HI EVERYONE! I have a new fic, I hope you all read it. It's a continuation of midnight, my other fic, and it would be good if you read that first, although it's not a pre-requisite. If you haven't read it, or forgotten it, midnight loosely follows the GA storyline, although Derek chose Meredith after the bomb and they tried to make it work, and are now married, over a year from that point. The premise of this fic is... even though they are married and closer than ever, there are still somethings they don't know about each other... I hope you like it, enjoy reading it, and leave comments.

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Meredith could feel Derek's breath hit the back of her neck in a steady rhythm as she tried to remain in that zone between sleep and being awake, where you hoped it was going to be a Sunday forever. But then she heard the alarm go off, and she knew it clearly wasn't a Sunday morning feeling. She felt Derek's weight lean into her, and he untangled his fingers that had met hers, hidden under the comforter, to fumble for the button to stop the alarm.

They both basked in those few moments of silence, finding their positions again as they wished for it to be a Sunday. She felt Derek's lips find her bare shoulder in his usual sleepy morning greeting, his arm gathering her up tighter into his chest as he tried to almost soak up every bit of Meredith he could before the day got too busy and he lost her to everyone else.

Meredith's free arm pulled the comforter up around her head, groaning. "Do we have to go to work today? Can't we just sleep in?" She grumbled, her voice muffled under the covers.

"Like a Sunday morning?" Derek asked, amusement in his voice.

"Yes. I wish it was a Sunday morning."

"The ironic thing about it, Mer, is that it IS actually a Sunday morning." Derek replied, getting out of bed.

"I hate this job!" Meredith called to him as he entered the bathroom.

She didn't hate the job- but she definitely hated the hours. She didn't like the fact she only got one weekend in four completely off and free to do whatever she liked, like normal people did. She hated the way there were some weeks she and Derek barely saw each other in the hallway when they were on opposite schedules, and it seemed most of their conversations were carried out over the phone. The bed was still warm, and it was still dark outside. It seemed unfair that they both had to be awake, that the sound of Derek in the shower was stopping her from sleeping a few minutes longer.

By the time Derek came out of the shower, Meredith was curled up into a ball, determined not to get out of the warm cocoon of their bed until she absolutely had to. Meredith wasn't a morning person- Derek knew that. She was barely personable until she had two cups of coffee in her, and Derek knew the days when she was especially grumpy, staying well clear of her until she woke up. It was just a shame that the occupation they were in required them to be up at very antisocial hours.

"Come on Mer…" Derek coaxed her gently, putting a mug of coffee onto her nightstand. "If you want to go in together you'll have to get up soon. I have that pre-op round."

Meredith cracked one eye open, sitting up, letting the covers fall down around her waist while she picked up the mug from the nightstand and grimaced at Derek gratefully. "You know, getting up an hour earlier just to come stay at the trailer seems really painful and unnecessary right now- even if we do get our privacy."

Derek looked apologetically at her while he buttoned up his shirt. "I know, I know. You switch shifts Wednesday, I have the afternoon off too, we'll go looking for apartments downtown. I promise. I'll call the realtor on Monday so she can have some places lined up. I'm getting late, and you'll be finished after me anyways. I'll find you later." He said, leaning over, stroking her cheek with his thumb before kissing her gently on the lips.

Meredith listened to Derek's car start and fade into the distance as he drove away, lying there for a few more minutes until she stumbled into the shower. Her hands fumbled to turn the shower right up as hot as it could go, as she stood under the scalding water, feeling it run off her hair and down her shoulders, pooling slightly at her feet. It had been three weeks since the start of the new year, and they still hadn't found a day together to go and look at apartments, and she was more than ready to. She had told Alex and Izzie about it and now just being there was somewhat uncomfortable.

-X-

Meredith was hovering in the hallway, wondering how she was going to tell her friends that she was moving out. Maybe she shouldn't. It would have been easier to tell Derek that she had changed her mind, that they would move out of her house once their house was ready- telling Izzie that she no longer wanted to live here would be more difficult. She had already avoided telling them for a week- and Derek wasn't pressuring her. She wasn't sure if he was actually expecting to move out or not- whether Meredith really wanted to. But she did really want to. She had grown out of the youth hostel.

