Uggh! Sick kids plus husband out of town makes for absolutely no time to write! Better late than never I suppose…so here we go.

It was much later that day that Derek was finally able to steal a quiet moment away in his office. He had dropped the boys off and was immediately rushed into an emergency craniotomy which had taken longer than he would have liked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the now wrinkled note. He read the words he had read over and over again since that morning, and a plan began to formulate in his head. He pulled out his phone and found Mark's number.

"What?" Mark said skipping over a greeting, obviously still hung-over.

"I need your help," Derek replied.

"You need my help?" Mark scoffed.

"I'm going to ask Meredith to go on a date with me and I need you and Lexie to watch the boys," Derek explained a slight pleading in his voice.

"It's about time man. I was really starting to worry that you weren't ever going to pull your head out of your ass. Of course we'll watch the boys, when do you need us?" Mark replied caustically.

"Tomorrow night," Derek answered quickly.

"I'm off tomorrow so just bring them by whenever," Mark told him, "ughh…I'm going back to bed."

"Okay man," Derek laughed as he hung up the phone.

For the next hour, Derek hid out in his office planning what he hoped was a relationship saving date. When he finally emerged, he immediately began to search for Meredith. After checking the OR board and finding her name absent, he moved to the pit. She was nowhere to be found in the pit or in any of the OR observation decks. The catwalk was empty as was the cafeteria, and it was too early in the day for her to be camped out in an on-call room. After checking the resident's lounge he began to think she had left for the day. As he walked dejectedly down the hallway, he caught a whiff of lavender and immediately turned toward it. It was so obvious he could have kicked himself for not realizing it earlier if he hadn't been so happy to find her. She was standing in front of their elevator talking to Alex. He stood back a little watching as she moved her arms animatedly, seemingly arguing with Alex about something. When the elevator doors opened, they moved forward to board and he quickly followed. He turned to face the door, praying that Alex would leave quickly. When the doors opened again on the next floor, Alex began to move towards the door, along with Meredith. Derek gently grabbed her wrist and planted what he hoped was a pleading look on his face. She looked at him and back at Alex who glared at Derek.

"It's okay, I'll find you in a minute," she said to Alex before stepping back on the elevator and listening to the doors swoosh closed.

She waited for the elevator to begin moving and then stepped over to the stop button quickly pushing it.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey," he mimicked, his face breaking out in a smile.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked, her eyebrows drooping in a questioning look.

"You're going on a date with me," he replied, deciding to bypass asking her.

"Oh, I am," she scoffed.

"Yes, you're off tomorrow night, I already checked. I got a babysitter. So you have no reason to say no," he explained with a smirk.

"Someone's sure of himself. How do you know I even want to go on a date with you?" Meredith giggled.

"You can't quit me, remember," he said before adding, "I'll pick you up at 7."

He moved forward releasing the stop button and waiting as the elevator approached the surgical floor. When the doors opened, he lightly squeezed her arm which he still grasped in his hand and left the elevator.

The next 28 hours passed slowly for Derek. After dropping the boys off at daycare the next morning, he was called to the pit for consult after consult. At 4 o'clock, he was once again paged down to the pit.

"Shepherd," Owen called as soon as he had made it through the door.

"What do we have?" he asked after he had rushed over.

"Sixteen year-old. He was playing rugby and was crushed at the bottom of a dog pile. There is neck trauma, but I'm not sure to what extent. He wiggled his toes when he came in, but now he says he can't feel his legs," Owen answered when he had pulled him away from the frightened teenager.

Derek moved over to the bed and began an examination. He pulled out his pin light and checked the boy's pupils before shoving two fingers into each of the boys fists.

"Alright, I need you to squeeze my fingers," Derek said calmly.

He waited for some pressure, any pressure, but none came. He plastered a smile on his face and quietly placed a hand on his leg, squeezing lightly to see if he could solicit a reaction from the boy. After none came, he moved away from the bed.

"I need an MRI and don't let him know he might be paralyzed," Derek said to Lexie who stood beside Owen.

Lexie ran off and Derek turned to Owen.

"He is completely paralyzed. No sensory or motor function. Looks like an injury at C4," Derek sighed.

"He's too young for something like this," Owen replied, glancing over to the bed.

"Yeah," Derek said before walking in the direction of Radiology.

As he looked at the MRI images, he was stunned. There was no visible reason for the paralysis.

"Whoa, there's nothing there," Lexie said as she looked over Derek's shoulder.

"No, there isn't," Derek agreed.

"But what caused the paralysis if there's no damage?" Lexie asked, looking at Derek with a confused look on her face.

"More than likely shock," Derek answered, then added, "we'll monitor him and look for improvement over the next few hours, if it doesn't get better we might have do so explorative spinal surgery."

"But...Dr. Shepherd, don't you have somewhere to be?" Lexie said cautiously, not entirely sure who all knew about the date.

"Damn...I was supposed to be gone an hour ago...uh...who's on call tonight?" Derek asked, a plan seeming to form in his head.

"I am. Why?" Lexie asked, her face showing her confusion.

"Perfect, you already know the case. You have my number?" he started.

Lexie simply nodded.

"Okay...good...sensory and motor tests every hour, text me with the results. If you think I need to come back I want you to go ahead and page me. Mer will understand," Derek explained.

"Okay," Lexie replied, understanding that paging him was a last resort showing in her eyes. "

Derek was glad he had brought a change of clothes to work with him. It was already 5:30 and he knew that trying to go home and get ready was impossible. He showered in the private shower in his office and dressed quickly in a grey and white stripped oxford shirt and dark jeans. He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up into the perfect McDreamy style and squirted on some cologne. Grabbing his sport coat and slinging his bag over his shoulder, he made his way to the daycare to grab the boys. Driving to Mark and Lexie's apartment, Derek was becoming increasingly nervous.

He pulled up outside and let the boys out before walking up to the building and making his way to the apartment.

Mark opened the door with Kennedy in his arms and a smirk on his face.

"Geez Shep, you clean up nice," Mark greeted with a chuckle.

"I try," Derek replied with a smirk, then turned to the boys, "have fun with Uncle Mark and Kennedy." He leaned down to hug each of them in turn before continuing, "be good, I'll be by to pick you up later."

Mark simply nodded, ushering the boys into the apartment and shutting the door.

Derek went back to the car and made his way to Meredith's house, willing his nerves to subside the whole way there.

So obviously the next chapter will be the date, hopefully it will be posted early. As far as after the next chapter, my plan is to skip ahead to the trial. Reviews are always appreciated!