If Derek hadn't slept so well the night before, there was no way he would have made it through the day. It was a perfect reminder for why he hated calling in sick – he'd have to work his ass off to get even remotely close to catching up. And after working a fourteen hour shift, he felt like he hadn't even made a dent in the work that he needed to finish. Still, it was almost nine, and he wanted to catch Meredith early enough to be able to talk to her about his encounter with Lexie. Maybe he'd even score another invite to her place so he wouldn't have to drive back to the trailer. That probably pushed the limits of their arrangement, but he could be hopeful.
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
Straight to voice mail.
Damn. I'll try back later, he thought. He gathered up his things from the Nurse's Station counter, placed some papers in his leather satchel, and headed toward the elevator. He had already changed into his favorite jeans and an indigo blue button down shirt, so he was ready to leave.
"Going to Meredith's?" a familiar voice asked.
Derek stopped and turned around. Mark stood facing him. The circles around his eyes seemed to match the dark navy of his scrubs, and his face was covered with a couple days' worth of stubble. It reminded him of his own appearance the day before.
"No," Derek answered quickly before softening. "Our relationship is complicated right now."
"Sorry to hear. At least she's still around so you can work things out," Mark grumbled.
"Yeah," Derek agreed. He hadn't ever known for sure how much Mark really loved Addison, but now he was beginning to understand that it was more than some cheap affair. As much as he hated to admit it, Derek knew that Mark was really worked up about losing Addison, and he felt bad for his friend. "I'm sorry that Addison left."
"Me too. But what can you do? It just wasn't going to work out for us. She never saw me that way."
Derek sighed. "Do you want to go get a drink with me? You look like you could use it."
Mark brightened a little. It had been a while since Derek had invited him to do anything, and this was the first time in a long time that he had invited him out when there wouldn't be other people around. It would just be the two of them…two old friends getting a drink. He liked the sound of that. "Yeah, sure. Let me change. You'll wait?" Mark said, already turning to head back to his locker.
"No problem, I'll be in the lobby." Derek said and reached for his cell phone to give Meredith another try.
Still nothing. The conversation would just have to wait.
"So, did you and McDreamy get back together yet?" Cristina asked, cupping a bottle of beer in her hands as she shifted her weight on the bar stool.
"No. We are taking a break," Meredith responded before picking up her tequila shot and tipping it back. She signaled for Joe to refill her glass.
"A break," Cristina said skeptically. "You and McDreamy are taking a break."
"Yes. We are temporarily over and taking a break."
"Does this break include sex?"
"Nope. No sex, no expectations, nothing. We will work together and we're still friends, we're just not in a relationship right now," Meredith responded.
"Izzie says he slept over last night. Was that before or after you decided on the break?" Cristina quizzed. She was inherently skeptical of Meredith's decision-making capability when it came to Derek, and she considered it her job to interrogate Meredith whenever she made relationship decisions.
"After, but nothing happened. We just cuddled," Meredith confessed.
"You just cuddled," Cristina said in disbelief.
"We just cuddled."
"The break includes cuddle?" Cristina mocked. "Is Derek forty yet? Because you know, I saw some sex special on TV once, and the doctor said that men in their forties tend to prefer cuddle. Maybe this is the next step in your relationship. No more sex, just lots and lots of cuddle."
Meredith glared at her friend. "There may not be anything anymore because he apparently has a thing for Lexie. She was the one that he flirted with in the bar last week."
"Get out! Seriously? McDreamy and your sister? Does Alex know there's competition?" Cristina stammered.
"Alex? No! Cristina, this is a big deal…I can't handle him hooking up with my bright shiny sister. That would be too much."
"Sorry. Have you talked to him?"
"Not yet. I will. Tonight. But I need a couple more drinks first. I'm really not ready yet." Meredith responded before tackling another shot.
"So, Burke called today," Cristina said casually, shifting the conversation towards her love life.
Meredith's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't expected Cristina to bring Burke up. "Seriously? Did you talk to him?"
"No. The fucking coward called the answering machine in the apartment so he wouldn't have to talk to me." Cristina fumed.
Meredith had to admit to herself that if she were Preston Burke, she might do the same thing. There was no telling how Cristina would react on the phone, and she could be plenty fierce when she gets pissed off.
"So what did he say on the message?" Meredith inquired.
"He basically wants to know what I'm doing with the apartment. If I'm staying there then I can have the lease moved over into my name exclusively, and if I'm moving, I can take what I want and he'll send movers to get the rest." Cristina replied, not showing the smallest hint of emotion in her voice. It was almost as if she felt no attachment to her history with him whatsoever.
"Well, what are you going to do?" She used her fingers to wipe at the corners of her mouth a little to make sure that she wasn't making a mess of herself with the tequila shots. Her nose was starting to feel a little tingly so she knew the alcohol was starting to take effect.
"I can't afford the place on my own. I need to find a place, I guess. But I'm taking the cappuccino maker. I worked too hard to learn how to use that thing to let him keep it." Cristina replied, smiling a little. If there was one item that Preston would miss among the remains of his apartment, it was his damned professional-grade cappuccino maker that he paid a small fortune for. It was the little things like that that gave Cristina great retaliatory pleasure.
"I can go apartment hunting with you this weekend. And if anything opens up at the Chateau Grey, I'll let you know," Meredith reassured.
"Deal," Cristina responded, returning to her beer. "Hey, are you ready to talk to Derek yet?" She added, turning around on her stool to survey the crowd at Joe's.
"No. Definitely not ready yet." She made eye contact with Joe to get another refill.
"Well, prepare yourself. Derek and McSteamy just walked in," Cristina commented, getting perverse pleasure out of her friend's deer-in-headlights reaction.
