37. Meredith on Morphine vs Mrs Shepherd

AN: Sorry about the delay. Real life kind of jumped out at me with neon signs and microphones. HELLO! REMEBER ME? I NEED SOME ATTENTION. Lol. So, yeah...my new habit of updating every other day won't be happening for the next week or two while I attend to my 3D world. And just to respond to a few reviews;

Tamar- I can't say no to a dare...

Reader- I definitely had fun with this chapter...

NG- I definitely took the deeper conversation route a lot in this chapter, as you urged me, but Meredith wouldn't be Meredith if she didn't say some embarrassing things. Oh, and I loved the ice chips part too, so that's definitely here...

Jane Shepherd had barely put down her phone and gotten back to work in the kitchen when the phone rang again, once more indicating a long distance call with a faster ring. She wiped her cookie-dough and flour-y hands off on her apron and reached for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Shepherd? It's Meredith Grey, you know, Derek's girlfriend?"

"Of course, Meredith," she said quickly. "I just got off the phone with Derek. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm grrrreat!"

Jane smiled. Her son had warned her that his girlfriend was a little loopy. "Like Tony?"

"Who?"

"Tony the Tiger, from the cereal box."

"He has a name? I didn't know that!" Meredith exclaimed. "But seriously, Mrs. Shepherd, you're really cool for knowing that. Derek and Doctor Bailey didn't know who I was talking about. Well...Doctor Bailey kind of did after I explained, but Derek had no idea. Seriously, for a brain surgeon, he can be rather brainless."

Jane bit back a laugh. The poor girl was very loopy. "Well, I'm a mother of five, Meredith. I know all the names. And call me Jane."

There was a long pause. "Really?"

"Of course. If I'm going to call you Meredith, you need to call me Jane."

"So, this isn't like a trick or anything?"

"A trick?" She asked, biting back a smile.

"Yeah, like to test me or whatever? Isn't that what boyfriend's parents do?"

"Not me," Jane reassured. "Have you been tested like that before?"

"Nooooo," Meredith drawled. "I've never had to chance to be tested before."

"Never met the parents, huh?" Jane asked with a smile. As a mother of five, she had met her fair share of marriage hopefuls; both good and bad. Some had been 'tested' more than others.

"Never had parents to meet. Derek's like my first boyfriend or whatever."

"Oh..." Jane stammered, uncertain of what to say to that. Thankfully, though, her son's girlfriend, good and high on morphine, continued unhindered.

"And I know that makes me sound like a lame-ass loser at my age, but if you met my mother you'd understand. If it were up to her, I'd be alone forever."

"I'm sure that's not true, Meredith," Jane said carefully. "I'm sure your mother just wants you to be happy."

Meredith erupted into a loud torrent of laughter. "Wow," she finally stammered. "Derek told me you were nothing like my mother, but I didn't realize that he meant you were a polar opposite until now."

Jane paused, before continuing hesitantly, concerned suddenly by the other woman's words. "I'm not sure what to say to that, Meredith."

"I'm sorry," Meredith said quickly. "You don't know my mother, so you don't know that that's a compliment. It's actually like the best compliment you could get as a mother. Trust me, if you were anything like my mother, you'd probably be telling me to get back to work; that an inflamed appendix is no reason to not be in the OR... As a doctor." She laughed to herself. "Cause it's a reason to be in the OR as a patient, obviously. But not as a doctor, because it's a little distracting. But my mother would think I should be in the OR as a doctor, learning and whatnot, to gain the most experience so that I can be the best or whatever. Get it?"

"Yes," Jane said quickly, even as she was still trying to process all that the younger woman had said. The girl certainly could talk. "And I'm sorry to hear that about your mother. One of my girls had her appendix out in high school, and I definitely agreed that taking a few days off was a good idea."

"Kathleen, right?"

"Yes, did Derek tell you?"

"Yeah, he did. He told me a lot of stuff a while ago, before the first time we planned to come out here and- Oh! That's actually why I called. I need to apologize that we can't make it again. Really, Jane, I'm so sorry. Because I'm really ready this time. I wasn't really ready last time. I was freaking out because it seemed really fast and I've never done this before, but I was still going to go with Derek, and then Denny died. And we needed to be there for Izzy. And I told Derek that I was grateful that I would have a little more time, and he was really mad and we fought and then he left for hours."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Meredith. I love my son, but he can be a bit dense at times."

