A/N: Here's a kind of Part 2 to the last chapter, this time told from Derek's POV. Just a head's up, we're moving towards the end of the trip, and Meredith and Derek will become separated very soon. This story is far from over though, I promise you.

Chapter 7: Misunderstanding

Well I'd been waiting for this weekend
I thought that maybe we could see a show
Never dreamed I'd have this feeling
Oh but seeing you is believing
That's why I don't know why
You didn't show up that night

There must be some misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake
I was waiting in the rain for hours
And you were late

Derek's Point of View:

I smiled as I placed the envelope in the glove compartment of my dashboard, checking the time. It was noon, which means I had one more stop to make before I met Meredith for lunch. I had been around town all morning, trying to make sure her birthday present was absolutely perfect. After all, she was perfect, and deserved as close to perfection as she could get. I had wanted to spend the entire day with her, but a massive car accident two days ago prevented me from getting her present then, and then I have a family emergency this morning, so I guess I'll just have to spend the entire afternoon with her.

I made my way towards Heathrow Airport, cursing out loud when I got caught in traffic as we inched closer to the airport. Finally, I was able to pull into the arrivals parking lot, getting out of the car and moving towards baggage claim.

I waited about a half an hour, watching the flight numbers change and listening to make sure the flight had arrived on time. And then I saw her. She hadn't seen me yet, she had walked straight over to the luggage turntable, grabbing her lime green suitcase almost immediately. I laughed when I saw how bright it was, but it totally fit her personality. She searched the lobby carefully, and was about to pull out her phone when she saw me. Her face broke out into a grin when our eyes met, and we moved towards each other; I walked, she jogged, dragging her suitcase behind her. When we finally reached each other, she lunged into my arms, hugging me tightly.

"Der," she sighed, squeezing me tighter.

"Hi Amy," I smiled back. I'm the only one allowed to call her Amy though. Amelia Shepherd is my younger sister, and my only younger sibling; I had three older sisters. Amy was going to be twenty four, five years younger than me, and going into her final year of Med School. She had called last week saying that she had bought a plane ticket and would be in England for a month, so I better let her crash on her couch. I willingly accepted. I rarely saw my family; I would always take two weeks off at the end of the year to be home for Thanksgiving (since the British don't have Thanksgiving, so I don't have to fight to take it off), and they usually come visit sometime in the Spring, but with Amelia being in school, she wasn't able to visit this year. In some ways, Amelia reminded me a little bit of Meredith, and I'm sure that the two of them would hit it off right away when they met.

"How's it going Derek?" Amelia asked as she pulled away from me.

"It's going pretty great Amy, how's everything with you?"

"It's good," Amy smiled as we left the airport, heading towards my car.

"So, how are you going to entertain me for the next month?" Amelia asked as we got on the road.

"Well, you're on your own for the majority of the next month because some of us have jobs," I laughed. "But we can go to lunch today, and then maybe a party tonight."

"Ooh, what kind of party?" Amelia asked curiously.

"A birthday party," I replied.

"Who's birthday party? Anyone I would know?"

"No, you don't know her. She's a – a friend," I said, smiling and feeling myself turn red.

"Ahh!" Amelia exclaimed, laughing. "She is not just a friend! You like her!"

"Shut up Amy," I snapped, but shoved her playfully. "If you're good you can meet her at lunch today. But be nice."

"How did you meet her? How old is she? Where does she work?" Amelia rattled off questions.

"Whoa, slow down with the questions. We met at a bar about five weeks ago. She turns twenty six today, and she's going to be a surgical intern in Seattle starting in July."

"Wait, you're dating a girl that lives six thousand miles away? How's that going to work?"

"We're not dating per se," I said slowly. "We're, I don't know what we're doing."

"Is it just sex?" Amelia asked. I rolled my eyes at her, she was always so blunt. But we'd been through a lot together, and I promised her when we were little that I wouldn't lie to her.

"No. Or at least it isn't for me."

"So you like her a lot?"

"Yeah," I said quietly, smiling as I thought of how beautiful Meredith looked this morning. "I really do."

