Second Time Around

Summary: Meredith Grey and Jackson Avery were prodigies in General Surgery, having graduated early from medical school and being the youngest attendings in history. Yet, they were always shadowed by their Grey and Avery names and were feared by people their own age who were only intern. So they decided for change in Seattle.

Chapter 6: Explosive Love

"How are my two favorite interns?" Mark Sloan approached Meredith and Jackson who were hanging out at the nurse's station.

Jackson gave the man an awkward smile, which made Mark Sloan suddenly aware of the state Meredith was in.

"What's up with her?" Mark pointed to Meredith who was scribbling furiously on the charts.

"I am a strong independent woman," Meredith looked up from her charts as she declared with determination. "I don't grovel, I don't beg. I am swearing off men. Men all suck!"

"Woah… woah… Grey. Easy there, not all men suck. Look at me, I am amazing. I pulled a couple of stem cells from the baby in utero. Six weeks later, I have grown skin. Like God," Mark bragged about his latest feat. Meredith simply glared at the man.

"Hey, if this is about Derek, forget him. How bout you and me at Joe's tonight, and I can remind you how amazing a man can be. I'm all man. I'm sure you can remember," Mark flirted, throwing a wink at her.

"If I have enough tequila…" Meredith suggested as she flipped through her charts. Mark eyes lit up as he leaned in closer to her but Jackson wedged himself between the two.

"Oh god, no please no… so loud … I don't want to be in the same house when Sloan and you are doing the nasty nasty," Jackson groaned.

"Where have you two been?" Bailey's voice boomed behind them causing all three of them to jump. "Fox, you're with Dr Sloan. Black you're with Dr Torres," Bailey instructed.

"Wait… Who is Torres?" Meredith called after her resident, who already had walked away.

"She's a resident competing with Bailey for Chief Resident," Jackson replied.

"Oh come on Grey, you've been here longer than me and you don't know Callie," Mark said smugly.

"Well, I don't make it my life goal to know all the ladies in the hospital. And since you know her name, I'm assuming she must be good," Meredith snapped back at him.

"Don't need to be jealous Grey. She's a great friend," Mark patted Meredith on the shoulder, leaning down to her ears, "For the record, you were better."

Meredith couldn't help the blush that creeped up her face while Jackson shook his head, not wanting to know whatever sex remark Mark had said to his best friend. Mark pointed to a lady walking down the stairs, "That's her."

"She's been glaring at me for weeks. I didn't know what problems she had against me. I have yet to work with her," Meredith complained.

"And Derek's been glaring at me. I wonder why?" Mark replied sarcastically before beckoning Jackson to follow him.

"Dr Torres," Meredith greeted the approaching resident but the woman whizzed pass her. Meredith groaned internally, following her. Meredith was tempted to confront her regarding her dismissive behaviour towards her but resisted.

After an entire day of popping bones back, broken bones, braces, and a knee replacement surgery, Meredith saw the potential and passion that Callie held for ortho.

As Callie left for Joe's, Meredith followed the woman and sat from a distance to observe her. Callie was flirting with the ever so oblivious George. When Callie was finally alone, she took the opening, "Hi Dr Torres, can i Join you?"

Not receiving a reply, she took a seat beside the older woman and ordered a tequila.

"So George, huh? Is that why you hate me?" Callie finally turned to face Meredith.

"I'm Addison's friend," Callie replied sharply.

"And as Addison's friend, I am sure you know about me being the slutty intern who slept with his husband. I can assure you, I'm not interested in George. Hell, I am not interested in Derek either or man in general at the moment."

Meredith watched as Callie was having an internal struggle before downing another shot, "Mark sings praises about you, Addison complains about you, you slept with Shepherd, you're an intern and you're quite popular. I can't even get an intern to notice me because he is interested in you. It's easy being you."

"In case you didn't realise, I am the slutty mistress that screwed an attending. I don't think thats a good reputation to have. It's degrading. If you're really interested in George, I could help you only if you'd stop glaring at me," Meredith offered as she raised her glass. Callie chuckled and clinked their glasses.

Jackson and Meredith walked up to the nurses station where Cristina, George and Izzie were in deep discussion pointing out at random residents.

"Hey, Karev. What are we doing?" Jackson asked.

