Warning: I've never ever ever written before; fanfiction or otherwise. This is my first time. Please go easy on me if it's bad.

Chapter 4: Everybody Talks

As disgusting as it sounds, Derek wasn't afraid to admit he used to think of himself as a "true-love" kind of guy. Words like 'soulmates' and 'meant-to-be' used to mean something to him. Now, all they do is nauseate him till he could actually feel the vomit creep up his throat. There comes a time in a bachelor's life when he realizes he's better off alone, and any self-respecting observer who's taken an intro to psychology class can quickly assume it's because of A: The girl who broke his heart and made sure he never loves again or B: Overinflated egos. For Derek, it might've been just A.

Okay, A and ½ B.

"Hi, Der," her sultry voice greeted after a quick courteous kiss on the cheek that took him by surprise. "It's so good to see you."

The remnants of a peck burned in Derek's cheek. Not the electric, hopeful, invigorating kind of burn. Instead, it ignited him with pain and it took everything in him to fight the urge to wipe his cheek off like a petulant child. All he could do was give her a tight-lipped smile.

She was admittedly still as gorgeous as the day he last saw her. The big red tresses were long now and her eyes were still sharp, bright, and intelligent. Her voice sultry, clothes and makeup flawless, perfume intoxicating. Addison had always been keen on presentation. He used to love and hate that about her.

"Addie," he coughed out. "Uhhh, hey."

This might be the first time Meredith had ever seen Derek fluster this way. He was completely dazed and confused at the redhead that stood in front of him, waiting for words to come out of his mouth. As his mind tried to form coherent words, the two ladies grew tired of waiting for him to say one thing or another.

Meredith rolled her eyes in impatience and went in for the kill. "Hi, Meredith Grey. Nice to meet you."

Her outstretched hand was eagerly shook by the redhead who instead focused on the blonde beauty next to the fumbling idiot. "Addison Montgomery," she returned with a smile.

Montgomery…Montgomery. Why does that sound familiar?

"Oh! Senator Montgomery's…?"

"Daughter. Derek and I have known each other since we were born. Practically grew up together," she clarified at the younger woman, giving Derek another glance only to still see him still half-present. "What about you, how do you know each other? I don't think I've seen you around before."

"Addie, I haven't seen you in forever," Derek blurted, finally having found his line of thought. You could hear the astonishment in his voice concealed in a mask of casual yet nostalgic friendliness. He'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt him just a bit seeing her here. It even irked him just a tinge. After all these years of trying to erase her from his memories, here she was in the flesh, as if to mock three years worth of self-induced selective amnesia to block all memories of the tall, well-dressed, fire-headed figure who dared to show up in front of his face.

"It's been a few years. You haven't been back a while, either, so I've heard."

It wasn't her fault, he guessed. When he left, he did repeatedly assure her apologetic face a "We're good" and he really did think he meant it.

"Addison, Meredith here is my, uh, girlfriend by the way," he cringed at how foreign the sentence tasted in his mouth. "She's meeting the family from Seattle."

"Oh, that's fantastic! In that case, you should know Derek and I had a tiny bit of history a long, long, long time ago," she boasted as she refocused on Meredith, "But I'm so glad to see you two together. You make quite the couple."

He gave her a silent nod and awkward smile that descended into liquified awkwardness and tension. Damnit, he was supposed to reply with words.

Meredith almost wanted to laugh at the nervousness that seeped out of Derek's pores. Cruel as it is, she found it amusing how this Addison lady was obviously trying to make whatever bygone they had be bygones and reintroduce herself to Derek in the most casual way possible, but he tripped over every way she tried to make this exchange lighthearted.

"Derek, I think I'm gonna go help your mom," she slapped on his arm to get him out of his trance as she pointed to Carolyn walking into another room holding some dishes. "You guys catch up. It was nice meeting you, Addison."

"Pleasure was all mine, Meredith." she pursed her dark-red lips.

