Security Blanket [6/?] (original) (raw)

Title: Security Blanket [6/?]
Rating: PG-13/R
Pairing: George/Izzie, George/Callie, Meredith/Derek, Burke/Christina, Alex/Addison, and others to be revealed as we go along. This is all subject to change. Lots of the varied friendships in here. ;D
Summary/Author's Note: George drops a bombshell on his friends. Some deal with it better than others. Canons until Great Expectations.Apologies for the delay but I've had real life issues. This part isn't as long as the others and for that I'm also apologetic. Previous Parts: {PART ONE}{PART TWO} {PART THREE} {PART FOUR} {PART FIVE}

It was only after everyone else went to sleep that George finally had a moment to talk about things with Callie. It wasn’t that he particularly wanted to discuss everything with her but he had to. They couldn’t put off the inevitable. It was late but he didn’t have to rush into work so it was okay.

She was waiting for him when he finally made it to bed.

“We need to talk,” he told her quietly from the door frame, moving in slowly to sit at the edge of the bed. She moved up beside him nodding and taking his hand. She put her head on his shoulder and waited.

“I care for you. I will be there for you and this baby ever step of the way. If it’s mine then I’ll step up and be the best father I can be. I’ll help you even if it isn’t mine but…”

She cut him off there. Even when she was being vulnerable, Callie always had a need to be in control of the conversation.

“We rushed into marriage too quickly. I know that,” she told him. “We both deserve to be with someone who will love us unconditionally. You might love me but you aren’t in love with me. I’m not the woman of your dreams.”

“I wish you could be,” George told her simply. “I’d give anything for you to be the one and for that baby to be mine but … you aren’t the one and that baby might not be mine either.”

There was a pause and a nod between them.

“I kissed Izzie,” he told her simply. “I hope this doesn’t mean you’re going to try to get my whole bad horror movie collection in the divorce proceedings.”

As terrible of a moment as this was, Callie couldn’t help but laugh.

**

Derek pulled out his earplugs watching Meredith carefully in those last moments of sleep before they both were going to have to get up and head out for early shifts. The life of a neurosurgeon was never boring. He’d done this before with Addison. He didn’t need to do this any fancy way.

Meredith didn’t require those sorts of things.

He leaned over the side of the bed, digging into to his pants pocket and pulled out the rock. It was simple and dainty. It was very much like Meredith. It wasn’t extravagant like Addison’s had been.

He palmed it before giving her a love tap to wake up.

Her blue eyes opened after a few moments looking at him in semi-consciousness.

“Is it time to get up yet?” she asked. “I didn’t hear the alarm.”

He took her hand simply and put the ring in her hand.

Her eyes fluttered for a second in confusion before she opened her hand to examine it. She gave him the usual look that she gave when she wasn’t completely sure what was going on.

“This is a proposal. I don’t over the top fancy proposals. I don’t do running away to Vegas for weddings. I just love you and I was wondering if you might want to jump on the marriage bandwagon with me,” he said.

Meredith rolled her eyes mockingly though she was smiling once she heard it. He could tell she was fighting off amusement.

**

Flowers were falling from the sky. Everything was as she’d always imagined it. A big alter with room for her friends. Beautiful flowers were everywhere. She chanced a glance down and she was in a silky white gown that flattered her form.

A hand reached at her elbow and she glanced over. A cheesy smile spread across a face she’d seen entirely too many times in her sleep.

“Denny!” she said throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly to herself.

His arms hugged tightly around her middle. He was so solid and warm that Izzie couldn’t imagine him being anything less than real.

“You’re going to make a beautiful bride, Doctor Stevens,” he told her giving her a meaningful glance. “I want you to be happy but you have to know you’re always going to be my girl.”

“… You know about George,” she asked simply?

He nodded.

“I think it’s about time that I gave you away to him. It’ll take some time but you’ll get there…”

She awoke with a stir.

She was being attacked awake.

And then there was something on top of her. Weight.

“… Not funny!” she muttered.

She opened her eyes and saw Meredith practically straddling her, hand wavering over her face. It took a second before her eyes could focus.

It finally clicked what Meredith was trying to tell her and she screamed. She squealed. She didn’t even noticed Derek watching in amusement from the doorway.

She did notice when she heard George slam into him and trip over the rug trying to come see what was going on. Callie wasn’t far behind curious about the commotion.

“WEDDING! Have you told Cristina yet?” Izzie asked genuinely happy for Meredith and forgetting about herself or her own partially finished dream for the moment.

“We called her immediately.”

**

Everyone was in a generally good mood when they finally made it in for their shifts except for Bailey. Tuck was sick and so she’d been up most of the night with him. She was being the typical worried mother. She wanted nothing more than to hear from her husband who was taking the little one to the pediatrician’s office when she opened.

Her ducks were causing chaos though.

“People this is a hospital not a social club. Help your patients,” Bailey managed out watching them scatter to their respective posts. She leaned against the desk for half a second trying to gather herself before Sydney reared her ugly, overly cheerful face.

“You look like you could use a hug!” Sydney said extending her arms toward her. Bailey didn’t move but she did not want to have any part in this.

“One step closer and you’re not going to be able to hug.”

