Anti-Romantics

Doctor Dandridge

Meredith adjusted the corset of the cream dress wrapping her waist. She had gone through at least fifty dresses and none of them felt right. Not only was she agitated but her fiancé's mother and Izzie stood behind the curtain waiting for her to say it was the one. Her phone kept going off,  she chose to ignore it. She just wanted this day to be over.  "Come on out Mer."

"I feel like this dress is giving me a mammogram, it's squishing my boobs." She immediately regretted saying as soon as she remembered who was standing outside the curtain. She opened the curtain and revealed the big white dress. 

"My daughter in law is going to make a beautiful bride." Meredith forced a smile. She never was a traditional bride but she could suck it up for Finn, just like she wore her engagement ring. Medical school was tiring and this was a battle she wasn't willing to fight. He wanted a future with her and Ellis seemed somewhat okay with him. Not that Ellis really paid attention to her daughters life, she forgot everything she told her about.  

"This isn't the dress, I'm not really a big poofy dress girl."

"You've tried basically every dress.." Izzie furrowed her eyebrows.

"You know what it's fine, this is the dress. I changed my mind. It goes with the shoes.. and the veil." She tried to sound a little bit convincing.

"Perfect!" Josephine, her mother in law cheered. 

Meredith dug through her bag as the Izzie and Josephine left. She picked up her phone and dialed the number that kept calling her. "Hello?" To her surprise Seattle Grace was on the other line. "No, my mother she isn't.. you're wrong. Run the tests again! I'd like to speak with the chief of surgery." Her mother was one of the greats.. it had to be a false diagnosis. "So it's Alzheimers? Richard, you're sure?"  She hung up the phone before falling to her knees and sobbing in the pretty white dress. 

She threw her phone at the wall of the dressing room, her mom wasn't ignoring her she was sick but she was too busy sleeping around Europe to catch it. Too busy getting involved with a veterinarian for christ sake. She was a terrible daughter and she couldn't even pick up the phone call. She felt less like herself than she did a long time. She struggled to get out of dress and fiddled with the zipper. "Damn it, damn it!" Once she was freed she put on her day clothes and head out the door. 

"Ma'am you didn't put down a payment for the dress." A slim man grabbed her arm. 

"Fuck your dress!" She pushed open the door before wiping her tears. She practically ran to her car and put her keys in the ignition and sped to the hospital. To where she found Richard and Finn. Richard was the first to pull her into a tight hug. He was practically a father to her. "She's doing okay, she's somewhat lucid but they say she has progressed early onset Alzheimer's. I'm so sorry."

"How did I miss this?"

"Don't blame yourself. What's important now is her seeing you. Are you ready?"

"I guess, Finn?" She motioned with her hand for him to follow her. A look of guilt crossed his face. "Or not." She walked away to her find her mother feeling every negative emotion. She finally found her room.

"Took you long enough."

"Feeling better mom?" Her voice warm and soft.

"I would feel better if I knew you weren't going to fuck up your life and leave Finn."

"Mom what? You hated my relationship since like forever."

"You're failing medical school, I don't want you failing this marriage. You're a grown up Meredith act like it. Traveling to Europe? Seriously? What kind of surgeon are you going to be if you're unfocused? I don't want my legacy being tampered with."

"And for two minutes I was happy to see you." She sighed. "Finn and I are okay, he just works odd hours and I have school during the day so it's hard.. I spend most nights planning this stupid wedding. My grades aren't failing, I have C's."

"I will not have an average daughter, get it together. And on your way out get your fiancé, I'd like to speak with him."

She nodded. "Bye mom."  

A few months pass

Meredith called Finn about fifty times. He wasn't answering. She decided to take matters into her own hands and visit his office. She walked into the Veterinarian's office. "May I speak to doctor Dandridge?"

"He's not here."

"What do you mean he's not here? He told me he was working tonight?"

"He wasn't scheduled, I can help you see if he.." She cut herself off realizing Meredith had left the office. She knew exactly where he was. He had been getting some 'help' with the wedding from one of his close friends. She walked into the local bar, where they had apparently been meeting up. He argued that if Meredith could drink with Izzie so he could drink with his little friend. She scoped the bar and then checked the bathroom into which she could hear muffled moaning. Her heart sank when she noticed the shoes under the stall were his. She swung open the stall revealing him entangled with a brunette woman. "You have ten seconds to get some clothes on before I make a scene. Have some self respect and don't go finding it in a dirty ass bar!"

"You can't speak to me that way." Her whiny voice pierced her ears.

"Wanna find out bitch?" She puffed out her chest and clenched her fists. Finn placed his hand in front of the girl as if he was protecting her. "Come on Mer, go home get some rest, you're making a scene."

"We're getting married in three months and I am making a scene? Who do you think you are talking to?" She took off her ring and threw it at the two. She walked out of the bathroom before he pulled her back in. "Let go of me! Let go!" He slapped her shutting her up. She held her face in pain. 

"Don't disappoint your dying mommy, you aren't thinking straight. I made a mistake, we've had worse fights. Forgive me." He pathetically begged.

"How can I forgive you when your dirty skank is in the bathroom and there is cum on your pants?     I'm not the one who isn't thinking straight 'Doctor' Dandrige." She made quotes with her fingers. She tried escaping for the second time but his grasp only held stronger. "Let go, I'm not kidding!" He held tight.  She spat in his face before grabbing a beer bottle off the sink and smashing it over his head. He collapsed to the ground in agony. She walked out of the bathroom covered in his blood and not recognizing who she was anymore.  She was shaking, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She couldn't go home, it wasn't hers. More importantly she couldn't look in the mirror, she wasn't her.