Chapter 13: Ray of Sunshine

Some insistent noise was trying to wake Meredith up but she didn't have a care in the world. She was too comfortable sleeping, she didn't want to get up. She hummed in her slumber, why did she feel so comfortable this morning? As her brain slowly returned to consciousness, she could feel she was half-lying somewhere and it was not her bed. It was much much better than her bed.

She nuzzled her face into her pillow. It was a strange pillow… Hard, so warm and… hairy. She felt around with her hand. Why was her pillow hairy? And why did it have… a nipple? Her mind, curious by nature, demanded questions.

The first thing she saw after she opened her eyes was Cristina, tapping erratically on the car window, a gigantic smirk on her face. Seeing Meredith awake she opened the door unceremoniously.

"Time to rise, sunshines," she grinned and glanced beside Meredith. "I bet he's already risen all right."

Meredith's head whirled following her gaze and her mouth hit the floor. That was no pillow she was clinging to. It was… Derek Shepherd's very manly very muscular chest! He was groggily waking up too.

"Cristina?" Meredith frowned at her best friend, deciding to let her brain process one thing at a time. "What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I should be the one asking that question," quipped the Asian. "Izzie came to the practice and panicked. No you, no Shepherd, no message, no nothing."

"Oh, crap," groaned Meredith rubbing her temples. "It's past nine?"

"More like past eleven," snickered Cristina. "Anyway, Izzie called me and called Rigsby, We've been looking for you for two hours."

"Rigsby?"

"Don't fret, I called him off before he could get an eyeful of something gossip worthy."

"Gossip worthy?" Meredith repeated her words again.

"Hello? Are you still asleep? You and Casanova here, shamefully naked, in a very compromising position…"

"Na… ked…"

"Niiice," Cristina snickered. "Someone must've done a helluva work last night… Are you brains still in the state of Nevada?"

"It's… not what you think it is!" Meredith argued heatedly, a blush spilling across her cheeks.

"Isn't it? Why do you let him stare at your boobs then?"

"Wha…!" she gasped, openmouthed. She looked down to see that the blanket fell to their waists sometime during the night. Her head shot up to Derek's face and she cringed in embarrassment. He was not staring at her boobs. He was past that point. He was devouring them or at least wanted to devour them, his tongue moistened his lips.

"I told you not to look!" shrieked Meredith and punched him in the chest but the only thing she achieved was falling into the void between the back and front seats.

"You said that yesterday," he quipped seemingly falling out of his stupor, though his voice had a distinctly lower quality than usual. "How could I know it would be valid the next day?"

"Secret rules, huh? Kinky," Cristina wiggled her eyebrows and backed away from the car. "I'll leave you to it so you can save the last shreds of your dignity. I'll follow you to the practice, Mer. I've brought breakfast."

"Oh, god…" Meredith groaned while trying to catch some support to climb back. She watched with irritated disbelief as he yawned and stretched himself lazily. Trying hard not to become mesmerized with the hard muscles rippling underneath his skin she shouted, "What do you think you're doing? Get a move on! We're already late!"

"But I don't want to move," he pouted bringing his hands behind his head, as if offering all of his chest for her to feast her eyes on. "Besides, it would be just a tad uncomfortable," he sighed pointing at his lap.

"Ugh, you're going to wash that blanket," she grumbled, taking no notice of the shivers that ran down her body straight to her clit, an organ she had almost forgotten she had. Apparently, Derek Shepherd reawoke the beast. Damn him and his stupid boy penis. She could barely think with all the curiosity about what was hidden under the blanket…

"Get dressed, turn around and don't look!"

"In that order?" he smirked leaning down to pick his crumpled clothing tangled with hers. "I believe... this is yours?" he grinned lifting the black lacy material of her panties with his index finger.

She snatched it with a huff. "This is so… humiliating on so many levels…"

"Not on that many levels…" he hinted.

She rolled her eyes pulling her dress over her head. Here we go again…

"So, you were so kind to drop him home," Cristina said getting out of her car in front of the practice.

"Yeah," Meredith shrugged going inside. "What should I do? Leave him in the middle of the desert?"

