Apologies for the delay in updating, real life hectic lately. Really hope you are still interested in reading this one. Below update is a bit of a filler, hope you enjoy...

Chapter 8

It had been 3 days since her blazing row with Bill in the conference room, the one that she had purposely orchestrated for Derek's benefit and it had been 3 days since she had had spent any time alone with Derek. She had barely seen him other then in passing as they bumped into each other in the hallway, over the past few days the hospital had been manic and the influx of patients had kept every surgeon on his or her toes. Her and Bill had made up the very night of their argument, a few times over in fact, Bill had agreed to back off and she had lied to him by agreeing that she would not rule out the possibility of carrying his child in the future. She had no option but to settle for now, it was not in her interests to keep Bill mad at her and especially as Derek seemed to have awoken an itch within her that no amount of scratching seemed to relieve. She feared that the only one who would be able to offer that relief would be Derek himself but she knew that she had to continue to take things slowly, he had to be the one who made the first move. 'Speak of the Devil himself,' She thought to herself as she noticed Derek walking towards her.

"Hey," Derek smiled as he approached her. "This place is a mad house…" He chuckled.

"Wow I am impressed it didn't take you that long to figure that out." Meredith giggled but she purposely toned it down so it sounded rather forced.

"You ok?" Derek asked as he frowned at her with a look of concern etched into his features.

"Yeah I am fine, just a bit exhausted I suppose, it has been a hectic few days. I think this has been the longest I have spent out of the OR whilst I have been at the hospital over the past few days."

"You sure that, that's all that it is? You can talk to me you know…" Derek nudged her elbow with his and smiled at her in an attempt to get her to open up.

"Thank you Derek. It's nothing really, it really has just been a tough few days."

"I know it is none of my business and feel free to tell me that but I have been worried about you and have been meaning to ask. How are things at home?"

"You mean between Bill and I?" Derek nodded and Meredith continued. "Things are still pretty strained at the moment we are simply just… co-existing." She sighed.

"Oh Mer, I am sorry…" Derek placed his hand on top of Meredith's hand as it rested on top of the nurses station and rubbed his thumb over her thumb.

"Thanks Derek, your support means a lot." Meredith gave him a small smile before she removed her hand.

"I tell you what, how about a drink after work to help cheer you up, Friends do that right? And you look like you could do with one."

Meredith smiled at Derek and found it difficult to keep the smile under control, she really was feeling satisfied with herself. "You are certainly right there, I could do with a few shots of tequila…" Her smile suddenly turned to a small frown as she had an internal battle with herself. She really wanted to accept Derek's offer of drinks, she enjoyed spending time with him but her head was telling her that she should decline this time. Her declining would make him even keener.

"I am sorry Derek, I can't tonight. I am actually planning on getting off at a decent hour, I think it is about time Bill and I sat down and properly talked."

"Oh… Oh ok I mean, I think that definitely makes sense you need to sort things out between the two of you for sure." Derek was momentarily stumped he was so disappointed that Meredith had turned down his offer of drinks. He quickly tried to mask his disappointment, something that he had no right to be feeling.

"I can't say I am looking forward to it but it has to be done. I will definitely take you up on that offer though for a drink another evening, that is if it is an open ended offer?" Meredith could see that Derek was openly disappointed and although it served her purpose she couldn't help but notice the niggling thought that she was affected by the way he was feeling, it was an emotion that she promptly pushed away and ignored.

"It is definitely an offer without an expiry date."

"Good. I will see how tonight goes and then we can arrange drinks for an evening next week?"

"That sounds good." What was he doing? Derek thought to himself, here he was getting butterflies in his stomach as he stood there arranging drinks with his mentor and bosses wife. He knew they were just friends and he knew that it was wrong but he couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of being alone with Meredith outside of work. He was having an eternal battle with himself and he was relieved when Meredith changed the subject.

"So now that's settled," Meredith smiled. "I should update you on the project. "Now that we have decided which trial's and cases we were going to include and present as part of our bid, I took the liberty of speaking to Patricia last night…" Meredith paused briefly with a smirk when she saw Derek raising his eyebrows at her. "I was polite."

"I can only imagine…" Derek smirked back at her as he remembered his previous conversation with Patricia, he knew her feelings towards Meredith. He could just imagine Meredith trying to give her orders and just what her reaction would be when Meredith left. If the hospital had a swear box he bet that she would have single handedly filled it up.

"I was," She defended.

"Huh huh," Derek nodded as he continued to smirk and he turned around leaning his back against the nurses station, completely relaxing his body for a mere few seconds only as realized that they were openly flirting with one another, a situation which could be misinterpreted by a nosy passer by and he immediately stiffened his body and stood up straight again. This did not go unnoticed by Meredith.

One minute they were relaxed and were bantering the next Derek's body language had become detached and rigid, Meredith wondered what had caused it but instead of questioning what was wrong she simply raised an eyebrow at him and continued. "Anyway I asked Patricia to pull together all of the financials for those trials and cases, I thought it would save us some leg work. It is information that she would already have had, at some point she would have prepared it for Bill."

"That is a good idea, I am impressed."

"Well in that case, be prepared to be impressed a lot because I am just full of them."

Derek was about to respond further but Meredith's beeping pager interrupted them.

"Damn it's the ER they need a consult, no rest for the wicked I guess." Meredith said as she gathered the charts she had been looking over at the station and put them into a neat pile.

"I guess not," Derek quipped.

"Hey cheeky," Meredith hit his arm causing him to laugh.

Derek couldn't help but look into Meredith's eyes and then down to her plump lips, the look on her face and the sound of her laughter affected him in a way it should not and he wanted nothing more in that moment then to kiss her. He backed away from her and quickly pushed the desire aside as best as he could before bringing the conversation back to work. "When will Patricia have the information ready?"

Meredith saw the emotional turmoil wipe across Derek's features and she knew exactly what had caused it because she had felt what he had felt too, only her turmoil was for a completely different reason. She once again found that she was fighting an internal battle with herself, which she was not prepared to admit. "She should have it ready by this evening…"

"Wow that's quick… and you said you were nice to her?"

"What can I say I am efficient and I get results quickly," Meredith stuck her tongue out at Derek as she begun to walk away as her pager had gone off again. "And I didn't say I was nice, I said I was polite." She giggled as she walked off.

"I hate to think how the two differ in your opinion…" Derek shouted after her with a laugh, which only caused her to giggle more loudly. He watched her walk away and had to reprimand himself as his eyes of their own accord came to rest on her ass and took in the soft swaying of her hips, his groin began to feel uncomfortable. He knew his attraction to her was more then just physical and it was one he most definitely should not have. Right it was time to find that peads surgeon and make sure that they were still on for their date tomorrow night, he need someone to help take his mind off of Meredith and fast.

Would be grateful to hear your thoughts...

Jen xx