Sydney never took a clue though. She normally kept at it. She never knew when to just leave things be. She had the nerve to laugh.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” she said with her never faltering smile. “Grumpy Residents don’t make for good Chief Residents. You might just be trying to throw me off though.”

It was Callie who saved Bailey. She stepped in and offered a “That’s precisely what she is doing. I hear the chief is looking for an extra hand in the OR for a late surgery, Sydney.”

Sydney’s eyes lit up.

“I’ll catch you kittens later,” she offered as she scampered off.

Once she got out of ear shot Callie let out a quiet laugh. Bailey could tell from the look in her eyes that there was no surgery for Sydney to scrub in and she was grateful.

“Are you okay?” Callie asked a few moments later. “Nurse Debbie told me that you’ve been calling home a lot.”

“My son isn’t feeling so well,” Bailey offered after a few moments.

“I can cover your patients for you if you want. I know the chief told me to stay away from your interns but we’re all getting along okay now. I could keep an eye on them and I’m certain Dr. Montgomery would be willing to help,” Callie offered. “If you wanted to go...”

Miranda Bailey was never the sort to give up or give in. She never called in sick. She didn’t want to go on any sort of maternity leave when her son was born but when he was sick she fell to pieces. She was softer than she would have liked.

” I will come back but – if I could drive home and just make sure his fever has gone down,” she finally gave in.

“You don’t have to be in any hurry to get back.”

**

Maybe it wasn’t the best deal in the world. She had lots of patients on her own and she was still more than a little tired from a lack of sleep. She was feeling slightly more maternal with the whole being pregnant thing though and she just got how Miranda might just be better off at home with her son even if she didn’t stay there until he was completely better.

She couldn’t put it as she was watching them all on her own though. She couldn’t declare that. She let Addison take that claim. She didn’t need to get into trouble with the chief. Sure there wouldn’t be anymore catfights today but rules were rules.

She was looking over a chart near nurse’s station when she felt a hand at her arm nudging her back to reality. She must have been daydreaming but she couldn’t even begin to recall what she’d been daydreaming about anyways.

She looked up. A face she recalled. A face she never imagined seeing again though she’d heard quiet rumors that he’d been in this very hospital recently.

“Callie, right?” he asked looking more than a little uncomfortable.

“Yes – how can I help you?” she said raising an eyebrow. She didn’t have any personal business with Finn. Perhaps he was looking for someone else though.

“Can you page Meredith Grey?”

**

Meredith Grey was uncertain to why she was paged exactly. She wasn’t terribly upset to be pulled out of poop patrol to go see what Callie wanted though. It was when she directed her to the stairwell that she was a bit confused. Perhaps Derek was up to something though. There was always a chance that he was going to do something surprising. They were getting married now after all.

Visions of romantic rendezvous in the Seattle Grace stairwells formed in her mind as she marched toward the meeting spot.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that it was hardly romantic and it was a ghost from Boyfriends past.

“Hello Meredith,” Finn said awkwardly.

“Finn, what are you doing here?” she asked trying to formulate her thoughts into some coherent fashion. She might have been a bit egotistical but her immediate thought was that he was there to win her back.

She tried to hide her engagement ring behind her back. Finn caught the sparkle despite the attempt to hide.

”Izzie and George didn’t tell me you were getting married when I was a patient. Congratulations … I’m not here for personal reasons. Actually, I’m here because I need your help to help your friends,” he explained sloppily.

“You were a patient?” Meredith asked. The rumor mill never told her that Finn had been a patient. She was a bit disappointed that she hadn’t known. “You’re okay now though?”

“Yes, I’m okay,” he offered. It was just like Meredith to focus on all the small details instead of the big important reasons for him being there. He didn’t want to play catch up with her.

“—Why exactly do you need me to help you with my friends?” Meredith asked after a second. She knew Izzie liked George but she didn’t know much about anything else. She felt surprisingly in the dark for someone who lived with them.

“George and Izzie love each other. I know he’s married. I also know it’s a mistake and – I’ve been sending Izzie these things. Secret Admirer things. I thought perhaps this might make him jealous and act but I haven’t I suppose I didn’t think really think it out but I think it’s time to … make them act.”

“You want me to manipulate my roommates into an adulterous affair?”

“… Do you really have to put it like that?” Finn asked.

“Well George is married and Callie is pregnant.”

Meredith couldn’t lie about the facts after all. It wasn’t that Callie was her favorite person but she was a human being. She didn’t know about the prospective divorce or she might have immediately set into action.

Finn frowned. That could be a moral dilemma all its own.

“I didn’t know Callie was pregnant.”

“It’s probably Mark Sloan’s. Callie wasn’t exactly faithful to George during an off-period,” Meredith said thoughtfully. “And Callie did send George to look after Izzie last night when she found out about the baby...”

Okay, Meredith was breaking. Her mind was in overdrive and they could make this work. They could make everything work out. It might take some effort but they could totally do this. She wasn’t dark and twisty anymore so why should everyone else be?

“We just have to give them a chance to choose each other to be with each other and real love will win out. If there is anyone who gets it, it should be you. There is such thing as happily ever after, Meredith. Derek was yours. George is Izzie’s.”