In this chapter, Meredith and Derek discuss Christmas in general, we see the backlash of the Callie/Christina wallfight, Brianna finally calls her mother and Alex and Izzie discover something strange...

Meanwhile, everyone in the house is blissfully asleep and unaware of what is going on (lucky them). Enjoy!

Meredith heard a distinct thump outside her room and sat up straight in bed, shivering at the sudden blast of cold. "What was that?"

"I don't know," muttered Derek. "Lay back down. You're letting the warm out." When she didn't listen, he blindly started reaching up for her.

"Derek," said Meredith, trying to stay reasonable for his half-asleep, completely unreasonable state. "Someone is making noises outside my room in my house and I want to know what is going on. My kitchen is almost gone after tonight! Can you blame me?" She looked on the floor, grabbing her clothes that had been thrown down on the floor. Then, on second thought, she grabbed an extra blanket to wrap around herself. "I'm getting up to find out what it is."

"Mer," said Derek, trying to ease into the warm spot she left in bed, "it took an hour for the constant banging on the wall to stop. And now we are sleeping. So sleep."

"We were part of the reason for the banging on the wall," Meredith reminded him, tapping his nose.

"Your house is going to be fine," said Derek. "Come back to bed. Stop worrying. You worry too much."

"I have this horrible fear that I'm going to wake up and not have a house left."

"And that's the problem," mumbled Derek, half to Meredith, half to the pillow. "Like I said, you worry too much. Come back. Make me warm. Don't worry. Be happy."

Meredith sighed. "Fine. But if I get up in the morning and they've damaged any more of my property, you totally owe me, mister."

"And I'll pay," said Derek, rolling back over so she could have her spot back. "I promise. It's so cold."

Meredith took off her robe and threw it over Derek's head. "You are such a baby. Aren't you the one who lived in New York? Isn't it way colder over there?"

Derek pulled the robe off his head and sat up. "You really weren't joking when you said we weren't sleeping, were you?"

"Hey, I'm lying down. I'm going to sleep," said Meredith, wondering if she could sleep underneath her top sheet. She decided that getting up, grabbing the sheet, and physically trying to get under it would be too much work.

"It's too late," sighed Derek. "I'm already awake. And to answer your question, I rarely spent Christmas in New York. Are you kidding me? The place is swarming with tourists."

"I'm guessing that you're not one of those 'magic of the city' kinds of Christmas guys."

"To me, Christmas is…Christmas is when you wake up in the morning and you look outside and there's just this…blanket of untouched snow. And you can see the trees and everything, and there are no streets."

"You're a Christmas card kind of guy," said Meredith.

"What?"

"You know…the Christmas card…the one with the log cabin and the tree…and the snow…"

Derek shrugged. "It's a nice thing. You should try it sometime. That's how I always used to spend Christmas. There was this awesome ski resort that we'd go to…well, there was this one Christmas we tried spending at home. It was a disaster."

"We would mean you, Addison, and Mark, right? Story time!" commented Meredith.

"You really want to hear?" asked Derek.

"Hey," said Meredith, propping herself up on an elbow. "I don't mind. This is your life, and you don't have to let anything out for my benefit. This is us. We're communicating. And that means no secrets because we don't do too well with those."

"I know," said Derek, "but this…you…Seattle…this is all new to me. That was my life before, and this is my life now."

"And I'm telling you that I don't mind," said Meredith. "Now come on. It's been a while since I've heard a good story."

"No story," said Derek. "It was always the four of us. Me, Addison…out in the wilderness, Mark, whoever Mark's fling was that week…hurling ourselves off a cliff on two sticks strapped to our feet. It was fun."

"You are insane."

"The year at home was worse," said Derek.

"What happened?" asked Meredith.

"Well," said Derek, "let's see…you know how you almost burned your kitchen down because of drunken baking?"

"Yes," said Meredith, "and it WASN'T ME. That was George and Izzie."

"Well," said Derek. "We had drunken marshmallow roasting in the fireplace."

"And the…" said Meredith.

"Yes."

"And you…"

"Yes."

"Oh my God. Were you okay?"

"Yeah," said Derek. "Thankfully Mark's girlfriend wasn't nearly as much of a drunk was we first thought. Naturally, the whole thing was his fault."

"How was it Mark's fault?" asked Meredith.

