Locked Away

Chapter 38

"I'm really impressed with the progress that you're making Meredith. I thought you were going to slip downwards after the incident when we couldn't find you a month ago but you didn't let it stop you. You just continued to work on your recovery." Dr Wyatt says, smiling brightly at Meredith.

"Thank you." Meredith said softly, watching the fish swim. Meredith has really been improving even more in the past month. She is starting to become more independent like she was before she was kidnapped. And some of her fears are getting better. Of course, it'll never be 100% gone but she is learning how to really manage her triggers.

"Meredith, I have talked to Dr Webber and I have decided that you are ready to go back to work and your internship. How does that make you feel?" Dr Wyatt asks.

"Scared." Meredith admits. "I'm excited to go back to work but at the same time I'm scared. And worried because I'm so far behind in my internship now. Plus I'm now a year behind everyone else. I'm going to have to redo my intern year. What if something goes wrong and I can't do my job?"

"It makes sense that you are scared. I wouldn't have expected otherwise. But once you get back to work and your internship those fears will go away. You just need to get back into the swing of things. And we'll just take it one day at a time. You will have your appointments with me and we can even meet after your shift if you'd like. I know they'll give you some easier shifts timewise until you get back into the hang of things. And yes, unfortunately you've missed a lot of time from your internship so you will have to redo your intern year. But you can do that! And to make it easier on you, I heard that you're getting Yang as your resident so that will help you a lot. This next intern year has already started but you'll do fine as you've already started your intern year. And everything will come back to you. I'm not worried about that. And if you ever need to come see me during a shift we can definitely do that."

"Okay. I guess that makes it a little less overwhelming having Cristina as my resident. She'll help me get used to everything again and just working again."

They talk for a little while longer before her appointment is over.

"Good luck Meredith! You can do this!" Dr Wyatt says smiling at her.

——————-
Two days later Meredith goes back to work.

"Mer! Come on, we're going to be late!" Cristina calls out to Meredith. "We need to go now!"

"I'm coming!" Meredith yells back. She looks at her reflection in the mirror and takes a deep breath in and then releases it. "You can do this." She says to herself. She then leaves the bathroom and grabs her things and goes to meet Cristina downstairs.

"Good luck today Mer! I'm so proud of you sweetie!" Carolyn says and gives Meredith a hug.

"Thanks." Meredith says with a little smile. "I'm really excited to go back."

"Mer! Let's go! I want to get all of the good cases!" Cristina calls out.

"Coming!" She calls out. "Bye!" She says to Carolyn and follows Cristina to the car.

They get to the hospital and they change into their scrubs.

"I really hate that I have to redo my intern year." Meredith sighs.

"I know, but you already know so much. And hey, maybe Webber will let you take the intern test early. You never know."

"I hope so."

"Okay, you're on my service today. You're lucky you're my person cause the rest of my interns are numbers." Cristina sees the rest of her interns. "2,3, and 4! Get over here!"

The three other interns quickly come over.

"Okay Meredith, I just told you, you're with me. 2, pit, 3, trauma, 4, pit."

"Why does she get a name? That's not fair." The interns all started complaining.

"Because she's my person and she's better than all of you. Now stop complaining and go to your assignments before I assign you all to scut."

The three interns quickly leave.

"Okay Mer, let's go."

The two quickly get involved in a case and Meredith is distracted from all of her thoughts. She's so deeply involved in the cases that her mind doesn't give her a chance to worry about anything.

Meredith and Cristina scrub in on an surgery and it goes well.

"That... was exhilarating. I'm so happy to be back." Meredith says happily.

"I'm so glad you're back! I'm so happy that you're doing so well Mer. I don't say this often but I'm so proud of you." Cristina says smiling. Her pager goes off. "I gotta go check on something. Can you check on the patient in 210?"

Meredith nods and heads to that room but before she can get there she is cornered by one of Cristina's other interns.

"You may think you're getting special treatment because of your friendship with Yang, but that won't last. She'll end up making you a number. Watch your back!" The intern threatens. "I don't know why the chief let you come back. You missed so much already. You were probably being so lazy and just not wanting to come in. And now you decide to come in? Yeah, that won't work." The intern is clueless about Meredith's situation.

Meredith feels trapped and starts to get nervous and scared but tells herself to breathe. "You watch your back! Cristina is my best friend and the chief is basically like a father to me! And I was not being lazy! You have no idea what my life has been like! I was kidnapped and held hostage for almost a year! I was abused and raped every day! I thought I was going to die without being able to see my friends ever again! I thought he was going to kill me! So you don't get to have an opinion about my situation!" Meredith seethes.

"Oh, um. Sorry." The intern quickly rushes off.

Meredith quickly breathes in and out.

"You okay Meredith? I heard what that intern said. I'm so sorry for what they said. You didn't deserve that or what happened to you either." Derek says softly to her.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm actually okay." She says smiling at him.

I hope you liked! Only a few more chapters left