Chapter 22: I Need A Release

Meredith's Point-of-View

I twisted my neck trying to loosen it up and rubbed my eyes. I was on a forty-eight-hour shift and I felt it, thirty-one hours in. I so didn't sleep last night because of all the sexual tension. I was wound up tighter than a…well, I don't know what, but I was in need of serious sexual release.

Soon.

I felt someone come up near me and I looked up expectantly, thinking it was an intern with my labs. Instead it was one of the members of the Unwelcome Wagon. So, I did what any grown woman in my position would do…

I pretended she wasn't there. I didn't say I was a mature grown woman…

"She has arrhythmia."

I was so surprised that I jumped.

"I'm sorry?" I asked her.

"Your patient. She has arrhythmia… irregular heart rate." She looked at me like I was stupid.

"Yeah, I know what arrhythmia is." I said rolling my eyes.

"I would hope so. I would put her on Lopressor." She finished saying.

"Well, thank you…" I looked at her lab coat. "Dr. Yang. I will be sure to do that." I said, disdainfully might I add. I went back to ignoring her.

It got so quiet that I thought she had left.

"It's not you."

I looked at her once again.

"What's not me?" I asked, agitated.

"We don't hate you." She said.

"Could have fooled me."

She was silent.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. It's not like I am losing any sleep." I told her.

Well, not because of that anyway.

"We lost a doctor not too long ago." She told me.

"Yeah, I had heard that. But he was more than just a coworker to you." I stated.

"George O'Malley was a…great guy and a good doctor. Very compassionate, very kind. I always made fun of him, but the truth was, he was better than anyone in this hospital. It's not you, we just miss him."

She looked me at me dead on and I swore I saw a tear in her sorrowful eyes, before she turned away.

"Thank you, Dr. Yang…for the diagnosis on my patient." I said, indicating the chart in front of me. "And I am very sorry about your friend."

She nodded with a slight smile.

"Call me Cristina." Was all she said before disappearing.

I smiled.

"What are you smiling at?"

I smiled even wider and turned to Derek, who was holding a coffee.

"Oh God, thank you. I really needed this." I told him, taking a gulp.

"That was actually not yours." He told me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Which buxom female were you trying to seduce tonight?" I asked him, trying to keep my expression neutral.

Better not be anyone.

"Myself?" He said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"It was my coffee. As in, it was for me." He clarified.

"Oh, well, it's mine now." I smiled into MY coffee.

He shrugged.

"What are you doing here this time of night, if not for a woman?" I asked, stepping away from the nurse's station and walking towards the lab. If no one would bring them to me, I would go get them my damn self and maybe I could get a few hours' sleep in the on-call room.

"I didn't say I wasn't here for a woman." He said grinning.

I shot him a glare and walked away.

He easily caught up to me.

"Amber told me you were working tonight, and I stopped by to see you, alright?" He said.

I stopped suddenly and looked at him shrewdly.

He put his hands up in defense.

"Please don't hit me." He mockingly pleaded.

"Oh shut up." I demanded, as I hit him on his arm.

"Ouch! I said please." He said, rubbing his arm.

I rolled my eyes.

"You big baby. That did not hurt."

"You're right. It didn't. So, what are you doing?" He asked, falling back beside me as I continued my trek to the lab.

"I'm working. What does it look like I am doing?"

"You look tired. You should get a few hours' sleep."

"You know, you really need to work on your communication skills. It is not a good thing to tell a woman she looks tired." I informed him.

"It's not?" He asked.

"No, it's not. When is the last time you had a conversation with a woman besides me last night?"

"I talked to Amber for an hour tonight." He immediately said.

"She is your sister. You have been talking to her for thirty-one years. That doesn't count."

He sighed.

"Look, I only talk to a woman long enough to get in her pants unless it is work related and even then, I am trying to get them in bed, so…if I can't count my family or you, then never."

"Never?" I said, shocked.

"If by conversation, you mean a verbal grouping of words with another person longer than a paragraph or niceties, then yeah." He told me.

"Oh God, this is going to be harder than I thought." I said, unthinkingly.

"What is?" He asked, confused.

I slapped my hand over my mouth. Me and my stupid tired brain.

"I am a relationship type of girl, now. I didn't used to be, but I am there now. You are clearly not. And what you said last night, about being with me…I know you probably just mean sex, but I am not in it for that."

"And you think I am?" He asked, his eyes dark.

"Yes." I answered honestly.

He thrust his hand into his hair and looked away from me, visibly frustrated. He suddenly looked at me and before I knew it, he grabbed me and drug me to him. His face came very close to mine and I braced myself for the assault he would surely do on my mouth.

Boy was I wrong.

His lips met mine in a soft, gently, exploring kiss. No tongue, no bruising force…just a simple meeting of lips in a slow drugging kiss.

I think I just came a little.

That was hands down the best kiss I had ever had in my life. I stood there frozen as his hand gathered at the nape of my neck and his fingers locked into my hair.

He departed, just as suddenly as he had came and I instantly mourned the loss of him. He looked me deep into my eyes.

"You are dead wrong." He left me standing there like a statue in the hallway, my brain unable to process a cognitive thought.

Okay, forget the labs. I needed a release…

Soon just became now.