Dodging guests and waiters to reach what she was hoping was the kitchen in this gigantic house, Meredith couldn't help but wonder how "tiny bit" was their history. If it was enough to make Derek fumble like that, either she hurt him badly or the other way around. Either way, something tells her Derek had some closure to look for.

"Not enough alcohol in the world to make me enjoy mingling with these people," Meredith faintly heard her future mother-in-law sigh, sipping on a glass of red.

Looking across the passthrough from the kitchen to the living room, she tried to name that look on his face as he tried to converse with Addison. His eyes were wide in attention at her every word. The stormy blue that she usually met looked even darker. It wasn't anger. Regret maybe? Longing? Pain? She wracked the almanac in her brain that she had been writing all these years from studying her mortal enemy but she couldn't quite place it. Derek owed her a story.

She watched him take the hand Addison placed on his cheek away and patted it into his with an awkward, dismissive smile, prompting Meredith to roll her eyes.

Wow. This relationship may be fake, but ginger over there sure knows how to make a move when the girlfriend, so to speak, is out of the room.

She tried to read his lips but he wasn't enunciating enough. His eyebrows started to furrow and he backed away just a little every time she tried to advance on to him. What was their deal?

He seemed upset as he walked away from Addison, and Meredith jolted when he spun around and his eyes met hers, realizing he caught her watching them the whole time. She turned around to quickly busy herself with something.

"Meredith?" Carolyn looked at her with concern.

"Carloyn. I am so sorry. I blanked out for a second. What were you saying?"

She laughed out loud at the flustered blonde and walked around towards her. She shook her head in amusement and thrusted a wine glass in her hand. "It's okay, honey. I'm not sure if you're the jealous type but you have nothing to worry about. She's a great girl, trust me, but their engagement was barely that and I just knew she wasn't quite right for him. Now I know why."

Meredith's eyes widened. She didn't know which to process first: the surprise of Derek's ex-fiancée or the guilt of their trickery working on his mother too well as she seemed to think Meredith was about to be a golden daughter-in-law. "You're too kind."

"Anyways, I know you're tired but the party is winding down. I'd give it an hour tops," she groaned in relief, relaxing her tense shoulders. "Montgomery insisted on the party for 'Derek's return' but we all know he's using this as time to cozy up with potential donors for the election without being obvious. I love the man but throw your own damn party next time," she joked.

"I'll cheers to that," Meredith giggled as they clinked their glasses.

Her lips didn't even get to touch the glass before it was taken away from her. Derek quickly chugged the contents out of nowhere as Meredith and Carolyn stared at him stunned.

"Hi. I need to talk to you real quick. Excuse us, Ma," he shuddered at the wine traveling from his throat to his stomach and chuckled nervously. He wrapped his hand around Meredith's wrist and paced to the middle of the crowd. She didn't even have a second to ask him what was going on before he called for the crowd's attention, stirring up nervousness in Meredith as she turned to grip his arm, silently asking him to explain what the hell was going on.

"Everyone! Hi, Derek here," he cleared his throat, ignoring the glare she threw his way, "Thanks for coming. I really appreciate the warm welcome. It was good seeing you all again," he gave the quick introductory spiel.

"I may have introduced you tonight to my girlfriend, Dr. Meredith Grey," he lightly pushed her forward, wrapping an arm tightly around her waist as Meredith gave the crowd a nervous smile and wave. "Well, I'd like to correct that. I'd like you all to meet Meredith, my fiancée and future bride. We are getting married!"

The crowd riled up in applause and celebration. Calls for champagne sent waiters into a frenzy to comply as Meredith concealed her desire to throttle the man holding her hostage by the waist as they received kisses and handshakes of congratulations from people around them.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Whatever happened to 'we should wait before we tell them'?" she held back a scream as she whispered into his ear quickly in the middle of receiving the happy crowd. She didn't miss the way Derek glanced for a millisecond in Addison and her father's direction just to see what kind of reaction he got out of them.

