#merethan

The interaction had stung more than she’d like to admit, leaving Meredith feeling naïve and stupid for thinking that their connection meant Ethan would treat her any differently than the myriad arrogant physicians she’d encountered during her medical training.

“Dammit,” she whispered as angry tears sprang to her eyes. She couldn’t let Dr. Ramsey see her like this.

“Supply closets are good for that.”

Meredith’s head jerked up to see a petite brunette standing before her. “What?”

“It looked like you were about to cry. No judgement!” the woman added hastily; Meredith thought she recognized her from their intern orientation. “I heard you getting an earful just now.” The other intern gave a little shudder and nodded down the corridor to where Ethan was now visible striding angrily away. “He has a formidable temper, Doctor McDreamy or no.”

“Sorry, what?” Meredith repeated.

“Oh, I heard some of the nurses referring to Doctor Ramsey as Doctor McDreamy earlier,” the brunette explained. She grinned as she added, “Apparently, several of them have a crush on him.”

Meredith felt her rotten mood lift at this unexpected piece of gossip. “I’m sure he loves that,” she said with a laugh.

“Well, can you blame them? I mean, that jawline alone . . . I’m Sienna, by the way.”

“Meredith.” The two smiled at each other. “So, is your first day going any better than mine?”

“Probably not,” Sienna said cheerfully. “But I did discover that the vending machine on three has some pretty decent snack options, if that helps.”

Meredith let out a chuckle. “You know what? It really does.”

As Sienna’s pager went off and she gave a little wave, Meredith glanced back towards Annie’s room. She knew she should check on the girl again now that she was stable, but a part of her resisted, still humiliated by the unceremonious way she’d been ejected from the room. And, if she was being honest, still shaken by how everything had spiraled out of control so quickly.

Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this, after all.

Pushing down her doubts, Meredith decided to take advantage of the rare quiet moment in her forty-eight hour shift to follow Sienna’s tip. A few minutes later, she was contemplating the array of candy and chips before her when she heard a familiar voice drifting out of one of the patient rooms.

“—all day if I have to, Barbara.”

“Of course,” Meredith grumbled to herself, wondering if the fates were enjoying the cruel tricks they continued to play on her. It was hard to reconcile her initial attraction to Ethan Ramsey with the way he made her feel now. Still, she couldn’t help listening in to his conversation while she pretended to consult the vending machine contents.

“You’re too stubborn for your own good, Dr. Ramsey,” came the scolding voice of an older woman.

Sounding amused, Ethan retorted, “Speak for yourself.”

Barbara must have pulled some kind of rude expression or gesture, because the next thing Meredith heard was Ethan’s laugh.

“You know it’s going to take much more than that to get rid of me.”

“Don’t you have other patients to bother?” Barbara said with a little humph.

“None who make the task so enjoyable as you, Barb.”

Their banter almost made Meredith smile in spite of herself. This sounded more like the Ethan she’d gotten to know last night, though deep down she understood it was silly to think she really knew him at all.

“All you need to do is take those pills, and I’ll go away,” Ethan cajoled. Meredith could almost picture the two facing off with matching glowers, Ethan’s arms crossed as he took the older woman’s obstinance in stride.

So she was taken aback when Barbara next spoke, her voice suddenly vulnerable. “I just don’t like how that medicine makes me feel.”

There was a beat of silence, then Meredith heard the sound of Ethan flipping through the patient’s chart as he prompted, “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, I get all dizzy and disoriented, and sometimes . . . I vomit.” This last part was spoken almost too quietly for Meredith to hear, as though the older woman was embarrassed to admit any indication of weakness. “But I already told Dr. Calais all of this,” Barbara went on, clearly trying to brush away what she’d just described as minor complaints Ethan needn’t worry over.

Any trace of teasing banter gone now, Ethan asked, “And what did he suggest?”

“Well . . . not much,” Barbara admitted.

Meredith thought she heard Ethan scoff as he muttered, “I’m not surprised.” For a few moments, the only sounds emitting from the room were the rustling of papers, and then Ethan spoke in a business-like tone. “I’ll have a word with him – I don’t see any reason not to try one the alternative medications with less severe side effects.”

A smile was evident in Barbara’s grateful voice as she said, “Thank you, Dr. Ramsey.”

“My pleasure. And if you’re still having these unpleasant symptoms, let Marlene or Danny or one of the other nurses know – god knows they’re the ones really running this place – or have them page me.”

Meredith felt the urge to curse again. It was clear Ethan not only had a brilliant grasp of medical knowledge, but also appreciated the importance of truly listening to his patients. He evidently felt a deep responsibility for their well-being, even those indirectly under his care.

It made her newfound determination to dislike him all the more challenging.

After Barbara thanked him again, Meredith heard Ethan’s footsteps approaching the corridor. She kept her back to him and stared resolutely at the vending machine, hoping he wouldn’t see her, but . . .

“Dr. Grey.”

Closing her eyes briefly and striving for a neutral expression, Meredith turned. “Did you need something, Dr. Ramsey?”

“Yes.” He stepped towards her, seemed to take a steeling breath, and said, “I need to apologize for how I’ve behaved today.”

This was the last thing Meredith expected, and she found herself at a loss for words.

“I’ve . . . never dealt with this kind of situation before.”

Recovering her voice, Meredith asked dryly, “What, apologizing?”

With a wry look, Ethan explained, “For what I hope are obvious reasons, I’ve avoided any kind of personal relationship with an intern or resident under my supervision. You and I have made that professional boundary more complicated, to say the least, but that was no excuse to be . . .”

“An asshole?” Meredith supplied, and Ethan surprised her again by laughing.

“I believe that is an accurate assessment.” He glanced over her shoulder, then nodded towards the rows of treats behind her. “I don’t suppose I can win your favor back by buying you a chocolate bar?”

