N/A: I've been out of inspiration lately, therefore I couldn't bring this chapter up sooner. I am sorry for the delay and I hope the next chapter will be done faster.
Enjoy! "Friendly muffins"
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Meredith gazed out the window at the rain that dripped down the car's window and listened to its song against the hood. She held her hands onto her lap and played with the watch around her wrist. When Derek put his warm hand over hers, Meredith stirred out of her trance.
"You're worried?" Derek glanced at her for a brief second, not leaving the road out of his sight.
Meredith shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "Why would I be worried?"
Derek slowed down the speed to be able to look at Meredith, "Because this is the first time we drive together at work."
Meredith sighed and leaned her head against the window, "No. Maybe a little," she muttered under her breath.
Derek gave a gentle squeeze to her hands and then focused his attention on the road. "Let them talk. We'll keep doing what you've done so far."
Meredith just looked at him and slowly nodded her head. As she looked out the window again, Meredith was surprised to see that Derek was pulling the car in the hospital parking lot already. She drew in more air and unfastened her seatbelt. Suddenly, all the worries faded and an unexpected smile lightened up her face. Maybe it was because of what Derek had said or because the sun was sneaking through clouds and rain, lightening the sky in different shades of blue.
Derek chuckled, surprised to see her sudden change of mood. "Don't tell me you are excited about us being seen together."
Meredith just smiled and opened the door, leaving Derek starring after her with a shocked surprise. He kept watching her until Meredith was at his side, waiting for him to come out of his trance. Derek nervously chuckled and got out of the car. He locked the car and offered her his hand.
Meredith giggled and took it as they started walking towards the entrance. They both looked comfortable with their new position in the vision of the hospital staff and smiled at each stare of their co-workers. They stepped into the elevator together, where just a doctor was, and Derek pulled Meredith close to him.
"That's your floor," Derek stated with a smile when the elevator stopped and the door opened.
"I will see you later," she smiled and stepped outside.
She was still smiling when she walked in the locker room and absent mindedly giggled as she got to her locker room, not noticing the curious stares of her friends yet. Of course she was giggling; she had just passed along the hallways with one, hand in hand with one of the hottest doctors around.
"She's still newly wed," Izzie's chuckle had her attention. "I can't believe you didn't tell me that Shepherd was your husband. I thought we were friends."
Meredith's bright look darkened instantly as she glared at Izzie. For no reason she didn't like Izzie. "We are not friends," she huffed, and now, Izzie's mood wasn't bright either.
"So this is who you really are. You're Shepherd's wife," Izzie laughed bitterly. "How could you be friends with the rest of us, some idiot interns, right?"
"In this hospital I am not Shepherd's wife and I am not Ellis' Grey daughter either," she snapped, looking at all the interns that were watching the scene with envy in their eyes.
"I didn't care about the fact that you were Ellis' Grey daughter or Shepherd's wife," Izzie snapped back. "I wanted us to be friends because we were going to spend a lot of time in this hospital and because I am a good friend of your cousin Lexie. I wanted to be friends because I am a friendly person. Obviously, you don't consider us good enough to be your friends," saying that, Izzie turned on her heels and stomped to her locker.
Meredith remained mute at what Izzie said. As she met Cristina's reproachful glance, Meredith felt bad for her constant bitchiness toward Izzie. She threw her bag and her jacket in the locker and went across the room, leaning against the lockers.
"I am not very friendly and you are…," Meredith paused, looking for the right words, "…a little too friendly for me. I hold nothing against you and I definitely don't think that you're an idiot intern. Lately I've been more idiot than anyone else in this room."
Izzie sighed and turned to look at Meredith, "I am too friendly for you."
Meredith bit her lip and nodded slowly.
Izzie chuckled and took out of her locker a muffin, "A friendly muffin?"
Meredith smiled and nodded as she took the muffin from Izzie.
