Chapter Text
The first thing Meredith clocked as she slowly awoke was the gentle, repetitive scrape of nails against her scalp. Someone was running their fingers through her hair, humming softly. Meredith, the touch-starved child she still was, all but purred as she shuffled further into the vanilla-and-coconut-scented warmth she had been pressed into. She sighed happily as an arm came to rest around her waist, pulling her closer and further into the lull of sleep.
The body she was pressed against shook gently as a low chuckle rumbled in their chest. Meredith froze. Why did that sound like...
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Addison murmured into her hair. Her voice, low and raspy from hours of disuse, curled itself around Meredith, who shivered and pulled away from the comfortable embrace. She found that she was practically on top of Addison, half her body splayed across the redhead’s, whose limbs tangled with her own. Any attempt to disentangle herself was dissuaded by the gentle pressure of Addison’s arm around her waist, which urged her to stay still every time she moved to shuffle away.
A quick glance downward told Meredith that the redhead was naked under the covers, and she let out a noisy exhale in an attempt to abate the rapidly intensifying blush on her face. Addison’s lips tugged into a coy smile as Meredith stared at her, eyes wide with surprise. Tongue tied, she watched as the gorgeous redhead gingerly brushed a stray lock of hair behind Meredith’s ear with a hand.
“Did you sleep well?” she purred, her soft hand lingering at the curve of Meredith’s jaw.
Meredith blinked stupidly at her for a few moments, mouth agape and mind racing with questions. She almost didn’t recognize Addison, with her quiet murmurs, practically exuding warmth as she showered the blonde resident with affectionate touches. She was the polar opposite of the Addison that Meredith was familiar with, who only ever gave her stern glares, and whose words cut deep when she was irritated, which was near constantly these days. Meredith swallowed. She was having a hard time reconciling the two versions of Addison in her head.
“Are— Addison,” she stammered, “What are you doing in my bed?”
Addison ran an elegant finger along the resident’s arm, eyes glittering with amusement as she watched goosebumps rise in its wake. “What time do you have to be at the hospital?” she asked. Her hand came to rest on Meredith’s, bringing it up to her lips to press a gentle kiss to her knuckles, blue eyes gazing up at Meredith through long, fluttering eyelashes.
Meredith flushed as her schoolgirl-like crush on the woman reared its head, filling every inch of space in her head and chest with an exhilarating sort of excitement until she was almost dizzy and breathless with it. “Um, rounds start at six,” she answered, licking her lips nervously. “But Cristina wants us to do pre-rounds, and I’m on your service, so I’ll probably have to wake up at four.”
She blinked and suddenly, Addison was no longer lounging on the bed next to her, but standing in the doorway. Gone was her relaxed posture and lazy smile, replaced instead with crossed arms and an unhappy frown. Meredith quickly sat up in bed, frazzled by the emotional whiplash she was experiencing.
“You’re late, Grey,” Addison scolded, eyes narrowing into a dangerous glare.
Meredith shivered at her tone, both out of fear and something else she was not ready to admit to feeling just yet. “Wh- what?” was all she could manage through her confusion, and she winced when Addison’s glare somehow grew visibly more enraged.
“You’re late,” Addison snarled. “Wake up!”
With a start, Meredith woke, lurching to sit up amongst her sheets, twisted from her tossing and turning in her sleep. She was alone in her dark bedroom, and all was silent other than the loud ringing of her phone on the bedside table. She groaned, running a hand through her sweat-damped hair as she turned to grab her phone before it vibrated itself off the table.
“Hello?” she grumbled, answering the call without checking the caller ID. “Someone better be dying if I’m being woken up at ass o’clock in the morning like this.”
“Uh, excuse you,” came Cristina’s annoyed voice. “You’re the one who’s gonna be dead if you don’t get your ass to the hospital right now.”
Meredith pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to fight off the blurry haze of drowsiness she was still trapped in. “What are you talking about?” she mumbled, sliding her feet off the bed.
Cristina made a series of noises and grunts that sounded both exasperated and incredulous. “I’ve called you like fifty times! It’s 5:15 — you’re late!” she yelled. Meredith could practically see her throwing her hands up in frustration. She chuckled at the image.
Then, her sleep-drugged brain finally processed the words, and she whirled around to check the digital alarm clock she’d gotten for herself just the day before and, sure enough, 5:15 am glared back at her in bright, neon red letters. She jolted off the bed and made a mad dash for the bathroom. Meanwhile, Cristina was still angrily yelling at her through the phone.
