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She knew why Derek was blind to this. Amelia is his sister for crying out loud, of course, he doesn’t want to accept the fact that his sister, who is finally clean from oxy, has now moved to alcohol instead.
It was supposed to be a fun celebration. It was New Years' and almost everyone from Grey-Sloan was at Meredith’s house, aside from Derek, Bailey, and Richard who were stuck at the hospital but planning on coming later. Everyone was spread out through the house, but most were in the living room where all the food and drinks were. Lexie was getting too overwhelmed by the crowds, so she stayed upstairs with Meredith’s kids.
“Hey, are you being good for auntie Lexie?” Meredith smiled, entering the room Lexie was in. She was with Zola, she was older so due to the noise downstairs, she was struggling with sleeping, which was expected. Bailey was asleep in his room, and Ellis was asleep in her playpen in Meredith and Derek’s bedroom.
Zola nodded excitedly.
“We are having a tea party.” Lexie filled Meredith in, making her chuckle.
“Wow! Does auntie Lexie like your special tea?”
“She does!” Zola exclaimed. Meredith smiled at Lexie, she knew how much Lexie wanted to be an aunt, she loves watching Lexie spend quality time with her kids. Before Meredith could say anything else she heard yelling from downstairs. The words were slurred, she couldn’t make out what was said but she could make out the voice. Amelia. Her heart quickened its pace. Lexie shot Meredith a panicked glance.
“Bring Bailey and Zola into my room and lock the door. I just want to be safe.” Meredith whispered to Lexie. She nodded, scooping up Zola and following Meredith out the bedroom door. While Meredith rushed downstairs, she scooped up the still sleeping Bailey and brought the kids into Meredith’s room.
Meredith walked downstairs to see a drunken Amelia, as well as Link, Owen, Arizona, and Callie all trying to calm her down, while the rest of the doctors stood back, almost nervous to make any sudden movements.
“Let’s go, Amelia,” Meredith said sternly. Everyone who was trying to help stepped back, knowing that drunken Amelia will only listen to Meredith. “Someone bring a glass of water upstairs.”
Meredith took Amelia’s hand and practically dragged her to the spare bedroom. Thankfully the room had a garbage can just in case.
“Lay down. There’s a garbage can, just in case you start to feel sick.” Meredith sighed. Soon Maggie entered the room with a glass of water for her.
“What can I do?” Maggie asked.
“Just keep everything going. I can’t leave her alone up here.” Meredith replied. “Also can you tell Lexie everything is fine? She's in mine and Derek’s room with the kids.”
Maggie nodded, shutting the door behind her. Meredith sighed, staring at Amelia who was curled up in a ball, hugging the trash can.
“Can we sit up and drink some water?” Meredith asked. Amelia nodded sitting up, and sipping the water, that Meredith had to hold for her.
After what felt like hours, but was not that long at all, Amelia was asleep. Lexie came in quietly to see Meredith on the floor, staring at the sleeping Amelia.
“Zola finally fell asleep,” Lexie whispered, to not wake Amelia. Meredith looked at the time and saw it was only ten.
“That’s good. It’s not all that late.” Meredith replied,
“What happened with her?”
“It’s just her addiction. Nothing really triggers it, she just saw the alcohol and went crazy. I had a feeling this was going on, I tried bringing it up to Derek so many times but he never believed me.”
“I mean I understand why. He wants to believe his sister is clean.”
“Yeah. I get it too. I just wish he saw all of this go down. I’m so sick of having the ‘your sister is an alcoholic’ fight with him. I guess this is what I was like when Richard was struggling.”
“Is he coming soon?”
“He should be. I texted him telling him to come up here as soon as he walked in, he told me he was leaving the hospital as I texted him.”
As if on cue the door opened, and Derek looked puzzled. Lexie smiled softly at Meredith, stood up, and left the couple alone. Lexie shut the door behind her, as Derek came to sit next to Meredith.
“Why are we staring at my sleeping sister?”
“Your sister splashed out on the bottle, now no one's celebrating.”
“Meredith, how long are you going to keep doing this?”