"Let me know if my muffin is too friendly for your taste too," Izzie laughed, already regaining her good spirit.
As she took a bite from Izzie's muffin and walked back to her locker, Meredith noticed Lexie was missing.
"Where's Lexie?" she asked, looking at Cristina and then at Izzie.
Cristina just shrugged while Izzie answered, "She had the day off yesterday. I haven't seen her since the other night when we went to Joe's."
"When was the last time you talked to her?" Meredith asked her.
Izzie became a little worried by Meredith's question, "At Joe's," she answered quietly.
Meredith frowned and started biting her lip, thoughtful. Until no long time ago, Meredith knew everything about her family and friends; she knew the hour they were bathing, sleeping or even having sex. She used to know how to track Lexie down, without even calling her. Now, with her marriage and Derek's mother visiting them, she stopped wondering about her family and friends. She took out her phone and dialed Lexie's number. As the number dialed, her voicemail went on. Meredith decided not to leave her a massage, so she hung up and tossed it the pocket of her jeans.
"That's weird," she muttered under her breath, knowing Lexie was never late for work and almost never had the phone off. She started dressing for work and decided not to stress herself with that right away.
Meredith had smooth morning that day. She and Derek watched their patient's pre-op evolution and the rest of the time she had free, she up-dated her charts.
For noon, the plan was to have lunch with the other interns in the patio. As she was free already, Meredith decided to go ahead in the patio and wait for her friends while reading a medical journal. She tucked the magazine under her arm and headed for the elevators. She wanted to step inside when Ella wanted to step outside but she stop as she saw Meredith.
"Meredith. Hi," she smiled.
Meredith was surprised to see Ella, but she didn't feel as stressed as she used to feel until no long time ago, "Hi. Are you here to see Derek?" she asked and stepped outside, letting the elevator go without her.
"Yes. Actually, I am looking for Mark," she explained. "We were supposed to have dinner last night, but he didn't show up in his room or even call."
Meredith knew less than Ella did. "I haven't seen him since our dinner that evening."
"Derek has to know," Ella sighed, with that expression of a disappointed mother. "I will tie him a leash next time we go together somewhere," she said and giggled at Meredith.
Meredith laughed and agreed with a nod, "You should have done this the moment the plane landed in Seattle."
"I guess I should have," Ella laughed as well.
"Derek was paged for a consult," Meredith explained. "And I was heading for lunch."
Ella smiled expectedly.
Meredith smiled, sighing discreetly, and looked back at Ella, "Would you like to join me?"
"If you don't mind," Ella smiled.
Meredith smiled back, not entirely heartedly, "I don't mind," she smiled and pointed to the elevator.
Both women bought some food and sat down to a table, in a private corner, yet able to see who was leaving and who was coming in.
"How is it going with Richard?" Ella asked her. "Adele told me about the fight he had with Derek the other day."
Meredith put aside the magazine and ripped off the wrapper from her sandwich, "It's getting better. I got to assist Derek," she sighed and looked at Ella, "I am not looking for any favor. They can assign me to other neuro surgeon if they want to, but I need practice in neurology."
"I know that, Meredith," she wanted to reassure of whatever Meredith thought she was believed about the whole situation. "Your relationship," she started saying, but she looked like she had used the right word. "Your marriage or … convention, took everyone by surprise. You don't get to hear about things like this everyday and we certainly hadn't expected to hear about Derek doing it. Anyway, I am glad it's getting easier with Richard," she stopped for a moment to take a breath and went on, "I don't know what to think about this. I still don't know, though I've been in Seattle for nearly 5 days already and I've spent some time with you two and even with your family. One thing I see," she stated and smiled kindly at Meredith. "Derek is… very into this relationship; very committed to this … marriage. I see him… happy with the situation. I don't know how long this will last, but I know I don't want to see him miserable because of it." Her last words, kind though, sounded like a warning as well.
Meredith just listened to Ella and didn't have any reply to that. Her attention was soon distracted as she met Nurse Rose's glare as she passed past their table.
