Derek sat alone in the hospital atrium for at least a half an hour, slowly feeling the stress melt away from his body. People walked in and out of the area, but they were mostly fuzz in the periphery of his vision. He talked to no one and noticed nothing in particular. He just sat and drank and breathed.
His excitement over seeing Meredith gradually returned. He would tell her about Thatcher, but first, he wanted to tell her about his visit with Richard…the new opportunity facing him and the resolved uncertainty over his career. She would be happy and excited for him, and that was all that he needed to wipe away the memory of his confrontation with her father.
He got back up from his chair and took the stairs two at a time back up to the second floor nurse's station so he could have Meredith paged. He waited anxiously for her to arrive, pacing the floor, rehearsing how he would tell her about his day.
"We need to talk," she finally said stiffly as she walked up behind him. She grabbed him by his lab coat and led him to a nearby supply closet.
"That's why I paged you. Mere, what's wrong?" he asked, suddenly nervous.
Meredith turned on the closet light, let go of his coat, and closed the door behind them.
"What did you say to my father?" Her voice was tense, and she wrung her hands apprehensively.
The color drained from Derek's face, leaving it to match the crisp white jacket covering his dark blue scrubs.
"Uhhh…" he sighed. "What have you heard?"
"What have I heard? Derek, I heard that you were screaming at him in the middle of the nurse's station. I heard that you sent him off shaking and crying before you started in with Lexie. You just can't manage to stay out of my problems, can you?" She was furious now, possibly angrier than he had seen her.
"Mere, it wasn't like that," Derek stammered. He moved toward her to reassure her, but she stepped away from him, heading towards the back of the closet. At least now she's cornered, he thought as he positioned himself between her and the door. She can't leave until we talk this out…
"Well, tell me how it was, Derek, because I am so tired of hearing from everyone but you how you've talked to my family behind my back!"
"He asked me how you were, and I got angry," Derek replied, his anger rebuilding from before.
"You got angry," Meredith echoed skeptically.
"Yes, I got angry because after all that he's done to you, he shouldn't ask me how you're doing. He shouldn't try to take an interest in your life unless you want him to."
"I don't need you to protect me," Meredith trembled defensively.
"I know that, Mere, but I care about you. I don't like seeing you get hurt, by him or anyone else." He stepped towards her again, trying to wrap his arms around her and calm her down, but she put her hands up in front of her body to block him.
"Do you know what hurts? Thinking you can trust someone to let you handle things and finding out that they have so little faith in you that they intervene anyways. I don't need you to talk to Thatcher or Lexie or anyone else on my behalf. I'm handling things. You might not agree with me or like them, but I'm handling things. I just need you to give me some space to work this out my way without trying to protect me, and…Damn it!!!"
She looked down at the pager vibrating violently against her hip. She unclipped it and brought it closer to her eyes, reading its message.
"Mere, I…don't…" Derek tried desperately.
"It's a 9-1-1, Derek. I have to go," she said, starting towards the door.
He stepped out of her path, feeling like a boxer who had been winning a match for eleven rounds only to get knocked out in the twelfth.
"We'll talk more later?" he mumbled sadly.
She brushed by him without responding and headed out the door, leaving him to sulk in silence.
Meredith scrubbed out from surgery much more sullen than usual. She aggressively lathered her hands with soap and stomped about the room as she slammed her gown into a nearby hamper.
"Grey, it happens," Mark consoled as he scrubbed out himself. Their patient, a victim of extensive third degree burns, had died on the operating table. Her condition was tenuous all day, but they thought she was stable enough for Mark to remove the dead skin and start fighting off infection. Unfortunately, the trauma had been too much and the middle-aged woman's heart gave out.
"Yeah. I know," Meredith muttered.
"Are you okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
"I'm fine," she replied, her voice a little louder than appropriate for her response.
"Fine," he echoed, disbelieving.
"I'm fine," she reaffirmed before opening the door and storming down the hall.
Mark quickly finished scrubbing out to follow her.
Her limber body sprinted down the hall before turning a corner and heading into an on-call room. She didn't notice that Mark was only a few footsteps behind her, and he stepped into the room behind her before the door even had a chance to close completely.
"I may not know you well, but you are not fine," Mark insisted, surprising Meredith as she sat on the twin bed.
She looked at him with disbelief. All she wanted was some time to be alone, to figure things out, and she apparently couldn't find that today. She shook her head in frustration.
"Spill it, Grey," he demanded. A sly smile perched on his lips that let Meredith know that she might as well get this over with because he wasn't going anywhere until she did.
