A/N : This is what I get for using re-watching Grey's Anatomy in the background while I study... The re-watch has also brought back the realization that Derek was kind of a dick the first few seasons. So here's yet another post ep for Yesterday (several years late) that branches directly off from the last scene of Meredith and Mark in the bar (aka, no horrible bad thing with George). It might go somewhere, it might not, but the re-watch has reminded me of how much I liked the MerMark potential and how those two seem to click. Enjoy :)
Neither of them slept that much that night.
A few winks of rest for one were caught every so often before the other teased them back into wakefulness with a quiet giggle or snicker and skin on skin.
But between the catnaps and mind-blowing sex, they talk softly in the darkness of Meredith's room.
"You love him, like really love him, don't you?"
The eye roll goes unseen, but the response comes clear as day.
"I do. I tried not to… It didn't work."
"I know the feeling."
When Meredith rolls her head to the left, taking in Mark's silhouette that's illuminated from the moonlight seeping through her windows, she can tell that he's staring intently at her ceiling. There's something in his voice that strikes a chord in her heart, causing part of her to reach out to the man who may hold just as much darkness as she does.
"I'm sorry she didn't show up tonight," Meredith murmurs.
Her statement is met with hungry lips on hers and she willingly sinks into the distraction from the topic. Mark's response is answer enough.
Later, when the first hints of purple appear in the sky, it's Mark who speaks first.
"Maybe one day, life will come down on the side of the Dirty Mistresses. What do you think?"
Meredith snorts softly. "I think that the Dirty Mistresses is a really bad team name."
This pulls a laugh from Mark as he strokes a hand down her spine. "If that's our team name, do we get to have team meetings? I'll bring the condoms, you bring the tequila?"
When Meredith begins to shake with silent laughter, Mark pretends to be affronted. "What? It's a solid idea; good team building exercise."
This time, Meredith can't stop the peal of laughter that bursts free, so she rolls to her side and jabs a finger into Mark's ribs as retaliation. The following five minutes devolve into a full-out, sweaty wrestling match, resulting in both breathing hard and snickering like children and Meredith sprawled across Mark like a blanket.
They fall into a light doze that way as the sun breaks over the horizon.
When her alarm goes off at seven in the morning, it jolts both of them from the doze they'd fallen into, pulling a loud curse from McSteamy's lips and a groan from a very tired intern. Borrowing her head under her pillow, Meredith curls into a ball against Mark's side and tries to drown out the annoying beeping.
"Shut that thing up, for all that is holy," Mark grumbles, giving her a small shove in the direction of the alarm clock, snorting at her gasp of surprise and taking advantage of her movement to flip onto his stomach and stuff his head under the freed pillow. He misses the tongue stuck out in his direction, but can't avoid the other pillow that's flung at his back. He flinches, but stubbornly refuses to move, sighing in relief when Meredith rolls off the bed and turns off her alarm.
"Oh thank the sweet, sweet Gods of silence," Mark sighs in relief, peeking out from his pillow shelter to meet Meredith's annoyed glare. He winks once, visible eye gleaming with amusement, before retreating back to his darkened shelter.
"I have to go to work soon, so I'm going to shower. You… Find some clothes?" Meredith suggests, before turning and making her escape into her bathroom. When the door clicks closed, she releases a groan and scrubs at her bleary eyes. Not getting enough sleep was one thing; staying up most of the night with a very enthusiastic bedmate was certainly another and it today was going to be a hell of a day. She could feel it.
The muffled noises of movement from behind the door sparked the smallest bolt of regret, but it's quickly snuffed out. They were just two adults having some much needed fun… and who happened to be the co-heads of the Dirty Mistresses club.
Shaking her head at the thought, Meredith turns on the shower and jumps in before it has time to warm up, letting the cold shock her into full wakefulness. Biting her lip against the temperature, she sets to work and scrambles out mere minutes later.
Stumbling into the random assortment of clothes she had snatched up on the way to the bathroom, she runs quick fingers through her damp hair, takes a quick peek at her reflection and deems herself acceptable. Emerging, she stops short at the sight of Mark sprawled across her bed, arms behind his head and a cocky grin on full display and not a stitch of clothing in sight, save for the sheet rather strategically placed over his hips.
"You're insufferable."
Mark just wiggles his eyebrows at her.
"Get up; I'm going to be late if I don't leave soon and I'm not leaving you alone in my house," Meredith announces with a smirk, scooping up his discarded jeans from the floor and tossing them at his face. As he fumbles with the pants, she continues, "now, I'm going to go see where my roommates are and if they need a ride into work and when I come back, you'd better be ready to go. I'm willing to give my fellow Dirty Mistress a ride back to the hospital, where I'm guessing you left your car."
"You're no fun," Mark pouts.
