Let It Go

1.

Meredith Grey was bored. Not bored in the sense that she had nothing to do. She had plenty she could do. She could unpack the numerous boxes stacked up around her living room and various other parts of her house. She could go to the grocery store and fill up her currently empty kitchen cabinets. She could read up on a new procedure she'd heard about right before she'd finished up her fellowship in Chicago. From what she'd gathered, the head of neurosurgery at her new hospital was new on the job and rather full of himself. She'd need to be on top of her game. Knowing something he didn't know would be as on top of her game as she could get.

She could make flyers to advertise for a couple of roomates to help fill her large home. Why she had thought it a good idea to buy such a big home was beyond her. No single, career-oriented woman needed a four bedroom house in the suburbs. She blamed her decision to buy it on the built in floor vacs. She could drop a whole box of cereal in the kitchen and all she'd have to do to clean up the mess would be sweep the heap of cereal pieces towards the vent and turn it on. That was seriously worth buying a four bedroom house she didn't need.

Deciding she couldn't ignore the growling in her stomach any longer, she stood from the sofa she'd plopped down on a couple of hours earlier, her yorkshire terrier, Oliver, jumping off the couch and following her as she went up the stairs. A long hot shower and some clean clothes were in order before setting out in search of food. Ignoring the nagging feeling that she really should start unpacking, she decided it was time to explore her new city - town, she corrected herself. Charlottesville was not a city - not really. It was a town. A big one with a shopping mall and a Wal-Mart but a town none the less. Cities had lots of lights and noise and congestion and pollution. Not easily moving traffic save for certain hours of the day or realtively quiet nights. And the people. They were all so freakin' friendly. Charlottesville was not a city. It was town. A town with one of the best medical centers in the country. And starting tomorrow, she would be it's newest attending neurosurgeon - the only female neurosurgeon on staff. She grinned a bit as she turned the shower on and held her hand under the stream of water while it slowly warmed up. She couldn't wait to start cutting and put the boys to shame.

**************

Derek Sheperd considered himself a simple man. As simple as a man could get really. He didn't like a lot of fluff. Fluff was annoying. Charlottesville had a lot of fluff. That's why he lived in Nelson county. Sure, it was a forty minute drive into work and sure, driving home after long hours at the hospital sometimes sucked. But he had one hell of a view of the mountains. And a ski resort within fifteen minutes of his house. Fifteen minutes and he could be driving up the mountain to ski. He liked to ski. Wintergreen was the only ski resort within a few hours of him. And it was in his backyard.

He'd grown up in Charlottesville, his family a staple in the high society scene. He'd done the country club thing, attended the twice yearly steeplechase races where everyone dressed up like they were going to a royal wedding only to end up sloppy drunk long before the races were over. He'd gotten his bachelor's at the University of Virginia and then had attended med school there. Thanks to his father's status as head neurosurgeon though, he'd been denied residency there, something about conflict of interest. Therefore he'd done his residency in Boston, his fellowship in Indianapolis, and had been an attending in Green Bay ever since finishing his fellowship. At least until his father had retired and thanks to word of mouth, connections, and his superior skills, he had been appointed head of neurosurgery. He was home now. After Green Bay, home was the place he needed to be, with or without his overly good intentioned sisters checking up on him at every turn.

Glancing at his wristwatch, he decided he didn't feel like sitting at home this evening. Mark had invited him to cruise the corner like they'd done when they'd been in college. Spending some time on the Corner would be good. And there would be scotch. Scotch was good. He placed a call to Mark to confirm their plans and arranged to crash at Mark's place in town that night to avoid driving home only to wake up in a few hours just to drive back. Plans in place, Derek headed into the shower of his small trailer, finding himself looking forward to hanging out with his oldest friend.