-

"Dr. Yang!" Derek walked faster to keep up with Cristina. "Is Dr. Grey around?"

"She took the day off," Cristina replied without looking at him or even stopping to properly speak with him.

"Is something wrong?"

Cristina shrugged. "She said she had a headache."

"She took the day off because of a headache?" Derek prodded, finding the situation odd.

Cristina shrugged again. "Probably a bad one. Beats me."

"So she's just at home?" he asked.

"Probably," Cristina told him. "Or maybe she's at Joe's getting rid of the headache. Or somewhere else getting rid of the cause of the headache…"

"Cause of the headache?" Derek asked in confusion. Derek stopped and let himself be left alone in the middle of the hallway, watching as Cristina walked away.

"Hey," someone suddenly greeted him after a few seconds.

"Hey," Derek put on a polite smile as he turned towards Rose who was standing right next to him.

"So I didn't see you at Joe's last night, Dr. Sloan was there."

"Umm, yeah," Derek nodded a little, looking at Cristina's retreating form, still distracted by what she told him. "I went over to a friend's house."

"Oh," Rose nodded a little. "Dr. Shepherd, are you okay?"

He nodded and looked back at her. "Rose," he called out her name.

"Yeah?" she gave him a small smile, somewhat anticipating.

"The other night… When we went for drinks…"

"Yes, Dr. Shepherd?"

"I know Mark told everyone I was lookin' and so everyone started to look interested… And that I went out on a date with Sydney... But really she asked me out and I couldn't say no… And then…" he spoke without pausing.

"Dr. Shepherd, is there a point to this conversation?" she cut him off.

"I'm sorry, I'm rambling, I might have gotten it from…" he stopped himself from finishing the sentence as he took a deep breath and put on a polite smile. "The point is… I'm not lookin'. I never was."

"Oh," her face fell into a disappointed frown. "But Dr. Sloan said…"

"Yes, Mark just put out that message as a joke. To get back at me for something I did to him. It was a joke."

"A joke," she echoed what he said.

"Yes," he nodded slowly. "A joke. I apologize if it went out of hand. I'm really sorry if everyone thought I was lookin'. Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you, you know, pass the message around that it was just a joke."

She stared at him for the longest time before finally nodding. The frown on her face not leaving. "I'll do that, Dr. Shepherd."

"So, I'll see you," Derek gave her another polite smile.

He walked away from her, going down the hall towards his office. He still had a few hours before his next surgery. What Cristina said was bothering him for some unknown reason. He was going to go check up on Meredith. He needed to see if she was alright.

-

Derek rounded the corner towards Meredith's house intent on finding out what was wrong with her and how a headache could keep her from the hospital. He couldn't help but wonder some more when a few meters away from Meredith's driveway, he sees her car pull out.

He decided to follow her to wherever she was going. Maybe she was going to go to the hospital. But after a few minutes of trailing her, he knew she was not going to Seattle Grace nor was she headed to any way that could lead to Seattle Grace.

"Where are you going, Meri?" he spoke to his self as he carefully trailed her car to wherever she was headed.

After at least 15 minutes of driving, she finally made a turn and headed towards a familiar building. Mercy West. Derek's heart started to beat faster as his mind started to flow of thoughts of what she might be doing there.

Not having a parking spot close enough to where she parked, he had to find another one for his car. Much to his dismay, she was already gone by the time he walked to her car. He would just have to wait for her.

He waited for a least half an hour. It didn't help him with anything. It even gave him more time to think of what her reason was to go to Mercy West. Was she sick? Was her headache an effect of a disease? A brain tumor, perhaps? Was she going to transfer to Mercy West? Anything could be the reason.

"Derek!" her eyes went as wide as saucers when she saw him, leaning on her car's door. "What are you doing here!?"

"Meredith," he greeted her back.

"Did you follow me here?"

"Would it help me in anyway if I say no?" he asked.

"So you really did follow me?"

"I was going to check on you but you pulled out of the driveway so I followed you," he simply told her. He wanted to ask her what she did inside the hospital. He wanted to shake her senseless until she told him.

"And you waited for me here?"

"You can say that," he nodded a little.

"Y-you didn't go inside?" she stammered, a nervous look covering her face.

"I kinda lost you, I had to find a parking spot so I just figured I'll wait here," he told her.

"Oh," she nodded.

"So are you gonna tell me what you're doing here in Mercy West?" he asked calmly, surprising his self of having so much self control.

"Nothing, I was doing nothing," she answered too quickly.

"Too defensive," he muttered under his breath. "Meredith. C'mon."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I was just visiting a friend."

"A friend?" he raised his eyebrow. "Meredith… You're not sick, are you?"

"What?" she shook her head defensively. "No!"

"You are," he frowned, controlling his breathing.

"What?"

"That's what you do. You deny everything. You deny it if it's true."

"I don't do that!"

"You do," he told her. "You're not gonna tell me what's wrong?"

"No!" she tried to open the door to her car but he stood strong not willing to let this go.

"Did you not hear what I said last night?" he asked.

"Last night?"

"The happily ever after I told you last night. We can't have that if you're…" he couldn't finish the sentence. He didn't want to finish the sentence.

"I'm NOT sick!" she hissed at him.

"Then what were you doing here?"

"I told you! Friend! Visiting!"

"Are you transferring to Mercy West?" he asked. He was going to ask every reason he thought of if he had to.

"What? No!" she rolled her eyes. "Now let me through. I still need to go somewhere."

This time he made way for her, stepping aside so she can open her car door.

"Meredith?"

She stopped midway to fully opening her car door. She sighed and she faced him once again. She waited for him to say something.

"Just give me this… I know you kept things from me, you keep things from me, you leave me in the dark and you tell your friends. Just… This once… Tell me what's wrong, Meredith."

"Derek…"

"Meredith, please," he would beg if he had to. He knew she was just trying to be ready. He knew that. But being ready had nothing to do with her telling him if something was wrong. Her being not ready didn't stop him from worrying about her.

"I-I…" she paused and took a deep breath. "I have a parasite."

"What? A parasite?" he couldn't help but be full of confusion. A parasite? There were thousands of parasites.

"Yes," she nodded slowly.

"A parasite?" he repeated, desperately clearing up if what he heard was right. "Like a tapeworm?"

"No," she shook her head, looking down, avoiding his eyes. An indication that something was wrong and that she was avoiding again. "It's not like a tapeworm."

"What then!" he didn't mean to shout but he couldn't help it. She wasn't being very clear and he hated not knowing. "What!"

"Derek, I'm pregnant!"

-

Thanks for the reviews everyone! I really appreciate them. :D