Cristina Yang was not a happy woman. Overall though, she supposed that any person that woke up and put their feet down into a stream of cold water would not be happy. So Meredith immediately took notice when her friend came banging into the locker room, looking less than perfect.

" What happened to you? "

" I woke up this morning to find a small ocean on my floor. Stupid water main."

" That sucks. Do they have someone coming out to fix it? "

" They probably would if I could in touch with my super. I swear, you pay an arm and a leg a month for an apartment, but you can't find the stupid superintendent unless you're behind on your rent. Meanwhile, the water level continues to rise. I'll be lucky if I don't have to replace everything in it. "

Meredith was quiet for moment, obviously debating with something. After a minute, she turned to her friend and shut her locker.

" You know what? Come stay with us until they fix your water leak or whatever. There's a room you can stay in. You know who just moved everything out of his room into mine. Now he's working on cleaning out the third bedroom, although god knows why , " Meredith rolled her eyes as she finished her sentence. Sometimes, she really didn't understand her boyfriend's neat freak tendencies.

" Seriously? You don't think he'll mind, " Cristina asked cautiously. She and Derek got along, but she didn't know how well he would take her temporarily moving in with them.

" It's not like you'll be sleeping in a bed with us, Cristina. Besides, you already know our dirty little secret , " Meredith smirked at her.

" Whose dirty little secret, " Izzie came up behind them and sat down on the bench.

" No one's , " Meredith assured her quickly.

" How come Cristina gets to know and I don't, " Izzie complained.

" Uh, because I'm not a gossip , " Cristina pointed out.

" I'm not a gossip!"

" Right. You talk to the nurse's for fun then, " The dark haired girl countered.

Izzie didn't respond, a guilty look flashing across her face.

" You guys. There's no secret, " Meredith made an attempt to ease over the situation.

" But you just said-" Izzie insisted.

" It's just an inside joke, Izzie. If I had a secret, I'd tell you, " Meredith soothed, surprised at how easy it was to get the words out.

Izzie grinned happily and bounded out of the locker room.

" You're so going to hell, " Cristina told her.

Meredith only saw Derek in passing that day. In fact, the only way they had been able to talk was to text message. She'd explained about the situation with Cristina before asking if it would be okay if she stayed at their place for a few days. He hadn't been happy about it, but he'd consented. She knew it was nothing against Cristina personally, it was just that Derek didn't share well. She'd told him just last week they needed a copy of the Toddler's Creed in their house so people would understand Derek. He hadn't been amused.

She was looking forward to the fact that she had the next two days off. Meredith could go visit with her mother, lounge around the house, but most importantly, she could sleep. Derek would be working of course, so it would just be her in the house, which was why she was glad Cristina would be staying with them. Meredith really wasn't all that fond of being alone in the house. She wasn't afraid or anything, it was just too reminiscent of her youth.

Cristina had to go by her apartment and pick up whatever she could manage to salvage, so Meredith had offered to drive her over, knowing that Cristina wouldn't be able to fit anything on the back of her bike. The superintendent had finally called Cristina back, promising to have the problem resolved by the end of the week. Meredith didn't believe him anymore than Cristina did.

" So Derek's okay with me crashing here for a few days? "

" Totally. He's going to be working most of the time anyways, so we probably won't see a whole lot of him "

" Izzie's been pestering me all day about what our secret is. I kept trying to blow her off, but she's like this thing that won't blow , " Cristina complained.

" She just feels left out. Besides, something else will happen at the hospital soon enough and she'll forget all about it. "

" So what's it like anyways? I mean, how are you guys not driving each other nuts, " Cristina asked as she looked out the window.

" It's normal. We don't drive each other crazy because we really don't see that much of each other. Either he's working or I'm working, so when we get home, we pretty much just sleep. "

" So when he doesn't pick you for a surgery, you don't get pissed off and bitch at him when you get home?"

Meredith laughed at her friend and shook her head earnestly.

" No. I actually prefer he doesn't pick me for surgeries. We made an agreement before we ever started working together that work issues stayed at work. At the hospital, he's Dr. Shepherd and I'm Dr. Grey. "

" Seriously. You don't withhold sex when you miss out on a really good surgery? "

" God, don't say the word sex. Since starting my internship, I've practically become celibate. We don't have time for sex. We'd both be walking zombies. "

" Weird."

" It's not that we don't want too. Believe me, we want too. It's just... the most time we spend together awake is at the hospital and it's not like we're going to run off to a supply closet to do it. "

" Okay, there's just something I've gotta know...is he, you know, good? "

" I'll put it this way. Brain surgery is most definitely not the only thing he's good at ," Meredith answered slyly and was rewarded with a knowing smile from her friend.

