Hi everyone! I'm so grateful to all of you who were so wonderful with reviewing You Save Me. This is the sequel, as promised, and if you haven't read it you might want to do so, even though it's probably not completely neccessary. This story is going to be a little different for me, but I'm going to do my best. I know some other people have done the "what would it be like if Derek and Meredith knew each other before Seattle" scenario before, but I promise that I have my own direction that this story is going to take. I'll also be taking dialogue from the show, which is definitely not mine (though I wish it was). I really appreciate any reviews, positive or negative, but please be constructive in your criticism. I think that's it, so first the lyrics, and then the first chapter! I hope you enjoy it!
I wanna Love Somebody Like You-Keith Urban
There's a new wind blowing like I've never known And I'm letting go of all my lonely yesterdays Yeah I wanna feel the sunshine shining down on me and you I used to run in circles going no where fast Whoa here we go now Yeah I wanna feel the sunshine shining down on me and you Sometimes it's hard for me to understand Hey I wanna love you baby
I'm breathing deeper than I've ever done
And it sure feels good to finally feel the way I do
I wanna love somebody, love somebody like you.
I've forgiven myself for the mistakes I've made
Now theres just one thing, the only thing I wanna do
I wanna love somebody, love somebody like you
When you put your arms around me
You let me know theres nothing in this world I can't do
I'd take one step forward end up two steps back
I couldn't walk a straight line even if I wanted to
I wanna love somebody, love somebody like you
Yeah, Hey i wanna love you baby
When you put your arms around me
Well baby there ain't nothing in this world I can't do
But you're teaching me to be a better man
I don't want to take this life for granted like I used to do
I wanna love somebody, love somebody like you
I'm ready to love somebody, love somebody like you
And I wanna love somebody, love somebody like you (yeah)
She was beautiful as she stared at him in shock, her dirty blonde hair falling over her face that was slightly flushed, from the alcohol or the surprise of seeing him he wasn't sure. But right now in this moment, all he could think was that Meredith Grey was completely beautiful.
He'd tried to tell her the night before that Richard had called him and let him know that he needed a new head of neuro, but she had completely shot him down as she'd tried to force him out of her life. He'd been completely torn apart when he'd left her apartment, but he'd already accepted the job offer. So he'd decided to wait until he ran into her at the hospital to surprise her.
But when he'd walked into the bar after signing his contract to see her sitting before him, downing shot after shot of tequila, he knew that it was a sign that things might work out for them after all. He'd known that Meredith hadn't wanted to break up with him, only that she was scared. And she was right, there was no way it would have worked with her in Seattle and him in New York.
Which was why he'd accepted the job in Seattle.
"Derek," she breathed, reaching out to touch his shoulder, as if to convince herself that he was real. "You're…you're here."
"I'm here," he nodded, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly. "And I'm not going anywhere."
"But what about New York?" she asked.
"New York's my past," Derek said. "This is my now. You're my now."
"I don't understand," she said, confusion clouding the eyes that were already less focused from the tequila she had consumed. "What about your job?"
"Richard called me a couple days ago," Derek said. "He needed a new head of neuro, said that I would be perfect for the job. I decided to take it."
"Why didn't you tell me?" she breathed.
"I was going to," he said. "But then you seemed convinced that this whole thing was a mistake.
"Oh," Meredith breathed. "Derek, I'm sorry."
"If you really think that," he said softly, his throat closing up. "I'll leave you alone. I promise, but I really don't think that you want to end this. I hope you don't want to end this, because I can't imagine my life without you anymore."
"Derek," she breathed, leaning forward to kiss him. "I don't want to end this. I just… you're sure? About leaving New York and your family and your practice? For me?"
"I'm sure," he nodded, squeezing her hand tightly. "It's what's best for me. I'm going to miss my family, but I'm sick of being terrified of seeing Mark or Addison every time I turn a corner. And Richard had some very promising offers for my future here, so it's what's best for me, and for us. This is where I should be, Mer."