“Mer, are you kidding me? I get that Satan’s been on your ass and giving you a shitton of work lately, but come on. Did you sleep through your alarm or something?” Cristina asked.
Meredith, toothbrush in mouth, tossed a glance over her shoulder to where she could still see a glimpse of the device. She wanted to confirm that she had indeed just been too tired to wake up at the alarm, but the sheepish feeling rising in her gut told her that she definitely hadn’t actually set an alarm before passing out the evening before.
She spat the foamy toothpaste out, rinsed her mouth and face, then picked her phone up again to say a simple, “Cris, I have to go.” into the receiver. She promptly hung up, already dreading the scolding she was bound to receive when she saw her person at the hospital.
Meredith was pulling out of her driveway five minutes later, having gotten ready in record time. Fortunately for her, it would only take her around fifteen minutes to get to the hospital — nine, if she really stepped on it. That was one of the perks of living in her surgery-obsessed, workaholic late mother’s house, she supposed. But she was more worried about having to stop for coffee.
It wasn’t a necessary addition to her day, per se, but the same could not be said about Addison Montgomery, who Meredith had quickly realized could be incredibly grating to work with at times.. Now, don’t get her wrong. Addison was a great teacher, conscientious and unambiguous in her teachings, answering any questions one might have for her, even if she personally thought the answer was obvious. She was also an amazing doctor, compassionate with her patients and meticulous with her work. Even Meredith, the wronged dirty mistress that she was, had to admit that working with her was an honor very few people got to experience.
However, every great surgeon has their quirks, and one of Addison’s was that she was very particular about her morning coffee, being that she had to have one cup of this ridiculous latte Meredith despised with a passion every morning. It had only taken one incident — poor George had nearly pissed his pants — for interns and residents alike to come to the same conclusion: Get Addison Montgomery her morning latte on time or risk the wrath of Satan.
Of course, it wouldn’t have been as big of a problem if the coffee cart outside the hospital served the drink, but alas, they had to depend on the nearby café instead. And of course, it was just Meredith’s luck that that very same café would be filled to the brim with customers on the one day she woke up late. It was just typical of her life, really.
Meredith was standing at the back of the line, seriously considering mowing down the long line of customers, when one of the two baristas waved at her from the cash register. Meredith felt her heart leap with joy when she realized that she recognized the employee — Zoey, a pretty brunette in her late 20s with a penchant for musical theater and dark lipstick. She worked early shifts at the café, so she had formed somewhat of a bond with all the haggard interns and residents looking for coffee for the uptight neonatal surgeon. She was especially chummy with Meredith, who had been stuck on Addison’s service for a little over a month now.
Meredith ignored the loud complaints and insults rising like a tidal wave from the crowd of patrons as she made her way to the front of the line. Zoey greeted her with a sympathetic smile and two steaming cups of coffee. “Your usual, Dr Grey,” she announced, presenting the drinks with a dramatic flourish.
“Zoey, you’re a lifesaver,” Meredith breathed, eyeing the coffee almost reverently. “I could kiss you right now. Keep the change.”
Zoey accepted a crumpled twenty dollar bill from Meredith, her smile growing shy as her cheeks suffused with a light blush. “Down, Casanova,” she laughed. “How about we save it for when you’re not about a half hour away from dying, huh?”
“Don’t jinx it!” Meredith scolded, completely serious. “Seriously, you haven’t seen her with a scalpel. She could very easily make it look like an accident.”
This earned her another laugh from Zoey. “Get outta here before you actually get murdered, Meredith.”
“Cutting it close today, are we?” Alex teased, crunching loudly into his apple as he leaned against the locker across from Meredith’s.
“Shut it, asshat,” Meredith hissed as she threw her bag into her locker.
Once she was dressed in her scrubs and had made sure she had everything she needed — including the two lattes — Meredith glanced at the clock and nodded to herself in satisfaction. She had woken up an hour later than when she had meant to, but had still made it ten minutes before she was due to appear in Addison’s office.
But then all that pride was replaced with dismay when the door to the resident’s lounge slammed open and into her, absolutely decimating one of the lattes she had been holding.
“George!” Meredith groaned as the hot liquid dripped down her front. She carefully peeled her drenched scrub top away from her body in an attempt to diminish the scorching heat, letting out a dejected sigh when she realized she would have to go without coffee for the rest of the morning. She briefly contemplated punching Alex when she heard him choking on his apple as he cackled at her misfortune, but quickly rejected the idea. She’d definitely be late if she did.
