"This looks like a good place to set up camp," Derek announced as they came upon a clearing by the water.

Meredith looked over at the lake and the mountains in the distance, amazed by its beauty. Save for a few birds, it was completely quiet out here. "It's so beautiful. It was worth the hike."

"It wasn't that far."

Meredith took a water bottle from out of the cooler she had been dragging on the walk to the campground. She took a seat on the cooler as she took a sip. "Well it was a hike for me. Is this where you and the guys camped before?"

"No, it's not. This place is a little more secluded."

Meredith grinned. "Good."

"Well look, why don't you stay here, get settled. I'll go run back to the car and get the rest of our stuff." He leaned down, giving her cheek a quick peck.

"Okay," Meredith said, watching as he walked back down the path.

After a quick breather, Meredith took a look around, wondering what she could do to get things started.

The tent was probably a good place to start. She scoped out a good place to put it and began taking the tent out of the bag. "Well this can't be that hard," she said to herself.

xoxo

Derek trudged back to the campsite, loaded down with the rest of their gear. When he saw her, he couldn't help watch her with an amused smile on his face. Meredith was attempting to put up the tent, and failing pretty miserably as the whole thing collapsed before her.

"Do you need a hand?" he finally asked.

Meredith looked over at Derek, a look of exasperation on her face. "Is it that obvious?"

"Little bit."

"I'm a surgeon! I'm a doctor. We're generally pretty smart people, and yet, I can't put this damn thing together! I even have instructions!" Meredith pulled out the paper that demonstrated how to put up the tent. "But apparently, you have to have tent pitching skills to understand what the hell it's saying!"

Derek laughed. "Don't blame yourself too much. This thing is a pain in the ass."

Derek took over, not even needing the instructions.

"You make this look so easy."

"Just practice. And that I've put this thing up about a hundred times."

"I'll get the sleeping bags. I know that's something I know how to do."

Derek laughed.

Meredith took the two sleeping bags and crawled into the tent with them. She carefully unrolled them both, laying them side by side to make one big sleeping bag.

"For a sleeping bag, these aren't so bad," Meredith said. "Actually look pretty cozy. I could take a nap right now."

Meredith waited for Derek's response. When he didn't say anything, she figured Derek hadn't heard her. "Derek?"

Suddenly, she felt herself being grabbed from behind, making her scream loudly.

Derek just laughed, pinning Meredith beneath him.

"Derek, you scared me."

"I scared you? What, did you think I was some kind of animal?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe I am an animal." Derek growled as he took a nibble out of her ear lobe.

Meredith squealed in laughter as Derek kissed the spot on her neck where she was ticklish.

"I'm so glad I finally have you alone," he whispered.

She gazed into his eyes. "Yeah, me too. Why do think you I wanted to go ahead and set up the tent?"

Derek kissed her, soft at first, then hungrily as his body soon ached for her. It was hard for them to be together sometimes. Pagers would beep at inopportune moments. Long hours at the hospital would keep them apart. Roommates were always around.

Now it was just them.

His hands roamed down to the hem of her shirt and wrapped around her tiny waist. Underneath her shirt, her skin was warm, and Derek longed to have that warm skin against his.

"Meredith?" he whispered. He looked down at her, seeing her eyes closed and a smile on her face. "Mer?"

Meredith didn't respond.

Derek frowned. "Meredith?"

But Meredith didn't hear him at all. She was fast asleep.

"Damn it," Derek muttered.

xoxo

Meredith opened her eyes, confused by why her room looked so strange until she remembered that she was not in her room, but a tent, and her bed was a sleeping bag.

Meredith sat up and yawned. Where was Derek? And how long has she been sleeping anyway? She reached over for the tent's opening and unzipped it.

Derek wasn't too far. He sat in the mesh chair he'd brought from home. He was drinking a beer and listening to the radio. His grill was beside him, so he was probably cooking trout. That was so like Derek.

Meredith got her bearings and stood up, stretching a little as she made her way over to where Derek sat.

"Hey."

Derek turned around and smiled. "She finally awakes."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"A few hours."

Meredith's eyes grew wide. "Hours? Oh my god, what time is it?" Meredith glanced down at her watch.

"About time for dinner."

"Why'd you let me sleep for so long?" Meredith complained, lightly hitting him on the shoulder as she sat in the chair beside him.

"You were exhausted. Besides, I figured you should probably rest up. I don't know about you but I wasn't planning on us getting much sleep tonight."

