A/N- two in two days, I'm impressed, but having just watched the premiere, I wanted some more Grey's to feed my addiction, and I really want to get to my proposal, all ten thousand words of it, so I'm posting now, and if I have time over the weekend, I'll post the final pre-proposal chapter. This is a little angsty, but I just think Derek would be like a child in the last few days and this is the consequence of that!
As the week wore on, Derek began spending more time at the hospital finalising his plans for Friday's proposal. He made sure that every doctor, every nurse, every member of staff knew that Meredith had no idea of his plan, and that they were to keep their mouths shut or suffer not only his wrath but that of the chief, Cristina and Dr. Bailey. Those that were actively involved in each stage of the proposal were lectured time after time about ensuring they were in the right place at exactly the right time. They each had signals for if Meredith was early or late to any given part, and he was going to monitor the whole thing from his office. Normally, they'd be angry at Derek and his incessant bossiness, but they knew that deep down this was for Meredith, that he just wanted everything to be perfect for her. After the tough couple of years Meredith had faced, they felt she needed a little bit of happiness, and Derek was the one to give her that. He'd spent long hours on the phone at work and at home in his office meticulously planning and checking every little detail, everything was ready, he simply had to wait out the final 24 hours. Mark had been particularly helpful in stopping him blurting his plan before the day, pulling him into consults and out to Joe's until late, and often Meredith was asleep when he got home. He missed snuggling up with Meredith, and driving home together, the small things, dinner and showering together, watching her strip ready for bed, but he knew in just a few days, it'd all be worth it. He was ecstatic with excitement, and as the days went by the hospital gained more of an heir of excitement too. And Meredith was still none the wiser.
Meredith had picked up on some things though. The number of late night phone calls he took in his office set all kinds of alarm bells ringing in her head. Colleagues looked at her in the corridors, whispering as she walked past. People she barely knew started talking to her as if they were her best friends, and Derek had hardly been back to the house until late since the weekend. Meredith tried not to read too much into it, she tried to trust that there was nothing going on. Yet there was a voice in her haid reminding her that the last time he was getting phone calls at all times of the night was right before Addison showed up. He'd promised her that nothing like that would ever come up again, and then he'd told her he couldn't wait forever for her. He seemed so happy, unusually so, and there was no denying that something was going on, she wanted to believe it was harmless, but even Cristina had been acting strange. Meredith often found her with Alex and Lexie, chatting non-stop and then killing the conversation the minute she walked over to them. By Thursday, Meredith was tired of the strange behaviour and secret conversations, so when she saw Derek in the corridor, having not seen him yet that morning as he'd left before she woke up, she finally took action.
"Derek, we need to talk." She told him "and I need you to tell me the truth." Pulling him into the on call room so they could have a little privacy.
"Are you okay Mer, you seem a little off." He smiled, leaning over to kiss her. She put her finger on his lips and came out with it.
"Are you cheating on me, Derek?" she knew it was tactless, but she had to know.
"What?" said Derek taken aback "of course not." He looked at her confused wondering where she'd gotten such an idea.
"Then what? You don't want to live together anymore? Or you just don't want to be together anymore? Cause if that's what it is then you just have to come right out and say it. I…" Derek interrupted her.
"Meredith, I love you, I'm not leaving you, I'm not moving out, it's just been a little busy this week. I know I haven't paid you very much attention these last few days and I'm sorry. I promise I'll make it up to you, tomorrow night, you and me, we'll go someplace nice. I've had a few big consults this week, and it'll all be done with by then. And if you're really lucky, I'll let you have dessert in bed." He kissed her, properly this time, lifting her off her feet, her legs wrapping round his waist. The way he kissed her was nothing short of love, but she couldn't fight the feeling that something wasn't right. No matter how much she wanted to, she wasn't sure she trusted him when he said that nothing was going on. He set her back on her feet, peppering little kisses on her face and neck before setting one more on her lips. She looked into his eyes.
"You promise?" she asked him.
