Chapter 26 – Forget about the others
"Seriously! What's going on with Lexie?" Meredith asked her fellow interns as the rounds ended and each of them were ready to go to their assignments.
Izzie had the hairgrip in her mouth, but as she gathered her hair in a bum and freed her lips she answered, "The last time I saw her, she was by her locker reading from a paper. She seemed to turn pale and then she ran out of the locker room."
"I noticed that too, but what was with that paper?" Meredith questioned, confused.
"Let her be," Cristina groaned at Meredith's worry. "She's a big girl. She has a life."
"I have a bad feeling," Meredith muttered.
Cristina stopped suddenly and looked at Meredith, "Are you sure you're not pregnant?"
Meredith was taken off guard by the question. "I am on pills," she muttered.
"Your hormonal level seemed to have gone off," Cristina shrugged and kept walking as she turned around.
Meredith stayed frozen, staring after Cristina with a shocked face. Izzie patted her on the shoulder as she passed past her, "Maybe you have real reasons for the bad feeling."
Meredith sighed exhaustingly. She wished she could stop worry about Lexie.
"Hey," Derek's voice startled her when he whispered in her ear.
She looked up at him and met his smile, "Hey."
"Something wrong?" he asked her, narrowing his eyes as the frown of her worry was still on her forehead.
Meredith shrugged, "Maybe I am just pregnant."
Derek stared at her, eyes wide opened, not knowing what to believe.
Meredith hadn't paid too much attention to her statement; she became aware of it only when she read Derek's shock, "Oh," she giggled and shook her head. "I am not … pregnant. It's just… I was saying. Cristina said it, actually. Never mind," she rambled. "Has your mom left?" she asked, changing the subject.
Derek still looked at her, confused with her previous statement. He slowly nodded and took off his mind from her words, "Their plane took off half an hour ago. She sends you a hug," he smiled and wrapped her into his arms. He loosened his arms for a brief moment and then he hugged her again, "And this is from me," he smiled at her as he broke the embrace and took her hand. "Come with me."
Meredith followed him without any comment and Derek led her into the nearest on-call room. "Derek," Meredith scolded when she saw him locking the door.
"Just for more privacy," he reassured her. "We won't do anything against your will," he chuckled. "Come back here," he said, pulling her back into his arms and softly kissing her lips.
Meredith relaxed in his arms and kissed him back. She pulled back from his arms and took a plastic bag out of her lab's pocket, "I saved a friendly muffin for you."
Derek looked reluctantly at her muffin.
"Just try it," Meredith giggled. "I promise it won't hurt you."
Derek smiled at her with a knowing look, "I was sick for days the last time you cooked."
Meredith rolled her eyes, "You were sick only for a day."
"Two days," Derek disagreed. "And more than one day counts as days, several days."
"Derek," Meredith giggled and stuffed the bag in his hand. "Just a small bite."
"If I die from this small bite…" Derek warned her while he took the muffin out.
"I will inherit the land, the trailer and probably all your money," she smiled mockingly.
Derek sighed with fake relief, "I feel safer now," he took a deep breath and took the tiniest bite possible from Meredith's friendly muffin.
"You can't feel its taste this way," Meredith groaned.
Derek chewed for seconds the small piece of muffin and in the end, he looked impressed, "It doesn't have any unfamiliar taste."
Meredith just rolled her eyes smiling, while Derek ate the whole muffin at once.
"Who made this?" he asked her.
"I did," she frowned.
Derek smiled, disagreeing, "I promise I won't tell and I even promise I will teach you how to cook."
"Derek," Meredith whimpered. "I made these muffins and if you don't believe me, I can prove it to you anytime."
"Really?" Derek had been honest at first when he didn't believe her, but now seeing the hurt on her face, he was leaning to believe her.
"Forget about it," Meredith gave up.
Derek pulled her back into his arms and gently brushed the back of his hand against her cheek, "I missed you last night."
"I missed you too," Meredith smiled.
Derek chuckled and shook his head, disagreeing, "I bet you were too drunk to miss me."
Meredith bit her lip and giggled, "I missed you when I wasn't drunk."
"That sounds comforting," he laughed and, taking her hand, led her to the bed. "So where are we standing now?"
"Into an on-call room," she answered, though she knew what he really meant with that question. Derek looked at her, waiting. Meredith sighed and looked down at her hands as she started playing with them, "I have my friends, you have your friends, either we like them or not."
Derek put his hand over hers and scooted closer to her, "Again. I am sorry I didn't keep your secret."