"Well, it's not like you haven't done it before…" snickered Cristina.

Meredith sighed seeing four patients waiting for a doctor's assistance in her lobby. What a relief she didn't come with Derek, it would spin the gossip mill for the next week or longer.

"Good morning," she looked at them apologetically. "I'm sorry you've been waiting, I was caught up in a storm last night."

"Is everything all right, Dr. Grey?" one of the women asked.

"Yes, no worries. I'll just have a quick shower and be right back with you, okay?"

"And I have your breakfast," Cristina reminded her, trudging a big basket.

"Oh, right, thanks. I'll take it to the kitchen-"

"No, I'm fine, I can take it up," Cristina shrugged and went upstairs to leave the food on the table. But before Meredith could blink she was right behind her following her into her room.

"What?" she hissed at her friend. She would have shouted but there were patients one floor down.

"Is he any good? He looks like he'd be good," the Asian rattled off instantly.

"We… we didn't… do what you think we did!" gasped Meredith.

"Right," Cristina snorted, folding her arms over her chest. "I might be an innkeeper, not a brain surgeon, but I'm not stupid! You and him both naked and touchy feely? Speaks, or rather screams, louder than words."

"We didn't! Damn, Cristina, you know I wouldn't!"

"So what's with the just fucked look?" Cristina was mightily confused.

"Just fucked?"

"Wow," Cristina gasped. "So... you really didn't?"

"No!" Meredith rolled her eyes.

"So you didn't see his…?"

"No!"

"Maybe fingers…?"

"Honestly, Cristina! We didn't even get to the second base!"

"Wow… wow… he must be good! You didn't have sex but you look like you were coming all night- Wait! Wait, wait! What did you just say? Not even second base?" Cristina narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously. "Does this mean what I think it means? There were some stops before the second base?"

"We…" Meredith swallowed passing her hand through her tangled hair tiredly. "We kissed."

"With tongue?"

"A bit," Meredith said with a small voice, sitting on the floor and cradling her face in her palms.

"Wow… must be some tongue to make you feel like that…"

"Cristina! I don't think that's the main point of concern here!"

"Au contraire," Cristina smiled sitting down beside her. "He made you feel things. You let him be around you. You let him touch, kiss you. You haven't been that close to a man for a long time."

Meredith let out a big audible sigh sinking her head into her knees.

"Did you like it? The kiss?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, but it was quick. I freaked out a few seconds into it. Ran out into the rain making a total idiot out of myself."

"And what did he do?"

"Came after me and made me go back into the car."

"He asked you what was wrong?"

"No… he thought it was his fault…"

"And he didn't press for any explanation?"

"No, he was actually behaving like nothing weird happened."

"Maybe he's not so brainless after all," Cristina said pensively. "What now?"

"Now?" cringed Meredith. "What do you think is supposed to happen now?"

"You don't think you can avoid him for however long he's here, do you? Or pretend it never happened? Meredith, you kissed him. Don't expect it will go away because you want it to."

"What else can I do?" she shrugged.

"You can see where it takes you."

"You're telling me to jump into… something with him? Why would I do that? He's gonna be gone in two months."

"Exactly. You won't be getting into anything serious, you'll just… test the waters. Think of it as a phase… to something that's waiting for you in the future. And you could do with some fun."

"Funnn," Meredith let out a muffled snort. "I feel like I'm living a freaking chick flick."

"Come in!" Meredith called out from above her chart hearing someone knocking on her office's door.

"Hey," Derek's smiling head peeked inside followed by the rest of him, a very flawless looking rest of him. "I've brought you coffee. Thought you might need one after our eventful night."

"Shhhh!" Meredith made wide eyes at him and gestured to close to the door.

"There' no one here," he chuckled. "No more patients, Izzie left for lunch."

"Thanks," she muttered gratefully taking the offered cup while she eyed him, one eyebrow riding high. "Seriously? What's up with you and the clothes? How do you even manage to make them look like they're brand new?"

"I grew up in a house with five women. I don't think it was possible not to acquire certain life skills."

"That might explain it," nodded Meredith. "I grew up alone and I can't cook or do the laundry."