"Trying to figure out who's going to be Bailey's replacement"

Cristina slid beside the two latecomers and tried to asked discreetly, "Hey Jackson, Mer, you guys are close to the chief right? Do you know who's replacing Bailey?"

A loud booming voice resonated from the stairs.

"Yang, Stevens, O'Malley, Karev, Black, Fox!" A young, cheerful female doctor bounded down the stairs and made her way up to them. "Here you are! I was looking for you guys in the locker room but you weren't there and then I thought well maybe my interns are looking for me too and then I come out her and here you are."

Cristina looked horrified and Meredith was suppressing her laughter, "You guys look like a great group… Which is awesome. Because my horoscope said it's going to be a very challenging day and I was a little worried but no you guys ... yeah, you look like a good group. Which is great! Because we're going to have so much fun! Hi!" The woman held out her arms and hugs Cristina.

"I'm Sydney Heron. 4th Year and my philosophy just so you know is um is heal with love," Alex and Izzie raised their eyebrows, "Ok, so ... The E.R needs somebody down there for a consult, does anybody ... who wants to …"

After having escaped, the 6 of them convened at their usual hangout spot in the empty hallway sitting on the spare hospital beds. "I hate her," Cristina complained, Meredith nodded, "She's so bright and shiny…"

"At least you and Alex got to scrub into the Necrotizing fasciitis surgery," Izzie said to Cristina.

"So is this the best place to hangout," the 6 of them turned to the voice.

"Dr Sloan / Mark"

"Mark what are you doing here?" Meredith asked.

"Is that anyway to treat your new Head of Plastics ENT? I'm disappointed in you Meredith…" Meredith shook her head, "Why didn't you tell me, congrats!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise, but I am here on business, I need an intern." Alex was quick to volunteer his service but Mark ignored the man. "Ave- Fox, come along," Mark was quick to correct his slip up.

"Nope, I'm on McAss service today…" Jackson was quick to dismiss him. Mark let out a laugh at the very 'endearing' nickname. Even if he was not on speaking terms with his best friend, Mark knew they were slowly mending his friendship with Derek. He only hoped that Derek would come to his senses about Meredith.

"One day Fox, I will not give up on you," Mark declared determinedly before walking, "Karev, you can come along…"

"20 says Alex probably will be doing coffee and laundry runs," Meredith turned to her best friends. "I'm not stupid, I wouldn't even bet a penny on that," Jackson chuckled.

"So, here's what we're going to do," Cristina declared, as the five of them put their head together to find away to chase away their new resident.

Empty boards, quite ERs. The 6 interns were greeted by their very pregnant resident,"I've been gone 2 weeks. 2 weeks! And you ran off 2 residents! I've got people phoning me at home, screaming telling me my interns are Rosemary's babies." The six of them looking slightly offended by that. "Nobody wants you! Do you think I have time for this? I am pregnant! I'm supposed to be on bed rest. I'm supposed to be growing a human being. I'm supposed to be calm! Do I look calm to you? Did I raise you fools to be pariahs?"

Bailey instructed her interns interns to wait for incoming trauma, with the exception of George. Alex, Cristina, and Meredith went to to the arriving ambulance. A screaming woman climbs out and one of the paramedics has her hand inside the patient's body cavity, with a huge gaping the rauma room, Hannah, the paramedic with her hand inside the patient, claimed that her hand was the only thing that would stop the bleeding despite her partner advise her not to do it, Dr Burke told her that she had won herself a trip to the OR. Mindy the woman that was brought in with the patient kept on screaming before starting to sob uncontrollably.

As soon as she heard the sound of splashing water, Bailey told George to get a wheelchair George page Addison, "Tell her my contractions are 10 minutes apart and my water just broke all over your shoes," she told George and also asked him to call her missing husband.

In another trauma room, Izzie and Cristina were working on an MVC victim with a depressed skull fracture and an epidural hematoma who kept asking about his wife. Izzie informed him the patient is Tucker Jones. While Tucker had a seizure, Izzie answered his ringing phone and was surprised to hear George, realising that the patient is Bailey's husband while Derek and Cristina took Tucker to the OR. Addison's having heard about Tucker's accident and wondered what to tell Bailey while Derek told her to wait until they have something concrete to tell her. Derek promised to take care of Tucker and get him back to Bailey safe and sound.