"What do you think about her?" Meredith asked Ella, still following Rose with her gaze. "Does she look like she could be Derek's wife?" she asked and, this time, she looked at her mother-in-law.
Ella saw who she was talking about, but she couldn't help but stare at Meredith. "Have heard a word from what I said?" she asked, sounding disappointed.
Meredith looked at her, clueless.
"You're underestimating yourself, I see. That's not good," Ella shook her head. "It's not good for you and it's not good for your marriage. Derek likes confident women," she stated.
Ashamed, Meredith looked down at her tray and slowly picked the sandwich up, taking a small bite.
"I don't know if she would be a better wife for my son. I don't know if you are the best woman for him. I don't know anything about you, so how could I know who is the best," Ella stated, wanted to answer her question.
"Who is Addison?" Meredith asked. "I mean, I know she's his ex, but…" she stopped and didn't dare to go on with the question.
"They were together for 10 years and engaged for 2," Ella answered, guessing her question.
Meredith stared at her, dumbfounded, and felt her cheeks burning of surprise, jealousy and sadness.
"He's older than you," Ella said, reading her face. "And she's definitely part of his past," she added.
"Oh," was all she could mutter in attempt of looking down at her tray and hiding her flush. "How about… Derek's sisters?" she asked. "What do they think about this?"
Ella chuckled at her question, "You don't want to know. "
Why was she surprised? Meredith asked herself.
A shadow stopped in front of their table and Meredith looked up to see Cristina glaring at her.
"We need to talk," Cristina hardly kept her tone low as she furrowed her brows.
Meredith was confused. Cristina looked mad; and she looked mad of her. "I am having lunch," she said.
"I won't keep you long," Cristina said, using the same cold tone, and turned around, waking ahead.
Meredith stood up, looking at Ella apologetically, and followed Cristina. She was even more confused as Cristina walked out of the patio and led their way back into the hospital, into a supply closet.
"What's going on?" Meredith demanded.
Cristina turned, arms folded across her chest, and looked at her, "What's going on?" she laughed sarcastically. "It happens that your lovely husband told Webber about me and Burke."
"What?" Meredith asked, shocked. "That's impossible."
"Oh, let me disagree," Cristina smiled sarcastically. "That's very possible."
Meredith still could not believe what she heard was true. "He said he wouldn't…"
"Why did you tell him in the first place?" Cristina cut her off, yelling at her. "This was OUR secret and when we share secrets to each other, we keep them for ourselves!"
"I…I am sorry, Cristina! I didn't mean to. It just… slipped out," Meredith stammered.
"Slipped out, huh?" Cristina laughed bitterly. "You never slipped out any secret until now. Until you had to share it with your precious husband. You can do whatever you want with him and you can talk to him about whatever you want, but you do not share our secrets with him!"
"I said I was sorry!" Meredith insisted.
Cristina shook her head and headed for the door. Before she opened it, she looked back at Meredith, "I never thought you would put our friendship on the second place. Especially to replace me with your so-called husband." With those words, Cristina left the supply room.
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Derek quickly ran through rain, from the car to the trailer, shaking off the rain as he got inside to warmth. He took off his jacket and ran his fingers though his hair, rearranging it.
"I should have pulled the car closer to the trailer," he said as he stepped inside their small kitchen. As he filled himself a glass with water, Derek noticed what Meredith was doing in there.
She had her back turned on him and looked like she was mixing something into a bowl.
Derek had to admit that he was impressed with Meredith's tenacity. Despite this, he still believed he could teas her a little bit about her cooking skills. "What are you doing there?"
Meredith didn't answer right away, but when she did it, she answered in a flat voice, "Friendly muffins."
Derek started laughed as he heard that, "Will your friendly muffins be friendly enough to pay for a new kitchen?"
