4. Word Spreads

AN: Okay, so this story is proving more difficult to write then I expected, at least at this stage. I need to get them away from the whole divorce thing, but it needs to take time... which leave me with what feels like another awkward chapter. I'm trying to follow the story lines already in place, which makes me want to stress my disclaimer at this time. I don't have any affiliations. I have borrowed the characters, and in this chapter, quite a bit of dialogue.

Meredith stumbled up the stairs and into her room, not even stopping to get changed before collapsing on her bed. She sighed with relief, still not sure how she had managed to get home in one piece. Her thirty hour shift had ended up lasting well over forty hours, and she had barely gotten any sleep on call the night before. Add that to the fact that she had worked what ended up being fifty-four hours in a row with only one night of sleep to split them up, and you had one very tired Meredith Grey. It was close to four in the morning now, but she didn't care. She had the next day off and she was going to sleep for as long as she could.

Even in her exhausted state, her thoughts landed briefly on Derek. It had been three days since he picked her, since he told her he loved her too. Two days since he had told her he was getting the divorce. And one day since he had, apologetically, told her the meeting with the lawyer couldn't be scheduled until the next week. And it was only the very earliest hours of Thursday now. Meredith sighed, trying not to be frustrated, trying not to be mad. She should have realized from the beginning that this would take time. It was just, hearing him say those words to her, being told he loved her... And after everything that had happened between them for the past few weeks. She just didn't want to wait any longer.

As much as she tried to make sense of her thoughts, of her feelings about the goings-on of her life, the exhaustion was just too much, and Meredith fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Hours later, when the sun was high up in its daily arc through the sky, Meredith knew consciousness once again. She opened her eyes and blinked several times before rolling onto her back and stretching her aching limbs. Having barely moved for so many hours, she was stiff. As she took in her bearings she wrinkled her nose, realising she had fallen asleep in her clothes, on top of her bed. Shaking her head at what her life had come to, she rolled herself off the bed and up, onto her feet, making a beeline for the bathroom.

Once cleaned up and dressed, she made to head down to the kitchen for some food, but spotted her cell phone laying on the table beside her bed. She picked it up, reading one missed call, and she just knew who it was. Dialling into her voicemail, she held the phone up to her ear.

"Her Mer, it's me," Derek's voice rang out. "I'm sure you're sleeping, but I wanted to let you know. I heard back for the lawyer, and the meeting is scheduled for Tuesday morning. So, yeah, just wanted to let you know. I'm on all day today, but you can give me a call when you wake up. I'll talk to you later."

Meredith smiled despite herself. She knew he was trying. It wasn't his fault it was taking so long. Well, it wasn't his fault this part was taking so long. If he had gotten the divorce right away like he had said, then it would be done by now. But still, she dialled his number, eager to hear his voice. She hadn't spoken to him since the previous morning. The overflow from the train crash was only now starting to die down. It had kept the hospital staff extra busy for days.

Her hope dwindled as the phone rang several times without him picking up. And with each passing ring, her hope dropped even further until his voice mail picked up. She listened to the recorded message and the beep. "Hey Derek, it's me. I got your message. That's good. I guess you're in surgery. I'm up now, for a while at least. I need to get caught up on laundry and get some groceries and stuff, but I'll have my cell with me. Talk to you later. Bye." She hung up, slipping the phone into her pocket so that she would hear it when he called her back.

However, hours later, Meredith lay in bed, trying to get to sleep again. She was still tired, even after sleeping the day away, and she had an early shift the next day. She needed the sleep. But he hadn't called her back. He never called. She rolled onto her back, tilting her head to observe his side of the bed, his very empty side of the bed. She reached her arm over towards the cold linens beneath his pillow and sighed. She didn't want to sleep alone anymore. Rolling onto her side, she scooted her body over to the other side of the bed. But it didn't really help; it didn't make her feel any better. She tossed and turned for some time before finally drifting to sleep.

000

Meredith ignored the stares as she exited the locker room, coffee mug in hand. She was exhausted, having not slept well the night before, and apparently word was getting around about her relationship with Derek. And it was a very hot topic. She sighed as she ambled down the hall to meet her fellow interns at the nurses' station. Bailey intercepted right as she showed up, preventing any discussion with her friends.

