Almost Doesn't Count

[drownondryland]

Growing up, we develop habits. Routines. What starts a matter of choice or convenience becomes rote. What used to be simply practical is now pattern. In surgery, it makes us more efficient, more thorough. Better at what we do. And that's often true out in the real world, too.It's painful. That's the part Meredith's not supposed to say, the thing

Comments

[notawastedlife]

Tony Stark had a heart running on a reactor in his chest, but he wasn't inclined to go to an island medical clinic about it.

He was not, in fact, there for him at all, except obliquely.

Which might be why he initially ignored the doctor and instead walked right past her and started looking intently at the various pieces of equipment present. He was also absently tapping a screwdriver on the bench as he did it, which may have been a concern.

[drownondryland]

Meredith stops, hands catching against the counter. There's a time for wallowing in self-pity and there's a time for doing her job, even when her job doesn't appear to involve anything the least bit medical.

Turning the chair toward Tony, she tips her head to the side, smile bemused, eyes narrowed slightly. "Can I help you with something?"

[notawastedlife]

"Do you have," Tony said, and then assumed the air of someone reading from a list, even as he continued his circuit of the table, "an MRI, CT scanner, linear accelerators for radiation therapy, or X-Ray generator?"

He stopped and looked over at her. "Hi," he added, "I'm- it's for a project."

That had worked when he was in school, usually. Except that time with the particle accelerator.

[drownondryland]

Meredith laughs, getting to her feet and heading over to him, arms crossed. "A project," she echoes, then shakes her head. "I really wish I could help, but our technology stops somewhere around the defibrillator."

God, she'd about kill for an MRI. For any of the things he mentioned. Hell, just to be back in Seattle.

[beat_death]

"At least you haven't started making origami animals yet," Owen said, eyebrows slightly raised as he entered the clinic and saw Meredith spinning round in her chair. He'd yet to get to that stage of boredom during his shifts, but that was only because he'd gotten his hands on a bouncy ball at some point in the past few weeks.

[drownondryland]

"People are doing that?" Meredith stops herself to look at him, brow raising. "Seriously? If I get to that point, shoot me. Just put me out of my misery, okay?"

So there's an oath that keeps them from killing people. In a time of such dire need, she's sure there's a way around that. Origami animals are great for little kids and all, but she can't remember ever being that bored in her life.

[beat_death]

"Trust me," Owen said, vivid memories immediately coming to mind, "You really wouldn't want that."

If he had to choose between a clinic shift making himself dizzy in a desk chair and being shot again...well, there really wasn't a choice to be made there, even sarcastically.

[drownondryland]

"Okay, not really," Meredith allows. She's come close enough to being put out of her misery twice. She's seen gunshot wounds more than a few times. Wallowing or not, she's not that freaking miserable. "But I don't think it'll come to that anyway. I'm sure I'll find plenty of other distractions before stooping to origami animals."

[risesagain]

"How are things?" Jean hasn't seen Meredith since that fateful weekend when she and the boys were essentially dead to the world. It hadn't been soothing by any sense of the world, but its nice to see Meredith is back in the strange routine of their lives.

Leaning against the doorway of the clinic, she smile.

[drownondryland]

"Jean." Meredith smiles as she brings the chair to a stop. She can sulk about being back here until the sun comes up, but it doesn't mean she's not pleased to see a friend. It's nice to be reminded of what she does have going for her here. "Things are... slow. But that's not exactly new. How've you been?"

[risesagain]

"Good, but that's nothing new."

New would be a sudden and unexplained relapse of the Phoenix but for now her other personality was staying thoroughly dormant. Stepping into the clinic, she gave a look around.

"No unexplained comas I take it?"

[drownondryland]

"Not today," Meredith says, laughing a little. It's not especially funny, but it kind of is. "Not for a couple weeks. You know, it figures, something like that happens and I miss it all."

As much as it sucks, as much as it hurts, though, she wouldn't trade her days in Seattle for tending to unsolvable medical mysteries.

[getemtiger]

Mary Jane had originally been heading up to the Compound just to grab some food, not really a fan of spending a whole lot of time there, but it was in walking by the clinic that it occurred to her to stop in and see Meredith. It wasn't exactly a secret that the clinic was usually quiet, after all, and she could always duck out of the way easily in the event that anything did happen.

"Hey," she said, poking her head in through the doorway first, then walking in completely, crossing to the seat Meredith sat in. "How's it going in here?"

[drownondryland]

Meredith steadies her feet against the ground, still swaying a little from side to side. "Very, very slowly," she says, shaking her head. It's nice to see Mary Jane, though, to have a little distraction, not to mention one that reminds her she has friends here. There are worse fates than being here. Just because she has trouble thinking of them right now doesn't mean they don't exist. "But now I've got company. What brings you in?"

[getemtiger]

"Oh, nothing, really," Mary Jane replied with an easy shrug, leaning against the counter, her head propped up in one hand. It wasn't like there was much to do, whether one was a doctor or otherwise. At least in that way, they were all in the same boat, so to speak, and the only real way to remedy that was with other people. "I was just walking by, figured I might stop in and make sure you weren't getting too bored in here."

[drownondryland]

"It's almost always boring in here," Meredith admits. "Which is a good thing, I guess. Means people are okay." But would it kill them to give her something to do once in a while? Most of the people who've been in and out of the clinic tonight have been there just to say hello. "But thanks. It's nice to have someone else around."

[faithanbegorrah]

Stopping by the clinic once a week's become part of a schedule for Terry; little things that take up time here and there, make her feel normal in a place that so often isn't.

The aloe also helps when she inevitably gets burned at least once a week or so.

"Evenin', Meredith," Terry greets cheerfully.

[drownondryland]

Seeing Theresa always helps with the bad mood, at least a little. If nothing else, she reminds Meredith that there was something to lose in staying in Seattle, more than just her own life to consider. Self-pity's all fine and good, but selfishness can only go so far.

Grinning, she stops spinning around. "Hey, Theresa. Need aloe or just come to keep me company?"

[faithanbegorrah]

"The first," Terry answers, raising a brow, "but I can do the second just as well. Are ye that bored today?"

[drownondryland]

"I'm that bored everyday," Meredith says, smiling anyway as she gets up to head over to where they keep the aloe. Handing it over, she leans back against the counter. "But given what happens when things aren't boring here, that's probably a good thing."