"Oh, Derek," she breathed, leaning into his embrace. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Me too," he sighed, inhaling the scent of her hair. "By the way, thank you."
"For what?" she whispered, nuzzling her face into his neck.
"I noticed that you rejected the drink that was bought for you," he murmured. "So thank you."
"You're welcome," she breathed, lifting her head to look up at him. "Are you…we can go. To my house."
Derek smiled as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I think that's a good idea," he said, reaching down to rub her thigh gently.
"The cab should be here," Meredith said, grasping his arm as she stood. She swayed slightly, and he briefly wondered how much tequila she'd consumed before he'd arrived. But then she was biting her lower lip in the way that made her look completely seductive, and all he could think was that he need to be inside of her, and soon.
He followed her to the door, trying to keep his mind off of how perfectly the dress fit her, her curves on display and her legs elongated by the pair of heels that he'd never seen before. But what was more amazing than the way her hips made the dress swirl gently around her was the fact that his plan had worked. He was here, with her, and they were going to be together. They were going to start a life in Seattle.
"I need you," Meredith suddenly breathed, turning to wrap her arms around his neck.
"I need you too," he said, running his hands over her dress.
"I like this dress," she murmured, fingering the lapel slightly. "Is it new?"
"Hmmm," he nodded, leaning down to trail his lips along her nip. "I'm glad you like it. I did need a good looking shirt after all."
"You're not that good looking," she tried to argue, but gasped slightly as he rubbed his erection against her.
"Oh really?" he teased slightly. "I guess that means that you don't need me inside you. Fucking you hard, making you scream my name."
"Derek," she gasped, reaching between them to rub his throbbing erection just as a cab pulled up behind them. "Thank God."
He held her hand tightly as they rode the short distance to a more residential neighborhood. She was leaning her head on his shoulder, apparently not willing to give up physical contact with him anymore than he was with her. The cab pulled up in front of a large house, one that he couldn't see very well in the dark, but he found himself not caring as Meredith dragged him up the steps to the porch.
"You're here," she said, opening the glass front door and shoving him in, letting the door slam behind her.
"I'm here," he nodded, pulling her into his arms. "With you."
And then she was throwing herself into his arms, kissing him deeply as she backed him into the living room, pushing him onto the couch as she started to undo the buttons on his shirt. He kissed her back deeply, reveling in the feeling of having her in his arms again, in knowing that they were going to be together, really together. Coming to Seattle had definitely been the right thing to do.
XXXXX
Last night had been a mistake.
That was all Meredith could think as she was jolted out of unconsciousness, looking around the unfamiliar living room for a moment, her head pounding the way it always did after she'd consumed too much tequila.
Her eyes fell upon the man passed out on the floor beside her, and suddenly her headache was gone. She now remembered the way Derek had casually approached her in the bar, telling her that he was here for good, that they could really be together. Which, in her porny, tequila soaked mind, meant that it was a good idea for them to go back to her house, consume more alcohol, and have hot, dirty sex until they both passed out.
It had definitely been a good idea, and she smiled as she pulled the blanket off of Derek's back, wrapping herself in the warmth it provided from his body heat. She definitely didn't regret a moment of the night before. She could still feel the small ache of pleasure running through her body at the things Derek had done to her the night before, but she couldn't think about that now. She had to focus on getting him dressed because when he was naked things happened. Things that couldn't happen because she was already late.
"Derek," she whispered, kneeling on the ground beside him and pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Wake up."
"Hmmm," he groaned, shifting slightly before he tried to pull her down to him.
"Derek," she said, shaking him a little more forcefully. "Wake up."
"Early," he murmured, shifting awkwardly on the floor before his back was facing her.
"Fine," she said, reaching for a pillow. "I tried to play nice."
Derek sat up in surprise when the pillow came into contact with his head, and he frowned at her. "What the hell was that for?" he frowned.
"Good morning to you too," she giggled as she leaned in to kiss him. "I'm going to be late."
