Chapter 27: Who Knows About Us?

Meredith stared at the content of her glass. Not that there was anything exciting, just plain water with a slice of lemon. She already had one shot of her tequila. She decided against having more; she was currently sitting on a barstool at Joe's under many watchful eyes of her colleagues. Besides, she had to drive home somehow.

"Boy problems or work problems?" Joe appeared before her with a gentle smile.

"These are one and the same in my case," she confessed.

"Sure, you don't want anything stronger?" he asked pointing at her glass.

"Nope," she grinned. "I'm a responsible Chief of Surgery in one of the best teaching hospitals in the country," she recited.

"Dr. Grey."

"Dr. Bailey," nodded Meredith as the plump woman climbed onto the stool next to her.

"Tough day?" asked Miranda disinterestedly.

"Who am I to complain?" shrugged Meredith.

"You tell me," quipped Miranda. "But it begs a question."

"What question?" frowned Meredith.

"Why a young successful woman whose looks mess with men's heads and even more with their pants sits alone in a bar-"

"Maybe she likes that," said Meredith curtly.

"I haven't finished my question yet," warned Miranda. "Why a woman like that sits alone in a bar and pines for her silly brain surgeon?"

Meredith choked on her water and Miranda patted her on the back stoically.

"How… You… You saw us, yesterday?" whispered Meredith, a blush creeping on her face.

"Unfortunately," nodded Miranda, disgust painting on her face. "I thought it was best to leave it like that but then I realized you might not have seen me. And I was right, wasn't I? judging by the fact that you jumped at each other's throats for real today…"

Meredith buried her face in her hand, "This is so…"

"Embarrassing? Humiliating?" proposed Miranda. "I agree."

"You haven't told anyone," Meredith looked up at her.

"Of course, I haven't told anyone," Bailey said. "Do I look like a live porn advertisement?"

"Thank you," Meredith breathed out with overwhelming relief.

"Don't thank me, just lock the damn door next time," Bailey quirked her eyebrow. "But then again, I have another question."

"What question?"

"What are you still doing here?"

Meredith blinked around and shook her glass. "I… should tell… him…"

"You should," agreed Bailey. "You should tell him a lot of things."

"Well, it's just that," Meredith turned on her barstool with a serious expectant look on her face. "Should I?"

"Depends what it is that you want," sighed Miranda.

Meredith hung her head down for a minute and then jumped from her seat, searching her pocket for coins.

"Dr. Grey," Miranda turned after her and said after a moment of hesitation, "He's a man that believes in romance and true love until the grave. Don't hurt him."

Meredith slowly nodded her head, easier said than done.

"And tell him he has a nice pattern on his boxers."

Meredith pulled up in Derek's driveway and ran up to his trailer with a wildly beating heart. The lights were on and Meredith got curious what he could be doing. She halted in front of the door and reached to knock but her hand hung mid-air.

Her breath hitched as the door opened anyway and she came face to face with Derek. He must have heard the sound of the engine.

"Now, that's a surprise," he snorted and leaned against the doorframe.

Meredith bit her lip; he was still in foul mood, not that she could blame him. She slipped inside past him, under his outstretched arm.

"Sure, come on in," he sighed and closed the door. "To what do I owe this honor?"

She stopped in the middle of the limited space and took a deep breath. "It was Bailey who saw us."

"Bailey," he repeated. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Meredith folded her arms around her as she had no idea what to do with them. "She told me."

Derek gave out a small laugh. He was relieved he didn't take part in that conversation and oddly satisfied that Meredith was the one to squirm. "Well, then, Bailey won't say a word," he stated with certainty. "You don't have to worry about anything else now." He turned away and walked to the kitchen area.

"Derek," she called after him stepping from feet to feet. Her next words came out with difficulty, but they had to come. Because she wanted him. "Please, don't walk away."

He reappeared with a can of beer in his hand, his expression softened a bit. "I'm not walking away, but you're constantly leaving me."

He put the can aside absent-mindedly and reached for her, cupping her face in his palms, her eyes inches from his. "Meredith, what is it that you want from me? Put me out of my misery and tell me. I want you, you know that, but I need to know what you want."

She brought her hands over his and reciprocated his look, allowing him to see down her soul.