She was able to drag him away just for a second. "You know, you talk pretty big about making sure I act like a good girlfriend around your family. I thought we had an understanding that our stories and actions had to be in sync, but you just–"

"I don't need to explain myself to you," he spat bitterly, both of them able to conceal the anger brewing with warm smiles.

She was taken aback by his sudden agitation but that just made her want to throttle him even more. He was fine. They were fine. She was even starting to think they could be civil but she spoke too soon. The irksome feeling of Derek's one-sided decision sat in Meredith's stomach. Derek probably thought since they were on his turf, that he got to call the shots. She called in the favor, after all. But that didn't erase the fact that this was a two-man operation.

Despite her icy demeanor towards Derek, she knew how to put on a show. When the party was officially over and the guests and caterers dispersed, Meredith never having gotten to formally meet his line of sisters and the rest of his immediate family.

They were both ready to pass out from exhaustion when finally Carolyn and Gammie led them into a big bedroom with a king sized bed, a cozy bathroom, and glass windows to an exquisite view of the rest of the island and the water. The sun still rose high in the sky, courtesy of the endless daytime in Alaska. You could hardly feel that it was already 8 at night with the blinding rays in the room.

"Well, we're gonna leave you to it," Carolyn gave them a warm smile, folding a blanket and throwing it on the bed while giving Meredith and Derek the chance to study the room.

"Well…where's Derek's staying?" Meredith crossed her heart on a wing and a prayer that the Shepherds were more traditional than she thought.

Carolyn laughed out loud. "Oh, hon. We're not under any impression that you two don't sleep in the same bed! It's the 21st century."

"He'll stay here with you, silly," Gammie Annie added.

Both of them grimaced inwardly as they studied the cozy bed that only one of them would get to enjoy. All of a sudden, an offending bark entered the room as tapping paws made their way into the vicinity.

Meredith's sour mood immediately switched up at the creature that had entered. "Oh my goodness! And who's this?" Meredith crouched down to let the dog lap at her face affectionately who was alternating between her and scratching on Derek's legs, excited by the two strangers that were in his territory.

"That's Kevin. He's a rescue from the pound." Carolyn smiled as Meredith showered the panting, full-sized Samoyed with affection and Derek patting on his head. "Big white ball of energy. Loves to jump on people. He's heavy too, and could knock you down."

"I'm sure he means well, don't you boy?" She admired the white wolf-dog who happily stuck his tongue out while being combed down. Derek looked at her expression– bright with childlike wonder who momentarily gave him an excited smile as the dog sniffed her all over her face.

"Meredith's… a big dog person," Derek explained for his grandma and mother, who were slightly amused at how attached she'd become. "She has one in Seattle."

"Well, he obviously likes you," the ladies giggled. "Come on Kev, let them rest. You'll see them in the morning," Carolyn beckoned the dog who complied obediently as they made their way out of the room.

They exchanged their goodnights, and Gammie winked before closing the door. Once they were left alone, the silence grew and grew even more awkward.

"I'll take the floor, you take the bed," Derek offered while she said nothing as she silently gathered her suitcase. Damn right I get the bed, Ass.

He felt an innate sense of guilt as she moved around the room silently. He knew that he probably spoke too harshly, especially after they had started to warm up to each other in the slightest of ways. What little progress diminished the moment he decided to blindside her with his little performance then hissed at her.

She continued to unpack, shoving most of her clothes into drawers and walking around the room to put her things away. The cold air had nothing to do with the weather outside as he awkwardly sat down trying to meet her avoiding eyes.

"Grey, will you stop acting like a child." The words came out on their own as his brain refused to admit defeat. Probably not the right words to utter out when trying to make amends. His verbal diarrhea was really on a roll today. He sat dejectedly on the small couch as he knew what saying the wrong words was going to earn him.

"Seriously? I haven't said a damn thing," she screeched in annoyance.

"Yeah, well your silence is deafening."

