Looking at you side ways

9

After a few weeks of living together Meredith, Derek and Mark were all home in the morning together. Their schedules overlapped a lot and it seemed like they were together all the time. DePalma was kicking their asses. Derek and Mark were downstairs eating breakfast and Meredith pulled some clothes out of the dryer.

Derek asked Meredith, "When is your mom coming back to town anyway?" She ignored his question pretending she didn't hear and went back upstairs.

Derek and Mark followed her and Mark said, "Mer; maybe we could unpack a few things, make this place a little more homey. Some throw pillows, some lamps, and a few paintings?"

Derek said, "Oh, lamps would be nice. It is kinda dark downstairs."

Mark said, "Yeah. You have all this amazing stuff just packed away. In the back hall, I found this box with a hundred tapes of your mother performing these amazing medical procedures."

Meredith walked swiftly down the hall to her bedroom and walked into her bathroom. Derek and Mark were right on her heels.

Derek said, "Really? We should watch them. Meredith, do you want to watch?"

Meredith shut the door in their faces and a second later she opened and took Derek's coffee and shut the door again.

Derek was a little shocked at her behavior. He asked quietly through the door, "Meredith. Do you want some privacy?"

Meredith slumped against the other side of the door, holding the coffee. [i]Yes, Derek[/i] she thought to herself. [i]A little privacy would be nice. Meredith had been alone for so long, she didn't know what to do with minimal privacy. God, those two were into everything.[/i]

Meredith drove herself to the hospital because she had to stop by the nursing home after her shift. Cristina had met her in the parking lot and they walked swiftly towards the building.

"They're everywhere. All the time. Mark's all perky and Derek does this thing where he's helpful and considerate. They share food and they say things and they move things, and I can't breathe. They are happy. Happy all the time!"

Cristina said, "Kick them out."

Meredith replied, "I can't kick them out. They just moved in. I asked them to move in."

"So what; you're just going to repress everything in some deep dark twisted place until one day you snap and kill them?"

Meredith said, "Yeah."

Cristina said, "This is why we are friends."

Meredith and Cristina had a long day during grunt work. Running labs, writing orders, and taking patients for tests. In the locker room at the end of their shift they were changing clothes.

Cristina asked Meredith, "Do you want to get a drink?"

Meredith replied, "I can't tonight. I have an errand that I have to do."

"Okay. I just feel the need to vent. That asshole DePalma! Did you notice that Burke and Montgomery got the good stuff again today? They got to assist in surgery while we did nurses work."

"Yeah. I feel like I'm not learning anything. I mean, I did this stuff in medical school on rounds. We are supposed to be here for surgery. I didn't realize that my first shift would be my first and last surgery. I wonder if you think we should go to the Chief or the Chief Resident?"

Cristina slammed her locker angrily. "No. Don't do that. Word on the street is the Chief Welby is going to retire soon. Besides, he is old school. Trust me; he would not appreciate us bitching to him. He would just assume we are surgery hungry interns who are crying because we didn't get our fair share."