"Yes, he can." She agreed readily, and the static on the other end of the phone told Jane that Meredith was nodding emphatically. "But I love him. And he came back and apologized and everything."

"That's good."

"So, it was our first big fight or whatever, and I guess it's just one of the many firsts I had to experience in the whole relationship thing. It was okay. We got through it. And then we had make-up sex, which, seriously, have you ever had make up sex? Cause it was awesome."

"Uh..." Jane stammered for something to say in response. However, Meredith continued, still unhindered by her lack of response.

"Seriously awesome. But I've gotten off track... What was I saying before?"

"Well, you said Derek told you about Kathleen-"

"Right!" Meredith exclaimed. "You're really smart. I can see why all five of your kids are doctors. Anyway, Derek told me that Kathleen had her appendix out in high school and said a lot of embarrassing things while she was on morphine. Like, she told you about sneaking out and failing a test and stuff."

"That she did," Jane confirmed, smiling to herself at the memory. Her daughter had been horrified when she had woken up and been informed of her actions.

Meredith laughed. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm not experiencing any of those effects. My morphine's dulling the pain, but that is all. Because it would be really bad for me if I was talking to you uninhibited."

Jane bit back a laugh. The poor girl would be so embarrassed when the effects of the morphine had worn off. And yet...she couldn't resist the, most likely one time only, opportunity to prod a bit into the life of the woman who had so quickly stolen her son's heart. "Why would it be so bad?"

"Oh, it would be horrible," Meredith drawled. "I don't exactly have a pristine past. I mean, I've never been to jail or been arrested or anything bad like that. And there aren't any secret spouses in my past, or affairs or anything. But my mother was really absent. She was a top surgeon, and she basically ignored me. So long as my grades were up, she had no reason to concern herself with what I was up to. There were lots of parties. And lots of alcohol. And lots of boys. And lots of skipping class."

"What about your father?" Jane asked carefully.

"Oh, he took off when I was five. Well, actually, my mother kicked him out when I was five. You see, we lived in Seattle, where I live now, and my mom had an affair throughout her residency. Did you ever meet Richard Webber? He worked with Derek when he was an intern. Anyway, it was him. And he was married too. And they had an affair for a long time. And they decided to ditch their spouses and be together for real. My mother divorced my father, only Richard couldn't go through with it, and broke up with my mother for good at the park while I was on the carousel. Then my mother moved us to Boston, and I didn't come back to Seattle until now. And Richard Webber is the Chief of surgery now, so I have to deal with him every freaking day." She sighed heavily. "I didn't realize it was him until last month. And he didn't even try to deny it. And the really stupid part is that he's been treating Derek like crap for months compared to Doctor Burke, when Burke is doing the exact same thing."

Jane blinked in confusion, struggling to fill in the gaps. "I'm sorry, dear, but you've lost me. What is it that Derek and this other doctor are doing?"

"Dating an intern. Burke is dating my friend Cristina. And Derek is dating me, obviously. I guess it's frowned upon, or whatever, but not against the rules. And the Chief was treating Derek and Burke so differently, and when Derek finally asked, he said it was because Burke valued his relationship more because he went to Richard and told him about his relationship."

"And Derek didn't do that?" Jane asked, concerned. It wasn't like her son to keep secrets.

"He didn't get a chance. The Chief caught us together in the hall... Not in a naked way or whatever. We were just talking. And I told him about my mother- She has Alzheimer's in case you didn't know that. At the time no one but me knew, but it was getting so hard to keep secret after more than four years, and I told Derek and he comforted me, and the Chief saw. So, yeah, Derek and I didn't get a chance to go to the Chief. And Burke went to the Chief after he had gotten Cristina pregnant and she had had a tube burst because it was an ectopic pregnancy. And Cristina had wanted it to stay a secret. I mean, barely anyone knew about them. More people knew about me and Derek. Even my resident knew."

"Well, that's something. Did you and Derek go to him?"