Meredith let out a big sigh as she gathered her thoughts.
"It's not about the surgery, is it?" Mark prodded, becoming more concerned. He sat next to her on the bed and studied her reaction.
"No," she whispered. "It's…it's Derek."
"Oh," Mark nodded, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable for prodding so much. "If you don't want to talk to me about it, I'll understand," he continued.
"No, it's okay. You're maybe the one person I can talk to about him," Meredith shared.
Mark looked confused. "What about your friends?"
"They are not exactly the most supportive individuals when it comes to Derek. And they don't really know him like I do or…like you do…" she reasoned. "I know you two aren't as close as you once were, but I think you get him. You understand him…"
"Yeah, maybe. I think I do," Mark confirmed wistfully. "So what's wrong?"
"He just…he's constantly hovering and involving himself in my problems and…and it bothers me," Meredith confided, looking up at Mark as she hoped he would confirm that she wasn't crazy for feeling this way.
"He hovers?" Mark asked.
"Yes… No… Sorta…He's just always there, trying to help, which I guess is sweet, but it gets so damn infuriating when all I want is for him to leave me alone sometimes."
"You two are ridiculous," Mark announced, laughing slightly.
"What?" Meredith asked, surprised.
"Ridiculous and blind. So blind that you need me of all people to sort things out for you," Mark chuckled.
Meredith continued to gape incredulously.
"Grey, he loves you more than anything. I've known him my entire life and I can honestly say that I've never seen him so in love with anyone. He hovers because he needs to be with you and feel helpful," Mark confided.
"All the time though? That just seems weird…" Meredith started, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Look, he's not perfect despite all of his efforts. He really fucked things up with Addison by not hovering – by giving her too much space and staying away until he found her with me. And then he fucked things up again by leaving you. Now he's overcompensating. This is his way of making sure he's involved in your life," Mark explained confidently.
"You think that's it?" Meredith asked a little skeptically.
"I do. I think it's that and the fact that he has become pretty territorial lately. He likes to be in your business whether you want him to or not. He'll never admit that, but that's the way he is now. Very overprotective…"
"I'm not used to overprotective. That whole phenomenon is still pretty new to me," Meredith admitted.
"Yeah, well, nearly dying probably didn't help your case for keeping him away," Mark asserted.
Meredith sucked in a large breath as she remembered the ferry accident and all of its aftermath. She realized there was definitely a connection between that incident and Derek's protectiveness, and she felt a little guilty for not getting that sooner.
"Ugh, why do I suck at relationships?" Meredith bellowed in frustration while folding over onto the pillow to her right.
"You don't, Grey. You're pretty good at this one," he assured her, patting her on the leg. "He's not exactly the easiest guy to get along with sometimes. Moody bastard…"
"He yelled at my father today. He yelled and lashed out to defend me and I got mad at him about it," Meredith confessed.
"You're entitled," Mark encouraged.
"I know, but…he was just trying to help," she sighed. "I shouldn't have gone off on him like that."
"So apologize and get over it."
"Right…apologize…"
"Or whine and pout separately until he begs you to forgive him. Your choice," Mark joked, somewhat amused.
"You find this funny, don't you?" Meredith remarked, sitting back up next to him.
"A little. You have to admit that it's ironic that I'm giving relationship advice to Derek's girlfriend given our history as dirty mistresses," he smirked.
Meredith laughed a little, seeing the humor in the situation.
"God, if Derek found out that I talked to you about us, he'd probably flip out. Please don't tell him, okay? Let me work this one out," she insisted.
"No problem. You two have enough issues without me. I won't add to the drama," he confirmed. "Are you actually fine now?"
"Yeah, I think so," she said, smiling. She stood up and walked back to the door. "I should probably get back to work before someone notices I'm missing," she explained.
"Me too," Mark replied, following her out the on-call room door.
Meredith started to walk away and then paused, turning toward Mark. He was still hovering in the door of the room.
"Thanks, Mark. You're better at being his friend than he gives you credit for," she said gently, extending her hand to touch his arm softly.
"Thanks," he mumbled. "You're pretty good for him too. Hang in there," he encouraged before wrapping his arms around her in a supportive hug. "And if things don't work out, I'm single," he leered.
Meredith hugged him back, laughing a little and thankful to have someone to play big brother for her when she needed it. They smiled broadly at each other before going their separate ways.
Both were completely oblivious to the fact that Derek had watched the entire scene of them walking out together and embracing from across the room.