Secret smile

2

She was late. She was beyond late. This was...bad. Very, very bad that wouldn't end well at all. Because she wasn't supposed to still be at work taking care of the Hodgkins kid. She wasn't supposed to be reading his chart and rolling her eyes at the stomach aches he got every Friday afternoon. Technically, she was supposed to be leaving now. Leaving and going to family night at the nursing home. She wasn't avoiding it. She was late, but she wasn't late on purpose because she was trying to avoid it. She was just late. She was late because the entire day had been spent running around, trying to remember why she had ever wanted to be a doctor in the first place but she was a doctor and the great Ellis Grey would get that. And it wasn't like she wasn't going to show. She was going.

The problem was the Hodgkins kid with the demanding mom and dad who wanted to know why their son was getting so many stomachaches. Usually, Meredith Grey loved her job, she really did. Her friends were all surgeons, but she had a private practice, she had the kids to take care of, and she loved it. Except today. She wasn't a fan when she was tired and imagining what the Alzheimer's would make Ellis say today. A week ago it had been the line about the man that wasn't her father being a tiger in bed. That was more information than she had needed to know even if the man was her father. The week before that it had been Ellis informing Meredith that she had just been used to placate her father, that the only reason she had ever been born was because her father had wanted her. Meredith figured she should be used to this by now. When Ellis was lucid enough to realize who she was speaking to, she criticized Meredith on being a pediatrician instead of a surgeon. Or about her friends. There was always something, and Meredith was already dreading seeing her mother today. But she was not going to avoid, avoiding was the last thing she was going to do today.

She would just finish up here and then she would go. And after that she was supposed to meet her friends at Joe's for a few drinks after their shifts were done. This was a thought that did make Meredith smile because she was technically going home as soon as she was done here and her friends had to work for a lot longer. She really did like her job.

Of course, she could always pass Tommy Hodgkins off on someone. She had coworkers who owed her things. Coworkers who had to make up for the number of time she had helped them. So maybe she could just do that and get going early enough to get out early. "Dr. Shepherd!" she called towards one pediatrician.

"Dr. Grey?" Dr. Shepherd asked.

"Hi," Meredith grinned widely at Sophie Shepherd.

"Hey," Sophie grinned back, tucking a strand of dark curls behind her ear.

"So um..." Meredith chewed on her lip, trying to figure out how to do this. "How are you?"

"I'm great actually, totally great. You?"

"Busy. Stressed. Going crazy," Meredith sighed. "Are you...are you seeing any patients right now?"

"Nope. Have time to breathe," Sophie rolled her eyes.

"Good, that's...so remember the time when I covered for you when one of your kids broke his arm?"

"Of course I do," Sophie nodded. "Bri and I really appreciated it."

"That's....I was happy to do it and...and then when you're...okay, I have a favor to ask."

"Shoot."

"Can you grab the Hodgkins kid?"

"Now?" Sophie frowned slightly.

"Please," Meredith breathed. "I...family thing and...please."

"Oh," Sophie's frown deepened. "Meredith, I'd love to help you out but I can't."

"Sophie...please. I...please."