"Her," Meredith corrected. "And no, she caught us together to."

"Not in a naked way again?" Jane said lightly, amused by the young woman's terms.

"In a very naked way," Meredith countered. "She caught us having sex in Derek's car at a party. Well, not having sex... We were done, but still pretty much naked and...yeah... It was bad. She was really mad at me, made me jump through so many hoops for weeks. She thought it was to get ahead. But it really wasn't. I fell for him so freaking fast that I just couldn't...couldn't...walk away. And I don't think Doctor Bailey realized it was a completely isolated incident when she caught us. I mean, we had never done that before, have sex in a car. And it totally wasn't my fault. It was a party, and I had had a horrible day, and I was drunk, and Derek showed up...and he totally took advantage. I was drunk and he took advantage. Just like the first time, no matter how much he claims it was me that took advantage..." Meredith trailed off. "Sorry, where was I going with this?"

Jane hesitated, searching her mind for the safest topic. She had already learned far more about her son's sex life than she ever cared to know. "Uhm, you said something about your resident making you jump through hoops?"

"Right," Meredith said, easily latching onto the topic. "Tons of hoops. Kept me out of surgery a lot as punishment. Almost didn't let me shower after my patient's abscess exploded on me. Threatened Derek a lot."

"That doesn't seem fair."

Meredith sighed. "It sucked at the time. But it was totally worth it in the long run. I really, really love your son. He's...he's like the guy that you don't think exists until you meet him, you know? And he makes me feel...like I mean something to someone, like I'm not just a chronic disappointment like I am to my mother. I love him so much. And the really amazing thing is that he loves me back. And he's there all the time, saying things, and promising to be with me forever. And he makes every day seem special. Right from the beginning I knew he was the man I would spend the rest of my life with. Even thought it's still scary taking these steps, it's totally worth it."

"I..." Jane stammered, surprised to feel her eyes moist. "I'm glad you feel that way about him, Meredith. And I can tell you from the way he talks about you that he feels the same way about you."

"Really?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly.

"Really."

Meredith sniffed. "That's...good. Sometimes I still wonder. I mean, I know he loves me, and he reassures me all the time that I'm perfect to him, but there are still times when I wonder if I'm enough, you know? I've never done this before, and he has. And there are just things that I don't know how to do. He found out that I don't know how to swim, and now we're making a list of things I've never done to do together. Swimming. Skating. Tobogganing. Horseback riding. And that kind of thing is okay. Because I missed out on a lot of those things growing up because my mother didn't care to make sure I did them. But there are also relationshippy things that I'm just oblivious to."

"Relationshippy?" Jane asked with a laugh. She wondered if all the unique terms and words Meredith was using were a product of the morphine or were part of her character.

"Ah, now I see where Derek gets it from," Meredith accused. "He calls me all the time on these things. It's a word. If you understand what I was trying to say, then it counts as a word."

Jane laughed out loud. "Good to know."

"Anyway, there are things that I just don't know to do and say and stuff. Like, yesterday I was starting to feel crappy, and obviously didn't know it was my appendix at the time. And I thought maybe I was pregnant, because the symptoms fit. And I took two pregnancy tests and they were both negative. And it wasn't that I wasn't going to tell Derek. It's just that I didn't think to include him in the actual process of buying and taking the tests and waiting for the results."

Jane felt her heart go out to the girl in response to her deflated tone. "Was he angry that you didn't include him?" She asked, hoping her son had handled the situation well. Even from their short conversation, she could tell there were many levels to the woman he had fallen in love with. And although there wasn't a doubt in her mind that her son loved Meredith, she wondered how much patience he would have for some parts of their relationship. He had always been the type to want a committed relationship. He had always wanted to settle down and get married and start a family. Jane had been disheartened when years and years had gone by with no children produced between him and Addison, and she knew Derek would be eager to get to that point with this new relationship. And she knew her son tended to have blinders on to other people at times.

"I don't think so. I was bent over the toilet trying not to throw up when I told him, so I doubt he would have yelled at me or anything like that. But he told me that, under no uncertain terms, he wanted to be included if it happened again, that he wants to be around for everything, good and bad."