Derek sighed as he sat up, already reaching for his pants. "This is a nice house," he commented.
She shrugged. "It doesn't matter," she said. "I'm selling it."
"Does your mom know you're planning on selling it?" Derek raised an eyebrow.
Meredith sighed as she looked away. She wasn't sure how to tell him that if she told her mother that she was going to sell the house, Ellis would forget within Meredith's obligatory visit to make sure that Ellis's transfer from Boston to Seattle had gone well. "She gave it to me," she said. "So I'm selling it. And I have to go shower."
"Okay," Derek smiled, reaching to undo his pants.
"Oh, you're not showering with me," she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the front door. "You have to go."
"What?" he frowned.
"I'm already late," she said, shoving his shirt into his hands. "And if you come into the shower, I'll be even more late. So you have to go. I'll see you at the hospital."
"Okay," he said, leaning in to kiss her. "You want to get lunch today?"
"No."
"No?" he frowned.
"You're the head of neuro and I'm an intern," Meredith said. "We can't…be us at the hospital."
"If we're not us, then who are we going to be?" Derek smirked.
Meredith rolled her eyes and shoved him out the door. "Just go," she said. "I don't have time to deal with you right now."
"I'll see you at work!" he shouted after her as the door slammed behind her. She shook her head as she made her way to the stairs, unable to keep the smile off of her face. Derek was here, he was staying, and she was about to become a doctor. She wasn't sure that her life could get any better than that.
XXXXX
Hours later, she definitely wasn't feeling the same way. She'd been late to the introductory meeting with the chief, had been assigned to the meanest resident in the hospital, and had been "introduced" to Derek, only to have him completely try and feel her up when no one was looking. She was going to kill him. Kill him and become a kindergarten teacher, because as she saw Bailey marching towards her, she knew that her day was going to get even worse.
"Grey!" Bailey snapped. "You've been requested."
"Requested?" Meredith frowned.
"New head of neuro," Bailey said, pointing across the room to Derek who was leaning against the nurse's station, a smirk playing on his lips. "Katie Bryce is your responsibility."
Meredith clenched her jaw, but didn't say anything as she stared at Derek.
"Are you going to go over there or do I have to make you?" Bailey snapped.
"No, I…I'm going," Meredith sighed, making her way towards Derek. As soon as Bailey was out of eyesight, she grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the nearest door, which was unfortunately a stairwell.
"Dr. Shepherd," she hissed as she yanked her hand off of his arm. "You can't do this."
"Dr. Shepherd," he repeated with a smirk. "I like it."
"Shut up," she rolled her eyes. "You can't do this."
"Do what?" he asked.
"Be Derek and Meredith," she said. "We're Dr. Grey and Dr. Shepherd. There will be no taking advantage at work. You're my attending and I'm your intern, this can't happen at work. And stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?" he asked, his eyes sparkling slightly as he looked down at her.
"Like you've seen me naked," she said.
"Oh, but I have seen you naked," he said, stepping closer to pin her against the stair rail. "You look good naked."
"Shut up," she hissed, pushing him off of her. "This is completely inappropriate. At work, we're not us. We're Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Grey. Not Derek and Meredith."
He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "You're right," he said. "I'm sorry."
"Good," she said, turning towards the door.
"One condition," Derek called from behind her and she paused for a moment before she turned to look at him, her expression impatient and expectant. "Tomorrow night you make sure you punish me for breaking the rules."
She rolled her eyes as she pushed the door open. "In your dreams, Dr. Shepherd," she called over her shoulder, knowing full well that there would be plenty of punishing when she had recovered from her first shift.
XXXXX
"So this is the office," Meredith stated a couple hours later as she knocked on the half open door labeled head of neurosurgery. "It's smaller than your one in New York."
"It is," he smiled at her as he leaned back in his chair. "But I like it better. More personal."
"Couch and everything," she sighed as she collapsed onto it, pulling her feet up under her. "This is nice."