“Until you comprehend the fact that she’s not clean anymore!” Meredith was whisper yelling at this point. She wanted to scream but the last thing they needed was Amelia waking up. “Relapsing is part of the recovery process. You turning a blind eye isn’t going to make things any better.”
“You don’t even like her, how do I know you’re not lying?”
“Why would I lie about this?”
Meredith flipped her arms up and left the room. “Make sure you stay here so she doesn’t choke and die in her sleep. I’ll come get you before the ball drops.”
She walked down the stairs, everyone making sure both she and Amelia were okay. She said yes, and told everyone not to worry about it. But clearly, no one was celebrating anymore.
She was about to enter the kitchen when she heard voices. They were talking about Amelia. She recognized those voices to be Link and Owen. She paused, listening to the conversation before she went in.
“She would’ve made such a lovely bride.” Link sighed. Meredith knew about Link’s plan to propose to Amelia. Meredith sighed knowing he was now second-guessing himself.
“What a shame she’s fucked in the head.”
This made Meredith come barreling into the kitchen. Owen jumped, looking incredibly guilty. He knew what he said was fucked up.
“Addiction is not being fucked in the head, Doctor Hunt ,” Meredith said his name with such venom, even Link looked terrified. Owen rushed out of the kitchen, while Link stayed behind.
“This isn’t her, Meredith.” Link said softly. She looked up at him and shook her head no.
“My dad gave me my mom’s ring when she died. I have her ring in my pocket, I was planning on proposing tonight.” Link told her.
“I’m going to try to get her to go to a meeting tomorrow. Sometimes it takes a while to convince her, but I’m going to try. I know it’s hard, but can you please try to support her? She really needs you and me both right now. I’ll be there with you.”
Link nodded. “Yes. I’ll be there.”
“Thank you, Link. She’s going to remember you being there for her. I promise.”
“Hey, the ball is dropping in ten,” Arizona told them, poking her head into the kitchen. Link walked into the living room, as Meredith ran upstairs to grab both Lexie and Derek.
“Let’s go. The ball is dropping soon.” Meredith told Derek. He sighed and nodded.
“Her breath smells like champagne.” Derek sighed. Meredith nodded.
“Yeah.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s an-“
“Derek, I don’t want to have this fight. I just want to kiss you when the ball drops and we can talk about this tomorrow.”
Derek nodded, following his wife down the stairs, Lexie not far behind. The doctors rang in the New Year together. One by one, couples slowly started to leave. Once everyone left, Derek and Lexie cleaned. Meredith went upstairs to bring Zola and Bailey back to their rooms. Meredith poked her head into the room Amelia was in to see her awake, sober but hungover, and nursing the water glass that was by her bedside. Meredith walked in and shut the door behind her.
“Hey.” Meredith greeted softly.
“Hi. Did I uh- did I miss the ball drop?” Amelia asked. Meredith nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Meredith I’m sorry.”
“Can you please go to a meeting tomorrow? Link is worried sick about you and Derek doesn’t believe me. Link and I will go with you.”
“Okay. Can you send Derek up here for me please?”
Meredith nodded and went to go grab her husband. Soon Derek was entering her room.
“Meredith is not wrong, Derek,” Amelia told him.
“What?”
“I got fucked up on champagne. I’m lucky Link still likes me. Don’t tell Meredith she’s wrong because she’s not wrong Derek. I’m not clean anymore. It’s just not drugs this time, it’s alcohol.”
“So she's right?”
“She is. I’m so sorry. She, Link, and I are going to a meeting tomorrow. I promise I’m going to get better again.”
Derek walked into his room, where Meredith was sitting on the bed, reading a book. She looked up and closed it when she saw Derek enter.
“I’m sorry. She just told me.”
“I told you I wouldn’t lie about that kind of thing. She’s my sister in law.”
Derek nodded. “I know. She told me you and Link are going to help her get clean?”
“Yes. She’s willing to work. I can tell.”
“Meredith, I’m sorry I accused you of lying this whole time.” Derek sighed.
“No, I get it. You just didn’t want to believe it. I did the same thing with Richard. She’s going to get sober Derek. I know she will.”
He sighed and placed a kiss on Meredith’s lips. “I really hope you’re right about this.”