-1Author's Note: Sorry that it has taken me so long to get this update to you. I know where I want this story to go, I am just not certain how to get it there. I made some promises at the beginning that might not be kept. I am so sorry about that. As most of you know, since you write yourself, stories sometimes don't go the way you planned.

Meredith scan the dimly lit interior of The Hot Zone with nervous green eyes. Almost every single table was full, and there was no vacant stool along the bar. Several of the regular patrons nod in her direction. She returned the favor with a tight lipped smile. Tugging on the hem of the red strapless top she wore, she inched her way further into the bar. She felt like there was a sign on her forehead that said she had fucked one of her best friends but had no clue which one it was.

"What is going on with you?" Her head automatically turned in the direction the accusation had come. Izzie Stevens, another of the bar tenders who moonlit as a waitress when it was called for, stood next to her, arms crossed over her chest. As usual, Izzie looked more sex pot than bar tender. Perfect blonde waves around a face that was movie star beautiful, sun kissed skin that had a glow about it, and a figure that had most of their patrons drooling all over themselves, Izzie was the girl other women hated. If she wasn't so sweet Meredith would hate her herself. "I called you three times today. Straight to voice mail."

"Sorry," Meredith apologized weakly. She twisted a lock of dark blonde hair around her index finger, her eyes still scanning the bar. Neither of her best friends were in sight. "Where's Mark and Derek?"

"Hell if I know! Neither one of them showed up. Which is why I was calling you!" Izzie snapped. Meredith blinked. It wasn't like Izzie to have such an attitude, nor was it like Mark and Derek to just not show up. "Okay, so technically that is why I called you the second and third time. The first time was because George proposed."

Shaking her head, Meredith held up one hand. "Wait. What?" George was Izzie seldom spoken of boyfriend. The unknown suitor was finishing school in New York while Izzie finished in Washington. On occasion Izzie would request time off to fly out for a visit. Every once in while a curly haired fellow with little boy blue eyes would come by and introduce himself as George, as though he had never met any of them before. Sadly, the re-introduction was always needed for none of them could ever remember the unremarkable young man.

"George proposed." Annoyance rung in Izzie's tone. "I still can't believe he did that to me. I don't graduate for another two years. Getting engaged right now is not part of the plan. I've told him over and over again not to even think about marriage until after I've graduated." Izzie's plan was a constant joke between Derek, Mark, and Meredith. The girl thought she could map out every square inch of her life. Amazingly enough, so far every thing had gone according to plan. The twenty-two year old refused to sleep with her boyfriend, despite their being together since the tenth grade, for fear she would get pregnant, and she religiously put all her tips into a savings account just in case. The virgin, penny pinching bar tender, Mark liked to call her. Izzie would always bite back with try living in a trailer park and having no money with a mom who was only fourteen years older than you. "And I have no clue where Mark or Derek is. I called and called, and all it did was ring. So, I know their phones aren't off, they're just not answering."

"Whose not answering?" Derek's cheerful voice asked. He seemed to appear from no where, his lips tilted up in a small smile. "If you're referring to me, I left my phone at home. Quite by accident, I assure you." There was a tenseness about him. One that had Meredith studying him with new interest. He was hiding something, and that something had him on the cagey side. He caught her staring, his smile slipping just a bit. Her heart lurched. It was him. She had known all along that it had to be. Mark wasn't capable of the tender caresses and whispering gentle words of love. Derek on the other hand… "Why are you staring at me?"

A flush crept up her cheeks. "No reason," she answered. Last night wasn't something they could discuss in front of Izzie. It was too special, too intimate. It was their's and their's alone. "Sorry. We should…" She gestured toward the bar, where several impatient men waited for their drink orders to be taken.

"Where's Mark?" Izzie glanced around, as though she expected the other missing man to appear. The three of them moved towards the bar while Derek gave some off handed explanation about Mark's half-brother, a twenty-three year old frat boy named Alex that they had never met, getting arrested for indecent exposure and Mark having to go bail the kid out. This led into reminiscing their college days, with Izzie shaking her head. Before long all stories had to be set aside as the bar filled to capacity.

Seven hours later, Meredith wiped the counter down, grimacing at the fumes coming up from the liquor soaked bar. It always amazed her how much alcohol drunks wasted. "I'm outie," Izzie said from behind her. She nodded. "Call me tomorrow?"

"Yeah." She made a mental note to do just that. It had been a while since she had taken the time to call the other woman, and even longer since they had gone to lunch. "Why don't we plan on meeting for lunch?" She glanced over her shoulder.

