Thirty-Six

Crap! Meredith had left that medical journal at Cristina's. She needed it for a surgery tomorrow. Bailey would kill her if she was not prepared. Piling all of her stuff back into her locker, Meredith grabbed her car keys. A quick stop at Cristina's and then she could go home and study. That was the plan. The drive over there was quick. There had barely been any traffic.

She waved hello to the doorman before taking the elevator up. Fumbling with her purse, Meredith searched for her key. Attaching that key to her key chain would have been smart. After nearly two minutes of searching, Meredith found the key. It had been tucked into one of those zippered compartments in her purse that she never looked at or used. The door opened easily, quietly and Meredith looked down at her purse, trying to find a new place to put it where she would remember. Then she looked up.

Oh my god.

Burke and Cristina were kissing on the couch. Of my freakin' god. There were medical journals and textbooks spread around them. Study sessions, huh Cristina? Meredith started to slowly back away, desperately attempting to be completely silent. They had not even noticed her which really was not that surprising considering how much they were going at it. She heard Cristina moan and practically jumped out of her skin. This was weird and wrong. Meredith had to get out of here. They suddenly pulled apart, gasping. Oh shit, she was screwed now.

Burke leaned his forehead against Cristina, his eyes still closed. "I never stopped loving you."

Meredith stood transfixed. It was just so sweet.

Cristina let out a long sigh. "I know." She kissed him. Meredith fled from the apartment.

She must have pressed the down button on the elevator a million times before the doors finally opened. Thank god, it was empty because Meredith was not sure how she would react with people. Still reeling from what she had seen, Meredith stumbled out the elevator and past the doorman into the sidewalk. Outside she ran into Derek of all people. He looked like he had been jogging.

" Meredith, hey…you alright?"

"No…I mean yes…I don't know. I just saw Cristina and Burke at her apartment. Full-on kissing. Actually I really should say making out because that much kissing and general touching should totally qualify as making out."

"Seriously?" That was all he could say, seriously?

"Of course I'm being serious. Why would I lie about Burke and Cristina kissing when I saw it with my own eyes?"

"No, I believe you. I just can't believe you saw them kissing. Again, it's the third damn time Meredith."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You got to see the arm grab, the kiss on the cheek, and now the making out!" He was counting each of the events on his fingers.

"Do I look celebratory to you? I just saw my person making out with her ex-fiancé who I'm assuming is her boyfriend now. It's not exactly a Kodak whatever."

"But it's not fair! You get to see everything, everything." He was whining.

"I don't want to see everything. I like being told things. That's what Tuesday nights at Joe's are for. Cristina can come up to me and say Hey Meredith, guess what I did yesterday? I kissed Burke on the couch in my apartment. That's all I need. I'm good with that. I'm happy with that."

"You sound hysterical."

"You'd be hysterical too, if you saw them all tangled together on the couch and if you heard the moans and all the other crap. Don't judge me and hysterics."

"Moans, how long were you there?"

"A minute or two, I don't know. I was looking for my medical journal and dammit I didn't even get it. Burke distracted me with his words and the sweetness and the you know mushy couple crap."

"What did he say?" How could Derek be so calm?

"He said he never stopped loving her, why do you care?"

Derek sighed one of those the-entire-world-is-against-me sighs. "Has everyone forgotten that I started this entire thing, that I was the first to try to get them back together?"

And there was the ego. "Whatever. They're very clearly together."

He clapped. "Thanks for mentioning that, Meredith. Honestly, I really had no idea about what was going on."

"Well, you haven't seen anything. Maybe you'll get lucky and walk in on them when they're having sex or something. God I hope I don't walk in on that."

"Wait, what did she say?"

"Who?"

" Cristina." Oh right, her person who had been making out on the couch. Right.

"She said I know."

"She didn't say it back?" He frowned.

"No, but she's Cristina."

"Of course." Derek paused. "That makes sense." He sounded doubtful.

"It's fine. She loves him. If she didn't I wouldn't have let you do what you did."

Derek finally smiled. "It's really working isn't it?"

"Yeah it is. Don't start gloating."