-1Meredith sat in the middle of the theatre, watching the cast perfect the routine she had spent three weeks teaching them. The four in the morning starts had been fine except the fact she had gotten to bed at one. She hated it, being away from home, being away from Derek. The first month had dragged in, the second even slower. Three months away from Derek was killing her slowly. She'd reach across the bed to hold onto him, but wake up to find she was in an empty hotel room, alone with nothing but silence.

'That looks like a face that could do with a drink,' Meredith looked over her shoulder at Peter as he walked down the aisle towards her.

'Yeah,' He sat down next to her and handed her the mug of coffee

'What's wrong?'

'I miss him,'

'Derek?'

'Yeah. I've never been away from him before and now…truthfully, I hate it. Calls at three in the morning…they're not enough,'

'Do you want to quit?' Meredith hesitated slightly.

'No…I just miss home a lot more than I thought I would. Three months. I can cope for three months…I think,'

'If you need to, you can quit,'

'No peter. I took the job knowing that I would be away from home and away from Derek. The two of us talked about it and we both knew that it would be hard. I just didn't think it would be that hard. Derek's sister called me, he's the same. He wants me to go home so badly but at the same time he says that he wants me to stay. I took the job, and I knew what I was getting into,'

'Just remember though Meredith. You're no use to anyone when you're falling asleep every five minutes,'

'Hey, that's because I only get about three hours sleep a night,'

'True but even when you do get the day off, your still awake all the time. You don't sleep as much as you think on your days off. I know that if I called you, you would answer the phone and be down here in a shot. Don't fool yourself,'

'I'm not. It is the fact that I only get three hours of sleep a night. Your not dancing for most of the day and then getting woken up by some dancer who thinks that you can function on nothing but coffee,'

'Who?'

'Kate,'

''why does she keep calling you?'

'She wants the lead part. She thinks that if she dances perfectly, you'll give her the part,'

'Does she not realise that everyone has already got the parts?'

'I don't know. But she won't leave me alone,'

'I'll talk to her, get you some peace and quiet,' Meredith smiled weakly. Peace and quiet was not what she wanted, she wanted noise and to be kept busy. Meredith lifted her laptop out her bag and prayed that Derek would be online, that maybe he didn't have a life and was sitting waiting for her to come on.

'Meredith?'

'Chris?'

'What are you doing online? Are you not working?' Meredith smiled

'Yeah, but I'm bored. Everyone's just left to go and get lunch so I have an hour to myself. How's Ben?'

'Standing over my shoulder, correcting my spelling,'

'Hey Ben,'

'Meredith!!'

'Hi,'

'How are you?'

'I'm fine, you keeping Chris busy?'

'Yeah. He's not been doing any house work for the past couple of weeks so I got him up and moving around,'

'That surprises me,'

'Hey, I do house work,'

'Yeah,' Meredith looked up to Peter as he walked towards her.

'I sorted it with Kate,'

'Thank you,' Meredith looked back down to the lap top.

'I just got myself a full night sleep,'

'How?'

'I got Peter to talk to the woman that was calling me at three in the morning, asking me to meet her and go over routines with her,'

'Why didn't you just say no?'

'I did Chris but she just wouldn't take no for an answer,' Meredith waited, no reply coming through. She closed the message box down and sighed. She flicked through the countless pictures her and Derek, the ones that they had taken just before she had left. She smiled at the ones at the ferryboats, the two of them having stolen the camera from each other and taken secret pictures of each other. Meredith leaned back in the seat as she found ones she had no idea that Derek had taken. She stood at the edge of the water and waited for the group of ferryboats to pass her, the sun beating down off the water, the reflection against the water showing up on the picture as nothing but a mass of light. Then she found the ones of Derek. He was lying flat in his back, his knees bent, and his arms shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun. He was smiling though, like he was in heaven.

'Mere?' Meredith clicked the box up, Derek's name flashing up.

'Hey, how come you're not working?'

'I am. Sort of. I'm doing 'paper work'

'Of course you are LoL,' Meredith looked around her, making sure no one could see her; she wanted him all to herself.

'I was talking to Chris and Ben earlier,'

'How's Chris coping with the house work?'

'He's not. Bens working his ass off,'

'Meredith I need you to come and talk to Ian. He's got a pain in his leg,'

'I'll be there in a second Peter,' Meredith cursed under her breath.

'I have to go. Peter needs me to take a look at a guy's leg,'

'Ok, I love you,'

'I love you too,' Meredith closed the laptop down and closed her eyes. Peter stood at the stage door and looked at her.

'You ok?' Meredith opened her eyes and smiled.

'Yeah, I'm ok,' Ian gently massaged his leg as he waited for Meredith to come and look at him. She stood with her hands on her hips, watching as the muscle on the top of his leg contracted. The memory of Derek came into her head. She turned and walked out the dressing room, the door closing over behind her. Lifting her jacket and bag, she forgot everything around her. She stood outside, the London people walking past her like she was invisible.

'Meredith,' Meredith ignored Peter calling her name. the cab stopped in front of her, Meredith climbing in and sighing heavily.

'Where to?'

'Worthing Hotel,'

'You need to make any stops?' Meredith hesitated slightly.

'Where can I get a bottle of tequila?'