Chapter 29:
January 18, 2007- Seattle, Washington

Meredith lied silently on the bed as Derek walked back into the bedroom and began to take off his clothes to get into something more comfortable. Meredith just watched him. It seemed as though he was unaware that she was even there. He was just so deep in thought. It almost amused her. Derek finally was done and laid in bed next to her. As she looked upon his face, all she saw was sadness.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into his ear.

"About what?" Derek asked. Meredith sat up and looked down at her hands. Derek sat up as well and pulled her onto her lap, concerned. He looked at Meredith, but she turned away. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry that you had to come and get me like that. And that I didn't tell you," Meredith said quietly.

"It's okay," he whispered into her ear as he gently rocked her, trying to stop the tears that he knew were going to come down her cheeks.

"I should have told you," she said as she began to cry.

"You still can," Derek said. He stopped moving and forced her to look at him, "What was it?"

"It was Finn," she said before she buried her face into his chest. Derek just held her, completely confused.

June 14, 2006- Seattle, Washington

Meredith was entangled in the sheets of her bed. Her cell phone was sitting on the table next to her and was flashing a red light. She figured that she hadn't heard it and took it to check her messages. She opened the phone and called her voicemail. Her phone played the message into her ear:

"Meredith? It's Finn. I don't get it. You just left with Derek. I know that you two had a past, but I really don't get it Meredith. What did I do wrong? I'm not mad at you, I'm just confused. I get you are scary and damaged, but you need to explain this to me. Give me a call back. I'll be up all night so don't worry about waking me."

Meredith pulled the phone away from her ear. The screen gave her four options: Save message, Replay Message, Delete Message, or Call Back Number. Meredith looked at it for a little while and then pushed delete message. She closed the phone and placed it back on the table.

Meredith pulled the sheet up a little bit, feeling the cold. She heard a grunt coming from the other side of the bed. She turned her head and cuddled herself closer to Derek, knowing that this whole thing was completely wrong.

Derek woke up to the light from the window blinding his eyes. He quickly closed the curtains and looked around, realizing that Meredith was not next to him. He got up and walked to the other side of the trailer, expecting to see her sipping away at coffee, but she wasn't there. He stepped outside, still confused and saw the empty spot next to his car.

He walked back into the trailer and quickly got dressed before heading back into the kitchen. He opened a cabinet and grabbed a coffee thermos from Starbucks and then looked down at the coffee pot. He grabbed the yellow post-it note off of it and brought it up to his eyes. "Work. I'll talk to you later. I love you, Meredith." He smiled at the sign off before crumbling it up and throwing it in the trashcan. He poured the coffee into his cup and grabbed his cell phone, wallet, and keys before heading out of the trailer to see Meredith.

As he drove up to the hospital, he recognized Meredith's car and parked besides it. He headed inside and paged Meredith, hoping that she'd come and meet him in his office. As he made his way to the fourth floor and down to his office, he realized it was dark inside. He opened the door and looked around: empty. He headed down to the OR and looked to see if any of Meredith's attendings were in surgery. None of them were, meaning she wasn't either. He paged her again and then called her cell phone. It went directly to her voice mail. Derek began to get a little concerned. As he headed down the hall he saw Bailey.

"Dr. Bailey? Have you seen Dr. Grey?" Derek asked.

"I am not her baby sitter, Dr. Shepherd. Find her yourself," Bailey said before walking away.

He wasn't all that surprised by Bailey's response. She never approved of them and he wasn't expecting her to do it now. As he turned the corner he saw Bailey walk in front of him again and he stopped walking so that he wouldn't run into her.

"Look," Bailey said in a hushed voice, "Don't tell anyone I said this. I still don't approve of this whole thing. I just wanted to say, thanks. Thanks for bringing her back."

Derek smiled, "Your welcome. Now will you tell me where she is?"

Bailey straightened herself out, "No!" she said in a louder voice as if to redeem herself before heading down the hall.

Derek ran his fingers through his dark hair before focusing back on his mission: finding Meredith. As he got on the elevator to go down to the third floor, his pager went off. He got off the elevator before the door shut and headed down to the OR. He found Cristina there, obviously hoping for surgery.

"You're back in town?" Derek asked.

Cristina eyed him, but didn't verbally respond to that. Instead she talked about the situation at hand, "There was a car crash. He needs to get into emergency surgery. You are the only neurosurgeon free," she said referring to the patient being transferred in to the OR.

"Okay, you can scrub in," Derek said letting the Doctor in him take over and letting the thoughts of Meredith dismiss from his mind momentarily.