"No, I literally haven't said anything to you since you certainly made it clear my input doesn't matter when it comes to you dealing with your family."

"What is the big deal? We agreed I get to decide when and how I tell them."

"I know that. That's not my point. Would it just have killed you to tell me what the hell was going on?"

"I don't have to-"

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. I get it," she rolled her eyes at his pigheadedness. She let out a deep sigh to try and keep herself from going unnecessarily ballistic.

"But you also don't get to act like a martyr anymore, Shepherd," she pointed out in a calm voice with indignation. "Admit it. You obviously have your own agenda to serve here. You want to show your family that you're not as emotionally fucked up as they think. You couldn't wait to show that Addison girl that you're great without her. You want them to believe that you were able to make it big on your own without any of them. Your big fancy job in the big fancy city with a girl in your arms," she shrugged her shoulders, "That's fine. Good for you that this little fucked up situation we have going on here is turning out to be more beneficial to you than you first thought. But you don't get to act like I owe you the world anymore for agreeing to this. It's officially mutually beneficial, so I'm an asset to you just as you are to me. It'd be nice if we worked together on making the best of it."

She walked into the bathroom and lightly closed the door behind her, not giving him a chance to even deny the truth.

Derek hung his head like a child that was just berated. She was right. He always hated it when people tried to analyze him. He hated it even more when they were right. It was obvious he never dealt with his father's death, and when he was presented with the opportunity to leave home and the painful reminder of his father's death, when he got into college, he left. He ran to the literal other end of the country– from Alaska all the way to Maine. Ever since, he always felt like he needed to prove something every time he came home, especially after what happened with Addison most recently.

While Meredith took her time in the bathroom, he chose to quickly get changed in the bedroom. He put on a comfortable shirt just in time for Meredith to crack the door open and peek into the room.

"If you don't plan on coming out of there, I'm taking the bed," he peered lightly as he spotted her eyes looking through the cracks.

She swallowed the lump in her throat before quickly tiptoeing to the bed as fast as she could, feeling a little too exposed at the silk camisole and shorts she wore. She slipped under the cover, holding the sheet up to her fairly revealed chest.

"Those are the pajamas you decided to bring to Alaska?" he judged as he put his own belongings away.

"Yes. Because I was supposed to be in a hotel room alone," she defended with an accusatory tone while sliding down to rest her back on the middle of the huge bed.

She cleared her throat as she tried to force her eyes to stay closed. She tossed and turned uncomfortably, trying to adjust to the too many pillows around her while Derek was in front of the bed, kneeling as he laid blankets out on the floor from the closet.

He hated the idea of trying to go to sleep with the tension lingering in the air and guilt in his stomach. This was their first night in Alaska. His first night home in years. He wanted to sleep comfortably tonight. If not on a bed, then at least with a clear conscience. If it was bad tonight, it was only going to get worse tomorrow if they didn't do anything about it.

"Grey.." he said quietly, knowing she wasn't asleep. It was obvious from the way she tried to squeeze her eyes shut from the bright light outside. "Grey!" he called out louder when she didn't respond.

"What?" she gruffed.

"Will you just look at me, please?" he called out to her as he rose to sit on the small bench that stuck to the front of the bed. She didn't hold back the groan in her throat as she opened her eyes and raised the top half of her body, resting on both elbows, cocking her eyebrow at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry."

She wasn't really expecting an apology. That wasn't how they rolled as enemies. He was as unrelenting as she was when it came to pride. Part of her knew she had to grow up and stop seeing him like that, but old habits die hard. She appreciated it nonetheless. Her expression softened at the genuineness as he continued.

"I treated you like I did you a big favor to the point of dismissing you. Honestly, the more I thought about it, the more relieved I was that you had to come with me, fake fiancee and all," he admitted sheepishly. "One of the reasons I never came home all these years was because I hated the way they pitied me. But now, for once, they aren't looking at me like some lonely beaten-up puppy."