Meredith didn't answer in any way to his teas and Derek noticed that. He realized something was going on with Meredith just then, as she hadn't turned to look at him once since he came home.
He had had the feeling that Meredith avoided him a couple of times that day, but he believed it was because of the hectic day they had had in the emergency room. The tone of her voice and her cold attitude made Derek believe she had avoided him from a different reason.
"What's wrong?" he asked her. Meredith didn't answer. She threw the spoon in the bowl and poured more flour. "You don't seem in the mood for baking friendly muffins. I'd rather believe that you're baking madly muffins."
"Go tease someone else, Derek. I am not in the mood," she grumbled.
Derek sensed she was in one of her bad moods, so he just grabbed her by the elbow and spun her around.
Meredith glared at him and then, down at his grip. Derek let go of her elbow and took a small step back.
"I still don't understand you," Derek stated, shaking his head.
Meredith shrugged and turned her back on him. "I can't understand you either," she grumbled. "I thought I did, but I was wrong."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, frustrated with her mood.
Meredith pushed the bowl away and turned to him, "It means that I trusted you. I thought I could trust you."
"And you can still trust me!" Derek frowned.
"Really," Meredith laughed sarcastically. "So, are you going to deny that you told Richard about Cristina's secret?"
Derek sighed and looked away; leaning against the sink, as he understood what was all about.
"I told you my best friend's secret and you ran and told it to the Chief!" she scolded.
"Let's not dramatize," he said with calm, though it was obvious in his voice that he wasn't happy with Meredith's reproach.
Meredith shrugged and turned her back on him again, "Of course we shouldn't dramatize. It wasn't you who betrayed your friend's trust."
Derek sighed as he knew she had a point with that. "I am sorry I had to reveal your friend's secret."
Meredith spun around, with a deep glare in her eyes, "You had to?"
"I had to," Derek frowned. "Richard had to see how unfair he was to us. His son is much worse than he thinks I am."
"Things have started calming at work. You had no reason in telling Richard about Cristina and Preston. What? Are you jealous because of them?"
"Admit it. You were at least a little bit jealous," Derek said. "You had to be when you saw your friend scrubbing to most of his surgeries, while you couldn't get any closer to the neurology."
Meredith was quiet for a brief second, which showed Derek he was right about that. "She's my best friend, Derek. This is why I decided to keep the secret. That's what friendship is about."
"Meredith," he softened his voice, trying to loose the tension between them. "I had to make sure it wouldn't repeat again."
"I am sure it won't," she retorted. "You warned him you would talk to the board if he had continued." She got quiet and took a deep breath. "I am not mad because Cristina is not talking to me. At some point she will forgive me. It pisses me off the fact that she's mad of me because of you and because … I thought I could share any secret with you."
Derek made a few steps and closed the space between them as he pulled her by her waist into his arms. "I am sorry," he apologized sincerely.
"That was a serious secret; a big secret," Meredith scolded, though her voice wasn't as tough as before.
Derek let his arms drop off and sighed, "You should stop worrying so much about what Cristina says about us or about me. As you said it, she will forgive you at some point."
"Cristina is my friend; my best friend. She's my person. Of course I care what she thinks about us. I want her to like you."
"I don't want her to like me," Derek disagreed. "It's enough if you like me."
Meredith looked away and didn't reply to that. "Isn't enough if you like me?" Derek asked, almost in disbelief.
"I have friends, Derek, and if you don't get along with them, then… it will be kind of difficult," she said.
"Difficult for whom?" he asked her, already not liking what she was saying.
"Why are we having this conversation anyway?" she frowned.
"Why?" Derek laughed sarcastically. "Because apparently, you've been avoiding me as much as possible today, especially when we could have spent some time alone. Then I come home and find you pouting and baking your so-called friendly muffins. And you're mad of me."
"You shouldn't have revealed Cristina's secret," Meredith just glared, not having other reply for him.
"This is about Cristina, huh?" Derek shook his head disappointedly. "Again. I am sorry I betrayed your trust. I did it for you."