“Oh my God,” George gasped in horror. He shrugged off his lab coat and started patting the bundled up cloth over the growing coffee stain, flinching away from her chest every time he got even remotely close to it. It was a nice gesture, really, but rather counterproductive, seeing as his helping seemed to only cause the stain to spread further.
“Meredith, I— I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t mean to, really. I was just in a hurry, and—” George stammered, before halting when he came to a sudden realization. “Oh God, you’re still on Dr Montgomery’s service. She’s gonna kill you! And then you’re gonna come back to life and kill me! And then I’ll be George O’Malley, the dead guy!”
“Just— George, stop it,” Meredith sighed, swatting him away. She dropped the now-demolished cup into the bin by the door, sending her thanks to whatever higher power had at least deigned to save her the one cup of coffee to hand off to Addison when she saw her. “Will you just help me grab a new pair of scrubs?”
A fresh, new pair of scrubs and thirty-nine apologies from George later — she counted — and Meredith found herself standing in Addison Montgomery’s office with two minutes to spare before the redhead’s appearance. She held the surviving latte with both hands, just about ready to risk her life for the damn thing should anything arrive to threaten it.
She was staring at the window, half-expecting a magical flock of coffee-destroying pigeons to appear and make her day worse, when Addison breezed into the room, as elegant and graceful as ever. She was dressed in a wine red silk blouse, neatly tucked into a pencil skirt and a shiny pair of black pumps to complete her look. The top two buttons of her blouse were popped open and, when Meredith caught a glimpse of the curve of her breasts, the memory of her vivid dream came back to her all at once. She flushed, nearly as red as the lipstick Addison was wearing.
“We have a busy day ahead of us, Grey,” Addison said, seemingly unaware of the emotional dilemma the blonde resident was experiencing. She plucked the latte from Meredith’s hands and took a long sip as she shuffled some papers on her desk. “We have a transfer from Seattle Pres coming in about fifteen minutes, and this time of the year is particularly known to be very busy for OBs.”
Meredith frowned. “Wait, why?”
“It’s been about nine months since Valentine’s Day,” the neonatal surgeon sighed, sounding rather annoyed. Whether this irritation was directed at Meredith or the incoming influx of babies, she did not know.
Meredith rolled her eyes. “Ugh,” she grunted, accepting a folder from the redhead. It was the transfer patient’s.
Addison glanced up at her, lips quirked into a tiny smirk. “Not a big fan of Valentine’s, Grey?” she asked.
Meredith wasn’t sure if it was a rhetorical question or not, but she answered anyway. “Not particularly.”
“And why’s that?”
Before she could reply with a drawn out ramble about the corporate greediness of it all, she was interrupted by the ringing of Addison’s phone. Meredith’s eyes flicked back to the papers in her hand as the attending picked the device up. Instead of answering the call like she had expected her to, Addison quickly declined it and put the phone away.
Addison had since then moved on, examining the seemingly endless amount of paperwork on her desk as if she hadn’t even received a call. Meredith, on the other hand, couldn’t help but stare at her curiously.
“Something on my face?” Addison asked dully, casting her a brief glance. “Did I sprout a second head or something?”
“N-no,” Meredith stumbled, self-consciously returning her gaze to the patient chart. “I was just wondering why you didn’t pick up the phone, is all.”
Addison seemed to stiffen, a crease forming between her brows as her eyes narrowed in suspicion and ire. “I fail to see how that’s any of your business, Grey.”
Meredith winced at her sharp tone. “It isn’t! I was just curious—”
“And what gave you the impression that I would ever speak to you outside of professional boundaries? We’re not friends. I am an attending, and you are a resident. That is as far as our relationship will ever go.”
Meredith was actually getting miffed now, and she had to suppress a scoff of exasperation at this vehement rejection from the redhead. As much as she admired Addison, talking to her was like pulling teeth. “Nevermind, Dr Montgomery.”
A few silent moments passed between the pair as they waited for the page that would inform them of their transfer patient’s arrival. The silence had only been broken once when Addison’s phone rang again, though it was quickly shut off when the redhead declined the call once more. Meredith was deeply engrossed in her reading when she was snapped out of her stupor by the attending’s voice.
“Who’s Zoey?”
Meredith blinked owlishly at her. “What?
Addison met her eyes evenly as she slowly turned her coffee cup around in her hand, revealing Call me! 555-xxxx - Zoey :) written in thick, black ink on its sleeve. “Why does she want me to call her?” she continued with an indecipherable look in her eyes.
