Stella was sitting at the table dressed in her pajamas, with a piece of toast halfway to her mouth, reading about a case when Derek entered the kitchen. His shirt half untucked, he immediately went to the counter where the pot of coffee sat and poured himself some in a cup.
"Hey Derek" she greeted cheerily and he jumped in surprise and turned around.
"Stella. I didn't see you." He mumbled slightly, taking a large gulp of coffee.
"I wish I could say the same." Stella said airily. "Honestly, I need some sleep."
Derek blushed and sputtered a little on his coffee at Stella's words. Stella decided to take pity on him and continued in a different direction.
"So am I still the only one privy to you and Mer's bunny-like tendencies?" Well, not too much pity.
"She...er...we're trying to keep it on the low" he said haltingly. So much for his infamous god complex, his ego was taking a beating from this girl before breakfast.
It had been almost two months since the night they met at the docks and he'd been spending most nights with her at her house. Despite the physical relationship, she insisted they barely interact at the hospital. Stella was the only one who even knew they were together, mostly because they shared a house.
"Ah yes." Stella smiled "Mer's just being her usual self, don't worry." Stella had been very surprised at the longevity of their relationship. It had been Alex, informed of this situation by Stella herself, who had told her that Mer was in denial about the guy. She'd tell him herself when she was ready to acknowledge it. She liked Derek, particularly, she liked teasing him; preying on the arrogance.
"I'm not worried." He said a little defensively. And Derek was fine with the casual relationship. He was enjoying the chase and he didn't mind keeping it light. Besides, it wasn't like he could go anywhere, not when Meredith Grey remained the enigma she was.
"Well, I gotta go take a shower." Stella said, getting up from the table "Unlike you, my boss won't be so happy to see me come in late."
"She's not...my boss" She heard him weakly call out as she walked out of the room with a grin. He decided not long after, that it was time to leave if he wanted to get to the hospital in time.
000
Meredith was paged to the pit for a trauma, and after dealing with a particularly moronic resident, she ran into the ambulance bay, still tying on a bright yellow gown. She found Derek standing there, waiting and went up to stand beside him.
"Hey" he smiled, doing the twinkly-eye thing.
"Good morning Dr. Shepherd." She said, eyeing the intern standing next to him, Yang, she remembered.
Derek was about to continue, when the wail of sirens interrupted them. EMTs immediately brought out a gurney, while giving them the vitals.
"Male, 41, GSW to the head and abdomen, GCS of 8 with pupils equal and reactive, found unconscious at scene." They glanced over to see a man, strapped to the backboard with bloodied gauze over his abdomen. "Ex-wife went crazy on him." The paramedic said resignedly.
Meredith and Derek just shared a mildly alarmed look, before rushing the patient into a trauma bay.
000
They stood, staring at the scans, arguing over the approach they should take.
"I obviously need to go into the brain first. Look at the position of the bullet, he may never speak again!" Derek exclaimed.
"A fat load of good speaking would do if he was dead." Meredith remarked. "His abdomen is distended and the bullet is right up against the liver."
"But it's not actually puncturing anything. Look how deep into his brain it's made its way." Derek insisted.
"You can't see the damage the bullet did in reaching its place in the abdomen! It could have punctured any number of organs." Meredith shot back.
"Yes, but the brain injury is obviously more important. I need to perform a craniotomy to…" derek began saying.
"Shut up." Meredith interrupted him, holding one hand up.
"Shut up? You can't tell me to shut up?" Derek began a little incredulously, the twinkle still not leaving his eyes.
"Derek, wait." Meredith snapped. "If I approach it this way, you can perform the craniotomy simultaneously." She exclaimed pointing at a spot on the scans.
"You're a genius." Derek started with a smile. "Bossy, but a genius" he continued, with a now full blown dreamy smile.
Meredith turned to him, and felt a flutter in the pit of her stomach. "You know, the interns, they call you McDreamy." she said, leaning towards him with a smile of her own.
"Mmhm" he mumbled, as he closed the gap between them and pulled her into a soft kiss, that very soon turned more passionate. Just before it could progress any further, they heard the door to the scan room opening and they immediately jumped around.
They looked at the door with matching guilty looks. They stared at the person who had just entered and the person stared back. After a few moments of shock, he broke the silence.
"You...an-and you?" Mark spluttered looking from one face to the other.
Meredith, mortified, rushed to explain "It's not what it looks like. Well… it kinda is. But it's not like that. We work together, you know. Of course you know. And this is unprofessional and completely inappropriate. Oh my god crap! Everyone will now. But it's not so bad, its not...like that" She rambled, while Mark and Derek both amusedly stared on.
Finally Mark decided to take pity on her. He burst into a wide, slightly mischievous grin, and spoke "Shut up. It's about time you stopped rambling Grey. And Shep, stepping up I see." He said teasingly.
Meredith breathed a great sigh of relief when she saw Mark's smile, before immediately growing worried again noticing the glint in his eye. "Mark.." she began in a warning voice.
"What're you going to do, Grey?" Mark continued toying with her.
"You know technically I am your boss." Meredith challenged back.
Before it could progress further, Derek suddenly interrupted. "Wait what are you guys talking about?" He asked slightly puzzled. From what he'd gotten from Mer's ramble, she was mostly just worried about people finding out and insisting they were...different? He needed to clear that up later. And since it was Mark, he knew she couldn't be worried it would reach the gossip mill, so he was mystified what they could be talking about.