"Dr. Grey," Derek smirked as he pushed his chair back from his desk. "I don't think it's appropriate for interns to spend time in attendings' offices."
"Shut up," she sighed as she handed a chart over to him. "Katie's latest scans. Perfectly clear."
"Damn," he sighed as he held them up to the light. "What the hell is going on with her?"
"She's a complete airhead, that's what," Meredith said. "You know that she paged me to her room to see if I could get her cable so she could watch some beauty pageant?"
Derek rolled his eyes as he collapsed onto the couch beside her. "We may be her last hope," he said.
She sighed as she reached for his hand, linking their fingers together. "How's your first day going?" she asked.
"Okay," he said. "Some of the other department heads are a little intense, but nothing I can't handle."
Meredith opened her mouth to reply but before she could the sound of her pager cut through the air. "Katie," she said, leaning in to kiss him again. "She probably wants more magazines or something."
"Go ahead," Derek said, pushing her towards the door. "Let me know if it's anything serious."
Meredith ran into Katie's room a few minutes later, surprised to see Katie thrashing on the bed, a team of nurses surrounding her. "What happened?" she asked.
"She started seizing," a nurse called over his shoulder. "We're trying to get her under control. Dr. Grey, what do you want to do?"
Meredith looked frantically around the room for a moment, completely unsure of what she should do. "Page Dr. Bailey and Dr. Shepherd," she ordered.
"I paged them."
A quick glance out the door told her that neither Derek or Bailey were anywhere nearby, and she quickly moved to grab the crash cart. "Charge to two hundred," she ordered.
Before she knew what was happening, the heart monitor was beeping at a normal rhythm again, and she stepped back to read the machines quickly. "What the hell happened?" Derek's voice came from behind her.
"She had a seizure," Meredith reported.
"A seizure?" he frowned. "You were supposed to be watching her. You said she was okay."
"She was," Meredith insisted. "I don't know…I got here and I don't know what happened."
"I've got this," Derek snapped, holding his stethoscope up to Katie's chest. "Go."
"Dr. Shepherd, I…"
"Go, Dr. Grey," he snapped before turning to a nurse and requesting her chart.
Meredith fought back tears as she walked out of the hospital room. Everything was building up inside of her, but she wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to be the intern who broke down on the first day, unable to make it through even one shift of being a doctor. She'd asked Derek to be her boss, and that's what he had been doing, so she couldn't be upset with him about it.
She kept herself busy with charts until her paged beeped loudly, alerting her of a page from Derek. She stared down at it for a moment, wondering exactly what he had to talk to her about, whether he was going to yell or apologize. Knowing her boyfriend or whatever he was at this point, he would probably do both. But it would be okay, because right now she just really needed to be alone with him, to know that even though she'd disappointed him as a doctor, she was still a good girlfriend.
"What are you doing here?" she frowned as she walked into the conference room she'd been paged to and saw Christina Yang sitting in the corner, doing something to a banana.
"Suturing a banana," Christina replied without looking up to her or any of the other interns milling around the room.
"You were paged here?" Meredith asked as she sat down beside her.
"Yep," Christina sighed. "And I'm going to keep suturing this banana until I find out what that new attending wants from us."
"Dr. Shepherd?" Meredith asked.
"Is that his name?" Christina shrugged. "I met him for a second. He's all hair. Cardio, that's where it's at. None of this neurology crap for me."
Before Meredith could answer, Derek walked into the room and she averted her eyes to her lap, not wanting to meet his eyes. "Good morning," he said, and she could feel his eyes on her for a moment before he looked around the room. "I'm going to something pretty rare for a surgeon. I'm going to ask interns for help. I've got this kid, Katie Bryce. Right now…she's a mystery…."
He explained the case and his proposal to let whoever figured out what was wrong with her in on his surgery. Meredith bit her lower lip as her eyes met his. He nodded slightly to her, and she felt relief surge through her. He wasn't angry with her, but he wasn't letting her back on the case unless she earned it. Maybe he did understand how to be her boss and her boyfriend at the same time.
