A/N: As explained in the summary, this story comes with a TW of domestic violence.

Fear. An unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm (noun). To be afraid of, someone or something, as likely to be dangerous, painful, or harmful (adjective). That's all she could think about right now. Her fear. That's why she sat on the corner of the bar she sat in, one eye on the door. If these were her college days, she'd have a line of empty shot glasses in front of her. But these weren't her college days, and she couldn't afford for her senses to be impaired. She couldn't get comfortable. She'd made that mistake before.

She sat at the bar across the street from Mass Gen. It'd been a long 36-hour shift, problem after problem kept coming up all day. She downed a second shot of tequila, not even realising her phone had ran out of battery.

"Where the hell have you been?" She heard him before she saw him and she was frozen to her seat as he grabbed her arm, standing close beside her.

"I've been at work," she knew the best thing to do was stay calm and keep her voice quiet.

"Get up," she got up from the seat and walked with him out to the dark parking lot, "I didn't realise you worked in a bar now, Meredith," his voice spat with venom as he kept his grip on her arm.

"Finn, I've been up for 36 hours straight, it was a hard day, I just needed a drink, I was about to come home," she looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"And you couldn't answer the phone? Call? Send a message?" He demanded from her.

"My phone…" she blanked a moment as she pulled it out of her pocket. Crap. It was dead, "I didn't even realise the battery was low."

"It's just excuse after excuse with you, isn't it?"

"Finn, please…"

His hand moved with force, pushing her hard against the wall behind her, "Shut up, Meredith. You don't drink unless I'm there. You know how you get after drinking. You're mine. You work and you come home, and you ask me if you want to go anywhere else."

Her voice broke as she spoke as pain shot through her spine from the impact with the brick wall, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" her body betrayed her as she felt a tear fall down her cheek.

"Don't cry, Meredith. Just get in the car, we're going home."

She didn't have her own car. He either drove her, or she took a taxi. She stayed quiet and climbed into the passenger seat of his car. He sat in the driver's seat beside her and turned to look at her, taking her hand in his, "Meredith, I only get mad because I care about you, you know that."

He used his free hand to press against her cheek, forcing her to look at him, "I know, Finn, I know," she spoke in a defeated voice.

Her eyes flitted to the door, her heart racing, as she heard the bell signifying someone entering the bar, subsequentially trying to calm herself down when it wasn't who she was scared it would be. Her fingers tightened around the cold glass containing the single vodka lemonade she was sipping at, feeling the wetness of the condensation against her fingers. A moment passed while she gripped the glass, and suddenly someone was sat in the seat beside her, causing her to jump slightly.

"Is this seat taken?" Her eyes looked up to the stranger's face at his words. His soft blue eyes watching her with a hint of concern, possibly noticing her jitteriness.

"Oh, erm, no," she smiled a little at him and her eyes looked back down at her drink, as though it was the most interesting thing in the room.

He watched the slim woman sat at the bar beside him, clutching on to the glass in front of her. He looked up to the bartender who was cleaning glasses in front of him, "Double scotch single malt, please, straight." The bartender nodded and set a glass in front of him, pouring the drink out. He took a sip of the drink before turning to the blonde-haired woman sat beside him, "So, what's your story?"

Meredith was snapped out of her thoughts once again as he spoke, and she looked up at him. She looked into his eyes again and could feel his gaze easing her nerves slightly as she spoke, "It's really not, it's nothing interesting, I guess I'm just a girl in a bar," she said with a shrug, taking another sip of her drink.

"Well then, I guess I'm just a guy in a bar," he said with a grin, taking a sip of his own drink and keeping his eyes on her. He could see there was something bothering her, but he wasn't about to push it, mainly because he didn't want to talk about his own reasons for being there.

She took a moment before continuing the conversation. Surely, if he knew where she was, he'd have come in by now? He probably hadn't even realised she'd gone yet. He was gone till late most days anyway, and that was all the way back in Boston. He hadn't realised when she'd walked into his office and seen him with that woman.

