Chapter 9 – Nice to meet you
"We're pathetic," Derek chuckled, shaking his head as he drove to the restaurant.
"Excuse me?" Meredith smiled sarcastically.
Derek glanced at her, smiling and then he looked ahead, paying attention to the road. "We are," he said. "We couldn't spend 200,000 dollars in one evening."
Meredith rolled her eyes and smiled as she looked out her window. "I don't think anyone can do it… unless they gamble and lose it."
"One dress and one pair of shoes? Seriously, Mer," Derek laughed as he glanced at her. "What kind of woman are you?" he asked teasingly. "Even I did better than you and I don't like shopping."
"Oh shut up," Meredith giggled. "You should be happy because this means you won't have to worry each time I have your credit card. Besides, I'm not like any other woman," she admitted proudly.
"You're right on that," Derek chuckled.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Meredith scowled at him as if he had said something offending.
"I mean you're right about your carelessness regarding my credit card," he laughed. He glanced at her, seeing her smiling. "And you're right about the other thing too," he added, carefully looking for her reaction. He took her hand as he saw her frowning out her window and kissed it. "You're brave," he said softly, still cradling her hand in his.
"For getting married to a stranger?" she giggled. Derek chuckled and nodded. "No," Meredith laughed now, shaking her head. "I'm insane."
Derek let off her hand so that he could hold the steering wheel more carefully and laughed. "We've just found a first thing we have in common," he said and smiled at her. "We both have a little bit of insanity."
"That's not good for a neurosurgeon," she laughed.
"Oh and here's another one," he glanced at her, smirking. "We're both doctors, so we should get along pretty well regarding our careers."
Meredith gasped and looked at Derek, shocked.
"What is it?" Derek asked her, slightly worried.
Meredith continued to stare dumbfounded at him before she could gather her thoughts. He was… "You are…" she babbled. "You're my boss. I'm married to my boss," she muttered, stunned of her revelation.
"You're slow, Dr. Grey," Derek chuckled teasingly. "I suppose this means you won't stick around me in neuro too much."
Meredith gasped again.
"What now?" Derek laughed.
"I don't know your last name! I don't know my last name!" she shouted, suddenly panicked.
Derek sighed and his smile faded. That wasn't a good thing, no matter how much they were trying to call it crazy. "Derek Shepherd," he muttered.
"Meredith Shepherd," she muttered under her breath. She looked out her window, thoughtful. Again, the idea of continuing this marriage seemed like a bad one.
This time, Derek shared her thoughts.
They had tied their lives to each other… two strangers. Maybe that was a crazy thing, but it was also stupid.
As she was staring blankly out her window, Meredith felt his hand covering hers. She looked at him; he was gazing out the windshield. "Are you freaking out?" she asked him quietly.
Derek looked at her and smiled slightly as he nodded. "A little."
"Do you want to back out?" she asked him in the same quiet voice.
"No," he answered sincerely. His fingers caressed her ring before he let go of her hand. "Do you?" he asked her back.
Meredith rested her head against her seat, looking at him as she thought. "Me neither," she answered. He looked confident in whatever was going to happen for the next six months and that was encouraging for her.
Derek smiled at her and then looked out the windshield as he turned off the engine. "Here's a good restaurant," he said.
"Have you ever been here before?" she asked him as she looked at the restaurant.
"In Vegas? No," Derek chuckled. "But they do have a restaurant in Manhattan too." He unfastened his seatbelt and got off the car. He walked around and held the door open for Meredith.
"So you're from Manhattan," she said, taking his hand.
"Yes," he smiled, shutting the door behind her. "Now you know another thing about me," he chuckled cheerfully. "Let's get inside, because I'm curious to find out more about you and I'm excited to tell you more about me."
"Are you that exciting?" she asked him, laughing.
"I thought you knew that already," he frowned teasingly.
--
"Let me start first," Derek suggested after they both sat down to the table and the waiter had handed them the menus.
"Before you start," Meredith cut him off. "Do you know my last name?" Derek smiled amusingly at her. "I mean… my maiden name," she rephrased her question.
"Grey," he answered and smiled smugly as he saw the surprise from her face. "I held our airplane tickets," he said.
"Oh ok," Meredith nodded. "So… your full name is…"
"Derek Christopher Shepherd," Derek answered. "I was born on the 17th of January in Manhattan. Do I have to tell my full biography, like all the pre-schools and school I attended?"
