Fever 4


"Help!" Meredith Grey drags Cristina outside the door of Joe's bar.

"Mer, are you alright!?" says Cristina.

"I have a burning raging fever," says Meredith.

"Okay, do you need some antibiotics?" says Cristina, shrugging.

"No! Not that kind of fever! The kind that gives you chills and warmth all over!" says Meredith.

"So, you're having cold sweats. Should I be getting you some Pedialyte here?" says Cristina.

"No! I mean the kind that's brought on by someone, not some bacteria!" says Meredith.

"Oh, so you're just having another panic about McDreamy, now that, I have no solution for," the raven-haired woman smirks.

"Not McDreamy!" says Meredith. "This is so, so, SO, much worse!" says Meredith.

"What could be worse than Derek?" says Cristina.

"Nothing!" says Meredith. "Or, so I thought! And now this! And help, because I'm hot all over!" says Meredith.

"Do you want some ice?" says Cristina.

"Yes? No? I don't know, I just have to get out of here!" Meredith yells.

"Okay, do you want me to get you a getaway car then? Because I think I'm too drunk to drive one," says Cristina.

"Alrighty, then just help me hide from Dr. Montgomery," offers Meredith

"You're now afraid of Derek's ex-wife?" Questions Cristina.

"Hey, don't fucking judge me, okay!?" says Meredith.

"Is this about-" Cristina starts, but Meredith covers her mouth over with her hand.

"Shhh- Cristina!" Meredith shout-whispers. "I'm hiding," says Meredith.

"Okay then… But you SO owe me," Cristina laughs.


As the evening progresses, Meredith expects Addison to start singing again, but then when she doesn't, she starts to feel bored and restless.

"Okay, can you check to see if she's there!? I want to go in again, but I can't have her staring at me!" says Meredith.

"You realize this is sort of pathetic right?" says Cristina.

"Come ON, Cristina!" says Meredith. "I'd do it for you!" she offers.

"I'm not avoiding Burke at a bar, but okay," says Cristina.

"Ha! But you were! So this is the pot calling the kettle black here!" says Meredith triumphantly.

"Yeah but I have a reason to avoid Burke, we're in a tumultuous relationship. You and the she-Satan, you're not dating each other, so there's no reason for you to be this freaked out over seeing her!" Grumbles Cristina.

"Right.." Meredith sighs, her face flushing red as an apple when Cristina accidentally put the idea of her dating Addison Montgomery inside of her skull.

"Alright, so next time you have to avoid someone you're actually dating, let me know, and THEN we can be even," her best friend supplies her.

(Though Meredith imagines that if she were actually dating Addison, then she'd be doing the very opposite of avoiding her).

"Alright," says Meredith. "Is the coast clear!?" she asks her.

"Yep," says Cristina, while popping the 'p,' the hallway is distinctively Montgomery-less, she offers.

"Great," says Meredith, braving the doorway to go into the bar again.


"And now, to round out the evening, we present to you, the 'Dance Dance Revolution Tournament!' George O'Malley announces over the microphone.

"Perfect…" Meredith mutters to herself, as she skips over to the bar to ask Joe for another tequila.

"Do you maybe want some ice water with those?" Joe winces as Meredith downs three of them.

"Ice water is bad Joe. I nearly died in it," Meredith deadpans.

"Well, alright then," says Joe with a laugh. "I'll get you some with no ice then," he says as he fetches it.

Meredith downs the water appreciatively, and Meredith downs it before she stares right ahead at the bar.

Despite herself, she can't help but keep scanning for a certain redhead who she hasn't seen (because of her own efforts, of course), since she'd fled her interactions with her, earlier.

"Hey, do you want to compete in the Dance Dance Revolution tournament with me?" a voice asks Meredith easily.

"Huh?" says Meredith, spinning around way too quickly.

"DDR, are you in?" Husks the voice.

"Whoa, what!?" says Meredith, realizing that she's falling and that then she's not falling anymore, because somebody is catching her, and then now she's swaying, and when she opens her eyes again, she realizes who she's been holding.

"ADDISON!?" Meredith jumps away with a start.