For the third time in the past ten minutes, his voice pulled her back out of her thoughts, "What are you thinking so hard about?" He hadn't missed the distracted look in her eyes as she stared into the liquid of the glass in front of her. He intrigued her, and he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

She looked up and let out a small, hollow laugh. Almost a scoff. She downed the remainder of the drink in her glass, "I was thinking about tequila." Screw it, she thought. What's the worst that could happen?

He laughed at her and turned to the bartender, "You heard the woman, tequila it is."

She laughed softly and took the shot of tequila, downing it in one before turning the glass upside down in front of her. "Another," she nodded toward the bartender who already had one lined up waiting for her.

"So, what brings you here?" The stranger asked her, watching as Meredith downed the second shot of tequila, more intrigued as he noted the lack of lime and salt used.

"I need to forget… move on and forget," she said with a soft sigh, her elbows rest on the side of the bar as she lowers her head into her hands. When she felt his hand rest on her shoulder, she looked up, surprised with herself that the touch didn't make her jump out of her skin.

"I completely understand that one," he said with a soft smile. He knew that feeling all too well. "Maybe we can help each other with that?"

Meredith paused a moment, only for a moment. Why should she keep a promise that he broke so easily? Why should she care so much? She took a deep breath before responding to his question, "Maybe we can," she said with a soft smile. That was when she really looked at the guy sat in the stool beside her. His blue eyes, his dark hair, which she couldn't decide between either being perfectly placed or naturally held that way.

She watched as he finished off the rest of his drink and handed a handful of bills over to the bartender, covering her drinks and his, plus a heavy tip. He held his hand out to her, which she took as she stepped off the stool she had been sat in for the past hour, attempting to steady herself a moment as she felt the effects of the tequila taking it's place. His hand moved to her waist as she almost fell into him. She could feel the electricity through the material of her dress that she'd worn that evening.

"We should go back to my hotel room," she said in one breath, her eyes looking up at his. He took the moment to lean forward and press a soft kiss to her lips.

She returned the kiss, moving her hand into his hair and gripping gently. He pulled her a little closer to him at the hip and murmured softly as he pulled back to study her, "I'll drive, I only had the one drink."

His hand slipped to hers, linking their fingers together, as they walked side-by-side out to the parking lot. As they reached his car, he moved her so that her back was pressed up against the side of the car and lowered his lips to hers again, his body pressing into her as he kissed her hard with growing passion. Her fingers weaved into his hair again, holding his face close to hers as she reciprocated the kiss with a hunger she hadn't felt in years.

A soft moan escaped her lips as she felt his hips press into hers and he groaned softly at the noise, his lips started moving down her neck as he murmured, "I need to get you home, or I'm going to end up taking you right here."

She felt her cheeks blush at his words, and she swallowed a little, speaking quietly, "My hotel isn't far from here, I'm at the Archfield," she bit her lip gently as she felt his lips travelling up her neck again. He reached beside her and opened the passenger door of the car, guiding her into the seat. He shut the door for her, and she fastened her seatbelt as he climbed in the driver's side and started the engine.

As he pulled the car out of the parking lot, she could still feel the buzz from the alcohol, and the tingling on her lips from kissing him. She bit her lip gently as she watched him driving and he glanced over at her. The way her teeth held her lip awakened the hunger inside him again and he slid his hand over her thigh, bunching up the skirt of her dress until his fingers touched against her soft skin there, slowly moving their way up her inner thigh. Meredith's breath hitched in her throat as his fingertips brushed over the lace of her panties. She rested her head back against the headrest of her seat and closed her eyes as she felt his touch, his hand gripping gently at her upper thigh when he pulled into the parking lot of the Archfield hotel.

