"I'm not being completely unreasonable am I?" Meredith grumbled to Stella, as she sat munching mutinously on a piece of toast, still rumpled from bed.
Stella, who had just entered the kitchen, glanced at Meredith, dressed in nothing but an oversized t-shirt and shorts. She had heard Derek leave only minutes ago, and could only assume it had something to do with him. She was in a good mood this morning, she would humor her.
"I know when it comes to you, Alex is psychic or something, but I'm going to need more than that to go on." She remarked, humming a little under a breath.
Meredith abandoned her toast, instead taking a large gulp of coffee. "Derek! I don't know anything about him!" she exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Stella asked, still smiling a little.
"Don't you think it's weird he stays here every night. Every single night. I've never been to his place or anything. He could be an axe murderer or something." She said. "And why are you all happy today."
Stella thought back to last night, and for a moment felt a flash of guilt. "N-nothing." She stuttered a little, before adding. "I just had insanely good sex last night." to evade the suspicion her initial answer had elicited from Meredith.
"Good for you." Meredith said, only a little ungraciously. "I wondered where you were last night. I just hope your one night stand doesn't turn out to be your coworker, who refuses to leave you alone and tells you nothing and ugh!" She groaned. "What happened to me? When did I become this girl." She laid her head on the table, not noticing how Stella's face paled just a little.
"Ok what is up with you?" Stella finally seriously looked at her friend, who was uncharacteristically grumpy. "Is this all about Derek?"
"No." Meredith conceded. "I don't know what I'm doing. With Derek, with the hospital, with life in general. And mom is as bitchy as ever."
Stella grabbed her shoulder, and Meredith turned to face her. "Meredith Grey is having her very own pity party." She laughed. "And what is with this nonsense about not knowing what you're doing?"
"I don't know if I should have taken the chief job. I barely see the OR, and I've had no time at all for research. I feel like a playground monitor." She groaned.
"I know I don't share your love for seeing people's squishy insides, but from what I gather, you still do a normal amount of cutting. You just aren't married to your work anymore." She said knowingly.
"I am not married to my work!" Meredith replied indignantly
"That's what i said." Stella answered smugly. "You aren't anymore and you're having withdrawal symptoms. Besides, you are having trouble admitting you're totally falling for Derek Shepherd. And don't start with running a hospital again Mer. Try dealing with idiotic masochistic associates like me."
Meredith tried to protest weakly, before thinking better of it. She filed the Derek thing away for later and chose to go the easier route. "Richardson still giving you trouble?"
"That man does not take no for an answer." Stella groaned. "I want to just sleep with him once so he'll get off my back."
"What a great idea." said Meredith sarcastically. "I have to go get ready and visit mommy dearest."
"Ooh, fun." Stella winced slightly.
"And then I have to go to Mercy West because their Chief of Surgery seems to think calling me for a consult will make me leave Grace or some bullshit. Which is why I actually have to dress up again, can't exactly show up in scrubs now." She said getting up. "And I cannot deal with Derek Shepherd and his secretive ass." She called back as she left the room.
Stella just smiled into her coffee cup at Meredith's denial, memories of the previous night coming back.
000
Meredith drove Mercy West straight from Roseridge. She looked at the hospital as she walked through, and could make out why it lagged behind in rankings. What possessed Jackson to come here, she would never understand. Suddenly getting an idea, she looked down at her watch and noticed she had some time before she had to meet up with The Chief, Dr. Fuller. She needed some cheering up.
She made her way to the ER from the main entrance, where she knew interns were most likely to be found. She walked up to the nurses station and looked around. It wasn't long before a slightly rushed looking nurse came and asked her what she was looking for. She turned politely to the nurse and asked. "Hi, can you point me in the direction of an intern, Dr. Jackson Avery."
The nurse asked someone behind her a question, and turned back to Meredith, pointing to a corner where she could see a few people sitting on a gurney dressed in orange scrubs. She thanked a nurse and made her way towards the group. As she got closer, she could easily identify Jackson who sat with two girls and a guy. She could hear one of the girls speak and decided to have a little fun.
"Hey guys, there's a girl walking towards us. She just asked Nurse Taylor who pointed at us. Who is she?" April, who was facing in Meredith's direction, asked.
Before they could turn around to see who it was, Meredith had reached them and grabbed Jackson by the shoulder, turned him around and planted a kiss on the top of his head.
"Jackie!" She said in a deliberately uncharacteristic squeal. "Look at you! A fancy doctor!" She exclaimed, swinging an arm violently around his shoulder.
"Mer?" Jackson's eyes widened comically in astonishment, even as he flushed with embarrassment. The other interns, as well as quite a few other people in the ER shot them weird looks. Jackson looked around and saw the situation, took Meredith's hand and practically dragged her away to a more private place even as she smiled and waved at his friends.
They both distinctly heard mutters of "clingy ex probably" and Meredith burst into laughter the moment Jackson closed the door behind them after entering a supply closet.
"What're you doing here?" Jackson demanded "Did my mom send you?" He accused.
"Chill out Jacky. Your mom did ask me to talk to you, but you've obviously not talked to her in a while." She paused a moment, toying with the idea of teasing him further, before deciding against it. "I moved to Seattle, like months ago."
Jackson just stared at her in shock, so she continued "I'm the new Chief over at Grace. Honestly, jackson, you have to keep up with important information like this." She sighed in mock exasperation.
"You-you're the new chief? I feel like such an idiot." he groaned. "And wait, my mom talked to you about me? Is that why you're here?"
"Well, duh." Meredith rolled her eyes, people were becoming increasingly stupid. "She's worried, rightly so. This place is a dump in front of Mass Gen. Besides, I came here on chiefly business, I just hoped to run into you" she smacked the side of his head.
