AN: I do not own Grey's. If I did I wouldn't have to work tomorrow. Oh well.

Derek crept silently around a tiny downtown apartment, quietly trying to collect his few pieces of clothing that Rose had managed to apprehend from him before she passed out. He glanced over toward the bed at the woman who was clearly still passed out drunk. He was secretly thankful that she was indeed a lightweight.

They had been dating for a month now. The first two weeks were great and he was sure he had made the right decision. He and Meredith were just too incompatible. It was always difficult between them, it never just flowed. They were constantly hitting roadblocks. With Rose it was easy, what you see is what you get. She was sweet and lavished him with attention. He was so surprised at first. He didn't know how to react to not having to fight for the attention, Rose just gave it to him and he didn't even have to ask! He was elated…finally things were coming together for him. And then three things began to happen…

First, all of the attention was starting to make him uncomfortable. He didn't feel entirely comfortable with any public displays of their relationship. Especially within the hospital, but she was there, all the time... all over him. He was actually starting to get annoyed with it, which was something he hadn't expected. It didn't help that pretty much the entire hospital was tuned into what was happening this week in his love life. It felt like every time he came around the corner some group of nurses was talking about him. It shouldn't have be anything new. He went through it before… but this time it was somehow different. Different and annoying as hell.

Second, he was becoming bored with her, because what you saw is what you got. There were no surprises…nothing new to learn. Nothing extraordinary about her. It felt like such an enormous let down. She had seemed so intriguing to him at first. And it really wasn't her fault; he figured that he had sort of built her up to be more than she was and used her as an escape. There was nothing wrong with her from what he had experienced, but it wasn't at all what he had expected. He felt guilty for even thinking about her like this. She had done nothing wrong. He didn't want to be unfair to Rose. She didn't deserve to be drug through the mud with him. He was so sure that this was the right thing for him to do and now he wasn't so sure.

And the third thing, and of course the most inconvenient of the three…He began to miss Meredith. He figured it might happen eventually. But eventually was much different than actually…especially when "actually" was only after two weeks. He tried to banish the thoughts of her, but they would not retire. She was always at the forefront of his thoughts. He began to become distant with Rose because he would see Meredith's face every time he looked at her. And then once again, he would instantly feel guilty. Meredith was no where to be found, avoiding him and here was Rose… always around. His emotions were bordering on rollercoaster. He didn't know what he wanted anymore. But what he did know… was that he didn't know what to do about any of it. So he stayed put. And tried to make the best of it with Rose…he felt he owed her that…but she was starting to get suspicious of his distant behavior.

And then there was the fact that he could not bring himself to sleep with her yet. That hadn't gone unnoticed by her either. He told himself that he was just taking it slow. His last relationship started off with sex and that's where it stayed. So he was turning over a new leaf. Trying something different. Yeah right. Said a cynical little voice in the back of his head. Go ahead and tell yourself you're taking it slow because you don't want to mess it up. That voice knew the truth. That voice knew he couldn't even think of having sex with anyone but Meredith. He had not foreseen this obstacle when he first jumped at the prospect of "moving on". Sex is just a means for complicating things anyways. Said the other voice in his head…the determined rationale-seeking one.

The battle raged on inside Derek's head as he searched for his pager and keys.

I like Rose. She's pretty, nice and there. She's not running away all of the time. She's not Meredith.

Yeah and she will never be Meredith either. Rose is not the one you can't stop thinking about. You may like her… but you will never love her. The cynical voice taunted.

The argument came to an abrupt halt as Rose shifted in her sleep. Derek froze. Effectively silencing the voices in his head. He held his breath as he waited for her to wake up. She didn't. He slowly crept out of the bedroom to search in the living room. He spotted the rest of his belongings on the couch next to Rose's purse. He didn't remember how they got there but he thought back to the chaos of the night before when he tried to get a very drunk Rose into bed while she was trying to undress him. He spotted a pad of paper by the phone and scribbled out a quick note blaming his early departure on a page. He was going to try and find some ibuprofen for her, but thought better of it in case she were to wake up. With one last glance into the bedroom he sighed and left the apartment to go to the hospital to get caught up on some paperwork.

I've gone too far to come back from here,
But you don't have a clue
You don't know what you do to me
I've come too far to get over you,
And you don't have a clue
You don't know what you do to me

Can't someone stop this song,
So I won't sing along
Someone stop this song,
So I won't sing
Your lovesick melody
Is gonna get the best of me tonight
But you won't get to me if I don't sing

AN: So Derek…he's a little confused. Deep down he knows Meredith is the only one for him. But now he has entered Rose into the equation because… well because he's a dumb mule sometimes. In the worst possible ways. But anyways… now he doesn't know what to do with Rose because he doesn't want to just give up on her. Yeah they have a connection but it's very superficial and he has finally realized it. But what happens when you make someone out to be more than they are? When you set the expectations too high and the other person doesn't deliver. He can't see himself just dumping her for no reason. The guilt is playing on him heavily… oh what in the world to do?? So for now he's just going to plug along and not rock the boat. But we will see just how long he can keep it up. Rose knows that not all is well in the La La dreamland she's been living in for the past month. But will she call him on it or avoid it altogether….

Okay so I can't even believe I got this chapter up tonight. I was going to tweak it a little more but I think I might ruin it. So here it is, and mind you…I was at work for 15 hours today. Yikes! Sorry it's a little short again but its all I could do for now. Thank you so much again for reading and reviewing. It makes me want to update more often when I get encouragement. So thank you all!