As the car stopped, his hand moved away, and he got out the car. Before Meredith had a chance to open the door, he was already stood there with the car door open beside her. She grabbed her bag and climbed out the car, his arm sliding around her waist as he closed the door behind her. His lips lowered close to her ear and she felt his breath against her skin as he spoke, "I can't keep my hands off you," he pressed a soft kiss just underneath her ear lobe as she bit her lower lip again, "Especially when you do that."

She blushed again slightly, and he kept his arm around her as she led him inside to the elevator, his hand held at her hip. Once she had pressed the button for the floor of her room, the doors closed behind them and his lips pressed down against hers again and he pushed her up against the back wall of the elevator. They continued where they had left off outside the bar, his hand moving up to press against her breast with a gentle squeeze, eliciting a soft moan from Meredith against his lips. He lifted her up slightly and her legs wrapped around his waist, and he held her against him as the elevator doors opened. Thankfully, no one was stood around the hallway and her lips moved to his ear momentarily to whisper softly, "Room 242."

Her lips kissed down his neck as he carried her to the door of room 242 as directed. He pressed her back against the door and lowered her to her feet, where she went into her bag to pull out the key card for the room. When she turned to unlock the door, he pressed up against her back and his arms wrapped around her again as the door opened, pushing them both inside and he closed the door behind him with his foot before he moved them both toward the bed. She turned to face him, kicking off her heels and throwing her bag on to the side table as his fingers worked to lower the zip on the back of her dress. She shrugged the straps of the dress off her shoulders, her fingers working to unfasten the buttons of his shirt as her dress fell around her ankles, neither properly able to see the other with the lights having been kept turned off. This was a good thing for Meredith. She wanted to get lost in him without the questions. Her nails dragged over his skin as she pushed his shirt down his arms, and he let it fall to the ground with her dress as he kicked off his own shoes.

Meredith sat on the bed behind her, leaning back as he leaned forward into her, one knee on the bed as his lips pressed hard against hers, gently nipping at her lower lip intermittently. He let his fingertips dance down the side of her body, not quite noticing the slight tense of her stomach as he brushed over a developed bruise on her skin, dancing with light touches down her skin. Her hands moved to unfasten his pants and he used his spare hand to push them down his legs, dropping them to the floor beside the bed. His lips moved to kiss down her neck, stopping to gently suck at the crook of her neck where it met her shoulder blade and her moan rang louder in the darkness of the room. Her hands tangled into his hair as his lips travelled down her body, dancing almost in synchronisation with his fingers as he paid blind attention to each area of her body. Her body responded of its own volition, the sparks of their skin coming into contact rushing through her as her body relaxed for the first time in years.

When he couldn't wait any longer, his arm moved under her waist, lifting her further up the bed as he moved above her. As his eyes moved to look into hers, he noticed the slight pout on her lips at the loss of the touch of his lips on her. "I'm not finished with you yet," he murmured as he pressed his lips to hers a moment where she could taste herself on him, and his hips pressed down against hers, causing her to moan again. Her legs wrapped around him and pulled him down against her, desperate to have their bodies close together. His lips pulled back from hers as he watched her facial expressions as best as he could in the dim light as they moved together in throes of passion.

All her worries, her fear, forgotten, almost numbed into non-existence, through the night they were spending together. She focused only on the feelings that rushed through her body while she was with him, the electricity that sparked between them. Eventually, Meredith's head lay back against the pillow and her eyes closed, feeling the wave of fatigue spread through her body.

Noticing the change in her breathing as her body relaxed, Derek reached for the sheets and pulled them up over them both, staying close beside Meredith and sliding his arm around her stomach with a gentle grip, pulling her against him. As she felt herself beginning to doze off, she felt his lips press softly against the side of her head, and she couldn't mistake the feeling of being safe there in his arms. A feeling she hadn't felt in so long.

