InsaneJournal

Fic: Five Kisses Meredith Only Sort of Remembers (The Office)
Title: Five Kisses Meredith Only Sort of Remembers
Fandom: The Office
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Meredith/Pam, Meredith/Todd Packer, Meredith/Mark, Meredith/Michael, Meredith/Kelly, Meredith/Phyllis
Summary: the title pretty much says it all


1. Meredith/Pam, mentions of past Meredith/Todd Packer

On days Todd Packer was in the office Meredith always started drinking early. On normal days she’d wait to take her first drink till 11 AM when she took her mid-morning Big Gulp break. Waiting till 11 to take her first drink (her first at the office drink) made her feel virtuous and professional and like she was just a step away from sobriety.

On Todd Packer days she always said ‘fuck professionalism’ and snuck into the bathroom with her flask as soon as she caught sight of his face.

It wasn’t just that he was obnoxious and disruptive, though he was definitely that. It was that, once, years ago, she’d slept with him and he’d never let her forget. She’d been new to the company and he’d been incredibly sweet. Once they were actually in bed he’d been crude and smug but she chalked it up to kink and assumed he’d go back to normal once they returned to work. Sadly, normal for him turned out to be even cruder and smugger than he’d been in bed and she’d been trying to forget their encounter ever since. He’d never let her forget though with his constant leers and innuendos and so her default response to his presence was drinking.

This particular visit is worse than most. Todd was detailing his sexual history to Dwight complete with illustrations of positions and commentary on skill. Several of the other men in the office were clustered loosely around the desk grinning

Meredith was drunk.

Drunk enough that she just laughed when Todd got to the part in the story that involved a shy redhead who was new to the company. Laughed through the descriptions of the moans she made and the way she’d been gagging for it. Laughed right up to the part when Todd said, “and do you know who that little nympho was?” Meredith froze as Todd said her name and every face in the office turned to stare.

Slowly, shakily, she stood and made her way to the ladies room where she threw up her morning’s drinks.

When she came out of the stall, Pam was waiting for her, cheeks flushed and angry.

“Todd Packer is a dick.”

Meredith just nodded.

“No, seriously. He should be fired…or…castrated…or something.”

Meredith laughed at that and Pam put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry. Do you want a ride home or something? No one would think less of you if you bailed on the rest of the day.”

Meredith shook her head. “I’m okay. I can drive myself.”

Pam scrunched up her face a little. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Most of what I’ve had to drink today just ended up in the toilet.”

Pam nodded and took Meredith’s elbow and walked her to her car. To her surprise Pam gave her a hug and kissed her cheek before Meredith got into the car.

“Take care of yourself tonight okay?”

Meredith nodded and drove away.


2. Meredith/Mark

Jim’s roommate was hot. Meredith couldn’t help but notice. She may have been a middle-aged mother but that didn’t mean her sex drive was dead. (No matter what her ex thought.) Mark was hot and Meredith spent most of the barbeque watching him.

She wasn’t sure who suggested spin the bottle a few hours into the party but she was damn glad they had. When it was her turn she said a silent prayer to the gods of kissing hot guys and spun the empty bottle of blush wine.

It pointed straight at Mark.

Up to that moment all the kisses exchanged during the game had been chaste. No tongue, just brushes of lips and lots of giggling. Meredith decided to up the ante. She panther-crawled across the circle and straddled a surprised looking Mark.

She grinned at him and then leaned forward. She didn’t so much kiss him as try to devour him. He tasted like cheap wine and Doritos and she searched out every trace of flavor with her tongue.

When she pulled back he was wide-eyed and blushing a little and the rest of the circle was gaping at her. She leaned down to whisper in his ear “I’m going to go to the bathroom, meet me there in five minutes if you want to continue this.” And then she stood up and walked away from the circle.

She waited in the bathroom for fifteen minutes, but he never came.


3. Meredith/Michael

Michael cornered Meredith in the break room a few days after the Christmas Party.

“I feel that I should apologize.”

She looked blankly at him. “Why’s that?”

“I’m sorry if I did anything lead you on, to make you think there might be something between us.”

“Um…”

“I know I’ve got a great deal of magnetism and so it’s important for me to limit the sexual signals I send to my coworkers lest there be misunderstanding.”

She took a sip of her soda and continued to stare at him.

“Okay...”

“It’s not that I’m not attracted to you. I am. It’s not that I didn’t want to do something with you that night. You’re very beautiful, and I have gotten a great deal of enjoyment out of that picture…I just…professionalism demands that I not.”

She rifled through her memory, trying to come up with a time that she and Michael had been in some sort of compromising situation. She couldn’t come up with anything.

“I just can’t. Between my on-again off-again relationship with Jan and the fact that I’m your boss I really can’t.”

“Okay.”

“I’m very sorry…I just…oh screw it just one won’t hurt.”

He grabbed her by the hips and pulls her towards him kissing her hard and deep, twisting one hand in her hair and holding her to him with the other. After a few beats he stepped back and fidgeted with the knot in his tie.