"You shouldn't have," she huffed.
"Let's stop here, because we're going nowhere with this fight," Derek stated. "One advice I have for you; you should stop worrying so much about what your friend Cristina says or thinks about you. You have a husband now and what he thinks and says it's much more important. Besides, are you sure she worth it this fight? You say she will forgive you at some point, but you're not very sure, aren't you?"
Meredith looked at him, not believing she was hearing those words from him. "I met her many years ago and I met you a month ago."
"So, despite the fact that we are husband and wife now and we've been through so much together and we are heading to our second anniversary, you still have more trust in Cristina than you have in me," Derek shook his head.
Meredith folded her arms across her chest and stayed uptight as she looked at him, "You would better not ask me."
Derek stared at her for a moment and then he turned around, shaking his head. He picked his jacket up and headed for the door.
"Are you leaving?" She asked him, being the first time he walked away after a fight.
Derek stopped in the doorway, but he didn't look back at her as he spoke, "My mom is leaving tomorrow, so I rather spend the rest of the evening with her."
Meredith refused to believe he was really walking away so easily. Usually, after each fight they had, they stayed and talked, solving whatever misunderstanding. She believed him when she heard his car driving away from their land.
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Meredith knocked once and waited for someone to come and open the door. She knocked again, louder this time. She heard Izzie's voice and waited for her to greet her.
"Hey," Izzie smiled, surprised to see Meredith. "Come on in," she opened the door wider, inviting her inside the apartment. "Cristina is in kitchen. We're trying to decide what alcohol should knock us out this evening," she giggled.
As Izzie led their way to the kitchen, she also spotted the paper bag Meredith was holding.
"I made muffins," Meredith said and handed them to her. "Friendly muffins."
"Friendly muffins?" Izzie laughed and took the bag out of her hand. "Thanks. I will put them into a basket."
As they stepped into the kitchen, Meredith saw Cristina sitting at the table and closely analyzing three bottles of alcohol. She looked up, a little surprised to see Meredith there.
"I brought friendly muffins," Meredith mumbled and Cristina lifted a brow still wondering. "Husbands suck."
Cristina sighed and nodded. "Boyfriends suck too."
"Alex sucks too," Izzie cut in.
Both, Meredith and Cristina looked at her, obviously expecting for details. Izzie had quickly finished arranging the muffins into a basket and brought it to the table.
Cristina shook her head and pushed the basket aside, "After I get drunk. I am not brave enough right now."
Izzie took a seat across from them and sighed as she picked a muffin, "Alex is a cheating bastard. He is cheating me with a nurse."
Meredith and Cristina shared a knowing look as they knew some bit about that.
"I bet that nurse would say he is cheating on her with a fellow intern," Meredith sighed.
Izzie sighed again and took a mouthful of muffin, "I think I will try some tequila. Men suck and when they suck," she stopped, covering her mouth to let the muffin stay inside. She swallowed and continued, "When they suck, they suck badly and we need something very fast to help us forget them."
"Tequila," was the unanimous choice for all three of them.
Izzie stood up and brought three shot glasses at the table, while Cristina filled them.
"Salt and lime?" Izzie asked them, but both of them shook their heads.
"Stronger sensations," Meredith smirked.
Izzie nodded with a grin, "I am all for stronger sensations."
Meredith and Cristina didn't have any trouble swallowing the whole liquid, but Izzie only took a sip and suddenly her face turned bright red and crumpled in grimace.
"Amateur," Meredith and Cristina laughed at each other.
In her madly hurry of dying the heat off, Izzie put her head inside the refrigerator and looked for a lemon. While Izzie tried to calm down the unpleasant sensation, Meredith and Cristina poured themselves one more shot.
"I'm sorry I told Derek your secret," Meredith muttered down at her glass.
Cristina nodded slowly, also looking down at her glass, "Burke wants us to become official."
