Seven Thousand Hours

Chapter 1| The night at the bar

Meredith laughed loudly as she walked into the bar with all her friends as they celebrated making it to their final year of residency.

"I'll go get the champagne!" Izzie cheered as she skipped over to the bar. "I don't know how you drink that crap, Iz" Alex shook his head as he followed her to the bar, wrapping his arms around her.

"Who would have thought we'd make it to final year" George said as they took a seat at the booth. Cristina snickered, "no less that Barbie and Evil Spawn are engaged". Meredith smiled, "they're perfect for each other. I can't wait for the wedding" she said quietly, mentally questioning if she should be starting to settle down herself, she was soon approaching her 30s?

"I'm buying first round, what do you want?" She looked at George and Cristina. They told her their drinks and Meredith walked over to join Alex and Izzie. "Hey Joe" Meredith smiled before ordering everyone's drink. "Hey Mer, did you hear there's going to be 2 new neuro attendings, a trauma and a new head of cardio?" Alex asked her as he grabbed the tray of drinks for her. "Yeah, Richard was telling me last week. It's about time, we need them" Meredith said as they sat back down. "Not that it matters anyway. Cristina will scare away the cardio attending" George laughed as he took a sip of his drink.

"I only seek perfection, Bambi" she sneered at him. "Have you decided on a specialty yet, Mer?" Izzie asked her. Meredith shook her head. "No. Bailey and Richard want me to go into General, and I like general, but I just want to carve my own path, you know?" Meredith explained as she picked at her nails, something she found herself doing whenever someone brought up the subject of declaring a specialty.

"What about Neuro? You're great at neuro" Izzie suggested. "I love neuro, I just haven't clocked enough hours to even be put forward for the boards. Richard says I can't do it" Meredith sighed before throwing back a shot of tequila. "Screw Richard. Look at me, Evil Spawn, and I'm in Peds. Go for neuro, Mer. Maybe you'll be able to clock enough hours hopefully with these two new attendings" Alex suggested before sliding her another shot.

Meredith threw another back and she began feeling light. Meredith shook her head. "I'm not specialising in Neuro, guys. Richard gave me a hard no. Just drop it, I'll figure it out" she went back to picking her nails. "I'll get another round" Cristina mouthed silently as she sensed Meredith was in her dark and twisty place. George nodded.

"Iz, have you declared a specialty yet?" Mer asked Izzie, moving the conversation from herself. Izzie shook her head. "No, same as you. I want to go intoOB/GYN but like you say, we haven't been able to clock the hours because of staffing." Izzie said, Meredith nodded.

"So have you guys picked a date for the wedding?" George looked to Alex and Izzie. They both shook their head. "Sometime in the spring we think" Izzie smiled brightly.

"Shots! Shots! Shots!" They heard Cristina cheer as she brought over all the drinks. "Mine!" Meredith said as she grabbed 2 of the drinks. They all watched her curiously at she drank the two shots back-to-back. "It's okay, Mer. You have my shot" George laughed a little. "Thanks George." Meredith laughed as she threw her arm around her friend.

A few hours had passed and everyone was pretty drunk as Alex slipped Izzie's jacket onto her shoulders. "We're going to get going, see you guys on Monday" Alex said as he steadied the drunken Izzie. They all laughed before George jumped out the booth. "I'll catch a cab with you guys. Mer, will you be alright getting back to the house okay?" George turned to see Meredith who had her arms around a bottle of tequila.

"I'll be fine, Georgie. I'll get a cab" she smiled sweetly before hugging him and making her way back to the bar. "Keep her safe" George mumbled to Cristina who just nodded, half asleep already.

Cristina followed Meredith to bar. "What's got you all dark and twisty?" Cristina mumbled, ready to leave. "Nothing. Just stressing about declaring a specialty" Meredith shook off. Tonight she just wanted to be drunk and go home to sleep. Cristina shrugged her shoulders, "I can't help you there I'm afraid. Look, I'm gonna head home. Don't do anything stupid okay?" Cristina said as she held her friends shoulders. Meredith nodded."You'll figure it out, Mer. Don't stress" Cristina said before walking away.

Meredith reached for her tequila and lemonade. "Another shot, Joe, please. Thank you" Meredith smiled at her favourite bar man. "Okay, but after that I'm cutting you off and I'm getting you a cab" Joe said before pouring her shot. "You're no fun" Meredith giggle before suddenly she went flying to the ground with force.

"What the hell!" She shouted when she felt her drink must have come down with her. She got back up on her feet and lifted the barstool back up before looking at her top which was covered in lemonade and tequila. She looked up and focused her dizzy eyes on a man stood in front of her.

The man reached for a napkin and began pressing it on her breast to 'soak up the liquid'.

"Looking fresh" he grumbled in her ear...