“Right then. There can be nothing between us.”

He turned and walked back to his office leaving her shell-shocked behind him.


4. Meredith/Kelly

When Meredith found Kelly crying in the bathroom her first instinct was to flee. But she really had to pee and it was past her normal first drink of the day and she needed a moment alone with her flask. She walked to a stall and hoped that not paying attention to Kelly would mean Kelly didn’t talk to her.

She wasn’t that lucky.

Kelly started talking before Meredith’s ass had hit the seat.

“He cheated!” Kelly sniffled. “He cheated on me! Can you believe it? He wasn’t even sneaky about it! I went to his house to pick him up for a date and his front door was open and he was making out with this girl on his couch!”

“I can’t believe he did it! I thought we were the real thing, that we were going to be forever but it turns out he didn’t even respect enough to break up with me before moving on! I mean my friends warned me, said he wasn’t as nice to me as he should have been, that he didn’t treat me like a queen like I deserved, but I liked him so much you know?”

Meredith took a deep drag on her flask before standing, flushing and exiting the stall.

Kelly had moved so she was between the sinks and the door and she was still talking.

“And now I don’t know what to do. Should I give him another chance? I really like him and maybe it was just a one-time thing? Maybe he was experimenting and now he knows that I’m the one? Don’t you think that might be it?”

Meredith washed her hands and dried them and thought about how she could get to the door without having to do bodily harm to Kelly.

“But my friend Susan said that Rachel’s mom on Friends was right and it’s ‘once a cheater always a cheater’ but maybe he’s different you know? Do you think? I do. Maybe. I just don’t understand how he could do this. We were so good together! And we were gonna get married and have kids and puppies and maybe a bunny and we were gonna get a nice house with three bedrooms and a Jacuzzi. I was gonna wear white at my wedding because even though I’m not a virgin my mom still thinks I am. Plus white works really well with my skin tone.”

Meredith remembered hearing Ryan once tell Jim that the only good thing about dating Kelly was that he finally had a surefire way to shut her up. Jim had laughed a little and looked uncomfortable.

“Did you wear white at your wedding? Did you even get married or did you just have a kid. You got married right? So your son isn’t a bastard? Even though you got divorced and I totally think that’s wrong, as long as you were married when you had your kid it’s kind of okay. Anyway I hope you wore white because even if most women aren’t saving themselves anymore it’s nice to keep the illusion that you are you know? I mean, Pam’s been sleeping with Roy for ages and she still wore white at her wedding.”

Meredith stepped forward and kissed Kelly fast on the lips.

Kelly made a little eep and stepped way back.

“Oh my god! You’re a lesbian aren’t you? You’re totally gay and now that you know I’m single you want me! Well I don’t swing that way missy. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a lesbian it just isn’t for me.”

Kelly had moved just enough that Meredith could slip out the bathroom door and she was smart enough to take her opening while she had it.

“You know, some of my best friends are lesbians…”

The door swung shut behind her and Meredith sighed with relief.


5. Meredith/Phyllis

It was a surprise when Phyllis invited her over for dinner. They weren’t really friends. They’d socialized at office events and at the few ill-fated girls night’s they’d tried to arrange with the girls from the office.

But they’d never made much of a social connection and certainly weren’t the sort of people who went to dinner at each other’s houses. But Meredith was curious, and Phyllis was a good cook so she went.

When Meredith arrived at the house Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration) let her in. The air smelled like pot roast and Bob offered her a glass of wine while Phyllis made small talk and she cooked.

Conversation was surprisingly easy. Away from work, from Michael, from the other women it turned out that Meredith and Phyllis had a surprising amount in common. Bob kept bringing her glasses of wine and she felt relaxed and easy, like she was slowly and delightfully uncoiling.

They finished the pot roast and they had another two glasses of wine smiling across the candlelit table at each other. When their glasses were empty Phyllis scooted her chair closer to Meredith’s.

She smiled, wide, but shy. “You’re probably wondering why I invited you here tonight.”

Meredith wasn’t, not at this point, but she nodded anyway.

Phyllis blushed a little and looked sideways at Bob.

“Well, it’s Bob’s birthday.”

“Happy Birthday,” Meredith said and Bob smiled and nodded.

“Anyway,” Phyllis continued, “I wanted to do something special for Bob and…he has this fantasy.” She gave Meredith a significant look and Meredith looked blankly back.

Phyllis gave Bob a hesitant look and Bob nodded, grinning and then Phyllis leaned in and touched her lips to Meredith’s. Meredith’s mouth dropped open in shock and Phyllis pressed her advantage dipping her tongue between Meredith’s lips.

The kiss was wet and sloppy but good and when Meredith felt Phyllis’s hand slide up her side she just pressed closer. Phyllis was warm and soft and gentle and it had been a long time since Meredith had had gentle.

Phyllis pulled back after a few minutes. “So…can we?” She bit her lip and looked from Meredith to Bob and back.

Meredith nodded and let Phyllis tug her to her feet and then toward the bedroom with Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration) following behind.