Throw Me a Rope

[drownondryland]

We hear a lot of talk about what happens when we grow up - the ways we'll change, the lessons we'll learn. How we'll become calmer, better, more rational people. We'll do good. We'll get things right.Meredith generally prefers it if babies are kept on the other side of a window from her. It's not that she dislikes children, although there's always

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[noneoftherules]

Sadie doesn't bother hiding the look of pure horror that spreads when she first spots Meredith with a child in tow. An infant child, at that. There is a bit of amusement mixed with that horror, though not much, and only because she knows the panic she would feel were she in the same position. As much as Death has changed, Sadie's willing to be she hasn't changed that much.

Right?

"It's not yours," she says, realizing that she's only half-joking now. It's true enough that Meredith has changed since she has been here and that those changes couldn't all be covered under a single conversation, but this is a bit much. "Please tell me it's not yours."

[drownondryland]

Meredith looks over, takes in Sadie's expression and laughs. She shouldn't, maybe, it isn't nice, though they never cared much about that in the old days, but it's hard not to. In some other situation, the idea would be point blank terrifying, but like this, it's just hilariously wrong.

"Oh my god," she says, "no. No. No freaking way. I'm just watching her for a friend."

[noneoftherules]

"Good," breathes Sadie with a visible sigh of relief. It may be an odd way to show that she cares, but the idea of growing up to such an extent was always such a taboo between them, and Sadie is, in her own way, just looking out for her Meredith. Speaking of which...

"God, you're a good friend," Sadie remarks with the smallest of laughs. "You couldn't pay me, and here you are doing it for free. Honestly, Grey, you've got to stop making the rest of us look bad."

[drownondryland]

Meredith laughs again, still rubbing idle circles against Madeline's back to keep her calm. "What would she even pay me with?" she asked, brow going up and head tipping to the side. "Seriously, I have nothing but free time here. If I don't have something to do, I go crazy - even if it's this."

It's a bit of an overstatement, but around Sadie, it feels strange to admit she likes spending time with Madeline. "Anyway, she's my goddaughter, so I guess I have to."

[noneoftherules]

"Good point," Sadie concedes with a nod which turns to a tilt of her head. "Maybe coconuts? You could fashion a bra and wear a skirt made of grass. Invent your own monosyllabic language, squash berries and use the juice to fingerpaint on walls. Shit, I just jumped from luau to caveman, didn't I? And I cursed in front of a kid, fuck!"

Sadie slaps a hand over her mouth, muffling a snort, shortly followed by embarrassed laughter. Further proof that she shouldn't be allowed around children, but she can't help but laugh, hoping Grey finds her complete hopelessness just as funny.

[drownondryland]

Meredith has to bite her lip to hold in most of the laughter, clutching Madeline close but making no attempt to cover her ears or whatever idiotic thing people are supposed to do in these situations. It's too late now and besides, Madeline's all of three months old. What's she going to do, tell on them?

"It's okay," she says, barely suppressing giggles even now. "I mean, don't tell Ellie I said it was okay, but it's not like she can repeat it yet. And I don't know, coconut bra might not really be my look. You, you could totally rock it."

[noneoftherules]

"Can you imagine if she did? You're about to hand her back to her mum and all of a sudden she starts cussing at random?" Sadie can't help but break into another fit of laughter as the scene plays out in her mind, imagining the looks on the faces of both women, with the baby mumbling profanities in the background.

"I'm sorry," she coughs, laughing still. "That's terrible. That's not funny at all."

[drownondryland]

"No, it's pretty funny," laughs Meredith, and she bites her lip to rein it in, jostling Madeline gently. The baby's all wide eyes, looking around, so goddamn innocent, it only makes the whole thing funnier. "I mean, she's gonna hear it eventually. I don't know about from Ellie and Devon, but... So, hey, how's it going?"

[noneoftherules]

"Oh no, you don't wanna ask that," Sadie said, rolling her eyes. "It's humid and horrible and I could rant for days but you've heard it all before. Let's talk about you. How's that boyfriend I've heard not much about, and more importantly, when do I get to meet him?"

[drownondryland]

That was Meredith's cue to roll her eyes in turn. She could talk for hours unprompted about her problems, but being asked always left her a tiny bit self-conscious. "You can meet him whenever," she said. "It's not like any of us are that busy. But he is... good. We're good. In spite of the humid and the horrible."

[noneoftherules]

"Is he a doctor, too?" Sadie wondered, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back on the nearest wall. McWhatever-The-Hell-It-Was-They-Called-Him had been a doctor, and Sadie knew firsthand that Seattle Grace was stocked to the brim with hotties. With the amount of in-dating that went on at that hospital, it was only natural that Meredith keep up the habit here.

And if she didn't? Yet another welcome dissimilarity to the Grey in Sadie's recent memory.

[drownondryland]

"No," Meredith says, shaking her head, smiling though she's always worried a little about Sean's work. It's not fair at all, wanting to keep him from the career he loves, knowing it means nearly as much to him as hers does to her, but it's different. Being a surgeon is a hell of a lot safer. "No, he's, um... he was a cop. Interpol."

Somehow, telling Sadie that makes her laugh at the idea for the first time. "How weird is that?" Dating someone whose work carries such a suggestion of the straight-and-narrow seems a far cry from the girl she once was; and that's not even bringing superheroes into the mix.

[noneoftherules]

"Very weird. You've no idea how weird," Sadie marvels, an eyebrow lifted from the moment Meredith speaks. As far as career choice goes, it's hard to get much further from medicine than law enforcement. She can't imagine Dr. Shepherd in uniform (and if she could, it would be in the most inappropriate of ways.)

"Where's he from? Oh, and uh, when. I keep forgetting the 'when' is a factor now."

[drownondryland]

"Uh, Ireland." Meredith bites her lip, grinning, steps carrying her in a little half-circle. Movement and voices seems to keep Maddie calm, so she'll keep it up as best she can. "Yeah. From, like, the Seventies. But he's younger than me, so I think it balances out, the thing with - you know, time is very confusing here. Point is, totally hot Irish boyfriend." He's pretty much perfect for her, though far from perfect, but she's not ready to say things like that around Sadie.

[noneoftherules]

Despite giving a small snort of laughter at the time difference, Sadie smirks her general approval from her perch on the the wall, now leaning back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Good job, Death," she says, surprising even herself by how much she means it. She's more the wait-until-they-crash-and-burn type than she is the wish-'em-well-from-the-start kind of girl, but she can't help but be please at Meredith accepting her like this. She's seen the worst case scenario this can take, and anything other than that is fine by her.

"You've gotta love a man with an accent. Like Germany, oh god, do you remember? Tall, blonde, and grammatically challenged; those guys were so hot."

[drownondryland]

"I remember," Meredith says, grinning, then has to amend that. "I remember most of it, anyway. What is it about foreign guys that's just that much sexier?" In her early twenties, she knows, it was that they were so easily left behind. It's strange, then, that the opposite problem plagues her now, that she's so desperate to make sure she isn't left. Boys in bars, in other countries, she can choose to let them go; here, she has no choice. "Of course, here they get as foreign as other worlds. Other centuries."