By the time he'd found her over in the personal hygiene sector, she was already on her way to a meltdown. She was pacing a small area talking to herself and refused to acknowledge his presence.

" Meredith, " He said her name gently. She continued to ignore him. He waited a beat before grabbing her by the arms on her next lap back.

" Meredith will you stop that? You're making me dizzy. "

She looked at him with wide panicked eyes, reminding him of a deer caught in the headlights.

" Bailey knows."

" Bailey knows, " He echoed, confirming one of her worst fears.

" Oh God."

" Meredith, relax. I talked to Bailey. She's not going to say anything, " Derek tried to calm her, but she wasn't having it.

" I don't want to relax! I think I'm entitled to a little bit of a freak-out here because she's Bailey and she knows about us, " Meredith snapped at him. Derek sighed deeply, realizing this wasn't the best place for them to be discussing this.

" Look, let's just finish getting what we came here for and we'll talk about it at home."

" Fine, " she consented irritably and pulled away from him, grabbing a box of her toothpaste and throwing it in the cart.

Cristina was asleep when they got back to the house. Meredith hadn't spoken to him the entire ride home and as soon as the groceries were inside, she had stomped up the stairs. He'd heard the bedroom door slam, shaking the windows. Giving her time to cool off, he began to put away the items they had bought. A few moments later their dark haired roommate appeared in the doorway.

" What's up her butt, " She asked as she slid onto a barstool.

Derek paused, not sure of whether or not he should tell her, then came to the conclusion she'd find out sooner or later anyways.

" We ran into someone unexpected while we were out, " He confided, as he reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. Thinking better of it, he pulled out another one and slid it across the counter to Cristina.

" Must have been someone good for her to get all pissed off like that , " Cristina replied, eager for details, but playing it off.

" It was Bailey."

" Ouch."

" Meredith's all flipped out because of it, even though I tried to tell her that Bailey wasn't going to tell anyone."

" Of course she flipped out. She's Meredith. Now, she thinks that Bailey is going to think less of her as a doctor because she's sleeping with her attending, " Cristina rationalized as she popped off the cap and took a swig from the amber colored bottle.

" I talked to Bailey. Asked her if I'd been favoring Meredith in anyway. It took her a moment to realize that this wasn't a recent development. As long as we continue on the way we have been, Bailey shouldn't give her any problems, " Derek said confidently as he took a seat across from her.

" They don't call Bailey the Nazi for no reason. She's going to be on Meredith's ass for a long time to come. Besides, Meredith already had to worry about people questioning her abilities, just because of who she is, " Cristina said flippantly.

" What do you mean?"

" Well, come on. She's the daughter of Ellis Grey. People think that's how she got into med school. Not because she worked her butt off, but because of who her mother is. "

" That's ridiculous."

Cristina shrugged as she looked over at him.

" You don't think that, though, " He asked, although it came out more of a statement.

" I think she's one of the best in the program. After me of course, " Cristina replied.

Derek laughed before he got up from his seat and tossed his beer can in the trash, before he slowly began his journey upstairs.

" Goodnight, Dr. Yang, " He said over his shoulder.

Her ceiling really needed to be painted, she thought to herself. She'd left Derek downstairs and came up here to wallow in her misery. She knew he probably thought she was mad at him, but she wasn't. She was just mad at the situation. She also knew it was probably bound to happen sooner or later. Meredith would have just preferred later. The door creaked open, but the lights didn't go on. It was Derek, she could smell his cologne. The bed dipped slightly and then she felt his arm come around her waist.

"It'll be okay, Meri. We haven't given her any reason to think I'm doing you any special favors and as long as we don't, then she's not going to say anything, "

" That's easy for you to say. You're her boss. I'm her intern. She's going to make my life hell."

" We both knew going into this there would be times when it wasn't easy. This is just one of those times. "

" You don't have anything to prove though. I do. "

" Do you know what Richard told me when I first got here? I told him that I didn't have anything to prove. He told me I was a one procedure hack with a house in the Hamptons. "

" You're not though and Richard knows that, " Meredith rolled over onto her side to look at him.

" Exactly. I just had to prove him wrong. That's all you have to do with Dr. Bailey. Prove her wrong , " Derek's hand came up to stroke her hair and she inched closer to him, offering a half hearted smile.