"Yes?" Addison questions. "Oh, you don't want to dance with me. That's okay…" Addison steps away shyly.

"OH! Umm, yes, I do-" Meredith says before she can help herself. "I think we'd ah- make a great dance combination," she says, twirling her hair around nervously.

"Great, I'll see you up there," Addison flashes her award-winning smile, and Meredith nearly falls on her feet again.

"Great…" Meredith swoons as she stumbles back to the bar again.

"SO YOU ASK ME TO HELP YOU AVOID HER, AND NOW YOU'RE GOING DANCING WITH HER!? WHAT THE HELL MEREDITH!?" says Cristina.

"I have no idea!" says Meredith. "One minute, she's giving me hot flashes. The next minute, she's walking. The next minute, she's sauntering, and I can't control myself around her. You've got to help me!" says Meredith.

"As in, she makes you want to punch her out in the face?" says Cristina.

"No, as in, I have no idea how she makes me feel, but one minute, I'm normal, and the next minute, I just want to leap into her arms again-" Meredith groans aloud.

"Wait what- when did you leap into her arms?" says Cristina.

"Back the first time when I got a fever," says Meredith. "She ah- she helped me out a little bit," says Meredith.

"So now you're avoiding her because you're embarrassed she had to carry your sorry ass?" says Cristina.

"Yeah, that's right-" Meredith tries to justify.

"So in return, you're doing this favor for her by dancing with her?" says Cristina.

"Right-" says Meredith. "That's it. Thank you, Cristina!" says Meredith.

"No problem?" says Cristina, but as she turns around, Meredith has already stumbled off again.


"And next up in our Dance Dance Revolution Duo Competition, we have Mark Sloan and Derek Shepherd with 'Can't Help Fallin' In Love,' George announces, as McDreamy & McSteamy walk out to the dance floor.

"Oh goodness," says Addison as she watches her two ex-lovers deliver their breakdancing routine that she knows so well.

"Impressive!" says Alex Karev as he walks by and scoffs a little bit.

"Hey, I can bend that way!" says Izzie, before Alex discounts her.

"Do you think we should enter?" Preston Burke says to Cristina Yang.

"I'm already entered with Evil Spawn, and Bambi, and Dr. Model," Cristina smirks.

"Well, I'll just have to enter with… Hey, Richard!" says Burke.

"Good luck with that," says Cristina as she walks away smiling.

The trio is up next after George edited the rules so he could participate along with his friends.

"Hey, why isn't Mer joining us?" says George.

"She's joining the she-devil," Cristina shrugs.

"Hot!" says Alex.

"ALEX!?" says Izzie, slapping him on the arm, playfully.

"What, it's cool," says Alex.

"I agree," says George.

"Ugh, pigs," says Izzie. "Now get on your side!"

Meredith watches from the side of the room as her intern friends do their thing, and her heart starts beating faster and faster as she anticipates dancing with Addison.

"Nervous?" says Addison, finding her way right beside her.

"Extremely," Meredith breathes out, shakingly.

'But not for the reason you think,' she imagines.

"Do you want to do a practice round?" Addison asks her.

"S-sure," says Meredith, reaching out to Addison's outstretched hand gingerly the same way she had when she'd first met the woman inside the hospital lobby.

"Follow me," says Addison, as she leads them out to an open space, and begins twirling her around effortlessly.

Their bodies flow and ebb in sync and Meredith finally feels whole again like she hasn't in a very, very, long time.

Eventually, Addison rests her chin on the top of Meredith's head, and Meredith sighs into the contact.

"Why did you pick me?" Meredith whispers, not really expecting Addison to hear her.

"Because you're a great dancer," says Addison easily.

The tension could be cut with a scalpel at this point, and neither one of the women has the will to let go.

"But how did you even know that?" says Meredith.

"Lucky guess," Addison husks into her ear.

Meredith shivers and has to contain herself not to moan aloud at Addison's seductive voice.

"Are you ready?" Addison whispers.

"Ready when you are," Meredith smiles.

And in perfect timing for both of them, their names are called, and they both make their way over to the stage.


***** END OF CHAPTER 4