On Call | Grey's Anatomy // Book 3 // COMPLETED

45 | Dinner Party Disaster

"Penny, it's a pleasure." Meredith plastered a smile on her face, "Won't you come in? You can put your coats right in here. Can I get either of you something to drink? Beer, wine, margarita?"

"Oh, a margarita sounds good, but I'm on call, so club soda with lime." Callie smiled.

Penny wiped her hands on her shirt. "I'm fine."

"What? No!" Callie told her, "I'm the one on call, not you. Come on, have some fun tonight. I'm driving. White wine for you? Yeah. White wine for her."

"Coming right up," Meredith told them as we started to walk off.

"I don't think this was a good idea." I heard Penny say, "We should leave."

Callie gasped. "What? That's crazy."

"It's just...it's too much too soon."

"Relax. Everyone is going to love you."

Following Meredith into the kitchen, I kept trying to talk to her, but she just didn't want to hear it. Just then, Maggie ran in with a bunch of groceries and she and Amelia started arguing about when dinner would be.

"This dinner's gonna be a disaster." Alex chuckled.

"Everybody, stop talking." Maggie took charge, "Meredith, you take over. I got to pee!"

"Were you gonna do something with those?" Stephanie gestured to the win glasses in Meredith's hands.

Meredith was silent for a second. "Um...yes." Meredith handed the glasses to Amelia, "Uh, club soda with lime for Torres and white wine for her friend."

"She's here?" Amelia asked, "Is she nice?"

"I like the hole where the wall was." Alex complimented the house. He and Jo had recently bought a place together, so he hadn't been around in a while.

"Thank you so much." Meredith smiled at Alex and Jo, "Can I get you two a drink...margarita, wine, beer?"

Jo was a little confused at how nice Meredith was being at first. "A margarita would awesome."

"What's wrong?" Alex eyed Meredith, "You're being weird."

"A beer and a margarita coming right up." Meredith grabbed the blender.

Alex looked at Jo. "She's being weird, right?"

"She's being nice. To me. Which is weird."

As Meredith turned the blender on, her face went completely blank. I could already tell that this night was going to be hell.

As the night went on, we still didn't have any dinner because Maggie, who was supposed to cook, had to go to the hospital for a U.T.I. she got after sleeping with the intern, Andrew DeLuca. Meredith was trying not to have a breakdown and Owen still hadn't arrived.

"I don't even know what Maggie was gonna do with this." Amelia stared at the table of groceries, "Should we order pizza? Let's just order pizza."

"Did something happen?" Alex kept bugging Meredith, "Is it the kids? Did Maggie leave? Is it Maggie?"

Meredith hushed him. "No. Stop it. We are not ordering pizza. There is plenty of food here."

"No one knows how to cook it." Amelia groaned, "Everybody loves pizza."

"Who are you trying to impress? Penny?" Arizona asked, "'Cause Penny will roll with it. She's a delight. She's smart. She's funny. We have a crazy amount in common. Oh, God. Maybe I should date Penny."

"No." Alex gave her a dirty look.

Arizona shrugged as she started to laugh. "She's pretty. Callie...Callie picked a pretty Penny."

"How much have you had to drink?" Alex asked her.

Arizona just picked up a box of crackers and started eating them. 'A lot' she mouthed.

"So, what...ten pizzas?" Amelia looked around at the number of people.

"Just give me this." I grabbed the bags of food, "I'll cook. April, Jo, you wanna help?"

April walked over. "I need something to do anyways."

Meredith joined us and before long the kitchen was actually being used. Callie had to run to the hospital, but she left Penny with us, which was just...awesome. A few more guests arrived and us girls kept cooking. Everything was turning out not so bad, at least in the food department.

Jo called Issac, who arrived with some cheese that we needed and minutes after that we were sitting at the table, ready to eat. Owen still hadn't arrived yet, but he was probably just stuck doing something.

"Uh, where's Torres?" Alex asked.

"She's at the hospital," I told him.

Jo looked at Penny. "What, she just left you here by yourself? I would kill you."

Penny just smiled. "She said she'll be right back. Although, we all know how night calls go. I might be asking one of you for a ride home."

"Yeah, well, she better get back soon, otherwise I'll take you home myself." Arizona spat out, "Find a Penny, pick it up. No? What, I'm-I'm being nice."

"Dr. Robbins, you drunk." Bailey put some salad onto her plate, "Don't think I've ever seen that. I like drunk Robbins."

Arizona started to laugh, "I do, too."

"So, Penny, I've been chained to the stove all night. What did you say you do?" April questioned, keeping the conversation going.

"I'm a doctor." Penny answered, "A surgery resident, actually."

"Of course. Penny's a doctor." Arizona started talking again, "'Cause Penny's perfect...perfect, pretty Penny."

April grabbed one of the bowls as it was passed around. "Where do you work?"

"At the moment, uh, technically, I'm between gigs."

Amelia looked at her. "What does that mean?"

"Well, uh, last year...the hospital where I was working was closed down. And then, um, right before I met Calliope-"

"Aww, Calliope." Arizona gushed, "I used to call her that."

Penny just ignored drunk Arizona. "It's kind of like a joke with us 'cause my name's Penelope. Penelope, Calliope."

"Penelope Blake!" Bailey shouted out of nowhere.

"Whoa, see who's drunk now?" Arizona mocked.

"That's why I know your name." Bailey smiled, "You're in my calendar. I have a meeting with you on Monday."

Penny nodded. "Yes."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, she is a new resident transfer."

Meredith's face dropped. "What?"

Bailey sighed, "Well, yeah. She's joining the program at Grey-Sloan Memorial."

Everyone except Meredith and I cheered. "Are you kidding?" Meredith asked, "Is she kidding?"

Penny swallowed hard. "I rematched...to Grey-Sloan Memorial."

"Where were you working before...the, um, place that closed?" Amelia took a sip of her drink while Meredith and I sat frozen.

"It was, uh a...smaller suburban center out by the sound," Penny told her.

"She was at Dillard." Meredith said, "Dillard Medical Center."

"Dillard? Dillard?" Jackson repeated the name, " Isn't that, um..."

"That's where Derek died." Meredith faked a smile, "Isn't that right, Penny?"

Penny's face was full of terror. "That's-that's right."

"Perfect Penny killed my husband." Meredith blurted out, bringing a wave of silence over the dining room. "Kepner, the food is getting cold. Let's pass those peas."

"Meredith..." I whispered.

When no one moved, Meredith just threw her napkin down on the table and stood up. "Excuse me." she walked off without another word.