Hello!
I'll admit, I was having a tiny bit of writer's block (the start of summer classes didn't help either), however, it seems to have left because I'm very excited for the things to come :)
This chapter did not turn out the way I had originally intended it to when I first sat down to write, but I'm generally pleased with it so I hope you all are too!

Enjoy!


Chapter 9

It had been two weeks since that morning at the docks and a day had rarely passed where Meredith wasn't on Derek's service.

While their professional relationship had been growing steadily, the same could not be said for their personal one.

Much to Derek's dismay.

Although he didn't exactly like the professional distance Meredith had established between the two of them, he understood it. He was still technically married for the time being and she had a lot to work out with a certain ex-fiancé.

She also had a mother to be weary of. And to be honest, he may have been making an extra effort to steer clear of Ellis as well. Which was a totally understandable instinct after your boss catches you making out with her half naked daughter straddling your lap.


They may not have managed to stay awake for the beginning of the sunrise, but when they awoke from their brief naps, the sky was beginning to reveal brilliant streaks of deep red and orange.

"When do you have to be in again?" Meredith's sleep filled voice whispered across the cab of her car.

"Not til ten," he murmured back.

"Me too," she sighed. "Do want to go back to my place to sleep? It's not even ten minutes from here."

Derek's brilliant smile lit up his exhausted face. "Yeah, I'd like that."

At the very least, he'd get to hold her one last time. No matter what was going to happen with Alex or Addison, he'd allow himself to forget and cling to this time with her for as long as she would allow.

The quick ride back to her house was a silent one. With her parents' house looming in front of them, the two made no move to exit her Jeep as she cut the engine with the turn of her key.

"What's wrong?" Derek's calm tone washed over her and she allowed herself a moment to appreciate the pleasant affects the sound of his voice produced. He was staring intently at her and she was sure, at that moment, he could see every thought running through her head.

"I'm not sure I want to leave yet," she admitted.

"How come?"

"Because once I do, I have to address real life. And in real life you still have a wife and I may be ending a four year relationship. In real life I'm having all these inappropriate emotions for my still married boss and don't know how to explain them."

Her confession made his breath catch in his throat.

"I don't want to go back to real life just yet. I think I just need a minute."

So he gave her a minute.

He reached over the center console to grasp her hand firmly within his own while they both enjoyed the quiet a little while longer. After an unknown amount of time passed, he slowly brought his other hand to her cheek to gently guide her eyes to meet his.

"I will give you as many minutes as you need, for as long as you need," he whispered lovingly. "But I want you to know, that this boss of yours returns all those inappropriate emotions you're having even if he doesn't know how to explain it either."

She couldn't tell if it was his perfect words or the way his fingers were stroking her face, but Meredith launched herself at his lips before her mind could catch up with her body's first instinct.

Instead of thinking, Derek just reacted. His lips caressed hers as his hands grasped her hips firmly to help guide her body across the car and into his lap. The feel of her fingernails rasping over his scalp was almost his undoing. He felt her hands drop to his collar as she pulled him closer, closing the already non-existent space between them.

It didn't take much time for her long, talented fingers to find the buttons on his shirt and start popping them open one by one. Following suit, Derek snaked his hands up her sweater, fondling her soft skin as he went. Meredith momentarily pulled her lips away from his face in order to slip her shirt over her head before giving him an alluring smile.

As much as Derek would have liked to just sit there and admire the woman perched on his lap in her lacey, black bra, his body was aching for more contact, causing him to pull her back to chest and ravish her pouting lips.

He was just about to start on her bra clasp when two sharp knocks sounded from the window beside him.

"Meredith Anne Grey Webber."

At the sound of her mother's voice, Meredith's stomach immediately found new residence in her chest.

"I'd appreciate it if you un-mounted Dr. Shepherd and refrained from further undressing yourselves in the middle of my driveway," Ellis's icy voice sliced through the glass window.

Meredith refused to look her mother in the eye and continued to look down at Derek who had a 'deer caught in the headlights' kind of look going on as he stared out the window back at his boss.

Sensing her daughter wasn't going to respond, Ellis sent one last glare towards the indecent couple and warned, "Don't be late for work," before turning to enter her own car and driving off to the hospital.


After a few hours of sleep and a lengthy conversation, the two agreed to keep things strictly professional until everything was settled with their significant others, deciding there was no need to add on more stress to their situations than need be.

