Author's note: After this, two more chapters to go… Enjoy and Review.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Meredith slams her shot glass on the wooden bar.

"She seriously said that?" Cristina asked as she took a sip of her drink. She unzips her jacket and places it on the bar in front of her.

Meredith nods as she chases her shot with a beer. "She seriously said all of that. Cristina, I was like a little girl. I didn't say anything back to her. I just started the elevator, ran to the closest room, and cried until I was paged."

Cristina listens carefully, "Well you could have started with 'look bitch, go fuck yourself.'" She smiles at Meredith who laughs at her. "Seriously, she's just trying to hurt you, and honestly can you blame her I mean McSteamy and McDreamy, that's just too much hot man to lose to one woman."

Meredith takes a long sip of her beer. She smiles again at Cristina and laughs. "I guess you're right. You should hear the things that people are saying about me."

Cristina leans in closer, "I heard Derek got you pregnant, and you lied and told Mark that he was the father of the child." Meredith throws a peanut at Cristina while she laughs hysterically. "Seriously Mer, people are idiots, ignore them."

Meredith rolls her eyes and orders another shot, "It's really easy to ignore it when the entire hospital is talking about you. I mean, I'm boring. My life isn't that interesting."

"Are you kidding you are basically living the life of the female lead of a medial drama. You're life is so interesting."

Meredith laughs again, "It's a lot less interesting to live through." Joe sits the shot in front of Meredith.

"So what are you and Mark doing?" Cristina asks as she sucks on the lime from her drink.

Meredith finishes her beer and sighs. "We're trying to figure this all out."

"Figure what out?"

"This situation, us, them, just this whole mess."

"So what happened to the empty, amazing sex?"

"Maybe it wasn't so empty after all?"

"I knew it," Cristina says as she rests her now empty glass on the counter. "I'm always right."

"It's just that I can't handle being alone anymore waiting for the Shepherd marriage to self-destruct. It's just too much…"

"And this is better?" Cristina raises a questionable eyebrow at Meredith.

"Minus the whole Derek walking in on us about to have sex, yes this is better. We both know what it's like, I guess." Meredith takes her shot, which Joe immediately refills.

"Have you seen Derek since?"

Meredith shakes her head no. "He rescheduled all his surgeries today. I'm pretty sure he's never going to talk to me again. I messed that up, but I mean maybe it's for the better. Maybe it's finally over."

"You're not serious?" Cristina says as she brings her fresh drink to her lips. "You two will never be over."

"We have to be. He's married, and I'm…" Meredith pauses. "I'm with Mark."

Christina turns away from Meredith and faces the bar directly. Meredith notices her odd behavior.

"What happened?"

Cristina whispers in her drink, "Derek just came into the bar."

Meredith stays turned around. She quickly takes her shot, places a twenty on the bar. She grabs her bag and coat. "I'll call you when I get home okay." Cristina nods as the blonde attempts to make her way out of the bar without Derek seeing her.

Meredith walks into the cool Seattle night.

I guess he didn't see me.

She fumbles in the bottom of her bag. It wasn't until this moment that she began to feel the effect of the alcohol she had just consumed.

Shit, where are my keys…

Meredith continues to look further into her bag.

"So tonight wasn't a good night?"

Meredith's head snaps up as her keys fall to the ground. Derek is leaning against the car parked next to hers. She hadn't even heard him walk over. Meredith bends down and reaches for her keys underneath her Jeep.

"Excuse me?" Meredith says genuinely confused.

"You're leaving alone. You never leave Joe's alone, so tonight must have been an off night for you," Derek says as she takes a sip of the beer he brought out with him from Joe's.

He's calling me a whore, again.

"No, I'm going home to Mark." Meredith says these words knowing the damage they would cause Derek.

Derek's eyes flash with pain. "It's sad really, I mean, you two, two mistresses together trying to make it work." Derek takes a gulp of his beer as he leans in closer. He lowers his voice. "It won't work. Mistresses aren't supposed to have a happy ending."

"You would like that wouldn't you. You would like for Mark and Me to fail so you wouldn't be the only one in a miserable relationship. So you wouldn't be the only one living with a stranger. Derek, you made your bed now lie in it, and leave me alone." Meredith turns and tries to unlock her Jeep.

Derek finishes his beer and tosses the empty bottle across the parking lot. The glass shatters. Meredith jumps and turns to look at him.

Derek leans back on the car. "I used to lie in bed next to Addison at night and I wouldn't be able to sleep. I would toss and turn. I would lie there and think about you. I would think about the sent of your hair. I would think about you smiling. I would lie there and miss you with my entire being. I'm glad I can finally see who you really are, because now I can get a good night of sleep. I don't love you, how could I, I don't even know who you are. I've wasted too many nights on you already."

Meredith feels the tears running down her face. She stands there listening to him. His eyes linger on her for a few seconds until he turns to go back into the bar. Meredith finally opens her door to her jeep. She looks at him one last time before she climbs into the drivers seat. She slowly pulls out of the parking lot and drives down the block to the convince store. She parks her car in front of the store, rests her head on her steering wheel, and cries.

He doesn't love me anymore. He doesn't love me anymore…

gagagagagagagagagaga

Meredith inserts the plastic access card to Mark's hotel room door. The green light flashes as Meredith pushes the door open. Mark is sitting in the bed watching television. Meredith doesn't say anything. Her face is stained with tears. She begins to undress. She goes into the bathroom and comes out wearing Mark's college sweatshirt and some shorts. Still silent, Meredith climbs into bed with Mark and mindlessly watches the TV.

Mark can sense Meredith's mood. He pulls her closer to his side. He flicks through the channels as he smoothes Meredith's hair.

"I can't do it," Meredith whispers.

"What?" Mark asks as he mutes the television and rolls on his side to face Meredith.

Meredith shakes her head and covers her legs with Mark's sweatshirt. "I can't walk through the hospital pretending I don't hear the things they say about me. I can't live in a house with people I hardly know anymore. I can't see him everyway and pretend I'm okay, because I'm not." Meredith cries. She stops talking in an attempt to compose herself.

"But you will be okay."

"I can't be. Not here. This is all just too much for me to handle."

"Meredith, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I want to leave."

"Seattle Grace?" Mark asks as he adjusts the pillow underneath his head.

Meredith's voice waivers, "No." She pauses. "I want to leave Seattle, and I want you to come with me."

Mark does not ask any more questions but simply responds, "Okay."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," he responds.

"You'll just take up and leave with me."

"If that's what you want."

Meredith lies there for a while before saying anything else. "It's what I want. It's what I need to do. I have to get on with my life."

Mark puts his arms around Meredith. She rests her head on his chest. Mark kisses her gently on the lips.

This is what I have to do…