"No," she giggled. "Tell me about your parents."
Derek cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair, smiling at Meredith. "My father passed away 5 years ago of heart attack,"
"I'm sorry," Meredith said sincerely.
"That's ok now," he smiled at her. "His name was Christopher Shepherd. My mother's name is Elisabeth Marie Malone-Shepherd, but everyone calls her Ella and she lives in South Hampton now, so you can expect a revolution all across America after we announce our wedding," Derek chuckled. "I have four sisters, Anna Caroline Edward, married to Robert Edward and they have four children, 3 girls and a boy, Alex…"
"Let's limit ourselves to your sisters' name only," Meredith cut him off, already dazed by his big family.
"It's a little too much, isn't it?" he laughed.
"Just a little," she giggled.
"Ok," Derek chuckled. "So I have Anna, she is the oldest, and then there's Kathleen and her husband's name is James. They have 5 kids. Then there is Nancy; she's newly divorced, but they have two kids together and then there's me, and then my youngest sister, Ashley. She is single too."
"Single too?" she asked him, amused. "Who else is single?"
Derek realized then that he was no longer single and that his sister was his only sibling unmarried. "Sorry about that. I have to get used with the new status."
"That's ok," she laughed.
"Now it's your turn," he pointed to her. "Tell me about your birth place, parents and siblings."
"I don't have siblings. I am the only child. I was born in Seattle on the 15th of September. My father's name is Thatcher Grey and my mother's name is Ellis Grey and that's it."
"Wait," Derek folded his arms across his chest and leaned over the table. "Your mother's name is Ellis Grey?"
Meredith rolled her eyes amusingly. "I knew you would bring that up. And yeah… she is the Ellis Grey you think she is."
"Wow," Derek chuckled, impressed. "I'm Ellis's Grey son-in-law now."
"Get over it, she will hate you once she meets you," Meredith smiled teasingly.
"And your father's name is Thatcher Grey?" he asked her with the same amazement in his voice as in his previous question.
This time, Meredith looked at him, confused. "Yes; why?"
"Wow," he chuckled again. "I'm Thatcher Grey's son-in-law too."
"Why are you so proud of it?" she asked him, amused by his amazement.
"I'm a fan of your father's," he confessed.
"I didn't know my father was such a celebrity." She rolled her eyes. "Besides being Ellis's husband," she said. "And Meredith Grey's father," she added jokingly.
Derek laughed along with her. "I read most of your father's researches about the marine habitat. I like the fishing ones the most." Meredith rolled her eyes at his statement. "So you're not a big fan of fishing or the outdoors," he concluded.
"No, I'm not a big fan," she admitted. "I like it, but I'm not obsessed with it."
Derek frowned as he heard that. "So you're calling me obsessed?"
Meredith looked away and smiled teasingly as an answer.
In that moment, the waiter came to their table to take their orders. Scowling at Meredith, Derek picked up his menu and opened it. "Is your favorite food listed on their menu?" he asked Meredith.
"No," Meredith mumbled, looking over her menu. "I'll have roast potatoes with sage and orange and baked chicken breast," she gave her order to the waiter. "I don't have favorite food. I eat anything," she informed Derek.
Derek smiled and then gave his order. "I'll have baked fennel with garlic butter and vermouth. That," he said, turning to look at Meredith, "Is my favorite food so keep that in mind."
Meredith raised her brows, amused. "I don't cook so I don't care what your favorite food is."
"This means that I have to be the perfect husband?" he chuckled.
"Only if you want to, but I can be the perfect wife too," Meredith giggled. "As I said, I eat anything, so you shouldn't worry about what you cook."
"Excuse me," the waiter cleared his throat interrupting them. "Would you like to have a drink? Wine? Beer? Champagne?" he asked them.
Meredith and Derek looked at each other and they both smiled as they gave the answer in unison. "No, thank you."
"Ok," the waiter smiled nervously at them as if he had offended them with his question. "Any dessert?" he asked them hesitantly.
"I'd like a slice of cheese cake," Derek answered quickly and then looked at Meredith.
Meredith thought for a second and then made a decision. "I'd like a strawberry ice cream."
"Alright," the waiter noted down Meredith's order too and smiled at them. "Your food should be here in about 20 minutes."
