THREE DAYS, IT'S BEEN THREE DAYS SINCE DEAN ENDED THINGS WITH maeve. three days since maeve hasn't left her apartment, three days since she last spoke to mark sloan, and it's been three days since she's been crying and drinking herself to sleep. no one knew, seeing as she didn't answer her phone, nor open her apartment door

mark sloan was beyond worried. he couldn't even ask for help because everyone, including sofia was upset with him. he hurt the one person who always seen the good in everyone.

dean salvatore had been walking around seattle grace mercy west hospital trying to find meredith grey. after he let go of maeve, tej took him back to his apartment, and the two got off the car they entered dean's apartment. as soon as they entered tej had asked what had happened. dean couldn't speak he was filled with anger and sadness. his whole apartment reminded him of her. his pillow case that had a smudge of her makeup, her clothes on the ground, the mess they created in the kitchen, and his favorite picture of them in a little frame in his room. all the anger and sadness built up caused him to punch the wall, wishing it was mark sloan. which earned him a sprained hand, luckily nothing major broke

"meredith!" dean called out once he finally spotted her

she turned around and gave him a sad smile "hey, how's the hand?" she asked

dean looked down at the elastic bandage wrapped around his wrist and palm "uh, it'll heal in three to eight weeks" he shrugged slightly "b-but, has she—

meredith shook her head "i've left her hundreds of messages and calls, but she just won't answer"

he let out a heavy sigh "w-what if something happened to her? w-why hasn't anyone stayed there until she opened the door? meredith, she needs someone" he ranted

meredith heart tugged, she and everyone knew just how much this man loved her goddaughter "dean, she needs you" she said softly

he shook his head "i can't. sloan's right, i'm bad for her and she deserves better. plus sloan won't let me go near her without threatening to tell the board about my side activities" he said as he fiddles with the bandage

meredith sighs "i'll check on her" she said, as dean looked at her with hopeful eyes

dean nodded "thank you" he said in relief

"you love her don't you?" she asked

dean felt his eyes sting slightly "with all my heart" he said before sending her a nod before walking away

♥︎

after her shift at the hospital, meredith walked to maeve's apartment. luckily she lived three minutes from the hospital. as she walked up to her apartment door she sighs softly before knocking on the door, thirty seconds past and no answer. so she knocked again "maeve, it's me meredith. you better open the door because i'm not going to stop knocking" she called out as she continued to knock

it felt like her millionth knock, her hand started hurting. she hoped that the neighbors didn't come out, but luckily the door opened. meredith's eyes sadden as she roamed over her goddaughter. dressed in a big t-shirt which she figured was dean's, a pair of silky sleep wear shorts, her hair seemed like it hasn't been brushed through, and red puffy eyes. what hurt her the most was that her green eyes, weren't as bright as they use to he

meredith pushed herself inside "please leave" maeve mumbled as she walked back into her bedroom. meredith followed but not before looking around her apartment, the kitchen looked like it hasn't been touched and her bedroom was messy, clothes scattered everywhere along with many beer bottles

maeve went back into her bed, covers hugging her body. meredith nodded slowly before joining her on her bed, she leaned up against the headboard "you know, letting go is the easy part. it's the moving on that's painful. so sometimes we fight it, trying to keep things the same. things can't stay the same though. at some point you just have to let go, move on. because no matter how painful it is, it's the only way we grow" she said

"dean loves you, he does. he thinks about you all the time. but that isn't what matters. what matters is what he's doing about it, and what he's doing about it is nothing. and that's because of mark, but still if he's doing nothing, you most certainly shouldn't do anything. you need someone who goes out of their way to make it obvious that they want you in their life" she said as she heard maeve sniffle, her heart tugged, she wished she could take away her pain "there was a moment years ago, i slipped and i fell into the sound, into freezing freezing cold water and i thought to myself for one moment i thought, why fight why not just stop?" meredith said, as her eyes filled with tears

"but you fought" maeve said as she looked up from her pillow

"no i didn't, i stopped. the reason i'm here is because the people who loved me didn't give up on me. so what i'm asking you, is this you telling me that you just need a few more days under the covers until you can finally let go or are you telling me that you want to stop?" meredith spoke to her and maeve turned to face her ceiling, tears filling her eyes

"i don't want to stop, and i do" her voice broke slightly

"okay, so then we are going to go talk to mark-

"i don't want to talk to him" maeve cut her off immediately

"okay, we can talk to lexie. then we're going to talk to dean-

she shook her head "i can't" she said as a few tears fell from her eyes

"i know, but we have to get you the right kind of help, we have to get you to see a therapist. you can't keep bottling up all of your feelings, nor drinking yourself to sleep. you only have a few weeks before you leave, mark was about to call rylie and tell her that you didn't want the job anymore, but i stopped him. you have to get the proper help so that your career is waiting for you, when you come back, come on sweetheart i have you please" meredith pleads "come on, all you have to do is get up and take a shower"

"are you telling me i stink?" maeve asked as she leaned up on her bed

"well i'm not gonna start lying to you now" meredith replies making her goddaughter laugh for the first time

♥︎

as maeve and meredith entered seattle grace mercy west hospital, the first to see them was jackson avery "maeve!" he called out

maeve turned to the familiar voice, she was immediately wrapped in a hug "h-hey, jackson" she said giving him a sad smile

"do you know if lexie is arou—

"maeve?" her heart sank, she heard his footsteps walk closer to her, she didn't want to turn around "honey-

"don't touch me, don't talk to me, leave me alone" maeve immediately turned around to face her father

mark's face fell, he was taken back "honey—

"you have absolutely no right wanting to call rylie!" she said raising her voice "just like you had no right to do what you did! i was happy and you ruined that" she shook her head, as a few tears rolled down her cheeks "just stay away from me" she said, her voice slightly breaking before she walked away to the elevators, meredith following her

as the elevators opened, her heart sinked, those ocean eyes were right in front of her "take the elevator, i'll take the stairs and meet you in doc wyatt's office" meredith spoke to maeve

maeve nodded and slowly walked into the elevator, she stood next to him. the two struggled with words to speak out. he cleared his throat "you're going to see a therapist?" he asked softly

she slowly nodded "yeah, meredith thinks drinking yourself to sleep isn't a good way to cope" she spoke with a sad chuckle

he closed his eyes as he leaned his head back on the wall. he was taken back when he felt her head lean against his forearm "i'm sorry" he spoke softly

she smiled sadly "this isn't your fault, you didn't have a choice" she said as the elevator came to a stop, it was her floor. she pushed herself off the wall, she was about to walk out but turned to face dean, she couldn't stop herself to hug him. he didn't fight it. as she pulled away she looked into his ocean eyes "see you around, dean"

♥︎