His eyes opened slowly as he took in the sight in front of him. The girl he'd met the night before had rolled over onto her stomach and the sheets had fallen to her waist, the sunlight coming through the gap in the curtains casting a strip of light across her back. He could hear the sound of an alarm coming from across the room, most likely from her phone still in her bag across the room. His eyes moved to the skin of her back and his fingers lightly traced the outline of her body, stopping over a purpling bruise that reached from just beside her stomach and round her back, over where her kidneys would be. As his fingers traced through the middle of the bruise, he felt her body tense and her breathing hitched in her throat.

Feeling his fingertips trace over her back, she felt her heart racing in her chest, almost silencing the noise from her phone across the room. She reached to the chair beside the bed and grabbed her robe, pulling it over her and fastening it as she stood off the bed, as to assure that he wouldn't see any more. Wordlessly, she took her phone out the bag, feeling his eyes on her as she silenced the phone call that was coming through. Noticing the time on her phone screen, she turned to look at the guy who lay in her hotel bed, their eyes meeting a moment before she looked away again and spoke, "I have to get ready, I need to go and take shower, and when I get back, you won't be here," she looked up at him again as he began to climb out of the bed, pulling on his boxers, "Yeah, so I'll see you, uhm…"

"Derek," he offered up to her, "My name is Derek."

"Right, Derek, like I said," she nodded and moved into the bathroom, quick to close the door behind her. She turned on the water for the shower, and stood beside the closed door as she listened to him moving around the room, waiting for the moment she heard the door to the room closing behind him to confirm he'd left before she removed the robe and stepped into the shower to get herself ready for the day. As much as she enjoyed last night and the feelings she may have felt in his arms as they fell asleep together, she couldn't do this. She came here to work. She came here to get away, make a fresh start. A guy was definitely not what she came here for.

Thankfully, she made it into the hospital on time and made a beeline for Richard Webber's office. She hadn't been back to the place since she was five years olds, and now at 35, she could still find her way around the place, like muscle memory. As she approached, she noticed the door to his office had been left open and she stepped inside slightly, knocking on the door as she did so. He looked up at her with a grin from where he sat at the desk, "Meredith Grey!"

She returned his grin, prepared with her façade that she had perfected over the years. Look happy, and no one questions you. "Hey, Dr Webber," she replied as she stepped further into the office, closing the door behind her as he motioned her to do so.

"I know I said this yesterday, but it's just so surreal seeing you all grown up!" He exclaimed with a chuckle as he stood up from the desk. He moved round to the front of the desk, leaning back against it as he clasped his hands together in front of him, "Ready to get stuck in with your surgical innovation fellowship?"

"I'm more than ready, Dr Webber," she said with a laugh, only he had no idea to the actual extent to which she was ready and thankful to be there.

"So, as we discussed, your time will be split between time in the OR and time dedicated to your research," she nodded as she listened, and he led her out of his office, "We just need to go down to HR and get things signed, pick up your pass, all the boring admin stuff, and we can have a quick tour around, things have changed and been added since you were last here."

She walked beside him as he continued to make conversation with her. As they reached the HR office, he left her to fill out and sign paperwork as he spoke with another member of the staff regarding a separate matter. Meredith made small talk as she was passed her pager and pass, and she handed the paperwork back.

Richard turned his attention back to her and they made their way back towards the surgical area of the hospital as he explained the more recent updates to the hospital's ORs and research facilities. As they walked, she attached the pager to the waistband of her jeans and clipped her pass to the pocket of the white lab coat she'd also been given upon leaving the previous room that was embroidered with her name.

She could feel eyes on her as they walked through the main doors on to the operating floor. The looks wouldn't bother her so much if she weren't so painfully aware of how much she looked like her mother who had worked there up until a few months ago. That's another thing she had to go and sort out later today. Her mother.

Richard took her up to the gallery hallway. All the operating rooms were in use which, according to Richard, wasn't all that rare an occurrence. Hence, stepping into each gallery for the quick tour would have to suffice for now until she could use her own time later in the day to become more familiar with the placements of each OR on the floor below.