"He convinced us that he could shove a whole s'more into his mouth, and naturally, when you're watching to see if he's going to do it or not, you take your attention off the fireplace, including the marshmallow skewers we left in there. And those caught fire and they spread and…it was pretty bad."

"You are insane."

"That's practically a requirement to live here," said Derek. "Okay, story time's over. Now can we please get some sleep?"

"I guess," sighed Meredith. "I suppose if anything does happen, I could just throw everyone out on their asses."

"Into the snow," said Derek, pulling the blankets over his head. "So once again, good night."

"Night," said Meredith.

"This sucks," said Callie, flopping back on the bed.

"Callie, you have to understand," said George. "There was no way Christina was going to stop the banging first. Therefore, you had to do it."

"She's going to hold this over my head forever," said Callie. ""This is really pissing me off. I hate losing."

"Just because you stopped banging first does not make you a loser," said George.

"No," said Callie, pouting, "it makes it all your fault. You were the one who made me."

"Okay," said George, sitting up. "Number one, no one MADE you do anything. You know that. Number two, I only did it out of love for you."

"Love for me…okay. Not getting that part at all."

"Well, if you didn't stop banging, then Christina wouldn't have stopped banging, and you guys would have kept up said banging all night, causing Meredith to drag herself out of bed and kick all of us out into the snow. And we'd all catch cold and die, and I wouldn't want that to happen to you."

"George…that is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard."

"Do you forgive me, though?"

"Go to sleep."

"That's what I've been trying to do!"

"Stop talking. Close your eyes. Blank out your mind, which shouldn't be too hard for you."

"That was harsh."

"Do you want me to start the banging again?"

"Okay!" said George. "I'm sleeping." He rolled over. "How do I lose the argument when I'm right?"

"I'm a woman," said Callie, "and fortunately for me, you aren't."

"Lucky you," muttered George.

"I like her shower," said Jonah from the bathtub. "It's very comfortable to lie down in. My bathtub's tiny."

"Your bathtub's fine," said Chris.

"I suppose," sighed Jonah. "The bubble gum's wearing off. I'm tired. What time is it?"

"It's four in the morning," said Chris. "Oh, crap."

"What?"

"I have to call my mother in the morning. That should be cheerful."

"I should probably get myself out of the bathtub," said Jonah, glancing sideways but not moving. "If Meredith finds me in here in the morning, that would be pretty awkward, don't you think?"

"She wouldn't find you unless we took the gum off," said Chris, not moving either. "I should probably do that."

"Probably."

"Probably."

Izzie awoke with a jolt. Looking around, her breathing got easier as she realized she was not, in fact, falling off a cliff. She was about to roll over and go back to sleep (she had another 48 hour shift all through Christmas…lovely) when she noticed two very strange things.

First, Jonah and Chris still weren't in bed, and second, Brianna wasn't either. She sighed because she really did not want to get up, so she turned to Alex, who, to her dismay, had taken all but two of the blankets.

"Alex, wake up," she whispered.

"What?" he asked, looking around sleepily. "It's not even morning. Are you insane?"

"Look around, Alex. When I went to sleep, there were five people in the living room. Now there's only two. Where did everyone go?"

"Why don't you look for them?"

"Why don't you? I've frozen my butt off for the last two hours. You go look for them."

Alex thought for a minute. On one hand, he could go back to sleep. On the other, it would be yet another thing he owed Izzie. Grumbling, he got out of bed. "I don't even know why it matters," he said, tossing her the blankets, which she snatched up. "How far can they get?"

Alex trudged to the bathroom, where he figured at least one of them had to be. On the way, he passed the front door and saw a flash of red. Nearing the window, he realized that Brianna was talking on the phone.

Well, he'd leave her alone. You had to have a good reason to call someone at this hour.

Was it just him or did he hear voices from upstairs? He dragged himself up the steps. When he got to the top, he saw the bubble gum on the doors a split second before Jonah and Chris came out of the bathroom.

Jonah's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a scream. Her other hand flew to her chest. "Damn, Alex. You sure know how to scare a girl."

"You're so busted," said Alex.

"Alex? When I said to go look for them, I meant for you to do it quietly. All I want is some slee..." She stopped short when she saw the three of them in the hallway. Then she saw the pink smears all over the doors. "What the hell did you do?"

So I've got some good news!!! I think I can finally finish this thing. Two more chapters, you guys! I'm going to finish this before August!!!

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