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

Comments

[doubleomalley]

George's brisk walk down the hall came to an abrupt stop when he rounded a corner and was presented the incredibly surreal image of Meredith holding and comforting a baby.

Sure, he knew she was the Woodcomb baby's godmother, but it was still wierd.

"I kinda want to take a picture of this," he said, walking over to them. "For that 'things that are completely surreal but yes, they actually happened' scrapbook I'll never make."

[drownondryland]

"But you know I'll find and destroy you," Meredith said, filling in the blank on why George wasn't going to do that. The lack of a camera probably also had something to do with it, but she wasn't thinking about much beyond trying to get Maddie quiet. "I don't know what I did, she just started fussing. Or what I didn't do, I don't know." In spite of her exasperation, though, she remained calm herself. Throwing her own tantrum wasn't going to help with this one.

[doubleomalley]

"She might be hungry," George suggested, completely ignoring Meredith's threats as he stepped closer to get a good view of the baby -- who was, of course, baby Woodcomb. He was pretty sure that was the only infant Meredith would ever want to get up close and personal with on an extended basis. "Or need a diaper change."

[drownondryland]

As much she loved Maddie, there was nothing that could keep Meredith from making a face at that. "I'm so not equipped for diaper changes," she said and sighed. "I should check. Or feed her. You doing anything?" Not that she had any intention of foisting the child off on George - Maddie was her responsibility for the moment - but at least she could have company while she was at it.

[getemtiger]

To come across Meredith holding a baby was hardly a common occurrence, but Mary Jane had to smile at the sight of it, one corner of her mouth hitching up in a look both amused and fond. She couldn't quite put her finger on why, and didn't particularly care to, but as true as it was, it wasn't just that Madeline was so cute, seeming to get bigger all the time. For now, she seized on that anyway, cooing, "Hey, Maddie," before she looked up at Meredith, more natural. "Babysitting duty?"

[drownondryland]

Jostling the baby gently in her arms, rocking back from heel to toe, Meredith nodded. She loved Madeline, more even than she would have expected, but there was a certain measure of relief in knowing she could hand her back to Ellie. "Yeah," she said. "But I think she'd rather be with her mom." At least Maddie's fists were even tinier and more ineffectual than her own.

[getemtiger]

"I think that's probably normal," Mary Jane guessed, trying for a sympathetic look even so. "This is Ellie's clinic shift, right?" It had been months, now, since the time she had spent there, but certain things, like what times people were working, had become impossible to forget, probably in part because she was friends with so many of the doctors. "So she'll be done pretty soon?"

[drownondryland]

"Right," Meredith said, nodding. "Cheer up, Maddie, your mom's almost done, okay? You and I are both going to be okay." There was probably more to it than that - she'd had her nap disturbed or she needed changing or food or she just felt like it - but Meredith didn't know where to start. At least she was pretty sure she could rule out a diaper change. She looked back to Mary Jane again. "What about you? Headed somewhere?"

[missingthekeep]

For all that being around babies has the tendency to throw Sean into fits of discomfort, somehow seeing Meredith with one just manages to increase that feeling a thousandfold. Still, there's always something endearing about it at the same time and he finds himself smiling gamely as he comes upon the fussing pair.

"Well, well, well, look at ye," he says with an impressed nod, crossing his arms.

[drownondryland]

For Meredith's part, in spite of the mild frustration of not being able to calm Maddie right off the bat, she's relatively at ease until Sean shows up. That only leads to her trying not to look at him like he's crazy before he's said much of anything at all.

"Look at me what?" she asks, half-smiling as she shifts her weight back and forth, patting Maddie's back.

[missingthekeep]

"Look at ye bein' all carin' an' responsible," Sean clarifies, though that's not really it at all. What it is, he wouldn't know how to explain even if he wanted to. "It's a good look on ye, is all."

[drownondryland]

"I'm a doctor," Meredith points out, like that's something she makes it possible to forget. "It's not that rare a look on me, is it?" There's still something like amusement in her tone when she says it, though, because it's either laugh or overthink things. It's the context that's different and she knows it, looking down at Maddie before she's even finished asking.

[this_is_pam]

Coming from the kitchen with a mug of tea held in both hands, Pam headed almost instinctively in Sarah's direction when she noticed her, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards in a smile. "Sarah, hey," she said warmly, pausing just long enough to take a sip of her drink, then gesturing to the pages that had been left out. "What're those?"

[stayastranger]

Sarah was reaching for them when Pam spoke, mostly out of desire to straighten up the scattered sheets rather than from wanting to read them. Meredith's handwriting was cramped and difficult anyway and Sarah already knew plenty about human anatomy.

"Um, Meredith's," she said, holding them up, shuffling the papers into neatness. "She asked me to keep an eye on them while she walks Madeline around. Though I doubt her students are going to steal the lesson plan before term's even started."

[this_is_pam]

"I guess it would depend on what she's teaching," Pam replied wryly, almost entirely joking, "and who the students are. There wouldn't be much point, though, it's not like the school here is all that competitive." At least, from what she'd heard and seen, it wasn't; she had only ever taken art classes, nothing academic, and those were fairly relaxed, but none of it seemed to her overly serious. "Probably a good idea anyway."

[stayastranger]

"It's a science class," Sarah said, leaving the stack lying on the table. "Anatomy. Really not my thing. Maybe I should sign up for something this term. It's something to do at least, right?" Chuck took classes sometimes, but she'd never felt much need to. There were too many subjects where she was already too experienced and too many others she just had no interest in.

[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."