A/N: I'm introducing Penny Blake in this chap. Here, she is a fourth year resident... because she plays an important role later. Please, no flames!
Also, Alex's sister Amber is about 25 years old. Anyway, onward!
SIX WEEKS LATER:
Amelia covered her sleeping boyfriend with a blanket. Boyfriend. She had a freaking boyfriend. Owen had come over late last night, exhausted from surgery. They'd cuddled on the couch and watched late night TV over popcorn. They'd done something normal. Relationship-y. She didn't even know when the kissing had turned into something more, and the rides he gave her were more frequent, and there'd even been morning coffee... and morning-
"Ahem," A familiar voice interupted her rambling thoughts. Meredith.
"Oh," Amelia said, padding into the kitchen. "Hey," she said. It had been an interesting few weeks living with her sort of sister in law. Meredith had been... well she'd been under a lot of stress over the pending adoption of Zola. Amelia never knew Meredith had so many insecurities about... well, about being a mother. There'd been background checks, and home checks, and work checks... and parenting classes. But Meredith had plugged through all of them, and Amelia was happy for her. She hoped that she could be a sort-of- Auntie, Zola was adorable.
But Amelia kinda hadn't mentioned much about her and Owen. And this was his first time... staying over.
"So..." Meredith sighed, gesturing to the snoring doctor on her couch. "You and Owen?"
Amelia picked up a coffee mug and dumped a couple teaspoons of sugar into her cup while she waited for the coffee to percolate. "Yeah, me and Owen," she said.
"Okay," Meredith said slowly.
The way she said 'okay' bothered Amelia. Why couldn't she just be happy for her? Owen was a good guy. "I know he's your best friend's ex. I know you're looking out for him..." Amelia said, "it's just-" she swallowed hard, "I moved here to build a new life. You know me... you know what I lost. You lost the love of your life, you've cried over Derek. You know how much that messes people up. We both had to claw our way back from it. I'm not like you... I'm not all put together yet, and Owen knows that, and he's okay with that, so you should cut me some slack."
Meredith's cup banged sharply on the table, "You think I'm 'put together?'"
"Mer, you're adopting a freaking kid!"
"I don't know that... I don't know if I'll get her. " She shook her head, "I'm not judging. You don't think I haven't thought about what it would be like... to love... a man again? To be loved? To share my life with someone?" she laughed bitterly. "'Put together?'" she shook her head. "I'm trying so hard... to put one foot in front of the other. Just so I can pass one more stupid background check, one more evaluation, one more home check. I'm not 'put together,' Amelia. I see you... and Owen together and-" her voice broke. "You got a second chance," she breathed. "Don't ruin it. Especially with him." And with that, she picked up her coat and travel mug and stormed out.
xxx
"Well," Jo dusted off her hands, "That's it. That's the last of it." She looked around at the now fully furnished loft. Her heart pounded with excitement. "I can't believe it! We're moved in!" She clapped her hands. "Alex?" she asked, looking behind her.
Alex sat on the couch, a bottle of water in hand, staring blankly out at nothing.
"Alex?" Jo asked again, waving her hand in front of him.
"Huh?" he blinked.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "Is this about Amber?"
"She stayed two days and then she freaking ran away! Nobody knows where the hell she is!"
"Alex..." Jo plopped beside him and rubbed his thigh, "It's not your fault."
"Of course it's my fault. I left her. When Aaron went all psycho and my mom..." he shuddered. "I left them..."
"She's just scared."
"I'm her big brother, I'm supposed to protect her, and I screwed it up Jo! She doesn't trust me to protect her. How can she... Why? It isn't supposed to be like this! This isn't how it's supposed to happen!"
Jo bit her lip. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him what Amber told her before she left. But she couldn't. She promised. And... she had secrets of her own that she couldn't bear to reveal right now. She hated this. She understood Alex, but... she also understood Amber. She took his hand in hers, her fingers tracing the strong bones and muscles of a fighter. "You just have to trust her. Trust that you've taught her enough to protect herself... maybe, there was something she needed to protect too."
"Like her daughter?" Alex asked quietly. "Is that what this is about?" He sat up, leaned forward, and rested his forearms on his thighs. "Does she think her kid's in trouble?"
Jo shrugged. She couldn't reveal anything more. She just wanted Alex to be okay. And then she giggled as Alex kissed her neck, trailing down her shoulder. "Alex!" she swatted at him.
"Mm," he murmured, his breath tickling her skin. "I love you Jo. And I'm glad you don't have crappy family drama..."
"Yeah," she said as she kissed him back. I want to tell you... she thought. I want to tell you so bad... but will you still love me then?
xxx
Lexie sat outside, scribbling in her notebook. "Urgh!" she grumbled loudly. Her hypothesis was completely wrong... now she'd have to start directly from the begining. She scratched in a big 'X' on the page and turned it over facing a new blank page. "Okay... I'll just... start again, right?"
"Hey. Need a pick me-up?"