Meredith looked at her and frowned apologetically, "I am so sorry."
Cristina shrugged, looking tired. "Burke's girlfriend. How does this sound?"
At that question, Meredith and Cristina started when Izzie choked with the lime slice she was eating. Her eyes were wide opened as she stared at Cristina, shocked. "You and Burke?!"
Cristina looked at Meredith and then at the bottle of tequila as she poured herself one more shot, downing it swiftly.
Izzie returned to the table with lime and salt and took her previous seat across from them. "I don't know anything about people around me," she muttered, filling her glass with tequila.
"You don't know all about them and trust me, that is enough," Meredith stated. "This was one of the reasons why I stayed away from you the first time. You seem that kind of person who likes to know everything about the people's private life."
"But I am not passing it forward," Izzie wanted to point out.
"This means that I can tell you how Meredith met Shepherd the day she arrived in Seattle and the next day they were drunk in Vegas and got married," Cristina spoke so quickly that Meredith didn't have time to understand what she was saying and stop her.
"Cristina," she hissed.
"That's fair now," Cristina pointed out how Meredith herself had revealed her secret to Derek.
Izzie was staring at them in awe, "What planet are you two coming from?"
Meredith burst into laugher, "Exactly! But hey, that's us."
"Wow," Izzie managed to breathe out. "And you two are still married?" she asked Meredith.
Meredith nodded, but then she let out a sigh, "I think it's getting closer to the end."
"A month is a record, considering the circumstances you two got married," Cristina stated.
Meredith didn't like so much the sound of her own words. Sadly she played with her empty glass and her thoughts ran towards Derek. Was her marriage getting closer to the end so soon? She was asking herself regretfully.
"Can you give me something spicy?" Izzie asked Meredith with a mischievous smile.
Meredith had a guess of what Izzie wanted to hear, so she just took the bottle of tequila and filled Izzie's glass. "Spice enough, trust me."
"Oh please," Izzie pled her. "I will tell you about Alex."
"Eww," she made a grimace and shook her head. "I could ask Lexie about him, remember? But I don't need to know about Alex. At all." That reminded her, "Where's Lexie? She still hasn't showed up?"
Izzie and Cristina shook their heads.
"Shouldn't we be worried then?" she asked them and they nodded.
"But not when we're drunk," Cristina answered. "She's a big girl."
"I have a strange feeling about this," Meredith muttered, thoughtful.
"I guess that's the way you feel when you are in the middle of a divorce," Cristina shrugged.
"I am not in the middle of the divorce!" Meredith snapped. "I hope I am not," she added, muttering under her breath.
"You're in love with him," Izzie noticed, smiling sympathetically at her.
Meredith was still refusing to admit it was love. Something there was and it was very strong, she just didn't feel comfortable admitting it was love. "I don't love him," she muttered. "It's just that…" she stopped, not finding the right words.
"You're in love," Izzie gave her finale diagnosis.
"He's bossy and he fishes and he … he likes old movies and he… he is communicative and… and he has… a horrible morning breath. I am not in love with him. It's just pisses me off that he wants us to know each other very well after such a short time. He wants me to guess his thoughts and he wants to guess mine. My thoughts are my thoughts. My thoughts are private and… and I want him to like my friends because I like my friends, right?" Meredith looked at Izzie and Cristina, not really expecting an answer to her ramble as she went on, "One time I told him a secret and he passed it forward. That's not fair. He thinks he is more valuable to me than my friends are."
"And he's not?" Izzie asked her and this time, she looked serious as she asked that.
Meredith stared at her for a moment, puzzled. "I've started getting used to him lately," she answered quietly, indirectly answering to Izzie's question. "He cooks and cleans and he let me drive his new Lexus sometimes and… he kisses me a lot and…" and she stopped there, sighing as she felt overwhelmed by the feeling that her own words had filled her chest with. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice the stares of her friends. "Husbands suck," she concluded quietly.
