If I Knew Then

In The Middle

By: Absent Heart

In The Middle

With her lunch tray in hand Meredith bypassed the table George was beckoning her to, and with a determined air crossed the cafeteria to a much more rowdy one occupied by her half-sister, and some of the other fellow Interns. Unwilling to put on a show for an audience, the need to clear the table was paramount, so Meredith summoned up her best Ellis Grey impersonation, and dropped her tray on to the table top with a bang. She waited until all six pairs of eyes were on her, and she had their full attention before staring pointedly at each occupant one by one until hasty excuses, and apologies were made, and Lexie was left alone.

"Now that was just mean Juliet."

Lexie scowled up at her from her seat, a juice box half way to her lips, and Meredith sighed. For the past three days this had pretty much been the sum total of their relationship. Meredith would try to talk about what Lexie had seen Sunday night, only for Lexie to shut her down with a quip much like that one, and a feat of avoidance that Meredith would have been proud to pull off. It was almost as if Lexie had somehow regressed a decade, and taken on a muted version of Meredith's own stroppy teenage persona.

Such uncharacteristic behaviour for Lexie, hat Meredith might have been amused if it wasn't for the nagging feeling that all the progress they had made since Lexie had returned, was slowly sliding away. It was why she was indulging in some uncharacteristic behaviour of her own, all in a bid to prevent damage to their relationship they wouldn't be able to repair. It had lead her to pursue Lexie for the past few days even in the face of such blatant rejection, going against every instinct calling her to just let her half-sister be in the hope she would come around on her own.

There was no time for the softly softly approach, not when the clock was ticking down to the dinner with Thatcher, and if anything could push them past the point of no return, it was that particular ordeal. So she was not being a Grey about this, she was going against everything she knew, and was being a Shepherd. Or, rather she was using the Shepherd method of never being able to let something go, much like a dog with a bone, with just a touch of Ellis Grey to get the point home.

"Okay first off Juliet was an idiot."

Meredith started unable to resist answering the dig, before refocusing on the conversation she had been building herself up to, and practising all morning to have.

"I get that you are mad at me, but we are due to have dinner with your parents in six hours, so this has to stop. We are going to sit here, talk like adults, and not like the spoilt little brat you are currently acting like. Okay? It's time to grow up Lexie!"

The whole time she was speaking Meredith was inwardly wincing at just how much Ellis she was channelling, and how easily it came. With another flashback to her own teenage meal time play book she anticipated Lexie's next move, and with a smile of satisfaction took the seat closest to her half-sister looping her leg around the chair leg to stop her from moving.

"No, no-one moves until we talk."

"Fine." Lexie grunted in frustration, giving up on the struggle to free her chair. "How was Juliet an idiot?"

"Lexie."

"You never specified what the conversation had to be about."

"Fine. Well for starters Juliet falls for the enemy, the one guy she knows she can't have, and..."

Meredith trailed off seeing the slight irony of that statement, but decided to continue on with her theme nevertheless. This was the longest conversation either her, or Derek had had with Lexie in days, and she wasn't going to waste the opportunity.