Meredith froze, staring at the words with wide eyes, a flustered blush settling on her cheeks. Blinking, she snapped herself out of her daze, staring back down at the charts sitting in her lap. “Well, um. That was originally my cup,” she answered with a shrug,
Addison arched a perfectly shaped brow at this, “And I’m drinking your coffee why?”
“Your coffee spilled.”
“So, you drink unsweetened cinnamon light soy lattes?”
“I do, actually,” Meredith lied, “Like Christmas in a cup.”
“And is this a coincidence?” Addison pressed, unrelenting in her line of questioning.
Meredith nodded as nonchalantly as possible. “Incredibly, it is.”
Addison hummed thoughtfully. For a second, Meredith thought she might have dropped the line of questioning. But then, in a knowing voice, she said, “Right. And you wouldn’t order two of the coffee that I drink just in case mine spilled?”
Yes. “No. That would be pathetic.”
“It would be,” the redhead agreed.
Fortunately, Meredith was saved from further embarrassment when Addison’s pager blared. She watched as Addison glanced down at the little device she’d stuck on the belt of her skirt. Their eyes met, and for a moment, Meredith was captivated by the twinkle of excitement that sparkled in Addison’s green eyes.
“Our transfer patient is here,” the neonatal surgeon announced, swiftly making her way to the door, face set in determination and complicated coffee order in hand. She opened the door, then turned to look back at Meredith, who hadn’t moved from her spot. “Come on, Grey. We don’t have all day.”
That seemed to snap the blonde out of her daze, and she stood hastily. “R-right,” she stuttered, scampering over.
Addison’s face twisted into an odd expression, but she said nothing as she turned to stride away to the elevators, Meredith hot on her heels. Addison suddenly veered into the stairwells instead, leaving a confused Meredith stumbling along behind her, wondering why she had changed her mind so abruptly.
Her answer came in the form of a neurosurgeon Meredith had dumped after they had had adulterous sex on prom night like a couple of horny teenagers. The very same neurosurgeon who was currently looking at Meredith with those teary, sad blue eyes of his. Meredith wasn’t sure if he was about to insult her or beg her to get with him again, but she knew that she definitely did not want to stick around to find out.
“Meredith,” Derek breathed in his classic — what Cristina liked to call — kicked puppy tone. Meredith, desperate to escape from the awkward situation, attempted to dart around him and into the stairwell where Addison had disappeared into, but Derek was just as quick to block her way. “Meredith, please.”
Derek grabbed her wrist and she tensed, back straightening and shoulders hunching up until they brushed against the hairs on the nape of her neck. The neurosurgeon didn’t seem to care, just tried to tug her closer. “Dr Shepherd, I have to go,” she said, trying in vain to pull out of his firm grip. “I have a transfer patient.”
People were starting to stare now, fully aware of their sordid history and waiting with bated breath to see what scandalous thing would happen next. Meredith could feel their disdainful gazes burning into her, branding her with every single one of their horribly misinformed opinions of her. Her skin crawled with discomfort. “Meredith, I just want to talk,” Derek insisted, tightening his grip on her wrist and stepping further into her personal space. “It’ll just take a few minutes.”
At that point, Meredith was just about ready to snap — shove him away, slap him, dig her nails into his arm, just something that would get him to let go. His grip was starting to hurt, and she would really like to avoid becoming the hot topic of the hospital’s rumor mill for, well, ever. “Dr Shepherd, let me go,” she hissed.
His gaze grew angry. “Meredith—”
“Dr Shepherd, would you be so kind as to release my resident?” Addison interrupted. The relief that flooded Meredith was almost overwhelming, and she nearly dropped to her knees and kissed her feet in thanks. “We have a VIP transfer from Seattle Pres, and I’d like to make a good first impression on her. I can’t do that with you holding my resident hostage.”
“Oh please,” Derek scoffed, “You’ve had her on your service for a month now, you can live without her for three minutes.”
“Well unfortunately for you, Dr Shepherd, but it’s been more than three minutes since you first started holding her hostage. And, funny story, it’s actually because she’s been on my service for so long that I’ve started to grow dependent on her.”
Addison sauntered over to Meredith’s side and pried Derek’s rough fingers off of Meredith’s wrist.
“She’s like my life support machine, and if she leaves my side for more than ten minutes, I die. Do you want me to die, Derek?” Addison continued, her voice cool and smooth as marble.
