A/N: Hello, readers! It's good to see you here again.

I wanted to upload this one earlier, but when I noticed that January 17 was coming up, I decided to wait. What's the significance of today? I published the very first chapter of this story exactly one year ago (well, not exactly, since with the time difference and all it's already Jan 18 in Italy right now). Also, I wanted to publish it this morning, but of course life had other plans. It's here now, and it's the best way for me to celebrate.

I figured I would have this whole story totally written out by now, but it's not so. But it will be completed at some point. It's still a story very dear to my heart, so don't despair. Enjoy, instead!

Chapter 19

"You know, I love ferryboats."

Meredith can't help the smile that spreads on her face as she hears Derek's newest attempt at winning her over. He's been courting her with friendly coffees – with cheesy notes – and flirting with her whenever he gets the chance, and she's enjoying every second of it. Even when he says random stuff like this.

"Seattle is surrounded by water on three sides, I'm glad there are ferryboats."

"Oh, I love them because the motion was the only thing that calmed down David during a fit as a newborn. It worked like a charm when he was a baby, but it still seems to do the trick now."

She hides the soft smile on her face at the mention of David, burying herself in a chart. She's been loving her latest run-ins with David, the boy always full of energy and eager to tell her all about his life in kindergarten. She finds herself missing him at times, but she'll never admit it out loud.

"Do you like ferryboats, Dr. Grey?"

She groans. How can he make her title sound so sexy? "I do."

"Wanna ride with me?"

She turns to him with blushing cheeks and what she hopes is her best indignated face, but it only makes his well-constructed mask dissolve into chuckles. Shameless.

"That was out of line, wasn't it?" he says then, looking slightly embarrassed.

"I will definitely get you a marker for that line, someday."

They laugh together, trying to look professional, but failing miserably, considering the looks one of the nurses gives them. Clearly, she's about to interrupt, and then spread gossip about them. Wonderful.

"Dr. Grey? Head lac in curtain five requires your attention. I'm sorry you're the one who has to be stuck down here for Dead Baby Bike Race day."

Meredith groans, and she's not sure why she's feeling so glum all of a sudden, if it's the fact that the busiest day for Seattle neurosurgeons has come, correlated with the most idiotic portion of Seattleites showing up within the four walls of Seattle Grace, or because she can't fake-flirt with Derek Shepherd anymore.

She leaves the nurses' station with a chart, ready to clear one of the stupid biker guys who won an ER visit as part of the race. Considering he checked in as Viper, nothing else, she knows she's in for a nice one.

Viper has a British accent and plenty of tattoos, and she sees Derek sending her a dirty look whenever he turns her way. She only smiles at him, kinda enjoying how jealous he gets. Up to the point when he pages her for a consult, curtain one.

Behind curtain one there's a model. A blonde, leggy, perfect curves, perky breasts model. And she's clearly flirting with Derek. It's painful how clueless he is about the whole thing.

A second after she has entered the room, the bimbo's lips are on Derek's, and Meredith sees red. Even if she's all leggy and fabulous, Meredith has rights over him. Doesn't she? Gosh, maybe she doesn't…

"What's going on here?"

She's amused when Derek turns towards her beet red, hands in the air in surrender, a mortified, puppy dog look on his face.

"Pixie here has a head lac, possible concussion. I stitched her up and I was starting the preliminary exams."

"With your tongue?" Meredith hisses, before she moves closer to Pixie. Derek coughs loudly, only winning a smile from Pixie. He's hopeless, Meredith concludes.

Meredith can't help but be curt with Pixie and dismiss Derek quickly, sending him for her labs and filling the chart with the findings herself, so her anger and jealousy can boil over. She can't believe she's jealous over Derek.

"Sparkles were flying in here, doc. Are you doing the nasty with the pretty intern?" Pixie says with the same mellifluous tone she has used with Derek, and Meredith wonders if she might be flirting with her, too. She should make it very clear that she doesn't swing on that side.

"Do you have any blurred vision Miss...Pixie?"

"Oh, no, I can see the looks between you two very well. Now, tell me, is he an animal in the sack? He looks like an animal."

"Slurred speech clearly doesn't apply." Meredith snickers, making notes on her chart.

"Are you being so secretive because it's a secret romance? An affair?" Pixie's eyes are twinkling. "I'd leave my partner for him in a heartbeat indeed."

