The Ga on call room

The truth will come out somehow

Meredith was livid after she got off the phone with Jessie. In fact, livid wasn't even enough to describe the emotions surging throughout her body. Meredith was pacing her front porch so hard, that she was absolutely positive she would fall through it at any moment.

Jessie's phone call had suddenly snapped the patience that Meredith had possessed with Lachlan, right in two.

All the months of putting up with his temper, earlier drinking binges, moodswings and bitterness. Every night that he hadn't come home, Meredith had forgiven him for. She had forgiven practically everything.

But, this time, he had lied to her. Lachlan had lied to her about something that not only affected him, but them as a couple. Lachlan had plenty of chances to tell Meredith there, but he hadn't.

If there was one thing that Meredith detested more than anything else in the entire world, it was being lied to.

As Meredith continued her forceful pace up and down the porch, a cab pulled into the driveway, dropping off the source of Meredith's rage.

Meredith whipped her head around when she heard the cab door slam and looked Lachlan right in the eye as he approached her. As soon as Lachlan saw his girlfriend's facial expression, his warm smile faltered.

"Mer, honey...What's wrong?" Lachlan asked, concerned.

"I think that I should be the one asking you that." Meredith replied, turning her head as he attempted to kiss her.

"The dancing lessons couldn't have been that bad." Lachlan said, attempting to lighten the atmosphere between them.

When Meredith didn't answer, Lachlan continued.

"I saw Derek at Joe's, he seemed okay..." Lachlan started, but Meredith quickly cut him off.

"You went to Joe's?"

Lachlan looked at her, confusion covering his handsome features.

"Yeah...you know I did..."

"Oh, I'm just surprised that you could actually afford to go, considering that you were suspended from your job, and the ambulance service." Meredith revealed, anger lacing her usually calm voice.

Lachlan's face instantly went pale and his stomach dropped.

"Meredith..."

"No! Don't you dare 'Meredith' me. You've been here for almost two weeks...TWO WEEKS, and you showed no signs of wanting to tell me!" Meredith screamed.

"I wanted to tell you, I really did, I just..." Lachlan said as he attempted to defend himself.

However, Meredith was unstoppable.

"You assaulted a patient's family member Lachlan! Then you almost do the same thing to another paramedic! What in God's name were you thinking?"

"I wasn't!" Lachlan snapped. "It was Jessie that told you, wasn't it?"

"No, don't you dare bring Jessie into this. She assumed that you would have told me by now...you know, considering that I'm your girlfriend."

"It's not her fault." Lachlan agreed. "I just wanted to be the one to tell you. I...I didn't mean to hit the guy..."

"Oh, so your fist got a life of its own and collided with the man's face? A patient's family member Lachlan...." Meredith couldn't believe it.

"I know its no excuse for what I did, Mer...but, it was the same week that I had forgot about Justin's birthday; that same week I didn't return your calls. I was on edge...I wasn't thinking straight. You know that I would never hurt any person deliberately." Lachlan pleaded, asking Mer to understand.

"You're right, it's no excuse." Meredith told him, trying to ignore the look of devastation on Lachlan's face.

"The guy just touched a nerve Meredith...His brother, the patient...he was in a car accident, and the other person was killed...he showed no remorse. I just...it brought back memories at a really bad time. I'm so sorry."" Lachlan tried to explain.

"You lied to me Lachlan. You could very well lose your job. You're just so damn lucky it is only a suspension."

" I know! Believe me I know!" Lache snapped back. "It's a six month suspension. They said that I have to attend mandatory counseling sessions when I get back to London. It was part of the conditions if I wanted to continue being a paramedic." Lachlan admitted, feeling ashamed.

"Well maybe you should!" Meredith told him forcefully, knowing that it would hurt him.

Lachlan looked as though Meredith had just slapped him across the face.

"You think I have a problem?" Lachlan hissed.

"I think that you do need to speak to someone, you can't just keep lashing out at people, because you're still consumed with grief! Enough is enough." Meredith said, trying to calm down.

"What...?"

"Lachlan, you never really dealt with Justin's death properly. You just got angry and blamed yourself...you never grieved appropriately. For months I've been patient, but you need to do something. You need to move on..." Meredith said, as she went to sit down on the swing chair.

"I'm sorry. I didn't tell you." Lachlan whispered. "I didn't want to be more of a fuck up than I already was. I was so ashamed when it happened, I couldn't believe that I had actually harmed another person."

"I know Lache...It's not so much what you did, that makes me angry, it's the fact that you kept it from me." You know how much I hate lies." Meredith replied.

"I technically didn't lie Mer..." Lachlan started, but immediately knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"You omitted the truth, it's just as bad." Meredith told him firmly.

"I'll go if you want me too..." Lachlan whispered. "If you need me too..."

Meredith's heart broke a little bit at those words. She didn't want that, not at all. She just wanted him to know how much he had hurt her by keeping something like this from her.

"I don't want you to leave Lache. I just need you to want to get better. I really think that maybe this six month break is for the best...I don't like that you kept it from me."

Lachlan took Meredith's hand and looked her in the eyes. "I know. I know I promised you that I would never hurt you, that's why I didn't tell you right away. I guess I ended up hurting you anyway."

"There's nothing else you're not telling me is there?" Meredith asked wearily.

"Nothing. I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Okay." Meredith tried to smile. "No more secrets. I can't take much more."

The two sat in silence, tired and weak from their argument.

"What about you?" Lachlan asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Were you going to tell me about Derek?" Lachlan asked softly, he wasn't angry, just curious.

Meredith looked at Lache. "How..."

"I saw Derek at Joe's, remember?" Lachlan reminded her. We talked about you of course. The way he spoke...I put two and two together."

"You don't have anything to worry about." Meredith said, trying to convince herself more than Lachlan.

And he believed her.