Meredith looked back at Derek and smiled

'You love me' she grinned

'Yeah, I love you' He smiled back and kissed her tenderly

Could she say it back to Derek, this was a big deal. It would be the first time she told someone she loved them. David said it all the time to her but she had never once said it back. She never put her heart on the line before, She didn't want to get hurt.

'Derek, I……..'

Derek put his finger up to her mouth 'You don't have to say it straight away Mer, I just wanted to tell you how I felt'

'I love you to Der' she calmly said back to him

Derek laughed 'yeah?'

'Yes, I really do' she beamed

Derek rolled off her and cupped her face in his hands 'We will find a way through this Meredith, College and school and the fact I'm your teacher, we will be together'

Meredith smiled at him and leaned in and kissed him softly 'I know we will'

Saturday Morning Meredith awoke to the sound of her phone ringing in her ear. Picking it up and flipping it open without looking at caller ID. 'Hello' she said still half asleep.

'Meredith it's mark'

'What do you want mark?' She angrily said into the speaker

'Well, since everyone thinks we slept together and the fact that it was so amazing, there is a party tonight and I need you to come……with me'

Meredith was in shock, this was not part of the deal. All she was supposed to do was tell people they slept together.

'Mark, we had a deal and I did my part, I'm not going to a party with you'

Mark grunted through the phone 'Meredith Meredith, we wouldn't want your and Lover boys secret to come out would we?'

Meredith ran her hands through her hair 'There is nothing going on with us ok, Der….I mean MrSheppard told you we were just friends'

'Yeah sure Meredith, I really want to believe you, but I just don't think everyone else will when they hear how much time you spend at his house. I'm sure the school board would have a few questions….? He laughed into the phone.

Meredith had no choice but to do this, She didn't want to risk anyone finding out.

'Fine' she snapped into the phone 'I'll meet you there'

'Good Good, I'll text you the address and time, see you there sexy'

And with that he hung up the phone.

Meredith was furious. This party was not a good idea. She had to talk to Derek.

Jumping out of bed she showered, dressed and headed over to Derek's

Knocking on the door she waited for him to come and open it. Opening the door he was talking on the phone. He ushered her in and held up his finger to signal 1 minute and walked into another room. Meredith stood inside the door way and could hear his conversation

'No Izzie, I don't want to work on our relationship, we don't have a relationship anymore, you left remember. I'm over it'

Silence

'No Izzie, Don't come and see me, its not going to work. I've moved on'

More silence

Meredith slowly moved closer to the room Derek was in; he was obviously talking to his ex-girlfriend.

'Izzie, look just stop. I don't love you anymore'

'Izzie?' he said 'God damn it' she heard him say and flip his phone shut.

Meredith moved back to the spot he left her in when he went into the room. Coming out he looked at Meredith 'Hey, sorry about that' he said kissing her tenderly

'Sounded Serious' Meredith probed for answers

'It was my ex-girlfriend, she wants to talk and try and work on our relationship' he angrily said

'oh' Meredith said and looked down at the ground 'so she is coming to see you?'

Derek pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her and started kissing her, he pulled away and looked at her 'I told her not to but she didn't really give me an option, she just hung up on me, But you don't have to worry ok, if she turns up I will tell her to go away' he reassured her.

Meredith frowned 'What happened between you to?'

Derek hesitated 'well……we were together for 4 years and one day I came home and she had left. She left a note saying she couldn't be with me anymore and that was that'

'Ok….so you have not seen her since?' Meredith asked

'Well, I saw her once after and we talked and got into a huge fight and I walked out , moved here and met you' he smiled kissing her again

Meredith pulled away and frowned again 'So, you only broke up just before you moved here and met me?'

'Well…yes but I Love you Meredith, I have never felt like this before. I never loved her this much and I have only known you for a couple of weeks' he said trying to reassure her. He kissed her hard and entered his tongue into her mouth. Meredith kissed him back. She put her arms around him. Pulling away she rested her head on his chest. 'Ok, sorry. I'm just worried she will come back and you will realise you love her and I was a mistake or something' she whispered

'Meredith that will never happen, I'm over her ok, I'm in love with you' he smiled at her.

'Ok' she smiled back and kissed.

She pulled away and her smile went away

Derek looked concerned 'What's wrong?' he asked

'Mark wants me to go to a party with him tonight and I said no but he basically said if I didn't he would tell everyone'

Derek ran his hand through his hair and sighed 'Well I guess you better go, it will be fine ok' he reassured her

She smiled 'Well I will only stay for a little while and I'll come over after' she winked.

Derek laughed 'Sounds great'

Derek kissed her hard and grabbed her hands 'I'll cook you some breakfast, come on' and walked her into the kitchen and started cooking.

