Baby Grey (Grey's Anatomy) ABANDONED

Thirty

Erin looked at Meredith. It was her move. Whatever she did, Erin would follow, but she knew that this conversation was only being prompted by Meredith flipping on Susan earlier that day. Erin liked Susan but if Meredith didn't want her in her life, Erin would stand right alongside her. It had been the two of them forever and nobody, not even someone who could be family, was going to tear them apart.

"As mothers go, we've only ever known overbearing never overprotective. This is all new. It's okay," Meredith said, reaching out to grab Erin's hand. Erin squeezed it back tightly.

"It is?" Susan asked.

"Yes," Meredith nodded. Erin smiled, rocking on her feet between the two of them.

"So, I don't know about you two but I am famished. Shall we make some dinner, Mermaid?" Erin said. Meredith nodded.

"Have you eaten already, Susan?" Meredith said. Susan shook her head. "Cool. You can eat with us. Spaghetti okay? It's the only thing I can really make without burning," Meredith said.

"Spaghetti is great," Susan smiled, following them to the kitchen.

"Spaghetti is all we ate growing up. Meredith cooked for us pretty much every night and after she almost burnt the house down, we stuck to what she could do," Erin told Susan, sitting at the island while Meredith got a pan and the spaghetti.

"I could teach you two to cook something else, if you wanted. Being surgeons, you'll need some good meals to get you through them," Susan said.

"Oh, Erin, tell her about the kid you operated on with Arizona a few weeks ago," Meredith said. Erin grinned and turned to Susan, who was smiling softly at the two of them.

It was like she was actually seeing them for the first time. Instead of seeing Thatcher's estranged daughters, she was seeing Meredith and Erin Grey, best friends and each other's person. She was seeing them as more than an obligation or something she felt like she had to do. She was seeing them as family instead of strangers.

"So, this kid came in with these terrible cancer METs all over her pancreas, right? And we looked at it and we thought that this kid would have to have so many operations to get rid of them. But we went in and got them all out on the first surgery because the kid was such a trooper," Erin told her.

"What are the signs of a central line infection?" Alex quizzed Meredith as she sat in the hot seat. Cristina, Alex, George and Izzie were surrounding her to study, while Erin was with Burke in the kitchen trying wedding cake samples.

"Puss, redness and fever," Meredith said.

"What's Kahn's syndrome?" Alex asked. Meredith frowned.

"Wait, wait, I know this," she mumbled.

"Tick tock, dude," Izzie tapped at her wrist.

"Umm," Meredith trailed off.

"Cracking under the pressure?" George asked.

"No! Um... hypocortolis... cortolism..." Meredith trailed off.

"Primary hypro dostrolonism. Yes, out of the seat. My turn," Cristina said.

"No, it's my turn," Izzie whined, moving to sit on the chair.

"No, it's not," Cristina stood up. Burke grabbed a sample and walked over, blocking her from getting on the chair. Erin smirked and took a bite of some chocolate cake. "Oh, honey, I-" Cristina started.

"Try this one. White sponge with vanilla buttercream," Burke said. Cristina sighed.

"Ok, yeah," she nodded. Erin guessed he made a face because Cristina continued. "I'm trying to study for the most important test of my intern career. I don't have time for wedding cake," she scowled.