The Power of One Word
by rjs0123

At the end of yet another long day as a surgical intern, Meredith Grey leaned against the back elevator wall. She closed her eyes and consequently missed the quiet entrance of Derek Shepherd.

"Long day?" Meredith started slightly at the sound of Derek's voice. Her eyes opened wide, but she quickly narrowed them: it was too late for this and she was almost too tired to keep her eyes open.

"Yeah." She elongated the syllable and ended up stifling a yawn.

Derek chuckled slightly. "I know how that goes." He reached out to push the button for the first floor. The metal doors closed slowly and he leaned back against the same wall Meredith already was leaning against. He crossed his arms a glanced sideways at her. "Any plans this weekend?"

Meredith opened one eye to glance at him exasperatedly. "Sleep." Again, Derek chuckled softly. Silence descended in the elevator and she felt compelled to return the question. "Do you and Addison have any plans?" She almost managed to get the name out without tripping over it.

Derek shrugged. "Not much. We are just going to clean the trailer. It's been getting kind of cluttered," he added unnecessarily.

"Umm," Meredith nodded in understanding, unwilling to continue the conversation any further. Thankfully she was saved from any further, awkward banter as the elevator doors slid open. "Have a nice weekend."

He followed her out of the elevator. "You too. Take care, Meredith."

She shot him an exhausted smile over her shoulder before continuing out into the parking lot.

As she drove home, Meredith couldn't get her conversation with Derek out of her head. Something was niggling at the back of her head, and it was weird. But then again, their entire relationship was weird: falling in love with the man, only to find out she was his mistress. As if that wasn't bad enough, she was still trying to redefine their relationship now that she had both Shepherds in her life.

As she slowed for a stop light, she finally figured out what was bothering her about their exchange. Derek had said 'we' in regards to Addison and himself. He hadn't done that before. In conversation, they had always been two separate identities and to have them suddenly fused into a 'we' was a bit disconcerting.

The more she thought about it, the more disconcerting it got. She had gotten used to way he had previously talked about them; had actually never given it a second thought. But now that it had changed, she realized that she had been hiding from the truth. And Derek's very speech had helped her. By keeping their activities separate and never referring to them as a 'we' he had helped Meredith maintain her wall of denial.

They were rarely seen together around the hospital, they didn't eat lunch together, they didn't go to Joe's together. In all these ways, it was easy for Meredith to convince herself that the marriage wasn't doing so well.

But now, they were a 'we'. And the window of opportunity that she had thought was still open, if only just cracked to let air in, had slammed shut flinging Meredith back into the harsh reality.

You win some, you lose some. Meredith had just lost.


AN: It's short, I know. But just something I've been contemplating: how much about us our word choice gives away. Please, let me know what you think. rjs0123