“Right at this very moment? I do,” Derek grumbled, face dark with a sort of petulant anger. Meredith likened it to the face of a little boy who didn’t get the expensive new gaming console he had wanted for Christmas.
Meredith and Addison’s pagers blared, and neither had to check to know it was for their transfer. Meredith watched out of the corner of her eye as Addison’s painted lips curved into a satisfied smirk.
“Well, this was lovely,” she drawled in a tone that let everyone know she was being sarcastic. “But we have to go greet our VIP, so. Toodles!”
Meredith nearly guffawed at the look on Derek’s face, but suppressed it as she followed Addison into the stairwell. A quick glance at her told Meredith that the redhead had definitely seen the expression too, but was hiding her amusement much better than Meredith was.
Addison was a pain in the ass to work with, but rare moments of solidarity like these reminded Meredith why she hadn’t been fighting to get off her service much, if at all. The fact that Addison was easy on the eyes helped too, she supposed.
“Okay, I want updates on her status every hour,” Addison ordered, glancing back into the room as she handed the patient chart to Meredith. “And get those samples to the lab ASAP. Her stats look good, but I want to make sure nothing happens to get in the way of this surgery. Page me if any of her numbers change. Even if it’s a single decimal. Got it?”
As it turned out, their transfer patient, Mrs Leah Cortez — or more specifically her babies — had TTTS. Immediately, Meredith had been reminded of that first day, when Addison had first arrived in Seattle and brought the destruction of Meredith’s love life with her. Not that she could really blame her for it. In fact, she should probably thank her someday for helping her dodge the bullet that was Derek Shepherd.
“Yes, Dr Montgomery,” Meredith affirmed with a nod.
“Good. And w—”
“Meredith!”
The blonde closed her eyes and strangled the frustrated groan that threatened to escape her. She opened her eyes to give Addison a look that urged her to go on with her instructions, but the OB was already distracted, frowning at something over Meredith’s shoulder.
“Meredith.” The voice was coming from right behind her now, expectant and soft. Meredith shared a look with Addison before releasing a long-suffering sigh as she slowly turned around to face Derek.
“What do you need, Dr Shepherd?” she gritted out, not at all trying to mask her annoyance. The neurosurgeon didn’t seem to catch it, though, because he smiled at her in a way that Meredith-of-a-few-months-ago would have found endearing. Now, though, it was just getting on her last nerve.
“We never did get to talk earlier,” he said. The resident took a step back to avoid his hand reaching to grab for hers. His smile faltered and, at her guarded look, dropped into a confused frown.
“I’m busy,” she replied, gesturing to the samples in her hand and the redheaded attending still standing behind her.
“Maybe we can talk later? At lunch?”
“No.”
“What? Why not?”
“I don’t want to talk to you, Dr Shepherd.”
Derek’s smile merely deepened in its confusion, as if he couldn’t possibly fathom why she would simply reject him like that. Meredith’s eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets at the thought. “Meredith—”
“It’s Dr Grey to you.”
“Meredith,” Derek repeated, sounding a little frustrated now. Good. Maybe he would finally understand how she felt every time he badgered her like this. “I just want to talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Meredith—!”
“Okay, this was funny to watch at first, but now it’s just getting a little sad,” Addison interrupted, moving around Meredith to step in between her and the neurosurgeon. “Go away, Derek. Seriously.”
“Stay out of this, Addison,” he spat.
“Look, the woman already told you to leave her alone, Derek. Is a simple ‘no’ so hard to understand? Do we need to send you back to grade school? Get you an English tutor?”
Derek’s mouth flapped open and closed as he tried to search for a response. Addison turned around and dragged Meredith off down the hallway with her before he could find one.
“Dr Montgomery!”
“What now?” Addison grumbled under her breath. Meredith shared the sentiment. They could not seem to catch a break today. They turned to see Alex storming down the hall towards them.
“Dude, what the hell?” Alex growled, crossing his arms. “You said I could get in on this patient. So what is Meredith doing here?”
“Karev,” Addison greeted in a rather unimpressed tone. “First of all, I’m not your ‘dude’. I’m an attending. Treat me with the respect I deserve.”
Alex rolled his eyes, waving her lecture off. “Yeah, yeah, world-class surgeon, double-board certified, I get it. My patient?”
Addison narrowed her eyes. “Mrs Cortez is my patient, Karev. I never promised you anything. You asked if you could get in on a case, and I said maybe.”