"No siblings?" he asked curiously.

"Two sisters," she said without thinking.

"You said you grew up alone?"

"It's not mutually exclusive," she shrugged dismissively. "I bet you can't change a wheel."

"And you can?" he grinned.

"Among other things," she said vaguely.

"Meredith, listen," he fidgeted in his seat. "I'd like to talk… about yesterday."

"What about yesterday?"

"I… I really value our relationship… which is heading to friendship I hope. I don't want to lose that. But I also think… Look, we both wanted that kiss… and I think we both enjoyed it. We could have something extraordinary here…"

"Something extraordinary?" sighed Meredith. "We snap at each other all the time… You live in New York…"

"But we have something, you can't deny that."

"I'm not sure I'm ready… for anything…" she played with her wristwatch absent-mindedly.

"I'm not going to press you, I'm not going to harangue you with questions," he promised. "I just hope you don't push me away so we can… see where this takes us."

"See where this takes us…?" she breathed out.

Another knock interrupted them. The door opened to reveal Jackson standing uncomfortably with w bunch of flowers in his hands.

"Meredith, I-" he trailed off seeing her in company of Derek.

"Oh, hi, Jackson," she gave him a nervous smile, tucking the loose strands of hair behind her ears.

"Hey, Mer… I… I wanted to give you this," he held out the bouquet for her, his eyes glancing at Derek sitting comfortably in front of Meredith's desk. "In apology… I thought maybe we could talk…?"

"We… ah, yeah…" she stammered. Awkward! Why did it always happen to her?

"It's okay," Derek stood up to his feet with a small smile. "I'll leave you two so you can talk." He nodded at them and walked out.

"So, it is him," Jackson said quietly after the door closed behind Derek.

"Him?" she asked nervously.

"Meredith, don't deny," he pleaded. "He wouldn't have left without a word of protest if he wasn't sure where he stood."

"Jackson, I… I don't know what to say," she looked at him apologetically. "I didn't plan on it… and nothing happened-"

"It's okay, you don't have to explain yourself to me," he stopped her quickly, a sad smile on his face. "I had no claims over you."

"I'm sorry… Jackson I'm sorry," she sighed. "I really wanted it to be you."

"Me too," he nodded. "But you can't control someone's heart… At least, that's what Mrs. Fallon told me once."

"I doubt that's what everyone will think…"

"Don't worry about everyone," he assured her. "I'll be the first one to admit it's better this way."

"You're such a great guy, Jackson," she smiled at him. "And I feel terrible for-"

"Don't, Mer, don't," he pleaded. "I want you to be happy at last, you deserve it, and you have never been as far as I can remember."

"I've been… fine," she shrugged.

"Exactly," he chuckled. "But you can count on me whatever happens, okay?"

"Okay," she nodded.

Derek left Meredith with Jackson in her office and took Izzie's usual place behind the counter. He was being a gentleman but it had its limits. Sure, Avery didn't stand a chance, certainly not after what he shared with Meredith in the car the previous night and minutes before in her office. But Derek learnt recently that he was a jealous man, he was a possessive jealous man and he didn't like Meredith being closed up with another guy in a small room.

So he waited in the lobby until Avery was out. To make sure he was out…

"Dr. Shepherd," he nodded at him when he finally left Meredith's office, his face weary.

"Mr. Avery," Derek reciprocated the nod with reserved politeness.

Jackson directed himself towards the door but thought better of it and turned back abruptly.

"I am not going to stand on Meredith's way," he said, startling Derek. "Because I wish her all the best. She's a wonderful woman."

"She is," agreed Derek, getting to his feet with a frown.

"That's also why I won't stay put if I see her in pain," added Jackson in a more serious tone. "I swear to you that if you ever hurt her, that nose bleed would be just a mosquito's bite compared to what you're going to get. And that's just only me remember. Meredith has a lot of other friends."

Derek watched him whirl around on his heel and hurry out. He sat back down in the chair with a deep sigh. One would think he was dating a mob princess. But that was all unimportant. He could feel he was about to start something with Meredith. He didn't know what but it already felt wonderful. And Avery was no longer an issue…