Secret smile

9

Meredith Grey was a very smart person. She wasn't being snotty, she was just smart. She had graduated medical school at the top of her class. And without even trying she had gotten high enough marks in college to get into med school. Generally speaking, figuring out a solution to a problem was an easy thing. Except today she had a problem that she had no idea what the solution was.

It was Molly's birthday, which didn't actually seem like a big problem. She had assumed she'd be able to find Molly a present over her lunch hour, but she had now been at the mall for nearly thirty minutes, and she had nothing. She had no idea what her sister was like, and now she was finally understanding why everyone always told her not to put things off until the last minute. Because of this She had never really thought of buying gifts for a sister before. It was all fresh and new and she liked Molly, she really liked Molly. Except liking Molly didn't seem like an easy person to shop for or she was and Meredith just didn't know. She definitely didn't know. She was going to mess this up. The sister thing was all new and she was about to completely mess it up.

This birthday thing was throwing her. Lexie's was in another month and it was completely throwing her. None of this even made any sense. They were her sisters, she had to get them presents. But first she had to figure out Molly's present. She had gotten Susan a bottle of wine for her birthday, but that seemed weird for a sister's present. She couldn't get her married sister with a baby wine. She was pretty sure it was supposed to be personal but she had no idea exactly what that meant. For her friends, she just took them out drinking but Molly had a baby and she was pretty sure you couldn't take someone with a baby out for drinks. Cristina had suggested a gift card but that sounded like a really bad gift and then Izzie had list about a hundred things and she didn't remember any of them.

Screwed. She was definitely screwed, beyond screwed. There was screwed and then there was what she was as she stared at the card racks in Hallmark. No one had ever thought to create a card for your half sister who you had only met a year ago. No one had cards about that or gift ideas for that. She could get something for the baby, but it was Molly's birthday, not Laura's.

She should probably just skip it all together, tell Molly there had been a work emergency and hope that she forgot all about a gift. That would probably be better than a stupid gift that would mess this all up. She was supposed to be a good sister, she was trying desperately to a be a good sister and this was stupid. It was stupid that she had no idea what to get her half sister. Hallmark clearly didn't have any options. Hallmark was cheesy and stupid and...she had to hurry. She had to hurry because she had a patient at two and she couldn't just hang out at the mall for hours on end. She didn't even like the mall. The mall was stupid. It was full of people and screaming kids and...she didn't want to be at the mall. She turned quickly to walk out of Hallmark and into the busy hallway, almost immediately bumping into a hard body. "Crap. Sorry."

"Sorry," the voice responded. "My fault...not watching."

"No, I was..." Meredith paused, taking a closer look at him, and at the dark curls. "Derek!"

"Meredith."

"Okay, seriously," she giggled at the sad eyes guy, who looked even more sad today. "The mall?"

"I..." he sighed, looking down at the floor. "Bad day at work and I needed to escape and get my head...together or something."

"Oh," she breathed. "Sorry. I...sorry."

"It's okay," he sighed, his eyes meeting hers. "Bad days...happen."

"I know," she breathed, taking a step towards him. "One of my...really bad morning. That's turning into a really bad afternoon."

"What happened?" he frowned slightly.

"Nothing. I have a patient with leukemia and it's advanced and then...it's my half-sister's birthday."