Lexie jerked her head up, but floundered in disappointment when she saw who it was. Not freaking Chad. He smiled and offered her a coffee. "Chad... hey..." she trailed off, please go away, please go away, she thought. What she thought would be a pleasant working relationship had been turning into a weird thing where Chad kept trying to ask her on a date without really asking her on a date. She'd told him she had a boyfriend. A hot hunk of a boyfriend, who kept sending her little miss you notes and cards etc. But Chad seemed to sort of live in denial. Thus the coffee.
"No thanks, I'm good," she said.
"Are you sure?" He asked, adjusting his glasses.
"Yeah... you know... too much caffine, bad for blood pressure... and hello, stress! Right?" She nodded nervously.
"Okay... Well can I sit here?" he didn't wait for her to answer, just stiffly sat on the bench beside her. "What are you doing? Are you working on that nerve bundle thing? I've got this theory-"
Okay. That was it. She was done with this. With him. He was just one of those guys who didn't get it. Oblivious much? That was Chad's name, Oblivious. McOblivious. No wait... he didn't even deserve a McNickname. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, a bad habit she got from Meredith. She sighed, her leg muscles tensed, preparing for movement. She was going to stand up... and just freak out on him... just friggin' freak out and scare him away. With a decisive nod, she stared at Chad, about to explode on him.
"I think that if the cells degenerate at a certain rate over time-" he was saying
"Chad-" Lexie started, pushing herself up to a standing position. Only... something bumped her in the leg. She looked down and frowned.
WHIRR- RR- RRRUMMM!
A remote controlled car bumped into her. "What the hell?" Lexie demanded, looking down at the car as it reversed and pushed forward, bumping into her again. Taped on the top of the car was a red piece of paper, and in familiar sharpie scrawl, the words... Follow Me.
The car reversed and turned away from her, quickly speeding away, down the sidewalk and around the fountain. Then it stopped, as if waiting for her. Well?
"Mark..." Lexie muttered under her breath, but secretly she was thrilled, and then she took off, following.
Chad also followed, curious.
The RC Sped it's way through the park, weaving between surprised pedestrians, before it went off road, rolling on freshly mowed grass up a slight hill. Lexie huffed and puffed behind it and came to the top of the hill.
On a red and white checked blanket was a large woven picnic basket. Mark reclined on his elbows with a remote control in his hand and a tablet propped up beside him. A half smile graced his features as he looked up at her with his sky-blue eyes. "Hey," he said warmly. "Need to take a break?"
"Do I?" Lexie grinned.
Just then Chad ran up to her. "Lexie... what was- oh-" he said.
Lexie swallowed and turned to him. "Chad... meet boyfriend," she gestured to Mark. "Boyfriend, meet Chad."
Mark nodded, smiled. "Hey," he said and waved.
"Um.. hey?" Chad said weakly. "I thought-"
"What? That I was single? That I made up my own crappy hand-written love notes? What?"
"Oh..." he said, nodding slowly.
"So... you can go now... Go on, shoo." She waved dismissively as she sat down on the blanket.
Chad still stood there. She ignored him and gazed at Mark.
"I brought your favorite. Dill pickle." he said.
"Yeah?" Lexie asked, but for once she wasn't interested in stress eating. God, she missed him. She missed him sooo much. She thought she could get away from him. She thought that was the right thing. Space. Research. Labs. But Mark had shown her that he cared. He'd given up so much for her. He was here on the other side of the country, for her, and only for her.
What had she given him?
She'd been an immature fool. Her gaze sank down, from his eyes, to his cheekbones, to his rugged jawline, to his lips.
His breath smelled like dill pickle. She almost laughed, imagining him eating her chips. Mark didn't eat chips. "You ate my chips?" she asked.
Mark's eyes glittered. "Yeah, a couple."
Lexie leaned in. "I love dill pickle," she said before her lips touched his and she tasted him.
xxx
Miranda Bailey bustled across the catwalk at a fast clip. She had a bone to pick with that man. That man being the Chief of Surgery. How could he do this? How could anyone in their right mind... She shook her head. That Man was not in his Right Mind. She would deal with this... she would.
She rapped loudly at the door, but there was no answer. Bailey tapped her foot, counted to three, and knocked again. She knew he was here. Was he just ignoring her? Damn that man! But this was urgent, something had to be done before Grey got here. Miranda clucked loudly, reached for the doorknob and let herself in. "Chief, I-" But she stopped as Hunt held a finger out while he talked on the phone. He turned around in his chair as if to give him more privacy.
"I understand..." he was saying. Nodding, he stood up and paced. "No, I understand sir... but if you could just-" He stopped, sighed, rubbed his eyes. "Of course. Nothing we can do. Yes. Right. Orders... I-I understand..." and then his usual straight posture slumped, and he sighed. "You'll... let me know? If you hear anything?"
Miranda shifted on her feet. Her earlier anger melted away, as she felt she was invading on some deep personal thing.
"Okay... thank you sir. I'll be... I'll be in touch."
Hunt's shoulder's slumped with defeat as he dropped the phone onto the cradle. He uncharacteristically slouched in his chair and rubbed his nose. "What is it Bailey?" He asked, staring at the wall.
