Miracle of miracles! My computer decided to work again! Yay! Here's that chapter I promised! I hope you like it!
Derek, Meredith, Burke and Christina walked into the conference hall and surveyed the crowd. Surgeons of all shapes and sizes milled around them, chatting, smiling, mingling. Derek wanted to go back to sleep. With Meredith. In his arms. He didn't want to mingle.
Christina and Burke made their way over to the coffee table. Christina had mentioned casually to Meredith that she and Burke hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Meredith hadn't really wanted to think about that.
Meredith and Derek reluctantly began to make their way through the crowd when someone called out behind them. "Derek! Derek from Seattle!"
Derek turned around at the oh so familiar voice. "Sarah!" he said, trying not to grimace. She was nice. She really was, but Derek didn't know if he had the energy.
"Fancy meeting you here!" Sarah exclaimed with a laugh. "So how have you been? How's Seattle? Rainy?" She laughed before turning to Meredith. "You must be the wife! Hi, I'm Sarah! I've heard so much about you."
"Really?" Meredith said.
"Oh yeah," Sarah said. "Derek here could not stop talking about you."
Meredith turned to Derek who was shaking his head, his eyes turned towards the ground. "Really?" she said slowly, smirking at him.
He looked at her. "No," he said.
"Oh stop!" Sarah said. "I think it's cute. He even showed me your sonogram picture."
Meredith smiled to herself. "That I can believe," she said, looking at Sarah.
Derek reached down and took Meredith's hand, holding it firmly within his. He turned back towards Sarah and shrugged. "I guess I'm excited."
Sarah smiled and hit his arm lightly. "Oh who wouldn't be? A baby! That is so exciting! You're bringing new life into the world. That is beautiful."
Meredith stifled a laugh. She reached up and covered her mouth, leaning towards Derek slightly. He squeezed her hand as if to say, I know. "It is beautiful," Derek said as sincerely as he could to Sarah.
Sarah shook her head slightly and looked Derek up and down. Then she turned to Meredith. "Where did you find him?" she asked. "I mean, he is fantastic. Sincere, kind, compassionate…" She leaned towards Meredith as if sharing a secret. "Handsome."
Meredith smiled at her and glanced at Derek from the corner of her eye. "I guess I…just…got…lucky."
"Lucky!" Sarah exclaimed. "That is an understatement. No, Derek here, he's something special."
Derek shook his head. "Not…really."
"Oh shut up," Meredith said, hitting his chest lightly. "Since when were you modest?" She looked at Sarah. "He has one of the biggest egos I have ever seen. I mean if you knew…"
Derek laughed, cutting Meredith off. "I apologize. She's…hormonal."
Sarah laughed. "You guys are great together. You are lucky to have found each other."
"It wasn't easy, let me tell you," Derek said.
"It was really…stressful," Meredith said. "I mean we met at a bar. We were all… And then we both…There was also tequila. A lot of tequila and one thing led to another and we had a supposed one night stand, but you know I show up at work the next day and he's my boss. So my boyfriend's my boss and I fall in love with him and then the wife shows up…and then there was a vet and a prom and here we are!" Meredith shook her head slightly, clearing her thoughts and turned back to Derek and Sarah who were looking at her strangely.
"Well," Sarah said. "That's…interesting."
Meredith laughed. "I ramble," she said by way of explanation.
Sarah shook her head slightly. "You two are something. Really something."
Derek laughed. "Yeah, well…"
"Oh just take a compliment, will ya?" Meredith said.
"I'm not sure that was a compliment," he said with a chuckle.
"Oh it was," Sarah said knowingly. "Believe me it was." Both Meredith and Derek smiled at her. "Anyway! I should be going. It was nice meeting you, Meredith."
"Nice meeting you to," Meredith said, before Sarah made her way back into the crowd. Meredith turned to Derek, a smirk playing across her face. "That was interesting."
"I'll say," Derek said, moving closer to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Do you make it a habit to tell our life story to complete strangers?"
