-

Going on walks on forests was something Mark and Derek did often when they were still the best of friends. They might not be the best of friends now but they're friends. And Mark was glad that Derek invited him for a hike. Mark didn't even care where Derek was taking him, the important thing was, they're going somewhere as friends.

"You think he'll have my eyes?" Derek suddenly asked, as they both trudged up the side of the hill.

"What?" Mark narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Who?"

"My eyes. Shepherd eyes." Derek replied.

"What?" Mark asked again, still not getting who Derek was talking about.

"My kid!"

"Oh, that," Mark nodded, being enlightened of the matter. "As long as he doesn't get your nose, he'll be alright, Shep."

"I have a perfectly good nose, Mark," Derek huffed.

"You keep saying that. I'm the plastic surgeon here, Shep. I know these stuff and I'm stating for the record that your nose is crooked and messed up."

"Leave my nose alone," Derek consciously touched his nose for a second as he glared at Mark.

Mark chuckled but soon frowned as he stepped on a puddle of mud. "Christ, Shep, can't you find anywhere else for us to hike? These shoes are brand new!"

"I told you to wear something appropriate," Derek smirked at him and at his now ruined shoes. "You knew we were going hiking. I even offered you one of my boots."

"You've got small feet, Shep," he shook his head. "Wouldn't want my toenails to curl up and die or something. Now where are you taking me anyway? Where are we?"

"What do you think of this?" Derek asked him as they reached the top of the hill they've been climbing for almost half an hour now.

"What am I looking at?"

"The view from my house," Derek proudly stated, stretching his hands out with a big silly grin on his face.

"You're building a house?"

"Yeah," Derek nodded.

"Seriously? A house, Shep? A house?" Mark couldn't help but raise his eyebrow and grow suspicion at his friend's sudden plan. "Is this because of the kid?"

"No," Derek shook his head with a sigh, turning around to look at the view from the cliff. "I already had the plan for months. Not everything's about the kid, Mark."

"Right," he doubtingly commented. "Cos' everything's about Grey."

Derek didn't even need to respond to that. Mark knew that Derek was all about Meredith. Everything he planned, they were all with Meredith. His friend was whipped, much more than he was with Addison.

"So what's your plan?" he asked.

"My plan?" Derek asked, looking back at Mark.

"Getting Grey to take the step, how do you plan on doing that?"

"One step at a time."

"And the first one being?"

"I don't know, actually," Derek confessed.

"What about actually being friends first, Shep?" he suggested with a knowing raise of the eyebrow. "I don't think you two were ever really friends. Go take her out for a movie or something. Do whatever the hell friends do. Maybe then she'd trust you like she does those other residents."

"Genius, Mark, genius."

"You finally admit it, Shep, finally!" he let out a heartfelt chuckle.

"We've always known you were a genius, Mark. Just that I'm still smarter than you," Derek smirked at him.

-

Meredith hummed a soft tune as she tapped her highlighter on the book she was reading. She has already spent a good few minutes studying for a complicated surgery she was about to scrub into with Dr. Bailey in the basement hallway.

"Meredith?" a familiar voice came from the corner of the hall and in a few seconds, Derek appeared. He was wearing his blue scrubs, his hair still disheveled, probably from having just gone from a surgery. But he looked relaxed. Jolly even, as he greeted her.

"Umm, hey," she greeted him, putting down the highlighter on the book and closing it shut.

"Mark and I are going out for drinks later tonight, do you want to come?" he asked all of a sudden.

"Drinks?"

"Yeah, drinks," he nodded.

"I really can't drink right now, Derek," she reminded him.

"Oh yeah," he smiled sheepishly. "The baby. Well Mark and I can get drinks and you can get water."

"Well that's fair."

"You can bring Cristina if you want," Derek suggested. "And maybe you can have juice. We can all have juice."

Her brows furrowed in suspicion at him. "What are you doing?"

"Inviting you to go for drinks," he smiled at her charmingly. "As friends."

"Friends?"

"Friends, nothing more. One step at a time."

"One step at a time," she echoed.

"Yeah," he nodded. "One step at time. So… Later? Joe's?"

She felt her heart beat faster than usual as he stood there, waiting for her reply. She wasn't sure about all this. She wasn't prepared for him to offer her friendship at this time.

"It's alright if you don't want to, really," he spoke softly. "I'm not forcing you to decide on anything. But it's just drinks, Mer, or juice or whatever. As friends. And you can ask Mark, Mer, I can be a good friend. Probably not as hardcore as Cristina… Or as giggly as Izzie… But I think I can pass off as an Alex or a George…"

"Alex's a manwhore," she blurted out.

"George then…" he smiled.

"George?" she couldn't help but let out a giggle at the image of Derek as George.

"Only with better hair," he added, his smile growing with hers.

She then finally nodded slowly and with her smile still in place, she asked. "Juice at Joe's later, George?"

-

One step at a time...

Kill the plant! Season Finale this Thursday, ugh, months of waiting again... Hmmm...