She watched with great intrigue as they looked in on each surgery being performed. A peds case in the first, cardio-thoracic in the second, and then they came into the third room, where the gallery overlooked a neurosurgical case taking place, a few residents sat in the seats following the surgery being performed. The speciality she almost turned to before choosing general. She looked down below as Richard spoke his praises of Dr Shepherd, who was operating below. The best neurosurgeon the west coast had seen, and he'd managed to get him to work at Seattle Grace Mercy West around a month ago, which had greatly improved the various different ratings of the hospital in that short time. As he spoke, Meredith looked a little closer at the head surgeon and as he turned to speak to the resident beside him, she caught a look at his side profile, recognising him almost immediately.

She turned her face away, looking back at Richard so that if the man below looked up, he shouldn't be able to recognise her. After what felt like too long, probably made worse by the fact she wanted nothing but to leave the room as fast as she could, Richard led her out of the room and they continued with the tour, and Meredith tried as hard as she could to relinquish all thoughts she may have had pertaining to a certain neurosurgeon.

He'd heard people talking about her all day. He'd even been asked his thought directly by Dr Torres. Of course, he had none on the matter. Ellis Grey's daughter was supposedly starting at the hospital that morning, and he feels like he's heard people talking about her for the past week since it had been announced she'd be coming to work with them. All morning, he'd been unable to get the image of her face out of his mind. The girl he'd slept with, last night, in her hotel room. He had so many questions, all of them left unanswered. He didn't even get her name.

Scrubbing out of his first surgery of the day, he still couldn't keep the thoughts of her out of his head. He walked out of the scrub room and made his way down to post-op to check on his patient who had just been taken there. Dr Robbins caught up with him as he stepped on to the elevator, grabbing his attention as she spoke, "Have you seen her? She looks exactly like her mother. I wonder if she acts like her as well," Arizona scoffed a little as Derek looked to her with a questioning gaze.

"Why is this all anyone can talk about? Is there actually nothing more interesting going on?" He said with a laugh, stepping off the elevator with her onto the post-op ward.

Arizona shrugged with a laugh herself, "I guess nothing interesting has happened around here in a while."

He shook his head as they parted ways to see to each of their patients. He entered the room where his resident was taking vitals, the patient having not woken up yet. He checked over the patient himself before leaving the resident with strict post-op instructions. He checked the time on his watch as he left the room, thinking it was about time he grabbed something to eat.

He went into the cafeteria and grabbed his usual lunch, boxed salad and fruit mix, taking them over to the register and ordering himself a large coffee. He definitely needed it after the night he'd had. As he stood waiting for his drink, his eyes scanned the room as he usually did, people watching. That's when he saw her, stood across the room next to Richard. He grabbed his drink as it was passed to him, and picked up the paper bag containing his food, but when he turned around to approach them, she'd gone, and Richard was speaking with Dr Bailey. Maybe he'd imagined her there? He shook his head a little and sighed as he made his way back out the communal room, in the direction of his office.

She excused herself from the conversation with Dr Bailey and Richard, feigning the need for use of the toilet, leaving the room as quick as she could before he could see her. She'd spotted him as soon as he entered the room. She was vigilant like that. Aware of everyone and everything around her. She had to be. She entered the crowded elevator and stood to the back, keeping her head down. As the doors were about to close, someone stood near the front held the door and she watched as he stood in the front of the elevator, not seemingly noticing her.

Someone else did notice her though, she turned her head to the voice that spoke beside her, "Dr Grey, how's your first day going?"

His head turned to look as he heard her voice speaking, "It's been… interesting." He watched as she made polite conversation with Dr Robbins. He couldn't keep her eyes off her, her face framed with the loose waves of her hair. The elevator stopped on the next floor and a few people exited the elevator and he saw her head look up as the doors opened, a look of anxiety flash across her expression for just a second. You wouldn't have seen it if you weren't watching her.

