The hospital hallways were a ghost town at two in the morning. Meredith hoped that they wouldn't run into anyone. Unless there was a trauma, the residents would all be nestled in their on-call rooms asleep, and the attendings would all be at home. In an ideal world, no one would have to see them creeping through the hallways.

But then there was Jackson Avery.

She was holding tightly onto Derek's arm as they were walking toward an on-call room on the second floor, Room 2B, which she hoped would be empty. It was the on-call room she and Derek had most frequented during her residency days on the nights he would stay late even when he wasn't on-call, just so they could have some time alone.

"What are you two doing here so late?" Jackson asked suspiciously, studying Meredith and Derek, and before Meredith could come up with an excuse, Jackson's eyes widened. "Is that Scotch? You're drunk, Dr. Shepherd."

"Shhh," Meredith hissed. "What are you doing here anyway? Should you be with April riding the carnival?"

"The carnival?" Jackson froze, and Meredith realized he wasn't in on the carnival joke, but it didn't take long for him to get what she was saying. "Oh, the carnival. I would love to be riding the carnival right now with April, but I had a surgery that ran late. I just left the OR now, and I was heading home."

"Then go," Meredith growled, "and not a word to anyone about this, okay?" Jackson laughed, and Meredith shrieked, "This isn't funny!" Derek stumbled over her feet and pushed her against the wall. She just rolled her eyes and didn't even try to escape as her husband's body pressed against hers. His arms were iceberg cold, and her nose crinkled as his alcohol-wreaking breath brushed across her face. Jackson continued to laugh. Meredith clenched her fists together.

"I'm sorry, really I am," Jackson apologized. "It's just, I thought you were the alcoholic, Mer."

She gasped. "Okay, I was never an alcoholic, so let's get that clear real fast."

"You did used to drink a lot," Derek's words slurred as he spoke.

"Okay, you, hush, because you have no room to talk right now. I happen to be completely sober right now." Meredith breathed on her husband's face. "You, on the other hand, are wasted."

"I not wasted," Derek slurred in a high-pitched voice, as if he was three years old again.

"Okay, ZoZo, if you say so. Now, let's get you to bed. It's past your bedtime, Lovebug," she spoke as if she were talking to her three-year-old daughter then grabbed Derek's arm and pulled him toward the on-call room. She reached for the door and pulled it open, soon to be alarmed by what she would see. Leah Murphy's screams bellowed through the doorway and Meredith slammed the door shut, trying to block the images of a naked Leah Murphy and Shane Ross out of her head. "Don't ever ask me what I saw in there," she muttered; Derek's drunk gaze was on her, and his eyes twitched as she pulled him away from the door. She hoped the on-call room on three would be clear.

She knew there was no way Derek would survive the stares, so she dragged his body to the elevator.

The elevator door open, and she guided him in. Once the door closed, he turned toward her and pressed her against the wall. She gasped, his arms enclosed her tightly, and her eyes closed when he pressed his lips against hers. The taste of Scotch tantalized her taste buds. She had never been a Scotch drinker, but she was used to tasting it second-hand from Derek; it generally was his beverage of choice when they went to the bar. He moved his arms down her waist and she gently kissed him back. He broke their kiss and gazed with love into her eyes. Drunk Derek still had a dreaminess about him that was well capable of wooing Meredith. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer. She ran her finger over his face, which was stubbly. He rubbed his face against her cheek, and the stubbles gently scratched her. She pressed her lips against his forehead tenderly.

"Drunk Derek is a horny Derek," Meredith teased, preferring horny drunk Derek over angry drunk Derek.

"Mmm," he murmured and kissed her lips again, grasping her waist tightly and pulling her close to his body, their lips moved moved in rhythm. Meredith's head buzzed in euphoria, savoring the moment alone with her husband, even if he was extremely drunk. She couldn't remember the last time she and Derek had made out in an elevator. It was, after all, the first place they'd made out after their one-night stand. The elevator had always been a special place to them. It had been how Derek had gotten her to talk to him when she was avoiding him after the whole Addison incident. It's where they'd rekindled their relationship. It also happened to be where he proposed to her. This elevator would always be a special part of their relationship.

Derek still had his tongue half-way down her throat when the elevator door opened.

"Well, it's been a long time since I've walked in on you two." Meredith's heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she separated her lips from Derek's and saw Richard Webber entering the elevator. She grabbed Derek's hand and dragged him toward the exit. "If I'd known you were on call tonight, Grey, I would have had you monitor my patient so I could go home."

"I'm not on call!" replied Meredith hastily.

"You don't look so hot, Shepherd. You all right?" Webber's attention refocused to Derek. "Are you drunk? You are drunk. I know drunk when I see drunk. I spent many, many years looking like you do right now."