"It's sad when you can't keep a man like Dr. McDreamy," Izzie sighed.
"Are you calling my husband Dr. McDreamy?" Meredith glared at her.
Izzie looked a little confused as she didn't know why Meredith looked disturbed by that.
"He's still my husband," Meredith frowned.
Izzie giggled and downed another straight shot of tequila, "Men don't deserve our jealousy," she nodded, already tipsy.
"Exactly," Cristina agreed. "If it weren't for their things, they would be entirely worthless."
"Alex's thing is worthless itself," Izzie grumbled with sadness and then she tipsily giggled.
"Derek's thing is … decent," Meredith stated. "I am not complaining. It's decent and well maneuvered so… he's not entirely worthless."
"Burke's thing is amazing," Cristina sighed loudly.
All three of them fell in a depressing silence and sulked, each with her thoughts. They stirred out of the trance when they heard the door opening. Shortly Lexie walked into the kitchen with a wide smile plastered on her face.
"I know," she said, holding up her hand when Meredith wanted to stand up. "I should have called." She threw her purse and her jacket on the counter and came at the table. "What's with these faces?"
"Alex is cheating on me. Meredith and Derek are close to the divorce," Izzie started relating.
"What?" Lexie looked shocked at her cousin.
"And Cristina is Burke's girlfriend," Izzie continued, without even noticing the interruption.
"You are?" Lexie looked at Cristina then, with the same shock. "I was gone only 2 days."
"Which brings up the question, where the hell have you been?" Meredith scolded.
"Meredith," Lexie pulled a chair next to her cousin and couldn't stop from smiling. "You would not believe what I did. I don't believe what I did."
"You did or you have done?" Meredith asked suspiciously.
"Did and… maybe done?" Lexie giggled. "I had the most crazy and amazing two days ever."
"Let me guess," Cristina cut in, "It has something to do with a man's thing."
"Man's things?" Lexie asked, confused. "Oh, I get it," she started laughing. "You're all drunk because of the boy problems. Aww, that's sweet."
"Can I kill her right now?" Cristina asked Meredith. "I promise I will do it quickly and she won't feel any pain. Or I could just give her one of your friendly muffins if you want to see her suffering."
"My muffins are very friendly and very delicious," Meredith frowned.
"I ate one and I am still alive," Izzie nodded.
"You're drunk," Cristina pointed out.
"Lexie," Meredith turned to her cousin ready to lecture her, but in that moment her phone started ringing. She took out her phone and discreetly smiled when she saw Derek's number. In that moment, she forgot about everything else. She stood up and walked out of the kitchen without paying any attention to the others.
"What is it?" she answered, trying to sound still mad of him, though she was happy he called.
"Where are you?" Derek didn't sound very cheerful either.
Meredith was a little confused. How did Derek know she wasn't at the trailer? "Why?" she asked.
"I just arrived home and you're not here. Where are you?" he demanded.
Meredith felt somewhat guilty in that moment as she wasn't there when Derek had probably returned to apologize or talk about the fight they had had. "What are you doing home?"
"Mark showed up and mom started lecturing him, so I will see her in the morning when I drive her to the airport. Now can you answer to my question?" Derek insisted.
"I am with Cristina, Lexie and Izzie," she answered. "I wasn't going to spend my evening alone while you were with your mother."
Derek sighed and stopped arguing, knowing she was right. "Make sure you don't get too drunk. I don't want to find out later that you have a second husband."
Meredith couldn't hold back the giggle. "I will see you tomorrow?" it was rather a question than a statement.
"Of course," Derek answered softly. "I guess I will be sleeping alone tonight."
"You'd better," she giggled.
"Have fun,"
"I will," she smiled. "Good night, Derek."
"Good night, Meredith."
Meredith closed her phone and smiled with relief. After a couple of shots of tequila, she wasn't even drunk anymore. Maybe her marriage wasn't close to the end, yet.