fragments of my life [MERDER]

SIX

Boston was just how Meredith had remembered it - just how she left it all those years ago. What a waste, she thought. What had happened if her mother hadn't got Alzheimer's and moved back to Seattle? Would she have stayed here in Boston instead? Maybe that would have been better, but she would never have met Derek. That could be both a good and a bad thing. She would have been spared all the pain he caused her, but deprived of all the love he gave her. A tough choice.

Richard had informed her that her transfer had gone through without a problem, and she was going to start work at Mass Gen. She could have been here from the start, she kept thinking. If her mother hadn't got sick, if she actually concentrated, maybe she could have got into Harvard medical school and trained at this hospital, just like Lexie. Lexie... she missed Lexie. It had taken her so long to finally accept her sister, to let Lexie into her life, and now she had to leave her behind.

The first thing she had done when she got off the flight was go to her mother's old house, their old house, which Meredith had never gotten around to selling after Ellis' death, but she thanked god that she didn't - it would have made moving over here so much more difficult. She inspected the house, and aside from the dust gathering in corners and on furniture, it was exactly as she had remembered it. She didn't exactly have the fondest childhood memories here, but it was familiar, and it made her feel safe and... less alone.

Meredith turned off her old phone, with Cristina's number, Lexie's number... Derek's number on it. She shoved it into her bag, just in case, before she ran out to set up a new one, adding only one number into the phone from Seattle. She would get around to calling him eventually, and telling him everything, but now wasn't the time.

For being the best general surgery teaching hospital in the country, the one unfortunate downfall of the place was the ghost of her mother haunting inside those four walls. It was the hospital Ellis Grey made herself the most pioneering surgeon at, the hospital where she became the best, a household name of general surgery... and now her daughter was here, following in her exact footsteps. The expectations were going to be ridiculous, but what is the alternative?

Entering into the hospital made her feel some kind of euphoria. Her mother made herself here, maybe she could too? She smiled as she made her way to the Chief's office, which was in the exact place she remembered it - her mother's old office. She made her way to his receptionist, who said he was ready for her and just to go ahead and knock.

"Dr. Summers?" She inquired as she knocked on the door, before hearing a deep voice tell her to come in. She looked around, remembering that the last time she was in here, her mother was at the desk, telling Meredith that something was wrong, and we needed to go back to Seattle. She took her time to scan the room - the wall colours had changed, the carpet was... a lot cleaner, and there was an extra set of shelves on the opposite wall. Other than that, it was the same, it felt safe.

"It's changed a bit since I last saw you around here, Meredith. I was surprised to get Richard's call, but we couldn't be happier to have you here. And a general surgeon too... you're the spitting image of your mother, Meredith, you realise-?" Dr. Summers smiled as he motioned for her to sit down.

"Yeah, I know. It's fine." She smiled, tucking a strand of her blond hair behind her ear and taking the seat.

Dr. Summers was an old colleague of her mother's, who Meredith had fortunately remembered from when her mother was Chief here. He was a cardiothoracic surgeon, and she could remember her mother respecting him a lot, and saying that if she were to ever give up Chief, he was the one who she wanted to take over for her. A good, reasonable leader, she said. It made Meredith feel a lot more comfortable, that he was the Chief, and that he was still here, and that he still remembered her.