"Remember the rules," Meredith demanded as she handed him a thermos of coffee, taking a bagel in return.
"No relationship stuff at work," Derek rolled his eyes. "I know."
"Good," she said.
"I don't know why you're obsessing over this," he commented as they made their way towards the door.
"I'm not obsessing," she rolled her eyes. "But no one knows. And no one will know, because then I'm the slutty intern sleeping with the attending."
"Okay," Derek sighed. "But why can't be drive in together?"
"Because people will see," Meredith replied. "And…because I'm mad at you."
"Mad at me?" Derek frowned. "What the hell did I do?"
"You made us late," Meredith replied. "If you hadn't been all naked and…whatever this morning we wouldn't be late right now."
"I was just getting in the shower," Derek shrugged innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Right, you always get in the shower with a hard on like that," Meredith rolled her eyes.
"It's not my fault you can't resist my manliness," Derek laughed.
"Shut up and go to work," she rolled her eyes as she opened the back door to her jeep, trying to balance her cup of coffee as she tossed her bag in.
"Hey," Derek appeared behind her, turning her gently to press a kiss to her lips. "I'll see you there."
"Have a good day," she murmured against his lips.
"You too," he said, and then with one more kiss he was gone, in his own car driving towards the hospital.
She shook her head as she got into her own car, following him the short distance to the hospital. She waited until he was in the building to get out of her car, hating the fact that it felt like she was avoiding him. She knew it was worth it, and the last thing she needed was anyone knowing about their relationship. Christina already knew and probably hated her for it, and she didn't want to make any more enemies.
When she arrived at the locker room after stopping at the coffee cart, she was surprised to see George and Izzie already dressed, pacing the room impatiently.
"There she is!" George cried the second she walked in the door.
"Me?" she asked, stepping back as George and Izzie moved closer to her.
"Meredith, George drove by your house yesterday," Izzie said.
"He did?" she asked, her heart pounding. "You did?" Derek was going to have to start parking his car down the street and walking. She didn't care if it rained all the time, that should be what he got for being an idiot.
"It's really big," George said. "And nice. It's a really nice, big house."
"Thanks?" Meredith offered, wondering where this was going.
"And big nice houses must be pretty expensive to keep up," Izzie said.
There it was.
"It's my mother's," Meredith shrugged, pushing past them to open her locker.
"Does she live there?" George frowned.
"No," Meredith shook her head. "She's…traveling."
"So you don't know what it feels like to live with your mother," George said. "I need out of that place. My mom irons my scrubs. My scrubs."
"Look, we're just trying to find a place to live," Izzie said. "And you have a ton of extra space. Why not rent it out?"
"We're already working eighty hour weeks together," Meredith said. "You really want to live together too?"
"Yes," George and Izzie said at once.
She rolled her eyes as she pulled her scrubs out of her locker. She wondered what Derek's reaction would be if she told him that she was letting two of his interns move in with them. "I don't think so," she said.
"Will you at least think about it?" Izzie asked.
Meredith rolled her eyes. "If I think about it will I have some privacy to change?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Fine, then I'll think about it," she said.
"Grey!" Bailey's voice came from the elevator. "Get your ass dressed and meet us out there. You're late. And you two, stop putzing around and do your jobs!"
George and Izzie scurried out of the locker room, leaving Meredith to get dressed in peace as she thought about their offer. She wasn't exactly sure if Derek was living with her. He'd slept there every night since they'd arrived in Seattle, but he still went somewhere to change out his clothes. Probably a hotel, but she wasn't exactly sure why he had even bothered to get a hotel in the first place.
It was after rounds, and getting told off by Bailey when she'd tried to bribe her way into the OR, that Meredith saw Derek standing in front of the elevator, concentrating down on his cell phone. She rolled her eyes slightly, knowing that he wasn't doing anything doctorly at all. He'd refused to admit that he played PacMan on his phone, but his high score proved that he played the game well, and frequently.
She took a deep breath as she stepped in front of him, trying to ignore the very poignant presence of the man behind her, and trying to think of anything besides what he'd done to her that morning.
"Seattle has ferryboats," he offered from behind her.
"Yes," she said, deciding to take his bait.
"I didn't know that," he said. "I've been living here six weeks and you didn't tell me there were ferryboats."
"Seattle is surrounded by water on three sides," she said, fighting off amusement in her voice.
"Hence the ferryboats."
If this was her boyfriend's idea of small talk with a coworker, he was a bigger idiot than she thought.