Jane smiled proudly. That was the son she had raised. Despite losing his father at an early age and living without a male role model for a decade, he had grown up to be a man she could feel proud to call her son, and not just for his profession. "He's a good man."

"He really is," Meredith agreed. "I've known so many guys who just don't care. And Derek...he makes me feel so safe. I've always had to take care of myself, ever since I can remember growing up, but he can just make all the bad stuff fade away. I've never felt more secure or more loved in my life. Hell, I've never felt loved, period. My mother never said it to me, as far as I can remember. Derek was the first person to ever say it to me. And he's the first person I ever said it to."

"You said a while ago that he said something about being around forever?" Jane prompted cautiously. "Have you two talked about a future?"

"We have," Meredith told her. "He's promised to never leave me, and I've promised the same. We're definitely in this for the long haul or whatever."

Jane smiled to herself, glad to hear that her son was putting his life back together so well, and glad that this woman would be in his life. "Have you talked about marriage?"

"In a more future way, yeah. He's living with me right now, in my house with my two roommates. And I know he's not exactly thrilled to be living with so many people, especially since the house seems to be a hotel for the hospital or something. Izzy and George, our roommates, both work at the hospital. They're interns with me. And Alex, another intern, he was dating Izzy for a while, so he was over a lot until he cheated on her with syph-nurse. And our other intern, Cristina, is over every time she and Burke have a fight. And George's girlfriend Callie, who's a resident, is over a lot now too. Derek even walked in on her naked in the hallway a couple weeks ago." She paused for a breath. "Anyway, Derek's putting up with it all for me for now. And he's agreed to wait until my internship is over before we move out somewhere together because there are only three months left now and I need to buckle down and study so I can pass my exam. So, we'll find a new place to live after that, because there is no way I am going to do the relationship thing in my mother's house. And then I guess marriage is the next step after that."

"So, you're going to get married?" Jane asked, ignoring all of the other things Meredith had said. Asking about things like 'syph-nurse' could wait until Meredith was off the influence of morphine. She feared bringing it up now would only start a new rambling speech that Jane wasn't sure she needed to hear.

"One day, for sure," Meredith confirmed. "But don't worry, Jane, I promise not to sleep with Mark, or anyone else for that matter...except Derek, obviously."

"I believe you," She offered. "I wasn't even thinking that."

"Good, because I know it could look really bad to you; Derek and I together like this. I get that it could look like a midlife crisis thing on Derek's part, and a vie for getting ahead on mine."

"I don't believe that for a second, Meredith. From talking with my son, I know how much you mean to him. And now, talking with you, I can tell how much you care for him. And I'm looking forward to meeting you in person one day soon. You'll be a wonderful addition to our family." Jane hesitated for a moment, but was unable to help herself with the next question. "Do you think there will be any other additions to our family? Have you and Derek discussed having children at all?" She asked hopefully. Her son was the only one of her five children who had not given her grandchildren yet, and she knew he had wanted kids.

"We haven't really talked about it," Meredith said openly, her inhibition still chugging away, fuelled by the morphine coursing through her system. "It's always sort of been a future maybe. Derek did tell me a while ago that if I ever did get pregnant that he was going to be there for me no matter what, taking full responsibility and whatever. And I can tell he wants kids, but hasn't pressure me at all because he knows how scary it is for me. And I never wanted kids before because I was terrified to turn out like my mother, and there is no way I would ever be able to live with myself if I put a child through what I went through."

Jane felt her hopeful bubble pop. "So, that's a no?"

There was a long pause before Meredith continued, her voice suddenly taking on a low and conspiratorial quality. "Can I tell you a secret that you can't tell Derek?"

"Of course."

"You have to promise not to tell him, because I haven't told him yet, because I only realized yesterday."

"Okay."

"You have to actually promise."

Jane laughed. This was almost like talking to one of her young grandchildren. You have to swear not to tell mommy or daddy, grandma... "I promise not to tell Derek."

"Or anyone who may tell Derek, like his sisters."

"How about I promise not to tell anyone?"