“But you—!”
“Furthermore, your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired, Karev. You remember Missy, from a few weeks ago when you were on my service? She told me that she thought you would kill her in her sleep. Honestly, I’m surprised you even passed your boards.”
“She was joking! Come on. You know Sloan treats his residents like crap. And I already told you that I’m interested in peds!”
“Go harass Dr Robbins, then. You’re off my service until you learn to treat patients nicely. Pregnant mothers are already stressed enough as it is, and I don’t need you and your caveman tendencies to add to that. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be getting Dr Sloan his dry cleaning?”
A pager went off. Addison glanced at hers.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she snarked, pushing past Alex. Meredith shot her fellow resident a quick glance before hurrying after the attending.
“What’s his twenty?” Addison asked when she felt Meredith catch up.
Meredith glanced over her shoulder. “He’s all red. He’s got crazy eyes. And he’s coming our way.”
Addison closed her eyes and muttered under her breath, “Don’t do it, Karev. Don’t do it.”
“You satanic bitch!”
Addison heaved a loud sigh as she turned to face the angry resident with a disappointed look on her face. She was deadly calm. Meredith glanced nervously between the two as Alex marched up to them.
“You can’t just keep me off your service! You don’t think I see what you’re doing here? I diagnosed a patient when you couldn’t a few weeks ago and now you’re embarrassed. You sicked Sloan on me to keep me off your service because you’re threatened by me!” shouted Alex.
“Alex, stop it,” Meredith warned, stepping in front of Addison to shield her from the huffing ape of a man.
But he just kept going. “Just because you don’t seem to have a semblance of a life outside of this hospital, you think you can treat the rest of us like crap. You know what? I feel sorry for you. Because you know what you’ll have on your deathbed? Nothing and no one.”
“Are you done?” Addison sounded bored, though Meredith could see the tension in her shoulders and the clench of her jaw. “I didn’t kick you off my service because I felt threatened.”
“Then—”
“No, it’s my turn to speak now,” she interrupted. “I kicked you off my service because you’re lazy, entitled, incompetent, and because you spend more time flirting with the nurses than you do actually doing your job. While I commend you on the diagnosis, Karev, I feel the need to remind you that I am, as I’m sure you’re tired of hearing, a double-board-certified OBGYN with fellowships in maternal-fetal medicine and medical genetics and I am one of the foremost neonatal surgeons in this country. When you can top that, then — and only then — will I feel threatened by you.”
Alex opened his mouth, but Addison didn’t even give him a chance to get a word out.
“Until then, I’m sure Dr Sloan wouldn’t mind having you on his service for, say, a month longer. Or would you prefer being on scut for the next two weeks?”
Alex glared at her furiously for a few moments, jaw flexing visibly as he chewed on his words. He sneered accusingly at Meredith, then turned and stormed off without another word.
Meredith scurried after the neonatal surgeon when she turned and started walking again, this time with even bigger strides. Meredith silently cursed her unfortunate height disadvantage as she tried to keep up with her.
“Dr Montgomery,” she called out before the redhead could get too far.
“What?” Addison snapped, then seemed to cringe at herself. In a softer voice, she said, “What do you want, Grey?”
Meredith gave her a concerned look. “Are you okay? I mean– I know what it’s like. To be, you know,” She trailed off, unsure of how exactly to finish her sentence without sounding insensitive.
“What, to be heralded as the resident, and I quote, ‘satanic bitch’?” Addison sounded tired, and suddenly Meredith regretted even going after her.
“Well, no, but I—”
“Didn’t I tell you to go check on my patients?”
“Yes, but—”
This time, the redhead’s tone left no room for arguments. “My patients, Grey. Go.”
Her pager beeped again, and she seemed to swallow a sigh.
“And Grey, I need you to work this weekend,” she informed. “Baby season. You know how it is.”
Meredith hesitated. “This weekend?”
“You have a problem with that?”
“No, I,” Meredith paused to lick her lips nervously. “Well, yes, actually. It’s Izzie’s birthday, so I was gonna go to Kansas with the other interns and...” She trailed off and shrunk when Addison turned her very unamused gaze on her. “You know what? It’s fine. I’ll cancel,” she amended, stumbling over her words. “You probably saved me a weekend of misery anyway, so.”
Addison had started walking away in the middle of her sentence. Meredith’s shoulders slumped as she watched her disappear down the hall.
“Izzie’s gonna hate me,” she muttered.
