the end of the trial as the impulse they needed. Meredith's "I'll take you with me, Dr. Shepherd." the other day sounded like a declaration of commitment. Mark called him a desperate fool, a beggar, as well as a couple of other epithets but Derek couldn't care less. He had endured the agony of her disappearing from his life and he wouldn't be that stupid to make the same mistake again.

He watched avidly as Meredith entered the OR, her McFoxy cap bringing a smile to his lips. As usual, she passed a hand over her stomach. Derek found the gesture thought provoking and… hilarious. If he didn't know her, he would have assumed she was trying to prevent a wave of nausea hitting her every time at the sight of an OR.

A nurse helped her put on the gloves and Meredith proceeded further into the room. Then came the moment he was waiting for. She turned around and looked up on the gallery, her vision settling on his face. The corners of her eyes narrowed and he could tell she smiled. She broke their brief eye contact and took her rightful place at the head of the table, he body language indicating utmost concentration. She worked meticulously through every stage of the procedure, faithfully assisted by her resident.

"If you stared any harder, you'd set her on fire," Bailey's voice sounded unexpectedly in his ear. Apparently, he was so caught up in his own little world, he didn't notice Miranda sitting next to him. Meredith's presence ha that effect on him.

"Actually… it's my plan," answered Derek cockily.

"So… you two back in the wonderland?" Miranda asked casually, throwing him a piercing look.

"You're a sucker for gossip, huh?" chuckled Derek. "Or have you placed a bet?"

"Neither," she huffed. "I'm just… concerned."

"You worry about me? I'm truly touched," said Derek mockingly, bringing a hand to his heart.

"You wish!"

Miranda sighed surreptitiously. He was way too chirpy to know about his daughter. Bailey didn't want to interfere but if the situation lingered any longer, she would have to have a serious conversation with Grey.

Even though Miranda would never admit it overtly, she was fond of Derek Shepherd. With all his little faults and overly moussed hair, he was a good man who didn't deserve being cheated out of watching his little girl grow. He had already missed so much.

Blissfully unaware of being the subject of Miranda's qualms, Derek observed Meredith wrap up the procedure. It went relatively smooth. The patient crashed once but the team of doctors directed by Meredith managed to revive her. the patient made it through the surgery. Now, all they could do was… wait.

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The following night, Meredith kept tossing and turning in her bed, dozing off and waking up yo check her pager. Yet, the said pager remained mute, which was definitely a good sign.

When she arrived at Seattle Grace in the early morning, she practically threw herself on the freshly made scans of Beth's skull. She hung up two sets of images to compare, then made a few steps back and grabbed the calipers to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Miraculous and unbelievable as it seemed, the tumor on the post-op scan was… smaller; minimally, but still smaller. Meredith tried her best not to get her hopes up again. The improvement was undeniably huge. Nevertheless, Beth had yet to wake up.

The day was filled with anticipation and many detours near Beth's room. It was already late afternoon when Meredith stopped by the nurses' station to grab the chart that she experienced a sense of déjà vu. She glanced in the direction of Beth's room to see her parents sobbing quietly locked in a tight embrace. Expecting the worse, she went in and as the rest of the room came into the view, her heart soared. Beth's eyelids fluttered and opened precariously. Meredith stood closely by her side, her grin widening by the second.

She gulped and whispered, "Hi."

"Hi." Beth reciprocated her smile. She reached out her right hand which had previously been paralyzed due to the tumor in her brain.

"Not just for show anymore," she breathed out.

Meredith took her hand and squeezed it tightly.

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Sometime later, Meredith burst into Derek's office. As he was nowhere in sight, Meredith made it to his desk and yanked open one of the drawers. She huffed in frustration; the bottle of champagne was absent as well.

"Are you looking for me or the champagne?"

Meredith raised her eyes to meet Derek's amused expression. He was leaning against the doorframe, already in the street clothes.

"Both," replied Meredith playfully.

"Ah, then you found us," he said holding out his free hand for her.

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"Hey!" yelled Cristina. She opened her eyes disoriented as she felt the headphones of her iPod pulled out of her ears. Instead of her favourite song she heard Meredith's hushed and feverish tones.

"Cristina! Can you stay with Bessie this evening?"

"If you tell me what's going on with you," hissed Cristina. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she looked past Meredith's shoulder to see Shepherd pacing outside the residents' locker room, evidently waiting for her best friend.

"Mer…" began Cristina dangerously.

"Please… I… the weightlessness!" stammered out Meredith, bad at masking her euphoria. "The weightlessness, Cristina! I'm telling him tonight!"

Cristina assessed her determined face, "Go, Bessie will be perfectly fine with me."

"Thank you! The babysitter finishes at five. Tell the angel mommy loves her; I'll call later!"

Meredith stumbled out to join Derek. Cristina saw him affectionately place a hand on the small of her back and… hold a bottle of liquor in the other.

She shook her head skeptically. Derek Shepherd plus Meredith Grey plus alcohol… always equaled trouble.

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A.N. The next chapter's almost entirely MerDer-centric. Cheers!