"Take your time," Derek smiled at him. "We have a lot to catch up on with each other," he grinned as he turned to look at Meredith.
"So… I assume cheese cake is your favorite dessert," Meredith looked at him questioningly.
"And strawberry ice cream is your favorite dessert," Derek replied and smiled as Meredith nodded. "Ok, so now we know general stuff about each other like names, parents and siblings. I like baked fennel with garlic butter and vermouth while you're a junk food eater," Derek chuckled teasingly while Meredith grinned sarcastically. "I like cheese cake for dessert and you like the strawberry ice cream," he continued. "Oh and you don't cook, which leads me to believe that you don't do housework either and I'll be the wife."
"Shut up now," Meredith warned him, laughing.
"Ok, what else should we find out now," Derek leaned back in his chair, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.
"Are we going to live together?" she asked him.
"Of course," Derek rolled his eyes. "How else can we make this marriage work if we live apart?"
"Where?" She asked him straight.
Now that was a hard question for Derek. He was sharing an apartment with Preston, but that place was one for bachelors so he couldn't take Meredith to live there. "Don't you have a house to live?"
"I do," she answered. "Are you willing to share an apartment with three other women?" she giggled as she saw the grin on his face. "And share the same bedroom with me and my cousin?" Derek's expression turned slightly into a grimace. "Make a note of that," she laughed.
"What?" he asked her, confused.
"You don't like threesomes, which is actually a shame because a threesome could be really fun," she said casually, purposely teasing Derek.
"Hey, I really like you!" Derek exclaimed enthusiastically.
Meredith grinned knowingly, giving him a moment to enjoy it before giving him a reply. "I only like the 1 woman for 2 men pairing."
Derek's enthusiasm faded and shook his head. "Rather not," he muttered.
"So we don't have a place to live," she said. "Or… no, never mind," she changed the thought immediately.
"You have a place where we could live together. Or at least you know of one," Derek concluded, watching her suspiciously. "I'm your husband, you can't let me sleep on your doorstep," he said jokingly.
Meredith was too focused on her thoughts to smile at his joke. She did have a place where she could live with Derek. "The place where I lived as a child," she muttered.
"So we got that covered," Derek said.
"But it needs a lot of work. Nobody has lived there for almost 6 years."
"Yet it's still a safe place to live, right?" he asked.
"Yeah. My parents wanted a new neighborhood, closer to Mercy West Hospital," she said.
"We can clean the place. How big can the mess be? Besides, we'll start by cleaning the most important rooms: our bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom. We'll do the rest in time," Derek said enthusiastically. Then he stopped as he saw Meredith's discomfort with the discussion they were having. "You don't want us to live together?" he asked her softly.
Meredith was now staring down at the table, playing with her napkin.
"Mer." He touched her hands gently, making them stop crumpling the napkin.
"I think we should take this thing slower," she muttered. She met his comforting smile as she glanced up at him.
"Slower than marriage?" he asked her.
"This marriage is only on paper for now, Derek," she said as she looked into his eyes. "Living together means …this means living with the marriage. We should take it slower. Let's get to know each other better. Like dating, for example."
"Dating could be fun," Derek agreed, smiling at her. "I guess you have a point with that. That's why we ended up married in the first place," he sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "I went too fast."
Meredith looked at him as she nodded in agreement. "We could start cleaning the house… slowly. This before we move in together," she babbled.
"Ok," Derek agreed. "We could do that."
"Ok," she smiled, more relaxed now.
At that point, they had managed to talk and clear some aspects of their new life without involving serious fights, only teasing and cheerful quarrels and that was encouraging for both of them.
"So I'm married to my boss," Meredith sighed and tried to pick up their conversation about themselves. She leaned back in her chair, a smile growing on her lips as she watched him smiling at her.
"Don't get too excited over this because I won't favor you," he warned her in a more serious tone.
"I wasn't going to ask you for favors," she huffed. "Actually nobody from the hospital should know that we're married. I should go by my maiden name."
"That sounds fair," Derek nodded in agreement. A crooked smile spread across his face as he leaned over the table to her. "Since I'm going to be your boss at work, I allow you to be my boss at home."
"Gee, thanks!" Meredith squealed with sarcastic enthusiasm, which made Derek laugh. "Do you know who your resident is? Maybe we'll get to work together a lot during your residency."
