Where You Belong

94

Meredith seethed. "What do you think I've been trying to tell you all freaking day?"

The door opened again and George stepped in. "Sloan is ready for the arm," he stated, and then narrowed his eyes at the scene before him. "Okay, what did I miss?"

"Nothing," Meredith muttered, wrapping the arm in sterilized drapes. She was exhausted and completely thrown off by Lexie's presence in her hospital. Was it really too much to ask that her friends could offer her some gesture of being happy for her? A hug. A smile. A congratulations. Anything. "Absolutely freaking nothing." Carrying her patient's arm, she left the room.

George, who was also working on her patient, hurried after her as she headed down the hall to the OR, where her interns were already waiting. She passed them the arm with instructions to unwrap it carefully.

"Are you ready, Nancy?" She asked her patient, who was scared and trembling on the table. The fear wouldn't help her or her baby get through the surgery.

She shook her head. "No. I'm scared. I can't do this."

"It's just like going to sleep," Meredith tried to soothe.

"I don't want to be alone anymore," Nancy cried, clutching to Meredith's arm. "I don't want to do any of this alone."

"I know." She squeezed her patient's arm.

"I'm scared, Meredith."

"I know," she repeated. "But I think it's very brave; what you're doing." Nancy had told her earlier that she had decided to stop waiting for the right man and have a baby on her own, despite her family's views on those things. "You decided to stop waiting for life to happen to you and did something that you really wanted. You're going to be an excellent mother. Let us take care of your arm. And the rest..." She offered Nancy a warm smile. "Good things happen when you least expect them."

Nancy nodded and seemed to calm at Meredith's words.

Meredith nodded to the anaesthesiologist, who put the patient under.

With a sigh, Meredith glanced at her interns, who were staring at the severed arm in awe, and then headed into the scrub room to sterilize for the surgery.

George was already there, scrubbing his hands. He offered her a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm having a bad day."

"Okay."

She grabbed a pick and started scraping the undersides of her nails. "My half-sister is Cristina's intern, and I had no idea until today that she was coming here. And now Cristina is mad at me for something that's not my fault. And Izzy and Alex may be too."

"What did you do to them?" He asked jokingly.

She mock glared at him. "I didn't do anything to them. I did something that makes me happy, and Cristina wouldn't let me tell her, and now she's mad because she found out through...well, Lexie."

"That's the half-sister?"

Meredith nodded.

"Is this the thing you were trying to tell us earlier?"

She nodded again, sending him a look.

He laughed. "Hey, can I remind you that I was listening both times. Neither were my fault."

She laughed too. He was absolutely right. The first time only Cristina and Alex had ignored her. She would have been able to tell Izzy and George had Callie not interrupted them. And the second time George had been the only one not to cut her off. "You're right. Sorry."