The Ga on call room

Back in Seattle

A month had passed since Meredith had called Izzie with the news that she would indeed come to Seattle earlier, so she could help with the wedding. That meant Izzie had spent a whole entire month creating an itinerary for Meredith's visit. It was an itinerary that included Meredith only coming into contact with Derek and his nurse when necessary.

So a month later, it was not surprising to see Bailey's ex-interns, plus Lexie, making their way to a corner booth at Joe's, ready to unwind.

"So Mer's due here any day now and I..." Izzie began, in her upbeat tone

"We know Izzie, we got it the first five hundred times you've told us." Cristina interrupted. "And I'm sure we'll get it the next five hundred times you tell us."

Izzie just glared and continued, "I want everything to be perfect for her. She doesn't need any more drama, okay? She seems a lot more happier on the phone these days, almost as happy as she was before the accident."

"You just don't want your precious wedding photos to have Mer and Rosie, in the background, having an overdue catfight." Cristina snickered

"Girl on girl, now I'd pay to see that, wouldn't you Bambi?" Alex asked, showing no signs of shame, which got him a slap across the head from Lexie.

"Some of our minds aren't always in the gutter Alex." George retorted

"Which means that you'd enjoy it too." Alex smirked

"Listen guys, I forgot to tell you before we got here...I guess it just...slipped my mind, but we're going to have someone else join us tonight." Izzie tentatively began.

"Who? Sloan? Because I don't think that warrants a warning. The vomit inducing show that the two of you subject the rest of us too is hardly something knew." Cristina stated, while the others nodded in agreement.

"Actually, no. It's not Mark."

"Who is it then?" Lexie asked suspiciously, she had a feeling, and if it was correct, the results weren't going to be good.

"It was more of a reluctant invite...well it wasn't even really an invite, more of an ambush."

"Spit it out Barbie."

"Rose. Roseisgoingtohavedrinkswithus." Izzie spat out

This statement was met with complete and disbelieving silence.

"I thought we all agreed after her and Derek practically drove Meredith half way across the world, that we wouldn't voluntarily speak to her unless held at gunpoint." Cristina reminded Izzie, through gritted teeth

"Well, I kind of had to invite her. I couldn't really say no, not when she was standing there with Derek and Mark."

"Sure you could Izzie, 'No', see? Pretty simple." Lexie said, with a sudden fierce loyalty for her sister.

"It wasn't my fault!" Izzie responded with indignation. "I was talking to Mark about meeting for drinks tonight, Derek was there and suddenly Rose popped up out of nowhere and Derek asked if she could join us."

"You know who Rose reminds me of?" Cristina asked.

"Do we really want to know?" George asked wearily.

"She reminds of that crazy chick Alex was with right before Mer left. What was her name? Rebecca?Ava?...Anyway she reminds me of her, showing up everywhere, especially in the hospital, when she didn't even work there."

"Thanks Cristina. That little commentary was much appreciated." Alex told her, taking a sip of his beer, while receiving only a smirk in return. The group was so engaged in trading insults that they failed to notice the arrival of their topic of discussion.

"Hey everybody." Rose practically sang, with her drink in hand.

Izzie was the only one to verbally respond, while George offered a smile.

Rose sensed that she had interrupted something and innocently asked, "So what were you guys talking about?"

"You." Cristina and Alex bluntly replied.

"Oh." She responded, utterly dumbfounded.

"God Cristina! Would it kill you to be nice? And Alex, is it too much to ask for you not to be an ass for once?" reprimanded Izzie.

Just as they were about to respond, a voice from behind interrupted. " You know? In a changing world it's always nice to see some things never change."

Every head whipped around, and they each took in the sight of Meredith Grey. After four long years, she was back in Seattle.