Later that afternoon, seated on the floor of the research library after being recruited by Christina to help her figure out what was going on, Meredith realized just how far in over head as she was. Christina was talking, flipping through books and charts to figure out what could possibly be wrong, but all Meredith could do was stare down at the page of a textbook spread open in her lap. She'd told Christina that she could have the surgery if they figured out what went wrong. The last thing she needed was to feel inadequate in Derek's OR. Back in New York she'd heard plenty of stories about how frustrated he got when people didn't know what they were doing, and he'd used a few choice words to describe them, words that she would prefer not to be directed at her.
"Do you want to tell me why you're so against working with Shepherd?"
The mention of Derek's name brought her out of her haze, and she turned to look at Christina. "What?"
"You said that I can have the surgery if we figure out what's wrong with her," Christina said. "Why don't you want to work with Shepherd?"
Meredith sighed as she stared down at her book for a moment. "He's my boyfriend."
Christina stared at her for a moment before she asked, "What about an aneurysm?"
"No," Meredith said.
"Okay, so there's no trauma, no pregnancy…" Christina trailed off as she turned to look at her. "Is he good? He looks like he'd be good."
"I'm not answering that," Meredith said. "What happens if we can't figure this out? She's never going to turn into a person, never going to know who she really is."
"This is going to sound awful," Christina sighed. "But I really wanted that surgery."
"She does rhythmic gymnastics," Meredith said, shaking her head slightly. "What is that, I can't even say it…." She trailed off as she pulled Christina to her feet, dragging her to the door.
"Where are we going?" Christina asked.
"To find Dr. Shepherd," Meredith said, explaining about the fall Katie had told her about that morning when she'd gotten lost in the tunnels.
"That's it, that's what's wrong," Christina said as they turned a corner to see Derek standing in front of an elevator, scribbling on a chart. "Dr. Shepherd!" she cried. "Katie Bryce competes in beauty pageants."
"I know that, but we have to save her life anyway," he said, meeting Meredith's gaze for a moment before he returned to his chart.
"There's no medical proof of an aneurysm but what if there is one?"
"She fell," Meredith added. "When she twisted her ankle she fell."
"She got right back up, but maybe it burst the aneurysm," Christina offered.
"The chances that a minor fall could burst an aneurysm are one in a million, literally!" Derek called as the elevator doors slid closed.
"Damn it," Christina said, turning to walk away.
"Don't," Meredith said, knowing exactly what was going on in Derek's mind right now. They'd sparked a fire in his brain, she could tell, and he was desperate to find a cure. And now that they'd presented the idea, it wouldn't leave his mind until he was able to rule it out.
"What?" Christina frowned. "He said no."
"Wait for it," Meredith said, staring up at the elevator.
Christina looked at her with a frown for a moment before the doors slid open again and Derek charged ahead of them. "Let's go," he said, Meredith falling into step behind him and Christina trailing after them.
"Where?" Christina asked.
"To find out if Katie's one in a million," Meredith answered for him. And as they made their way down the hall, she glanced over at him, unable to miss the small smile he was offering her, one full of awe and pride.
Half an hour later, she stood beside Derek, waiting impatiently in the CT scan as the screens appeared on the computer in front of the technician. "I'll be damned," he muttered, looking up from Katie's chart to examine the scan closer. "It's minor but it's there. She's bleeding into her brain."
Meredith sighed as she looked at Christina, excitement filling her veins. They'd figured it out.
"She could have gone her whole life without it ever having been a problem," Derek said as they walked down the hall to book the OR. "One tap in the right spot, and it exploded. Now we get to fix it. You two did great work, now we've got to get into the OR."
"Dr. Shepherd, you said that we could scrub in if we helped," Christina said as he signed off on Katie's chart.
"Right," he said, turning to look at them. "Sorry I can't take you both, it's going to be a full house. Mer, I'll see you in the OR."
