So Contagious
Meredith stretched out in bed, staring at the ceiling. Her thoughts wandered to the events of her terrible day, combined with the events from the night before. She answered no direct questions about the night before, but Cristina, more than anyone else, was sneaky about getting her to answer subtle questions. Her spacey, flustered manner did not help her case in the least, but she managed to wiggle out of an explanation.
The truth was the memories from the night before came back at the most inopportune moments throughout the day. The memories were good ones, but they made things especially difficult at work.
When she was talking to her patient's gay parents, she remembered Mark ripping her shirt off in drunken impatience after fumbling clumsily with the buttons. At lunch, she remembered raiding the mini bar and almost choking on a cashew when Mark blew a raspberry on her belly.
It was worst in the elevator with Derek. She tried to have a normal, at least for them, conversation with him while remembering Mark pushing her against the elevator wall in his hotel building and kissing her senseless.
At the end of the day, Meredith watched from the second story as the Shepherds left the hospital, laughing as Derek assisted his limping wife to the car. She remembered waking up feeling safe and content in the arms of the man who was indirectly responsible for her heartbreak.
Meredith moved over to make room for Izzie when she slipped into the room. "You look nice," she commented approvingly when Izzie took a seat at the foot of the bed.
"Nice shirt," Izzie countered with a grin. She looked happy.
Meredith briefly entertained the idea of kicking the enthusiastic blonde but immediately discarded the idea. "It's comfortable," she said dismissively. "Plans with Alex?"
Izzie smirked knowingly. "Subject change much?" She held up her hands when Meredith gave her a dirty look. "No, not with Alex," she relented.
"Not with Alex but with someone?" Meredith raised her eyebrows. "Who?"
"Who did you spend the night with last night?" Izzie countered.
"I'm going to sleep now." Meredith closed her eyes for emphasis.
Izzie stretched out beside her roomate. "I'll find out sooner or later," Izzie pointed out. "There aren't that many people you would have clandestine sex with—" She suddenly gasped and sat up, practically laying on top of Meredith. "It was McDreamy, wasn't it? He was so upset about—"
Meredith's snort cut her off. "No!" Meredith firmly pushed at Izzie's shoulders until she sat up. "Listen, Iz. It was in a hotel room. I woke up alone," she lied.
"So no name, no face, just a shirt?" Izzie asked skeptically.
"Yeah." Meredith shrugged it off awkwardly. "Mine was—ripped."
Izzie laughed. "Nice going, Mer."
Meredith closed her eyes and tried to block out the mental picture of Mark's smoldering looks or his great, very naked, body.
"I was with Denny," Izzie admitted.
Meredith's eyes popped open. "What?"
"Denny was brought back in, and I blew Alex off to have dinner with him," she said guiltily.
Meredith was silent, sensing that Izzie wasn't quite finished sharing. She was right.
"Sex with Alex is good. Great even. It's just..."
"You can't forgive him for sleeping with Olivia," Meredith concluded.
"It's not that," Izzie said truthfully. "Denny is the anti-Alex. He's sweet and kind and...admittedly a little perverted, but...I don't know. He's a patient, and I'm an intern."
"So, have you forgiven Alex?"
"I really think I have," Izzie said, "but it's complicated."
"Story of my life," Meredith quipped.
"Complicated sucks," Izzie said heartily.
"Yeah," Meredith said.
"But right now I'm too tired to care," Izzie said with a yawn, pulling the blankets over herself.
Meredith drifted to sleep not long after Izzie's breathing evened out. For the first time in a long time, Derek wasn't the leading role in her dreams.
Several weeks later, Meredith was still being plagued by Mark but in a very different, less pleasant way. She moaned pitifully as she knealt in her bathroom and threw up the contents of her stomach. She had been vomiting at random times throughout the past couple of weeks. Lately, she'd been really stressed and hadn't been eating properly. The headaches, the dizziness, the vomiting...all stress related.
"Stupid Mark," she muttered as she flushed the toilet. He was the cause of her stress. Since he'd left nearly a month and a half earlier, he was all she could think about. Her sleepless nights? Filled with thoughts about Mark. Her clumsy behavior and inability to pay attention to anything for a lengthy amount of time? Due to naked Mark thoughts. Her inability to be around Derek or Addison? Guilt. For sleeping with Mark.
"Meredith?" Izzie called, throwing the door open. "Where's—have you been throwing up?" Her nose wrinkled unattractively and she looked profoundly disgusted.
"Yeah," Meredith said as she readied her toothbrush. No sense in lying when it was obvious. Hiding it wasn't exactly difficult due to the self-absorption that took up most everyone's time.
"Are you okay?" Izzie asked worriedly.
"It's just stress," Meredith said around her toothbrush. "I haven't been sleeping too well."
"Or eating too well," Izzie pointed out. "What's up?"
Meredith rinsed off her toothbrush and put it back in the holder. "Nothing," she lied. It was sad how good at lying she was becoming.
"Okay," Izzie said doubtfully. "Have you seen my shoes? I can't find them anywhere."