She stepped forward, thrown off her previous strategy of bellering at him untill he succumbed to her will. "Um... sir... I'm here about the new resident."
"Penelope Blake?" he asked, "What about her?"
"You checked her case files? You know... the hospital she worked at... before... here?"
"You mean, do I know that she was the intern on call at Dilliard when Meredith was brought in?" he turned to her, looking slightly pained that someone was questioning his authority.
"Yes, sir." Bailey said.
"Of course I know. And that is one of the reasons why I hired her."
"Excuse-"
"This is a teaching hospital," Owen thundered. "Dillard is an understaffed, underfunded hole in the wall podunk hospital currently facing bankrupty. Blake rematched. She's the top of her class, she's an excellent resident and she deserves to be in a hospital that can actually nurture that talent."
"Does Grey know?"
Owen scoffed. "What? No. She was in a coma the entire time she was at Dillard, she's not gonna remember Blake."
Miranda raised her chin a little. "Yeah? What about Blake? What's she gonna do when she sees her former patient huh? What then?"
Owen rubbed his forehead and swallowed. "I guess we'll find out. She's on Grey's service."
"Mmm hmm..." Bailey nodded.
"Look. I'm not changing my mind. I'm not putting on kid gloves for her or for Meredith. Blake wants to work here... she'll have to face her past. Like we all do. We all have to face our past... our mistakes, and live with the consequences. That's it. Now, if you'll excuse me... I have work to do."
xxx
Penny hefted her bag a little as she strode quickly to the resident's lounge, she didn't want to be late on her first day.
"Um, hi." She said to the group gathered there. "Umm, so does anyone know where I can find Dr. Grey?" she asked. "I guess I'm on her service..."
No one really seemed to listen to her. One of them was throwing on her labcoat, and Penny caught the name 'Edwards' inscribed on it as she pushed past her. "She's in surgery. Check the OR board." she said as she marched off.
Another resident scoffed. "You're with Medusa?" she said, "good luck with that."
"Better hurry," Another resident said, his nametag said Warren. "She hates it when you're late."
Penny nodded. Crap. She hustled over and shoved her things into a cubby before changing into the light blue scrubs. For a second, a brief half second, she stared at her own name embroidered on the white lab coat. This was her shot. Her best shot. She'd fought so hard to get out from Dillard and its politics. It was time for a fresh start. Shepherd Grace Memorial was where it was at.
She dashed out, throwing her labcoat on as she headed down the hall. Damn, she should've come earlier to get aquainted with the layout.
It was a good ten minutes before she finally found O.R one, where Dr. Grey, her attending, was wrist deep in a patient's abdomen. She watched from the gallery as the doctor worked quickly and efficiently.
"Dr. Blake?" The intercom blared. Penny jumped. Dr. Grey looked up at her from her position in the OR. "Scrub in," she growled. "I could use another set of hands here."
Penny nodded and scrambled to the scrub room as fast as she could. She scrubbed and stepped into the OR, holding her hands up to be towled dry and gloved by the scrub nurses. "What do we have?" she asked, eager to prove herself.
"Car accident," Grey said, holding her hand up for an instrument. "The spleen's bleeding out, we may have to do a partial splenectomy. Clamp, Bohkee," she called out.
Penny nodded. She'd done this a couple times. "Okay... so you want me to-"
"Clamp the splenic hilum Dr. Blake."
A clamp was passed to her. She couldn't quite see so she called for more retraction before placing the clamp directly on the hilum. And then she watched as the good doctor, 'Medusa' as the residents called her, carefully incsised the damaged portion of the spleen and stiched the tear back together.
She was in awe. Grey's fingers danced throughout the procedure as she cut, stitched and sewed. Finally, they were done. Grey sighed. "Okay... I think this one's gonna make it."
Medusa looked at her, and Penny wondered why they called her that. Dr. Grey did not seem stony to her at all. She seemed happy. Her eyes crinkled as she smiled under her mask. Penny followed her attending to the scrub room, pulling off her mask and reaching for the soap. "I'm sorry I was late," she said. "It won't happen again."
"It's alright. It's a big hospital, and I wasn't even expecting to see you until rounds anyway. You did a good job in there, Blake."
"Oh," a relieved smile burst through her nervous disposition, "Thanks." But why did Dr. Grey look so familiar? Maybe it was just one of those faces... But she didn't have time to dwell on it as Dr. Grey was already on the way out, giving her post-op orders and grabbing her labcoat on the way out of the dressing room.
Penny did the same, trying to keep up, trying to focus, make a good impression. She sighed with relief when they reached the elevators. Now she could catch her breath. Dr. Grey stepped inside first and turned around, pulling her hair into a pony tail.
Penny gasped.
Right along the top of Dr. Grey's hairline was a jagged scar. A scar she was all too familiar with. A scar that haunted her.
Grey, Meredith. Her patient from four years ago.
"What?" Dr. Grey growled, her earlier charm gone. "What are you staring at?"
A/N: Thanks Everyone! Let me know what you think! I appreciate any and all comments!