Her eyes fixed on him as she noticed him watching her, widening slightly and looked to the doors of the elevator again that were closing.

"Derek! Meet Dr Grey, remember I was telling you about her this morning?" Dr Robbins grabbed his attention, completely missing the look shared between Meredith and Derek, "Dr Grey, this is Dr Shepherd."

Derek rolled his eyes at Arizona and stepped to stand beside her, watching as Meredith nodded her head slightly and held her hand out in greeting, "I've heard great things, from Chief Webber no less," she mentioned.

He took her hand in his, returning the greeting, "As have I about you, Dr Grey," his eyes shifted to the embroidered name on her white coat, Dr Meredith Grey. He was still in slight disbelief, holding her hand a moment longer than necessary, but she pulled her hand back from his first. Arizona was talking again but he didn't hear what she was saying.

His eyes tore from his observation of her to the doors of the elevator as they opened, "This is where I get off," he said to the two doctors, "See you around," he gave them both a smile before stepping off the elevator, walking in the direction of his office with the bag containing his lunch hanging off the wrist of the hand that held his coffee.

Her attempts at avoiding Derek had the complete opposite affect desired. She bid farewell to Dr Robbins and made her way back up to the cafeteria via the stairwell, knowing that Dr Webber and Dr Bailey were still waiting for her. After a brief further conversation with them, the rest of her day was spent getting situated in her shared office space with other fellows, greeting the various doctors she saw around the hospital, and getting herself familiar with the research facilities. She wasn't on the board to operate until tomorrow, allowing her the day to get settled in. Part of her needed the time in the OR, though. It helped her with the compartmentalisation that she had done a lot of today. In the OR she could block anything out from her mind when she concentrated everything she had on the patient in front of her. She found herself being forced to not think about Derek Shepherd.

As she sat at the chair in her office, getting herself familiar with the hospital systems, which really were quite similar to the systems used at Mass Gen, her phone rang from her bag beside her feet. Normally, that wouldn't be cause for panic, but the phone that was ringing was her old phone. When she'd moved back to Seattle, she'd got a new phone, with a new number. She wasn't sure why she kept the old one. She was supposed to throw it out, leave it behind. She reached into the bag, and the person calling her was exactly the person she expected to be calling. Finn. She felt a heavy weight in her stomach as she stared at the phone screen. After a moment, the phone stopped ringing and it went back to the regular home-screen showing her, she had 10 missed calls, 3 voicemails and 5 text messages all from that same person.

Where are you?

If you know what's good for you, you'll answer the damn phone.

This isn't funny, Meredith. You've been gone for over 24h and you know you should always be contactable and no surgery lasts 24 hours.

I phoned the hospital. They said you didn't work there anymore. What's going on, Meredith?

Meredith, please, baby, call me. Let me know where you are. I'm worried.

She stuffed the phone back in her bag, her mouth dry as her heart continued to race in her chest. She couldn't do this here. She couldn't fall apart here. She looked to the clock, it was finally five pm and she could head back to her hotel room and hide away again. She gathered her things, putting away things she didn't need till the morning and putting the few things in her bag she was taking home with her. She switched the battery in her pager to ensure it lasted till the morning. She hung up her white coat and pulled her outside coat on and grabbed her bag, the strap over her shoulder held in place with her hand as she walked out of the office and in the direction of the car park.

As she approached her car, unlocking it, she heard her name being called from behind her. She wasn't ashamed to say she pretended not to hear it. Well maybe she was, a little. He just moved closer and said her name again though, slightly persistent. She couldn't ignore him now. She turned, pushing her hair behind her ear with a small smile as she spoke, "Dr Shepherd?"

He looked a little startled at her formality, "Oh, Dr Grey, I was wondering, do you want to go for a drink?"

