I Tried To Hate You (But Somewhere Along The Line I Fell In Love)

Chapter 3

It was early in the morning, still before sunrise as the sky outside was dark and only now beginning to lighten as the sun started to show over the horizon of the water. The interns had just arrived at the hospital and were getting ready to start their morning pre-rounds. They hadn't received their assignments for the day yet and Meredith found herself hoping she would be returned to OB again. It was over a week now since she had last been on Addison's service and she had found herself starting to miss the attendings company. She simply no longer had the same passion for learning if Addison wasn't the one teaching her. It was different with her, and now she was beginning to understand why.

Just as Meredith finished changing into her light blue scrubs the door to the changing room swung open and Bailey walked inside. She didn't even have to say a word for the interns to start gathering around her for their assignments. Meredith closed her locker door and moved over to join the back of the group.

"Alright everybody shut up and listen up. I have your assignments for the day but I have just gotten off of a 36-hour shift, 18 hours of which I spent in the O.R. that means I have no energy left for your complaints. So if you have a problem with your assignment please don't moan to me about it, take it up with the chief." Bailey stated bluntly, the exhaustion was obvious in her voice as she spoke. Everyone fell silent and listened for their name to be called. "Okay, O'Malley you're with Shepherd, Karev Torres, Yang Burke, Grey Montgomery, Stevens Sloan."

"Oh seriously!" The start of Izzie's sharp protest cut through the silence but all it took was one stern look from Bailey and she fell silent, the rest of her complaint about her assignment dying in her throat.

"Alright disperse! I want to get home and out of these scrubs." Bailey grumbled with a dismissive wave of her hand towards the interns before she turned and walked back out of the room.

"I can't believe I'm stuck picking up Sloan's damn coffee again for a day." Izzie sighed, roughly tugging on her white coat and heading out the door after Bailey. The rest of the group followed behind her and headed out into the hall, walking towards the elevators together before they had to go their separate ways.

"I checked the O.R. board already so looks like I'm in a triple coronary bypass later today. I'll be thinking of you Iz." Cristina bragged, the cockiness lacing her voice as she shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Oh, lucky you," Izzie said, her tone dripping with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes at Cristina. Cristina simply stuck her tongue out in response knowing Izzie was just frustrated with being stuck with Sloan.

"Enjoy being stuck with She-Shepherd again Mer." Alex chuckled, slightly jabbing at Meredith's side. "It's like they want to torture you at this point. I mean, you request to be on her service just to dodge Shepherd a couple of times and they think you're in love with her."

Meredith felt her heart leap in her chest at that but she did her best to control her features and not react to Alex's comment. Still, she didn't miss the sidewards look Cristina shot at her over her shoulder. Cristina was the only one who knew the truth, she couldn't bring herself to tell any of the others about her feelings and she had absolutely no intention of doing so anytime soon. After all, how would she even tell? What would she tell them? She couldn't tell anyone else when she barely even knew what exactly her feelings were when it came to Addison. The word "love" might have been blurted out when she had started to explain it all to Cristina but that word scared her. It especially scared her when it came to Addison. But as per usual she was avoiding the subject altogether by hiding her head in the metaphorical sand - surgeries and tequila - in the hopes that it would all go away. After all, ignorance is bliss. It seemed to be working, for a while at least.

"Meredith! It's good to see you. You were missed last week." Addison's voice caught Meredith's attention and pulled her from her thoughts as she approached the nurse's station. Addison was standing there waiting for her with a bright smile on her face. Meredith couldn't help but smile back at her, there was just something about  Addison's genuine happiness at having her back that warmed her heart. "While doctor Yang is a very gifted surgeon, I got the impression she wasn't very happy with her stay in OB/GYN."