Meredith didn't reply to that and she kept looking down at their hands, now watching their wedding rings.
"Burke came yesterday to me and he sounded … sarcastic when he said that I smoothed my path in the race for the Chief of Surgery by marrying to Ellis' Grey daughter. That disturbed me and… I went and told Richard about him and his intern," Derek stated.
Meredith looked at him with disbelief.
"I know. I said I was sorry," he said.
"No," Meredith shook her head. "That is childish. It's like going to your teacher and telling her that Burke has louses so that he won't go on the trip your mom doesn't let you go."
Derek listened to her example and burst into laugher, "Great imagination."
Meredith glared at his amusement.
"I know," he admitted.
"Now Cristina is pissed off because Burke wants to make their relationship official," Meredith sighed.
"But she forgave you, right?" he asked.
"Yes, but she hasn't forgiven you yet," Meredith pointed out.
"I don't want her to forgive me. Ever," he answered.
"Derek," Meredith sighed. "You need to like each other at least a little bit."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to be your mommy when you two get into a fight," she said.
Derek chuckled and winked at her, "That wouldn't be bad. You could spank me as punishment."
"Derek, be serious," Meredith laughed.
Derek wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his arms, "Do you have any trust in me?"
"I shared my best friend's secret with you," she pointed out.
Derek smiled and rested his cheek against her head, "Is there any trust left after that?"
Meredith looked up at him and smiled, "I kissed a girl," she confessed.
Derek looked at her, confused.
"On the lips," she added. "And tongue."
Derek slowly nodded, looking at her and still not completely understanding if she was serious or just joking.
"It was a very long time ago and I was drunk," she said.
Derek kept nodding slowly, "Obviously. Just tell me it wasn't Cristina you kissed."
Meredith laughed and shook her head, "It wasn't her."
"So this is another secret you share with me and Cristina?" he asked her.
Meredith shook her head, "Only with you."
"Impressive," Derek chuckled. "Not the secret itself. The fact that you shared it with me only is impressive."
"Thank you," Meredith giggled. "Share one of your secrets with me," she grinned at him. "But don't tell me about the guy you kissed."
"I didn't kiss any guy," Derek laughed.
"Ok, then share a secret with me," Meredith smiled.
Derek sighed and thought about a secret to tell her about. "Ok but this is a big secret," he warned her. "I hope you won't use it as revenge."
"I promise," she held her hand up and made the cross over her chest with the other one.
"None includes Cristina too," he said.
"Absolutely," she nodded.
"I won't be just pissed with you if you tell anyone," he kept warning her.
"Just tell it already," she urged him impatiently, like a child in a candy shop.
"I had sex," he blared out.
Meredith kept looking at him, waiting, but Derek didn't seem to have anything else to add. "Derek, you still have sex. At least that's how I call the thing we do together."
Derek closed his eyes, smiling as he added, "With myself." He opened his eyes and saw Meredith staring at him expressionless.
Slowly a smile crept on her lips and grew bigger, forcing Meredith to bit her lip not to burst into laughter, "Ok." She nodded, smiling. "But…" she added and let out a short chuckle, "I am not sure if this can count as secret."
"Why not?" he asked, confused.
Meredith bit her lip again to hold back the laughter, "Are you sure that none suspected you of having sex… with yourself, from time to time?"
Derek didn't like the sound of that question. "I told you a secret and you'd better not tell it to anyone."
Meredith laughed and jumped onto his lap, mounting him, "Was it good?"
"Stop now," Derek chuckled, carefully pulling her closer to him.
"Is it better with me?" she kept teasing him, seductively holding his face in her hands, brushing her lips against his.
Derek moaned and gripped on her waist as he felt himself growing hard, "Much better."
Meredith pulled back and smiled cheekily at him, "So, you're enjoying yourself more with me than with yourself."
"Ugh," Derek groaned. "You're so painful sometimes."
Meredith laughed and crashed her lips against his, "Just porny," she stated.
Derek pushed the lab coat off her shoulders and the next second, he threw her onto the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt.
Both of them had started breathing evenly again when Meredith's pager went off. She jumped upright and started fumbling through their scattered clothes after her pager.
"Shit," she cursed under her breath as she read the message. "I completely forgot about Bailey's lab tests," she whimpered, stumbling over her clothes.
"That's irresponsible, Meredith," Derek said as he stood up and calmer, started dressing himself.
Meredith stopped and automatically turned to him, glare, "Are you serious?"