Meredith ignores each one of her jabs by sending her up for a CT scan, hoping she won't need to spend any more time in her ER than she needs to. She's already tired of this day and it's barely lunchtime.

If she gets one more patient like Pixie she might not survive the shift.

A page to the Chief's office never bodes well.

Derek hopes it has nothing to do with the stupid kiss Pixie planted on him in front of Meredith. While seeing a jealous Meredith had been a sight to behold, he really cares about his career. He has no more options now if being a surgeon doesn't work out, and he needs to feed David. A walk of shame back to the restaurant, begging for a job, doesn't sound very adult and responsible at all.

"Dr. Shepherd, Derek." Richard Webber greets him warmly, while he just receives a well-placed look from Ellis Grey. The fact that Ellis Grey is there makes the premises for this whole conversation a hundred times scarier.

"Dr. Shepherd, you were practically at the end of your internship before you checked out last time, am I correct?" Dr. Grey says firmly, not a hint of what is to come in her tone.

"Yes. I was missing only my intern exam and less than a week worth of working hours."

"Family problems?" Ellis fuels, reading from a chart in her lap.

"I became a father, Dr. Grey. My son didn't sleep for more than an hour consecutively for the first two weeks of his life. Then it was in bursts of two and a half hours for the next eight months."

"Maggie was like that," Richard says, a proud smile on his face.

"That's why we didn't have more kids," Ellis says, sending a look to her husband. "Why didn't you ask for paternity leave and then take the exam the following session?"

Derek sighs. "He needed me to be there for him at all times. His mother took off and it was just me. He only wanted me." The memories flood freely, then. "At first I started tutoring children in my house, just to get some money and get by, then, when I could leave him with my mother for longer stretches of time, I found a job at a restaurant. The hours were flexible, and it was right across the street from where I lived. David could come and sit in a playpen for as long as he wanted, and he loved it there. It was just easier."

"I see." Ellis' brow furrows. "Why did you want to be a surgeon again, then?"

"I guess the itch of saving lives never went away," he admits. "A woman had a seizure during dinner service one night, and it all rushed back to me. It's not that I didn't love the restaurant anymore, but being a surgeon felt like a good calling. David is old enough to be in school and have a different schedule, so I tried this again. I understand it if you want me to step aside because I'm wasting your time."

"On the contrary," Richard says, beaming. "You're setting up a pretty high bar, Derek. We're very proud of how you settled back in the hospital life."

Derek sighs in relief. "I'm glad to be back, sir."

"In fact, a residency spot opened up. We want to offer it to you." Derek can't believe the words coming out of Dr. Grey's mouth.

Derek stares at Ellis Grey with his eyes wide. "Me?"

"Yes. Obviously, you have to pass your intern exam first. You have two weeks to study up and take the test in my office then; if you pass it, the spot can be yours."

"You have priority over external candidates is what we're saying," Dr. Webber says, a proud smile on his lips.

Derek looks stunned between the two doctors in front of him, trying not to let his jaw hang too loosely. "I'm...Why me?"

"Because you're better than all the other interns we have. And all the prospective residents." Ellis' sincerity blows him away.

He has worked so hard to get here, to be a resident, it almost doesn't feel real.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for this opportunity! I'm not going to fail. I'll make you proud."

"Okay, then. We'll give you all the details for your intern exam tomorrow, but we advise you to study up. Two weeks will pass in a blink of the eye," Richard says, standing up to shake his hand.

Derek firmly accepts the handshake, exiting the office dazed and amazed.

This is it. This is his chance to shine.

"What do you mean, Daddy?" David questions him as soon as Derek explains the situation.

"Study buddy means that you keep me company when I study, you pick the colors for the flashcards, you hand me snacks and water –"

"Will you be my study buddy?"

"Of course. But you need to learn how to read first."

David giggles, playing with his kinetic sand, keeping himself occupied. It's been quite the day for him in kindergarten too, and he looks a tad overwhelmed. Springing on him this piece of news probably wasn't the best idea, but Derek wants David to know why all of a sudden he's buried in books and not playing with him anymore.

"Daddy, but...if you're going to study lots, can I go play with my friends sometimes?"