She tried walking into the kitchen in a casual way, but it must have been highly suspicious, as she saw Izzie's eyebrows rise in silent questioning. Shit. Meredith was as transparent as glass, everyone could read her like a book. Even though she knew she was busted, she still tried to act as nonchalant as she could, even though she knew it was a lost cause.

Scratching her chin was a telltale sign she was gearing up to tell them something they wouldn't want to hear, and her friends waited patiently while she gathered up the courage. There was a niggling thought in the back of her head- telling her to wait for Derek to come home, so he could offer her moral support- or even better- do the dirty work for her. That was the unwritten vow of marriage, one of the perks of having the wedding band on your finger. But they were her friends, and she owed it to herself and them to tell them. Rip the band-aid off. No anaesthesia, although a shot or two of tequila seemed like a really good option right then.

"I just wanted to tell you guys something…" Meredith began hesitantly. This was stupid. Izzie had washed pink mist off of Meredith's body, Meredith had peeled that pink prom dress off of Izzie after Denny died- she had even helped Alex study for his boards when no-one would even look at him- they had been through so much together. She wasn't selling her soul to the devil, she was moving into an apartment with her husband. "I'm…urm… we… I mean Derek and I, we…"

"Dude, you sound like O'Malley" Alex scoffed interrupting her attempt at inarticulately confessing to them her betrayal.

Meredith glared at him before continuing, "I…at new year's eve Derek and I talked, well…I talked, he listened, and I decided that- we're going to get an apartment. We're going to look for places sometime this week or next week."

The moment of silence said it all. There was an inaudible gasp, and the atmosphere in the room changed to something unreadable. Izzie tried to keep her expression the same, but something in it had altered. It had become almost purposefully blank. Alex was the first one to do anything, as Meredith stood there frozen, her eyes flitting back and forth between her two roommates. Her family.

Alex grabbed a beer out of the fridge and shrugged. "Whatever. Congratulations. Is someone else gonna move in or is the rent gonna increase? Let me know." He said before walking out of the room to the living room to watch TV.

'Aren't you going to say anything?' Meredith asked Izzie silently, as she watched Izzie lean against the counter on the opposite side.

A few more moments of silence seemed to pass away as if they were hours, before Izzie's brown eyes met Meredith's, full of a sadness that made Meredith want to take the last few minutes back and never mention it again. A lot of things were unspoken, just that one look conveyed a hurt that Meredith had wanted to avoid.

"An apartment? This is your house, Meredith. Do you want us to move out? I can find a place.."

Guilt made Meredith mute. This wasn't her house. It was their house. It was her home for the first time in a long time. Even if it was dysfunctional, even if there was no privacy and the couch invariably acted as an impromptu bed for one of their friends, it was home. It had never felt like that while Ellis was still there, it was just a place where Meredith stayed, where she would do anything to avoid being there because she was a disappointment, because she never did anything right, because everything she did was met with disapproval. But now, it was a place where people embraced her for who she was, where she grew to be a better person.

"No…I want you to stay here, Iz." Meredith replied, her voice shaky. "It's just… I'm married. I can't live with people forever. We're building a house, this has to happen eventually…" Meredith drew a breath. "It's all about steps. This- me moving out of here into an apartment- it's a step. I have to go through those steps with Derek together. I need to know what it's like to share a space with him and only him."

Few words were exchanged between Meredith and Izzie after that- because Meredith ran from the kitchen, trying to remove herself from that heavy atmosphere that hung densely in the air. Izzie would get over it sometime, Meredith was sure- but waiting for that moment could be long. So for now, Meredith decided not to face the issue, or go anywhere where anyone would hound her, and the only place in the whole house that was off limits for everyone else was Derek's office. That's why she flopped on the couch in his office, wishing that her friends could just be happy for her instead of concentrating on the negatives.

Some time later, Meredith heard Derek's voice in the hallway. "Meredith?" His voice became louder as he opened the wooden door, his head peeking round the corner as he smiled. "There you are! Izzie's baking, I think something has upset her. She's already on a second batch. Blueberry muffin?" He offered, sitting on the couch beside her, putting the plate down on the small table infront of it.