With a grin, Meredith stepped aside and waved him forward to the vending machine. “You can certainly try.”

As she unwrapped the candy and bit off one of the corners, she asked more seriously, “How is Annie?”

“Still sedated, for now,” Ethan answered. “The cause of her seizures remains a mystery, but we’ve eliminated several possible explanations so that’s some progress.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “You made all the right calls when her heart stopped earlier, I want you to know that. And your thoracotomy procedure this morning showed true skill, but more importantly an ability to react quickly and sensibly in an emergency, something that is nearly impossible to teach.”

Meredith hid a pleased smile as she said, “Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were flirting with me again, Dr. Ramsey.”

His expression betraying neither concession nor denial, Ethan said, “Not bad for a rookie, is all I meant.”

“Don’t worry, I plan to continue impressing—”

She was cut off by the simultaneous buzzing of both of their pagers.

Frowning, Meredith said, “Dr. Emery wants to . . .”

“—see us all in the diagnostic team’s office,” Ethan confirmed. He started moving, beckoning Meredith to follow with a jerk of his head. “Let’s go, Rookie.”

*********************

“She’s running out of options, and we may be her last hope,” Harper Emery concluded fifteen minutes later to the crowded room. All of the first-year interns were crammed into the diagnostics office, listening raptly as the Chief of Medicine described Annie Bryce’s case. “Her symptoms are serious and time-sensitive enough that Dr. Banerji and I have decided to do something we’ve never done before – ask interns for help. We need to approach this from any and all angles, and we need your extra eyes and minds to do that. I know it’s your first day, you’re already exhausted, and that this must seem like one more task added to an undoubtedly endless list. So, I’m offering you an incentive. Whichever of you solves this will get to assist our diagnostics team on all of their cases for two weeks.”

Meredith’s eyes flicked to Ethan as excited murmurs spread through the room, and though his face was impassive as ever, she wondered how he’d reacted to the idea of his team being used as a prize.

“Copies of Annie’s chart are up here.” Harper gestured to the table beside her. “Let’s save her life.”

Like sprinters reacting to the starting gun, the interns sprang to their feet and practically stampeded to the front of the room. Meredith was one of the few who hung back, already deeply familiar with Annie’s medical history. Beside her, Sienna observed the chaos too, leaning in to say quietly, “Want to work together? I don’t care about the diagnostics thing, I just want to help this poor girl. And we’re more likely to do that if we can brainstorm as a team, don’t you think?”

Meredith wholeheartedly agreed. Every one of the medical school instructors she’d respected had emphasized the benefits of collaboration, not competition, in everything from diagnosis to treatment innovations to Nobel-worthy medical discoveries.

An hour later, the two were huddled together in the medical library, pouring through books and articles as they ruled out one explanation after another for Annie’s seizures.

Sienna sighed as she set aside the text she’d been scouring. “What happens if no one figures it out?” Her lips pulled into a tight pinch at the obvious answer to her own question, brown eyes worried.

Meredith pictured the teenage girl she’d met that morning, striving to act older and more confident than her sixteen years, though visibly scared about the mystery of her condition. The thought that it could mark the end of her life, that she’d never get the chance to truly become herself, was too painful to dwell on for long. Meredith sifted through the questions she’d asked during Annie’s initial screening, searching her memory for anything that could be relevant to them now.

With a smile, she recalled the girl’s response when Meredith asked what she liked to do for fun. “You know she competes in beauty pageants? Apparently her talent is rhythmic gymnastics.”

“Really? Impressive.”

“Is it?” Meredith asked with a guilty wince. “I wasn’t really sure what it was, but she sounded so proud of it I felt bad asking for clarification.”

Sienna laughed. “Okay, I have no idea either. But it sounds like it could be impressive?”

“Maybe she can demonstrate for us when we solve her case,” Meredith suggested, joining in Sienna’s laughter.

“Oooh, yes! I’d like that much better than working with the diagnostics team anyway!”

Meredith’s smile faded slightly. As much as she was focused on helping Annie as her first priority, and as much as she disliked the idea that the interns had to be incentivized to care for a patient, she couldn’t help the thrill she felt when she thought about joining the team that had attracted her to Edenbrook in the first place. At the same time, she also couldn’t ignore the potential complications of that very outcome with everything that had happened since. “Working with them would be a dream come true for me, but . . .” she bit her lip. “I don’t know if Dr. Ramsey would be too pleased about it.”

“Why not?”

Sienna shot her a curious expression. Of course this would seem like an odd statement without knowing the events of the past twenty-four hours. Meredith considered shrugging it off, leaving her colleague to wonder about the enigmatic assertion, but part of her wanted someone to know about her current predicament, the collision of events that left her feeling conflicted as she embarked on the career she’d desired for so long.

“Okay, you can’t laugh, or judge me, or react in any way,” she said sternly, and Sienna nodded eagerly, eyes alight with interest. “Dr. Ramsey and I had sex last night.”

The words tumbled out before she could second-guess them. Sienna blinked twice, lips parting in the slightest indication of shock, undoubtedly struggling to keep her promise in light of this unpredictable news. Several seconds later, she said with studied composure, “So, rhythmic gymnastics, huh?”

“Mm-hmm,” Meredith said, matching Sienna’s casual tone. “Whatever it is, it’s difficult enough that you can risk injury – Annie was telling me about the other day when she fell and twisted her . . .” Meredith trailed off suddenly, a neon flash of insight bursting in her mind as she relayed these words. Standing, she held out a hand to a bewildered Sienna.

“Come on. We need to find Dr. Ramsey.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Thanks so much if you read this! I couldn't resist with the Dr. McDreamy reference, lol 😂