"Now I have to like it here," he sighed as they stepped onto the elevator, and she cursed inwardly as she realized they were the only two on board. This could be bad, very bad. "I have a thing. For ferryboats, I mean."
"So you wouldn't like it if there weren't any ferryboats?" she asked as the doors slid closed.
"Well," he said, reaching out to brush her bangs out of her face. "There is this girl that I kind of like."
"Kind of like?" she raised an eyebrow.
"She lives here, so it's not all that bad," he said, leaning into her.
She went with it for a moment before she pulled back, effectively ruining the moment. "You're sexually harassing me," she commented.
"I'm riding an elevator," he countered, his eyes closing as he leaned in for another kiss.
"No," she said, pushing him away from her and stepping to the other side of the elevator. "I'm drawing a line. The line is drawn. There's a big line, one that you're not allowed to cross at work."
He was silent for a moment, his expression amused before he stepped towards her again. "So this line," he stated. "Is it imaginary or do I need to get you a marker?"
Meredith stared at him for a moment, processing his words before her gaze dropped briefly to the erection that was straining against the thin material of his scrub pants. Before she knew what was happening, the charts were out of her arms, dropped on a pile on the floor as she launched herself into his arms. He was prepared for her, his arms already wrapping around her waist as she kissed him deeply, her hands fisting in his hair.
This was bad, so bad, but she couldn't help herself as he turned so that she was pressed against the wall of the elevator, her hips grinding furiously against his. She moaned into his mouth as his hand came to her thigh, pulling her leg to wrap around his waist as the fingers of his other hand wrapped themselves in her hair. His erection was hard and long against her center, and right now, in this moment, she wanted nothing more than to forget everything and have hot, amazing sex with her boyfriend.
Just as his hands were reaching for the ties on her scrubs, the elevator door dinged, and she gasped as she pushed away from him. The doors slid open and she quickly reached down to grab the fallen charts, her hands shaking the entire time. Without looking at Derek again she pushed her way off of the elevator, only looking back when she was a safe distance away.
"We'll talk later!" Derek called after her and she giggled slightly as she heard the frustration in his voice, noting the way he had shoved his hands in his pockets and conveniently pulled his lab coat closed. That was what he got for trying to break the rules.
XXXXXX
An hour later, Meredith was standing in the ICU unit, penis cooler in hand, staring at the Jane Doe who had fallen victim to a rapist's attack, the girl who had the same shoes as her. She wasn't sure why she was so fixated on that fact, but for some reason she couldn't quite comprehend that she had something in common with the woman who had been so brutally attacked. It wasn't just the fact that they had the same shoes; it was the fact that there was no family to call for this woman to have support, just like if something ever happened to her, there would be no one to call.
"Mer," Derek sighed as he walked into the room to examine the mystery woman. "Still no sign of who the hell did this. Sooner or later he's going to need attention so that penis you're carrying around won't be with you forever."
She ignored his joke as she stepped closer to him. "Where's her family?"
"Doesn't have any," he shrugged.
"No siblings?" she asked. She had Lexie. Maybe if something happened to her, Lexie would come.
"No," Derek shook his head. "Both parents are dead. She just moved to Seattle three weeks ago. Welcome to the city." He was standing at the nurse's station now, making notes on her chart, but Meredith couldn't take her eyes off of the woman on the bed. She couldn't understand how this woman could be so injured, so alone, and Derek was barely even recognizing the fact that maybe she just needed someone to sit with her.
"Mer, you okay?" he called over his shoulder, sensing her tension like he always did.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she nodded, her eyes still trained on the broken figure before her. "I just…have to do something. I have to go."
"Okay," Derek murmured from behind her, and she was already off down the hallway, not seeing him turn back to sit beside their nameless victim.
When she returned to the room after her shift, she was surprised to see Derek sitting beside the bed. "How is she?" she asked, sitting down beside him and setting the stupid penis cooler down beside her.
"No change," Derek sighed, sounding completely exhausted.
"How long have you been here?" she asked, pulling her bag onto her lap and offering him a bottle of water and a salad.
"Few hours," he shrugged. "I figured she needed some support."
Meredith smiled as she pulled her own salad out of her bag. He hadn't completely glazed over the fact that this girl was alone. "Me too," she said.
"We can go home," he offered, but she could tell he didn't want to leave.
"No," she said, twisting her water bottle open. "I want to stay too."
"Good," he said, taking a bite of his salad before he glanced over at her. "You know I have four sisters. Very girly, tons of kids. If I was in a coma, they'd all be here. I'd want them here."
