Back To Seattle

Chapter 3

No-one really knew quite what to think of Doctor Meredith Grey. She wasn't purposefully being quiet, she didn't think she was a quiet person, but she had definitely closed herself off. She could hold the attention of residents and had their respect while she operated and taught them, but she pretty much cut herself off from everyone else when she was buried in her research, that even Derek hadn't seen yet. She didn't eat in the cafeteria, keeping to her office at mealtimes, but she would make the odd appearance at the coffee cart out the front of the hospital. She was an expert in small talk that didn't reveal too much about herself and would excuse herself from a conversation when people started asking too many personal questions. All anyone really seemed to know about her was that she was the daughter of Doctor Ellis Grey and she barely left the hospital, and she was glad it had been that way so far.

She'd had minimal contact with Derek in the past two weeks she'd been at the hospital, which had also been done purposefully. If they needed to talk, it was generally about a patient, and if it could be said in an email, she would send it in an email. She didn't know if he suspected anything after that morning, but she didn't want to find out. He'd tried to have more of a conversation with her, but she didn't let it get more than small talk about the weather, or about a surgery one of them had coming up. And it was always out in the open, never behind a closed door.

Except now, she needed to see if she could get that weekend off, which meant she'd have to speak with him face to face, in his office. She found herself pacing back and forth near the doorway to the office, twisting the watch on her wrist back and forth as she tried to come up with something, anything she could say to explain why she needed the time off.

"Dr Grey?" she looked up to see him leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh, Dr Shepherd," her fingers froze over her wrist as she continued to look at him.

"Everything okay?" he asked with a slight frown.

"Yeah, I mean... I just, wanted to ask a favour," she said as she stepped toward him.

"Do you want to come in?" he asked, stepping into his office. She's avoided being alone in a room with him all week, but now she couldn't really do that. It was bound to have happened at some point.

"Yeah, okay," she nodded, stepping into the office.

"You can sit down if you want," he offered as he moved to lean against the front of his desk, half sat on it.

"No, that's okay," she shook her head, biting her lip a moment as she tried to formulate the words in her head.

"Meredith," he said, his voice slightly lower and she registered the slightly darkened look in his eyes.

"Dr Shepherd," she started, breaking her eye contact with him, "I saw that you've put me in for the ER on Saturday night and I was wondering if maybe I could switch to Sunday night? I need to fly back to Boston Friday night to sort some things out, but I'll be back Sunday, early afternoon. I'll owe you one."

"First of all, breathe," he said with a slight chuckle, "Second of all, I can cover your Saturday night, you don't need to work the Sunday instead."

"Oh, you don't... are you sure? I can cover any other time for you that you need," she insisted, finding herself stepping a little closer to him.

"It's not a problem, I wasn't doing anything anyhow, and like you said, you'll owe me one," he said with a slight smirk.

"Right, okay. Thank you," she nodded with a smile, "I haven't booked any surgeries for this weekend so there shouldn't be anything else."

"When do you fly out?" he asked, moving around his desk to sit in his chair.

"Friday, the flight leaves just after six."