"Sure," Izzie nodded. "You can help me plot on how to let George down easy. I swear, I don't know what has gotten into him." Meredith wanted to come back with it wasn't what had gotten into him, but what he hadn't been in, and that was a pussy. She kept her mouth shut though. Sometimes Izzie was up for crude humor, sometimes she wasn't. Meredith would lay odds that tonight she wouldn't be.

"Absolutely," Meredith forced herself to paste a bright smile on her smile. When Izzie left she would confront Derek. Under normal circumstances she would let it go. These were not normal circumstances though. She watched as Izzie trooped out the front door, her hair bouncing around her shoulders. Once she was certain the other woman was gone, she dropped her rag and went to the back where she knew Derek would be tallying that night's total. "Derek?"

He looked up from the laptop he was entering numbers into. "Hm?" He looked back down, a slight flush to his cheeks. She had been right. It was him. "Did you need something?"

She took a deep breath. It was now or never. Once Mark returned they wouldn't have time alone. "I do, actually. I…I…I need you." She crossed the room with purposeful strides and caught his face in her small hands. She covered his mouth with her own. She teased his mouth open with the tip of her tongue, a thrill racing through her body when she felt his brush against her's. If it felt a little off, she didn't dwell on it for long. His hands slid up her bare legs, under the short denim skirt she had worn. A liquid heat was already pooling between her legs before she felt the tips of his fingers grazing across her cotton covered womanhood. Two of his fingers move the crotch of her panties aside. She let out a small yelp when he went right for the gold, inserting them into her more than willing body. Still, something felt a little off, and again she brushed it aside. The anonymity of last night was what had made it so erotic, she told herself, reaching for the buckle on his pants. He moved her hands aside, electing to free himself.

Heart pounding out of uncertainty and excitement, Meredith broke free of the kiss, shimmied out of her underwear, and then scooted her body onto the edge of the desk. She leaned back on her forearms, legs dangling while Derek knelt over her. She frowned slightly when she felt the tip of his penis nudging against the slick folds of her portal. Where was the foreplay?

She closed her eyes as he slid fully into her wetness. He didn't feel as large as he had last night. Her stomach started churning, a bitter taste filling her mouth, as he pumped in and out of her. It hadn't been Derek.

"On my desk?"

Her eyes flew open, tears streaming down her cheeks when she found an ashen faced mark standing in the doorway. She didn't know how long he had been there, not that it mattered. He had seen. She closed her legs, as well as her eyes, when Derek moved away.

"She came on to me," Derek blurted out. She struggled into a sitting position, her body still trembling. How could she have been so wrong? She had been so certain Mark wasn't capable of the emotion the man last night had shown her. "I was sitting back here, working…and she just…"

"I thought…" Meredith started, then stopped when Mark shook his head, his body turning to exit the room. She slid off the desk, her shoes making a smacking sound as they hit the floor.

"I don't want to hear anything either one of you have to say. Just…clean up my desk. I don't want to someone else's cum all day." Mark walked out of the office. Meredith started to follow him, only to have Derek catch her arm.

"Let me go," she hissed, yanking her arm away. "How…how could you? You had…you had to of known that I thought…"

Derek stared at her in confusion. He didn't know. Last night had been Mark's idea alone. Even in his ignorance he put two and two together. "You two…" She nodded, her lips trembling. She looked at the floor, sobbing. "I thought he was joking. When he said he was going to…I never thought…oh God."

Meredith took advantage of his stunned state, rushing from the office. She had to find him. She had to find Mark and talk to him. He was almost to his bright red Jeep Wrangler when she caught up to him. "Mark!"

"Go away Meredith. I don't really want to see you right now." The coldness in his voice startled her. She had never heard him sound like this. "And before you start thinking last night meant something, or that I care about what I just walked in on, you're wrong. I don't give a fuck. Last night was…it was sex. You said you needed it, and hey, we all know I'm always up for it. As for you and Derek…whatever you two do is your business. Just keep it off my desk."

"It wasn't just sex," Meredith shot back. It hadn't been just sex. She wasn't a betting person, but she would lay everything she had on that. There had been something, something bigger and deeper than either one of them was capable of understanding. "I heard you. This morning…before you left. I heard what you said. You said you love me."

"Oh, Mere, you're my friend. Of course I love you. Just…not that way." His tone was flat, uncertain. His fists flexed and un-flexed. She jumped as one of those fists slammed into the side of his Jeep. "God damn it Meredith!"

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, letting her eyes close again. "I…I thought he was…I thought he was you…only I didn't know it was you…and…" Her eyes fly open when she hears the engine of his vehicle starting. He wasn't listening. Nothing she said was getting through to him. She stood there, her face covered in tears, watching the man she loved drive away.