Derek chuckles at how sad David looks all of a sudden, almost as if it pains him to leave him alone. "Of course you can, D-Man. In fact, I should probably find you a few friends to play with when I'm not at work."

"No daycare or extra kindy Daddy, please!"

"No daycare or kindergarten."

"And no playing with Jack either." David adds, wide-eyed.

David and Jack connected right away in kindergarten, only Jack is a lot more laid back and relaxed than David, which always makes his son be even more active. That's why Derek tries to limit the playdates the two have, or tries to avoid them altogether if they could end up being longer than two or three hours. It's better if they enjoy their company in limited stretches of time.

"No playing with Jack. Is it okay if your playmate is a girl sometimes?"

"Maybe. If she's nice and doesn't want to just play with dolls."

Derek chuckles at all the limitations, hoping he can figure out the perfect schedule for David to have fun and for him to have uninterrupted hours of learning that are not going to happen in the middle of the night.

Meredith grimaces at the taste of stale coffee from the attendings' lounge.

Derek Shepherd has spoiled her for almost two weeks, only to leave her high and dry when she actually started to cave. It doesn't bode well for her intern.

She passes right outside her patient's room, and she figures out why her coffee hasn't shown up yet again. Derek is sitting on one of those uncomfortable plastic chairs they always stick in the Neuro wing, his feet propped up on the last railing of the bed, books sprawled all over him, the patient peacefully asleep and unaware of the dead tired doctor at his bedside.

Meredith stares at him for a moment, noticing how handsome he looks, and she forgives him the three missed coffees of the past days in the blink of an eye.

Derek looks beat. Dark circles and bags are clearly visible under his eyes, his hair is unkempt and sticking all over the place, his scrubs are as rumpled as he looks, and yet, he still scores pretty high in the handsome chart.

He's probably going to look handsome for her even in a sack of potatoes, but she glosses over that.

Meredith moves closer, studying the books he was so engrossed in, frowning when she recognizes they are the exact ones she used for her intern exam. She wonders why he's studying so hard when the actual exam is months away.

She clears her throat and wakes him, startling him to the point he almost falls from the chair. He's quick to recompose himself and pretend he was vigilant and awake next to the patient. She cracks a smile at that.

"Morning, Dr. Shepherd."

"Morning, Dr. Grey." He visibly grimaces when he notices she already has coffee in her hands, and from the hospital nonetheless. "Sorry about that."

"What, falling asleep or not bringing my coffee?"

"Both?" He smiles, cocking his head to the side, his eyes still full of sleep, yet sparkling.

"I'm glad I see a very eager intern, that's for sure. Even I hadn't started to study this early for my intern exam."

Another grimace, but this time she can't understand why. "Actually, my intern exam is next week. A residency spot opened up and the Chief said they want to hire me if I pass the test. I'll have to take it next Monday in Dr. Grey's office. Not you Dr. Grey, obviously but…"

She furrows her brow, obviously surprised they've kept the news so quiet. Maybe Richard and her mother didn't want to spread gossip prematurely, in case he fails? She's definitely happy for Derek, though; she's glad he's getting another chance to be a real doctor. He deserves it, David deserves it, and she wants to help.

"If you promise me to keep bringing me coffee so I don't have to drink this stale colored water, I can bargain my winning flashcards with you."

"Coffee for study tips?" Derek looks at her, very surprised.

"I can even come over for private lessons, if you want," she says. "Those were what helped me the most."

"You have special flashcards?"

"Yep. Passed down in generations. So treat them well because Maggie is already counting on those to pass her own exam."

Derek finally laughs, but he still looks a little on edge. Meredith has no idea why she offered to help him, only that it's not a date, but they can still spend time together. She almost misses his quiet presence with his coffees, and she wants to get back to that.

Meredith is not sure what will happen next, only that she really likes Derek, and spending time with him will help her clear her head. Or get to know him to the point that dating will come as second nature, much to his pleasure.

She is a terrible date, but for him she wants to try. She has to.

A/N: Who is excited for the study non-date? *rises both hands*

I'm moving this plot slowly, buy I hope you like the slow burn. And you understand why it's so slow. Some things are a mystery, but others are as clear as day.

Also, David is still pretty loveable, isn't he? He's one of my favorite kids I've ever written about, I'm honest. And you know how much I love writing kids!

Thank you again for reading, stay tuned for more, hopefully soonish!