Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable is mine. A lot of the dialogue is direct from the show. No copyright infringement intended.
A/N: I'm just MerDer trash and I needed to write something. I'm currently in the middle of writing a fic about Meredith finding out about Addison before she comes to Seattle but we'll see how that goes. This story is complete. Chapters will be posted periodically.
The game. They say either a person has what it takes to play, or they don't. My mother was one of the greats. Me, on the other hand...I'm kinda screwed.
My first thought as I opened my eyes was that I am a total idiot. I blink a couple of times to reorient myself with my surroundings. I am on the couch in my mother's old house and I am very naked. This is not how I originally planned on starting today. Looking down from the couch I see another naked body, this one on the floor. He is still asleep and has the periwinkle blanket that was draped over the back of the couch last night covering him. Standing up I snatch the knitted blanket and wrap myself in it, blocking out the chill in the air. I make a mental note to check if the heater is ready for the winter as I climb off the couch.
Without checking the clock I know I must be running late. I grab a throw pillow from the couch I woke up on and drop it directly on his naked butt, effectively waking him up. He grunts and lifts his head up from the other throw pillow it had been resting on since we finished our third round last night. He lazily reaches his arm out from beside him and hands me my bra. I guess our activities last night are partly my fault due to the tequila drinking and the lacy bra wearing I did.
His first words of the morning are, "This is…"
Snatching my bra from his hand I reply, "Humiliating on so many levels," I start walking towards the stairs and tell him, "You have to get up."
Sitting up slowly and, dare I say it, seductively, he suggests, "Why don't you just come back down here and we'll pick up where we left off?"
"No seriously," I brush my hair out of my eyes, "You have to get up, I'm late. Which isn't what you want to be on your first day of work, so…"
He pulls on his underwear and laughs at me, "So? It's my first day of work, too."
"No." I reply.
"Oh?"
I sigh, he is being ridiculous, "Well kind of as a teacher but you've already been working for like a week."
Still smiling, he gathers his clothing, "Oh that's nice, you get to decide whether or not I'm actually working. So how is it only kind of my first day?"
"You know how it's kind of your first day. Don't do this. You've been working but you haven't been head and you haven't had interns but now you're officially head of a department and have interns. So kind of."
He laughs at me.
"We don't have to do this thing," I reply.
I wrap the blanket tighter around myself as I watch him. He finally found his belt after searching for it around the floor for the past few minutes. As he walks towards me I find myself admiring his chest and his hair. Even after a night of sex and sleeping on the hardwood floor is hair is still beautiful. I mentally berate myself. I should not be doing this. I should be showering.
He grins at me with a glint in his eye, "Oh. We can do anything you want."
"No this thing. The talking thing, pretending we aren't in a rush...look, I'm gonna go upstairs and take a shower, okay, and when I get back down here, you'll be dressed and have breakfast ready so…" As I talk, impossible as it seems, his grin gets wider. I really wish I could just drop the blanket and go back to where we were but I can't or else I will be the unfortunate intern who loses her job before it begins.
He walks close to me, "Meredith."
"Derek," I say. I can't help but smile up at him. His eyes crinkle at the corners in that perfect way that always makes my heart melt. He reaches for my hand, silently asking for assistance to jump over the couch. I lend it to him and once he crosses to my side of the room he pulls me close to him, against his chest.
We are both standing in the middle of my mother's dusty house, me wrapped only in a blanket and him only in his underwear. Just then he kisses me. To keep my blanket around me I do not wrap my arms around him but I lean into the kiss. After our lips separate we rest our foreheads against each other for a moment with our noses brushing the other's. Then I push him away, "Shower," I say pointing to myself, "Breakfast," I say pointing to him. Then I'm bolting upstairs with a bright red blush on my face because I can feel his eyes on me and I can hear his delighted laugh following me.
Barely an hour later, we are walking into the hospital together. My hands are shaking a little and there is a nervous bounce in my step. The grin that has been on his face since we woke up that morning is still there and, while my eyes are trained on the front doors of Seattle Grace Hospital, his eyes are on me.
"You didn't need to come in with me," I say, "You don't need to be here for another two hours."
"Why Dr. Grey," He replies, "Do you think a husband would let his wife start her first day of work by herself."
I roll my eyes at him.
"Besides," He says to me, "It gives me a chance to settle into my new office and catch a glimpse of the new interns without them knowing who they are. Maybe I'll be able to find one to take home tonight, I hear they're an easy lay."
I lightly slap his arm as I laugh, "If you bring home an intern so help me Dr. Derek Shepherd or not…"
"There's only one intern I want to take home," He cuts me off, "I promise." He successfully distracted me because I barely noticed that as we spoke we not only entered the hospital but came to be waiting in front of the elevators. He presses both the up and the down button, "I need to go down stairs to check out my office and you," He says to me, "Need to get upstairs and hope Chief Webber doesn't notice you're a little late when you catch up on the intern tour." Kissing me quickly on the check he boards his elevator to take him down stairs and I am left alone and once again nervous. It is comforting to know that my husband is in the building and is rooting for me. Once I join the other interns though, I know Derek and will officially be on different levels. It's strange to think of myself as my husband's subordinate and my husband as my teacher. After a lot of discussion we both decided to keep knowledge of our marriage as limited as possible for the first few weeks of my internship until I establish myself. Neither of us wants other doctors assuming that I'm only at SGH or being chosen for surgeries because of our marriage.
I catch up with the tour as they enter an operating room. Standing near the back I listen to Dr. Webber give his spiel, " Each of you comes here hopeful. Wanting in on the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play? That's up to you." As he speaks my heart starts pounding and I look around the OR in awe. This is nowhere near the first time that I have been in an OR with the combined experiences of my mother and husband being surgeons, medical school, and the unfortunate time of my life when I had my tonsils removed. However, this is the first time that I am an OR as a doctor and not a bystander. Everything that I have seen before seems new and exciting. At the same time it is imposing and terrifying.
Like I said. I'm screwed.