As Meredith slips out of the bedroom, she fires back easily, "that's not what you said last night."
McSteamy's infectious laugh follows her into the hallway.
Where she promptly comes face to face with George and Izzy, both with dark circles under their eyes and a mixture of curiosity and irritation in their stares. Taken aback, Meredith merely blinks at them wordlessly, feeling oddly like a gaping fish.
"Really Mer? All night?" Izzy grumbles.
"Yeah Mer, a little warning would've been nice. I could've gotten more sleep in an on-call room," George chimes in, voice rough with exhaustion.
"Uh sorry guys, I didn't exactly plan on … this happening," Meredith stammers, feeling more guilt about keeping up her roommates than sleeping with McSteamy.
And of course, because she had somehow, at some point in her life, managed to royally piss off the Gods, that's when Mark chose to emerge from her bedroom. Life just didn't seem to ever fall on the side of the Dirty Mistresses.
Izzy's eyes grow huge and her mouth drops open in shock, staring unblinkingly past Meredith's shoulder and George emits a small squeak, confusion and shock going to war on his features. The two interns stand stock still, frozen in surprise as Mark stops just behind Meredith, who can't help but shut her eyes and whisper a small prayer.
"Grey, I can't find my jacket; any idea where it ended up?"
Mark is close enough to her back that she can feel the warmth emanating from him and hear the vague amusement colouring his tone. She resists the sudden and inexplicable urge to lean back into his solid form and instead turns her head to look at him.
"I think it might be on the stairs, but I'm not sure."
"Well, I'm going to go explore your house until I find it. You should make sure the gaping idiots there are still breathing," Mark announces, sliding past Meredith close enough that their shoulders brush and vanishing down the stairs, leaving the three interns in a strange, stare filled impasse.
"Uh," Meredith breaks the silence, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "Do you guys want a ride into work?"
A long few seconds pass before the two move in stunned unison, each nodding slowly.
"Okay, we'll head out in the next five minutes."
And with that, Meredith makes her escape.
What follows is by far the most awkward car ride she'd ever experienced in her life.
The problem with taking the elevator with your adulterous wife the day after your former best friends shows up in Seattle and neither of you are willing to take the stairs is that, of course, there isn't another soul in the small cube to fill the awkward silence. Between the basement to the first floor, Derek backs himself into the furthest corner and stares at the lights that indicate which floor the machine is on and leaves Addison alone in the center of the elevator.
As the metal box slowly lifted, so did the tension.
The previous evening had been nothing short of horrible, and both knew it was because Mark's sudden and unannounced appearance in Seattle. Addison had tried to instigate a conversation, about anything really, but Derek hadn't been willing to listen. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts and unwilling to even sleep in the same bed as his wife; he had taken up a position on the couch and left the OBGYN surgeon to the bed. He knew she was hurting, had heard the quiet sniffles from the other end of the trailer, but he just… couldn't. The guilt was there, but it was currently buried under a pile of disgust and a whirlwind of other emotions that had reared their ugly head as soon as he had caught sight of Mark talking with Meredith.
And Meredith smiling back.
Simply replaying the scene in his mind from yesterday brought the rage bubbling back to the surface.
The ding of the elevator sliding to a stop at the first floor was enough to jolt him from his thoughts and he looked forwards just in time to watch the doors to slide open to admit more passengers.
As the drab metal retracts, the currently at-odds Sheppard's' both receive a shock neither expected.
Because there stood Mark and Meredith, chatting like old friends, twin smiles in full force as they looked at one another.
Conversation and smiles froze instantly as the ex-lovers take in exactly who was standing in the elevator.
Then Meredith snorts tiredly and steps in, muttering, "this totally doesn't count as falling on the side of our team."
Mark snickers and follows. "Too true, my fellow club member."
Completely ignoring the other two occupants of the elevator, whom are both actively staring, while Addison is forced to migrate further back into the contraption, they step in and stand shoulder to shoulder.
"Though, I don't think it could get any worse," Mark muses. "It's not like we're - "
Whatever the plastic surgeon had been about to say is interrupted by all the lights flickering wildly and the machine jerking to a sudden halt, violently throwing everyone off balance. Derek tips back and smacks his head off the wall, while Addison stumbles into her husband's side, sending both of them to the floor in a heap. Meredith and Mark fare only slightly better, with the intern grasping wildly for the railing and catching Mark's outstretched palm as he reaches out to catch her. The two say dangerously for a moment, Meredith clinging to the railing like a monkey and Mark moving closer to wrap an arm around her waist.
After a long moment of tense silence as they all brace for the elevator to throw anything else at them, Meredith tilts her head to glare at Mark.
" – Stuck in here," Mark finishes lamely, ducking his head in embarrassment as all eyes land on him.