She gave him a tight-lipped smile and a nod. "I'm sorry too. And you are…You are doing me a big favor. I never thanked you for that. I also didn't mean to call you out like that. I really don't know why I was even so upset," she admitted.

"It's okay. You're right and I was a dick." They bickered every now and then. That was what they did for years. Sometimes it was fun, especially when he won. Most times it was taxing, but he's pretty sure he's never raised his voice like that at her or at anyone for that matter. The stress of seeing Addie and his family and all those people today just made it too much for him to handle.

"Well, I've known those two things for a while now," she giggled sweetly.

"Very funny. I mean it. So…truce?"

She pretended to think for a minute before giving him a smile. She hadn't given a truce since kindergarten. "Fine. For now. Can we go to sleep?" she said as she tossed him a bolster and a couple of the large pillows that were making her uncomfortable.

"Absolutely," he replied with relief, grabbing the remote from the dresser and pressing it to allow the electronic blinds to lower, giving them some much-needed shade.

His eyes felt heavy as he tried to make the best of his makeshift bed out of several blankets on the floor. "Glad you fell for that. I only apologized because I needed a pillow," he teased as he made himself comfortable on the floor. He heard her snort out loud before another pillow suddenly launched from the bed straight to his face.

"No, absolutely not. Tell the damn FDA that the research is still under my name, not the hospital's. I'll take it to Jupiter with me if I get deported there too. Under no circumstances do they have the right to change the principal author," she screeched into the phone, pacing back and forth the lawn as she tried to find the best service.

"What? I can't hear you. Spit it out, Ross." The static grew and grew and it didn't help that Shane Ross' voice only dwindled softer in fear.

"Ross? Ross! Damnit," she cursed as she threw her phone to the ground in frustration at the call being cut. "Great. That piece of shit's probably broken now too."

"Good morning to you too, sunshine," Derek beamed, walking from behind her donning a thick hoodie and sweats. "My back feels great, thanks for asking," his greeting laced with a little bit of contempt after his sleep had been interrupted by the phone she just killed.

He tossed and turned throughout every now and then throughout the night, the plush carpet and thick blankets did little to fully soften the hardwood floor he called for a bed. It didn't help that Meredith tripped on him twice en route to the bathroom. He had half a mind to either jump in the bed while she was in the bathroom or actually sleep in the bathtub.

She collected her now cracked iPhone from the ground, trying to turn it on. Her face crumpled in frustration as her arms flailed as she tried to explain. "The hospital board froze my fucking research on account that I-"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" he placed his hand on her cheek while shushing her discreetly as he gave her a sour smile.

She instantly grew even more annoyed as if that was possible and slapped his arm away. "What is going on with you?" she furrowed her eyebrows at him weirdly.

"Okay, seriously, stop. You don't want them to think we're fighting," he gritted out as he feigned a smile, gesturing to his head slightly towards the house so Meredith could see what or who he was talking about. "You look hot, by the way," he complimented sarcastically.

Her hair was sticking out in different directions and she must've grabbed the wrong robe on the way out of the bedroom because it was three times too big for her. Her feet adorned the first pair of footwear by the door that happened to be a pair of giant rain boots.

"Thanks. What do you want?"

"Mom wanted me to tell you you're meeting the whole family at lunch today."

"Okay, so," she squinted naturally from the bright light as she kept trying to get her phone to turn on. "What's the plan?" she asked, halfheartedly paying attention.

"Plan is the same as always. We just need to stick to the story we already told them in the car."

She wasn't even listening as she fiddled with the few buttons and banged the small screen against her palm. "Stupid phone. Idiotic waste of shit. I cannot believe this cost me–,"

"Stop." Derek snatched the phone from her hands before it would shatter into a million pieces. "You're gonna be fine. We'll go to town later and order you another one. It should come by tomorrow."

"Oh. Well, okay." she shrugged as he gave her back her phone. "Cool. Thanks. What were you saying again?"

