"Rose?" Derek called out as he entered their apartment.

It had been his first day back since the cruise and it had gone...differently than he had thought it would.

"Kitchen." She yelled back.

Derek made his way to the kitchen to see Rose sitting behind their counter, a glass of red wine in her hand as she skimmed through some style magazine.

"How was work?" She asked not bothering to turn and look at him.

"Work?" Derek repeated.

"Yes, work. That is where you were, wasn't it?" Rose turned in her seat to face him now and she did not look happy.

"Work was fine." Derek mumbled.

"Mhmm." Rose rolled her eyes and continued to flip through her magazine.

"I kind of quit..." Derek whipered.

"You what?!" Rose jumped from her seat and yelled. "Are you kidding me Derek?"

"I was called into the Chief's office, he was going to give me a promotion and I just, I quit."

"You just quit? That's your explanation?"

"I don't owe you an explanation for why I quit. You know I could get a job at whatever hospital I walk into."

"So this is about your ego. Do I not boost it enough Derek?"

"God, Rose it had nothing to do with my ego. I was bored. I didn't enjoy going to work every day I need a change."

"You were bored? I think I liked the you just quit answer better." Rose huffed.

"I am bored Rose. Nothing exciting has ever happened in my life, I need to do something adventurous. That's why I planned the cruise I was going to propose but -"

"But what Derek? You tell me you quit your job and now that you were going to propose which I assume means you've changed your mind."

"This hasn't been working for a long time." Derek sighed.

"You tell yourself whatever the hell you want Derek." Rose said.

"I'm sorry about this."

"I want you out of here tomorrow." Rose told him before storming out.

Derek left early the next morning, before Rose even had the chance to wake up. He had spent the night on the couch which he didn't really mind. They had a one bedroom apartment and sleeping beside Rose was definitely not an option.

He didn't take much with him. He told himself he was leaving for a fresh start and he didn't want to bring his past with him. Derek didn't have a troubled past, but there was nothing he felt the need to hold on to. His mother was upset to hear he'd be moving so far from New York but after a couple hours he managed to convince her he'd still come and visit for holidays.

Derek had imagined himself being upset after things ended with Rose but he felt free. He didn't realize how bad things had gotten between them until he was boarding the plane and felt no remorse about leaving without as much as a goodbye. He was ready to start fresh, to get away from his failed relationship and a job that made him forget why he fell in love with surgery.

Meredith was never a morning person and becoming a surgeon hadn't changed that. The buzzing of her alarm made her groan into her pillow every morning. This day however, she was up well before her alarm. She sat in her kitchen sipping a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. Today was her first day as a Neuro attending. She had put in her time as an intern and a resident and now she was finally where she wanted to be. Of course she had dreams of becoming Head of Neuro but she was just starting out, she had time.

She knew her trial could very well put her on everyone's radar. It was a scary and amazing thing to think about. If it worked she knew the title of "Ellis Grey's daughter" would disappear and she would finally be able to stand behind her own work, not her mother's. If the trial failed, she didn't even want to think about what would happen if the trial failed.

Her first day back did not begin with anything out of the ordinary. The Head of Neuro at Seattle Grace was finishing up before she retired for good which meant all the good surgeries had been booked weeks in advance. Her final consult was what turned Meredith's day around. A young woman, no more than 25, had come to Seattle Grace in search of treatment; any treatment. She had an abnormal tumor growing in her brain and every doctor she had seen had refused to operate.

"How many doctors have you seen in the past year, Allison?" Meredith asked the young woman.

"Um, fifteen? Maybe twenty? They all say the same thing and if you say the same thing they all said my fiancee here will have to restrain me from punching you in the face." Allison joked and nudged her fiancee.

"The tumor is inoperable Allison. But I'm at the beginning stages of a trial for people with your kind of tumor."

"So, I have an option?"

"Our Head of Neurology is leaving after today, I'll have to wait until the new one arrives tomorrow to talk about the trial so I can't promise anything, but yes you may have an option."

"Thank you so much Doctor Grey." Allison smiled teary-eyed.

"Get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow." Meredith smiled and walked out of her patient's room.

Derek spent the night in a hotel. He had met with a real estate agent earlier in the day and purchased some land along with a trailer but he still had some papers to sign. His agent said he would be able to move the next weekend once everything had been sorted out.

Although he was no longer with Rose, Derek knew eventually he'd settle down and have a family. Only then did he want a house, one that could be filled with memories by him and his future wife along with their future children. The thought of living alone in a big house seem quite depressing to Derek. That's why he bought the land; he now had the money and the space to build the house of his dreams, all he needed was the future wife.

"I delivered a moms triplets yesterday, she thought she was having one. You should have seen the look on the dad's face when I told him two more still had to come." Alex laughed, sitting on the gurney in the hall along with Alex, Izzie and George. It had been their spot since they were interns.