"Come on, Derek," Meredith insisted, dragging her husband toward the on-call room. His balance was steadier now, but she knew he had no chance of passing a straight-line test if he was asked to do one.

She knocked on the on-call room before opening the door. When there was no answer, she opened the door to, fortunately, find it empty. The second she closed the door, Derek took off his shirt. His eyes focused on her shirtless husband, and she couldn't help but want him. He flew himself at her and pressed his lips against hers. He folded his tongue into hers and a moan escaped her mouth. Her heart rate quickened and her breathing became heavier, then she broke the kiss.

"Derek, you are drunk," she said flatly.

"So?" Derek laughed and folded his fingers into hers; they fit just perfectly.

"And I would hate to take advantage of my drunk husband while I'm completely sober," Meredith insisted, smirking teasingly as she leaned in and kissed his cheek.

"I've taken advantage of you plenty of times when you were drunk and I was perfectly sober," Derek chuckled and pulled her closer to him. and Meredith knew he was right. They never had figured out who had taken advantage of whom on that fateful night they'd met on the bar. "Remember Izzie's party?" Derek whispered in her ear. The party itself was hazy, but Meredith would never forget Miranda Bailey finding her and Derek in his car in her driveway. It was the kind of thing you never forgot. Bailey was the first person to find out she was the intern banging her boss, and Bailey hadn't let her live it down.

Meredith inhaled through her nostrils and shook her head, giggling as she gazed into her husband's dreamy, drunk eyes. She reached over to the door, to make sure it was locked, then wrapped her arms around Derek. "Okay, Dr. Shepherd, let me take advantage of you," she giggled, and he lifted her off the ground and bouncily carried her over to the bed. She lay on top of him and kissed his neck. He moaned as her kisses moved down to his chest and she unbuttoned his pants. His hands playfully worked their way under her shirt and she removed her shirt.

"Wallet," he moaned as she worked his pants off. "Condom."

She felt the huge bulge in his back pant pocket, where his wallet was located. She took it out and opened it to find, just as Derek had said, a condom. Meredith smiled, feeling proud that even when he was drunk, Derek was always thinking of her. She could feel his erection pressing against her leg, and he was fidgeting with her jean button and couldn't seem to get it unbuttoned.

"You are so drunk," she laughed, and she unbuttoned her jeans and slid them off, piling them on top of Derek's jeans.

She positioned herself on top of him as became one. She enjoyed being in control, although she liked when he was in control too. Derek often joked that he liked to be in control in the bedroom since he didn't have control over much else. She insisted that wasn't true. After all, she'd let him build the house on his own with barely any complaints. He told her that didn't count.

Her body bursted with pleasure as she climaxed and collapsed on top of Derek's chest.

"Mmm," Derek whispered. "You should take advantage of me more often."

"Well, I hope you won't make getting drunk without me a habit," Meredith replied, rolling her eyes.

"One of us has to be the sober one to make sensible decisions for the sake of our kids," Derek laughed. "And I'd prefer it be you. You're sexy when you're sober."

"I'm not sexy when I'm drunk?" Meredith asked inquisitively.

"Well, you're sexy when you're drunk too," Derek replied. Meredith rolled her eyes and kissed his forehead. She slowly inhaled through her nose. She had gotten used to the scent of booze on his breath, so it didn't bother her anymore. His skin radiated against hers as positioned herself next to him. He draped his arm across her. She snuggled close to him. They had both set aside the real reason Derek was drunk; the real reason he had been driven to drown his sorrows in alcohol. Although, it was clear Derek hadn't forgotten. She turned toward him and observed the lingering sadness beneath his eyes.

"Your sister will be okay," she whispered. "I have a good feeling that she will be okay."

"I hope you're right," was all Derek said before he closed his eyes. Meredith closed hers too and soon fell into a dreamless sleep.


The notification from her phone woke her before she had the chance to enter REM sleep. She reached over Derek and pulled her phone out of her jean pocket. The light from the phone burned her eyeballs as the words from the text slowly came into focus.

James's room - STAT, she read the message from Stephanie. Her heart pounded against her chest. It wasn't a 911 page, but Meredith had a feeling this couldn't be good. Had James taken a turn for the worse?

"Mmm, what is it, Mer?" Derek groggily mumbled without opening his eyes.

Meredith rolled over top of him and landed her feet on the ground. She dressed herself. "Just go back to sleep, Derek. I'll take care of it."

"Mmm," Derek murmured and didn't protest as Meredith fled the on-call room.

Meredith put on a pair of fresh scrubs and stormed into James's room, where she found Edwards apparently reading a magazine. "What is it?" she asked Stephanie. She looked at James's monitors, noticing they seemed stable. He wasn't crashing. "Is everything okay? Have his STATs slipped?"

