Extraordinary

Chapter 2

Meredith stared at the board announcing flight arrivals and announcing baggage claim belts as she called Stella to tell her she had landed. Dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, with dirty blond hair thrown carelessly in a ponytail, to an ordinary passerby she looked like a skinny college student returning home. Meredith, at 27, looked much younger than her actual age and was used to being mistaken for a nurse or intern at hospitals. She frowned and looked around, hoping to see her friend, who was perennially late.

"Meredith Grey get your skinny ass here!" She heard a familiar voice shout from behind.

She turned on her feet and was enveloped in a bear hug by a leather clad woman.

"Stella!" She laughed as they finally pulled away from each other "God I've missed you. Still in the leather phase I see."

"It's not a phase, it's who I am. I'm 27 for gods sake I'm well over the age of 'phases'." She answered back.

"Those suits you work with still giving you crap for beating them at their own game?" Meredith mused referring to Stella's perfectly respectable lawyer colleagues.

"You bet." She sighed dramatically "We successful, badass, hot as fuck women have it hard."

They laughed as they walked off towards Stella's waiting car. Meredith and Stella were childhood friends who had surprisingly stayed in contact without living in the same city. Stella grew up in Boston near Meredith and her work made her return to the East Coast often enough for them to meet up frequently. When Meredith told her about her imminent move to Seattle, Stella had immediately decided they had to live together. "We'll need each other to drag us off bar floors when we're drunk off our asses and make sure one-night stands are suitable" Had been her reasoning for the move.

They had decided to move into Ellis' old home because it was close enough to the hospital and neither one felt inclined to go house hunting. It had the added bonus of being a three bedroom house so Alex could join them when he finally made it to Seattle.

"So have you even checked the house out yet?" Meredith asked Stella as they settled into the car. Just the thought of the house made her want to kill herself "I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to stay in that house, it brings back memories I'd rather forget and it's not like we can't afford a new place." She groaned.

"Stop whining Mer, we'll fix it up and replace those memories with new ones of hot hot men roaming around." Was Stella's snarky response. "I went by the place yesterday to drop off some of my crap. It's lucky the lease on my old apartment is almost up, i couldn't stand living in that crap bucket a day longer." She added.

They spent the rest of the drive catching up with each other. They soon entered a residential area and pulled up in front of a nice-looking townhouse.

"So this is it, home." Said Stella hopping out and grabbing Meredith's things.

"Yup" said Meredith as they walked into a dusty entryway and glanced around at the sheet covered furniture. "It's gonna take a while for it to be recognisable though."

They spent the rest of the day looking around and unpacking as little as possible while creating the greatest mess they could. Just as it was nearing evening, Meredith looked at her watch.

"Crap! I didn't realise how late it was." She jumped up to her feet and began digging through boxes, pulling things out haphazardly. "Have you seen the box with my clothes? I need something formal."

"What's up? Where do you have to go?" Was Stella's lazy answer as she lay on the couch, beer in hand.

"The Chief — the soon to be ex-Chief — Richard invited me to his house for dinner and I completely forgot." She said rummaging through yet another box. "Besides, I haven't talked to him and Adele in a while and I'm not sure how I'm going to avoid questions about my mother while I'm sitting there having dinner."

"Here, you can borrow something of mine." Stella finally took pity on Meredith and handed her a few dresses she was in the middle of unpacking. "And why can't you just tell everyone that Ellis has Alzheimer's remind me again?"

"Because she - ugh - made me promise not to, hell she had papers drawn up when she was first diagnosed." Said Meredith pulling on a dress hurriedly "Not that they matter much now since she's in no state to pursue me legally."

"Go out, have some fun. Forget Ellis for now and catch up with Webber. You know you're like his daughter and Adele is nicer to you than your own mother ever was."

"Okay okay I'm going. It's not like he's been there all my life you know. I mean I met him for the first time after the age of five in my intern year." She said fixing up her hair and makeup "there was suddenly this visiting surgeon with a whole lot of history practically shoving mentorship down my throat. Thankfully he improved on acquaintance."

"Hey, what does Webber plan to do when you become Chief?" Asked Stella suddenly, wondering if Mer would have a friendly face around the hospital.

"He plans on staying as head of general. I'm not sure why he's retiring but the board was very keen to have me there. Anyway gotta go. Love ya." She answered hurriedly as she exited the house and got into her car and left.

000

Dinner at the Webbers' was a comfortable and homey experience. Meredith had grown close to the Webbers and they treated her like their own daughter. Barring a few questions on Ellis, the conversation had flowed lightly and everyone seemed to have a good time.

"Richard you're sure about stepping down right?" Meredith finally broached the subject she had been avoiding all evening as they sat sipping coffee after dinner. "Because I won't mind staying on as head of general for a while." she finished uncertainly. She reasoned to herself that coming in as head of general instead of the chief of surgery might make the rest of the staff more open to the idea of her.

Richard smiled warmly at her and said "Meredith, there's no one I'd rather have replace me as chief. It's time for me to take a step back and focus on my family and I have no problem handing over the mantle to you. You're going to shake things up at Grace and that's just what we need."

"Um... oh ok" Meredith responded, unsure of what to say.

Richard and Adele exchanged a knowing glance that only married people, so attuned to one another, could manage. They looked at Meredith and saw an unsure little girl and couldn't help but compare her to her mother. She was decidedly equally talented yet different in all the ways that mattered. While Ellis had her own beauty, she was cold and indifferent, her career her first priority. Meredith was more attuned to other people's feelings and was a warm caring person once brought out of her shell that Ellis had forced her to retire into. She was ready to put her career on the backburner if it meant Richard would be happy.

"Honey, it's high time Richard took a step back, the way this man is he might as well be married to the hospital." She said with a gentle laugh placing her hand over Meredith's, and Meredith rewarded her with a smile.

Adele had surprised even herself when it came to how much she cared about Meredith. She had every right to hate the daughter of the woman who had almost destroyed her marriage, but she had met Meredith and noticed how completely different she was from her mother. She was the other innocent bystander who had her entire life torn apart by the ugly affair, yet she had grown into a strong, intelligent and independent woman. Adele's motherly side had never come out the way it did except when it came to the little girl currently sitting on her couch.

Richard broke her reverie and began, "you know, we have an intern mixer the day after tomorrow for the fresh batch of interns. Why don't you drop by a little earlier in the evening and I'll give you an unofficial tour of Grace, when no one would notice you. You can drop by the mixer later if you want and meet the people too."

Meredith considers the idea. She didn't really want to spend an evening in a boring hospital function, but the idea of the tour seemed appealing. Besides, she couldn't really say no to Richard after he was being all nice so she had to agree.

"That sounds good, but I don't think that the intern mixer would be the best place to announce who I am. I'll drop in to the mixer and I can be officially introduced the next day." She finished, fidgeting a little with the hem of her dress.

Richard smiled broadly again.