Meredith magnetically went to his side, falling into his arms in silence. He looked happy, he was smiling at her with that smile that meant nothing, but everything at the same time. It was a contented smile, one that seemed at peace with everything. It was a cliché, and nothing would take away from the fact that Meredith would never be a truly happy soul- she was dark and cloudy, but Meredith could feel Derek's happiness get to her through his contact.

"How did Izzie seem to you? Has she still got a mean face? Because if she is, then I'm hiding and avoiding." Meredith mumbled, picking at the muffin. "I told her we were moving out."

"Ah. Explains the baking…" Derek laughed, taking a bite of the muffin. "Mmm….the muffins taste good, even if they are full of anger and passive aggression."

Meredith cracked a smile, breaking pieces off the muffin and feeding them to Derek. "How about we stop hiding and avoiding?" Derek suggested, mouth full of muffin.

Meredith pretended to contemplate it for a moment, kissing the crumbs off Derek's face as he chewed on the sponge cake. "Hmm…. No. Hiding and avoiding are two favourite pastimes of mine…" She whispered, her lips moving down his neck, delicately kissing his adam's apple as he swallowed.

"If I'm indulging you…" Derek said lustily, in a low voice. "Then you'll have to indulge me…"

He pushed her back onto the couch, pinning her down in the crevice between the seat and the back cushions of the old worn couch as he lay close to the edge. He had caught her by surprise, and he heard her gasp as she fell. She was smiling though, that was a good sign. He wanted to make her forget that Izzie was pissed off. She already felt left out that Meredith and Derek married in Vegas with Cristina, and hadn't even mentioned it to her until she saw the rings on their fingers, and now they were planning to move out.

-X-

Meredith and Izzie had made up by not mentioning all that much, but still- it was a stress that Meredith could have done without. Somehow, letting the boy move in with her, where she had all her things around her and all she had to do was expand her comfort zone was a lot less difficult than changing her comfort zone altogether. It was still daunting to her, even if the boy was her husband.

By the time Meredith slipped her shoes on and looked out of the window, she was ten minutes late, and the skies had turned even blacker, as the torrential Seattle rain hit the metal trailer like little bullets. Meredith rummaged in her bag to try and find an umbrella, but remembered it was sitting on the passenger seat of her car. Bracing herself, she unlocked her car from the porch and made a run for it, the watery slushy mud splashing onto her jeans as her shoes became soaked through. She slammed the door to her jeep shut, and willed her freezing hands to co-operate long enough to turn the key in the ignition. The jeep spluttered, but wouldn't start. She tried again and again, each time her hope waning that it was just acting up. It just continued to splutter pathetically, and Meredith banged her fists against the steering wheel in frustration.

Great. Freezing cold Sunday morning in Seattle. This wasn't how the day was supposed to be. She was supposed to be in bed with Derek, waking up lazily, smiling at she was inside and warm with blankets around her while it was chucking it down with rain outside. Derek had taken his BMW, and beside her car was his faithful ol' land rover defender, a tank of a car that would allow them to get anywhere no matter what the weather. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Meredith ran back to the trailer, picking up the keys to the land rover which hung on a hook beside the door, while throwing her keys on the table.

The stupid land rover started first time, and Meredith paused for a moment, trying to remember exactly how to drive the stick shift and use the clutch. After a few tries and a couple of gear crunches later, Meredith was well on her way to the hospital.

"You're late…and your shoes are squeaking." Bailey announced in an annoyed tone as Meredith tried to join the crowd without noticing.

Meredith sighed. "I had car trouble." She said lamely.

"Did your dog eat your homework too?" Bailey replied sarcastically. "Just go to the clinic…"

-X-

Derek was sitting at a table all alone, playing on his blackberry as his lunch tray remained untouched. Meredith was supposed to meet him for lunch, she had said she would, and Derek was wondering how much longer he should wait. He was just about to text her, when he heard a tray slam beside him, and felt the whole table shudder with the force.

"Nice to see you too, Mer…" He chuckled, kissing her on the cheek before slipping his phone back into his lab coat pocket, and digging his fork into his salad.

He shoved a tomato into his mouth, glancing at his wife, who looked flustered at best. She opened her sandwich and grimaced at it, throwing it back onto the tray, holding her head in her hands instead. "I told you we should have stayed in bed today. If it's god's day of rest, it should be my day of rest too. Bailey made me go to the clinic all day, where I was treating hypochondriacs who mistook indigestion for an MI,I had one patient vomit all over me, and oh…. My fucking car wouldn't start today, which meant I was late, which is why Bailey put me in the clinic in the first place. She's not even my resident anymore, she doesn't own me."

