A/N- a little bit of George and Meredith, they never did talk as much as they could have, and I liked their friendship early on.

"How's it going?" Mark asked Derek as they walked back from the coffee cart together. He was referring to George and Meredith who had barely spoken a word since Meredith walked out on him a few days previously. She wasn't talking to Lexie much either, but that wasn't that unusual.

"I thought she was making progress this morning, she actually acknowledged his presence by leaving enough coffee for him to grab a cup, but they're still not talking. Izzie is going out of her mind trying to get them to say something to each other, but they're just not ready. Meredith'll come around, she just needs time to digest it, they've been together since day one, when he came back after Callie she figured he'd stay, she just feels a little betrayed that he hadn't mentioned anything. It'll be fine." Derek rambled as Mark nodded, only half listening.

"It better be, Grey's on my service today, and if she can't even talk to O'Malley then I'm not even going to think about letting her scrub in." Mark picked up a chart from the nurses station, glancing over the changes in his patient overnight.

"They're professional, they won't let their thing get in the way of patient care, she'll talk about the patient, just not anything else." Derek walked into the attendings' lounge, pulling some fresh scrubs out ready for his surgery after rounds.

"I'm trusting you Shepherd, one wrong move and they're both on scut." Derek nodded, knowing there was little he could say or do to make Meredith or George speak. They both had a stubborn streak, he just had to hope that one of them finally gave in and spoke.

MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD

"George, we have rounds." Meredith said, trying to extend an olive branch to her intern, she hated not talking to George, and was really starting to miss having someone to talk to when rounds got tedious and during the spaces between surgery and checking on patients.

"Okay, I'm coming." he replied with a faint smile, grateful for some kind of communication with her. He'd tried talking to her once, but she rushed off before he could say anything substantial, they'd been in a kind of limbo and he'd hated it. After Izzie, Meredith was his best friend, even after all the drama that had passed between them since they met. Meredith smiled back, holding the door for him to come and join her and the other interns as they rounded on their patients together.

When they got to Dr. Sloan's patient's room, he shot the pair of them a look that meant he was taking no nonsense today. "This is Ryan Miller, twenty four, scheduled for reconstructive surgery of the face following a dog attack. He came in yesterday and had emergency surgery to correct a displaced fracture and to stop the bleeding in his abdomen, during which his SATs dropped and the decision made that he needed to be more stable before further surgery was completed." Meredith announced to the group, who were trying no to stare at the large dressings covering the young man's face.

"What are we most concerned with here?" Mark asked them pointing to George when several of the interns raised their hands.

"Despite the antibiotics and the frequent dressing changes, infection remains the biggest concern along with the blood loss from the area.

"So what would you recommend we do to avoid that becoming a problem?" Mark followed, giving George a hard stare that he saved for interns.

"Continuing with a high dose of antibiotic during post op and for several days afterwards, and regular check ups after he's discharged. Type specific blood should be available in the OR, and we need to be aware of the fact that removing and clotted blood from the surface of the injuries may cause excessive bleeding." George said, trying to avoid Mark's glare.

"Okay then, Grey, O'Malley, get my patient prepped and ready I'll see you in the OR." the other interns dispersed, each heading towards their assigned cases. Meredith pulled on her gloves, looking at George as he checked the vitals and began the pre-op checks on their patient.

"George, about the other day," she began.

"Mer, it's fine, I should've spoken to you at a better time rather than letting Lexie tell you then and there. You did a lot for me and it made me look ungrateful, so I'm sorry. I am gonna miss living in the house, and if you had more rooms, I think I'd've liked too have stayed. Moving to yours was a big step for me, and it's still like home, I just think it's time to move on. No Callie, no Izzie, just a fresh start. Like you and Derek, this is the new phoenix or whatever." George smiled at her as he checked the patient's blood pressure.

"I shouldn't have walked away." Meredith admitted "I was on edge about telling everyone about Derek and I acted irrationally. I should've just spoken to you when I got home, instead of letting it become awkward. I'm just really gonna miss you George." She stopped herself before she started crying again. "So any luck finding a place?"

"Actually, yeah. We've found a couple of places in our budget, we just have to look at them and decide which one we'd like to take. They're not as nice as the house, but they have the amenities. They just need a little work." He said, seeming genuinely happy at his decision to move in with Lexie.

"That's really great," Meredith replied, a smile reaching her lips as she pulled George in for a hug. "If you need help with your stuff, just shout, I'm sure Derek or I could help you with moving it or whatever. He can lift stuff and be all manly, and I guess I can help Lexie brighten it up a little."

"That sounds great." George agreed as they got ready to move the patient. "You will have to talk to her though. She's nice, the apple thing is a little weird but aside from that she's pretty great. She's a lot like you, you know. If you weren't so dark and twisty you'd probably be just like her." Meredith laughed at the idea that she could be anywhere near as happy and perky as Lexie was. Meredith wasn't the prom queen type. She had been valedictorian, but her speech was more about dismissing the popular crowd as ordinary than celebrating how much they'd all achieved. She was redeemed by th salutatorian who made her speech seem like a jokey lighthearted thing instead of an attack on those who barely scraped through to graduation. She was far from being like Lexie Grey, until recently she hadn't even believed it was possible to have a relationship that didn't involve spending a night with a guy and kicking him out before breakfast. Maybe she should be a little more like Lexie, maybe dark and twisty Meredith was ready to be bright and shiny.

MDMDMDMDMDMDMD

Derek leaned against the nurses' station next to Mark, watching as the pair began to talk more, Meredith even letting out a giggle after a while. The dark cloud was finally moving away from the pair's heads, something he was grateful for. Meredith needed George, he and Karev were like her brothers, and she ran to them almost as often as she ran to Cristina. He took one last look before following Mark towards the ORs, confident that not only would they get through the surgery but that they'd be okay afterwards. Meredith had been right, she really was making progress.

A/N- a bit fillerish I know, but I felt like they were in a bad place and needed to clear the air on their own without being forced to talk when they weren't ready. I love making Meredith think about things too and at this point she's still quite insecure, and only just learning to let her guard down with everyone not just Cristina. It seemed to me that after Europe she had little time for herself or friends because responsibility got in the way, so I like the idea of her allowing herself to be a little bit ordinary by having a good group of close friends is probably a good thing. :)