Disclaimer: If I owned Grey's Anatomy I'd be having sex with Patrick Dempsey right now. Because I want to. And if I owned GA, well he wouldn't have a choice. I'd be all "sex now or no more job, I can kill off McDreamy"...so yeah...sex for me.

Hahaha yeah, that's so my favourite disclaimer I have ever used.

So ummm...this chapter is Derek and Ryan. Just for balance. I figure since I put Meredith through the hell of having to work with Derek's wife, the least I could do was force Derek to talk to Ryan for a couple of minutes. But the Addie/Mer thing was awkward and left you feeling slightly bad for both of them. Derek and Ryan...well they just cross swords. And who doesn't love Derek's sword. Wow...my brain is porny tonight. I blame it on the pictures from the Freedom Writer's premiere...god he looked hot.

Enjoy!

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Having my wife at work wasn't as good as I had expected it to be.

Okay, that's a lie, I hadn't really expected Addison working at the hospital with me to be a good thing. We had never worked together, I had never wanted to work with her. But now I didn't really have a choice. I hadn't even seen her most of the day. But Meredith had. Meredith had spent the day working with my wife.

Which was fine, because Meredith and I were friends. And Addison had moved across the country to be with me. My friend could work with my wife.

"Derek," I heard a voice from somewhere nearby.

I looked up from my Sidekick to find Ryan approaching me. "Ryan, how's life behind the calculator?" I couldn't help myself from asking him.

And this is why Meredith is a much better person than I am. Because she had spent the day probably being sickenly nice to my wife and respecting her and listening to her and acting like we had never made out on an elevator. But I couldn't do that with Ryan. Because his girlfriend had kissed me on an elevator. Or I had kissed her. Someone had kissed someone. And after that kiss I couldn't be nice to her boyfriend, even if I was trying with my wife, even after we made rules.

"So where's the wife?" Ryan asked looking around the lobby.

"Upstairs saving lives, it's what we do around here," I replied.

"So you and my girlfriend seem to be quite close," Ryan asked. From the tone of his voice I could hear that he wasn't quite thrilled about the idea. Not that I blamed him.

"We're friends," I simply answered.

"Friends who make out on her couch?" Ryan asked.

"Friends who nearly make out on her couch," I responded, not even trying to stop myself from laughing.

"Something tells me there would have been no almost about it had I not walked in at that exact moment," Ryan said, sounding like one of my nephews whining about something.

I laughed and started to respond when I felt someone walk up behind me. Not someone, Meredith. I didn't have to turn around to know that it was her. That flowery smell filled my nose, making my stomach fill with butterflies. That hadn't happened since highschool. It wasn't so much how Meredith felt as it was how I felt the second that she was in presence that alerted me to who it was. Besides, the look on Ryan's face as he was her would have given anyone away.

"What are you two talking about?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.

"We were just discussing..." Ryan said, trailing off and sounding awkward.

"We were talking about our near kiss on the couch," I finished for him, flirtasiously winking at Meredith. "And how hot it could have been."

Panic widenend her eyes as her mouth dropped into a tiny little "o". The look on her face made me want to kiss her, but instead I just laughed. Which apparently was enough to knock her out of her shock and catapult her into anger. "Derek!" she hissed my name.

"I'm sorry, am I breaking the rules?" I asked her, faking innocence. Her eyes met mine, and before I could think otherwise I softened my eyes, letting a gentle smile curve my lips, my best McDreamy look according to her friends. With the simple look I watched the tension ease from her face and her body, all her anger at me forgotten. I wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her that we'd be alright, that regardless of whatever rules were made and broken that we'd figure this out.

"Rules?" Ryan's confused voice piped up.

"It's nothing Ryan," Meredith said, pulling her eyes away from mine and looking at her boyfriend. "Derek's just being an idiot."

"Hey, they're not my rules," I said with a shrug.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm missing something here?" Ryan asked, looking between the two of us. "What's going on between you and Derek?" he asked Meredith.

"Nothing is going on between me and Derek," Meredith answered Ryan, but looking at me. Well sending me a warning look but still looking at me. Details were less than important.

"Are you sure?" Ryan asked, now looking at me as well. I had a feeling he expected me to answer.

No, we're not sure, Ryan. Because I really like kissing her. In a way I haven't like kissing anyone in a very long time. And something about her makes my world stop and then start all over again. Just meeting her in the bar saved me. She fits me, something about her fits me. And I need her, in a way I never have needed anyone. So no, we're not sure that nothing is going on between me and Meredith, ran through my mind.

"Yes, we're sure," was all I actually said. "I have a wife. And I'm happy for you two, I am." I said, the words not even sounding convincing to myself.

Confussion contorted Meredith's perfect features. "You are?"

"I am. Meredith, you deserve to be with someone that makes you happy, someone that makes your heart skip a beat. Someone who you can't keep your hands off of. If Ryan is that guy, I'm happy for you," I said, knowing my words would reassure Ryan. And knowing that Meredith would clearly know that I wasn't happy for her. That I was about as happy for her as she was for me and Addison. But Meredith and I had both had other people, we had commitments. So friends, we were friends.

One day I'd learn to ignore the fact I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her, right in the middle of the lobby, damned who saw us.

I don't think about you every night before I close my eyes, I'm so happy for you baby, I could cry.

Okay...so it kind of changed. Because Derek in my head kept being stubborn and wanting to brush off Ryan instead of talk to him. So I had to do something. And introducing Meredith worked best. Because all of a sudden he went into flirty mode because he just can't help himself when Meredith is around. And then he did the whole pretending to be happy for them...when really he's not. But he worded it in a way to make it clear to Meredith that he wasn't happy for them because Ryan isn't the guy Meredith can't keep her hands off. So yes...life is getting complicated because they're both trying so hard not to be anything but friends...and it's just not happening.

Update again later tonight...not sure what time...hopefully one before 8 and then one late late but it depends on what happens with my plans. So we will see.

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