Chapter Text
27th March 2005, 6.30am, Grey Residence
“Hey, sleepy, wake up,” she felt a warm hand on her shoulder and groaned, rolling over to shield her eyes from the sun.
“Come on, Meredith, honey- You wouldn’t want to be late for the first day of your internship, would you? Plus, Addie’s made pancakes, chocolate chip, just how you like ‘em.”
She shot out of bed at the mention of her older friend Addison and rubbed her eyes. “Addie? But she’s in New York with Derek.”
Who was even talking to her? Not everyone knew about Addie and Derek, and she was sure she didn’t get drunk enough last night to not remember bringing someone home.
Opening her eyes fully, she was met with the sight of her best friend’s husband Derek, smiling at her from where he stood at the foot of the bed.
“Surprise?”
She rushed at him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, grinning madly, “Derek! What are you doing here? I thought you guys were gonna settle down in New York!”
“We were but we just couldn’t leave you alone in Seattle, and especially not in this godforsaken house. Addie and I have been looking for a place for a while and we were just coming back from a listing when you called us from the bar, drunk out of your mind. What were you thinking, Mer?”
Oh. There was the part Meredith remembered most from her college years- facing Derek and Addison’s disappointment after a particularly wild night of partying.
“Sorry?" She winced, "It’s just, a lot, you know? I never thought I’d end up back here after college and especially not because of my mom. I guess I just wanted a break.”
He sighed and pulled her closer, “We know, sweetie, we just thought you were getting better,” he pulled away and she was painfully aware of the embarrassment she felt, “Let’s stop talking about all this depressing stuff, right? Go get dressed, I’ll see if I can get Addie to lay off you.”
He left the room and, just like that, she was alone again.
27th March 2005, 7,15am, Grey Residence
“Morning, Merry.”
Yup, that was Addie, in the flesh. Meredith groaned, shifting to grab her keys from the hook near the stairs, stumbling back in confusion when she couldn’t find them.
“Looking for these?” A jingle sounded from the kitchen, meaning her keys had been held hostage and she wouldn’t be able to get out of the oncoming lecture, despite her best attempts.
She shuffled forward, head bent in apology (and maybe also because she still had a hangover, sue her - she hadn’t had her coffee yet). Coming to a pitiful stop in front of the kitchen table, she suddenly regretted her past self’s actions. (Alcohol, really? Before her first day? Not her brightest moment.)
A sigh, and then, “Alright, kid, you can stop pouting. Der’s already said you feel bad, so I suppose I can’t yell at you for something you recognise is wrong. But, promise me you won’t do it again? We’re getting old, we can’t keep pulling you from bars anytime you get too much liquor in you to drag yourself back home.”
Derek made a non-committal noise from where he sat, “Ads, this isn’t sounding a lot like ‘not a lecture’. Give the girl a break, it’s been rough with her mom, you know that. And she promised not to do it again so often, didn’t you, Mer?” She nodded, “See? Let it go, Addison. Not everything requires your control freak intervention. Have some breakfast before you go, Merry.”
She did as she was told, but couldn’t ignore the tense undertone of Derek’s previous statement. Casually, she reached for the maple syrup, drenching her pancakes before asking, “You guys okay?”
“Yeah, kiddo, just adult stuff. Don’t worry about it.” Derek stood up, plate in hand and ruffled her hair, just barely dodging the fork she tried to stab into his side.
“I’m an adult too, Dickwreck. I turn 26 this year.” A fact she was not happy to mention, considering the plans her younger self had.
Addison snorted, her first sound since Derek had spoken up, “Can’t be an adult when you still hang onto that godawful nickname, Meredith. Honestly, I thought you’d forgotten it,” her face softened, “Hurry up and eat, you start at 7.30, don’t think I forgot.”
Shit, she did start at 7.30, and it was 7.18 already. She started shovelling food into her mouth, not noticing the fond looks Derek and Addison shot her way.
Hand outstretched impatiently, she asked, “Okay, I’m going now, can I have my keys?”
“You get a personal chauffeur today, kid. I’m taking you to work.”
“No! That is so embarrassing! Addie, tell him he can’t. PLEASE. I’m not some 5 year old on her way to kindergarten, I can’t have him drop me off like he’s my dad!” She turned pleading eyes on her friend who shrugged before saying, “Better let him, Merry. You’ve got 10 minutes to get to work.”
Meredith snarled, but tugged on her jacket, “I hate both of you.”
27th March 2005, 7.42am, Seattle Grace Hospital
“And that concludes the end of the tour. Thank you all for being on time.” The bald man levels a glare at Meredith, who shrinks under the weight of it.
“Good luck. The next seven years will be the best and worst of your lives.” With that definitely-not-ominous statement, he swoops off and the interns immediately begin buzzing as they move towards their locker room.
Feeling left out, Meredith attaches herself to a group of interns, who, like herself, look considerably lost but ready to face whatever comes at them. She takes a deep breath and sticks a hand out to the nearest one, a tall blonde girl who looks familiar, “Hi, I’m Meredith Grey.”
The only other girl in the group flinches and pulls the sleeve of her dark top tightly around her wrist. The tall blonde girl, on the other hand, beams and clasps her hand in a firm shake.
“I’m Izzie Stevens! This is George- say hi, George! And this glowering fuzzball, is Cristina! She’s not very friendly, but she’s nice enough. Nice to meet you, Meredith!” The girl- Izzie- is a very bright ray of sunshine. Mer distantly wonders how she’ll fare in the cutthroat world of surgery, where people die under sharp knives and everyone’s willing to step on another person to get to the top.
Then she shakes her head, because that was her mother’s way of thinking, and she’s distancing herself from Ellis Grey at the moment. The shy, dark-haired man Izzie called George aims a smile at her and she feels the same sort of worry that she did for Izzie. He was so.. Shy .
Cristina, the ‘glowering fuzzball’, as Izzie had called her, glared at her from under her dark frizzy hair. Meredith noted with a detached sense, that she was rather pretty, and flushed. This girl, would probably make it further than the rest of them. She seemed vicious enough for the lifestyle.
She stretched out another hand, soulmark on display, and reintroduced herself. “Meredith Grey.”
Cristina hesitated, grabbed her hand, and in the quietest of voices, said, “I know. Cristina Yang.”