"Oh, that's even better. Okay," she continued, her tone still quiet and controlled. "Yesterday I took the pregnancy tests, and I guess I was relieved and whatnot that I wasn't pregnant, because we're really not ready for a McBaby. But...there was a part of me that was kind of disappointed. Derek is amazing. And there isn't a doubt in my mind that he'd be a wonderful father. And the thought of having made a baby together..." She trailed off and sniffed. "I guess I just realized that I do want kids, with him. I can't do it by myself. But I believe that he'll be there with me, that he won't leave me. And I believe him when he tells me I'm not like my mother. And I'm confident that we can do it together, that we can have kids. So, yeah, I really think I want kids. And I know Derek does. So, to answer your question; we haven't really discussed it, but when we do, the answer will be yes."

Jane felt her heart skip a beat at the thought. "That's so good to hear, Meredith. I've always known my son would be a good father. I'm glad he'll get the chance with you."

"Me too. Not right away, but one day there will be a McBaby."

There was that term again. Jane furrowed her brow. "McBaby?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess you wouldn't get that. It's kind of a thing here at the hospital. We put Mc in front of words. I don't really know why... But people get some pretty funny McNicknames."

"Do you have one?"

"No, thank God. But Derek does. They call him Doctor McDreamy."

Jane laughed aloud before she could help it, and clapped her hand over her mouth in a weak attempt to stop herself. She caught sight of her husband wandering into the kitchen, sending her a questioning glance.

'Who are you talking to?' He mouthed.

She pressed her hand over the microphone of the phone. "Derek's girlfriend. The poor girl is about to get her appendix out and is high on morphine. She called me, and has barely stopped talking."

Brian offered her amused smile. "And you're just going to let her go on?"

"What else would you have me do?"

"Tell her you have to go. Derek's not going to be happy."

Jane shrugged. "After what she's already told me, talking to her for longer isn't going to make a difference. There can't be anything that she could say to make herself more embarrassed."

Brian shook his head. "Just make sure Derek knows I had no part in this."

She raised an eyebrow. "I guess that means you don't want to know what the hospital calls my son as a nickname then?"

He looked on with sudden interest. "I never said that..."

She rolled her eyes. "Apparently they call him Doctor McDreamy."

Brian snorted. "Oh, I'm sure he loves that."

Jane laughed and removed her hand. "Sorry about that, Meredith. My husband just came in. I told him about Derek's nickname, and he thinks it's pretty funny too."

Meredith giggled. "He hates it, but does a good job tolerating it."

"What are some others?"

"Well, they call Mark McSteamy."

Jane started at the name. "Mark Sloan?"

"Yup."

"How do you even know him?"

"Oh, haven't you heard? He apparently moved to Seattle, got a contract here and everything. No one knew until he showed up at the hospital this morning. But he was here for at least a day a few months ago, and he got the nickname from my friends because he, apparently, stitched up his own face after Derek hit him."

Jane was almost overloaded but the sudden swell of information. The man who she had practically raised, who had destroyed her son's marriage, had moved to Seattle. But first and foremost was, "my son hit Mark?"

Brian looked up in surprise from across the kitchen. And then he shrugged. "Good for him."

"Yeah, the first time he showed up at Grace," Meredith responded. "Mark showed up out of nowhere and was talking to me. I mean, I had no idea who he was, and at first tried to ignore him, and then when he pushed more I told him I was very much taken. And then suddenly he was on the floor. Derek said he saw him and then he saw black. I'm not sure how much he even realized I was there until after."

Jane shook her head as she absorbed the information. "I've never seen my son so crushed as when he showed up on my doorstep to tell us he was moving to Seattle. It had only been five days, and no one even knew anything had happened. He lost his wife and his best friend in one blow. He was devastated."

"I think it hurt more that Mark would do that to him than Addison," Meredith offered. "I mean, he told me that his marriage wasn't what it should be. And he's forgiven Addison. They've come a long way in getting along at the hospital. I wouldn't call them friends yet, but they're on their way. But Mark... He hit him the one time, and I know he was pissed to find out Mark had been offered a job this morning. I think he misses him, having such a close friend. But I'm not sure if he can ever forgive him."

"They were very close, like brothers."

"He told me."

