Let It Go

4.

Meredith leaned against the wall, waiting for the ambulance to pull up. The hospital had a beautiful mountain view, but what had caught her eye was the landing pad. Every other hospital she had ever worked in had landed their helicopters on the roof. This one however, landed their helicopters on the ground, right outside of the ED. She found that weird yet practical. Personally, she couldn't wait for a good trauma case to come in that needed her assistance.

"Dr. Grey. You're early," came Derek's voice. "Or you are late," Meredith countered. "I'm never late," Derek said matter of factly. Meredith didn't respond but continued to gaze out over the landscape. Derek watched her for a few moments, playing with the penlight in the pocket of his lab coat. A sociable man, he couldn't help himself. He had to talk.

"Pretty, isn't it?" he asked. Meredith looked at him. "What's pretty?" she asked. Derek nodded towards the mountain range in the distance. "The mountains," he answered. Meredith looked back out over the mountains. "Yeah. They are. But... Why are they - blue?" she asked. Derek chuckled. "They're the Blue Ridge Mountains," he answered. Meredith looked at him. "Seriously. Why do they look blue?" she asked. "It has something to do with the way light is reflected off of water droplets in the atmosphere. The more humid it is, the more blue they look. They look blue now but it's only June. Wait until July and August when it gets really humid. And then come winter and the humidity is gone, they look green." Meredith studied Derek, lost in thought. His eyes were almost the same color as the mountains seemed to be.

"Can I help you with something?" Derek asked, catching Meredith looking at him. "What? No, nothing. I was just... the mountains. We have mountains. In Seattle. Here too but we have them in Seattle. Well, not really in Seattle around it," Meredith rambled as she attempted to recover being caught mid-gaze. She literally bit the inside of her cheek to shut herself up. "Mountains in Seattle. Imagine that," Derek stated, gazing out at the mountains. Meredith rolled her eyes. An ambulance came into view. "I think that's your guy," Derek told her. Meredith stepped forward, ready to work and praying for a surgery. It had been far too long since she'd finished up her fellowship almost three weeks ago. She missed the scapel.

"What do we have?" Meredith asked the nearest paramedic as the ambulance doors swung open. "62 year old male, fell down a flight of stairs, unconsious at the scene..." Derek stood out of the way and watched, just as he'd told her he was going to do. It wasn't that he didn't think she was a good surgeon. It was that he didn't hire her. The chief had. The chief had hired someone for his department. While Richard made the final decisions on who was hired, he always included the head of whatever department he had been hiring for. As he had been the interim head of neurosurgery as well as the chief, he hadn't had to include anyone. Derek prided himself on having a world-class staff of neurosurgeons working under him, most of which had had several years of experiance before coming to UVA. Meredith had been a fellow less then a month ago and here she was, working on his staff. He just had to see for himself that she was as good as Richard had claimed she was. The patient rolled past him into the ED. He followed, his eyes on Meredith.

She was little. Really little. Her features were small, delicate. Confidence radiated her as she followed the gurney into a room in the ED. She knew what she was doing. She was in her element. She leaned over the patient, checking his pupils for a reaction. A piece of of her long bangs fell in her face. She shook her head slightly to get it out eyes, concentrating on her patient. Her gray-green eyes had a look of determination in them, a passion for what she was doing. They were beautiful, distinctive. Her forehead crinkled as she her concentration deepened. Derek watched her lips move as she gave orders to a nearby nurse. They looked soft, kissable...

A nurse bumped into him as she hustled into the room. "Oh! Sorry Dr. Shepherd," she said as she passed him. "It's fine...," Derek muttered, composing himself. He was supposed to be watching Meredith's work, not her. Not her beautiful eyes or her soft lips. Her surgical skills. That was what he was supposed to be concentrating on.