"Of course, I am serious," he replied. "We're in a hospital, working as doctors after we vowed we would use our knowledge in the benefit of humanity. You can't drag your attending into an on-call room and distract him."
Meredith was about to burst, when Derek chuckled and pulled her into his arms, "I am weak man."
Meredith giggled and nodded, "Obviously."
"Get dressed now and go," Derek urged her, reluctantly letting her go off his arms. "Will I see you for lunch later?"
Meredith startled when she heard her pager again and saw Bailey's message. She threw the scrubs back on her and gathered her hair as she walked to the door.
"So, lunch?" Derek asked again.
"If I have time and Bailey doesn't kill me," she sighed. "This should never repeat," she said in a serious manner.
"Absolutely," he smiled knowingly.
"Do I look like after sex?" she asked him, turning towards him so that he could see her better.
Derek held the lust on his face as he scanned her from toe to head, "Yes, because I am an incredible man," he laughed.
"What?" Meredith frowned and quickly her hands started running through her hair, face, smoothing the scrubs.
"You look professional enough," Derek reassured her with a chuckle. "Go now. I will come out later."
Meredith nodded and took a deep breath as she turned to the door. She walked outside casually, acting as if she was checking her phone, and just glanced around her. No one seemed to have noticed her coming out of an on-call room shortly after she had started her shift.
Discreetly she sighed with relief and started sprinting towards the elevators, hurrying to answer to Bailey's calls. Raising suspicions about her extra-activities during her shift was much easier now that everyone knew about her marriage to Derek.
"Meredith!" she stopped when she heard Lexie calling after her. Lexie ran to her and both walked into the elevator.
"Hey," she greeted her cousin with suspicious. "You're late," she muttered, carefully trying to read the panicked smile from Lexie's face.
"I know," Lexie answered quietly. Her smile faded and she looked like she was in great pain. "Meredith, I think I need help."
Meredith sighed and shook her head disapprovingly. "I knew something was up with you. I asked you several times what was wrong and you kept reassuring me. Right now I am trying to save my intern butt, so I don't have time. Will I find you alive later?"
Lexie swallowed a lump and nodded.
"Great. Find me later and you'd better tell me everything then," Meredith stated. The elevator stopped and Meredith stepped outside, heading for the laboratory.
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Meredith hugged the doorframe as she showed up breathlessly in Derek's office. "You paged me?" she asked him, panting.
"You'd better not coming from an on-call room," he chuckled from behind his desk.
Meredith rolled her eyes and walked inside, "Can you just tell me what you want? I am starving."
Derek grinned at her as he put on the desk two paper bags, "Lunch time."
Meredith smiled and shook her head, "Thank you, but shouldn't we go to the cafeteria?"
Derek checked his watched as he said, "It's passed 4 pm and with that train collision from the ER nobody had time for food until now."
"Derek, I can't have lunch in your office," she said.
"And why is that?" Derek frowned. "I thought we weren't hiding anymore."
"And we're not, but we agreed not to be husband and wife inside the hospital," she answered.
Derek chuckled and shook his head, disagreeing, "We kind of were this morning in the on-call room."
"Hey," she shushed at him and looked outside on the hallway to see if anyone had overhead him.
Derek laughed and stood up, "We can close the blinds," he said, coming beside her.
"That would betray us even more," she hissed, slapping his hand when he wanted to close the blinds. "Derek, some people might not like the fact that I am having lunch in your office and by some people, I think you know who I'm talking about."
Derek rolled his eyes and groaned with annoyance. He returned to his desk only to take the paper bags and then he walked outside, without a single word to Meredith.
Meredith watched him sliding down against the hall and putting the bags beside him, "Is this a proper place?" he asked, not looking at her as he took out a coffee cup.
Meredith giggled and sat down next to him. Derek shared the food and the drinks and both smiled at each stare of the fellow staff.
"This is more obvious than the on-call sex," he whispered in her ear and laughed.
"As long as the Chief lets me learn something," she shrugged. "I don't really care about the others."
"That's very… mature of you," Derek stated, impressed.
"See? I am growing," she smirked at him, laughing.
"Small, but safe steps," he agreed. "What's going on with Lexie?" Derek asked, watching into a direction.
Meredith followed his gaze and saw Lexie slowly walking towards them.
"She looks panicked," Derek stated and looked at Meredith as if waiting for an answer.
Meredith was sure now that something was wrong with her. She shrugged and waited for her to approach them.
"Dr. Shepherd," she faintly smiled down at Derek before she glanced at her cousin. "Is this a good time to talk?" she asked her shyly.