Saturday night came around and Meredith was getting ready for this party. She decided to ring Christina and see if she was going. She flipped open her phone and dialled her number.

'Hey Mer' Christina said answering

'Hey, how are you?' Meredith asked

'All good, just figuring out what to wear to this party'

Meredith smiled to herself 'thank god your coming, do you need a lift?' she asked

'Your coming? Awesome, yeah a ride would be great'

'Cool' Meredith said 'I'll be there in 30 minutes, be ready' and she hung the phone up.

Heading out the door 20 minutes later she looked over to see Derek sitting on his front deck drinking a beer. She walked down her drive way and over to him.

'Hey' She said walking up to him

Derek got up and walked up to her 'Hey Mer' he smiled 'You look amazing'

Meredith blushed 'Thanks'

They just stood there looking at each other. Meredith was in love with this man. He was perfect to her and she just wanted to scream it to everyone but she couldn't.

'Well I better go, I have to pick Christina up' she mumbled not wanting to go at all.

'Ok, well have fun but not to much' he smiled

He winked at her and she turned around and headed back to her car.

They arrived at the party and entered the huge 3 story house it was being held at. Looking around Christina found the alcohol and dragged Meredith over to the table where it sat. 'Here' she said giving Meredith a mug with beer in it.

Meredith grabbed the cup of her and skulled it back. 'Whoa Mer, slow down, you and mark will be in room earlier than expected if you keep that up' she laughed

Meredith just smiled a fake smile and continued her beer, filling up another straight after. They were standing there talking when she felt an arm go around her waist. She jumped and spun around to none other than Mark smirking back at her.

She relaxed and let his arm stay. 'Hey babe' he said in her ear softly kissing her neck.

'Ok, my queue to leave' Christina declared filling her cup and walking off to find other friends.

Meredith turned to mark and gave him an evil glare. 'Mark, everyone thinks we have already slept together, what do you want with me now. Shouldn't you be onto your next quest?'

Mark laughed 'Meredith, Don't be like that. Cant we just have fun together tonight. I'm not a bad guy. Your apparently single and so am I, so what's the problem?' he asked.

Meredith couldn't exactly tell him she was with Derek, so really she was single to everyone else. She was pretty sure mark was not an idiot and had figured it out but she was not going to confirm it to him.

'Look Mark, i'm just not looking for a relationship ok, nothing personal' She said

Mark frowned 'Then how about friends with benefits?'

Meredith couldn't help but giggle at his comment.

'No' she laughed 'Look I'm going to mingle, maybe you should do the same'

And with that she walked off to find her friends.

A couple of hours later Meredith was sober and bored. She had stopped drinking so she could drive home without being over the limit. She had hung out with mark a few times. Just talking. He was not that bad once he was away from his friends and not trying to impress her.

She found Christina with some guy standing by the pool making out.

Walking up to her she patted her on the shoulder 'Chris, I'm going now, are you coming?'

Christina stopped and turned to Meredith and glared at her 'I'm busy Meredith, I'll be fine ok, just go' and turned back around and started kissing the stranger Meredith had never seen before.

'Ok' Meredith laughed and headed out to her car.

Hopping in her car she saw she had a text message on her phone. Flipping it up she saw it was from Mark. Reading it she smiled

'Hope you had a good night, you looked beautiful, see you Monday'

She closed her phone and headed to Derek's.

She pulled into her drive way she got out and headed over to Derek's. All the lights were on in his house and there was another car parked in his drive way.

That's weird she thought walking up to the front door. Knocking she waited for him to answer.

Suddenly the door opens and it is not Derek standing there. It's a beautiful Tall blonde smiling away at her. Meredith jumped back and stared. She was close to tears. Who is this women. 'Um…..'she struggled to get any words out 'Sorry wrong house' She mumbled and started to turn around when she heard Derek's voice.

'Izzie, why are you answering my front door' he yelled. Walking up to the door he saw Meredith 'Mer' he yelled as she started walking down his drive way.

He ran after her and spun her around. She had tears in her eyes, he could tell she was upset. 'Mer, I didn't know she was going to turn up, she only just arrived' he pleaded

Meredith wiped away her tears and just looked at him.

'Mer' he whispered.

She sniffled and looked down at the ground 'Derek, She is beautiful, she is elegant, she is everything I'm not. My friends were right. She is in your house. Maybe you should just go back to her. You're my teacher, we cant tell anyone, I have to pretend I'm not completely in love with you. She is so much more than me.'

She looked back up at him and wiped her eyes again.

She turned around and walked up to her door and inside. Leaning against her door she slid on the floor and her tears welled up again.

Derek ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply. God he had ruined this, He loved Meredith. He had to fix this. He was going to fix.

Hey guys, I know took a little while to update. But hope you like the new chapter.

xx