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Meredith Grey was exhausted, she had stayed later than normal to help out on an organ recovery. It wasn’t something that had been planned, but she figured it would nice to get into an OR without having the worry of someone dying. Not to mention it would a learning opportunity for Casey Parker, who was currently on her service.
Meredith was almost certain that he didn’t want to be on her service. He had seemingly zoned out during the surgery, something Meredith would reprimanded him for if she wasn't as tired. If she was being completely honest to herself though, it didn’t bother her that much. He was good at his job, and respectful, sometimes overly so. And on top of all of that, he seemed to have taken an interest in cardio.
So she didn’t mind much, especially since the two of them were going home after they scrubbed out. Everyone else had already left, including the doner.
“Doctor Grey?” Parker said suddenly. Meredith’s head jerked up in surprise. She turned slightly to look at him, his hands were holding on to the side of the sink.
“Is everything alright?”
He moved one of his hands as if to run it through his hair, but instead took off his scrub cap. “Have you-- have you ever been married?”
Meredith felt herself taken back. Out of all the things that she expected to come out of his mouth, asking if she had ever been married was not even close to being on the list.
Parker’s eyes grew wider and he whipped his head around, looking at Meredith. “Shit, sorry that was completely unprofessional. I just, you should ignore me.” He stumbled a few times.
“I was,” Meredith said slowly. “Any particular reason why?”
“I just--” Parker took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Judging by the way his hands trembled slightly and he looked like he was holding back tears, Meredith would say it wasn’t working out as well as he would hope. It was a strange sight, seeing someone who tried to be professional at all times attempt to stop himself from breaking down; if Meredith was being honest with herself, she saw a bit of herself in this picture, which was concerning.
“Were you?” Meredith asked, she seemed to have slipped out of her Attending persona and into a kinder one. From the beginning of the case Parker hadn’t seemed to thrilled, and now she had a few guesses as to why.
“Was I what?”
“Married.”
He seemed to consider the question carefully before delivering his answer. “Before I moved to Seattle.”
“You didn’t live in Seattle before?” Meredith asked. That was definitely not the point of what Parker had just said, but she knew what it was like to lose your spouse, so she wouldn’t press.
“I lived in California. Northern California. My wife told me I should interview for this internship.” He paused for a moment. “After everything happened, I could hear her yelling at me that I should still go, that she agreed to move to Seattle, so I better not blow it. Besides it got me away from seeing her at every corner, you know?”
“So you ran away from your problems, Doctor Parker.”
Parker gave a small smile. “A little.”
Meredith smiled back, and said, “I moved to Boston, didn’t talk to anyone for nine months, had a baby and moved back. So you’re most definitely not alone in the running department.”
“The injuries,” he said suddenly. “They were similar to the patients, that’s why I didn’t want to work on the case.” He looked back down at his hands, the smile had vanished. “I just--”
“I know, Casey.” Meredith interrupted, placing a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. “Trust me, I know.” Her voice was sadder than she wanted it to be.
He nodded. “I should-- I should get going. Intern hours and all.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Doctor Parker.” Meredith knew that neither of them would mention what had happened in the scrub room, both of them having their own reasons for doing so. It was surprising to Meredith, that out of all the interns it was Casey Parker whom she seemed to have the most in common with. But she could live with that.