Disclaimer: it applies
Teaser: McDreamy, McSteamy… meet McJuicy
Notes: yay, okay. It was supposed to be up this Wednesday. But you know what? I forgot I have frigging AP exams this week! Gah! Well… at least it's over. But I have SATs tomorrow and I'm so tired… so I didn't manage to get this up until now. And then… it's because if I read the SAT book one more time I'll explode.
Wait… and what is Derek calling Meredith next episode? Oh no… they didn't!
/Chapter Four: Something/
It takes two days for Meredith to call Finn. The entire time Izzie is peering into the doorway, rolling her eyes when she finds Meredith has not moved from her position on her bed.
"Meredith," Izzie says as she thumps a hand on her hip. "Call him. He's McJuicy. He's available. And he's into you."
"Yeah. I know. But—"
"But what?"
"Nothing," Meredith breathes and is oddly near tears. There is nothing. "There's nothing. There's nothing there. I need something there."
With a sisterly nod, Izzie struts into the room like a mother hen. She fiddles with Meredith's hair—as if Finn can see her over the telephone—and hands her the phone.
"Maybe," Izzie suggests, "if you call him there will be."
And maybe, Meredith realizes, that's what she is afraid of.
She calls him up and doesn't bother taking out the slip of paper he had pressed into her palm. She's memorized his number it by heart.
"Finn," he groans into the phone and Meredith has a hard time not drooling over the image of a rumpled Finn lifting a tired head from his bed. "If your dog isn't throwing up his lung, you better hang up now."
"You told me my dog was fine," Meredith jokes lightly, pressing a hand to her heart as it thumps loudly—and painfully—against her chest.
God, what is she, a fifteen-year-old on her first date?
"Meredith?" Awareness flutters into his voice. "Damn. It's ten. You can only call me when I can be unbearably sexy for you. One minute." He coughs and shouts a warning to the dog that is barking in the background. "Okay. I'm in sexy mode. I'm ready to sweep you off your feet."
"That doesn't seem likely," Meredith points out with a small laugh, cradling the phone against her ear. "You're ten miles away."
"Obviously I was speaking metaphorically."
"Obviously."
"Unless," Finn adds as he drops his voice another level with easy grace. "You want me to come over? I'd be happy to do some sweeping. You'd find I'm good at sweeping. I've been complemented on it many times."
Meredith doesn't doubt him as she leans back against her pillows, tugging absently on her shirt. "Oh? Complemented by who?"
There is a pause. "Ah… my mother. Yeah, my mother told me."
"You swept your mother off her feet?"
"Did I say my mother?" Finn laughs, aiming for a nervous sound but failing. He's enjoying this as much as she is. "Obviously I meant… that I… wasn't complemented at all. I'm a liar."
"A liar, huh?" Meredith grins, big and wide, and wraps a strand of hair around her finger. "I'll have to remember that when you say I'm beautiful."
"You are beautiful," Finn says mock-forcefully.
"I'm not going to believe a liar."
"You, Meredith Grey, are a tease." Finn gives a husky laugh and she hears the shift of his sheets as he rolls over.
She tries fruitfully not to imagine a naked Finn wrapped up in white, bland sheets.
Meredith Grey is a miserable failure.
If Meredith had been able to think, she might have worried about drooling. Or she might have considered Finn warranted drooling. Or she might not have given a damn.
But a naked Finn has a unique ability to drive out all coherent thought patterns.
After all, Finn has rippling muscles. Meredith licks her lips absently. Then realizes she is licking her lips. She laughs at herself.
"What?" Finn demands and there is another shift of covers. Meredith nearly sighs in ecstasy. "What is it?"
"N—nothing."
"Oh God, you have another guy there, don't you?" Finn gives a small moan of pain as he accuses her. "You've just finished having incredible sex and called to let me know."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because life is cruel, Meredith. Life is cruel."
She giggles and presses a hand to her lips to stop them from smiling so ridiculously. "I'm not having incredibly hot sex, Finn. Don't worry. In fact, I spent my day reading."
"Reading? What's wrong with that? I enjoy a good Tom Clancy or Michael Crichton book every now and then, but I could never get into Nora Roberts."
"Yeah, but I was reading the Grapes of Wrath."
"Uh."
"By choice."
"Ouch." Finn's wince is almost audible of the line. "I'm so sorry. I think you need sex. And, though it pains me greatly to offer, I suppose I'll have sex with you. For the good of the world, you understand."
"Oh," Meredith nods seriously, flipping hair out of her eyes. "Of course. You're such a martyr."
"A martyr who likes sex," Finn agrees and sighs deeply.
Meredith laughs loudly and for the first time since she can remember it has a ring of truth. She curls onto herself and tells him, "Finn? This isn't why I called."