Meredith tried to push aside the horrible thoughts that went through her mind at the mention of Derek being in a coma. She wasn't sure she was strong enough to handle something like that, but she leaned closer to him anyways. "I'd be here too," she promised softly.
He reached for her hand, his eyes slightly brighter than they had been moments before. "That means the world to me, Mer," he whispered. "Thank you."
She squeezed his hand slightly before she followed her gaze back to the girl. "Having no one," he said sadly. "I can't imagine that."
"I can," she said without a beat.
"What are you talking about?" he frowned. "Of course you have people. I'd be here every second, Mer."
"I know," she said, her eyes watering slightly. She hated how emotional he got when he was being…him. "I guess I'm still not used to the fact that you'd be here, that I wouldn't be alone."
"What about your mother?" he asked, taking another bite of salad. "She'd be here ordering all the surgeons around. She'd fly these cowboys in from Prague to do these amazing medical procedures."
She was grateful that he'd turned his back to glance at the chart so that he wouldn't see her expression. He could read her way too easily, and she couldn't exactly conceal her emotions when it came to talking about her mother anyways.
"That's true," she finally sighed, hating that she had to lie to him. "I do have my mother."
"Hmmm," Derek said, taking another bite of salad before he changed the topic, smirking slightly at her. "You kissed me this morning."
"I knew that was going to come up," she said.
"Don't get me wrong, I like the kissing," he said. "I'm all for the kissing. More kissing, I say."
"I have no idea what that was about," she rolled her eyes.
"Is it going to happen again, because if it is, I need to bring breath mints," he teased. "Put a condom in my wallet."
"Shut up now," she said. "Condoms stay at home. Just like kissing."
Derek smiled softly at her, but for the first time it didn't have any effect on her. "There's this baby, up in ICU," she said softly. "Brand new. No one's neglected him, brought him down. How do we get from there to here? She's wearing my shoes, and someone's beaten the crap out of her."
Derek sighed and moved closer to her, but before he could offer her any comforting words, the monitors beeped loudly and he sprang into doctor mode without missing a beat. She called a code blue and heard him ordering an OR, forcing her to push all thoughts of negativity and abandonment out of her head as she moved to Derek's side to help prep their patient for emergency surgery.
She stood outside the OR until the surgery was over, needing to know what had happened and knowing that Derek was going to be upset when he got out. When he finally appeared and saw her leaning against the wall, relief flooded his eyes as he tore his scrub cap off and ran his hands through his hair.
"Hey," he said distractedly. "I uh…I had to leave her skull flap open until the pressure in her brain goes down."
"She's not going to make it, is she?" Meredith asked, reading the distressed expression on his face.
"She's going to be fine," Derek said automatically, but his expression combined with his tone of voice and the fact that he wasn't looking her in the eye told her that he was lying to her.
"If she ever wakes up," Meredith stated.
"If she ever wakes up," Derek agreed sadly.
The rest of the day flew by in a blur. From realizing that the rapist's penis was gone for good to their patient waking up to be fully functional, Meredith was exhausted by the time she slid into her leopard print flats and made her way to the elevator where, of course, Derek was standing with his phone open in front of him.
"You know, if I ever need brain surgery I'm going to request a surgeon who doesn't play Pac Man twenty four seven," she commented as she moved to stand beside him.
"I'm not playing Pac Man," he scoffed.
"Sure," she nodded, looking up at the elevator dial.
"I'm not," he insisted. "I'm a doctor. I'm doing important doctorly things."
"Prove it," she said, and when he turned to look at her with a questioning glance, she reached out and grabbed the phone, looking down at it. "Ha!" she cried, holding it up in triumph. "Pac Man."
"Give me that," he rolled he eyes.
She giggled as she handed the phone back to him. "Sorry Dr. Shepherd."
"Sure you are," he said, stepping closer to her. "And you know…it's intense. This thing I have. For ferryboats."
Meredith offered him a smirk before the elevator doors slid open to reveal a completely empty elevator. "Well," she said, stepping on board. "How about you tell me all about it? Because I have a thing for ferryboats myself."
Derek laughed as he followed her on board, quickly closing the doors behind them and pulling her into his arms. She knew they were taking a chance by making out in the elevator but she didn't care. She was starting to realize what it was like to not be alone, and she wasn't going to give that up because of some stupid line that she had drawn.
Despite the fact that he was her boss's boss, Meredith Grey was definitely falling in love with Derek Shepherd. And she didn't regret it at all.
