Chapter Text
Chapter 7
Hour 7
Turn around and cover your ears.
Hour seven began with denial. Specifically, Meredith’s denial. “I’m not using it.”
Addison looked up from where the plastic funnel sat between them like a cursed artifact. “You’re going to have to eventually.”
“No.”
“Meredith…”
“I would rather die.”
Addison snorted softly. “You’ve threatened death at least six times today already.”
“And I meant every single one.”
The elevator hummed quietly around them. The crack between the doors still let in a thin line of hallway light and blessedly cooled air, but otherwise nothing had changed. Still trapped. Still sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the elevator floor. Still somehow getting more emotionally intimate every hour like the universe itself had decided to conduct a psychological experiment.
Meredith glared at the funnel again. “I cannot believe Cristina did that.”
Addison picked it up carefully between two fingers. “It’s practical.”
“It’s horrifying.”
“It’s innovative.”
“It’s humiliating.”
Addison tilted her head thoughtfully. “Honestly, this feels very on-brand for you.”
Meredith groaned loudly and dropped her head back against the wall. The movement made her hair slide across Addison’s shoulder slightly. Neither of them moved away. Dangerous, very dangerous.
Addison sat the funnel beside the water bottles again. “Well,” she said lightly, “at least we know we have options.”
“We do not have options.”
“We literally do.”
“That is not an option. That is psychological warfare.”
Addison laughed quietly again. God. Meredith had officially become addicted to making Addison laugh. This was getting serious.
The candy wrappers from Mark’s vending machine raid sat crumpled beside them now. Addison had somehow managed to eat elegantly even while trapped in an elevator for 6 hours. Meredith found that deeply offensive.
“You know what’s annoying?” Meredith muttered.
“What?”
“You still look put together.”
Addison blinked in surprise. “I absolutely do not.”
“You do though.”
Addison looked down at herself.
Her scrubs were wrinkled now. Hair messy. Sleeves rolled up unevenly. And somehow, she still looked — God. Meredith refused to finish that thought.
Addison caught the look anyway. Her mouth curved slightly. “Oh no.”
“What?”
“That was almost a compliment.”
“It wasn’t.”
“It absolutely was.”
Meredith rolled her eyes dramatically. “I’m taking it back.”
“You can’t. It’s mine now.”
The elevator creaked faintly overhead. Meredith tensed automatically. Addison’s hand found her knee lightly before Meredith even consciously reacted. Grounding. Steady.
The touch lingered. Neither of them acknowledged it. Meredith relaxed slowly again, God. Hours ago she’d nearly climbed the walls form panic. Now Addison touched her and her nervous system calmed down instantly. That couldn’t possibly be healthy.
Addison’s thumb moved once absently against Meredith’s scrub pants. Tiny motion. Tiny impossible motion. Meredith looked down at it immediately. Addison seemed to realize what she was doing at the exact same moment. Her hand withdrew carefully.
“Sorry.”
Meredith swallowed unexpectedly hard. “It’s okay.”
Too soft, way too soft. Both women looked away simultaneously. The elevator suddenly felt warmer again. Not panic warm, something else entirely. Dangerous warm.
Meredith cleared her throat. “So…” She gestured toward the funnel. “We’re never speaking of that again.”
Addison barked out a laugh. “Oh, no. This is definitely becoming a recurring joke.”
“I’ll kill you.”
“You’d miss me.”
The response came too fast, too confident. And the worst part? Meredith thought Addison might actually be right. Before she could deal with that horrifying realization, Addison suddenly went very still beside her.
Meredith frowned slightly. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“You made a face.”
“I did not.”
“You absolutely did.”
Addison shifted slightly against the wall. Then sighed. “… I have to pee.”
Meredith stared. Then immediately burst into helpless laughter.
Addison looked deeply offended. “Oh, now it’s funny?”
“Yes!” Meredith wheezed out laughing.
“You’re evil.”
“You suffered first.” Meredith wiped at her eyes dramatically. “That’s different.”
Addison crossed her arms with as much dignity as someone trapped in an elevator discussing funnel logistics could manage. “I’m a world-renowned surgeon.”
“And yet, you’ll have to pee in a funnel. Or pee your pants, and I rather not have you do that.” Meredith grinned openly now.
Addison narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “You’re enjoying this too much.”
“A little.”
“A little?”
“You looked so smug earlier.”
“I was trying to encourage you.”
