Turned Upside Down - Grey's Anatomy

Chapter 9 - Messe München

Welcome back!

Reminder: All conversations between Meredith and a new character are meant to be in German, but are in English. Every conversation between Meredith and a known character is meant to be in English. I hope I make sense. Enjoy!

Chapter 9 - Messe München

The air was clear and crisp when Meredith walked to the subway station on this late September morning. At times like these, she realized how much she had missed the city. On her way to the subway station, she walked by the bakery at the corner, the Turkish and Greek fruit shops, and her usual grocery store. She had missed the people and their weird little quirks that she had hated before. Munich was the third biggest city in Germany, but somehow it had a small-town feel. There was always someone you ran into while being out and about. Meredith had missed knowing people outside of her job.

The subway station was pretty busy for a Saturday morning when the white and blue subway cart drove in. Normally only a handful of people needed to go places at this hour on a Saturday morning, but with the Oktoberfest in town normal life was disrupted.

Meredith got on the train and sat down on the old cracked fake leather bench. The stuffy smell of the subway cart reminded her of home, good times and weird encounters. The train had seen better days but was clean. The familiar announcement reminded travelers to stand clear of the doors. It had taken her years to finally understand the mumbled announcements, which were only spoken in German or the local dialect. The specific sound rang when the doors closed.

She wore navy slacks, a light-colored blouse that she had tucked in, a blazer, a light fall coat to keep her warm during the cooler morning hours and sneakers. In her purse, she carried a pair of nude heels. This morning she had gotten up earlier than she had originally planned to cover up the hideous bruise that had formed around her left eye. A ton of makeup later and Meredith had declared the mission to make herself look less than an assault victim as a semi-success. On normal days she had a hard enough time to apply makeup in a way that would last throughout the workday. Her current situation was way above her ability level. She was a surgeon and not a makeup artist. The result was just good enough that a room full of men wouldn't notice her injury right the second she walked in. She wasn't one that cared a lot about her appearance. She enjoyed dressing up for occasions but didn't care if she ran into someone after a long night in the hospital dressed in baggy jeans and an old sweatshirt. Yet it still bothered her that she was about to step in front of hundreds of reputable people with a black eye.

By the time she had made it home last night, she had been dead tired on her feet. The CT had shown a small orbital fracture but no other serious injuries – as she had expected. After they had stitched up her cut, she had been more than ready to go home and to finally lay down in her bed. But her doctor had had different plans.

"Okay then. I'm going to call up and see if they have a room for you upstairs." The ER doc finished stitching up her forehead. Meredith didn't know him, he had started working at the hospital after she had left in late June. He didn't know her either since she came back, she had been working only at days and never at nights.

"A room?" Meredith asked a little confused.

"I'd like to keep you overnight for observation and have ophthalmology look at you tomorrow."

"Yeah, not going to happen. I'm not staying overnight. I'm going home," she shook her head.

"I do understand that you want to go home but I would prefer if you stay for observation. There are risks ..."

"I know the risks. I'm a physician, I work here. And I'm very well aware of my condition and the signs I need to look out for. I'm not getting admitted or staying the night in the ER. I'm going to go home and sleep in my bed," Meredith told him in a tone that didn't leave much room for another argument.