"Do you love her?"

"I think so," I admitted. "Or I'm falling in love with her, one of the two. But don't tell anyone; Mark doesn't know."

"Okay," Amelia nodded, smiling at me. "If you really love her Der, then I hope you two can figure it out."

"Yeah, me too."


XXXXXX

We had reached the Hard Rock Café about twenty minutes before Meredith was set to meet us, and we were seated near the window overlooking the street.

"So," I began. "What's going on in your life?"

"Well," Amelia replied, smiling slowly. "I'm supposed to be applying for internship programs in the fall, but I may not have to."

"Why not?"

"Because Mt. Sinai has contacted me, and I think they want to recruit me or something. I have a meeting scheduled with them when I get home, but I think they want me!"

"Amy, that's fantastic!" I exclaimed, pulling her into a hug and kissing her on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," Amelia beamed.

We continued to talk, but I kept checking my phone to see what time it was. Meredith was never late; so when three o'clock rolled around and she wasn't here, I got nervous. Then 3:05 came, then 3:10, then 3:15…

"So do you think I'll like Meredith?" Amelia asked, cutting me out of my worry.

"Yeah, I think you guys will get along great," I said, reaching for my phone. "I'm a little worried though, she's never late, so I'm going to give her a call."

I called, and the phone rang three times before going to voicemail. I then sent her a text, and also got no response. Over the next fifteen minutes, I became more and more agitated and worried as I called her two more times; the first time it rang until going to voicemail, but the second time it rang once before her voicemail played, meaning that she ignored my call. And I was done waiting.

"Come on Amy," I said shortly, standing up from the table.

"Why, what's wrong?" Amelia asked, confused.

"We're going to find Meredith, I think she might be at her place."

"I thought you said she was meeting us here?"

"So did I," I muttered as I left the restaurant and headed to the car. The drive was silent and tense. It also took a lot longer than I anticipated because of mid-afternoon traffic. When we got to her house, there was no room to park, so I ended up a couple of townhouses down. I stepped out just in time to see Meredith outside of her townhouse, throwing something on the lawn.

"Meredith!" I called to her, as she stepped back into the house quickly. When I reached her lawn, I noticed that what she had thrown outside were all of my things; my gel, my mouse, my toothbrush, and I didn't understand. Then I heard her come out to her front step again, and looked up at her. Her face was red and blotchy, and though there was a fire in her eyes, they were red rimmed; she had been crying. She looked so sad and hurt for a moment, and then her gaze shifted left, and the anger was back.

"Meredith," I said with concern, walking towards her; but as I approached, she threw a pile of clothes, my clothes, at me. "What's going on?"

"Getting rid of your shit," she snapped, giving me a death glare as she turned to go back in the house. I couldn't let her leave; she was upset and angry at me, and I didn't know why; but I had to find out. She was about to cross the threshold when I grabbed her elbow and gently turned her around to face me. Once again, her eyes softened for a moment before turning cold again as she pulled away from me.

"Seriously?" she shouted, causing me to flinch. "You just disappear the morning of my birthday because you have 'errands' to run, and then I get to the restaurant to see you with this girl," she pointed at Amelia, who, like me, seemed very confused as to what was going on. "And you kissed her. So, not only did you lie to me, but you're making me a dirty mistress. And then you brought her here? Seriously? You are an asshole!"

Suddenly, Meredith turned to Amelia and thrust her hand out, as if to shake it. "Hello, I'm Meredith Grey. And I'm the woman screwing your boyfriend," she said simply, though I saw a flicker of pain cross her face.

Amelia looked at her for a moment, eyebrows raised in amusement, before she burst out laughing. Meredith looked like a mixture between confused and angry, something I found absolutely adorable.

"Oh, I'm not…he's my… oh God!" Amelia tried to say between laughs. Meredith looked at me, the anger a little less prominent than before, searching for an explanation.

"Mer, this is my sister Amelia," I explained gently. "She just flew in this morning, and she's staying for the summer. Mark was supposed to go pick her up, but had to work today, so that's why I left early this morning."

Meredith's eyes were wide, and they flitted to Amelia for confirmation.

