A Fight to Remember

Fight For Me Pt. 1

A/N: I realize for many fans there was a certain magic in past seasons with past characters and situations that's been lost, and difficult to find again. Life changes. TV shows change. It's harder to relate and grow with the characters because they've matured and plateaued, and we're still yearning. But we should always be open to inspiration, in whatever form it comes at us. Here in fanfic land, sometimes we stumble upon something that brings back that magic we missed. I want to be one of those writers that brings that to you :)

Anyway...

Enjoy!

Meredith

Now: (Two days after last chap.)

Through the mist and rush of water, I stared at the flesh coloured blotch on the wall. What was that? My fingers spread out and I touched it. It was hard, and...damp. When I moved my hand away, several dots stood out. Where did they come from? I reached again, wiping the surface with my hand to reveal a face. Whose face? "Hello?" I asked it. But she merely stared back, dull and blank. Who was that? "Hello?" I tried again. Why was she in my bathroom? Why wasn't she saying anything? "What are you doing here? Get out of here! Get out!" But she remained. Her angry, hollow glare terrified me.

"GO AWAY!" I screamed.

"Meredith!" A voice from behind the door shouted.

"Ah!" I yelped, spinning to the source of the noise. The door burst open, and a man appeared in my bathroom. "AHH!" I slipped, but my fingertips gripped the counter, stabilising me. In the process, however, I dropped my towel. I panicked, there was a man in my bathroom, and I was naked. Who was he? What was he doing in my house?

"Whoa," he raised his hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE! GET OUT!"

"Meredith, it's just me, Derek. I'm your husband." He turned in the doorway, so his back was to me. "Meri-,"

My husband? Derek? Impossible. Derek was... He left. Right out the front door. He left, and I told him to go. "No," I shook my head. "You're not him. You can't be him." Derek was gone. A gigantic wave ate him. "Derek is dead. He died. You're not him." He was an imposter. He had to be. Derek was... he was...

He left, and I was alone.

"Meredith, it's me. I was lost. But I came back. I came home, Meredith."

I came home.

2015 Meredith.

It had been a crappy day. I lost a patient. But even worse, my husband returned, which only confirmed my greatest fear: I might be losing the love of my life. Maybe I already lost him. Somewhere between a failed phone call and a failed surgery, my happy ever-after future dissolved. My streak was gone, and so was my marriage too, it seemed. I blinked back pricks of tears in my eyes. I thought we were okay. Yeah things were hard, and he was gone, but...

The whole drive home I thought about his research fellow and the kiss; our own complicated history, the fact that I'd been the other woman some years ago. When Derek showed up last night, my heart dropped. Was I staring into the eyes of someone who fell in love with someone else? I still felt numb. I never expected, never realized it was this bad. Did Derek still want me, I wondered? Because it wasn't about the kiss. It was why he even allowed it to happen. A few years into our marriage when things got rocky, he's 3000 miles away with the job of a lifetime and a perky, happy and tall research fellow with great hair to chase. This sounded like very familiar territory.

Except this time, I was the wife, not the mistress. And I knew how that story went.

Anger burbled up. I was mad at myself too. I let him go. I stayed here and pushed him away. I thought it was what he needed to do, what I needed him to do, because it hurt too much to have him around. Derek's departure forced me to learn to sleep alone, arrange childcare, take care of the kids, the house. I made everything work without him. But the moment I missed him... when I wanted him, he kissed someone else. That hurt more than I was prepared for. How could he?