What You're Wishing For

[drownondryland]

We all have something we're wishing for - something we dream of or work towards. A change for the future we covet. It's the story we tell ourselves when we say things are going to get better. We imagine all the ways our lives could improve, if only we were a little luckier or tried a little harder, if only the universe went our way just this once.

Comments

[getemtiger]

"No, it's just me," Mary Jane said with a slight shake of her head, already crossing to the counter and setting down the two cups of coffee she carried. With all the time she'd spent in the clinic, both back in the winter and more recently, it would have been impossible not to start learning who had shifts when, and Meredith's was one she would have remembered anyway, usually making a point to stop by, knowing that it usually wasn't too crowded. Having gotten close, though, the colored-in wedding dress couldn't escape her notice, and she laughed, nose wrinkling as the corners of her mouth pulled up in an incredulous smile. "I was going to ask if you were busy, but I think I have my answer. Nice color choice."

[drownondryland]

Meredith laughed, reaching up to brush her bangs from her eyes before holding out a hand for one of the cups. "Thank you," she said. "I think I'm going into fashion next. Maybe some orange trim?" She laughed, picking up another highlighter to tap against the magazine. The whole thing was ridiculous, true, but at least she knew it was. If that thing was going to have fun at her expense, maybe the key to getting it to back down was to (temporarily) give in. She didn't bother drawing more just yet, though, taking a cautious sip of her coffee instead.

[getemtiger]

"Oh, I think orange trim is exactly what it needs," Mary Jane said as seriously as she could, nodding in agreement. What, exactly, the magazines were for, she had to wonder, but for now, Meredith's alteration of the dress was the only thing she was really concerned with. Lifting her own cup, she didn't yet bring it to her mouth, rather gestured out with that hand, careful not to spill any. "You should really think about this as a backup career. It looks so much better like this."

[drownondryland]

Sipping her coffee, Meredith smiled against the rim, setting the cup down before she uncapped the highlighter and absently began adding crooked stars, most of which barely showed against the not entirely dry green ink. Magazine pages and highlighters, it turned out, didn't really go well together. "I just might," she joked. "You know, it seems about as useful here as being a surgeon, so why not? Something to tide me over until next semester. So how's it going?"

[theboywhowaited]

"Paracetamol," Rory answered promptly, coming to a halt just inside the room. It was some kind of secondary nature to him -- freezing and standing at attention when addressed by a doctor. (Not that he was standing at military attention just now, but he had stopped and his arms were at his sides and he was standing straight. It almost counted.) It didn't matter that he could call her Meredith or Dr. Grey, she was still a doctor and Rory was a creature of habits.

"We're short... at the southern clinic," he explained further. "And since... we're about as busy as you are," he said, taking a quick glance around the room, "I thought I'd stock up. You know, efficiency. Or something."

[drownondryland]

Meredith stifled a grin, starting to drag another magazine over the first before realizing it was a copy of Vanity Fair and it didn't really matter which she got caught with, since basically everything she'd been able to find was ridiculous anyway. "No, that's good," she said, nodding. Pushing off against the counter, she got to her feet to head for the cabinet where they kept the replenishing painkillers. "Good thinking. It's... pretty much always quiet out there this time of night. I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

[theboywhowaited]

"Not that you're wishing someone needs emergency care or anything," Rory said with a slight grin as his body woke up again. He continued his walk into the clinic, stopping by the counter Meredith had just been at and glancing over the shiny magazines, now extra shiny with inappropriate colors and marks.

"I like the quiet more," he said. "...I think. I dunno. Kind of a mixed bag anyway you cut it. I'm just more used to the quiet, I guess."

[drownondryland]

"Small town, right?" Meredith said. Maybe if she'd done the small town thing, too, she wouldn't be so bothered by the silences now, but she'd really only ever lived and worked in cities. Right now, she was a little jealous of him for that. Digging through the cabinet, she pulled out several containers of the pills. "I mean, of course I don't want an accident or an emergency or... I don't know, something blowing up, but... yeah, mixed bag."

[daretodo]

"Just the usual checkup, Doc," I say with mostly feigned exasperation, flashing her a lopsided smile as I shuffle into the clinic. Having lived in this windowless shoebox for nearly three nonconsecutive months, I don't particularly like my weekly visits, necessary as I understand them to be. In an effort to keep things positive, though, I don't come in empty handed, setting down a cup of coffee and some sort of mystery pastry I pilfered from the kitchen on the desk in offering. My logic in this is pretty simple, albeit knowingly flawed. If she's in a good enough mood, maybe my anticipated sentence --that is, recovery time -- will be lessened, and save for a miracle cure for Stark, there's not much else I want more right now.

Perennially nosy all the same, however, I crane my neck to get a better look at what she was scribbling over, eyebrows arching when I catch a glimpse of a model in a neon green wedding dress. "Pretty sure I saw one of those in the clothes box once."

[drownondryland]

"And you didn't save it for me?" Meredith deadpans, fluttering her lashes. She nods toward the magazine and shrugs a shoulder, nose wrinkling slightly. "It's like a coloring book. I don't actually - I take what it'll give me." All the same, privately she counts this as a victory in the fight against herself. Sure, all she's doing is alternating between four colors and staying inside the lines, but as childish as this may be, it has to be mature of her to take the damn thing instead of throwing it across the room. It's all a matter of baby steps. "These are for me?"