"Whatever, Meredith. You only came to Mass Gen because your mom moved on to Mayo." he rubbed the side of his head "And what was with that stunt in the ER? Everyone probably thinks you're cracked." He grumbled.
Meredith laughed. "That's just me embarrassing your pretty boy ass in front of your friends. Feel free to let them think I'm a clingy ex by the way. It's the only way I'd ever go out with you." She laughed again.
Jackson just glared at her. He'd now have to either let them all think that or admit to being Meredith Grey's friend. As if people weren't annoying enough already, grumbling about his contacts. "Thank you" He said sarcastically.
"And with that, I have to go actually meet the Chief. Meet me for lunch? I'll probably be here if the consult goes long." Meredith said, looking at her watch and moving towards the closet door. Just as she opened the door, she saw all three interns standing around, trying to look like they hadn't just had their ear pressed up against the door.
She tried her hardest to keep a straight face as she asked for directions to the Chief's office, with openly curious faces staring at her. She walked away before she could do any more damage and heard the interns turn on Jackson with questions just as she walked away.
Jackson let out a resigned sigh, and began explaining that the girl had, in fact, been Meredith Grey, who just loved taking pleasure in his pain. After all, he reasoned, she was going to be around all day.
000
Meredith had a fun day, despite her initial reservations. The consult at Mercy West had led her to perform a very interesting surgery, and she had enjoyed annoying Jackson. She now sat in her jeep, making her way back to Grace to get some of the unending paperwork done before going home.
Just as she drove up to her parking space, she saw another car parked there. She was confused and annoyed, and was about to turn around to find another place when she saw there was someone leaning up against the Porsche.
She got out of her car to walk closer and immediately recognised Derek.
"What's up?" She greeted as she drew close to him.
"I searched all day for you." He responded playfully "it was finally Patricia who told me you weren't even at the hospital today. Why didn't you tell me this morning?" He asked.
"Not telling seems to be a recurring theme between us I guess." Said Meredith dryly.
"Come on." he said, holding out his hand to her, a small smile on his face. Meredith hesitated for a second, before letting herself be pulled into a now familiar short and sweet kiss by him. She was just about to step back when he grabbed her arm and led her to the car.
She looked up at him uncertainly, "What're you doing?"
He continued smiling. "I meant it when I said come on." He said as he opened the passenger door to his car and gestured for her to get in. Meredith let out a small laugh and got in, uncertainty slowly dissipating.
They drove for a long time, and Meredith got more and more antsy. Derek himself was feeling more nervous by the minute. He hadn't been sure how to tell her he lived in a trailer. Meredith was as far from materialistic he'd ever seen a girl, but how was he supposed to tell her he lived in a tin can in the middle of the woods?
They were nearing his land, having taken the bridge instead of the ferry when Meredith broke the silence. "Derek?" She asked confusedly "Are you sure you know where we're going?" The city lights had started to fade a while ago.
Derek chuckled a little. "Just trust me." And when he looked at the passenger seat where Meredith sat, he saw that she did seem to do just that and he felt a warm feeling in his chest.
They pulled up to the clearing near his trailer and got out of the car. Derek turned to Meredith.
"My mother's maiden name, Maloney. I have four sisters. I have, uh, nine nieces. Five nephews. I like coffee ice cream, single-malt scotch, occasionally a good cigar. I like to fly fish. And I cheat when I do the crossword puzzle on Sunday. And I never dance in public. Um, favorite novel, The Sun Also Rises. Favorite band, The Clash. My favorite color is blue. I don't like light blue, indigo. The scar right here on my forehead, that's why I don't ride motorcycles anymore. And I live in that trailer. All this land is mine. I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it. That's it. The rest you're just… just gonna have to take on faith."
He watched her with bated breath. She looked around her, turning a slow circle then started towards the trailer, turning back to extend her hand towards him with a bright smile on her face. Derek couldn't help but find his own face breaking out into a wide smile, all doubts vanishing. Dressed in slightly rumpled clothes, with flyaway hair framing her face lit up from the glow of the trailer, he found he could not remember ever seeing a more beautiful sight in his life. He walked up and grasped her hand, twining their fingers together and leading her into the confines of the trailer.
She woke up the next morning, finding herself entwined in Derek's arms. His face was near her hair, his hot breath on the back of her head while his arm was slung protectively over her waist and their legs were tangled. She exhaled a loud breath, feeling contentment in her chest. All her dark and damaged self seemed so far away when she was here with him. She felt him stir behind her, tightening his hold around her waist and burying his face in her hair.
"I could wake up to this forever." He mumbled sleepily into her neck. She immediately stiffened a little and he noticed. He felt heat rise up his cheeks when he realised he had said it out loud. He didn't want to push her, but the words had just come out.
He felt her shift beside him on the bed and turn to face him. She gave him a small kiss and said.
"Yeah, me too." and he couldn't help but pull her in for a deeper kiss as they comprehended the step they had just taken together.
A/N I know I know I'm not following the Grey's timeline, but it just felt so perfect. I suppose I could argue Mer has less damage in this because of her friends so let's just go with that.
On another note, any guesses on what's up with Stella? If you get it right, i'll answer any question you ask about the future of this story, provided I know the answer myself. I might also let you add something to the story (A scene, a pairing, an incident). So guess away!
I don't plan on following the show too closely, and I want the MerDer relationship to progress obviously differently and in a more linear manner. I kind of want to retain all the lightheartedness and affection of season 1 (Btw my favourite season). This story is basically Meredith centric, because i'm in love with her, and is just fluffy positivity mostly. R&R