" Awesome. "

They'd spent the entire evening sitting around eating pizza and watching her mother's tapes, something that never ceased to enthrall Cristina. Meredith was almost certain that her VCR was going to keel over and die from the constant rewinding her friend was doing. It wasn't that the tapes didn't interest Meredith, she just found her thoughts plagued by Derek related thoughts. It had been three nights since she spilled her secret to him and he'd held her in his arms. Three nights since they'd slept in the same bed.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't care. It's just that Derek and normal circumstances didn't go together. She missed him. She even missed hearing his off key singing in the shower in the mornings. Before she left, she'd gotten a text from him telling her to keep his side of the bed warm for him, that he'd try and be home tonight. It was almost eleven though and still no Derek. Whenever she saw headlights, she was peaking out the window hoping to see his car pulling into the driveway.

Unable to think about it any longer, she pushed herself off the couch and headed into the kitchen. Liquor. She needed liquor. At least then her brain would be fuzzy for a while and she would stop thinking about when or if he was coming home. She knew their job was demanding, but it didn't make her feel any better. Grabbing two shot glasses and a bottle of Tequila from the liquor cabinet, she wandered back into the living room and plopped down next to her friend.

" Are you seriously going to shoot that stuff naked, " Cristina asked in disbelief.

" If you hold your breath, you don't even taste it. Well, not until the next morning. "

" I take it you have a lot of experience with that. "

Meredith shrugged and twisted the cap off the bottle, then filled both of the shot glasses. Putting the bottle down and picking up the glass, she raised it to Cristina in salute before turning it up and finishing it in one swallow.

" I think I just found a new respect for you, Grey, " Her friend said in amazement.

He heard the maniacal giggling of the two women before he even got in the door. It had been an exceptionally long day, one that he couldn't wait to be over. Right now all he wanted was to get into bed and forget about the patients he'd dealt with. Except that would be hard because he had no idea what was going on in their house. He made his way tiredly into the living room to find Meredith and their newly acquired roommate working on their second bottle of tequila. He bit back the sigh threatening to escape, knowing that sleep wasn't going to come quickly.

He cleared his throat and both women turned to look at him, one embarrassed and the other positively thrilled.

" Yay! McDreamy's home! " This came from Cristina.

Derek blinked. McDreamy?

Meredith stumbled off the couch towards him and he met her halfway when she almost tripped over her own feet.

" I see you ladies have had a productive evening, " He said as he helped his girlfriend regain her footing.

" You're here, " Meredith said to him as she threw her arms around his neck.

" Very observant, Dr. Grey. You're drunk , " He grinned at her.

" Not drunk. Tipsy, " She countered, her brow furrowing and her lip sticking out into a pout.

" She's drunk, " Cristina corrected from her place on the couch, even as she lifted the bottle to her lips to take another swallow.

" Shhh!" Meredith turned and hissed at her friend, still holding on to Derek's neck.

" Meredith, " Derek said gently. She turned her gaze back to him, looking up at him with those eyes that he hadn't mastered the art of saying no to just yet.

" You should take her upstairs and sex her up , " Cristina suggested. Meredith shot her a look.

Dear lord, what had he agreed too?

It had taken Derek a good hour to get them both calm enough to where he could pour water and aspirin down their throat, knowing that when morning came it wouldn't be pretty. Cristina had passed out on the couch not long after, but Meredith was another story. The more he tried to get her to calm down, the more wired she got. Currently, she was holding his I-pod captive and giving him her own rendition of Tainted Love. He was sitting on the side of the bed untying his shoes, but keeping an eye on her because her balance...well she didn't have any balance.

" Meri? Don't you want to come to bed now? "

She stopped her singing long enough to inform him she wasn't tired. He sighed.

" Sweetheart, it's late. I've got surgery in the morning. Will you please come and sleep with me, " He asked nicely and was rewarded when she pulled the earphones from her ear and began making her way to the bed. She was almost there when she tripped, falling flat on her face.

He was on his feet and beside her in a flash, picking her up and examining her head.

" Are you okay? "

She mumbled drunkenly and rubbed the knot she could already feel forming.

" Meredith? Are you okay, " He asked again worriedly.

" I'm fine, " She scowled, obviously annoyed at herself.

He tried to muffle the laughter that was coming out from looking at her sour expression and failed miserably. She shot him an irritated look before climbing on the bed and throwing herself down against the pillow. Derek joined her a moment later and stroked the back of her head.

" I'm drunk, " she announced as she rolled over to look at him.

" You are, " Derek agreed.

" I missed you, " Meredith confessed as she molded herself against him.

" Well, I'm here now, " He soothed, pulling her head down onto his chest. He felt her yawn and he thanked whatever God was listening that she had finally tired herself out. They laid in peaceful silence for a while before Meredith spoke softly.

" Love you, Derek, "

When he looked down at her he saw she was asleep. He let out a sigh before kissing her forehead and closing his eyes.

" Love you too, Meri. "