Jane shook her head sadly. Sometimes it felt like she had lost a son. "But you said that Derek has forgiven Addison?"

"Yeah, he has. She's not a bad person, and he sees that. She never meant to hurt him like that, but we talked last week, and I really think that she fell in love with Mark."

"You talked to Addison?" Jane asked in surprise.

"Yeah, she's actually pretty nice to me now. We talk a bit. She says she's moving on and everything, that she's glad Derek is happy. I'm glad she doesn't hate me. Derek's not the kind of guy you leave if you can help it. And even though they were separated when I met him and that I didn't even know she existed, I still felt guilty for a long time." She paused. "You do know that I didn't know he was married, right?"

"I do," Jane reassured. "Derek made sure I knew."

"Good, because I really don't want you to think too many bad things about me. I don't have a stellar past, but that doesn't mean I don't have morals. I wasn't looking for love. And I would never have knowingly gotten involved with a married man. Hell, I would never have gotten involved with Derek if I had known he would be my boss. But we met before either of us started work, and I couldn't help but continue it then. And by the time Addison showed up, it had been three months, and I just...couldn't walk away. I tried. I really tried. I told him it was over more than once. I told him not to talk to me or come near me. I told him so many things. But in the end..."

"You were in love with him," Jane finished, sending a quick glance towards her husband as he left the room. After her first husband had passed away, she had never expected to find love again. Brian had been a surprise when he had suddenly appeared in her life.

"I was. And I'm sorry for anything you may think of that-"

"Meredith, stop," Jane commanded. She wasn't sure how much of this the girl would absorb under the influence of the morphine, but she would try anyway. "You make my son happy, and that is all I need to know. I believe that you didn't know about Addison. And I believe my son when he tells me you are the most amazing woman he has ever met. I don't think anything negative about you."

Meredith sniffed. "Thanks."

Jane smiled to herself. "Now, all you have to do is to get rid of that rebellious appendix and get better so that you can finally come out and meet us, okay?"

"Okay. I am looking forward to meeting everyone. Derek was really excited about taking me out there. He talks about all of you a lot, and I can tell he misses you. He's really looking forward to introducing us in person. And I'm...looking forward to meeting you. I've never been around a real family before. I mean, my family is comprised of my friends and Derek. That's all. And I've always been terrified about the prospect of being part of a real, big family like yours because I have no basis for knowing what to do and say and whatever. I think that's what Derek didn't get at first when he got mad. But he gets it now, and he's been really great about explaining things and telling me things. And he's promised me that it's all going to be okay, so I'm looking forward to meeting you now."

"Good. We're all looking forward to meeting you too, Meredith. And regardless of what my son has said to you, we don't bite."

Meredith laughed, but didn't respond. Jane could hear movement in her vicinity on the other end of the phone. "George!" She finally exclaimed. "George is here," she told Jane. "He's my roommate," she explained. "George, do you want to say hi to Derek's mom?"

"You're talking to Shepherd's mom?" Jane heard a younger male voice ask, concern noticeable in his tone.

"Mmm-hmm," Meredith responded, the phone still up to her mouth even though she was speaking to someone in person. "Derek called her to tell her we wouldn't be making it tonight, even though I told Doctor Bailey I would be fine to fly as long as she got me into surgery soon. But he was being weird and not explaining himself well, and he left his phone when he got paged, so I thought it was a good idea to call her and make sure she understood what was going on." Meredith paused, turning her attention back to the phone. "I did explain properly, right?"

"Of course, dear," Jane said immediately, ignoring the fact that Meredith had begun to explain more than once, only to become sidetracked with her train of thought. And ignoring the fact that her son was the one thinking, and explaining, clearly while Meredith was not.

"And better than Derek?"

"Absolutely," she said with a laugh. It was just better to agree now.

"See?" Meredith said triumphantly to George. "I told you."

"I never disagreed with you."

"Whatever," Meredith said quickly. "George is going to scrub in on my surgery," she explained. "And I have all the faith in the world in him, even though he almost killed the last appendectomy patient he operated on. And he's got a girlfriend," she continued. "Named Callie. I told you about her, right? She works here too, because apparently we're all too lazy to go and meet people outside of the hospital. Although I did technically meet Derek at a bar. It was across the road from the hospital, but still, that's something, right?"

