(This update is on the porny side – so if you're not of an age to be reading this – don't! Many, many, many thanks to those reading and commenting.)
Meredith sighed with relief as she turned on the faucet and shoved her tired hands in the falling stream of hot water. She successfully clipped the aneurysm, and the patient made it through the surgery without any surprises or complications. It was at times like this that Meredith enjoyed her work as a surgeon. Looking out at the operating room as she scrubbed out, the shiny silver surfaces, hi-tech equipment, bright lights, the surgical fellow closing up for Meredith as the nurses moved about. Right now, life was good. And she knew it would be even better after her shift.
"Dr. Grey?"
"Yes Dr. Littlejohn?" Meredith made room for the fourth-year resident at the sink.
"I'm assuming you want me to do follow up tonight on Mrs. Greathouse?" Dr. Littlejohn tossed his blood-stained gloves in the bin and reached for a soap package.
Meredith nodded. "Yes. Dr. Michaels is on call tonight, but if you can't reach him if there's a problem, page me."
Dr. Littlejohn nodded. He enjoyed working with Dr. Grey. She really knew her way around the nervous system, and was as good as her legendary mother, if not better. Dr. Grey treated interns and residents with a firm, but at times kind, hand. His fellow residents battled amongst themselves to work with her. While her surgery schedule was demanding, he knew Dr. Grey valued her private time. She never failed to come in when needed, but if anything happens with Mrs. Greathouse overnight, he'd page her as a last resort.
"Will do, Dr. Grey."
With a nod, Meredith finished drying her hands before pushing through the scrub room door. Stopping at the nurse's station, Meredith reached for Mrs. Greathouse's chart.
"I can say, with complete honesty and humility, I rock!"
"I've always admired your sense of modesty." Meredith chortled as she signed her name to the chart.
"Hey," Cristina pulled off her scrub cap, releasing her wildly curling black strands of hair. "My standstill operation rocked! And since it was my operation...so did I."
"You just like saying the word 'rock.'"
"And 'standstill.' So sue me," Cristina shrugged. "Let's eat."
Meredith and Cristina were walking down the hallway when a dark blue scrub-clad figure appeared out of nowhere to grab Meredith by the arm. Rolling her eyes, Cristina waved to Meredith as she was forcibly escorted in the opposite direction. Wide-eyed, Meredith looked to her person for help, but Cristina just shook her head and kept going.
Keeping a firm grip on her arm, Derek threw open the oncall room door and pushed Meredith, and her sense of déjà vu, inside the room. The stillness of the darkened space magnified the audible click of the door lock. Without a single touch to her tense body, Derek's forward momentum guided Meredith until her back met the wall. Her breathing labors as the electricity vibrates between them, and she tries to ignore the goose bumps covering her soft skin. Meredith's eyes widen fractionally as his hands come up to gently cup her face, his thumbs gently trace the fullness of her bottom lip. Her arms want to embrace Derek, but they remain limp at her sides.
Derek slid his arms around Meredith, pulling her hard and tight against him as his mouth slanted over hers in a soul-stealing kiss. The heat of his erection radiated into her, arousal tingling through her, consuming her from head to toe. Her eyelids clench shut as his mouth robs her body of its last breath. Struggling to breathe, Meredith pushed at him. Hard. Surprised, Derek raised his head from hers and gazed into her face. Her mouth is red and full from his kiss. The pupils of her eyes dilated, dark against the green of her irises. Not bothering to hide his smirk, Derek lowered his head again, his mouth smothering hers as his hands pull her legs around his waist. It took a couple of moments for Meredith to realize she was floating toward the bed, and a little bit longer to notice her scrubs were missing – as were Derek's.
Meredith found herself on her back, looking up at Derek as he came down beside her, the bedsprings groaning from the weight of their bodies. It was minute and hard to see, but his hand visibly shook as it smoothed her hair away from her face. Derek gently kissed the soft curve of her shoulder as he slipped between her legs, his body moving over her.
"I missed you."
While the feel of his hands and body made her melt, Derek's declaration made Meredith shiver. She could barely form the words of her reply, her legs moving to invite him in. "You did?" Derek's body jerked as Meredith's fingers groped the sides of his waist, pulling him firmly into the heat of her thighs. "Why did you miss me?" She gasped as Derek's tongue found the rosy tip of her right breast, laving it into a tight pebble before he suckled hard. Her back arched off the bed, smashing her breast into the moist cavern of his mouth.
"Because I love you," Derek whispered against her puckered nipple, grinding his cock against the wetness of her mound. He moved quickly, slamming into her core before Meredith could react. The instinctive flexing of her hips drove Derek deeper, harder and faster. His lungs begged for oxygen as his hips turned their world into heat, sensation and scent. Meredith's moan started low in her throat. It grew louder and more frantic until she cried out his name. Her name rasped from his lips as her inner muscles convulsed around him, grabbing hard and not letting go while he pulsed within.
Needing to feel all of her against his spent body, Derek collapsed on top of her. Their bodies still joined, Derek's head nestled the crook of her neck, her lavender scent filling him. One of her hands drifted up, spearing trembling fingers into the sweaty curls at nape of his neck, as the other rested across his back. Their chests expanded and contracted in unison for long minutes after.
"Derek?"
"Hmmm?" His lips brushed against the base of her neck.
"Happy Anniversary."
She felt the upward turn of his lips against her skin as Derek slipped out of her and rolled to the side. He pulled her limp body against his side. "Happy Anniversary."
FLASHING BACK TO 15 YEARS EARLIER...
"I'm telling you, everyone's talking about you and McDreamy in the scrub room." Izzie licked the chocolate frosting off her thumb before biting into the fresh baked chocolate cupcake. "Especially with his nurse, I mean that nurse, still in the OR. I know he broke up with her, but she saw the whole thing." She made herself comfortable at Meredith's kitchen table.
