This story idea has been going around in my head for a while. I'm a huge fan of MerDer and wanted to try their relationship from a different angle. Please note: Meredith is not an intern at the hospital, nor has she ever been – no-one knows her or has met her before. So, here we go:
The room was peaceful. Outside, the sun was just starting to rise, sneaking into the room through a crack in the curtain. The light fell onto a bed in which two people lay intertwined – unaware that their peacefulness was about to be shattered. As the clock beside the bed changed to read 6.00am, the room was filled with the sound of an urgent buzzing and a flashing light. From the bed an arm appeared from under the duvet and the hand fumbled around blindly, touching everything but what it was looking for. It eventually found the alarm clock and hammered the top of it, but nothing happened. There was a sigh, and a head appeared from under the duvet. He located the alarm clock, pressed the off button and threw himself back onto his pillow. He looked over at his wife who was still asleep and poked her.
"Derek, what is it?" she asked without opening her eyes.
"As much as I hate to acknowledge the fact, our vacation is over. It's time to get up," he replied standing up. He ran a hand through his hair which was sticking up at all angles and stumbled across the bedroom. "Addison?" When there was no reply he turned round back to the bed and noticed she was still asleep. Quietly he picked up a cushion off the chair and threw it at her. She sat up.
"I'm up, I'm up!" she said, rolling out of bed and pulling on her dressing gown. "6am, oh how I hate you. Can't we just escape again Derek? Go back to the beach, back to the time when 6am didn't matter, when I could just lie around all day and do nothing, and spend time with you?"
"As great as it sounds – we have jobs, duties to take care of people. Bills don't pay themselves you know," Derek replied. "I'm going for a shower – you better be ready in half an hour because I'm not waiting for you. You can make your own way to work; you're not making me late!"
Addison raised a hand to her head and saluted Derek. "Alright, sir."
At 6.45am they were pulling up outside Seattle Grace Hospital. Derek drove the car into a space, jumped out and pulled his briefcase from the back of the car. Addison took her time. They walked into the hospital together and into one of the lifts. Derek turned to his wife.
"Have a good first day back, meet you back at the car after our shifts?" he asked, planting a kiss on her cheek.
Addison nodded, and made her way out of the lift as it stopped on her floor. She gave a little wave as she headed off and the doors closed again. Derek smiled to himself, and when the lift had gone up two more floors he stepped off. Despite having had a break, he was happy to be back. He was happiest when he was saving lives and performing risky surgeries. He hoped he'd have plenty of interesting patients for the day. He whistled to himself as he made his way to the Chief's office and gently knocked on the door. He heard two voices inside the room, and one of them told him it was alright to enter.
"Dr Webber, Dr Bailey, great to see you!" he exclaimed as he stepped through the door.
"Ah Dr Shepherd, we were just talking about you. It's great to see you back. How was the vacation, how is Addison?" the Chief asked, swinging round in his chair and standing up. He reached across to shake Derek's hand. Bailey pointed towards the door. "I'll leave you two to it. Dr Shepherd, when you're finished I've got a new patient for you and a bunch of very willing interns." She said.
Derek nodded in response and she swiftly left the room, then he turned back to face the Chief. "Vacation was wonderful – the time off was well needed. Addison is excellent; she was a bit more reluctant to return this morning however." Both men laughed."I, on the other hand can't wait to get stuck in again," he said rubbing his hands together. "Bring it on!"
The Chief smiled. "That's what I like to see in my staff, enthusiasm. Now I should let you get back to work," he said, indicating towards his office door. "Have a good day."
Derek went and collected his white jacket, and he sighed as he slipped it on feeling complete again. He looked at his watch and decided he had time for a coffee before he went to see his first patient of the day. After he had finished he went to look for Bailey. He didn't have to look hard as he heard her voice waft around the corner "...Karev, keep up. Stevens, don't look so bored." She soon appeared with four interns practically running to keep up with her.
Derek took in the sight approaching him. By Bailey's side Cristina Yang was studying a patient's notes, her forehead crinkled in concentration as she tried to make sense of them. Walking beside Cristina was George O'Malley desperately trying to read over Cristina's shoulder. A little behind the group were Alex Karev, and Izzie Stevens who was rolling her eyes at every given opportunity.
"Ah, Dr Shepherd, good you've found me. Follow us." Bailey said, indicating he should join her group. Derek tagged along and they reached a patient's room. Bailey opened the door and allowed her interns in. Derek took the patient notes from Cristina and looked at them, while Bailey asked one of the group to present the patient. In her eagerness to be the one to do so, Cristina elbowed George in the face as she waved her hand frantically in the air. George let out a small "watch it" and glared at her. "Stevens, present."
Izzie smiled and stepped forward, happy to take the spotlight. "This is Meredith Grey, 31 year old female. She's been suffering migraines for a couple of months now, but now they've got a lot worse and more frequent. She also has blackouts and seizures"
Derek took his eyes off the notes and looked properly at the patient for the first time. He noticed how striking she was – despite something being wrong she was smiling warmly at him. He noticed her dimples when she smiled, making her seem somewhat vulnerable yet her soft blue/green eyes twinkled and he sensed that she was strong-willed and not at all vulnerable. "Miss Grey, I'm Dr Shepherd. I'd like to send you for a scan so we can get to the bottom of these blackouts and seizures."
Meredith smiled up directly at him. "Please Dr Shepherd, call me Meredith."
"One of our interns will prep you and take you up for the scan, and then we can take it from there...Meredith," Derek replied, turning to Dr Bailey. "Dr Bailey, I'd like to assign Izzie Stevens to this case."
"You heard the man, Stevens – you're with Miss Grey. O'Malley, you're with me; Karev – Mark Sloane requested you in plastics; and Yang, you're in the pit today. Now go." Bailey barked her orders in her usual fashion. The three interns not needed left, Cristina grumbling under her breath about being confined to the pit.
"Dr Stevens, could you please prep Miss Grey... Meredith and take her up for the scan. I will meet you up there in an hour" Derek said. Izzie nodded and set about getting Meredith ready. As Derek left the room he turned and smiled at Meredith. She smiled back, and then he left.
"He's cute, right?" Izzie said as soon as he had left. She was testing Meredith's blood pressure at the time.
"Who, Dr Shepherd?" Meredith asked, a slight blush rising in her cheeks.
"We call him McDreamy, but shh." Izzie said, smiling. Meredith laughed. "Then there's also McSteamy up in plastics."
The two women chatted as Izzie prepared Meredith for her scan. Meanwhile as Derek was doing his rounds, he kept checking his watch. Time seemed to be moving slowly – the hour couldn't come soon enough.