The wind was suddenly knocked out from her as she felt a strong push from her back, causing her to topple on Derek who dominoed onto the ground, breaking her fall. He groaned at the sudden impact as she raised her head to find a happy-looking Kevin trying to coerce the fallen couple into playing with him.

"Hi," she groaned at the dog innocently wagging his tail as she still had her hands resting on Derek's chest while his arm encircled her shoulder and another around her waist.

Before they could fully get up, the dog erupted into a deafening bark at the sight of some squirrels by a tree, rattling them. They were on the ground as the white wolf burst into a run to chase the creatures, leaving them alone and absent-minded of their position.

Just as they realized how close their faces actually were, Meredith was suddenly hyper-aware of the hand that cupped her slim waist and Derek could smell the scent blooming from her hair.

He swallowed the lump that began to form in his throat as he subconsciously held on tighter to her, and she studied his face carefully, seeing the structures of his nose to the thick dark lashes on his dimming stormy eyes.

"Well, fiancee. I believe we're about to have our first kiss," he suggested with a playful, mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"As if," she retaliated but made no effort to pull away.

"They're watching. How could we pass off as a real couple if we didn't kiss at this very compromising position, Grey? I thought we had to do everything necessary to play the part?" he threw back her own words at her, suddenly desperate to finally know the sensation. He wasn't insane. There was no way he was passing off the opportunity to kiss Meredith Grey.

She cocked her eyebrow with surprise at his flirtiness. Two can play in this game.

"Acting, Shepherd," she breathed out into a whisper as she stared at his parched expression and her warm breath fanning his face in the cold air, "is all about the angles."

Her hand reached up to rest against his cheek, his rough stubble tickling the soft skin of her palm. She threw a quick sideway glance at their audience. Carolyn, Lizzie, and Gammie looked down at them from a distance by the living room balcony with warm smiles, fawning at their sweetness while nestling cups of warm steaming coffee in their hands.

His eyes lowered, gluing them to her plump pink lips as she leaned up even closer and closer only to dodge his ready lips and flatly plant her mouth against its very corner, refusing to smooch the area but rather graze the skin of her lips against the stubble coated cheek. She then cast a sly smile against him causing her lips to purse, forcing the movement of her mouth to let the nerve endings feel just a few millimeters more of him for a split second.

Sure enough, from the balcony, warm aww's and ooh's could be heard, fooled by the angle that made it seem like they were engaged in a warm and loving kiss.

She tilted her head a little, pulling her chin back to finally take her lips away from his cheek, and ever so lightly pressed her forehead against his brow bone

His breath was ragged by the pure crackling electricity between them. He further reveled in the sensation of having her within arms' reach. Just an inch of a flex of his neck, a slight turn of the head, and he could actually hold her lips hostage.

Just before he could do such a thing, she quickly got up from their position on the grass with a mischievous giggle, satisfied at how she left him breathless and confused at how quickly she disappeared from his hold.

"I'm gonna get dressed. I'm getting goosebumps. Must be the chill out here, hmm, sweetie?" she called out with a hearty laugh, already walking away with her back turned to him. She raised a hand waving him off as her hips swayed in the plaid bedroom robe with arrogant confidence at how she had won this round.

He rested on his elbows as he watched her retreating form, still trying to register what the fuck just happened.

"Damn," he cursed into the nothingness before laying completely down on the grass with a loud disappointed groan, covering his eyes with his elbows in dissatisfaction.

She was going to be the death of him.

A/N: Reviews are highly appreciated. They're what motivate me to write. Reviews and horrible new Grey's episodes that, luckily, aren't short in supply.

RIP the Legend Betty White, who would've turned 100 by now and plays Grandma Annie in The Proposal.

Check out my other stories! Two one-shots called "Salt and the Sea" and "Locked Out of Heaven". I'm also publishing another collection of one-shots and another AU soon. Hope you stay tuned for that.