"I promise." He agreed. He left the room with a relieved look upon his face. She hadn't figured it out, but clearly, people weren't being quite subtle enough. He sent a text to the people involved hoping they'd pass on the message. Meredith getting suspicious, be careful how you talk and act around her. D. He had barely 24 hours left, he couldn't have her accidentally finding out now. Meredith felt a phone buzz in her pocket. Cristina's. She'd asked her to hang onto it while she was in surgery, she was waiting for a call, and Meredith had promised to answer it if it came. She pulled it out, the message screen flashing. 1 new message. From Derek. Why was Derek texting Cristina? She knew it was wrong but she had to know what was going on with those two. They barely spoke, let alone texted each other. Meredith felt something bad in her gut as she flipped the phone open. Meredith getting suspicious, be careful how you talk and act around her. D. Meredith felt her blood boil as tears rose to the surface. She ran out of the room and straight into Cristina. She threw the phone at her and ran towards the bathroom. The tears were coming thick and fast now, but she didn't care. Derek was having an affair with Cristina. There was the proof. If it was possible to feel your heart breaking then this very moment, that's exactly what was happening. Derek saw her running and the tears on her face, instantly worried about what could have caused her such pain. He followed her to the door of the women's bathroom, as she slammed the door in his face, her sobs echoing from inside.
"Meredith!" he called. "Mer, what's wrong?" he hammered on the door as Cristina jogged to his side. He looked at her concerned, hoping she'd know what had gotten his future fiancée so upset. It only took a millisecond for Cristina to realise why her friend had barricaded herself in.
"She saw your message Derek." Cristina told him "she had my phone and she must've seen the message." Derek's face fell as he realised his mistake. The pieces finally clicking together.
"Oh, god" he replied "she asked me earlier if I was having an affair, she probably thinks... Meredith!" he said banging on the door. "I am not having an affair with Cristina. Or anyone else for that matter. I love you, no one else, come out and I can explain."
"Yeah, you think I'd sleep with him? Gross." Cristina grimaced as people began to stare at the scene, whispered conversations bubbling up all over the place as the pair tried to coax Meredith out from her hiding place.
"Real helpful Cristina. Meredith please open the door and I can explain." Meredith could hear them bickering outside, trying to convince her that there was nothing going on. She didn't know what to think. She wanted to believe them, but that message. That message was just too much to be nothing. The tears continued to fall, her heart telling her that it was innocent, that Derek loved her, her head saying run. Her thoughts were interrupted by Bailey's voice coming through the door.
"Meredith grey, open this door right now or I will break the damn thing down myself. I mean it." Meredith reluctantly unlocked the door allowing the three of them inside. She looked at Bailey, the tears still coming thick and fast. "Meredith honey, these two are not having an affair, they're not I promise you. If they were, I'd be kicking their asses so hard that they wouldn't be sitting down for a good long while. No, they wanted to surprise you. You've not had a proper relaxing weekend in a while, and Derek thought it'd be nice to take you away for the weekend. As your best friend, Cristina was there making sure he didn't screw it up. These two fools just can't keep a secret. They both love you very much so when you're ready, you can get out of this bathroom let them apologise and get on with the work that you're paid to do." She began to return to her usual demeanour at the end of her speech, giving Meredith a look that she knew would have her doing as she was told.
"I…" Derek started.
"Not another peep from you." Bailey commanded, walking towards the door muttering "attendings acting like children, residents still are children. Can't solve their own damn problems…"
"Mer I'm sorry." Derek said to her "I didn't want you to find out like this."
"Yeah, we just wanted it to be a surprise." Cristina added, sighing when her pager blared, signalling an incoming trauma. "Look I'll talk to you later Mer, leave you two to smooth things over."
"Thanks Cristina, I'll be back to get those confirmations and things later." He winked at her as she left the pair alone in the bathroom.
"I'm sorry," Meredith began "I'm sorry I accused you of having an affair. With Cristina." They both laughed. "It's just the phone calls and all the late nights, I don't feel like I've seen you for a week, and there's been whispering, and Mark hasn't said a word to me outside of work. My friends were acting strange. It was like we were back there, I was waiting for a teenage daughter or another wife, and then I saw the message and I just. I got scared is all."
"I can safely say that I will never be having an affair with Cristina." He assured her "that's too much crazy for one guy to handle. I've wanted to tell you this entire time about the weekend, but everyone agreed that a surprise would be better, and I just wanted it to be perfect, so I asked your friends, and you know this place, pretty soon everyone knew." He grabbed her hand and squeezed. "I love you, you know that right." Meredith nodded, the faintest of smiles reaching her lips.
