Extraordinary

Chapter 1

Hi guys! This is my new AU story that's been bouncing around my head for a while. I'm trying to keep the characters in character as in the beginning of the first season but there are obviously some changes. Meredith is a prodigy in surgery, and even though she's the same age as the interns, she's the new Chief. The only age I've changed is Alex, because the MerAlex friendship is too precious. It'll be a MerDer story though. Hope you like it!

They slammed their shots of Tequila down together.

"So why exactly are we damaging our livers tonight? Don't get me wrong, I love going out to bars and watching you pick up inappropriate men but you seem too busy picking up Jose to look at any guy." Alex said, addressing the dirty blonde sitting next to him in their favourite bar. Dressed casually in black jeans and a sweater, she was still beautiful enough to draw attention from people.

"Just want to make sure you know I can handle my liquor better than you." she said evasively.

"Trust me, I'm never going to forget it. Hell, you drank me under the table before you were even legal, Mer." He said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, the first night when you were trying to pick me up." She smirked at the memory, her green eyes dancing with mirth.

"I didn't just try, I succeeded." He smirked back. "Plus how the hell was I supposed to know you were barely 20."

"We had just spent our first day together as interns, and my age seemed to be a very popular topic when it came to jokes. Hell, it still is"

"Yeah ok i was a completely self absorbed ass. Plus you were hot, you still are."

"Flattery won't work, I'm not giving you any action, ew plus you still are an ass." She wrinkled her nose in mock disgust.

"Yeah no I think i'll puke. You're like my sister, you know, it's weird. And you really should move past this ageist bullshit. You've already proven you're a better doctor than anyone else in that miserable hospital. Besides, you blew everyone away on your first day itself. I'll never forget the look on Whitman's face when the skinny twenty year old chick performed the intern appy successfully. You were expected to fail, it's the lesson for the interns, so technically we should all blame you for raising the expectations to unrealistic levels." He finished with a laugh.

Meredith thought back to the first days of her internship. She finished med school in Germany at the age of 19, and came back to Boston to finish her residency. She knew it was going to be difficult, given her name and age, but she hoped her mom's move to Mayo would make it better. She was ridiculed by the other interns and mocked for her age and even the attendings and residents refused to take her seriously. She was chosen for the intern appy because everyone assumed she'd screw it up, but Meredith had got where she was for a reason, she was freaking brilliant. Having practically grown up in the OR gallery, having the negligent Ellis Grey as her mother, she was made for surgery.

"I got a job offer." Meredith finally revealed what had been on her mind all evening.

"Well that isn't surprising. You're Meredith freaking Grey, winner of two Harper Averys after all."Alex said, still not understanding what the big deal was "But you don't need to take it you're chief of general at Mass Gen already, plus you have good ol' me here." He finished lightly.

"It's for the Chief of Surgery. At Seattle Grace." She finally sighed.

"Chief of Surgery? Holy crap that's awesome. Wait, why aren't you excited? I'd be screaming from the rooftops." Alex exclaimed.

Meredith downed another shot of Tequila. "It's in Seattle! That's all the way across the country."

"So? It's chief of surgery! You can't seriously be thinking of refusing it. You know Chief Oldman is nowhere near close to retiring. It's a once in a lifetime chance."

"But you're here. In Boston. Plus everyone I know is here... and I'd have to have my mom transferred to Seattle...And it's just Chief of surgery. I'll get another offer later you know. And i'm probably just being stupid no one would even take me seriously and I dont know anyone in seattle and it rains. I'm 27 everyone will think it's a joke and i don't want to fly 3000 miles away from home and it will just be a disaster." She finished.

Alex listened to her ramble and finally understood what was up.
"Dude, you're still seriously worried about what people think about your age? At least in Mass Gen there are people who still remember seeing the great Meredith Grey as a lowly intern, in Seattle they've only ever seen you as the hotshot surgeon. And what is wrong with moving across the country? You went to med school in Germany when you were sixteen. And isn't your crazy friend Stella in Seattle? It works out perfectly."

"Yeah..." Meredith said, finally seeing sense in his words. "But you'd still be here."

"Isn't Seattle Grace one of the top teaching hospitals? I'll get a job there, I already have an in with the chief." He said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I can't ask you to move across the country Alex!" She exclaimed.

"Well you're not asking. I'm offering. Like I said, the Chief will be completely in my control. I'll freaking rule the hospital. My fellowship is only for six months and you can hire me as a peds attending it'll work out."

"Ass!" She finally laughed "Well ok, I did look up Arizona Robbins, she's Head of Peds and supposedly she's good. Ok right I'm going to do it, I'll take the job."

"Cheers! to the new Chief of Surgery" Alex said as they clinked glasses and threw back another shot. "Man is Oldman gonna be pissed when he realises he's losing you to Seattle."

They both sat at the bar for hours, drinking tequila and laughing, like they had countless times before. Alex and Meredith had known each other seven years and were the most unlikeliest of friends. Meredith, with her age and accelerated residency alienated most people in her intern year who were too resentful or jealous of her. Alex was an outcast due to his abrasive personality and cocky attitude. Though they had their first conversation at a bar, they became sort of friends because Alex didn't really do resentment and he was happy to get into surgeries when she became a resident early. Meredith found out that under all his macho crap, Alex was really a softie and they bonded over bad parents and lonely childhoods. Even when she won her first Harper Avery in her third year of residency, Alex went with her to receive the award.

Hey guys, I've recently started reading on Wattpad, but I've been reading gifs over at FFN for a while now. If you guys like it, I'll make sure to continue.