Juju
‘Back so soon, Dr Grey?’ Addison questioned as she found Meredith outside her office. ‘And on your service, apparently, Bailey said you needed an intern?’ Addison smiled and unlocked the door to her office. ‘Of course. Well I’ve got a light load today, only 2 surgeries unless we get any emergencies later. I need help with paperwork…hence asking for an intern. Sorry.’ Meredith nodded.‘It’s fine. Bailey told me to get you to come to the ER. There’s a pregnant lady down in there and they couldn’t get a hold of you through you’re pager.’ Addison reached into her pocket and pulled out her pager. ’Battery.’ She said before leaving her things in her office and grabbing her lab coat.
When they stepped out of the OR Addison smiled at Meredith, they’d just performed a complication free c-section on Addison’s patient. ‘Nice work, Mer. I’m impressed.’ Meredith smiled back. ‘Thanks for letting me do that. I just, wow. That was amazing.’ Meredith was smiling so wide now. Addison laughed. ‘Any time. So uh, take care of post-op and then come find me and we’ll check on my other patients, okay?’ Meredith walked out of the scrub room with Addison. ‘Sure, I’ll catch you later.’ Meredith ran off down the hallway to grab some lunch before going to deal with the patient.
‘Mrs Woods’ blood pressure has shot up, Addie. We can’t operate just now.’ Meredith said as she stepped into Addison’s office. Addison stood up quickly and grabbed the chart. ‘God, she needs the surgery, Mer. But if we give her the drugs to lower her BP it could compromise the fetus even more than the surgery could help.’ Meredith nodded and placed her hand on Addison’s arm. ‘It’s your call, Addie. You are the surgeon here. If you think it’s too risky then we wait it out for a while.’ Addison smiled. ‘Okay, we wait it out. It’s too much pressure on the baby and she can’t handle it so we wait.’
The patient was in cardiac arrest, the baby had been delivered prematurely and now they were doing everything they could to save this woman’s life, but nothing was working. They called in Burke and he’d done just about everything imaginable and nothing helped. She was dead. They called time of death at 16.36. Addison felt low after that. ‘This day sucks.’ Addison mumbled as she walked into her office after the surgery. ‘There’s a baby who’s alive because of you. This day does not suck.’ Meredith said insistently. ‘Yeah but I should have done more. Been better.’ Addison sighed as tears started to fall. Meredith stood directly in front of Addison. ‘You did everything you could. You did great, Addie.’ Meredith pulled Addison in for a hug and placed a kiss to her hair in an attempt to soothe Addison. ‘Hey, I’ll be back in a few minutes.’ Meredith whispered as she pulled out of the hug.
Meredith came back to Addison’s office and placed a cup of hot chocolate down in front of her. ‘What’s this?’ Addison asked looking up at Meredith over the rim of her glasses. ‘Juju.’ Meredith smiled enthusiastically. ’You remember juju?’ Addison asked smiling. Meredith laughed. ‘Of course I remember juju, now drink.’ Addison smiled and took a sip of the drink. ‘Thanks. I’m feeling a little better now.’ Meredith smiled and sat down on one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. Meredith chuckled lightly. ‘What?’ Addison asked. Meredith smiled at her. ‘Do you remember the first time you brought me juju?’ Addison shook her head. ‘No. Why?’ Meredith laughed again. ‘I’d just had a fight with my mom, about you. She was all ‘Meredith, I know you like girls but why can’t you date one your own age?’ and I kept telling her you were only a few years older but she didn’t like you anyway so your age wasn’t really the issue.’ Addison laughed. ‘Didn’t like me is an understatement.’ Meredith smiled. ‘True. Anyway that’s not the point. So I was angry because of that and then we were hanging out and you told me you were leaving in a few days to go home for a family thing and I was mad at you for that because I was a stupid whiney teenager.’ Addison laughed again. ‘That’s also an understatement.’ Meredith glared at her. ‘You went to the coffee shop across the street from your apartment and brought back juju and you said something funny about me being dramatic and then you’re room-mates cat ran in and knocked both cups to the floor and you started yelling. Then you may have gotten mad at me because I may or may not have said that maybe you were the one who need some good juju since you were mad at a cat and all.’ Addison smiled. ‘I do remember that actually. You left out the part were you were the one who let the cat into my bedroom.’ Meredith laughed. They fell into easy conversation about the past and the present when Meredith decided to ask Addison a slightly awkward question. ‘So, uh I hope this isn’t weird but how’s it going with Derek?’ Addison let out a nervous laugh. ‘We are not talking about Derek.’ Meredith looked at Addison. ‘I want you guys to work out. I love you and I miss you but I know why you’re doing this. I’m rooting for you so I’m just curious of how it’s going?’ Addison smiled softly and nodded. ‘It’s going…well? I don’t know. We’re working through it but it’s a process.’ Meredith nodded and then changed the subject of conversation to something they were both more comfortable with. They fell into easy conversation and Addison found herself asking Meredith to Joe’s for a drink when they got off work, as friends of course but it didn’t stop Meredith hoping there was more to it. She was genuinely hopeful for Derek and Addison but it didn’t change how she felt.