"I know, I love you too." She put her arms around his neck, and he pulled her into him, breathing in her scent. He reached up and wiped the tears from her face, taking the tissue from her hand and wiping her nose for her, before kissing it, and the lines on her cheeks made by her tears.
"Come on lets go find some brains to cut open." She smiled and took his hand walking out of the bathroom and past the nurses' station where Bailey was standing. He smiled and nodded at her, and she returned the gesture. He'd have to remember to thank her; she just saved his proposal, and indeed his relationship. It was all systems go now. Operation marry Meredith was actually becoming a reality. He just had to get through the rest of the day without eliciting another meltdown from his bride to be.
Derek was grateful when the chief paged Meredith into an emergency surgery a couple of hours later, it gave her a distraction from his obvious secret, and gave him the chance to talk to Cristina and Bailey on exactly how he was going to get from where they were now to the proposal without giving her anymore reason to stress. He paged them both to his office, knowing that he was well deserving of a telling off from the both of them.
"Go on hit me." He sighed, shaking his head at his own stupidity.
"You're a fool." Miranda scolded, hitting his shoulder with the back of her hand. "I told you not to hurt that girl anymore and you manage to do it anyway. You been at everybody telling them to act normally, and yet you try so hard to stop her suspecting that you love her so darn much that you want to marry her that you make her think that you're sleeping with her best friend." Cristina snickered, and Bailey turned around, raising her eyebrows at the resident, who immediately turned her expression to one of seriousness, waiting for her own scolding. "And you, you're no better. One job you were given, stop her getting suspicious. I can give her procedures, make her run labs, make her my own personal scut monkey, but in between the moments where I am removing her from the real world, you were supposed to distract her from the dozen or so nurses who are watching her every move, trying to get on her good side so that they might get to watch her walk down the aisle. No instead, the pair of you let her lose her dignity, and in all likelihood her self-respect because you're too damn foolish to think that maybe she'd notice if the entire hospital is suddenly trying to be her best friend. I assume you both want this to go well, no?" The pair of them nodded, looking like teenagers in the principal's office. "Then you have got to start treating her like the intelligent adult that she is. Yang, you need to fill her head with anything, this weekend away charade, your own hopeless love life, anything, but you have to do whatever it is you can to get her to the end of her shift. She'll be on my post ops for the next few hours, and I'm sure Richard will find some way to help undo what you did, but when she's charting or taking a minute to think about how you fools made her feel then you need to distract her, take her to the damn nursery if it'll help. Go!" Cristina left running towards the OR board to try and decipher when she'd be out of surgery.
Miranda turned back to Derek, pursing her lips at his sorry expression. "You need to sweeten her up, be waiting when she finishes her shift, get take out and a movie or something, just make her feel special, loved. Don't act all sorry and guilty, you have to remind her that she is your everything, that you're someone that if asked might say yes to a proposal. I can't think why, but she loves you despite how many mistakes you make or plans you forget to keep. She will say yes, you just have to give her a reason. She's your soul mate, and you make her happier than I've ever seen her, so you have to get this bit right. Your proposal is flawless, and it's killing you keeping it that way. Has any part of your relationship ever gone to plan, you two met in a bar when you were both drunk, you had me and the chief on at you for dating an intern. Your wife showed up and she escaped death twice. You've survived seeing her in the arms of another man, and you've seen her dead for hours, you can survive this little misunderstanding, and you can get there tomorrow. Look I'm not your mother, you don't have to listen, but you owe it to yourself to be happy about this. You have what 18 hours before she sets off tomorrow? Relax Shep, the rest is up to her." She smiled knowingly at Derek before leaving him to ponder her words. He knew she was right, there was little he could control now and that scared him, but sometimes, you had to face your fear to reap the rewards of conquering it. He looked at the photo of the pair of them on his desk, her mouth open, clearly laughing, while he wrapped his arms around her waist, a grin on his face. Him and Meredith, that's all that mattered now.
A/N- Freak out over, it's all good stuff from here. Thank you all for being hugely patient while I force them towards the big event, once that's over with we can move a little quicker and get onto the fun stuff! Derek just needs one more woman to tell him he's doing things right, and then he can actually do them!