Creative Manipulation

Sebastian grinned in return, surprised he didn't have his own flask, the way things were going lately. 

Coffee was definitely required.

"What are you dragging me into now?"

"Would you stop that??" Meredith snapped in annoyance. In truth, it was more due to the sudden discomfort she was feeling, keenly aware of the fact that she was unskilled when it came to dealing with other people’s sadness or insecurities. Unless it was Crystal’s or one of the very few people close to her. "Just-… Just stop that! Stop with the long-face, damn it!!" Her irritation only grew when the answer seemed obvious. "Fine! - Fine, I’ll help. Johanna’s going to turn us both into roadkill and if I go first I’m forwarding all the expenses for funeral arrangements to your freaking bank account, I’m warning you.” With a roll of her eyes, Meredith leaned back against the booth, suddenly tired. Fate truly had a sense of humour; setting up the two most ill-equipped people in town to help a woman who likely hated them both right now…

He took another breath. "We need to approach her in a way that won't freak her out. We can't just corner her. She needs to be prepared, needs to know what we need to talk about." He looked back at Meredith. "This is really, really delicate. We can't push her further down this path, and she needs to be able to trust us." 

He thought about what he'd just said, then snorted. "Or, try to get to a place where she can try to trust us."

"Kay, whoa there Prince Panic. I may not have your storybook-ending, but I know freaking out isn’t going to accomplish much. Maybe… Find a third-party. A go-between for you two whom Jo actually trusts and will let within fifty-meters of herself? Your parents? Did she ever get along with them?” Meredith suggested awkwardly. Family situations were not her forté, and neither were dealing with sensitive issues such as this one. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to dump it on Sebastian and get the hell out of the coffee-shop. But one look at his expression told her it wouldn’t exactly be well-received…

Still, she couldn’t help a dry laugh when Sebastian described the level of hatred Johanna felt for him now. She raised her coffee and tipped it against Sebastian’s mug in a derisive toast. “Well, seems like we have one thing in common after all, Weston. In case you’ve been missing the memo, she kind of hates me too right now. I found out her secret, after-all. And called her out on it too. As you can imagine, the fuzzy friendship feelings aren’t exactly going strong right now.”

It was all going to backfire, he knew it. No one trusted him around here, least of all Johanna, and there was no way he could actually find someone who would listen to him about it. Everyone hated him, or at the very least just didn't care. 

"There's no one who will listen to me," he finally said. He took a deep breath. "I have to do it. There's no way anyone will trust me about this. I'm probably the worst person for it to come from. Everyone knows our situation, how she feels about me, what happened back then." He shook his head. "There's no other way to do it."

But when Sebastian accused her by saying Johanna had chosen to confide in her, Meredith had to keep from laughing out loud. “Are you KIDDING me, Sebastian??” She let out with a shake of her head. “No, you idiot, she didn’t TELL me!!… I discovered it for myself.” She muttered, looking down at the tablecloth and tracing the checkered pattern with one finger. It was not a memory she’d been able to push out of her mind. The sounds of Johanna crying while puking out the contents of her stomach… The thought alone was enough to make Meredith grimace. But she glanced up again a moment later when Sebastian claimed that she’d dropped the news in his lap because she knew he still cared about Johanna. 

"No!! God, Sebastian! How much ‘dumbass' does the Y chromosome contain anyway??” She asked, annoyance registering in her expression. “The hell would I know about your supposed feelings for her? You think I believe that crap??” She was about to elaborate on her distrust for a serial-cheater in general, and a man who'd left town for three years while he was at it, specifically. But Meredith decided against it, figuring it wasn't quite the time for that debate. “I told you cause you're the only one of Johanna's connections I know in person… Besides Molly. And between you and a four year old with zero life experience, well… I hedged my bets on you. Forgive me if I was mistaken.” Meredith added, shooting him a pointedly sarcastic look.

She shot forward from her seat again, brows instantly dipping into a frown. “EXCUSE ME?! How the hell is this my problem???” She demanded, not sure she wanted to know the answer to that question. The guilty, nagging sensation in her chest was bad enough; to have Sebastian confirm it was beyond what she wanted to hear right now. “This is JO’s problem! And maybe yours.” She added narrowing her eyes at him. “God knows how she developed the ED to begin with, right??” It was an unfair accusation, since the bulimia had manifested itself more due to Johanna’s relationship with her perfectionist mother, but that was a detail Meredith had not yet pieced together in her mind.

"You can't possibly be that heartless. Sure, you have issues, whatever, but I know you have to give a shit about something. Even if it's my damn ex-girlfriend. You know what's wrong with her, and you can't just drop it like this -- you might not be a therapist, but she trusted you enough to fucking confide in you! And you came to me -- obviously because you give a shit, too. If you didn't, you'd just have moved on and not told anyone who could help."