Back To Seattle

Chapter 1

She sat at the bar across the street from Mass Gen. It'd been a long 36-hour shift, problem after problem kept coming up all day. She downed a second shot of tequila, not even realising her phone had run out of battery.

"Where the hell have you been?" She heard him before she saw him and she was frozen to her seat as he grabbed her arm, standing close beside her.

"I've been at work," she knew the best thing to do was stay calm and keep her voice quiet.

"Get up," his voice spat with venom as he kept his grip on her arm and she walked with him out to the dark parking lot, "I didn't realise you worked in a bar now, Meredith."

"Jordan, I've been up for 36 hours straight, it was a hard day, I just needed a drink, I was about to come home," she looked to him with pleading eyes.

"And you couldn't answer the phone? Call? Send a message?" He demanded from her, "You need sleep, not to drown yourself in alcohol and do something stupid!"

"My phone..." she blanked a moment as she pulled it out of her pocket. Crap. It was dead, "I didn't even realise the battery was low."

"It's just excuse after excuse with you, isn't it?"

"Jordan, please..."

His hand moved with force, pushing her hard against the wall behind her, "Shut up, Meredith. You don't drink unless I'm there. You know how you get after drinking. You're mine. You work and you come home, and you ask me if you want to go anywhere else."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," her voice broke as she spoke, pain shooting through her spine from the impact with the brick wall, and her eyes betrayed her as she felt a tear fall down her cheek.

"Don't cry, Meredith. Just get in the car, we're going home," he said, shaking his head as he let go of his hold on her and walked toward the car.

She didn't have her own car. He wouldn't let her have her own car. He either drove her, or she took a taxi if he couldn't for any reason. She stayed quiet and climbed into the passenger seat of his car. He sat in the driver's seat beside her and turned to look at her, taking her hand in his, "Meredith, I only get mad because I care about you, you know that."

When she didn't turn to look at him, and didn't respond, he used his free hand to press against her cheek, forcing her to look up at him as he glared down at her.

"I know, Jordan, I know," she spoke in a defeated voice.

****

Her fear. That's all she could think about right now. That's why she sat at the corner of the bar, one eye on the door, trying to not draw attention to herself. She just needed one drink, or two, to calm her nerves before her first day tomorrow, that's all. If these were her early college days, she'd probably have a line of empty shot glasses in front of her. But these weren't her early college days, and she couldn't afford for her senses to be completely impaired. She couldn't get comfortable. She'd made that mistake before.

Her eyes flitted to the door, her heart racing, as she heard the bell signifying someone entering the bar. She released a short breath and turned back to stare into her drink when she didn't recognise who had walked in. It happened anytime the damn bell rang over the door.

Her fingers tightened around the cold glass containing the single vodka lemonade she was sipping at, feeling the wetness of the condensation against her fingers. An undetermined amount of time must have passed, and suddenly someone was sat in the seat beside her, causing her to jump slightly as she registered the slight numbness in her hands from the cold glass.