After seeing Mindy's arguing with the patient's friend about reenacting World War II, and having accidentally shot the bazooka but there was an explosion, realisation dawned on Alex. Alex ran off to the OR, ignoring Richard's warning to slow down. As Burke was about to begin the thoracotomy so that Hannah can pull her hand out, Alex burst into the OR. After confirming that there was no through wound and Hannah was touching something hard, Burke informed Meredith everything and to tell the charge nurse to call the bomb squad, about a code black. A possible live, unexploded ammunition. Burke slowly evacuated the entire team out, but Meredith chose to stay.

With the exception of Burke's and Shepherd's OR having been evacuated from the code black, patients transported to Mercy West or re-routed to Seattle Pres and the bomb squad arrived on the surgical floor. Dylan Young, head of the squad urged Derek to leave the OR but Derek refused because he had to save Bailey's husband while Bailey was somewhere in the hospital in labour.

After realising that the anestheolgist have fled, Cristina who had withdrew herself from Shepherd's surgery took the Ambu bag while Meredith convinced a scared Hannah into not taking her hand out. The panicking Hannah kept saying her hands got to come out while all the others urged her to relax and keep her hand where it is but instead, she yelled and took them out.

Within that split second, Meredith mind raced and going against her screaming instincts. Everybody but Meredith had ducked to the ground and covered their head to protect themselves from the explosion while Hannah ran out of the OR. Realising there was no explosion, everyone got back onto their feet and found that Meredith had taken Hannah's place, her hand now inside the patient. Cristina and Dylan kept telling Meredith that she was incredibly stupid.

Having heard about Meredith's stunt, Jackson rushed to the OR to see Burke urging Cristina because he would not be able to think with her in the OR. Meredith assured Cristina they'll be fine and Jackson volunteered to take over Cristina's place, "How am I suppose to face your mum and mine after this?" Despite Meredith's dangerous position, she let out a bitter laugh. In the locker room, Alex, Izzie, and George were worried about Meredith while Cristina scrubbed back into Derek's OR. "This area has been evacuated Dr. Yang, you don't have to be here" Derek pressed.

"Yes I do. And somehow you're still here. Besides I guess you need a little company," Derek resigned to the stubborn woman and let her join in.

"How's the paramedic Hannah doing?" Derek asked Cristina since he was out of the loop on the ongoings outside the OR.

"Hannah?" Cristina stalled, not knowing how to answer. "The girl with the bomb."

Should she tell him, Cristina tried to hide her expressions to prevent any suspicion from Derek, "Oh, uh she's hanging in there too…"

After having studied the blueprints, Richard warned the bomb squad that the OR is right above the OR floor's main oxygen line and they had to move the patient and Meredith to another OR to prevent a massive explosion that could blow up the entire hospital. Jackson held onto Meredith's free hand to give it a reassuring squeeze when he noticed her distress about moving the entire gurney and not moving her hands, which Cristina noticed through the window in the OR. Cristina in a dilemma finally revealed to Derek that Meredith was the girl with the bomb. Suddenly, Bailey husband flatlined, Cristina did the CPR before Derek took over. Meanwhile, George was helping Bailey with the last few pushes for her baby to be borned. William George Bailey Jones

After having identified the device to be shaped like a rocket, Burke cut into the patient. "His BPs dropping, you have to pull out now." Meredith panicked suddenly imagined herself in a bright OR with Derek, telling Derek she was scared. Derek's voice echoed in her mind, "I know, you can do this." She was brought back to reality by Jackson squeezing her hand. With tears in her eyes, she steeled herself and gently pulled the device out of the man's body cavity, making sure to keep it level. Burke continued the surgery to stop the bleeding after Meredith had taken out the device and gently placed into Dylan's hands. Dylan praised her and made his way out of the OR where Meredith step into the hallway to see him walk off, but it exploded, killing Dylan while Meredith was knocked backwards by the force of the explosion before hearing Jackson crying out for her name and then, pitch black.

Derek rushed to the lobby after the surgery, and Addison approached him happy to see him, pulling him into a hug. "Where is she?" Derek asked Addison as she pulled away. It hurt Addison that her husband was asking for another woman, but seeing the distraught look on his face, she pointed to the interns locker room. She knew her marriage was over, knew that her husband would not be able to let go of his love for Meredith. She knew there was no point trying to hang on. Mark Sloan was right. Mark who was in the hallway, had seen the entire exchange, embraced her as she cried on his shoulder.