"No," Meredith said honestly. She could barely keep up with her own clothing, much less anyone else's. She breezed past Izzie so she could finish readying herself for work.
-
Meredith waited with Izzie for the two ambulances that were coming in. The other interns were assigned to their respective attendings while Izzie and Meredith were left to cover the pit. There were plenty of patients to go around due to a fire at Mercy West, which shut down at least three wings of the hospital, including the ER. That left Seattle Grace and the surrounding hospitals to receive the brunt of the emergencies, as well as several of Mercy West's patients.
"So Addison says you've been avoiding her," Izzie said casually.
Meredith was pulled from her thoughts. "What?"
"You. Addison. Avoiding."
Meredith's eyebrows drew together. "Addison's avoiding me?"
Izzie rolled her eyes as an ambulance backed in. "We'll talk later." It wasn't so much a promise as a threat, and Meredith made a mental note to avoid Izzie for the rest of the day.
The next few hours passed in a blur as Meredith was completely and totally sucked into a case involving a five-year-old girl with a brain tumor. She was an in-patient at Mercy West with anaplastic astrocytomas, grade three. It was a very tragic situation that Meredith couldn't help but get involved with.
Derek breezed into the room with a wide smile, his gaze flickering from the small girl to Meredith, who was writing diligently in a chart. "Madeline," he said. "How do you feel?"
The girl frowned deeply. "My name is not Madeline. It's Maddie. I want Sarah, and I'm really hungry." Her wispy blonde hair was pulled into pigtails. It was dramatically thinner towards the base of her head than on the crown of her head, showing the effects of radiation therapy. It took away none of her adorable looks and it was, thankfully for her, barely noticeable.
Derek took out his penlight to check her optic responses. "I believe your sister has been alerted about your move to Seattle Grace. She should be here soon."
"She's here now." Standing in the doorway was a teenager girl no older than sixteen, looking extremely worried. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," Derek said truthfully. "The ride over was uneventful as far as a can tell, but Dr. Grey here is going to run some tests to make sure they coincide with the records we've received from Mercy West."
"Did you get all the records from the other hospitals too?" Sarah asked.
Derek glanced at Meredith, who quickly jumped in. "We've had her complete medical history on file for some time. Because of the location of the tumor, Dr. Walker—the surgeon from Mercy West—was consulting with Dr. Shepherd about the best course of action."
Sarah nodded understandingly. "Of course. Dr. Shepherd is one of the best surgeons in his field." She smiled tiredly at their surprised faces. "My baby sister is sick. I've done my homework."
Maddie looked between Sarah and Derek. "I'm not a baby," she clarified. "I'm five years old, and babies can't read. I can read."
Sarah smirked. "I wasn't calling you a baby, Maddie," she indulged. Glancing at Derek, she said shortly, "Our mother should be by later."
Meredith followed Derek into the hall at his beckoning. "Are you alright?" he asked. "You're pale and—well, I saw you run into the bathroom earlier with your hand over your mouth."
Feeling slightly defensive, Meredith crossed her arms under her chest. "Stop watching me. You aren't allowed to watch me, Dr. Shepherd. Now I've been looking over Maddie's case and—"
"I've already talked to Dr. Walker. I'm taking Maddie's case," he assured her.
Meredith felt slightly reassured by that. "Okay, well—"
"I have a conference call with a few of her previous doctors," Derek said gently. "We'll decide on a course of treatment from there." He paused, looking unsure. "Are you sure you're okay? Because if you're sick."
"I'm fine," she said emphatically, staring at him severely until he turned and walked away.
-
Meredith was ready to scream.
"How much is this going to cost me?"
Sarah watched her mother warily, thankful they weren't in Maddie's room for the confrontation. "Mom, Memaw pays the medical bills—"
"Sarah," Ms. Johnson snapped. "It doesn't matter who pays the medical bills. Maddie is switching doctors again." She put her hand to her head. "I have to go."
Sarah grabbed Meredith's arm when she moved to go after the mother. "If you need parental consent, I'll get it for you. She's not going to be very cooperative." She glanced at her cell phone. "The boys will be here any minute to see Maddie."
Meredith watched the younger girl warily. "Do you generally make the medical decisions on your sister's behalf?"
Sarah shrugged. "Better me than her." She jerked her head toward the parking lot. "My mom isn't the most responsible human being on the planet."
"And you are?"
Sarah shrugged. "I'm a hell of a lot more responsible than most people. I'm not into drugs, alcohol, or anything else. I don't even have sex. I can't say that much for most of the people I go to school with. Hell, I can't even say that about my little brothers."
Maturity was relative, but Meredith didn't think she could even say she was as mature as the young girl before her. "So you're going to meet with Derek and the other doctors to decide the next course of action for your sister's treatment?"
Sarah shrugged apathetically. "Who else if not me?"
Could this be out of line? (Could this be out of line?)
To say you're the only one breaking me down like this
You're the only one I would take a shot on
Keep me hanging on so contagiously