"It's strange," Meredith said by way of greeting, as she plopped into the spare seat.
"What is?" Izzy asked, offering her a chip from the bag she was holding.
Meredith took one and popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.
"If this is heading into an angst fest about McDreamy, I'm out of here," Cristina volunteered, not looking up from her book. "I've filled my quota for the week."
George rolled his eyes at that statement and leaned forward to pick up his juice. "Go on Meredith."
"It has nothing to do with Derek," Meredith said, pointedly looking at Cristina. "In fact, the only thing strange with us is that there's nothing strange going on with us."
"Ok, nothing strange with Shepherd, go on," Alex cut in impatiently.
"Alright, alright!" Meredith unwrapped her sandwich. "I have this patient, and he's just had a cornea transplant - "
"The guy who had the tumour as well? Damn, you got it? I wanted in on that," Cristina grumbled, looking up from her book after realising this might be an interesting conversation.
"Right," Meredith went on, ignoring Cristina. "And he had the bandages taken off yesterday... but last night, he thinks... he had this dream about seeing death."
Alex shrugged. "Big deal, he's just gone through a major surgery, of course he's having weird dreams."
"Yeah, that's not really strange, Mer," Izzy agreed.
"No, but... he dreamed he saw death take an older lady, and I checked it out, and a woman did die last night. At the same time he claims to have woken up and seen it. Don't you think that's a little strange?"
"He probably heard the nurses talking about it," George said, shrugging.
"And just made it up?" Meredith raised her eyebrow skeptically. "I know we go off the assumption that every patient is a liar, but this is a bizarre thing to lie about."
"Not really," Cristina said. "What's his history? How did he lose his eye? Maybe he wanted more attention. Now that he has two working eyes, there's not much incentive for his friends and family to fawn over him."
"He didn't seem like the type," Meredith told them. "I don't know... I'm going to ask Derek if we can keep him in a bit longer for observation."
"Call the psych ward, he's a nut," Alex said casually. "Don't waste your time on stuff like this, Grey. You get too involved."
"Says the guy stuck on the gynie squad," Izzy laughed. "Don't tell me you're not involved with those babies."
"Man, The She-Shepherd is driving me insane."
The rest of the group continued their conversation over lunch, while Meredith's mind was preoccupied with Xander.