However, it was proving to be more challenging than either of them had anticipated.

Not once during her residency did Meredith look at Dr. McDreary and a think about shoving her tongue down his throat. Except, for the past two weeks, it was literally all she could think about. And Derek wasn't doing any better.

He loved teaching her. More than he had expected to and it honestly surprised him. Regardless of their personal relationship, he had meant what he said after Katie Bryce's surgery. She showed real skill in neurosurgery and only proved her talent to him more and more with every case.

But it came with a price.

Her scent followed him everywhere whether she was physically near him or not. It was some kind of flower or something. It captivated Derek to the point of insanity.

He had to be with her. He needed to be with her.

Soon.

Stepping off the elevator, he started reviewing the file of his newest patient when Richard intercepted him from his path to locate Meredith.

"Derek!"

"Richard?"

"Do you have a moment?"

"I need to find Meredith actually. She should be admitting my new patient."

"That's what we need to talk about," Richard said with knowing look and hastily guided Derek into an empty conference room.

"What's this about, Richard?"

"What are you doing with Meredith?" Richard demanded as if Derek hadn't even spoken.

"What are you talking about? I'm working with her."

"Don't play coy with me, Derek. Ellis told me about the two of you in our driveway."

This conversation was quickly heading in a direction Derek didn't care for at all. One normally doesn't relish in the opportunity to discuss the morning a girl straddled him in her car during a make out session with said girl's step-father.

"I know she's a grown woman and, as your colleague, what you do in your spare time is none of my business, but Meredith is my daughter and will therefore always be my business. You are married and she's hurting. I cannot sit idly by and watch her get hurt again. Do you see where I'm coming from, Shep?"

"I'm teaching her, Richard. That's all that's going on. She has an amazing talent for neuro that she hasn't explored before so I'm helping her do it. Nothing is happing between us."

"Groping each other in my driveway in not 'nothing'," he glared sternly. It was clear they weren't leaving until Richard got some actual answers. "And now suddenly she's on your service everyday and scrubbing in on all of your surgeries. Don't think Ellis hasn't noticed you favoring her."

"I don't favor her; she's good. If any other resident showed her skill and interest, I'd work with them too. However, none are, so I've been working with her."

It wasn't as if what he was doing was wrong. No rules were being broken and being questioned was causing Derek to slip into the defensive.

"Plus, I've been taking on a bigger case load and harder cases which is something Dr. Grey has been pushing me to do for a while, so I don't know why she wouldn't just be happy with that."

"Watch it, Derek," he cautioned in a low voice. "I'm just here to warn you."

"Warn me about what?"

"Ellis has had her eye trained on you for the past two weeks. One toe out of line with Meredith and you can bet she'll be on you faster than you can blink."

Derek sighed in frustration as he tore his hands through his dark hair. "I told you, nothing is happening!" He collapsed in the closest office chair and thought a moment before choosing to continue.

"I'm getting divorced," he confessed.

"You and Addie?" Richard asked in complete disbelief. "Derek, the baby-"

"Isn't mine," he interjected. The older man fell silent, at a loss for what to say.

"I filed two weeks ago and the papers finally came in this morning. I'm just waiting for Addison to sign as well and then it will be official."

Derek waited a minute, deciding if what he wanted to say would help or hurt the current situation.

"I don't know what to tell you about Meredith," he added in a rush. "There's something there. We've both acknowledged it on some level, but with my divorce needing to be finalized and her needing space to deal with Alex, we haven't discussed it since the day her mother caught us in her car. We've been strictly professional since then."

His mentor listened intently, but his face gave nothing in way of his emotions.

"I can't explain it, Richard," he shook his head thoughtfully. "I can't explain it, but there is just something about her. So whenever or if ever she comes to me and wants to explore those feelings further, I'm going to say yes. Because I know I would never forgive myself if I let what we have slip away. Okay? That's what's going on between me and Meredith."

There. It was all out in the open. The nervous tightening in Derek's chest was beginning to loosen and would start feeling even better as long as Richard's response was favorable.

Without a single word, Richard walked past Derek towards the door, but before he left, he briefly clasped Derek's shoulder and said "It's been nice seeing you happy these last couple of weeks."

When the conference room door clicked closed, the smile he couldn't hold back anymore forced its way across Derek's face.


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