Disclaimer: Okay, obviously I don't own Grey's Anatomy, otherwise I wouldn't have this posted here, it would feature in some episode of the show. Title is from the Paperboys song that inspired this piece.

A/N: There is some serious character bashing and Meredith is only mentioned. If you don't like the idea of somebody giving Derek what for, then this is not for you. The fic is the result of some serious frustration on my part. I mean, yes the guy is cute, and I thought so well before this show was even remotely in the air, but he behaves like a complete cad, stringing along two ladies and nobody ever says anything or gives him the punch in the face he sometimes so richly deserves. Instead they all seem to be sorry for him. Well, that is about to change. Drastically.

Molinos

Derek Sheppard wasn't having the best of days. He had missed the elevator three times already and something just had to be wring with his voice, because no amount of shouting seemed to have inspired the occupants to hold the elevator for him. People normally did, so there had to be something wrong with his voice. It sounded normal to him, but then again he wasn't a throat doctor. Maybe he should have that checked out at some point.

Patient's files seemed to be mislaid on a regular basis, it was taking forever to finish his rounds. Bailey hadn't assigned him an intern that day, so he was on his own.

And he could have sworn he had asked on of the nurses for a cup of coffee ages ago. It hadn't shown up so maybe he just thought he had asked, but actually hadn't. It was enough to turn you upside down.

Nope, Derek really wasn't having a good day. Unknown to him the whole week was about to get a lot worse.

Three hours, two misplaced charts and a more than usually pissy Christine Yang later, Derek was beginning to suspect that he had done something wrong. He just couldn't figure out what.

Both of the two minor surgeries he had scheduled for that day had to be postponed, when the nurses assigned to them called in sick. All ten of them.

And then there was the time when an attending nurse sent him to the wrong room and the woman in the bed was anything but the comatose patient he was expecting, so that when he pressed his fingernail sharply against the sleeping woman's foot she had woken with a yell and kicked him halfway across the room.

The nurse's apologies had been effusive, and very fake.

Taking himself back to his office, Derek absentmindedly rubbed his sore behind. Life wasn't very fair at the moment.

The second day the whispers started. And stopped as soon as he was within hearing distance. Only to resume when he went on his way. It was enough to make even the most optimistic person paranoid.

The nurses seemed to have gone on some bizarre strike in which they did exactly what it said in their contracts but not a jot more. So no more cheery cups of coffee waiting for him in his office or outside the surgery. He noticed though that Burke didn't seem to have the same problem.

His sick nurses from the day before had miraculously recovered, and quite happily fulfilled their duties in Webber's and Burke's ORs.

It was proving a most trying time and to make matters worse he still hadn't managed to catch up with Meredith. He hadn't seen her anywhere and lets face it the hospital wasn't that large that it was easy to hide. He should have run into her somewhere. And none of her friends seemed to know either, or they weren't willing to tell him, Izzie got remarkably snappy for someone who had the patience of a saint. Maybe asking her for the tenth time had been a bit overkill.

Derek shrugged. He would catch up with Meredith at Joe's later. She always went there after work. Resolved he slogged his way through the rest of his day, only having to change his shirt twice along the way. Once when a patient threw up on him and second when a nurse managed to trip with an of all things open urine sample in her hand and the whole mess went flying on his new shirt.

With a heartfelt sigh of relied he finally, finally managed to make his way out of the hospital, with nary a token protest from Addison, and made his way to his favourite bar.

It was still early in the evening so the bar was mostly empty. No doubt it would fill up later. Walking up to the bar he beamed at Joe and hopped onto a free stool.

Joe seemed to be rather reserved that evening as he did not return Derek's smile but simply asked: "What can I get you?"

"A double dram of Lagavulin, please."

"Sorry, fresh out. Delivery's not for another week. Something else?"

"Any single malt will do."

"No can do. All out." Joe hadn't even bothered to check the bottles lined up behind the bar. "Only one I have is a Japanese blended."

Derek shuddered. He was getting the distinct impression that the universe was trying to tell him something.

"Meredith come yet?"

Joe's face froze. "Nope, can't say that I have seen her."

Derek shrugged and stared into the murky depths of what was by far the worst drink he had ever been subjected to. "Have you ever had a couple of days, where…" His voice trailed off as he realised that Joe had disappeared. A clatter of dishes betrayed his new position.

The handsome doctor found this very strange as Joe was known to always have a sympathetic shoulder for people to cry on.

It turned into a fairly lonely evening. Meredith seemed to be detained somewhere, as she never showed and all the other customers paired off at the tables or joined friends.

A little pool of silence surrounded him and after a couple fo hours he gave up and went back to his cold trailer by the lake.

Another three days brought Dr. Shepard to his breaking point. Seattle seemed to have turned into Coventry overnight as far as he was concerned. Nobody at the hospital spoke to more than strictly necessary. It was demoralising.

With a heavy heart he made his way to Webber's office, feeling like a little boy about to complain that the other little kids didn't want to play with him. It seemed so childish.

To his credit Webber listened to his tirade about the nurses, the interns, the surgical staff, Joe and his whole miserable week, without batting an eye. However when Derek then proceeded to rant about how he hadn't seen Meredith in ages, the chief went an alarming shade of red.

"What?" Webber's voice was quiet.

"I said I haven't seen Meredith in ages. Is she sick or something?"

Webber smirked. "Or something."

"Come again."

"You asked if she was sick or something. And it is or something. And seeing as Meredith is not your intern I fail to see why her whereabouts are any concern or yours."

Derek gaped at him unsure if he had heard right.

"Don't look at me like that. In the past year you have behaved extremely unprofessionally. It is not my nature to reprimand my subordinates if hospital efficiency is not affected. However when your behaviour begins to affect a young woman of extreme talent with her whole career in front of her, it is a different matter entirely. Again, I have nothing against our employees pairing off, God knows it happens often enough in our field of business. However, flirting aside, you are married. Or did that conveniently slip your mind too?"

He waited a brief second for Derek to answer and then when that failed went right on with his rant.

"And yet even your wife here in this hospital did nothing to increase your self-control. You have led that girl along for weeks with empty promises. A girl I consider as close if not more so than my own daughter. Well, now it stops.

Meredith came to me and asked for help. She has transferred to a prestigious teaching hospital on the east coast."

Derek opened his mouth to protest, but Webber's raised hand stopped him.

"Be grateful I didn't throw you out. Apparently neuro-surgeons as worth more than a lowly intern. This meeting is over."

Still gob smacked, Derek made his way to the door.

"Oh and one more thing. You might take into account that Meredith was very well liked in this hospital and will be sorely missed. That might provide food for thought when you wonder why the nurses and interns are giving you such a hard time."

Webber watched as Derek clumsily left the room. Good thing the man had no further operations that day.

With a sigh of relief he went back to his paperwork. The next thing on his to-do list was to regretfully countersign Addison Montgomery's request for an early release from her contract.