Christina turned to stare at Meredith, and she shook her head, unable to deny a chance to scrub in, even if she didn't feel accurately prepared. Derek's eyes were pleading with hers, and all of a sudden she knew that this was about more than the surgery. He was performing his first procedure in a new hospital, and he was nervous. He wanted her with him, and she couldn't say no to that. But then Christina was storming away, and she couldn't help but feel guilty that she'd lost the only friend she'd really made so far.
After a quick break for dinner, she found Derek prepping Katie for surgery, taking a razor to the girl's blonde locks. He smiled as he looked up and saw her enter the room, arms crossed over her chest as she examined him closely. "I promised I'd make her look cool," he said. "Apparently being a bald beauty queen is the worst thing to happen in the history of the world."
She smiled softly before she asked, "Did you choose me because I'm your girlfriend?"
"Yes," he said without a pause.
"Derek," she prompted.
"Sorry," he said, looking up for her. "You've never called yourself my girlfriend before."
"Well, that's what I am, right?" she said. "And I'm not scrubbing in. You should ask Christina. She really wants it."
"You're Katie's doctor," he said, now focusing all of his attention on her. "You saved her life, Mer, on your first day of being a doctor. You earned the right to follow the case through to the finish. You can't let the fact that you're my girlfriend effect your career. You don't want me to favor you, that's fine. It's the right thing to do, and I respect that. But I'm not going to not teach you because you're my girlfriend. It's going to take some time to adjust, but we can do this, Mer. We can figure out when to be coworkers and when to be us."
Meredith nodded slowly. "Okay," she said. "Thank you. For letting me do this."
He offered her a warm smile, the one that made her knees go weak every time she saw it. "Just doing my job," he said before he turned the razor back on. "I'll see you in the OR in half an hour, Dr. Grey."
"Of course, Dr. Shepherd," she said, pushing herself off of the wall and turning to walk out the door.
The experience of being in the OR was completely surreal. From the moment she stepped into the sterile room, she felt a sudden urge of energy, and even though she wasn't able to cut, Derek let her stand by his side to watch him clip the aneurysm, and she found that she completely loved working by his side. She'd watched him perform a couple surgeries in New York, when she'd done her clinicals in his practice, but this was amazing. To be with him while he saved a life, to be aware of every movement he made and see up close how he performed surgeries was completely amazing. Before she knew it, before she was ready, Derek was asking a resident to close and stepping into the scrub room. She followed suit, collapsing on a chair outside the door while she waited for him to supervise the rest of the procedure.
When he finally walked out of the scrub room, hair still held down under a scrub cap and chart tucked under his arm, he didn't notice her at first. She watched as he pulled the cap off, running his fingers through his hair as he read over the chart, still captivated at how glad he was here working with her.
"That was amazing," she finally offered.
He glanced up at her, surprised to see her at first before he nodded in agreement, turning back to his chart.
"You practice on cadavers," she continued. "You think you know what you're going to feel standing over that table but…that was such a high. I don't know why anyone does drugs."
Derek smiled softly at her. "Yeah," he agreed.
"Yeah," she nodded.
"I should go do this," he said, but his eyes told her that he wanted to do something else entirely.
"You should," she nodded as he moved to sit beside her.
"And you know…there's something that goes along with surgery highs," he murmured.
"What's that?" she asked, a smile spreading across her face.
"Sex," he whispered, so softly only she could hear.
She laughed slightly. "I do seem to remember you coming home on surgery highs a couple times," she said.
"And think how much better it will be when it's both of us," he said, his hand traveling discreetly over her thigh.
"You go take care of Katie," she said. "And then…we'll go home."
"We'll go home," Derek said, squeezing her hand softly before he stood, making his way down the hall.
"Derek," she called, watching him turn back to look at her. "I'm really glad you're here."
He smiled softly at her, nodding slowly. "Me too, Mer," was all he said. And that was enough.