[daretodo]

"Only if you give me good news," I say, though I quickly shake my head, rolling my eyes at myself. Bribing people has never much been my style, regardless of what that saying about desperate times calling for desperate measures likes to sell to the downtrodden. "Yeah, no, they're for you. That'd be pretty lousy of me, taking it back now. Don'tcha know pastry's serious business? You don't renege on that sort of thing."

[drownondryland]

"Well, thank you." Pushing aside her magazines, Meredith gets up to find Peter's chart. It's not like she doesn't already know its contents practically by heart, so she barely glances at it once she has it, more intent on finding something to write with that doesn't use green or orange ink. "I'm not sure I'll have news you want to hear," she continues, "and I could use pastry, so that's very much appreciated." After all, she's still not doing so great herself, in spite of her best efforts to rest and to keep that fact under wraps, and she wasn't hurt half so badly as he was. "How've you been feeling?"

[scotsfriction]

Lazily swanning into the clinic apple in hand, Amy ran right into the start of her conversation before she thought much about the location.

"So Rory, I've been thinking," she started pausing to take a bite and see exactly where he was. Stopping in the middle of the room she looked around before fixing on the woman who had just been speaking to her. "You're not Rory."

It sounded rather dumb when said like that, but then again it was the truth. It sort of put a bit of perspective on things when a person was looking for one someone and found another.

[drownondryland]

"No, I'm not," laughed Meredith, setting her highlighter down and spinning the chair (once Addison's, which was always strange to think of) to face the woman who'd walked in. "He should be in the other clinic tonight, actually. I'm Meredith - Dr. Grey. You must be... his wife?" He'd mentioned her almost from the start, and she could only imagine how pleased he was to have her here. Most people who came and went from this place had to worry about separation, but at least they got to be here together.

[scotsfriction]

"Ah, the boss. Yeah I'm his wife." Tucking her hair behind her ear, she smiled and shrugged at the woman. As far as bosses went, Meredith didn't seem quite as terrifying as some of the ward matrons at the local hospital back home. They had always given her looks when she went to visit Rory.

Taking a step closer, she held out the hand not currently holding an apple. "Amy Pond, nice to meet you."

[drownondryland]

Meredith pushed out of her chair, reaching to shake Amy's hand. "Pond," she said, "not Williams. I'll have to remember." It was pretty nice to hear, actually, to know that there was at least one other person on the island not willing to give up her name for the sake of a husband. Inasmuch as she'd thought about these things, she just didn't think she could stop being a Grey. "So I take it you're not a nurse, too, Amy?" It was a shame. They had all the doctors they could ever use, but they needed a few more nurses.

[justsookie]

Even if everyone has their flaws, the moments of immaturity that involve reverting to an elementary school state of mind, it's not something that Sookie expects from the responsible people in her life. The doctors, the police force, the stereotypical top jobs that don't so much limit people with the nature of the occupation as they do instead by setting societal expectations. Doesn't matter if you have the most brilliant student straight out of medical school- if they're constantly seen drinking themselves into a stupor on off hours, they're less likely to get the job. Doodling on magazines is, of course, a far cry from anything like substance abuse, but it's still not what Sookie expects to find as she makes her rounds in the Compound, searching for clothes, doing laundry, sometimes grabbing a book or two to take back to her hut, but stopping by the clinic to visit a friend. One who's remarkably close, considering how short of a time Meredith and Sookie have known each other for

[drownondryland]

Meredith laughs, biting her lip as she turns her head up to look at Sookie. "It's always one of those slow days," she says warmly, then nods sideways toward the page. "I might have finally snapped, though. Come on, have a seat, I can still use the company." As far as she's concerned, this is still a step. Looking at these things and laughing, changing their colors, instead of ignoring it or getting annoyed or throwing them aside, it's something. It's tiny, but surely it's something, especially given all the memories and issues Lexie's arrival has reawakened these last few weeks. Slowly but steadily, she's working toward change, and that in itself has to mean something, right? That she almost knows what she wants, at least enough to want the option.

[justsookie]

"If your version of snapping is just doodling in magazines, I'm pretty sure you're doin' a whole lot better than most of the people on this island," Sookie remarks with a raise of her brow before she rounds the counter and sits herself down right next to Meredith, pulling the magazine over and staring at whatever pages have managed to get by unscathed. It's impossible to stare at all of the dresses without thinking about which ones might look flattering with her body shape, the color of her hair, wondering if she'll ever get to wear one of those and even small details like whether or not the clothes box will offer her anything in the first place.

"So," she begins, pausing to try to decide which topic to chase after: the fact that Meredith's pulling wedding magazines off the bookshelf, or her own happy news. A peek over in Meredith's direction has her grinning broadly. "Mitchell told me he loves me."

[drownondryland]

Meredith's entirely prepared to explain that looking at these particular magazines feels close enough to snapping for her, less ready to look at the dresses as anything but a playground when she doesn't really know what to make of her thoughts and feelings on the topic. There's a look, though, like Sookie's about to say something, so she hesitates, too, and she's relieved she did.

"Oh, Sookie, that's great," she says, smiling warmly as she reaches over to touch her arm. What does it even matter if she isn't sure about her own future? She's sure she loves Sean and she's pleased for Sookie, and right now, that's enough. "I'm so happy for you. Now I really have to meet him."