tough love ; jack gilinsky

t w e n t y - e i g h t

m e r e d i t h

"Meredith, good newwwss." Addie sang before pulling the duvet off my body. What the hell, I'm trying to sleep here bud.

"I don't wanna hear itttt." I mocked pulling the covers back over myself.

"Oh yes you do. I got you your job back." She said tossing my uniform at me.

"I don't want to go." I said rolling over so I wasn't facing her anymore.

"What? Meredith, you're lying." Yeah, I was. I just don't want to go back right now, I just need sometime to myself. Which is hard to get anyways, Jack and Addie are always watching me like hawks. It's like they're scared I'm gonna do something stupid with myself, which I'm not. Obviously. I'm not that stupid.

"Nope." Another lie. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. 

"Okay, whatever but if you ever decide to come back Mr. Gregory said you can come back at any time, since he knows how hard you work." If he knows how hard I work why did he get me fired?

"K." I mumbled and she left the room, and then leaving the apartment. I waited a few minutes to make sure she was actually gone to go into the kitchen. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, I sighed before going to answer it.

"M-mom?" I stuttered as I swung the door open.

"Hello Meredith, may I come in?" She smiled. I nodded and gestured for her to come in, she took a seat on the stool next to the kitchen island.

"So, um what are you doing back? I haven't seen you since August." I asked, grabbing a mug to make tea with.

"I heard about Ryan, and I wanted to see him." She told me.

It makes sense though. Since he can't remember anything but me, she could reintroduce herself to him and we could all be a happy family. Just us, not my father whatsoever.

"I was thinking about seeing him this afternoon, would you like to come along?" I smiled.

"I would love that." She smiled back.

"Meredithhhh!" Jack sang as he busted in the door. "I wanted to say I love you and hope you have a good day." He ran over to me and picked me up by my waist and spun me around. He put me down and I looked at my mom, who was smiling like there was no tomorrow. Jack saw her and looked hella embarrassed.

"Oh god, did I like interrupt something here?" Jack said putting his hand over his mouth. I laughed because he looked so cute all embarrassed like that.

"No, it's fine. I'm Allison, Meredith's mother." My mom introduced herself. Jack looked at me with wide eyes.

"It's a long story, and I'll tell you later. But you better get going or you're gonna be late for work." I said before kissing him on the cheek.

"Okay, see you later." He smiled before leaving, I continued making my tea. Smiling to myself because Jack knows how to make me happy no matter what.

"Aw, Mer. You look so happy." My mom gushed.

"Yeah. He knows how to make me happy. Sometimes it's just the little things that can make me smile." I said looking down at my feet.

-

"Okay, one thing. Just try and stay quiet until I tell you. He only knows who I am, so he trusts me. Got that?" I instructed my mother as we walked into the hospital to see Ryan. She nodded as we made up way up to his room. My dad and Tara were standing outside. Super.

"Leave." I said through gritted teeth. They both looked confused. "Was I not clear? Leave, get out of my sight."

Neither of them argued as they shuffled down the hallway. I took a deep breath as I entered the room.

"Hi Meredith." He smiled. I went over to him and gave him a hug. Mom was behind me, staying quiet like I told her. He looked over my shoulder and looked at her.

"Mer, who is that?" He asked cautiously. She looked at me, and I took another deep breath.

"Ryan, this is our mother." I said moving out the way so he could get closer to her. He looked and me and then at her raising an eyebrow. After two minutes of that I think it finally clicked for him and he went and gave her a hug.

All the pieces are finally fitting together.

This is the family I wanted. A family where everyone loves each other. Something my dad never was. 

I just want us to be a family again.

-

After spending the afternoon with Ryan, my mother went wherever she went and I decided to go to home and have a little movie afternoon. Haven't had one of those in a while, so why not? I picked up ice cream on my way home, because ice cream is good when you're sad and I'm sad.

When I got home I took all the blankets in my room and put them on the couch like a huge nest like thing, then I picked five of my favorite movies and tv shows. 21 Jump Street, The Fault in Our Stars, Grey's Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory and Adventure Time. I decided to watch 21 Jump Street first, because it's honestly my all time favorite movie. I put the movie in the dvd player, got my ice cream and snuggled myself in all my blankets.

All that's missing here is Jack.

Dang.

Major dang.

-

"Oh Meredithhhhhh." A faint voice said. I couldn't tell, as I was half asleep. Then the mysterious person touched my face, and on accident I punched said person. Turns out it was Jack.

"Oh god, Jack. I'm so sorry. You just scared me. Oh god." I said examining the spot I punched him. 

"It's fine, it's fine. I knew it wasn't a good idea to begin with." He laughed.

"It's not fine Jack. I literally just gave you a black eye. You can't go walking around the country club like that, people are gonna stare at you, laugh at y-" He cut me off with a kiss.

"Stop, I'm fine." He said smiling.

"I'm still sorry. Here come sit, and I'll tell you why I was with my mother who left me when I was born. Sound good?" I smiled as he sat next to me.

He kissed me again. "Alright, so talk."

"Well a few months ago I was out with Shawn and she was staring at me, so I made Shawn go over to her and ask her to you know stop staring at me. But then she was all like 'oh hey, i'm your mom.' I was just in shock so I just left her standing there. Then later she came to my apartment and tried apologizing, I was super mad so I yelled at her and told her to leave. A few weeks later she came back and explained the reason she left and everything, so I started hanging out with her. But then another few weeks later, she left again. Today was the first day I've seen her in over two months, and I'm just really happy to see her." I sighed, putting my head on his shoulder.

"Aw, that's good. I'm happy you're happy." He put an arm around my waist.

"I'm happy whenever I'm with you."