Meredith watched sideways as Derek snapped off his surgical gloves in frustration. Inside the OR, the scrub nurses were draping a sheet over Phillip and preparing to take him down to the morgue.
"And you thought I had my hopes up," Meredith panned as she continued to scrub out.
Derek glared at her. "Have a little respect, will you? A man is dead. Because of us, might I remind you."
"Its a clinical trial," Meredith reminded him. "There are always casualties. Thats why they call it a trial. We just need to figure out what went wrong and try again." She focused intently on cleaning the underneath of each of her fingernails. "If we play our cards right, we'll end up saving hundreds of lives thanks to people like Phillip."
Regarding her with wonderment, Derek scoffed. "Who are you and what did you do with little intern Grey?"
Meredith smiled wryly. "She grew up and became an attending."
Derek paused, and Meredith could tell he had lapsed into deep thought. After a moment he nodded at the doorway. "Come on. I have to show you something."
Against her better judgement, Meredith allowed Derek to lead her out into the hall. Something about standing inches away from him during surgery had softened some of the anger she felt towards him.
Derek brought her to the attendings lounge. Meredith followed him inside and stood in the doorway while he crossed the room to the refrigerator where the rest of her fellow co-workers stored their lunches.
Tilting her head to the side, Meredith eyed in skeptically. "Are you hungry?"
"Nope," Derek said, grinning mischievously. From the refrigerator he took a bottle of champagne and held it up. "This is for us. When we get it right."
Meredith smirked. "So you did have your hopes up."
Derek crossed the room to stand by her. He was uncomfortably close, and Meredith felt her stomach churn in an unfortunate way. "I never said I was hopeless, Meredith."
She sensed a hidden meaning behind his words. This was her sign to leave. "I have to… go," she said, sliding awkwardly towards the doorway. "It was, um. Very nice working with you, Dr. Shepherd."
He smiled at her sadly. "Please call me Derek."
"Right. Derek." Meredith stared directly at the floor. "I look forward to opening that bottle of champagne."
She slipped out into the hall before he had the chance to respond.
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AN: glad you're all enjoying the story. best review gets a prize