"You, I want you," she answered simply but before he could gather her in her arms she pulled away and sat down at the edge of his bed. "But if you want to go on with me, you need to have patience, lots of it. I know I'm not the easiest person to be around. Because I shout and I bitch and run and don't like to talk. But I'm really trying here."

"Okay," he crouched in front of her.

"You can't possibly have an idea how much of a change this is for me," she admitted gravely. "That's why I'm resisting it so much. It's been only work for me… for years now."

He listened attentively to every word she uttered, every word that he hoped would push him closer to understanding her.

"Because work is steady and reliable, and it's always there," she went on.

"And people aren't?" he asked gently.

"Generally, they aren't," she swallowed hard remembering her first relationship. "I had one boyfriend, before you."

"It ended badly?" he asked brushing her cheek with his thumb.

Yes, it did end badly, couldn't have ended worse. She shivered; she wasn't ready to talk about it openly with Derek. She wasn't sure if he'd understand. Looking from the distance, she didn't quite understand herself how she could be that stupid.

"It ended badly," she muttered.

"Did he hurt you?" probed Derek.

"You could say that," she dodged the question.

Derek felt she already reached her limit today. "I'm not going to hurt you, not intentionally."

"I don't want to hurt you either," she assured him.

He gave her a small chuckle and brought their foreheads together.

"You're no longer angry at me?" she asked coyly. "Because if you were, I could do something to grovel…"

He smirked feeling the sudden change of mood. "Oh, yes. I'm very angry," he pouted, stifling his grin. "What are you going to do about that?"

"Anything you want," she nibbled on his neck.

"I was thinking…" he breathed deeply, "about a shower before you came."

"Mhm," she purred. "I think you think bendy thing."

"Strip," he ordered standing up.

"You're giving me orders now?" she asked looking up at him, feigning indignation.

"Hell, I am," he nodded unbuttoning his shirt. "And I'm not gonna ask you again to jump out of your clothes."

She bit her lip and obeyed his request. How could she not? She was on fire; she never got her orgasm yesterday.

All the garments of their clothing found their way to the floor with the speed of lightning and they stumbled into the tiny bathroom, already locked in a tight embrace, their lips greedily devouring each other. Derek opened the water and they squealed as they felt cold droplets on their skin. That didn't put out their passion as they resumed their lip lock, not even waiting for the water to warm up.

He grabbed her hips and turned her around, making her face the shower wall. She braced herself against it, surrendering totally to his will. His palms sneaked to her chest, massaging and tweaking her soft breast, working them up to hard peaks. Then one of his hands wandered lower and lower between her legs and she moaned and threw her head back on his shoulder as his fingers found her wet core, spreading her folds.

"Bend," he breathed firmly into her ear and she did what she was told to do.

"You see how everything would be easier if you just listened to me more often?" he watched with satisfaction and admiration for her flexibility as she lowered her torso as far as she could.

She snorted and looked up at him over her shoulder, "I'm wondering if I could perform a craniotomy before you're up and ready?"

He chuckled and put a condom on his hard member, pried between her legs and pushed roughly into her tight core. She screamed at the depth of penetration the position allowed, feeling as though she was being ripped in two by his force… and she wanted more.

"Up and ready enough?" he asked smugly slipping from her almost all the way and slamming back hard.

She pushed her ass back meeting his impetuous thrusts that were leaving her breathless. "Ha… hard…" she stammered.

"Let me guess," ha panted through gritted teeth. "You want harder and faster… And that's… what you get…"

He acted on his word, hammering into her tight wet channel while his fingers found her engorged nub and worked her faster towards her release. His palm gripped her waist with the force that would surely leave bruises on her exquisite skin but he didn't think about any of that as her walls squeezed him over and over. She cried out her ultimate pleasure, spent and tingling everywhere and she would fall down if it weren't his hands holding her tightly while he speared her a few last times and spilled into the condom with a wild growl.

He leaned against the wall trying to catch his breath, feeling the post orgasmic high mixed with a strange sense of power that she was once at his feet and not vice versa.

Undoubtedly, she guessed correctly his state of mind as she sat down letting the now warm water rinse her hot body and smirked, "By the way, Bailey said she liked your boxers."