Title: A Family Holiday
Word count: 1008
Derek had been bothering you for weeks to volunteer with him to give out candy for Halloween. You'd told him there wasn't a chance in hell you were going to waste a perfectly good night to pick up some drunk chick at a bar to hand out candy to brats in costumes. He hadn't listened. He signed you up without your knowledge, and when you'd tried to explain that to Richard, he'd said tough shit. Tough shit because you and Derek were the only names on the list so there was no one else. He said he wasn't going to leave Derek alone. You had suggested that he stay with Derek, but he'd mumbled something about having a migraine and walked away. You wouldn't have to deal with this if he'd done the right thing and made you Chief. He hadn't though. He didn't pick anyone but himself. Bastard.
"Hey. You came." Derek grinned up at you from the bench he was sitting on. He was wearing a costume. It pained you to even be seen with him in that moment. Chicks could wear costumes- because usually they dressed like tramps. Naughty nurses, dominating cops, dark angels. You had seen it all. You especially loved when they wore leather. Derek, on the other hand, could not wear any of these things and you approve. He couldn't even wear what he was wearing- which was Michael Meyers mask and "bloody" clothes. He didn't even have an imagination!
"You make me nauseous. Move over." You mumbled as you shook your head, barely waiting for him to obey before sitting down. You pulled your leather jacket tighter around your body. It was damn cold. You knew you should be glad it wasn't raining, but you couldn't make yourself. Although, if it rained, you could go inside and forget any of it happened. You wouldn't mind that, you realized as you looked up at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. Of course not, the one night you would not curse the rain, it wouldn't come. Life was absolutely sick and twisted in a way that you would never understand.
"Why aren't you dressed up?" He asked you, forcing you to glare at him. You'd been willing to keep your comments to yourself, but he clearly didn't want that. He seemed to WANT to be picked on. Leave it to Derek to be a nerd. Why you were friends with him, you would never understand. You just were, and as much as you liked to pretend otherwise, you needed him.
"Don't even." You rolled your eyes at him as two little kids walked up to you. A boy and girl. The boy was a vampire, and the girl was a zombie bride. You would have laughed at them except that Derek gave them candy before you could say anything and sent them on their way- back to their parents who were idling in the car in the parking lot. Who went to hospitals for candy?! You'd definitely never been to one as a child. Well, not that your parents had ever taken you. When you were with Derek though, the hospital had never been a stop.
"Be nice to them. It's Halloween." He insisted, and you wanted to ask what was his point. You didn't see how him holding a fake knife in his lap was very nice either. You wondered if he would lose it before the night was over. You were voting on yes.
"Why am I here, Shep?" You asked him as Lexie Grey walked past you without looking at either of you. You found it strange because lately, you two had been, well you wouldn't call it friends because you didn't do friends well, but she wasn't still the nerdy Grey. Not the better Grey because the other Dirty Mistress would always have a place in your heart, but she wasn't an inconvenience. Not that you would ever tell her that. Interns didn't need self esteems. It was pretty much against your core beliefs. "Why isn't Meredith out here freezing her ass off with you?" They were engaged after all! Wasn't that a couple thing? Spending the holidays together? Surely it was. You faintly remember Addison saying something of the sort the first Christmas they were married when Derek wanted to go out with you. That hadn't gone well at all. It'd ended with you having a black eye. Addison even got Derek's mom to talk to you about the importance of establishing family traditions. Because that worked so well for them.
You rolled your eyes as another small group of children walked up. You had no idea what they were supposed to be, but somehow it didn't make you laugh. You watched as Derek interacted with them, how easy he took to them- complete strangers in strange costumes. He didn't respond to you until they were out of earshot. You were kind of surprised when he turned to you and placed a hand on your shoulder. You'd had your fair share of emotional moments with Derek since you'd shown up at Seattle, but you didn't really care to have one outside of the hospital- in public.
"What?" You managed to ask after a moment of silence. You almost hoped some more kids would come, but they didn't- and you didn't want them to that badly.
"Didn't Ma ever teach you that holidays are to be spent with family." He winked at you before chuckling and removing his hand from your shoulder. You sat there, nearly stunned, for a moment before smiling yourself.
"Just us, huh?"
"Just us." Derek laughed, throwing his head back as he looked up at they sky. "It is just you and me this holiday, my friend." By the sound in his voice, you had a feeling he meant that it would be the last one as well. The realization saddened you, but you shook it away. You had survived one marriage together- barely, you could survive another.