She had two choices. She could let him down gently, or she could push him away, hard. She decided against the latter. She was trying really hard to not act like her mother, anyhow. "I'm sorry, I have to be somewhere. And had I known, beforehand, that we would be working together… I make it a rule not to date co-workers," she offered him a small smile with her explanation as she opened the trunk of her car to put her bag in. He didn't need to know the technicalities of the situation. She closed the trunk and walked back round to the driver side of the car.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you around then?" He watched her closely, not totally believing her whole story but having no reason to say otherwise.

Meredith nodded in response, climbing into the car, "Goodnight, Dr Shepherd." The formality was part of the whole compartmentalisation of the whole situation that is her life.

He watched her car as she drove out the parking lot, before he returned to his own car to head home to his trailer for the night. He would settle for friends if she didn't date co-workers, but something told him even that would a difficult feat, she definitely had walls built up high around her.

She sat on the bed in her empty hotel room, pulling her laptop out of her bag and connecting to the hotel internet. She'd had five more missed calls from Finn since she'd checked that phone earlier and she knew the longer she left it, the worse it was going to be. She needed to come up with something that would keep him out of Seattle for now, though.

She'd just been to see her mother at the nursing home, and that had worsened her mood even further. She wasn't sure if she preferred her mother's before or after the Alzheimer's had been diagnosed and now she was working at the hospital that new her mother's legacy, work style and ethic, and she was pretty sure they were all about to hold her up to that standard.

She'd managed to keep her relationship with Finn as far from her mother as possible. She'd briefly shown up to the wedding, probably just for appearances. But since Finn had… well she stopped visiting and made up excuses or left town when her mother came to visit. For all her faults, Ellis Grey was very observant, and she'd never get anything past her.

She pulled up the emails on her computer, finding she had messages from Finn on there as well. She rolled her eyes. This needed to be dealt with before he showed up at the hospital. That's the last thing that she needed.

She picked up the phone off the side table, pulling up Finn's contact information. She hesitated a moment, taking a breath before dialling his number, putting the phone to her ear. She listened as it rang three times before he answered. She cringed slightly as she heard his voice on the other end.

"Meredith! Where are you? Where did you go?"

"Hey, Finn, sorry, I had to fly to Seattle, yesterday morning and I couldn't get hold of you, and then the flight and I got caught up with things," Not a total lie, she did have to fly out that morning, the next part though? Definitely a lie, "The home called for my mother, she's had to go into hospital for a while," back to not lying again, "they also need me to be here to sign over power of attorney, deal with her property, that sort of thing.." her voice trailed of as she waited for his response.

"Okay, but what about the hospital? They said you don't work there anymore?"

"Yeah, I start my fellowship, remember? At Brigham, they've pushed the start date for me, so I can deal with Ellis."

"I wish you'd tell me these things, Meredith, I thought you'd tried to leave me."

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that…" As she spoke, her heart raced. That's exactly what she was trying to do, the lawyers were just taking a little longer than expected.

"Can you get home this weekend? You know I have that work event, and everyone expects you to be there, what will they think if you don't show? You wouldn't embarrass me like that would you?"

"I'll let you know, I'm not sure if…"

"Try harder, Meredith."

She could tell by the tone of his voice there was only one answer he'd expect from her right now, "I'll be there, I'll make it work. I'll be there for the evening."

"Good. Keep your phone on and answer next time I call."

"Okay, I need to go, accounts to sort out. I'll speak to you in the morning?"

"We'll speak when I call, Meredith."

With that he ended the call. She dropped the phone down on the bed and let out a long breath. She'd need to talk to Richard tomorrow. She'd go back for that one evening, and it would keep him at bay. The lawyers had got back to her after she'd left her lunch with Richard yesterday afternoon, it would be at least two weeks until they could go ahead.

She closed the laptop and slid it back in her bag, placing both her new and old phone on charge before she stripped her clothes and climbed into the bed, ready to get to sleep. Today was a lot harder than she thought it was going to be.