Chapter 8

Meredith awoke to sunlight streaming onto her face. She shifted to stretch out, only to realize that someone was holding on to her. Her eyes snapped open, not knowing where she was. But when she realized that the person beside her was Derek, she calmed down tremendously. She remembered their date last night. Their perfect date, followed by mind blowing sex, and she smiled. Derek looked cute when he slept, his hair was tousled, and his face was calm; he was almost smiling. Normally when Meredith would wake up next to a boy, she would try to sneak out before he woke up. But with Derek, it was different; his arms held her tightly, and she felt safe, and she didn't want to move.

She shifted to lie closer to him, causing Derek to stir, and his eyes to flutter open. As he tried to focus on her, panic gripped her. Maybe he'll be mad that I'm still here, she thought to herself. I told him that he could drink, even though I'm not legal, and he did have a couple of beers. Maybe he didn't want to sleep with me, or he did but wanted me to leave after, or… but as she watched a slow, tired smile creep across his face, she calmed down again, because that smile told her that he was glad that she was still here, that he wanted her here.

"Morning," he said, pulling her closer to him so that she was practically lying on top of him. He lowered his face to hers in order to capture her lips in a kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth briefly before he broke away.

"Good morning," she giggled as he pulled away, staring at him.

"What time is it?" Derek asked as he squinted to look at the clock.

"Umm, it's nine-thirty,' Meredith answered, getting nervous again that he might want her to leave soon. "Do you want me to go? Because I should probably leave soon anyway, Cristina's going to worry about me, and you probably have to work, so I should get dressed."

"If you wait an hour I can walk you back,' Derek said, clearly amused by the rambling.

"What?" Meredith asked, surprised. If she had been unfortunate enough to have her one night stands be awake when she left them, they never offered to walk her home. They just told her where the door was.

"I have to work at eleven, and your dorm is near the hospital, so why don't you hang out for a little while, and then we can walk together?" Derek offered. Meredith read his expression carefully. He seemed to want her to stay, and she really didn't want to leave right now either. She wasn't sure if he was just being nice, so she wanted to make sure he really wanted her.

"And what are we going to do for an hour?" She asked.

"Well, we could stay right here and have more sex," he offered, but he could tell she was joking. "However, that probably isn't very responsible. So, we could shower, together or separately, your choice, and then I could make you breakfast."

"You're going to make me breakfast?" she said cautiously. "You can cook?"

"I'm actually an excellent cook. I grew up with four sisters, so my mother made sure I knew how to cook too."

Meredith thought for a minute, before getting out of bed and moving towards the door. She felt Derek staring at her naked body, but she didn't feel all that self-conscious.

"Where are going?" he asked as she opened the door to his bedroom, sounding a little worried.

"To shower," Meredith responded over her shoulder, before turning around to face him, smiling seductively. "Would you like to join me?"

Derek stared at her for a minute before jumping out of bed. He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up, causing Meredith to shriek and laugh as he carried her to the bathroom.

XX

Meredith knew she looked ridiculous as she walked back to her dorm. It was ten thirty in the morning, and she was wearing the dress she wore on her date last night, refusing to wear the sweatpants and t-shirt Derek offered her out in public. It was clearly too early to be wearing a semiformal dress, and she figured people would look at her funny and know that she was making a walk of shame. Plus, she looked even more ridiculous because of the man she was holding hands with through Washington Square Park. Derek was perfectly comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt; he had told her as they were getting dressed that he wasn't going to get dressed up just to change into scrubs as soon as he got to the hospital. So, Meredith was sure she was getting weird looks. Then again, she is in New York, there are plenty of people that wear stranger clothing than a fancy black dress on a Saturday morning.

"Mer, are you alright," Derek leaned down, speaking softly into her ear, causing a chill to run up her spine.

She looked up at him, smiling brightly. "Yeah, I'm great," she said honestly, "why?"

"Because you looked a million miles a way for a minute; I was wondering what was going on inside your head."

Meredith laughed. "I'm still thinking about how ridiculous I look in this dress compared to what you're wearing." She squeezed his hand, reassuring him that there was indeed nothing wrong.

"Ok," he smiled, squeezing her hand back as they stopped outside her dorm. "I'm not getting out of work until eight tomorrow morning, so I'll definitely call you tomorrow afternoon. But, if it's a slow night, would you mind if I called you tonight?"

Meredith's stomach flip flopped at the idea that he wanted to talk to her sooner rather than later. "Of course you can call me tonight, but I can't guarantee that I'll be sober if you call after ten," she teased.

Derek made a fake concerned face. "Miss Grey, I do believe that you are under twenty-one, which means that you should be sober every time I call you."

She stood on her tip toes to kiss him lightly on the lips before laughing. "I am well aware, Dr. Shepherd," she began. "And normally I would be, but it has been a very time since I've been to a party, and Cristina insists that I go to this one. But I promise to behave."

Derek leaned down to kiss her, and let his forehead rest against hers. "Alright then, as long as you behave." His voice then turned from mocking to serious. "And be safe, I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be careful, I promise," she said, looking into his eyes before kissing him again, a little longer than before. "Have fun at work."

"I will," he said, pulling his head away from hers and letting go of her waist. "I'll miss you."

Meredith was startled at that. "Oh, um I…I" she stuttered, taking a deep breath. "I'll miss you too," she said honestly, offering him a small smile.

Derek nodded. "Good," he said, kissing her cheek. "Bye Mer."

"Bye Derek," Meredith answered before entering her building and heading to the elevators.