Hey peeps! After an eternity and a half I'm back with another merder story :)) I'm not as obsessed with Meredith and Derek as I once was, but I still love them enough to write about them, and I really want to get back into writing in general. I kind of ghosted you guys with my last story, I KNOW I'M SORRY! I could finish it if you guys really want, although reading it makes me cringe so bad—let's not even discuss my attempt at an intimate scene. But for it having been my first attempt at writing, I'm not THAT disappointed. I hope you guys really enjoy this story, I feel as though it will be much more mature than my last one, not necessarily in content, but more so in things like it's tone. That's mainly attributed to my mindset changing, me growing up a bit more/gaining more life experiences, my writing itself evolving (i.e. my vocabulary broadening, grammar, etc.), my growing awareness of the world & current events, and my increased familiarity with writing. Okay I've bored you all enough, if you've read this far, thanks I guess hahaha, I hope you enjoy the story.

Quick side note, I'm eating chips and dreaming of Chick-fil-A as I write this chapter, so this really is as good as it gets hahaha.

"Ugh." It's mumbled thousands and thousands and thousands of times by office workers. That's the thing about working in an office, it doesn't matter how much you love the business—it never does, it sucks. Working in an office sucks. Working in an office, sucks. Working in an office. Sucks. Working. In. An office. Sucks. At first you'll think that it's just your office that sucks. No no, working in an office, any office? It sucks.

Great now that that's covered let's move on with the story shall we? But remember that working in an office? It sucks. My mom always told me not to use that word, because it's a "bad" word, but then again an office is also bad, so I think under the given circumstances it's all good in the hood. K cool, back to the story.

"Morning," Meredith managed to emit as she trudged into the building way too early on a Monday morning for it to be a "good morning." She walked into her office without a second glance at her secretary or any of her other employees. It was going to be a long week, she knew it already, especially because on Friday she had a meeting with corporate. Being regional manager was tough, but so was Ellis Grey's job, and if Ellis Grey can do it, well, Meredith doesn't really have a choice but to do it as well.

At least Meredith thought that she had to do it, but that's irrelevant, all that matters is that she's doing it. Kay now I'm going to proceed with Meredith's very enthralling morning.

Mondays sucked, just like everything else about working in an office. The moment she walks into the office until the moment she leaves she is buried in piles of work—everyone is. Placing her coffee next to the notes that her secretary left about who called about what, she logged onto her computer, turned on some music and took a short nap. Her explanation? Monday.

At this point, Derek doesn't even say "morning" when he walks into the corporate building, he just grunts some sort of illegible greeting and proceeds to his office before shutting the door. His life is a mess, he doesn't recall how it got to be so bad. He remembers the day he finally got the popular girl in high school to go out with him, the day they graduated, the day they started working together, the day they both got promoted to corporate—all were happy memories. He especially remembers the week his dad died after he first got promoted to his corporate job, and how she didn't notice when he walked in on her cheating on him; that was the bad memory when it all started going downhill. He remembers the day she broke up with him because she wanted a cooler job on the other side of the country, that was a happy memory, but it doesn't do much to console him considering his dad is still dead. But he still doesn't remember when it got bad.

He misses the old him. The happy him. The bright him. The him that smiled. The him that laughed. The gone him. He can't tell if it really gets better or if he just gets used to it. He can't remember a time when he was truly happy, it's just some days he's a little less sad than others, but never happy.

See the thing is, Derek is depressed. Shocker, I know. But he feels like he's screaming and no one can hear him. That's because he is, he's just gotten good at hiding it. You see, depressed people feel like a burden, and so he fakes a good mood and a smile, so people constantly mistake his composure for ease. He can get away with it in the mornings by claiming that he's not a morning person, but real hell is the day time where he has to maintain a facade, and still feel the exact same way as he does in the mornings on the inside. He tells himself that he needs to do this, because he's a guy, and therefore he can't be weak, and so he does. He also just doesn't want to be "party pooper," he's not going to have fun either way at this party (life), so might as well make it worthwhile for everyone else. I know that sounds very stereotypical, but that's what society is all about.