Stephanie set down the magazine and walked over to the head of James's bed. "Dr. Grey, you have to see this," she said, taking out a small flashlight. She opened James's eyelids, motioning for Meredith to come over toward her. Meredith watched James's eyes as Stephanie shined the light over James's eyes. "That's a pupillary response, right?" Meredith watched as James's pupils became smaller when the light was hovered over his eyes, something that hadn't happened before; it was the first sign of brain activity. Meredith's heart was racing with anticipation.

"It is," Meredith gasped with complete and total shock. "Oh, my Gosh. Edwards, order a CT and an MRI. We need to run more tests. I think...I think this treatment is working." She looked at the heat lamp that was glowing against James's skin. Had Meredith just saved James's life?

She went with Stephanie to do the scans. She thought of calling Derek, but she imagined that he needed all the sleep he could get to sleep off the hangover he would more than likely have today.

Meredith's mind was boggled when she looked at the scans and compared them to his scans from just twelve hours earlier. The improvement was clearly visible. Characteristical activity in James's brain was clearly present. Further tests indicated that he was minimally conscious, which meant there was hope. The treatment was working.

She and Edwards took James back to his room at eight o'clock. Shit, Meredith realized, looking at her phone. She hadn't called the babysitter to tell her that she'd be back, and the girl had said she had a midterm that morning. Meredith's heart raced.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Stephanie was asking her as Meredith was worrying about her children. She scrolled through her phone and was thankful when she realized she did have Danika's number listed. She sent her a text. Everything okay? Sorry that I didn't get in touch with you. Derek or I will be back to the house soon.

When she didn't get an immediate response, Meredith started to worry.

"Uh, we're going to do nothing for now. The treatment is working, so we're going to keep doing what we're doing, and we're going to monitor him closely. If his parents show back up, we're going to keep them up-to-date on his condition." As far as she knew, the Petersons had found a hotel room. They'd discussed spending the night, but they'd agreed it was too hard to see their son in his current condition. They said they'd be back in the morning.

"Okay, well, I've been on-call for two nights in a row, and I'm exhausted. I was kind of hoping to go home and take a shower and freshen up," Stephanie said.

"Then go," Meredith rolled her eyes. "I'll take care of him." Stephanie darted out of the room.

First, Meredith needed to wake up Derek.

She headed back to the on-call room, where she found Derek still asleep. She shook him by the shoulder. "Derek, wake up," she growled, then shook his head. "Wake the hell up." Derek opened his eyes and looked straight at her. His eyes were red and matted, and she was most definitely certain she was hungover.

"Mer?" he mumbled groggily, rubbing his eyeballs.

"Okay, we dropped the ball again and now I can't get in contact with the babysitter, which means one of us needs to go to the house right now." Derek appeared to only be half-listening to her. He yawned, and Meredith could smell the stench of his body odor in the air. "And judging by the look of you, it's going to me." She squinted. "You can take a shower here."

Derek groaned. "But this is where the smelly interns shower. Mer, I can go home and take care of the kids. I'm fine? See." He slid off the bed and stood parallel to her.

"No, you stay here, and you used to bang a smelly intern every day, and you never complained then. There's nothing wrong with the hospital showers, now I have to go." He leaned over to try to kiss her, but she backed away. "Oh, and brush your teeth too. You do have a toothbrush here, right?"

"Mmm, in my office," he said.

"Great," Meredith said, and she turned around and halted. She remembered what had happened the day before when she'd used Derek's computer. She'd been instructed not to tell her husband. She sighed, "Derek, there's something I have to tell you." She didn't turn around, though. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I love you, and because of that, I won't be able to live with myself if I don't tell you this."

"That doesn't sound good," observed Derek. "Go on."

"You're being spied on," she said flatly.

"What?" Derek instantly questioned.

"You heard me. You're being spied on. The NIH is lying about not being able to see you. They can see you. They're watching your every move," she said.

"Do I want to ask how you know this?" her husband inquired.

"It's a long story, well not that long, but don't undress in front of your webcam," she said and took another step out the door. "Oh, there's one more thing."

"Huh?"

"James's treatment is working," Meredith exhaled slowly. "He needs to be monitored at least every hour. Edwards left because she needed to freshen up. So, once you're cleaned up, do you think you can handle that? I shouldn't be gone longer than three hours." She factored in the amount of time it would take her to drive to the house, get the kids ready, and drive them back to daycare. She wasn't factoring in the amount of time it would take her to bitch out the babysitter for not responding to her text messages.

"Wait," Derek said, and she could feel him walk closer to her. She turned around. "You said the treatment is working?" Her husband's bright blue eyes lit up.

"That's what I said," Meredith said. "It's working. He has a pupillary response, and I did an MRI and a CT. His brain is showing signs of activity, Derek."

Derek's eyes lit up with pride. "Wow, you really are a genius," he smiled widely.

Meredith laughed. "Oh, I know," she winked confidently and left the on-call room.