CHAPTER 21

After the breakdown at the park, Derek drove Meredith back to the hospital and back to her car where Meredith made quick work of getting home for some much needed sleep.

Derek on the other hand, had an operation in about an hour so he went inside to grab himself a cup of coffee before he had to scrub-in. On his way to grabbing coffee, Derek ran into Addison.

"Hey. Where did you go this morning?" She asked him, ordering a coffee for herself.

"Out to breakfast with Meredith." Derek stated simply. He didn't want to have to go around Addison's back to see Meredith and hoped that she was ok with that.

"That's that intern right?"

"Yeah."

"So, how do you know her again?"

"We dated, before she went to Dartmouth."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I met her because of her mother."

"Wasn't she like 16?" Addison asked, not getting angry, just prying for more information.

"Yeah, but she was smart, and graduating early and stuff so… We've decided to be friends while she's here."

"That's great."

"Yeah it is." Derek thought back to that morning, how great it was to have Meredith in his arms again. He cursed not waiting for her because in his mind he always knew that she would come back to him. People around him kept pushing him to date and to forget about her. Now the minute he tries to move on with his life, she's back in it again.

Sure Addison was great, but she wasn't Meredith. She wasn't the girl Derek had fallen in love with and spent years trying to repair his broken heart over. Addison was however, the one to help him heal his broken heart.

For the rest of the day Derek could not get Meredith out of his mind. He would have flashbacks to times when they were at the movies, or hanging out with Meredith's friends, or the times when Meredith would wait for him outside the hospital, hoping that her mother didn't make it outside first. She never did.

He also dreamed about this day. The day she would come back to him and they would pick up right where they had left off and he cursed himself over and over for not waiting for her. This was now eating him up inside and he knew that he was being unfair to Addison. He couldn't marry a woman he wasn't in love with. It would not end well for either of them.

He would have to end it with Addison, then talk to Meredith about where they stand, and hopefully get her to take him back. He would hopefully get all he ever wanted, with minimal damage to the people around him.

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When Meredith got home the first thing she did was groggily make her way up to her old room and tried to fall asleep. She had too much to think about. Should she let George and Izzie move into the house? How should she try to repair her broken friendship with Christina? And should she try to pursue an engaged man?

She didn't think that her feelings for Derek would come back to her. She also didn't think that he would still be working at Seattle Grace. She thought that she was over him and she obviously wasn't. The walk in the park brought too many memories back, and when he held her she remembered how much she missed his touch.

All the guys she had been with at Dartmouth weren't anything like Derek. She made sure none of them got the chance to be like him. She would kick them out before any of them had the chance to be caring, sweet, and thoughtful. She would not allow any of that.

She finally fell asleep, dreaming of her McDreamy and the life she might have had with him, or the life she could potentially have with him.