Meredith sighed and nodded. "Thanks for the lunch," she smiled at Derek as she stood up, taking her sandwich and her coffee.
"We'll talk later," he smiled and watched them leaving, worried.
While they headed towards an on-call room, Meredith had the feeling she was walking with a ghost beside her. Lexie didn't look like she was breathing anymore and her face was straight and her look blank.
Lexie walked inside first and held the door open for Meredith to get in as well. She closed the door and locked it before she went and sat down on a bed.
Meredith stared at her for several moments and noticed something, "What's in that folder? Did you have it with you this morning too?" she asked her, looking at yellow folder from Lexie's lap.
In all this time, Lexie kept her eyes down. As her cousin asked her about the folder, she just glanced up and nodded.
Meredith waited for her to start explaining; because there was definitely something to explain.
"I assisted to a leg amputation," she said matter-of-factly.
Lexie faintly smiled at her and nodded, "I am on charts. Dr. Heron says I am not carrying a bright, optimistic spirit with me today."
"And I agree with her," Meredith answered. "What is it?"
Lexie swallowed a lump before she glanced up at Meredith again, "How well do you know Spanish?" she asked her.
Meredith was confused with the question. "I am not great, but I think I can say 'hi'. Why?"
Lexie took a deep breath and pulled a paper out of the folder. She stared at it for a moment and then she held it up to Meredith.
Meredith quickly took the paper, carefully watching Lexie, and then she drew her attention over the paper. She could not believe her eyes as she read the big letters.
"Does…" Lexie chocked and cleared her throat before she could speak again. "Does this mean that I won to lottery?" she asked with trembling voice.
Meredith shook her head in disbelief, unable to tear her eyes from the paper, "If a marriage license can be considered a lottery prize…" she muttered.
Slowly she rose her look from the paper and looked into her cousin's tearing eyes, "What have you done?" she asked quietly.
Lexie swallowed back the tears and her eyes fell over her shoes, "Something stupid?"
"Lexie," Meredith groaned. She came and sat down on the bed beside her cousin. "What have you done?" she asked her again.
Lexie stood quiet, still staring at her shoes.
"What is this, Lexie?" Meredith asked her, softer than she really felt in that moment.
"What do I do now?" she desperately asked, looking at Meredith.
Meredith stared at her, unable to wrap her mind around what she had just found out. She could not understand how that was possible. "Is it Alex?" she snapped then and looked down at the paper.
It couldn't be Alex she understood as Alex had been at work the days she missed. Her eyes wandered all over the paper until they locked on the name.
"Mark Sloan," she read quietly. "Derek's Mark Sloan?" she blared out.
Lexie swallowed a lump and slowly nodded her head. "Do you think it's real?"
Meredith stared at her in disbelief. "You're asking me if this is real. What the hell is this in the first place?"
"Marriage license as you said," she answered quietly.
Meredith closed her eyes and tightened her jaw, suppressing a groan. "Tell me everything. How everything started."
Lexie was quiet for a few moments, staring at her hands. "I met him at Joe's one night after work. We talked and drank and when he found out my last name, he asked me if I was related to Meredith Grey, and I said yes and then he said he was Derek's best friend. And we laughed then. And then… then we drank more and we laughed… more. And… we got tired. And horny, so… we went to his hotel room and we… had sex. Amazing sex I should mention."
"No, you shouldn't," Meredith cut her off.
Lexie glanced at her and flashed a smile, "The next morning – because I slept over- we… talked. About you and Derek. And your marriage. He asked me what was the craziest thing I had done and I had nothing to tell him, so he started laughing at me. Then… he asked me if…" she stopped there as she couldn't find the gut to continue.
"If you want to go to Mexico and get married, right?" Meredith asked.
"No," Lexie quickly wanted to clear that out. "He wanted us to go on a short trip. Somewhere exotic."
Meredith laughed bitterly. "That's exactly what Derek asked me the day we met. You should have learned something from my mistakes. Going on a vacation with a stranger can't lead to something good. No sane person does that."
"You've done it," Lexie frowned.
"I never pretended to be a sane person," she said. "Besides, Derek is different from Mark. And we went to Vegas to get married. We didn't cross the border."
"Meredith, I swear I had no intention in getting married. The day we got there it was so beautiful. The beach, the water, everything was like… heaven. I even had sex on the beach."
"Aww. So we're excited about the sex on the beach now," Meredith retorted sarcastically. "I thought I was stupid the day I went with Derek in that trip, but you are stupider than me."