Cristina seemed to agree with her assessment when Meredith informed her of her predicament as she joined her for breakfast — or lunch? Meredith could hardly be expected to keep track of her eating habits — in the cafeteria.
“What do you mean, you’re not going?” Cristina asked, whirling around to glare at Meredith. She held a single French fry up to Meredith’s face, brandishing it like a knife. Somehow, Meredith doubted it could do much damage to her. “You promised Izzie.”
Meredith pushed the fried potato away with an exasperated sigh. “I know! Tell her I’m sorry, okay? Montgomery wants me to work the weekend. It’s baby season.”
Cristina’s eyes went wide and she let out a litany of noises that sounded both aggravated and incredulous. “Mer. You can’t seriously expect me to tell Izzie that when she asks why you’re MIA. Baby season? Baby season.”
Meredith threw her hands up. “I don’t know what you want me to say!”
“Literally anything would be better than freaking baby season! ”
George joined them, eyebrows furrowed as he squinted in visible confusion. “I’m sorry, why are we talking about babies like they’re seasonal fruits?”
“Mer’s not going to Kansas with us,” Cristina explained, ignoring Meredith’s peeved groan.
“What do you mean, you’re not going to Kansas with us?” George asked, distressed as he turned to Meredith. “It’s Izzie’s birthday!”
“It’s not that I don’t want to go, George,” Meredith sighed, setting Mrs Cortez’s test results and her meal — a cup of green jello and an apple juice box — on the table in front of her. “It’s that I can’t. Montgomery’s making me work the weekend.”
“Baby season,” Cristina scoffed. Meredith shot her a glare.
Alex joined them, noisily sipping on a juice box. He seemed much calmer compared to when Meredith had seen him last, but she eyed him warily anyway. “Baby season?” he prompted.
“Mer isn’t going to Kansas this weekend,” Cristina explained again before Meredith could say anything.
“Dude, what?” Alex asked, setting his juice box down on the table.
“Cristina, stop making me sound like a bad friend!” Meredith whined before turning to Alex. “Montgomery’s making me work the weekend. It’s baby season.”
Alex gave a derisive snort and returned to his juice box. “Ha. Kinda makes me glad I got stuck with Sloan. Guess I don’t hate you, after all.”
“I am so glad to hear that,” Meredith said flatly, “Really, I am.”
Alex just gave her a shrug and a shit-eating smirk.
“You seriously can’t get out of it?” George asked through a mouthful of fries. A glob of half-chewed mush shot out of his mouth and just barely missed Meredith. “Chief Webber even gave us some extra time off just for this trip.”
Meredith didn’t even bother to hide her disgust as she replied, “What do you think, George? It’s Dr Montgomery, for Pete’s sake. Do you think she would let me — me! — run off for the weekend during baby season?”
“Please, you make her sound like she’s some omnipotent witch,” Cristina snorted. “She’s not a monster, Mer. I’m sure she’ll let you come if you just explain the situation to her.”
“She might as well be,” Meredith grumbled. “Look, she’s already sort of a hard-ass to normal residents. You think she won’t be harder on the on that was stupid enough to sleep with her husband? And besides, I did explain the situation to her, but she didn’t even say anything. She just glared at me until I agreed to come in. I’m pretty sure she hates my guts.”
“Dr Grey,” came a voice from behind her. Meredith shut her eyes and slowly let out a long exhale. Cristina choked out a strangled laugh while George focused intently on his plate of food. Alex just smirked.
Meredith plastered on the best smile she could muster under the circumstances and turned to face Addison. “Yes, Dr Montgomery?”
“Where are the labs for Mrs Cortez?” the redhead asked coolly. Meredith couldn’t glean any information from her tone nor her facial expression, but guessed that she was probably pissed.
Sighing internally, she held the folder out to the attending. “I have them right here.”
Addison accepted it without a word. Meredith shifted uneasily in her chair as she watched her flip through the papers silently.
After a few moments of awkward — for Meredith, at least — silence, Addison finally spoke up once more. “Why didn’t you get these to me as soon as you had them?”
Her gaze met Meredith’s. The resident gulped and waved at her pathetic meal. “Well, I only really got them ten minutes ago. I was gonna go look for you after I’ve had breakfast.”
Addison didn’t seem particularly dazzled by the jello or her excuse. “Do you think Mrs Cortez’s TTTS will wait for you to have your breakfast before acting up?”
“N-no, Dr Montgomery.”