Derek and Mark immediately saw the two girls sitting at the bar, and Derek smiled broadly. Even Mark was happy to see his favorite dirty mistress despite the fact that he expected it would cut down on his male-bonding time with Derek. They walked towards the empty seats near Meredith and Cristina, and quickly joined them.
"Hello, ladies," Derek said smoothly as he sat next to Meredith. "How's your evening going?" he asked casually.
"I'm not ready to talk to you yet. I need to work on communication with you, but I'm not ready yet," Meredith replied.
Derek raised his eyebrows in surprise while Mark chuckled a little. If there was one thing that could get his mind off Addison it was the awkward spectacle of any conversation between Derek and Meredith.
"Did you…talk...to someone today?" Derek asked slowly, confused.
Meredith nodded.
"What do you mean talk to someone? Who did you talk to, Meredith?" Cristina asked, trying to decipher the coded messages between them.
"I've started seeing a therapist. It's healthy and what normal people do. I have issues," Meredith responded abruptly, playing around with her empty shot glass.
"Um…right," Cristina responded.
Derek ordered a scotch and turned toward Mark, shrugging. Sometimes women baffled him, and Meredith was a particularly large challenge.
Mark grabbed his beer and got up off his stool. "Darts?" he said, signaling to Cristina that they should leave them alone for a bit.
"Bring it on," Cristina agreed, always anxious for a competitive challenge.
Meredith shifted awkwardly in her chair, uncomfortable with the sudden realization of being alone with Derek…of needing to communicate with him.
Communication is good, Meredith. Dr. Evans' words reverberated in Meredith's head. Fortunately, Derek beat her to it.
"I'm glad you're here. I actually wanted to talk to you tonight," Derek started.
Oh, boy. Here it comes… Meredith thought, bracing for the worst.
"Did you know that Lexie is working at Seattle Grace?" he asked, hoping that he wasn't saying anything too revolutionary. There was no telling how many shots Meredith had done already or how she would take the news of Lexie working at the hospital.
"Yes, actually, I met her yesterday," Meredith stated, a little relieved that he was bringing this up. It spared her the communicatory pressure.
"Well, I wanted to let you know that she was the girl that I flirted with in the bar last week, but believe me, I had absolutely no idea that she was your sister at the time, and now I feel like a giant ass about it," Derek confessed.
"Really?" Meredith asked, surprised.
"Really. Mere, even if I was interested in seeing other people, which I'm not by the way, but if I was, there's no way that I would pursue your sister. That would be like…" Derek's voice trailed off. "Well, let's just say, I know what it's like to have two people close to you betray you, and I would never do that to you."
"But I'm not close with Lexie," Meredith argued.
"Doesn't matter, she's still family."
Meredith felt relieved, particularly by Derek's reference to Mark and Addison. That idea added a level of untouchability to Lexie that she hadn't considered before. But still, she wasn't entirely convinced.
"So, if she's so off limits, why did you request to have her work with you today?" Meredith asked, acting a little more stubborn and snarky than she actually felt.
"What?" Derek asked, surprised that Meredith knew about that. "I didn't request her. I requested you. I was getting ready for a craniotomy and I asked the Nurse's Station to page Dr. Grey and they sent her."
Meredith looked at him skeptically.
"Honestly, Mere. I had no idea who she was until she showed up today in response to the page. And then I felt guilty about sending her away to get you because she was all embarrassed that she had hit on me in the bar, so I just let her stay." Derek looked at Meredith with a desperate intensity that practically begged her to believe him. The last thing he needed was Meredith being suspicious of him after all that they'd been through lately. "Mere, you've got to believe that I have no interest in anyone but you," he added for good measure.
"Okay," Meredith whispered, satisfied with his response.
Derek sighed audibly as he relaxed his shoulders and nursed his scotch.
"Did your talk go okay today?" Derek asked, happy to change the subject.
"Yeah, it was good, I think. I like the person that I'm talking to and she seemed reasonable enough. She wants me to try communicating more with you," Meredith responded, subtly and subconsciously shifting her body so that she was leaning in closer to him. She unexpectedly got a whiff of his aftershave – a musky, outdoorsy scent that reminded her of the trailer and the woods and made her close her eyes to savor the scent.
"I think that sounds like a good idea," Derek confirmed. "We should make a point of communicating a lot, if you ask me. Like, every day even."
Meredith opened her eyes and remembered the terms of the conversation the night before. She felt like it was important to stick to the temporary overness plan. Or, at the very least, she knew she shouldn't abandon it after only a day. There was no way she was ready for all the commitment stuff Derek was expecting. After all, she'd only been in one day's worth of therapy and she didn't want the pressure of having to share everything with Derek just yet, particularly when Cristina needed her so much.
"Derek…we're taking a break, remember? We don't have to talk every day. Just when stuff is bothering us about the other person like Lexie was bothering me," she insisted.
"That was bothering you?" Derek asked gently.
"Yes. And I had planned to talk to you about it tonight, too, if you hadn't brought it up."
"Are you okay with it now?" he prodded cautiously.
"Yes," Meredith affirmed.
"Does this mean that you're sticking to all of the terms you outlined last night? Like the no sex one?"
Meredith grinned at him, happy that his comment seemed to disprove Cristina's cuddle theory. "Definitely no sex yet," she responded.
"Okay," Derek sighed, playing up his disappointment in case it could get her to change her mind.
He sipped his scotch a little more while Meredith ordered another drink. He never ceased to be amazed how such a small body could imbibe so much alcohol. He was certain that she could out-drink most football players.
He looked over at her, eyes sparkling impishly. "Can I ask you again after you have a few more of those?"
"Derek!" Meredith swatted him playfully, laughing.
The two continued to drink and chat casually, eventually inviting Mark and Cristina back into the conversation before going their separate ways around midnight.