"Now there's no need for you to offend me," Lexie retorted.
"Should I congratulate you instead?" she asked sarcastically.
Lexie looked down with tears in her eyes, "We're cousins. We're more than cousins."
"You were very supportive to me the day you found about me and Derek. Do you remember that?"
"Is this a pay back then?" Lexie asked her.
"No. I didn't send you to Mexico to get married. I didn't wish for you to do it. I told you not to follow my example and do my shits," Meredith retorted.
"Ok. Ok," Lexie jumped up on her feet, bursting into tears. "You're right. I shouldn't have gone with him in the first place, but now it's too late. What do I do? Please, Mer," she knelt in front of Meredith, pleading.
Her anger slowly melted and started feeling bad for her cousin. Meredith took her hands and shrugged. She barely knew what to do with her marriage.
"Does Sloan know?" she asked Lexie.
Lexie wiped her cheeks and shrugged, "When we were sober, he didn't mention anything about it."
"Did he look like he knew something? I mean, did he seem changed from the first day you met him?" Meredith asked.
Lexie shook her head. "I don't think he knows either what've done that day… or night. Mer, what do I do now? Is it even legal?"
Meredith sighed and shrugged clueless. "How should I know? I guess that you have to talk to him now and… let him know." Then she stopped as a thought struck her.
"What is it?" Lexie asked, panicked, when she saw the change in Meredith's expression.
"Did you use protection? You'd better not be pregnant," Meredith told her. That had been one of her fears as well in her first days as Mrs. Shepherd.
"We used. Of course, we used," Lexie nodded convincingly.
"Good," Meredith sighed with relief. "Then call him and tell him what you found out."
"But I think he left back to New York,"
"He did," Meredith nodded. "He left this morning with Derek's mother. I will ask Derek for his phone number."
"Can't you or Derek call him and let him know?" Lexie asked, hopeful.
Meredith lifted a brow, skeptical, "I don't think so. It's your crap, deal with it. As I deal with mine."
"But, Mer, you already have experience. I don't know what to say to him or what should I do now."
Lexie's eyes started brimming with tears again as she looked at her cousin pleadingly.
"We'll figure this out," Meredith sighed. In that moment, her pager went off as well. "Great lunch," she muttered under her breath as she checked the message. "I have to go now," she said, standing up. "Just… stay away from men. And women too. Just go… sit alone and that's it."
Lexie nodded and stayed in the on-call room, watching Meredith leaving.
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Derek got out of his car and sighed as he looked at the trailer's lighted windows. Meredith had avoided him the rest of the day and left from the hospital before him. Again. This time he didn't know what he was being blamed for, but he was sure she was up for a fight. Again.
This time, he didn't find her baking friendly muffins. She was lying on the bed, reading a book.
"Hi," he wanted to make sure if she was in a mad mood for real.
"Hey," she muttered, not looking up from the book.
Derek sighed and convinced himself; she was pissed and, though he didn't know why, he had something to do with it.
"What did I do this time?" he asked, throwing his briefcase on the bed, beside her.
Meredith pushed the briefcase away and stood up. She looked up at him with a glare, "What is with you and your friend? Did you make a bet, a contest?"
"What are you talking about?" Derek asked, completely clueless. "And please just tell me what I am guilty for because I really don't think I am in the mood to stand your mysterious attitude.
"Lexie and Mark got married," she said, propping a hand on her hip.
Derek stared at her, dumbfounded. She was joking. She was definitely joking. She wasn't in a bad mood and she was just making fun of him. Though it didn't seem very amusing, Derek burst into laughter. He stopped right away as he saw that Meredith wasn't giving up on her uptight face.
"Lexie and Mark got married?" he asked, still clueless. "Who are Lexie and Mark?"
"Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan," Meredith answered.
Derek still could not believe it. "Meredith, this doesn't sound like a good joke."
Meredith grabbed a paper from the nightstand and threw it into his hands. Derek looked at her before he looked down at the paper. "It's in Spanish," he muttered. "And there's Mark's name," he added as he read more. "What is this?" he asked her.
"That's exactly what I am asking you?" she retorted.
"How in the world should I know what is this? Do you see my name written on this paper?" he burst out nervously.
"What kind of people you two are? Is this a hobby? A bet or a contest? What the hell is it?" she shouted.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" he shouted back.
"This…" she said, slapping the paper from his hand, "is the same scenario as ours. They met at Joe's and went for an exotic vacation. To Mexico!"