However, Christina and Izzy grabbed her as they trailed behind their resident.

"Okay," Christina said. A hand hooked behind Meredith's elbow to pull her close. "So, uh, after rounds, we have something to show you."

Meredith glanced at Christina, her eyes narrowing but she didn't speak.

"Is she okay?" Izzy asked Christina.

"She's fine." Christina said quickly, wanting to get back to the topic at hand.

"Well, she looks weird."

"She's fine," Christina repeated.

"Hey," Meredith cut in. "I can speak for myself. I'm fine."

"See, I told you."

"Then why does she look weird?" Izzy asked. Meredith glared at her and she laughed. "Sorry, why do you look weird?"

Meredith shrugged. "I'm just tired. I didn't sleep much last night."

"You had yesterday off."

"I guess I'm just not sleeping well. Plus, I slept till the afternoon yesterday."

"Why-?" Izzy started, but got cut off.

"People, focus!" Christina said. "Meredith, we have something to show you, so whatever you do, make sure you do not get assigned to a surgery this morning. Okay?"

Meredith shook her head and was just about to ask why when Izzy and Christina dragged her onto the elevator with George and Bailey. The look they both gave her told her she was not to ask questions in Bailey's presence.

The group rounded quickly on post op patients from the day before. Everyone was doing well. There were few scheduled surgeries for the day. Mrs. Griswald was the last patient to see, in for heart surgery. Alex slipped into the room quietly, obviously trying not to bring to attention how late he was.

"You're late," Izzy muttered, obviously still angry with him.

"Yes, Karev, nice of you to join us," Burke said. He turned his attention to Christina. "Dr. Yang, why do we keep the heart beating?"

"I don't know," Christina muttered. Meredith snapped her attention towards Christina in time to see her glance at Izzy before continuing. "I have no idea."

"Oh, I don't know either," Izzy added. "Just don't."

Meredith paused, wondering what was going on with her friends. It wasn't like Christina to not know the answer to a hard question, and this one was easy. And it wasn't like Izzy and Christina to be plotting something together. The attention of the room shifted towards Meredith.

"It's because of-," Meredith was cut off when Izzy's foot came down on hers. Both Izzy and Christina were glaring at her. Don't get yourself assigned to a surgery this morning. She got it. She stayed silent.

With a questioning look towards the girls, George easily answered the question, and won himself the surgery. And Alex was sent off to work on another surgery, leaving Meredith, Izzy and Christina free for the morning.

After a brief chewing out by Bailey, Meredith found herself being dragged towards the stairs.

"What's going on?" She asked as they started down to the next floor.

"We found a case." Izzy said brightly.

Meredith sighed, knowing exactly what they meant. "You stole a case."

"Borrowed." Christina corrected. "From psyc. But the prelims... this thing is totally unprecedented."

"And we found it." Izzy said gleefully.

"You mean stole it," Meredith muttered.

"Found, stole, hijacked. Whatever," Christina said. "Meredith, behind this door is the coolest medical mystery I have ever seen."

Meredith was definitely intrigued by Christina's words.

"Now, you can either walk away, guilt free... Or, you can walk through this door; risk your place in the program, which could possibly lead to spending your life serving fries and flipping burgers." Christina smirked. "So, you in?"

Meredith stared at her friend, taking in her excitement. Izzy was standing, hand on the door, a huge smile on her face. Meredith smiled. "Hell yeah."

0000

Meredith hesitated before raising her hand to knock on the glass window. She still had no idea how she had ended up being the one doing this. Izzy and Christina had stolen a patient. Izzy and Christina forgot to steal said patient's chart. And yet, it was Meredith's job to distract the psychiatrist while they took the chart from the back of the office.

She rolled her eyes and knocked, gaining the attention of the doctor sitting behind the window, paper work in hand, pencil resting in his mouth. After a pause, he stood up, reaching to open the window, pencil still in his mouth.

"How're you doing?" Meredith asked to no response. "Are you good? You look good." She could see Izzy in the hall to the back of the office, keeping watch.

The doctor stood up straighter, removing the pencil from his mouth, but still refrained from talking.

Meredith knew she needed to keep his attention. Christina was making her move. "Come on. We're friends."

