Author's Notes: No long rambles this time. Enjoy and Review.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Mark poured creamer into his coffee. He stood over the coffee a bit hesitant to stir it, but rather watched the white liquid mix with the dark coffee. He feels like he's in a daze. Derek never came back last night. Addison told Mark he had to leave. He tried to protest but to no avail. Now, Addison won't answer his calls, and it is becoming very obvious that she is ignoring him.
'Perfect,' Mark thinks to himself as she finally stirs his coffee. 'Today's going to be a long day.'
He puts a lid on his coffee and turns to walk down the hall. He sees Meredith ordering her coffee and decides to wait for her. 'Maybe she knows where Derek went last night.'
"Hey," Meredith says as she takes the lid off her cup and pours in some milk. "What's up," she asks. She walks closer to him and notices that he looks even more tired than before.
Mark shakes his head as he sits down on a near by bench, taking a sip of his coffee. "Nothing at all."
"Well you look like shit." Meredith states blankly. She isn't trying to get a rise out of him, but rather let him know that he isn't fooling anyone. Something was very obviously wrong, and after Derek's appearance at her door last night she's dying to figure out exactly what happened.
Last night, she didn't try to get Derek to talk. Rather, she put clean linens on one of the guest room beds, and gave him a clean towel. She figured he'd open up to her when the time came. For now, she is just trying to be a good friend—that's it.
"Have you seen Derek?" Mark asks nonchalantly, his eyes avoiding Meredith's.
Meredith shakes her head. "No, I haven't, not since last night."
"Oh."
"Mark, what's wrong?" Meredith asks now a little more than worried. "Is everything okay?"
Mark takes a long sip of his coffee. "Of course everything is fine. What would make you think otherwise?"
'The fact that you look obviously distraught and Derek showing up on at my house in the middle of the night,' Meredith thinks to herself but decides against saying it out loud. "Oh nothing you just look really worn down, kinda like it might be more than simply being tired."
"Oh," Mark replies his mind very obviously elsewhere.
Meredith stands up. "Well, it was great talking to you."
Mark rubs his face with his hand. "I'm sorry Meredith. We'll talk later, okay?" Mark looks up at her apologetically.
Meredith touches him on his shoulder. "Okay, later." Meredith gives him a sad smile and walks to the stairwell.
She pulls open the heavy door and slowly walks up the stairs.
"Meredith." Meredith snaps her head around to see who is calling her name—Cristina.
"I haven't seen you in a while." Meredith says, and begins to walk up the stairs next to Cristina.
"Not my fault."
Meredith rolls her eyes. "It never is."
"So what's going on?" Cristina asks.
"What do you mean?"
"Well both of the Dr. Shepherds canceled their surgeries this morning, and Dr. Sloan is walking around the hospital looking as if they are going to kill someone."
Meredith shrugs. "Hm, I didn't notice."
Cristina stops walking and grabs Meredith's arm. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"You're a bad liar, you know that, right?"
"And you're kind of a bitch." Meredith sits down on the step and Cristina sat down next to her.
"I know." Cristina says cheerfully. "So did you get caught sleeping with Dr. Shepherd, or Dr. Sloan?"
"Cristina!"
"No seriously, something happened and you know what's going on."
"I don't know anything," Meredith lies. Cristina narrows her gaze on Meredith. Meredith sighs. "Derek kissed me."
"Addison saw you?"
"No."
"Mark saw you?"
"No, no one saw."
"Are you sleeping with Derek?"
Meredith shakes her head no. "I'm not sleeping with anyone."
Cristina rolls her eyes, and notices Meredith open her mouth to defend herself. "Whatever, I don't care. If you didn't get caught in bed with someone, what happened?"
"Honestly I have no idea, but there's one other thing." Meredith rests her head against the hard stairwell railing. "Derek came by last night."
"Then he kissed you?"
"No that happened earlier. Something happened last night, and he came by. He needed a place to stay."
"You've got to be kidding me. McDreamy is staying with you."
"Yeah," Meredith says softly.
"You're so about to get burned. You don't have any idea what's going on, but you let him stay with you. Bad move, seriously."
Meredith stands up. "I don't think it's that big of a deal."
"Your boss whom you have been playing little flirty games with is sleeping down the hall from you. The same boss who kissed you last night. The same boss who's having issues with his wife, and I forgot you slept with his best friend. Does he know about Dr. Sloan?" Cristina looks up at Meredith.
"No."
Cristina rises to her feet. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Cristina begins to walk away from Meredith down the stairs.
"What does that mean?" Meredith calls out after her.
"Oh, you'll figure it out."
-x-
"Take Mrs. Karim down to the CT. Page me when you get the results." Derek hands the intern the patient's chart. He turns and walks out of the room.
He pauses in the hall, and runs his hands through his hair. He walks towards the OR board, but turns around as he sees Mark approaching him.
He cuts down the hallway that leads to some of the surgical offices. Mark follows him down the hall.
"Derek."
Derek doesn't turn to face him. "Mark just turn around. I have nothing to say to you."
"I just wanted to say…"
Derek finally turns around, his face red with anger. "What that you're sorry you fucked my wife. Thanks man. I know I thanked you before for helping us, but when you help out, you do it all the way."
