Chapter 27: McDreamy?

"Do you wan to do something tonight?"

Meredith smirked and shut the car door. He was dressed in scrubs, which meant he hadn't just arrived but had worked for some time, and still walked out to greet her at her car

She couldn't help but feeling slightly flattered. It had been three days since the meeting and Derek had been stalking her ever since. Not because she had been hard to keep track of. She had basically been bee lining between her house and the hospital.

Meredith knew that all the attention would probably fade once he got used to her being there; it was relief, it was new and fresh and would soon bore him – but she couldn't help but enjoy it while it was there.

Derek was there all the time, everywhere she looked; normally she would hate that but in him, she loved it. She couldn't get enough of the hovering.

He was constantly asking her questions, some while claiming to get to know her again, others charming but slightly possessive…

"So…" Derek hinted. Meredith looked up from her charts and smiled into his orbs that would usually smile back. Not now. He looked tense… Anxious.

He'd been asking her so many questions that she felt like she was taking one of those test where you have to answer with the first thing that come to your mind; but this one seemed to cause him a little nervousness.

"So?" Meredith asked, getting nervous, too.

"So…" Derek repeated and looked down. "Areyouseeingsomeone…"

"What?" Meredith asked, not sure what he really said.

"Are- are you seeing someone? You know, are you dating?"

Meredith smiled at him and tried not to let her imagination run too far… Right now it was crowded with images of jealous Derek; only Derek had no reason to be jealous. He saw her as a sister. He felt protective of her. That was it.

"Nope," she answered and giggled at the deep breath he let out. Derek's face was one big grin but it didn't last long.

"What about that O'Malley guy?"

"What about him?" Meredith asked, surprised.

"The kid likes you."

"First of all he's not a kid-" Meredith began.

"Of course not," Derek placated.

"Hey! He's older than me!"

"Yes but he's still a kid…"

"Second," Meredith cut through, "Of course he likes me. He just doesn't like me like me.

"He keeps looking at you," Derek mumbled. "I don't like it."

Did he have to say things like that? Corny things, nice things that made her fall in love with him all over again…?

"Derek," she said and forced him to look at her. "George is gay."

Derek kept quiet for a long moment, slowly processing that piece of information.

"Oh… Oh."

"Exactly," Meredith giggled. Derek seemed relieved.

"Are you sure?" he asked warily. "On a scale from one to gay, how-"

"Gay," Meredith interrupted and smiled at him. "I'm sure."

"Meredith?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, back in reality. They had reached the hospital and got on the crowded elevator.

Derek looked amused at her distracted mind.

"Did you want to do something tonight? I know you're off."

"And just how do you know that?"

Derek just looked at her amused face, no embarrassment in his voice.

"I checked. Yes, I'm now a stalker. Get over it. Are you free?"

A part of Meredith wondered how Addison would feel about that. But after all, she couldn't really make herself care.

"I was planning to meet up with some of my friends at the bar across from the street. You can come."

"Great!" Derek cheered and smiled in the enthusiastic way that made her weak in the knees.

The pair had reached the locker rooms.

"I'll see you later then," Meredith told him. He met her eyes and for a moment; before he covered it up with a dreamy grin, she saw that glimpse in his eyes.

The glimpse he had whenever they parted. The glimpse that told her he didn't trust her, told her he was afraid she was running away again.

And it always managed to break her heart all over again.

It was gone before she knew it. Derek leaned against the door to the locker rooms, the forbidden territory and winked at her.

"I'll see you sooner than you know," he smirked and walked off.

What the hell did he mean by that?

Meredith shook her head and shrugged it off, smiling as she walked to her locker and pulled out a pair of scrubs. Only then did she notice a woman staring openly at her from another locker.

"You're unusually quiet today," she informed Christina as she pulled her sweater over her head.

"Hmm," Christina only muttered and kept looking at Meredith.

Meredith put on her scrub top, flattening it on the front. The silence lasted longer than she expected Christina to bear it and decided to break the tension. Pop the bubble.

"I know what you're thinking," Meredith sighed. Christina held her breath for a second before letting it all out.

"Oh really? What do you know I'm thinking? That you're avoiding? That he's letting you? That you're becoming friends with the man you love again? That the freaking McDreamy comes back into your life and you just ride off into the sunset with him, forgetting that he has a freaking wife? That you'll end up like in pre med? You were a whore in pre med, Mer, a broken whore on tequila!"

Meredith stayed silent, letting her person rant. She wasn't offended; actually she was just a little relieved no one was around to watch the inevitable confrontation.

Neither Christina nor Meredith spoke a word as they stared into each other's eyes. Then…

"McDreamy?" Meredith giggled and Christina's face slowly softened. "There's a name I didn't think of."

"It fits," Christina simply replied. Her face and voice was even milder when she spoke again in a more serious tone.

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

Meredith just looked at her for a few seconds while tying the strings of her scrub pants.

"I won't," she smiled as reassuringly as she could and left Christina, halfway into her street clothes, in the locker room. She stopped with both feet out the door and whirled around. "Oh, and what exactly did you tell the others about me and Derek?"

"Not much, just that you go way back."

Christina slowly pulled her lab coat on and fastened her pager on her pocket. She pulled her hair up in a ponytail, still pondering Meredith's words.

Why was she having such a hard time believing her person?

"Little Grey; you're with Dr. Sloan."

Lexie's eyes widened with excitement.

"O'Malley; Dr. Altman."

"Yang; She-Shepherd is all yours."

A scowl left Christina's mouth.

"Karev; you go with Dr. Torres."

They all scurried off to find their assigned attendings. Dr. Bailey turned to Meredith with a glare. Meredith instantly knew she had done something very wrong to piss off her resident. She scanned through the possible reasons but came up with none. Her behaviour was impeccable. She was early for work, she was wearing clean scrubs with her lab coat and pager, she hadn't made any attending, resident, nurse or patient angry…

The resident couldn't still be mad because of the thing that happened three days ago? She was allowed to take a day off. She had done nothing wrong.

"Dr. Grey," Dr. Bailey said in a sharp tone.

"Dr. Bailey?"

"Looks like you have a special request," Dr. Bailey announced, eyes narrowed.

Meredith couldn't help but smile a wide smile, even though she probably shouldn't do anything to annoy Dr. Bailey further.

"I have?" she simply asked, amusement clear in her voice. Bailey glared at her.

"Look, I don't care if you've been naked in Derek Shepherd's pool your entire childhood; I don't condone favouritism. And this will be the last time I allow you to get special treatment."

"Yes Dr. Bailey," Meredith said, not quite able to hide her smile. "Excuse me."

With a death-glare boring into her neck, she walked off to the coffee vending machine.