Derek entered to the locker room bathroom to see Jackson and Cristina helping a shell shocked Meredith who was still in her scrubs and gown into the shower. They removed her her scrub cap and gown, leaving her in her shirt and pants and continued washing off the blood and debris. Noticing Derek by the doorway, Jackson gave him a tight smile before giving Meredith a kiss on the cheek and nudging Cristina to let Derek take over.

Meredith turned around to see Derek who was slowly approaching her, "Hey," she greeted him softly.

He examined her from head to toe and looked very relieved to see her unscathed and alive, "You almost died today."

He picked up the shampoo as he slowly moved his hand to move his hands through her hair, gently massaging her head.

"Yeah. I almost died today," Meredith replied as she held out her hand to reach to Derek's face, "I can't remember our last kiss. All I could think about was I'm going to die today and I can't remember our last kiss. Which is pathetic, but the last time we were together and happy I ... want to be able to remember that. And I can't Derek… I can't remember."

Derek stopped his hands as he took his time to study her face, to embrace her frustrations, "I'm glad you didn't die today."

He pulled the shower head, and slowly ran his hands through her hair, washing off the shampoo from the head. Without taking his eyes of her, he smiled reminiscing at her previous question, "It was a Thursday morning. You were wearing that ratty little Harvard t-shirt you look so good in. The one with the hole in the back of the neck." He chuckled a little.

He pulled her out of the shower and used a towel to slowly dry her hair, "You'd just washed your hair and you smelled like some kind of flower." He stopped to smell her hair which smelled like strawberries before continuing, "I was running late for surgery. You said you were gonna see me later and you leaned to me, you put your hand on my chest and you kissed me. Soft. It was quick, kinda like a habit. You know, like we'd do it every day for the rest of our lives. You went back to reading the newspaper and I went to work. That was the last time we kissed."

As he stopped towel drying her hair. Meredith smiled suddenly remembering the particular memory, "Lavender, My hair smelled like lavender from my conditioner."

Derek nodded, "Yes, Lavender." He smiled before turning serious. Deep down, Derek knew, the thought of losing her scared him immensely. For the first time in a long time, he was very sure of what he had to do. For he had never felt so much love and pain from one person, like he did for the woman before him. He could not bare to be apart from her.

He kissed her forehead, whispering a barely audible 'I love you' and wrapped his arms around her, never wanting to let go.

Derek wanted Meredith to be the first one to know but meeting divorce lawyers in the hospital was not the best way to keep rumours from spreading. By the end of the day, the entire hospital knew Derek and Addison were having a divorce. Derek wanted a clean break, only wanting his land with the trailer in Seattle while Addison could have it all since he reasoned that he had an actual relationship with Meredith, not just an one night stand.

At the end of the day, Derek knocked on Meredith's front door, greeted by Izzie who called for Meredith. They stood awkwardly standing on the front porch staring at each other, Meredith broke the silence. "It's true isn't it?" Meredith asked as she folded her arms.

Derek pursed his lips and nod, "I am a free man." Derek took a breath, nervous about how she would react to the words he was about to say, "Look Meredith,... I know it has been a rough few months for us,... but I love you and I want to give us a try again. You were like coming up for fresh air. Like I was drowning and you were saving me. That's all I know."

Derek was terrified that Meredith's face only displayed a blank expression. He looked down and sighed. He understood, why Meredith would not want to be with him after all that she had been through.

"I don't know Derek. I need to learn to trust you again…" Derek face fell at the rejection.

"We have to start from the very beginning, as friends…" Derek perked up at her gentle voice, at least there was a chance, "Absolutely."

"No more secrets, I've had enough of being the headlines of the hospital gossips," Meredith said, giggling.

Derek smiled, His secret had destroyed their relationship. He had learnt his lessons, "Of course Meredith Black."

"Grey," Meredith corrected, "Meredith Grey."

Derek nodded as he wrapped his arms around Meredith, nuzzling her hair, "Mmm, lavender"

Meredith pulled away from his embrace staring sternly at him, "We're friends, Derek."

"Are you saying that friends don't hug?" Derek teased her.

She nodded before giving him a thoughtful look, "I want a dog."

Derek chuckled, and once more pulled her into a hug, "Anything for you Meredith Grey. In fact, I have a surgery I want you to join in tomorrow. Spinal Osteomyelitis"