"Our marriage was an accident. Accidents happen out of nowhere. Our marriage wasn't deliberate. If they did the same, then it means that they are the most idiot people from the history of humanity. I don't see any reason why are you yelling at me right now," he blared out. "What this has to do with us and especially with me?"
"He is your friend," she retorted.
"So?"
"So I kind of find it hard to believe that they can be this stupid. No one besides us can do something like this deliberately."
"Apparently, some people are this stupid, besides us. I can see what you're trying to do," he said, lowering his voice. "You always find a reason for us to fight. You find reasons in any insignificant thing."
"This is not an insignificant thing," she said, pointing to the paper.
"It is," he answered with calm. "It is, because I don't know anything about this and because I have nothing to do with Mark's acts. You're looking for a way to walk out of this marriage," he concluded sadly. "Fine. Let's just end it now. Spare us of other fights."
Meredith stared at him and could not believe what he was saying. She had doubts at first but then his explanations seemed reasonable. Derek was an honorable man, who couldn't get in a bet or a contest or whatever she thought he and his friend had done.
"You can keep the land," she said quietly. He knew better, so if he said it was time for them to end the marriage, then he was right.
"You can keep the trailer," he replied quietly, almost stunned seeing her giving up so easily. "I hope you don't mind if I use the porch tonight."
"What for?" she asked, confused.
"I am too tired to drive to a hotel," he answered, shaking his head disappointedly.
Meredith sighed and sat down on the bed, staring down at the floor. Both of them fell into an uncomfortable silence. Derek finally made a move as he took his jacket and walked outside.
As he stepped outside on the porch, Derek looked up at the sky; he could not believe what he was living in that moment was real. Everything ended so sudden. He ran to his car and took out of the trunk the hammock he hadn't had the opportunity to use yet. He unwrapped it and tied it on two pylons of the porch, the strongest ones. He lay down in it and watched the rain, which was spraying cold on his left side; he didn't feel that as he stared blankly at the wooden roof.
Derek heard the door opening and saw the light reflecting on his body. A blanket landed on his stomach and he listened to Meredith's quiet breath as she stayed in the doorway.
"What should I do with the trailer if you keep the land? Fly with it and settle into a tree?" she asked.
The question was meant to be sarcastic, but Derek could hear the amusement in her voice as she put it. He looked at her and saw her smiling shyly.
She drew in more air and looked away as she walked over to his hammock. "I am trying to do that when we fight," she said quietly, still looking away. "We fight because… I don't know why. Maybe because we always make up after."
Derek half-rolled into the hammock and made a little room for her. She smiled weakly at him and lay down next to him, while Derek spread the blanket over them.
"I'm sorry I suspected you of something like that," she said quietly, playing with the hem of the blanket.
Derek slid an arm under her neck and started playing with her hair.
"I looked on the internet and… I don't think their marriage is legal," she said.
"I don't think it's legal either," he sighed. "I mean, they went into a foreign country. They must have needed some legal papers from here."
"Do you think they have their own Vegas there?" she asked him.
Derek smiled at her and stroked her cheek. "Do you know what I think? I think we should forget about the others. Care less what they say and think about us. Even Richard. We'll try not to break the rules. Too often," he added with a chuckle. "As for Lexie and Mark, they are grown-ups. Nobody helped us or advised us when we found ourselves married. They think they're married, let them deal with their own stupidity. We have ours, which is handful already."
"Mark doesn't know," she said.
"That's even better. I can call him and congratulate him," he smiled. "We won't say anything to them. Let them figure out themselves if they are married for real or not."
"I feel sorry for Lexie though," Meredith sighed.
"She'll live," he smiled reassuringly and leaned down for a kiss. In that moment, they heard a crack and the next second the hammock collapsed with them.
"Oww," Meredith whimpered as she rolled onto her back.
"Oww me, because you landed on me," Derek winced, rubbing his ribs.
"Is this your way of getting rid of me?" she chuckled between whimpers. "My back is broken."
In pain, Derek laughed and rolled over. He brushed the hair out of her face and kissed her. "I could always bring a friend and have him marry one of your friends if I want to get rid off you."
Meredith giggled and kissed him back. "It's cold outside. You can sleep inside tonight."
"That's so generous of you," he smiled and stumbled up on his feet, helping Meredith as well. "I can't wait to see you flying away with the trailer from my land."
"You can keep your horrible trailer," she giggled.
"So this wasn't our last fight?" he asked her as they walked into the trailer.
"Probably not," she answered.