Addison motioned for her to walk with her and immediately walked away without waiting for the blonde. Meredith shot a helpless glance at her friends before shoving her breakfast into her lab coat and following obediently.
“You’ve been on my service for the past month, Grey,” Addison continued when Meredith joined her at her side. “I expect you to know these things.”
“Actually, Dr Montgomery, I’d like to talk to you about that,” Meredith said, wordlessly accepting the folder back from the redhead.
“Get on with it, then.”
Suddenly, Meredith’s mind went blank. “Um.”
Addison looked distinctly unimpressed. “I hope this isn’t as articulate as you’re going to get today, Dr Grey. We have a lot more things to do.”
Meredith felt her face flush. “Well, I’ve been on your service for a really long time now, and I was hoping to be placed on someone else’s soon.”
Addison quirked an eyebrow at this. “What, are you telling me that you don’t enjoy being on my service, Grey?”
“No! I mean— Of course I like neonatal.”
“Then what seems to be the problem?”
Meredith wrung her hands. “I just, neonatal isn’t exactly my first choice of specialty. Not that it isn’t a great specialty, of course. I admire the precision, and saving babies always feels nice.”
“Get to the point, Grey.”
“I’m just saying that I would like to spend some time in other specialties, is all.”
Addison hummed, but said nothing.
“So..?” Meredith trailed off.
“So what?” Addison blinked innocently.
Meredith was tired of the redhead’s feigned obliviousness, but she swallowed her frustration and pressed on. “Am I... Can I be placed on someone else’s service next week, then?”
Addison opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the insistent beeping of her pager. Meredith stifled an annoyed groan.
“I have to go.”
“Dr Montgomery, my question?”
Addison gave her a long look. “Come get me from Conference Room B in fifteen minutes. Then we’ll talk.”
“What?”
“Just . . fake an emergency or something. And check on my patients in the meantime. I’ll answer your question when you come get me.”
“I— Okay.”
“Remember: Conference Room B. I’ll see you in fifteen, Grey.”
And with that, Meredith was left alone once more. She was starting to think that she might just be stuck with Addison for the rest of her life. She rolled her eyes at the thought. Typical. She trudged off to Mrs Cortez’s room, grumbling under her breath as she went.
Just as she’d agreed to, Meredith knocked on the door to Conference Room B fifteen minutes later. Not bothering to wait for permission, she opened the door and stuck her head in.
Addison, Chief Webber, and some old white guy she thought might have been a member of the board — Mr Jennings, she recalled after a moment — stared back at her. Meredith swallowed nervously when she remembered that she was a lowly resident who was interrupting an important meeting. Or she thought it looked like an important one anyway, if Addison’s hostile stance and Webber’s frown were any indication.
“Excuse me, we’re in a meeting,” came Jennings’ gruff voice. Meredith’s eyes darted between him and the Chief before finally landing on Addison. Inexplicably, her stress alleviated a little as she made prolonged eye contact with the neonatal surgeon.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Meredith started, really only speaking to Addison. “But Mrs Cortez needs to speak to you about the surgery. I told her you were otherwise engaged for the time being, but she made it clear that she only wanted to talk to you. So... sorry.”
The confusion in Addison’s green eyes dissipated and her sour expression brightened considerably. Meredith thought that if they were in a cartoon, a lightbulb would have appeared and lit up above the redhead.
“Come here,” she hissed under her breath, motioning for the blonde to come closer. Meredith, confused but unwilling to question her in front of their superiors, moved slowly towards Addison. She was shooting skittish glances at Webber and Jennings when Addison nearly yanked her over to where she was standing at the end of the conference table.
The redhead had pulled her so close that their sides were pressed together. Meredith couldn’t stop the heat that rose to her cheeks as she cleared her throat awkwardly. She moved to shuffle away, but was stopped by Addison’s hand on her waist pulling her closer.
Meredith stared at Addison as she started to speak, addressing the men seated at the other end of the conference table. ”Gentlemen. I understand the predicament we are in. I do.”
She turned to meet Meredith’s eyes. She was smiling, though her eyes were practically screaming at Meredith to just play along. So Meredith carefully rearranged her expression to be as neutral as possible, though she doubted she made for a very good actress.
Addison turned back to Webber and Jennings, still with that smile of hers. “But, well... I think there’s something you should know.”
The two men nodded for her to go on, expectant looks on their faces. She turned back to Meredith, who simply frowned at her. When she spoke, Addison’s voice was soft and almost... loving?
“We’re getting married.”