He smirked at her. "What's my name?"

She hesitated, momentarily held in a standoff, before she darted her eyes towards his lab coat, but not before he got his hand up to cover the name tag.

She was caught. "Alright, so I don't know your name." She admitted.

She flinched when he spun his head around to look behind him, as if suddenly suspicious about her presence. Meredith let out a breath in relief as Izzy and Christina managed to get cover before he saw them. But Christina was still behind the desk, so Meredith would have to keep talking.

"It's not like we can't talk," she said as he turned his attention back on her. "You don't have to be a surgeon for me to talk to you, you know?"

"Really?"

Christina was getting the chart. She'd be in full view if he chose to turn around again now. "Really."

"Cause I thought you only talked to attendings," the doctor whose name she still didn't know said, right before pulling the window shut in front of her.

Meredith let out a breath as her friends disappeared from sight, chart in hand. She strolled away from the desk, trying to look nonchalant. It didn't, however, stop her from noticing all the looks she was getting. So, the slutty-intern-who-slept-with-an-attending-and-broke-up-his-marriage gossip had reached the pysc floor. Excellent.

Meredith joined her exuberant co-conspirators at the elevators with a sigh. Izzy and Christina were chatting excitedly over the chart, but Meredith stayed silent as they stepped onto the empty car and riding down to the main lobby. She couldn't believe everyone in the hospital seemed to know. How had it spun so far out of control so quickly?

The elevator came to a stop and opened its doors. The interns stepped off quickly, just to come face to face with Derek Shepherd.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hi," Meredith returned, as Izzy and Christina chimed in their own greetings.

"You okay?" He asked her, looking concerned.

She nodded and turned her attention to her friends. "I'll me you guys there?" They nodded and were gone.

"I'm fine," she said, her attention back on Derek. "I just..."

He tilted his head. "You just what?"

She felt a smile break through her face despite herself. She just couldn't resist that look. She sighed, wondering if he knew how much power he had over her. "I just can't believe how many people know." She admitted quietly.

He narrowed his eyes. "Know what?" His voice almost a whisper.

"About us," she hissed quietly.

"Oh," he glanced around. "How do you know they know?" Still whispering.

She rolled her eyes. Men could be so oblivious. "Because," she whispered. "They're talking about us when they think I can't hear. And everyone is staring at me, all the time." She knew she sounded a little paranoid, but she didn't care.

"So everyone is talking and staring?" He whispered, asking for clarification.

She nodded.

"Then why are we whispering?" He smirked.

She huffed and glared at him.

He stopped smirking. "Okay, not the time to joke," his voice higher, but not quite normal. He sighed. "Look, Meredith, I'm sorry if everyone knows. But it had to happen eventually. It's not a bad thing." He smiled at her.

"Yeah, it's not a bad thing for you. You're not the intern who's sleeping with an attending. And you're especially not the intern sleeping with an attending who broke up said attending's marriage."

He sighed. "You didn't break up my marriage, Meredith."

She nodded. "Yes. Yes, I did. She came out here. I asked you to choose. You chose me. Marriage over. My fault."

He shook his head, leading her to a less populated area of the waiting room. "Meredith, my marriage was already over before I came out here. I just felt... I don't know, some sort of obligation. But it was over. We drifted apart, and she slept with my best friend. You don't factor into that equation."

She eyed him. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay," she conceded.

"Okay."

"Do you mind telling everyone else that?" She asked, only half-joking. She swore she could feel eyes on her back.

He laughed. "They'll figure it out in time."

The implications of his words weren't lost on her, but she couldn't deal with them yet, so she chose to move right past them. "Everyone's still staring."

His eyes left hers as he swept them over the room behind her. "No one is staring."

She sighed, and opened her mouth... only to be cut off by a beeping.

They mirrored each others movements as they looked down, hands coming to their sides to check their beepers.

"It's me," Derek said. "I'm needed in the pit." He smiled at her. "I'll catch up with you later."

She smiled back and nodded. "Okay."

But he was caught in surgery, and she was busy with her pregnant man. She was in surgery when he went home, and by the time she left after her shift, he was just starting a new shift. The weekend flew by with barely any interaction.