Before Jane could respond, she could here Meredith's roommate saying something in the background.

"I don't really think Mrs. Shepherd needs to hear that, Meredith."

"What? That we met in a bar. I'm sure she knows," she said, the phone still held up to her mouth as she spoke to George. "We met and we didn't know we would end up working together. Hell, I don't even think we exchanged names. I definitely didn't know his the next morning. And he was all cocky and amused and whatever, but I'm pretty sure he didn't know mine. Seriously, the man was far too confident for a guy who had just woken up naked on my living room floor."

Jane had no idea what to say to any of this. She had not been aware of her son's initial meeting with his girlfriend. She had always assumed they had met at work. And after all that Meredith had shared with her, she wondered if the poor girl would ever have the courage to show up at her home.

"Oh, God... Meredith, seriously, you're sharing way too much. It's time to say goodbye."

"It is not, George," she argued. "I'm having a conversation here." She returned her attention to Jane. "Sorry about that, everyone here is being weird today. I don't know what's gotten into them. What was I saying?"

Jane stammered slightly, searching her mind for a safe topic. "Um, you mentioned George was your roommate and he had a girlfriend who worked at the hospital?" Even though Meredith had already explained this twice, she hoped the girl would latch onto the topic and go from there in a safer direction.

"Right! Callie. She's really nice. Did me a huge favour last month that I probably shouldn't tell you about, because we have to have some boundaries here." She giggled to herself. "There are just some things that you don't need to know. Anyway, Callie's way better than George's last girlfriend, right George?" She said with a laugh. "His last girlfriend gave him syphilis. Callie just pees naked in front of people. Oh, and she was in the hall naked once when Derek came out of our room. It was really funny. She's still avoiding him when she can."

"That's it. Give me the phone." Her roommate demanded.

"No."

"Meredith, give me the phone."

There was a hissing noise and a lot of shuffling on the other end of the phone, and several male yelps, but eventually a hesitant voice spoke to her.

"Mrs. Shepherd? I'm George O'Malley; Meredith's roommate. Uh, she's really high on morphine right now." There were footsteps on the other end of the line, and Jane assumed George was leaving the room for this conversation.

"Hello, George," Jane said. "I know. My son called me about an hour ago to let me know what was going on. He left his phone behind and she called me after he left."

"George! Bring ice chips when you come back!" She could hear in the back ground.

"Okay...good...that you know about the morphine," George said, ignoring Meredith's request. "Because she's not normally anything like this. She's really...quiet. And not into sharing so much detail. So, just ignore what she said, because she's really high and I'm sure she didn't mean it, any of it, especially the last bit about her and Derek. I'm sure she just heard that story somewhere else."

Jane smiled at George's attempt to protect his friend. He was obviously lying, but it was the effort that counted. "I'll keep that in mind," she said lightly. "And you may want to take the phone with you and find my son. If you leave it, there's no telling who she'll call. I can keep things confidential, while my girls may not be so forgiving..."

"Yeah, okay, I will. I'm...sorry about this."

"Don't be. We had a good talk for the most part. I'm looking forward to meeting her."

Jane said a quick goodbye to Meredith's roommate and hung up the phone. She returned to the counter where she had been stirring a batch of cookies to have ready for her grandkids. Her husband returned to the room with an empty glass for the dishwasher.

"So?" He prompted. "How was the rest of the conversation you shouldn't have been having?"

She rolled her eyes good naturedly at him. "She called me. I had every right to talk with her."

He shot her a knowing look.

She laughed. "And you were right. Derek is going to be in so much trouble."

AN: I hope the 6k words + makes up for the delay. Originally this chapter was supposed to include everything Meredith did/said until her surgery, but it went so long that I thought it better to post now. I really hoped everyone liked the convo. I tried to include a mix of everything. I also wanted to take a chance for a big shout out at all the awesome people leaving such wonderful reviews for this fic. As I've said before, it was never supposed to reach this level, and was originally just a fun what if for, but you've pushed me to put more and more time and effort and thought and detail into it and it's quickly become my favourite fic to write. Thanks!