“You laughed at me.”
“You called it psychological warfare.”
“It is psychological warfare.”
Addison shook her head fondly.
Fondly. Meredith’s stomach flipped unpleasantly. Nope. Ignoring that. Absolutely ignoring that.
Addison glanced toward the bottles again. Then sighed heavily like a woman accepting battlefield conditions. “Okay.”
Meredith blinked. “Okay?”
“I’m doing it.”
Meredith stared at her in horror and admiration simultaneously. “You’re serious?”
“Meredith, I’ve delivered triplets during a blackout. My dignity died years ago.”
That should not have been attractive. And yet, Meredith thought it was the sexiest thing she’s heard.
Addison pointed firmly toward the opposite wall. “Turn around.”
Meredith snorted immediately. “You’re bossy.”
“You’re stalling.”
“I’m witnessing history.”
“Meredith.”
“Fine.” Still laughing quietly, Meredith obediently turned toward the elevator wall.
Addison immediately pointed again, “and cover your ears.”
Meredith looked over one shoulder dramatically. “That seems excessive.”
“You are not listening.”
“I wasn’t planning on listening!”
Addison narrowed her eyes. “You absolutely were.”
Meredith grinned, laughing softly. Addison looked scandalized. Then, unbelievably, she laughed too. The sound bounced warmly through the small elevator. God. This was insane.
Six hours trapped together and somehow Meredith felt lighter than she had in months. Still trapped, still exhausted, still emotionally confused beyond belief. But lighter.
She covered her ears dramatically. “There. Happy?”
“No peeking either.”
“I’m not peeking!”
“I don’t trust you.”
“That’s hurtful.”
“Meredith…”
“Okay, okay.”
There was rustling behind her, movement. Then, silence. Then Addison’s horrified voice, “Oh my God, this is degrading.”
Meredith bit down hard on her own lip to stop laughing. “You okay back there?”
“No.”
“Need emotional support?”
“Absolutely not!”
The bottle crinkled faintly. Meredith immediately lost the battle against laughter entirely. Addison groaned in humiliation behind her.
“You are never allowed to mention this again.”
“Oh, I’m definitely mentioning this forever.”
“You’re the worst.”
“You literally coached me through a panic attack and now I’m emotionally stronger.”
Addison snorted despite herself. “Congratulations.”
There was another second of silence. Then, “… I think I missed.”
Meredith made a strangled noise. “Addison…”
“Don’t laugh.”
“I physically cannot stop.”
“Oh my God.”
By the time Meredith finally turned around again, Addison looked flushed with embarrassment, but also deeply amused. The bottle sat capped beside her. Meredith glanced at it once, then immediately looked away respectfully.
“Proud of you,” she said solemnly.
Addison threw a candy wrapper at her face. Meredith laughed harder. The tension in the elevator shifted again after that. Softer, looser. Something about surviving mutual humiliation together apparently erased entire social barriers.
Meredith stretched her legs out again, still grinning faintly. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “this is probably the weirdest bonding experience of my life.”
Addison leaned her head back against the wall beside her. “Really? Because I once got locked in an MRI room with Mark for three hours.”
Meredith looked horrified. “That sounds like a war crime.”
“It was terrible.”
“What happened.”
“He tried to flirt with the technician through the speaker system.”
Meredith burst out laughing again. “I hate him.”
“No, you don’t, no one hates Mark.”
“No,” Meredith admitted. “I really don’t.”
Addison smiled softly beside her. Then her expression shifted slightly. More thoughtful now. “You know what’s strange?”
“What?”
“If we’d met differently…”
Meredith looked over carefully. Addison stared at the opposite wall now. “We probably would’ve been friends.”
The words landed heavily between them. Meredith’s chest tightened unexpectedly. Because she thought Addison might be right. She could suddenly picture it too easily. Late-night surgeries, coffee runs, sarcastic comments during rounds, Addison teaching her impossible stitches while pretending not to care whether Meredith succeeded, Meredith making Addison laugh in supply closets. God, that image settled somewhere dangerous.
“Maybe,” Meredith admitted quietly.
Addison looked over slowly. Their eyes met. Held. The elevator hummed softly around them. Hours ago, Meredith had barely been able to breathe in this space. Now, it felt oddly suspended from reality. Like time had cracked open somewhere between panic and honesty and humiliation and soft touches. And somehow… Addison was at the center of all of it.
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End of chapter 7