"No," Meredith shook her head. "I haven't found out yet. I know there are teams of doctors, right?" she asked him curiously.
"Yes," Derek nodded. "Each resident and its interns get certain attendings to work with. For example, the Chief has just told me I'll be working with Dr. Bailey and her interns. I'm the head of Neuro Department, by the way," he added, smiling smugly at her.
Meredith just rolled her eyes. "I heard about her," Meredith said, referring to Dr. Bailey. "My mom was impressed with her when she had to attend a critical patient at Seattle Grace a while ago."
"I heard she's one of the best residents that Seattle Grace has," Derek said.
"You said your boss is also your friend or something like that," Meredith said as she remembered what he had told her the night they left for their sunny vacation.
"That's right," Derek chuckled as he read the shock on her face. "You're on high horses now because of this marriage, Meredith."
"This will go very badly," she growled quietly as she threw her head back and closed her eyes briefly.
"It won't go bad," Derek reached out for her hand and gave it a light squeeze of encouragement. "Let's try to make it well. We'll separate the work from our personal life."
Meredith looked at him as he spoke and nodded, unconvinced.
"It will," he assured her, winking at her. "Back to our personal life now," he suggested. "What are you hobbies, Meredith?" he asked her.
"I don't have hobbies," she answered simply.
"Ok… what do you like to do with your free time?" he rephrased his question.
"Well..." she cleared her throat and looked at him smiling. "I only have free time in the evening because until not too long ago, I was in Med School studying and soon I'll be at the hospital, working and learning so, I either hang out with my friends, or I stay at home, eat junk food and watch crappy television programs."
"How old are you?" he asked curiously.
"That's not an appropriate thing to ask a woman," she giggled teasingly.
"Yeah but you're my wife now, so I have to know," he grinned back at her.
"25," she answered, smiling at him. "Should I call you grandpa?" she asking him teasingly.
"That depends," he laughed. "Do I look and perform like a grandpa at 36?" he asked her, still laughing.
Meredith laughed too. "How should I know how a grandpa… performs?"
"The difference is not that big," he said, a little more serious now.
"It's not," she agreed, smiling. "Do you have other hobbies besides fishing… and my dad?" she asked him.
Derek chuckled at the last part of her question. "I like reading," he said. "Oh and I look forward to meeting your dad."
"I wouldn't," she giggled. "You married his little daughter without his blessing, so I doubt that you two are going to be friends."
"I charmed his daughter, so I won't have problems making him like me." Derek cleared his throat and smirked smugly at her.
"You got his daughter drunk," she pointed out, giggling.
"Yeah, but I convinced her not to divorce me, didn't I?" he replied smugly.
Meredith rolled her eyes and decided to give up and not feed his ego more.
During the dinner, Meredith told Derek about Cristina and Lexie and Derek told her about his best friend Mark and about the permanent competition between him and Preston Webber. He also told her about his goal of becoming the Chief of surgery one day, while Meredith said she didn't have another goals besides becoming a great surgeon.
Meredith had her head resting on him, with his arm around her shoulder, holding her to his chest while they were watching down the canal where a gondola was just passing by, carrying a young happy couple.
"I don't remember when we got on the gondola," she muttered as watched the loving way that the woman was looking into her man's eyes.
"You stumbled a little, but I was there to catch you," he said softly, his lips breathing against her forehead. He smiled as she looked up at him.
"I don't even remember anything from the ceremony," she sighed as she drew her eyes back down over the water.
"I only remember one thing," he said, his eyes still on her. She looked up at him again as she could feel his gaze. "I remember your eyes," he said, looking into her eyes. He leaned in as he lifted her chin and kissed her softly on the lips. "You're a beautiful woman and I have enjoyed your company these last two days more than you believe. I'm optimistic, Meredith."
Meredith closed her eyes briefly, fighting back the tears and put her head on his chest again. She had enjoyed his company too. "Derek?" She looked up at him and smiled as she looked into his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Derek," she said softly.
"Nice to meet you too, Meredith," he smiled back, caressing her cheek.
--
N/A: With the next chapter, Meredith and Derek start their life as newly weds in Seattle, so stay tune! The bad news is that I'll be gone on vacation for the next 3 weeks so there won't be any updates until then, but the good news is that I'll keep writing during these 3 weeks.
Thank you all for reading and commenting to this fic!!
Dana
