In A Faith Forgotten Land

2

Before

Meredith was hiding. Of course if anyone walked in and found her huddled in the supply closet she'd make up a lie that she needed something for her patient, but the truth is that Meredith Grey is hiding. She didn't know he was married, but no one cares about that. All anyone cared about is that she is an intern who was sleeping with a married attending. It doesn't matter that he lied to her or that she broke things off the second she found out that he was married, all that matters to the rest of the hospital is that she was sleeping with a married man. She wiped hot, rage fueled tears from her face as the door opened, causing her to jump.

"Grey?" Addison looked closely at Meredith's face, her heart aching when she noticed just how many tear stains were on the blonde's face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Meredith whispered, grabbing a roll of gauze from the shelf in front of her. "I just needed to grab this for my patient."

"Well considering you're on my service, maybe you want to tell me why Mrs. Davis needs gauze." Addison raised her eyebrow, an amused smirk dancing on her lips. "Or you could tell me the truth as to why you're hiding in a supply closet instead of waiting for our patient's labs."

"I momentarily forgot that I was on your service." Meredith squeaked as a blush crawled up her cheeks, painting her face a deep crimson.

"I figured." Addison chuckled. "So, the truth?"

"Everyone is staring at me." Meredith whispered. "Everyone is staring at me and everyone is talking about me as if they know the whole story when in reality they know nothing. I didn't know he was married. I'm not a homewrecker." Her voice shook and cracked as she wiped an angry tear from her face. "I know that you don't care and why should you? I mean he's your husband, I slept with your husband." Meredith ran her shaking hands through her hair as she continued to ramble, the redhead patiently listening. "But I didn't know he was your husband because he felt that I didn't have the right to know that the man that I was sleeping with was freaking married! Why would I need to know that? It's not like it's any of my business, at least not if you ask Derek." The blonde scoffed and shook her head. "I'm the intern who slept with the married attending so everyone is staring at me and everyone is talking about me, what they're not doing though is asking me for my side, because a version of this where I'm not the villainous whore is not the version that they want." Once she finished speaking, Meredith took a deep breath as she glanced up at Addison. "I know this entire thing would probably be easier for you if I was a villainous whore, but I'm really not. I am sorry for sleeping with your husband, but I truthfully had no clue that he was married."

"You shouldn't apologize." Addison took a step closer to Meredith. "You didn't do anything wrong." She placed a hesitant hand on the blonde's shoulder. "You're right, you didn't know that he was married but a version of the story where you're just a naive fool is not as interesting as the version where you're a crazy homewrecking slut."

"Thanks." Meredith rolled her eyes. "That makes me feel so much better."

"I'm not trying to make you feel worse, I'm just agreeing with you." Addison shrugged. "If anyone here is a villian, it's me, yet as far as the peanut gallery is concerned I'm a victim and I hate that."

"I don't think that you're a villain." Meredith sighed. "I don't think you should have cheated on your husband, but I don't think that you're a villain. The only villain I see in this situation is the man who started a relationship with a woman despite already being married. It doesn't matter what happened in your marriage, if he didn't want to be with you then the right thing to do would be to get a divorce, not just disappear and start a new relationship. Two wrongs don't make a right."