Just like every other day in this vicious cycle of life, he settles in, logs onto his computer, and begins the work he has to do.

K so a little background from me before I proceed with the story. In case you haven't already realized the stuff I type in italics come from me the actual author (It's kinda like The Princess Bride by William Goldman, only I'm not writing like an abridged version of anything and I wont try to trick you guys into sending me letters for a scene that doesn't even exist. Hahaha, I actually fell for that). Anyway, so this is very similar to the show "The Office" it's kinda like a cross, only it's not? Meredith and Derek's characters have basically the same personalities, the only thing that's changing is the workplace and, well, the storyline. Hopefully you'll see what I mean when you continue reading. Back to the story!

The rest of the week proceeded exactly like Meredith imagined it would, horribly. When Friday morning finally rolled around, she and Derek were both extremely eager for the weekend. Friday's were always torturously long. It sucked.

Meredith as preparing herself for the agent the was coming in from corporate, for god knows what purpose, it was probably to criticize her work. And Derek was on his way to the branch that Meredith was in charge of in Seattle to offer her a corporate position.

Derek pulled into the parking lot only to discover that there were no spaces left. He had almost gotten lost a total of three times on his way here and this was like a cherry on top for the universe. Another point for the universe, the score is now three to zero, and thing's are not in Derek's favor.

I know what a "well duh," but I wanted to act like I was one of those sport announcer people; it was fun.

He backed out and went into the parking lot about a mile away. He park his car and grunted as he got out. He used to be so good at seeing the good in a situation at smiling at a bird shitting and the shit bomb merely missing his head, instead opting to land on the hood of his car. Now all he could think about as he embarked on his mile-long walk, was how much he wished that stupid bird had shit on his head, so that he could opt out of this thing and just go home or something.

Translation: he used to be optimistic, now he's a depresso espresso.

He finally arrived at the building and waited on the couch by reception. Suddenly this woman walked out of the boss's office. She was dressed professionally, and looked stunning—men weren't the only ones that looked HOT in suits. She was petite yet something about her hinted that she was not someone to mess with. She looked smart and even though she was so incredibly tired, there was something about her eyes that was alluring. Derek couldn't even make out her eye color, he thought it was some shade of brown, but all he could focus one was how pretty she is. And when she spoke he didn't even register what she had said, he just registered her voice and his world stopped. For the very first time in his life Derek Shepherd was speechless and he didn't know what to do.

"Mr. Shepherd?" Meredith had repeated for the umpteenth time, MAN this guy was the last thing she needed today. When she first saw him, she was excited and captured, her day wasn't looking too bad after all, and now this. "Are you okay Mr. Shepherd?"

"What? Oh, uh yeah I am sorry I kind of zoned off there for a bit, it's been a long week" Derek smiled his signature smile and got up extending his hand. Now it was her world that stopped.

This is going to be one hell of a meeting, I'm kind of excited hopefully I think of something good

And that is the end of this chapter. I hope no one takes offense of how I lowkey make a play on Derek's mental health. You see this story is kinda like my way to cope through my own mental health problems, I'm expressing my feelings through my characters and every once and while I'll make a terrible joke or pun to attempt to lighten a mood that can't really be lightened. I apologize deeply if anyone finds it offensive, that is not my intent at all, I'm just an annoying girl with even more annoying jokes typing her heart out hahaha. Thanks for reading :)

BY THE WAY, I know I don't have the best rack record, but new year new me! haha jk i hate when people say that, but in all honesty I will try my very best to update this story. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019 3

I really hope you guys liked that, even if it's just a little. I'm trying to make my chapters more lengthy, hopefully you guys consider that a plus. Also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PM me, I LOVE talking to you guys more than anything, it keeps me going :). If you guys have ANY ideas for more fanfics, or if you have any suggestions about my current ones let me know, I promise I won't take offense, I'm actually a very patient and open-minded person hahaha. But thanks for all the love and support so far, and I am still so incredibly grateful for you all and immensely sorry for ghosting you with my last story, there really is no acceptable excuse, so I won't even try to make one. Much love, McMerder13