Meredith narrowed her eyes at him. "Shut up. I ramble. And you didn't tell me to stop. That's supposed to be your job."
"I know," Derek said with a smile. "But you're so cute when you ramble."
Meredith smiled slightly as he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. He pulled back slightly at looked into her eyes, before kissing her again, his mouth warm and intoxicating against hers. She pulled back. "We have to stop," she said quietly.
"Why?" Derek said.
"Well for one, we're in the middle of a conference hall," Meredith said, her eyes twinkling. "And when you do that it makes me want to do…things."
Derek's lips curved into a mischievous smile. "Things?" he said.
Meredith smiled. "Things." She glanced up at him. "Naked things."
"Ah," Derek said. "I see." He paused and shook his head at her. "So basically we have to stop because you have no self control."
Meredith glared at him. "Well apparently you don't either, since you just tried to make out with me in public."
"Tried?" Derek said. "I totally succeeded."
"Oh don't flatter yourself," Meredith said.
"No self control."
She smiled up at him and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Maybe I don't," she said, her voice low. She glanced at the ground and then back up at him. She leaned her body into his slowly; she could feel him tense slightly in anticipation. "But neither do you."
And with that she spun on her heel and walked towards the coffee table, leaving Derek slightly dazed in the middle of a milling crowd.
xxx
"Hey," Meredith said, walking over and standing next to Christina by the coffee table.
Christina glanced over at her. "Hey," she said.
"Having fun?" Meredith asked.
Christina guffawed. "Yeah right."
Meredith shrugged. "It's not that bad."
"Oh yes it is," Christina said, taking a sip from her coffee. "I should be in surgery right now. Cutting someone open. Not talking about cutting someone open. I mean what is that going to accomplish? You can talk about new and innovative surgeries all you want, but until you get into an OR and actually pick up the scalpel…" She shook her head. "It's just a waste of my time."
Meredith couldn't help but laugh. "You're a bitch you know that?"
Christina smiled slightly, her eyes running over the crowd of over eager surgeons. "I know." Meredith smiled and began to poor herself a cup of coffee. "Is that decaf?" Christina asked absentmindedly.
"Yes," Meredith said, shaking her head.
"See?" Christina said. "I might be a bitch, but I'm a bitch that cares."
"Only when you want to," Meredith told her.
"No," Christina replied, refilling her cup. "Not with you. You're my person. I have to care."
"Awww," Meredith said. "You're gonna make me cry."
"Oh shut up," Christina said.
xxx
Meredith was leaning against a wall, reading a proposal for a new approach to a neuro procedure, when Derek appeared by her side. "Hey," she said, not looking up from the papers in her hand.
"Hey," Derek said, peering at what she was reading. "What're you reading?"
"It's just this…proposal for a…" She trailed off, her attention still focused on the proposal. "It's really interesting…"
"You're cute when you're serious," Derek commented.
Meredith smirked. "Aren't I the one who's supposed to be horny? I'm the one with the raging hormones."
Derek opened his mouth slightly. "I never said…I'm not…"
Meredith glanced up at his face and shook her head. "Oh you so are."
Derek shook his head slightly and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the wall. "Fine. Maybe I am. Want to go have sex in a broom closet?"
Meredith dropped her hand holding the paper to her side and looked at him, narrowing her eyes slightly. "You're shameless."
Derek flashed his McDreamy smile. "You know you want to."
Meredith looked at him for a moment longer, before lifting the papers and beginning to read them again. "We can't."
"So you do want to?" Derek said triumphantly.
"I…" She looked at his face again. His eyes twinkled with desire and a certain amount of mischief and his lips were turned up ever so slightly in a smile. "We can't," she repeated her eyes not moving from his lips.
"Mmmhmm," Derek said. He leaned towards her slightly until his lips were only inches from hers. She parted her lips slightly and drew in a breath. He smiled slightly. "Now who's horny?"
Suddenly, her eyes narrowed into a glare and she pulled away from him. "Oh, go away," she said.
He laughed. "No self control," he said, backing away from her. "It's sad!"