Meredith laughed. "Yeah. I guess I was pretty tired. I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Hungry?"

"Starving."

"Caught some trout while you were asleep."

"Oh is that what I was smelling?"

"It should be ready soon. You should eat up too. I have a feeling we might work up an appetite." Derek gave her a wink.

"Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell is that?" Meredith was looking up at two bags tied to a rope hanging from a tree branch.

"Oh. That's a bear bag."

"Bear bag?"

"Yeah. I tied up the rest of our food. You know, so the bears won't get to it."

"Are there really that many bears around here?"

"Oh yeah. But we don't have to worry about them hanging around here."

"Because we've got our food hanging from a tree?"

"Exactly." Derek was very proud of getting that bag in the tree all by himself.

"Well what about all of the animals that live in the trees? They can still get to the food. What about squirrels? Those squirrels are pretty smart."

Derek frowned. "Would you rather have a bear or a squirrel after your food?"

Meredith smiled. She decided to drop it. She didn't want to have a petty argument on their only weekend alone together. "It's a great bear bag, Derek."

"Thank you."

xoxox

After they ate, Meredith wandered off into the woods. Nature calling, she had said to Derek playfully.

And then she had to endure about a five minute lecture on staying away from anything with three leaves on it. Poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac, but especially poison oak. After assuring him for the hundredth time that she knew what poison oak looked like, he let her go. Meredith quietly wondered what the hell that had been all about. Bears? No problem! Just tie your food up in a bag and hang it from a tree. But you better watch out for those plants with three leaves on it. They were trouble.

As Meredith came back to the campsite, she heard a strange sound. She followed the noise and found Derek with an axe, apparently chopping some firewood. He must have been at it for a while since he had removed his shirt, already sweaty.

"So you really are a wood-chopping fisherman, huh?"

Derek turned around at the sound of her voice.

"Oh don't stop." Meredith grinned widely. "Carry on. I like watching you work hard." Meredith grabbed a beer from out of the cooler and took a seat.

"Thought we could start a fire later."

"I think you already are, Dr. Shepherd."

Derek smiled at her, then went about chopping the rest of the wood. But Meredith kept staring at him, and after a while, it got to be distracting. Finally, he stopped and turned around. "What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"You just keep watching me. What is it?"

"You are so turning me on right now."

"Really?" Derek asked with a grin.

"Uh huh."

"Huh. Well maybe I should do this more often."

"Yes. I think you should."

After a little while, Meredith suddenly got up from her chair.

"Where are you going? I thought I was turning you on."

She laughed. "You are. And actually, I'm getting pretty hot. A little sweaty. I think I'll take a dip in the lake. You look like you're working up a sweat too. Maybe you should join me."

"No, that's okay. Maybe later. You go ahead." Derek continued with his wood-chopping.

"Are you sure about that, Dr. Shepherd?" Meredith said in a husky voice. "I can't interest you in taking a swim with me?"

That caught Derek's attention.

Meredith gave him a playful grin as she pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it to the ground.

"Meredith? What are you doing?"

"Going for a swim. What does it look like I'm doing?" Meredith took off her shoes and socks, tossing them on the ground as well.

"Meredith…are you…"

"You should really come join me," she said as she unzipped her jeans and slid her pants down.

Derek laughed. "Meredith, you do realize that this is a public park?"

"Well I don't see anyone, do you? And isn't that half the fun anyway? The thrill of almost getting caught? Kind of like when we do it in the on-call room with the door unlocked."

Who was this woman? Derek wondered to himself. Where was this wild side of Meredith coming from? It was getting harder to resist. His body was screaming for her.

"You coming?" Meredith asked one more time, unhooking her bra and tossing it at him with a grin. "Come on and get naked, McDreamy."

Meredith walked across the dock, gave Derek one more look as she slid out of her panties, tossed them aside, and jumped into the lake.

How could he say no to that? Derek ran towards the dock, tossing his boots, tossing his socks, and finally everything else onto the ground just seconds before jumping into the lake to join Meredith.

Meredith laughed out loud, her hair already soaking wet. She didn't know what had possessed her to jump into the lake completely naked, but she figured if there was anyone she wanted to go skinny-dipping with, it was Derek.

Derek swam over to Meredith and pulled her close to him, kissing her hard at first, then tenderly as he felt the warmness of her skin against his.

"You didn't tell me the water was this cold."

"Good thing we're naked. Body heat is an excellent way of keeping warm."

"This is true," Derek said, holding her close and kissing her again as Meredith giggled once more.