B for Babies

8

She had tried to her best ability to keep her distance from him, but it was beginning to become less of a coincidence and more of an obvious avoidance. Nathan knew she didn't want him around so he wasn't trying to push anything just yet, he didn't know where he would even start. They'd slept together, they'd had a great time and yet suddenly she's shacking up with Karev, and having his baby? He knew that she told him not to get attached, but he had no idea that she actually meant it.

"You and Karev are moving fast." He commented one day as they were both working on the same patient. She would have preferred to have Maggie on the case, but her dear little sister was too busy with all of her other cases, she just had to grin and bear it for as long as it took to get out of this awkward scenario.

"That's not remotely close to being your business." She told him as they walked into patient's room together, Nathan just shook his head, he hadn't exactly expected anything else from her, she was Meredith after all.

The tension was still hanging in the room as he explained the procedure, but he doubted that anybody else would have picked up on that vibe, especially not a patient who had no knowledge of their hook up, or anything else going on between them, or any other doctors.

When they were leaving the room again, he couldn't hold his tongue anymore. "I just need to know, was it before or after us?" He questioned her, not bringing himself to mention the pregnancy directly yet. By then the whole hospital was well aware of Meredith and Alex's affair, some didn't care either way, others were happy for them – except for those who were on Jo's side of the equation who were furious with both members of the happy couple. Nathan's kind of enjoyed not having the attention on himself, he didn't want to be on that kind of a scandal, not even if it meant he and Meredith had been an actual couple at some point.

Meredith's whole body seemed to change at his words, it was so subtle that he thought he had surely been imagining it. She didn't speak straight away, keeping her eyes on where they were walking instead. "It was after, I told you that it was a onetime thing. Alex and I, he's my person." She said with a forced smile, it wasn't that what she had said was completely untrue, she knew that her and Alex were closer than anything, bar her relationship with Derek and Cristina, but it was a lot harder to have them in her life now. So Alex was the man for the job, and she was very grateful for that.

"Your person?" He asked, finding the term rather strange, he's never heard a grown woman use that phrasing before.

"Do you need me to explain those words to you?" Meredith asked him, giving him a 'come on' look that made him feel like laughing. "And by the way there was no 'us' so you need to stop saying that." She said to him, her words weren't unkind though, and he appreciated it when she reached over to give his arm a gentle squeeze.

"Well congratulations on the baby, I don't think I've had a chance to say that to you yet." He said to her awkwardly, feeling like a bit of an idiot now, since it's been general knowledge for weeks by then.

She smiled and pulled away, glad that things hadn't gotten messy between them, she really didn't need one more person making her life hell around in Grey Sloan, Jo had that part covered already.

Alex raised an eyebrow at the pair as they started walking their separate ways, neither one had seen him watching, but Jo had. She walked closer to him, holding her case file in her hand. "Trouble in paradise?" She asked him, hoping that maybe there was, although she was still hurt by him and Meredith, she still loved him, that wasn't something you could just shake yourself out of overnight.

"What are you talking about?" He frowned, trying to shrug her words off of him. He didn't know what she was playing at, but more importantly he didn't know what Meredith was playing with either.

"I don't know, you tell me." She said, staring at the frown that still took over his face, he tried to soften his face, tried to forget about the small pang he had felt in his chest a moment ago.

Jo raised her hands in defence, and didn't want to cause more trouble than she already had, she had simply wanted to sus out what was going on, she knew there was something off about Alex and Meredith suddenly becoming a couple, and she was certain it wasn't because of the baby either. She had no proof or clear reasoning for anything fishy to be happening, it was simply a feeling in her gut, and she had no idea what it meant or how she was going to prove it either way. "Look, let's just have a truce. We were a couple, and now we aren't. Doesn't mean we can't work together right?" She asked, handing him over her case file. Alex eyed her quizzically and started to skim read her patient's file.

The patient was a baby who needed constant surgeries, and she knew that this was going to be hard for him to say no to. He nodded, of course he did. He was going to work on the case with her, there was no reason not to.

PH