"Nothing" said Mark in an overly innocent tone, strolling purposefully out the room. Meredith immediately followed him outside, and Derek recovered from his shock and followed them out. Mark was making his way into the attending's lounge and they followed him inside.
"Don't do it, Mark." Meredith pleaded a little.
Mark ignored her and pulled out his cellphone. "So I assume it's been going on since your first day, huh?" he said as he dialled a number.
Derek looked between the two and then at Addie, who had been in the attending's lounge already, and was wearing a similar confused expression. "What's going on?" Addie asked.
"Oh Shep and Grey here have been hooking up and they forgot to inform some important people." He said in a tone that implied something both Derek and Addison obviously didn't understand. Addison only looked mildly surprised and said "I knew that shit eating grin on Derek's face was there for a reason." She supplied serenely.
Just then they heard a voice speak from Mark's phone. "Sloan it better be good, I'm just about to scrub in."
Meredith shot Mark another beseeching look, before turning away with a huff in mock annoyance. Mark turned towards the phone with a broad smile, putting it on speaker, and then said in a singsong voice. "I know something Grey's been hiding from you."
"Is it about her and that neuro dude? Old news man." Alex's disgruntled voice called out.
"You now?" Meredith suddenly exclaimed "I'm gonna kill that bitch!"
"Hello to you too." Alex's voice filled with amusement. "I say, go for it. Get some hot piece of ass." Meredith facepalmed, as Derek turned a deep shade of red. "I gotta go now, some people still have surgery. I'll call you later, and make sure to take pictures of Mark after you give him hell for this." He said hurriedly, cutting the call.
"Hmm, that wasn't as funny as I thought." Mark said to himself unconcernedly. Meredith turned to glare at him. "I'll show you funny." She said advancing.
"Hey hey," Derek grabbed her arm. "Anyone want to explain what just happened?" He questioned the two of them.
"Don't look at me, you hot piece of ass." He held his hands up in mock surrender "though I wonder where he got that misinformation." He teased, forever infuriatingly Mark.
"Mark," Meredith threw him another glare "was trying to tell on us to Alex." she exclaimed.
"I don't get it, what does Alex have to do with any of it?" Derek was still confused.
"Cuz Alex is the closest the kid has to a bulldog of an older brother." Mark explained "Plus, he'd probably be mad at the kid for keeping stuff from him. I just wanted to see the fireworks, but obviously someone knew before me and told him already." he glared slightly at Meredith.
"Oh please, Mark, don't play the it's not like I can keep it from Stella, she lives with me." Meredith rolled her eyes. "I have to go, we have a surgery right now. But just wait, i'll find you after." She said, dragging Derek with her outside the room as Mark's expression morphed into one of apprehension.
Addison just stared at the door from where Meredith and Derek had exited. "You guys never do anything simple, do you?" She wondered out loud.
"No we don't."
000
It had been a long surgery, and only when Meredith sat in her office at the end of the long day, she got around to calling Alex.
"Hey" She greeted softly when he picked up the phone "Are you mad at me?"
"Nope. don't worry, I know you," Alex said immediately. "I knew you'd tell me eventually."
"I wasn't keeping it from you or anything. I just...didn't know what to say. It's nothing, really."
"Since I know you're not lying to me, I can only assume you're still lying to yourself." He said patiently.
"I am not lying to myself." she insisted.
"Ok, so what is this? A sordid workplace affair?" He asked.
"No! Alex!" She answered indignantly.
"So what is it then?" He kept asking.
"It's not...it isn't.." She struggled
"Exactly." Alex said, still calmly "When was the last time you stuck with a guy this long? Defended him?"
"But.."
"You're falling for him." It was a statement, not a question.
"I'm not! I'm...not."
"Listen, Mer, it's good for you to give him a chance. The string of men doesn't suit you. You like him, he seems good, and if he hurts you, I'll kick his ass. So why not?"
"Shut up Alex." she didn't want to talk about it...or admit it. "And just by the way, you were on speaker with derek there when Mark called you, now he thinks we're horny pervs or something."
Alex allowed her to change the subject indulgently, she was so easy to read. He let out a guffaw of laughter when he heard her "Better he learn sooner than later."
"Shut up. I had to share an OR with him for six hours after the call, I wanted to sink into the ground every time he looked at me!"
"Ouch."
"Yup. And then I had to explain you to him." she continued.
"And how did that go?" Alex asked curiously. There was no way this Derek person would stick around if he didn't understand his and Mer's relationship.
"I told him you're family." She said simply. "And he'll meet you when you come her in three months."
Alex felt a smile make its way onto his face as his heart was warmed. It was true, they were each other's family.
Mer had an unconscious way of drawing people to her, with her innocent face, messy beauty and insane intelligence; and Alex had been immediately enchanted by her. The fact that they sat here, years later as family made him just a little bit teary, not that his male pride would ever let him admit it.
They talked a few minutes more, before Meredith finally cut the call. She looked up to the doorway of her office to see Derek waiting. It was with a lighter heart that she greeted him and led him towards the parking lot.
A/N Here you go, a longer chapter finally. I love writing Mer and Alex together, they're probably a little OOC, but they're soo cute and wholesome. I'm struggling a little with MerDer but the next chapter will probably have more of it. Please review any suggestions, requests, ideas or tips!