"Derek, this isn't what…"
"What it looks like? Mark we're beyond this. Did I, or did I not, see my wife on top of you last night? Let me guess it was the first time."
Mark drops his eyes to the floor. "That's what I thought." Derek pushes past Mark, in an attempt to walk away.
Mark stands there motionless; there is nothing else to say. Derek is walking away when he sees Addison's office door open. Addison walks into the hall.
"Derek," She begins. Derek all together ignores her and walks away. "Adulterous bitch," he mutters under his breath.
Addison breathes in heavily and looks down the hall at Mark. She drops her head, walks back into her office, and locks the door.
-x-
Meredith zips up her fleece as she walks out of the hospital into the cold night. She hadn't seen any of the attendings all day, and the hospital gossip cycle was going at full force.
Meredith stops at her Jeep and searches in her bag for her keys. Her head snaps up as she hears someone walk towards her car.
"Addison."
"Good evening, Dr. Grey."
Meredith looks down and continues to look for her keys. She finds them and looks back at Addison waiting for her to say something.
"I don't know what you know, but I figure I might as well ask. Do you know where Derek is, or where he's staying?"
"No, I'm sorry I don't. I haven't even seen him since last night."
"Oh, okay thanks." Addison says as she shifts her leather tote on her shoulder. "Well, have a good night." Addison feigns a smile and walks away.
-x-
Meredith pushes her front door open and walks towards the kitchen. She smiles as she sees Derek standing over the stove stirring a pot.
"Hey," she says, placing her bag on the floor.
"Taste this." Derek hands her the wooden spoon. He watches Meredith's reaction.
"mmm… I didn't know you cook."
"I don't. It's Ragu." Meredith laughs. "I can definitely boil pasta and heat up marinara sauce. Grab a plate. We can eat dinner, and I got us a movie to watch."
"Derek, you don't have to do this." Meredith says, walking toward the cupboard, pulling out two plates.
"You let me into your home, the least I can do is heat up some food."
Meredith shrugs. "Fair enough."
Derek serves them and they go and sit in front of the television. "What movie did you get?" Meredith asks.
Derek picks up the remote and starts the movie. "Old School."
Meredith laughs. "Classy."
"What can I say? I'm a classy guy. Besides, Owen Wilson's love interest kind of looks like you."
"Whatever." Meredith responds, as she resumes eating her pasta.
They don't talk for a while, but rather watch the movie. Meredith excuses herself and goes to put the dishes in the sink. Derek pauses the movie and follows her into the kitchen.
Meredith begins to protest. "No, you cooked, therefore I get to clean."
Derek walks over to the sink and turns the water on. "You can, at least, let me help."
Meredith narrows her eyes on him, "Okay, I'll let you help if you answer my question."
"Shoot."
"Why are you here?"
The smile falls from Derek's face. He turns off the water and leans against the sink. "Things have been wrong for a long time."
Meredith waits for him to continue but he doesn't. "What does that mean?"
Derek turns back to the sink. "I don't know."
Meredith picks up a disk towel and walks towards the sink. "You wash. I dry."
Derek smiles at her and turns on the water. He rinses the soap off a plate and hands it to Meredith. The wet plate slips from her hand and shatters on the floor.
"Shit!" Meredith bends down to pick up the broken plate. She picks up the biggest piece and winces in pain as one of the jagged sides digs into her palm.
"Are you okay?" Derek asks his voice full of concern.
Meredith stands up and runs water over the cut. Derek holds her wrist and helps her wash it out. He turns off the water and studies the cut. He runs his thumb along her palm. "It doesn't look too deep." Derek looks up to study Meredith's face.
"I'll live." Meredith jokes.
Derek looks at Meredith and before either of them know what's happening, Meredith kisses Derek. Derek wraps his arms around Meredith, allowing himself to give into the kiss.
Meredith ends the kiss first, jumping back. "I'm so sorry."
Derek swallows hard and exhales. "You don't have to apologize."
Meredith walks to the other side of the counter. "I should go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight," Derek says as Meredith turns to go up the stairs. "Meredith?" Meredith turns around. "Thank you."
Meredith smiles. "No problem."
-x-
Meredith rolls over in bed, hoping that sleep would come soon. She couldn't silence her thoughts.
'Why did I kiss Derek? Why did he kiss me back? What is he doing here? Did he leave Addison? How is Mark involved?'
Meredith wishes she had an answer of sort, because right now things are just too confusing. A married man, her boss, is sleeping down the hall. She turns on her side and exhales audibly.
'So much for being rested tomorrow.'
Meredith hears the wooden floorboards creak outside of her room. She hears a soft knock on the door. She doesn't say anything, and watches her bedroom door open. She can feel Derek looking at her through the darkness.
"You can come in," she says.
"Sorry, I just… I'll go back to bed."
"No, don't worry about it. I can't sleep."
"So you too," Derek ask as he moves to sit on the bed with her.
"Yeah me too. So what's keeping you up?" Meredith asks in an attempt to make small talk.
"I can't sleep because I can't stop thinking about how much I want to do this." Derek leans closer to her and kisses her, long and hard.
Meredith pulls herself away, fight to keep some semblance of self-control. "Derek," she whispers.
"Sshh… Meredith." Derek leans closer and kisses Meredith again.