They snuggled under the blankets, trying to shut out the piercing noise coming from the alarm clock on the bedside table. Meredith groaned and pushed herself up. "Hotels are for vacations, not alarm clocks waking me up." She muttered. She disentangled her legs from Derek's and swung them over the side of the bed. Prince Charming himself, grunted and tried to pull her back down with him.
"I've got rounds, and a nazi resident, I need to ingest caffeine and get." She told him as she squirmed away and out of the bed.
"It must be like midnight." He groaned.
"Close… it's four thirty, and I have to get a shower and try to look like a serious surgeon, and not the woman who stayed up ALL night with you." She stumbled to the bathroom and turned on the water, before picking up the phone and dialing for room service. Ordering coffee and deciding Derek could afford to buy her a muffin too, she jumped in the shower for a quick scrub, and then drank her coffee while she dried her hair. Derek was dead to the world, sprawled out in the middle of the bed holding her pillow. She fought the urge to climb back into bed with him, and dug in her knapsack for some clothes. Dressing, she leaned down to kiss him on the cheek before swinging her bag on her shoulder and shutting the door.
She crept along the carpeted hallway to the elevator, and leaned herself against the wall as she waited for it to take her to the lobby. She realized a floor later that she didn't have her car, they had come straight to the hotel from the road trip. Damnit. She was kicking herself and trying to decide if she should call Cristina when the doors slid open and Dr. Mark Sloane stepped onto the elevator, with a disgusting cheerful look on his face. He might as well have been whistling. His eyes lit up when he saw her, and he advanced into the elevator with her.
"Well well, Meredith Grey. What drags you into the elevator at the crack of dawn?" he asked with a smile.
"Liar, dawn has not cracked yet. Rounds Dr. Sloane, intern rounds. What brings you to Seattle?" Already having heard the story from Derek about the towel clad surgeon, she realized that they must be in the same hotel as Addison.
Mark grinned and appraised her with his eyes. "I'm sure you heard all about it already Dr. Grey. So are you in the hotel because your house had a flood, or you were doing the deed with someone here all night? And why a hotel, do you have someone else on the side?" He gave her a dirty leer and she blushed.
Deciding it wasn't important to fill him on the details of dating two men and not wanting to be in the trailer ,"So what brings you to the elevator at this time?" she tried again.
"I'm a morning person Meredith. And this body, doesn't happen on its own, I like to work out and run. I run every single day in New York. " he patted his chest, preening for her. She laughed. Mark was a fun guy , not to hard on the eyes either. She could almost understand why Addie had cheated. Almost.
"So are you and Addie…?" she trailed off.
"Back together?" he asked her grinning, "If last night was any indication, and the night before then I'd say yes. You and Derek?"
She nodded slightly, embarrassed that they were talking about this. "So you see.. life can work out sometimes on the sides of the dirty mistresses." He smiled.
She looked up at him, remembering their conversation that night and smiled back. She could see how Mark and Derek had been best friends, they both were funny, and she felt a strange closeness with Mark, probably because of Derek somehow. The elevator doors opened to the lobby, and they both stepped off.
"Have a good day Dr. Grey," he told her.
"You too Dr. Sloane." She smiled, walking outside as she dialed Cristina and asked her to pick her up.