AN: First of all you guys were AWESOME with the reviews for the last chap, so here is the next one, thank you sooooo much

Also, I know that Meredith's and Derek's "breakthrough" patient for the clinical trial was Beth Monroe on the show. It worked for that storyline, but I couldn't mold it into this one. So I went with something a little different

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She woke up the next morning tangled in the bright yellow comforter, facing the wall. Blinking the crust out of her eyes, the first thing Meredith reached for was the bottle of Ibuprofen on the bedside table. Her head was killing her.

After swallowing a few pills, she turned, and her heart nearly stopped in her chest. There was a human sized lump beside her in the bed.

"Oh, god," she groaned as the night before returned to her. She and Derek had taken a cab back from Joe's. Evidently, one thing had led to another.

Beside her, Derek began to stir. "Good morning, Dr. Grey," he mumbled as he stretched. "I'm getting deja vu."

"You need to leave," Meredith hissed. She ripped the comforter off the bed and wrapped it around herself, leaving Derek to cover himself with a pillow. "I have roommates."

"I'm no longer your superior," Derek reminded her. "We're coworkers now. Neuro attending partners in crime." He smiled at her suggestively.

"I live with Alex Karev. He's on your service this week," Meredith pointed out urgently. She picked up a pillow and smacked Derek with it until he got out of bed. "You. Need. To. Go."

"Fine, fine. Message received," Derek muttered as he hopped around her bedroom, struggling into his boxers and a pair of jeans. "Do you see my shirt anywhere?"

Meredith picked it up off the floor and flung it at his head. "Be quiet when you leave, and hurry. Cristina comes over with Tina at 6:30."

"I always thought that was odd. Cristina and Tina," Derek mused, pulling on his shirt. Meredith glared at him. "I get it. I'm going." He paused before opening the door. "I'm clipping a massive recurring aneurysm at 10-"

"Goodbye, Derek," Meredith said forcefully, waving him out of the room. She stayed by the door after he left to make sure he went down the stairs quietly.

Meredith gathered up her own clothes and stuffed them into the back of the closet. There was no way she could let Izzie and Alex see her wearing the same clothes she'd left the house in the day before. Wrangling into a fresh pair of jeans, she headed downstairs, where Izzie was flipping pancakes at the stove and Alex was glancing at the morning paper.

"Good morning, Meredith," Izzie said elusively. She put a pancake on a plate and put it down in front of her as she sat. "Sleep well?"

Meredith tilted her head to the side. "Yeah. I did."

"Really?" Alex snorted. "Because from the sound of it you were receiving hot, mind blowing-"

"Alex!" Izzie snapped, turning to Meredith. "Please just tell me it wasn't Dr. Shepherd."

"Of course it was Dr. Shepherd," Alex said through a mouth full of pancake. "Didn't you hear them Iz? That was obvious neurosurgeon sex." he smirked at Meredith. "Did I hear him screaming hypothalamus?'

Meredith picked up the half glass of orange juice in front of Alex and splashed it in his face. Izzie played piece keeper, grabbing the glass from her and holding back Alex from retaliation. "Hey. Come on you two, relax." She gave Meredith a concerned look. "Meredith, who you sleep with is none of my business. And you no longer work under Dr. Shepherd."

Alex grinned mischievously. "Actually-"

"But-" Izzie intervened forcefully, shooting Alex a pointed glare. "Might I remind you what happened the last time you messed around with Derek. He broke your heart and you shipped yourself to a warzone."

"Well, it's a good thing he's not married now," Meredith said dismissively, taking a bite of pancake.

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Avoiding Derek was off the table, considering they would be seeing another trial patient that day. He found her by the nurses station, carrying two coffees and a stack of files.

"I figured you could use this," he said teasingly and placed one of the coffees in front of her. Meredith glared at him, but didn't deny it as she popped the lid.

"Is that our patient?" she asked, nodding to the folder in his hand.

"Yup." Derek forked over the file to Meredith and she absently flipped through it. Wood, Pamela was 32 years old and had been diagnosed with her tumor 8 months ago. Nothing about her case seemed out of the ordinary until Meredith reached the last page where Derek had made a handwritten note.

Pam is a mother to be — 3 months to due date

Meredith glanced up and frowned. "We can't do the trial on pregnant women. You know that."

Derek shook his head and smiled mysteriously. "Pam isn't pregnant."

Meredith looked down at the file incredulously. "But you wrote -"

"Meredith." Interrupting her, Derek reached out and grabbed Meredith's arm. He pulled her towards the elevator. "Why don't we go meet her?"

Still skeptical, Meredith allowed herself to be led to the neuro ICU by Derek. Pamela Wood was in a private room, and when Meredith entered, the first thing she noticed was her lack of baby bump. She was definitely not 6 months pregnant. There was a man sitting by her bedside, and Meredith assumed this was her husband.

"Mrs. Wood," Derek said brightly as he entered, offering a hand to both Pamela and her husband. "I'm Dr. Shepherd and this is Dr. Grey. We will be performing your surgery."

"Please call me Pam," she said, smiling. "This is my husband Nathan," she nodded to the man beside her. "My sister is here too, she's just getting something to eat."

"She doesn't need to be here. This is the boring part," Derek reassured her, passing Pam a stack of paperwork. "You'll need to read through and sign those forms. Dr. Grey, if you wanted to explain the procedure to her?"

Meredith cleared her throat, sending Derek a sideways glance. He winked at her. "Alright," Meredith said, turning back to Pam and Nathan. "We'll take you down to the OR at around 3 this afternoon. About two hours before that, an intern will come in and take you downstairs for a pre op CT."

Meredith continued to run through the surgery and its risk factors before she was interrupted about 15 minutes later by a flustered young woman entering the room.

"It took me forever to find the cafeteria. This place is huge," she breathed, sitting down beside Nathan. That's when Meredith noticed her huge, pregnant belly, along with the remarkable resemblance she bore to Pam.

The woman looked up and surveyed Derek and Meredith. "Hi. Sorry if I interrupted."

"No, you're fine," Derek said slowly. He was looking directly at Meredith.

She cleared her throat. "You're Pam's sister?"

She grinned. "Yup. I'm Fiona."

Unable to stop herself, Meredith's eyes trailed to Fiona's baby bump. "You're…"

Pam smiled, placing a hand over her sister's stomach. "She's my surrogate," she said wistfully, glancing over at Meredith. "This is mine and Nathan's baby."

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AN: If whatever miracle happened with the reviews yesterday could happen again, I will be inconsolably happy and will probably update tomorrow morning. Just sayin