"I like you Meredith," Amelia said, smiling. "I like the don't-take-shit from anyone attitude. The asshole in question is my older brother, who apparently didn't tell you I was coming, and I'm sorry about that."

Meredith's cheeks turned flaming red as she looked at the ground. "Oh, I'm, I'm sorry," she mumbled softly, turning around again. "I'm just going to go inside and crawl into a hole and die."

"Meredith wait," I said, reaching for her again. She wouldn't look at me, but she stayed out on the front step. "Amelia, can Mer and I talk alone? Would you please go to the car?"

"Sure," Amelia nodded. "It was nice to meet you Meredith." Meredith nodded, her eyes still trained on the ground as Amelia walked away. When she was out of hearing range, I began to speak.

"I'm sorry Mer," I said, hooking my thumb under her chin and forcing her to look at me. "I should have told you Amelia was coming, and I was going to introduce you two at lunch. But I had to go pick her up at the last minute, and I still had to get your birthday present, so I just used that as an excuse. But Meredith, I would never do that to you. I care too much about you to make you 'the other woman,' and you would deserve so much more than that. Please forgive me."

Meredith's eyes filled with tears as she sniffled. "No, I'm sorry I acted like a bitch. I should have at least gone into the restaurant to figure stuff out, but I just got so angry that I didn't. And now you're sister probably thinks I'm crazy, which sucks and-"

I silenced her with a kiss, cupping her cheeks gently as I kissed away her apologies and her argument. When we parted, I kept my face close to hers, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Amelia is a very honest person," I said. "And she said she liked you, so you have nothing to worry about. And I still really like you, so we're okay, okay?"

"Okay," Meredith whispered, leaning in to kiss me softly. "Are you still going to come to my party? With your sister here and all?"

"Of course I am," I smiled. "I was going to ask if it was alright for her to come, but if not, she can just hang out in my apartment."

"No, she can come," Meredith said quickly, smiling a little.

XXXXXX

"Happy Birthday dear Meredith, happy birthday to you!" We sang out hours later. It was a very quiet party, but Meredith was having a blast. Once she had gotten over her embarrassment, she had really warmed up to Amelia, just like I knew she would. She was currently cutting her birthday cake as Mark and Izzie refilled everyone's glasses of wine. After the cake and wine were handed out, Meredith sat next to me on the couch in the living room, leaning into me as I draped my arm over her shoulder.

"Alright, present time!" Mark said loudly as he walked into the room, pointing at the gifts on the coffee table. Meredith grinned as she sat up, ripping into boxes and pulling the tissue paper out of the gift bags.

After ten minutes, she had acquired a large bottle of tequila, some small tourist like gifts, new clothes, and various accessories. She looked very pleased with all of her things, and was thanking everyone as I slipped the white envelope into her hands.

"One more," I said softly into her ear before kissing her cheek. She grinned at me as she opened it, staring quizzically at the two pieces of paper before it clicked, and she looked up at me in shock.

"You're taking me to Italy?" she gasped.

"Well, we're only going to Venice, but yes, next weekend I'm taking you to Italy," I smiled at her. "I remember you mentioning that you wanted to go, and you haven't gone, so we're going. We'll leave Thursday night after my shift at the hospital and come back Monday morning." She was still looking at me in shock, and I wondered if maybe taking her on a trip was a little too much, a little too serious. "Or you could take one of your friends if you want, that would-" like I had done to her earlier, she cut me off with a kiss. It was passionate, her fingers tangled in my hair as I opened my mouth to let her tongue enter. I don't know how long we kissed, but we quickly broke apart as we heard Mark clear his throat uncomfortably.

Meredith blushed as I smiled sheepishly, and she put her hands on my shoulders and placed her forehead against mine. "Thank you so much," she murmured. "And you are absolutely coming with me. I just can't believe you remembered."

"Of course I remembered," I replied, grinning as Meredith leaned into me again.

"I'll make sure to thank you really well next weekend," she said seductively as she pulled away, turning back to the others in the room.

I kept smiling like an idiot; I had definitely found the perfect woman.