AN: Again… I do not own Grey's. Which is why I must work. sigh. Which is why I can't write all day. Oh do I wish. ;)

Meredith looked up wildly into the eyes of the love of her life. It took her a minute to register what had happened. And her fearful eyes darted to the right for a brief second to realize who the second person was. Rose had a look of mixed shock and annoyance. Meredith wanted to die on the spot.

She had been successful in eluding Derek and Rose together since they had started dating over a month ago. She had seen one or the other at various places in the hospital, but never together. She tried to avoid his surgeries as much as possible, spending as much time with Dr. Bailey as she could get away with. Plus she could just send one of her interns to his surgeries if need be. She knew Rose; "the circulating nurse" was not exactly "circulating" as much as stalking Derek's surgeries. She tried not to look at the board anymore than was necessary. Their names were constantly written together, like they should be carved in a damn tree.

Anger briefly flooded Meredith's thoughts. Territoriality was at the forefront of them, but embarrassment quickly swept in and brought her back to the present…in the grasp of Derek's very capable hands. A jolt of electricity jumped through her veins as she stared back into two very confused faces. Meredith wrenched herself from Derek's grasp and started to retreat.

"S..sorry…Der..Dr. Shepherd… R…Rose." She choked out. "Sorry…I was just…leav.." Her sentence was cut short as she backed into a chair and almost lost her footing again.

Derek made a move to help her but Rose discreetly held him back.

Meredith instantly flushed as she regained her balance. Without another word she exited the building. Derek was left staring after her retreating form. This fact was not lost on the dark haired woman who still had the back of his coat between her two fingers. But she did not miss a beat and nonchalantly smoothed out the back of his clothing. "So…what will it be tonight Doctor?" She motioned to the bar.

Derek shook himself out of what just happened. He cleared his throat, plastered on a smile and turned around. "Ahhh…the usual I think."

Rose smiled triumphantly and turned to flag down Joe. Derek let his façade drop for a brief second as he began to comprehend the awkwardness of what just happened. He had been lucky so far to not have to face Meredith with Rose on his arm. Guilt overcame him. What if she needed help getting home? He thought. She clearly was not in a sober state. What if something happened to her and he just sat there. No Derek. Worrying about Meredith is not considered moving on. She is a big girl. You are here with Rose. He looked up for a brief second to see what she was doing. Rose was talking to Joe excitedly as he was pouring their drinks. As Derek looked at the bartender he reasoned that Joe would have never let Meredith leave if she didn't have a ride of some sort. So he felt a little better.

He knew they should have picked a different spot. But Rose gave off a vibe that she was worried that he was ashamed that they were dating. He never took her anywhere near the hospital and she didn't miss that.

He quickly brought himself back to the present as Rose made her way back to him. "Here you go Dr. Shepherd." She said slyly as she handed his drink. "I thought instead we could grab a table in the corner over there. It seems quieter…and dark." She grinned mischievously.

"Ahhh…indeed it is. A martini for you tonight? That's different." Derek said slightly nervous. "I thought you said you were a lightweight."

"We will just have to see what happens." Rose said brightly.

Derek tried to match her enthusiasm as he let her lead them to the table. He tried to will it into place but to anyone paying the least bit of attention knew it was a long shot. Rose was blissfully ignorant and Derek… Well Derek was only fooling himself.

It takes some time to let you go and it shows

Cause all we know is falling, it falls.

Remember, cause I know that we won't forget at all.

AN: So yeah Mer ran into the worst people imaginable to her right now. She's been playing the avoidance game again but not for the same reasons as she normally does. She's actually trying to work on stuff by herself, but it doesn't make for good progress when she goes and runs into the source of the problem. And well Derek is trying to move on with Rose. But trying and actually succeeding are two very different things. He's going through the motions but is his heart really in it? Rose is nice, polite and "there" but what does that actually mean??

Sorry I took so long to get this up and it's still short :/ I had the craziest day! And I'm in for another one tomorrow. So hopefully I will be able to get up another chapter tomorrow night. But I will probably be quite tired. Anyone who works serving doubles will know what I mean. Thank you so much for reading and for reviewing. I appreciate it more than you know.