"What idiot can't read a sonogram and tell the parents if it's one or three. We knew how to do that when we were interns." Cristina sighed.

"Speak for yourself, I still can't really tell the difference." George said.

"Good thing you're not in Peds." Alex remarked.

"I'm great at general, I may not be Ellis Grey or... shit, sorry Mer." George aplogized.

"No, it's fine. You're right, you're not Ellis Grey thank god. And neither am I, one of my biggest reasons for going into Neuro was because my mom used to tell me she hated being in Neuro when she was an intern."

"Seriously?" George asked wide eyed.

"Oh! have you met him yet?" Cristina asked Meredith.

"Met who?" Meredith replied.

"The new Head of Neuro."

"It's a guy?"

"You seriously don't pay attention to the gossip in this hospital?" Izzie intruded.

"Speaking of which..." Meredith trailed off as she looked at her pager. "Chief wants to see me, Neuro guy is here."

Meredith made her way to the Chief's office. She walked in to see Richard sitting behind his desk, glancing over papers that scattered his desk. Meredith shut the door behind her causing Richard to look up from his work.

"Ah, Dr. Grey." He smiled.

"You paged, Chief."

"Please, have a seat, Dr. Shepherd will be joining us shortly."

Meredith obliged and took a seat across from the Chief. It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door.

"Dr. Webber." Derek smiled.

Meredith turned to face her new boss. Her heart started pounding and she was pretty sure her eyes look as though they were about to pop right out of her head. It was the guy she had met on the cruise. The one she had flirted with and the one that was surely engaged by now.

"Dr. Shepherd, welcome." Richard said standing and walking over to shake Derek's hand. "Pleasure to have you on our team."

"Thank you, I've heard many great things about this hospital." Derek replied all the while looking at Meredith.

"This is Dr. Grey, one of our most promising attendings." Richard smiled with pride as he introduced Meredith.

Meredith stood and walked over to Derek. She outstretched her arm to shake his hand, their eyes still locked. He smirked as he shook her hand, making her blush.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Shepherd."

"Likewise, Dr. Grey."

"Dammit." Meredith groaned looking down at her pager.

"What?" Derek asked.

"Just a patient of mine, I'm sorry Dr. Webber but I have to go. It was nice to meet you, Dr. Shepherd." Meredith smiled and walked out of the room.

By the time Meredith got to Allison she had been revived and was now asleep. Meredith scanned over her charts and sighed. A tap on the door made Meredith look up, figuring it was Allison's fiancee; she was shocked to see Derek standing in the doorway.

"This the patient?" He asked and walked in.

"Yeah." Meredith answered and continued to look at the Allison's chart.

"Mind if I take a look?" Derek moved in closer, his hand brushing over hers as he went to grab the chart.

"No, go ahead." Meredith sighed and handed over the chart.

"You know this tumor is inoperable, right?"

"I didn't, but thank you for clearing that up." She answered sarcastically.

"I was just curious as to why she would be on the surgical floor with an inoperable tumor when there are plenty of people with operable ones waiting for this bed."

"I didn't say I wasn't going to do anything."

"You think you can cure this?" Derek asked, surprised.

"I, I don't know, maybe? I've been kind of playing around with the idea of a trial for patients with these tumors because they don't have any other option. It's risky and I haven't really worked out all the details yet but -"

"You're rambling." Derek remarked.

"I am not rambling."

"You are. It's cute."

"Don't call me cute. You're my boss. And you're engaged." Meredith sighed.

"I'm not engaged."

"Still haven't asked her?"

"No I broke up with her. Moved out here, started fresh."

"Oh." Meredith replied, "sorry to hear that."

"So, tell me about the idea for your trial." Derek said changing topics back to work.

Meredith began to explain her idea for the trial which was captivating to Derek. She seemed to light up as she spoke about the trial and shared her ideas with him, openly and freely. He smiled as she began to ramble about old patients she had had that had given her the idea for the trial in the first place, then she concluded her explanation of the trial and looked at him with vulnerability. She had never told anyone in so much detail about her trial, and this was the guy who was going to decided whether of not she could do it.

"You can do the trial on one condition."

"And what would that be?" Meredith asked raising an eyebrow.

"When the trial is successful, you have to go on a date with me."

"Isn't that sexual harassment?" Meredith giggled.

"I thought it was a win-win situation." Derek replied.

"Mhmm."

"So, do we have a deal?"

"We have a deal." Meredith smiled and shook Derek's hand.

This was going to be one hell of a trial.

A/N: Thank you all for your amazing feedback with this fic! This chapter was a little fast paced I know but I don't think anyone wanted Rose around for very long, myself included! Tell me what you think of this chapter or what you think might happen next :)