"How did you get here then? A cab?"

"No. I drove here…" Meredith replied slowly, as if she were speaking to a child.

"I'm not mentally challenged you know…" Derek replied, smiling a little. "But… if the jeep isn't starting, how did you get here?"

"I drove the land rover." Meredith said matter-of-factly, ripping the lid of her yoghurt pot.

"You can drive a stick shift?!" Derek asked incredulously. "I didn't know that!"

Meredith smiled wryly, her eyes sparkling in a way that Derek wished they weren't in a public cafeteria so that he could use persuasive methods to coerce her into telling him everything.

Meredith's pager beeped shrilly at her hip, and she unclipped it from her pocket, reading that it was a 911. "There's a lot you don't know about me…" Meredith said nonchalantly.

"Obviously!" Derek replied, stunned. "What else don't I know? When am I going to find out these things?"

Meredith picked up her tray, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. "That's the fun part right? Finding out things you didn't know about me… that's the gravy…" She said softly, her hot breath fanning his ear lobe, setting his nerve endings on fire. She took him back to before Addison, when she asked him about details, to tell her things she didn't know about him.

"Mmm… I love gravy!" Derek laughed, shaking his head at her as she walked away, looking back at him with a grin on her face.

-X-

Meredith opened the door to their bedroom at her house. After lunch she had been put on surgical admissions, and she had been running around all day, the post- admitting ward round took her three hours over the time she was supposed to finish. All she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and sleep like how she wanted to when she woke up that morning. The day had started out bad- she had to work, the weather was terrible, her car gave up on her- but maybe it could end right. After all, Izzie actually had a friendly conversation with her, and Derek was already in their bed, waiting for her, patiently reading a book.

"Hey…" She murmured tiredly, stumbling into the room and closing the door, hearing it click. In one motion she had undone her jeans that were caked in dried mud from the morning, and left them on the floor in a figure of eight, before she flopped onto the bed, crawling up it slightly to wrap her arms around Derek's torso and rest her head on his chest while he finished reading the paragraph of his book. He folded the page as a bookmark and put it on his nightstand, before shifting slightly to hold Meredith. They basked in the silence for a moment, just hearing each other breathing.

"So… where does Meredith Grey learn to drive a manual car?" Derek asked, his voice vibrating resonantly against Meredith's ear.

Meredith laughed tiredly, lifting her head up and shifting her weight further onto Derek. "You don't give up do you? I learnt on that year break I took. Sadie had family in Australia, and we went to visit them. We went to a bar there, got drunk, and the next morning we found ourselves waking up in this Volkswagen camper van. Apparently we spent the last of out money on this thing while under the influence. So we decided to make the most of it, and travelled along the coast in that garbage can on wheels. I had to learn clutch control pretty quick. If you can drive that, you can drive anything. They were good times." Meredith recounted nostalgically.

The smile on Derek's face grew and lit up his face as he imagined a younger Meredith learning how to drive that horrible car- the expletives that would come out of her mouth as she stalled it, how she would crunch the gears and flirt with people to fix her car. Derek pulled her light body up effortlessly as he brought his head forward to kiss her on the lips.

"I love you." He murmured softly, his hands moving down to unbutton her blouse.

Her hands lay flat on his chest as she supported herself moving to straddle him. "I love you too…" the words escaped from her throat huskily. He unhooked her bra with ease, as she pulled the worn t-shirt over his head. This was all she wanted- to start the day and end the day with Derek, because when she had that, it didn't seem to matter what happened in between.

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Give me a reason to fall in love
Take my hand and let's dance
Give me a reason to make me smile
Cause I think I forgot how

I wanna fall asleep with you tonight
I wanna know that I am safe when you hold me tight
I wanna feel like I wanna feel forever

Girls need attention, and boys need us
So let's make everybody glad
That they have each other in each others arms
Oh let's make everybody glad

I want you........

I wanna dream away with you tonight
We can go anywhere you would like
I wanna feel how I wanna feel forever

I want you.

Meiko- Reasons to love you