It was late, and the house had settled into a quietness that usually lulled the occupants into sleep. Exhaustion helped, but no one could sleep tonight. And when no one could sleep, Izzie fired up the oven. The aroma of freshly baked chocolate cupcakes filled the kitchen. Meredith poured herself and Izzie glasses of milk to go with the cupcakes, and breathed in the wonderful chocolately scent. "I don't care who was where or saying what." Her lips still tingled from the kiss. Even though it happened earlier this morning, Meredith could still the weight of Derek's mouth against hers.
"So where did you go?"
"Go?"
"Derek was spotted dragging you into an oncall room, a linen closet, and a sedated patient's room." Izzie's mouth was full of cupcake. She eagerly awaited the bit of gossip. "Which was it?"
"A sedated patient's room?" Meredith giggled. "You've got to be kidding? That's tacky!" She sat down opposite Izzie and carefully slid across a glass of milk. Izzie pushed the plate of cupcakes toward her.
"So what is going on with you and Derek? And what about Suit Guy?"
"Derek and I are...I don't know." Meredith studied the cupcakes for a moment before grabbing one. "We're not anything, but I don't know."
"Well you know he dropped the nurse, right?" Izzie asked.
"I think I heard something about it." Meredith murmured, biting into the warm, moist chocolate cupcake. She had a memory of Derek, as they stood outside Joe's, telling her that Rose was gone. And he had been sad at her lack of enthusiasm at his announcement. He couldn't have been expecting her to jump gleefully into his arms, right? He walked away from her to another woman, again, and expected things between them to be all happily ever after?
"I can't believe the woman was stupid enough to think she had a shot in hell with him." Izzie rolled her eyes. "She's a nurse, the backbone of the grapevine. She's had to have heard the whole saga of you two." She looked to Meredith for a response, but Meredith seemed to be elsewhere. "Meredith," Izzie tossed a piece of cupcake at her. "Earth to Meredith."
Meredith brushed the chocolately pieces from her face. "What?"
"And you and Suit Guy...?" Izzie prompted.
"Nic and I are...ok." Meredith couldn't help but smile at the thought of Suit Guy. Nic. He was perfect in every way. Good looking, successful, awfully sweet and funny. But he wasn't...Derek. She was amazed by the patience Nic had shown over the past few months as Meredith recuperated from Derek's dumping her. But he wasn't Derek. Meredith knew she needed to have her head examined.
"Are you going to tell him about Derek?"
Meredith chuckled at the look on Izzie's face. She was seriously fishing for information. "There's nothing to tell. Besides, Nic and I are just friends."
"Have you even kissed Suit Guy?"
"Izzie." Meredith protested, rolling her eyes.
"Seriously Meredith, what are you doing?" Izzie set down her cupcake, wiping her hands on a napkin. "How many times are you going to let Derek do this? He dropped you for Addison, and now this nurse? What the hell is his problem? Now you have Suit Guy. He's great! Why do you have to think about this?"
"It's complicated," Meredith sighed. She had taken time to retrace their steps in the mess that was their relationship, up until the kiss that shattered them. And Meredith saw things weren't simply black and white. She wondered if Derek ever would.
"If it helps, that nurse tried to get back with Derek, and he told her 'thanks, but no thanks' and that you were 'it' for him."
"That's just gossip, Iz." Meredith shook her head. She seriously doubted Derek would turn down any dates – Rose or no Rose.
"No, it's not."
"How do you know for sure?"
"Because I was there. I heard the whole thing." Izzie sipped her glass of milk with the confidence of someone in the know. "I was across from the nurses' station when she hit on him, and Derek turned her down flat."
Meredith sat back in her chair. That surprised her.
"And I've heard of other females hitting on him, other than nurses, and he's turned them all down. Won't even go out for a drink." Izzie pursed her lips. "Not even coffee from the coffee cart."
Now she was shocked. Borderline stunned. Derek was officially free and clear of her, and he was turning down dates? She thought he was searching for someone to fit neatly and quickly into the slot he had carved out in his future.
Derek wasn't sure how long he stood outside her house, on the front sidewalk, looking. It was late, but he understood that when he knocked on the front door, someone would answer, because lights were on downstairs. Since her Jeep was in the driveway, Derek knew Meredith was home. She had to be. She'd better not be out with jackass Suit Guy. Fisting his clenched hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, Derek continued staring at the house.
"I know what it's like to fuck something up." Alex stepped up along side Derek. Coming home from his late shift, Alex thought he had been seeing things when he spotted him. Couldn't believe Shepard was standing in front of the house. He was staring. Again. Damn, is that all the guy does is stare? They both looked at the house. "You fuck it up because you know that you'll eventually fuck it up. So, why not cut to the chase? It hurts less that way." Alex pushed thoughts of Izzie from his brain. "I know Mer isn't totally innocent in this, and you sure as hell aren't, but if you fuck her over again, boss or no boss, I'm gonna kick your ass back to New York." Grasping Derek's arm, Alex marched him up the sidewalk and through the front door. Following the scent of baking and sound of voices, he dragged a compliant Derek into kitchen.
"Meredith, you have a visitor." Alex announced as he dropped Derek's arm. He grabbed a cupcake and Izzie's hand, removing her from the kitchen and abandoning Derek inside the door. Uncomfortable, Derek shifted his feet as he watched Meredith. The smear of chocolate on her lower lip called to his tongue. He bit down on it, hard, to stop himself.
"What are you doing here?"
"We need to talk." Derek wasn't going to walk away again from her – the best thing that ever happened to him – and he had to make her understand that.