Where You Belong

113

Meredith ran a hand through her hair as she unsuccessfully fought back a yawn. It had been a long week since she had returned to work after her New York trip with Derek. Being only a second year resident, she didn't get much vacation time, and had to work extra hours if she wanted extra time off. And extra hours for a second year resident pretty much meant never leaving the hospital. It was a sacrifice, but one she had to make. Not going to Lauren's wedding with Derek wasn't an option and not taking time off to move wasn't an option, either.

She and Derek had flown home to Seattle on Monday and been back to work first thing Tuesday morning. It was currently Saturday, and Meredith had only been home once in that time. She glanced at her watch and sighed. Only five more hours and she got to go home and not be back until noon the next day; an entire eighteen hours away from the hospital.

Scribbling the last of her notes into the chart in front of her, she snapped it shut and forced herself to her feet. While she was normally one to simply use the ledge of the Nurses' Station to notate her charts, she had sought refuge in an empty conference room for the sake of sitting down. After spending the previous night in emergency surgery with Bailey, her feet and legs were killing her. She loved being a surgeon, but she would love it even more if she could somehow operate while sitting down.

With a groan, she picked up the pile of charts she had been working on and stiffly made her way out of the conference room. The Nurses' Station was absent of any nurses, so she collapsed onto one of the chairs behind the desk and began to re-file the charts herself.

"What are you doing back there?" Cristina asked as she dropped herself down onto the desk. "You should know by now not to piss of the nurses."

"I'm sure this will piss them off less than if I leave a pile of charts on the desk for them to put away."

Cristina shrugged. "True." She placed a sandwich package down onto the desk, and then held out one of the two bottles of water she had in her hands. "You looked like crap last time I saw you," she offered as explanation, "I wasn't sure if you'd had a break yet."

"Thanks," Meredith said, trying to offer her best friend a smile, but failing.

"You do look like crap," Cristina repeated.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Thank you for pointing that out. I've been up for more than thirty hours, after getting about three hours of sleep in an on call room, and having been up for thirty-six hours before."

"Fun," Cristina said wryly. She opened her sandwich package and offered Meredith half.

"What kind is it?"

"Do you really care?"

"No," she admitted as she took the offered half. "Thanks, I'm starving."

"When are you off?"

"Six."

"Me too. Did you want to grab a drink at Joe's?"

Meredith shook her head. "I can't. We get the keys Monday morning and we're so not ready. Derek's been packing as much as he can this week, but it's not fair that I leave it all to him. I have to do as much as I can before I have to be back tomorrow, because I don't get to leave again until eight Monday morning."

"It wouldn't take that long; less than an hour. And you look like you need a break."

Meredith opened her mouth to respond, but caught sight of the familiar brunette she had gone back to avoiding over the last few days. On instinct, Meredith dropped out of her chair and dove under the desk.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cristina demanded.

"Just don't tell her I'm here."

"Who?"