There is another small pause on the line. "Well, I can only imagine it's not too good if you're not calling to tell me you've decide to hot, crazy sex with me."
"Well—"
"Meredith, I'm willing to try to make this 'friends' thing work with you, since I like you. But you gotta give me time," Finn protests and he sounds a little panicked. "I mean, I can't stop imaging you naked just like that and you're so damned hot and I happened to like hot women so—"
"I want to go out with you."
"Beside, I am a red-blooded… ah… what?"
Because it doesn't sound nearly as bad now that she's said it, Meredith giddily repeats, "I want to go out with you."
"Can you say that again?"
She blinks and repeats once more, "I want to go out with you?"
"One more time."
"Finn."
He laughs merrily and she hears him plop himself back onto the pillows of his bed. "Okay. It's just that… I never thought I'd hear you say it. I mean, I've imagined it… of course, the fantasy usual details us, alone, and you wet somehow. You tell me you're madly in love with me and then proceed to strip off—"
"I'm not having sex with you," Meredith interjects, adding a silent 'yet' in her head.
"Ruin all my fantasies, why don't you?" Finn doesn't sound too upset and that's because he knows he'll get her in bed one-way or the other. Meredith knows it, too.
It doesn't bother her so much.
"Finn?"
"One second, Meredith," Finn replies and it sounds like he is standing. "I gotta go check the front door."
"Why? It's ten."
"Well, I've been so hot and bothered lately that I figured once hell froze over Satan would stop here first," Finn replies and they both share a small laugh. Then he asks, seriously, "Honestly, Meredith? Going out?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Why changed your mind?"
"I dunno, really." She thinks of Derek in a wistful way, smiling at her and letting her go. Letting her go.
For the first time in over a year, Meredith doesn't cling to some fake hope or lost faith. After so long of being wounded, Meredith is ready to risk herself again. Gamble on another man.
"I think, maybe, it's just time for me. To, I guess, give it another try."
"I'll make it worth your while, Meredith," Finn swears in a serious tone that is out of character for him. "I'm not an asshole."
"I hope so. And I know."
Just a quickly as the seriousness comes, it leaves. Finn is grinning again as he asks, "So when do you want to go out? God, tell me it's soon. And where?"
"Well, I'm pulling long shifts the next two days—"
"—Meredith!"
"—but after that I'm free for a bit."
"Alright. Alright. I'll suffer in silence since I know you'll make it worth my while." Finn yawns lightly and she hears him struggling with his covers. "D'ya mind if I go back to sleep, Meredith? I need my beauty rest now, especially if we're going on a date. I want to be sexy for you."
She stops herself from saying she suspects he's unbearably sexy right now.
"Well, then, good night, Finn."
"'Night, Meredith. I'll call you later." As if on second thought, and with a sound of unholy glee, he announces to her, "We're kinda dating now, aren't we?"
"Yeah, I guess we kinda are," Meredith answers and smiles as something warm and fuzzy tickles her stomach. Absently, she rubs at it.
Such a strange, wonderful, awkward feeling. She remembers it vaguely, like a long forgotten dream, from when Derek used to smile at her. Before his smile was laden with a wife and before Meredith realized that no matter how happy she was, life was never happily ever after.
But this, strangely enough, feels a bit like it.
And Finn, of course—
"One more thing Meredith."
"Hmm? Yeah, what?" Meredith yawns much in the way Finn does and settles into back, curling her coverlet over her warming body.
"What are you wearing?"
She snaps up, laughing as she does. "Goodnight, Finn."
"Aw, come on. Since you're not going to give me real sex how 'bout some—"
Because she knows he expects her too, Meredith hangs up.
notes: don't hate me too much for putting Meredith and Finn together, k? I mean, it's canon right? For now anyway. You know how fast Meredith goes through men, right? On the bright side, still a Meredith/Derek fan! Yay! I love them! But—
Meredith: you don't get to call me a slut.
WTF Derek?
God, is it Sunday yet?
Reviewsilajkajas2215: I know how you feel. I can't see a fic entitled Adderk without cringing. Maybe I'm a hypocrite. I just don't like Addison. No. Correction. I just don't like Addison with Derek.
luv24+Alias: I always feel bad for Derek, even when I don't want to. Which sucks because sometimes he deserves it.
MeOh: oh, don't get me wrong. I'm a hard-core Meredith/Derek shipper. I just think, for now, it be nice if Meredith tried to move on. Plus… you know… Chris O'Donnell.
TivoforSteaveo: sometimes I think Derek deserves a swift kick in the pants. But he always seems to recover in the best way, doesn't he? I mean, someone always wants him… but I can't blame them, I guess.
Mary Kate113: I've been in love with Chris O'Donnell since the Three Musketeers. Then Batman came along… oh my God, Chris O'Donnell in leather. Dreams do come true.