" Look, Bailey thinks this has to do with work. It doesn't though. Eventually, she'll come around. You'll see, " He continued on, leaning forward to place a kiss on her forehead.

" I hope you're right, " Meredith answered, clearly still worried.

He flashed her that McDreamy smile and pulled her close.

" I'm always right. "

Of all the people for her to get stuck with on an elevator, the last person she wanted it to be was Bailey. Of course, God must be laughing at her because that was exactly who she was stuck with. She'd come to the hospital to drop Cristina off and to grab something from her locker, only to find herself in a confined space with the Nazi. Taking a deep breath, Meredith greeted her calmly.

She was met with silence. Meredith spoke again, this time making sure Bailey heard her.

" I didn't know...that he was my boss when I met him. I didn't know , " She addressed her resident.

" So I've heard, " Bailey answered.

" You seem to be under the impression that I'm sleeping with him to get ahead in this career. I'm not. My work and Derek have nothing to do with each other. And we're not just sleeping together. It's not about that. I'm with Derek because I want to be and because of who he is, not because of what he does, " Meredith pressed ahead.

" Meredith- , " Bailey interrupted.

" No. You need to hear this. I got into med school and into this program because of what I know, not who I'm doing. What I do in my personal time isn't yours or anybody else's business in this hospital. It's mine and Derek's. I'm not looking for your approval and I know you don't respect me because of it, but we're together and we're going to stay together, " Meredith finished.

Bailey didn't say anything. The elevator came to a stop and Meredith stepped out, bidding goodbye to her superior.

It was only then that she let her fear show over what she had just done.

Of course her week didn't get any better. She'd worked a forty eight hour shift straight through on little sleep. The nursing home had called her asking if she could come in the following morning for a meeting over her mother's power of attorney. When she got there that morning, the news wasn't good. Her mother's lucid moments were becoming few and far between. The lady requested that Meredith start preparing to take over her mother's estate legally. It'd taken all she had to stay awake.

Getting into work, she was assigned to Burke for a CABDG. Any other time, she'd be thrilled to be getting in on such a procedure, but she found it hard to get excited over anything with the worry of her mother and Bailey on her. She'd done her best to pay attention during the surgery, seeing as she held the woman's heart in her hands. Except that she had nodded off for just a minute. She'd jerked awake almost immediately and felt her index fingernail pop through her glove. Meredith looked around quickly to see if anyone had noticed, relieved when they hadn't. Procedure was almost over when the woman went into V-Fib.

Luckily, Burke was able to get her heart started again, but she couldn't shake the nagging feeling she'd done damage to the woman's heart. Not sure of what to do, she wandered the halls in a daze, not even noticing when Derek approached her from behind, eating something out of a container.

" Hey. I heard you did a CABDG with Burke. You get to hold the heart, " He asked cheerfully, sounding excited for her.

" Yeah, " She answered distractedly as she headed towards the elevator, not wanting to deal with him at the moment.

" It's an amazing feeling isn't it? "

Again, she agreed with him distractedly. A worried expression crossed his face as they stood waiting for the elevator. She didn't even look at him as they stepped on the elevator. His pager went off and he pulled it off the waistband of his pants to look at it while he spoke.

" You okay?"

" I think I did something...to the heart. I was tired and I nodded off for a second. I think I squeezed it, " She told him quietly.

" The heart's a strong muscle. It can take a squeeze or two, " Derek assured her.

"I popped a glove. Fingernail cut straight through it. What if I punctured her heart? "

" You would have known if you punctured her heart, Meredith."

" You're right. It's probably nothing."

" She's fine right? "

" In recovery."

" Well, just keep an eye on her then. Don't worry." The elevator reached it's floor and he leaned over to kiss her cheek before the doors opened and he disappeared down the hallway. Meredith however was not reassured.

He'd heard through the hospital grapevine that Burke's patient had gone into heart failure and he was pretty certain his own heart stopped. Especially when he overheard one of the nurses saying that Meredith had confessed to popping a glove in the middle of resuscitation in front of the husband. They'd gotten the woman into surgery and now Meredith and Burke had a meeting with the Chief in the morning. Derek had taken off in search of her as soon he was able too and found her standing on the landing in front of the window, talking listlessly to someone on the phone. He was just reaching her when she hung up.

" I heard, " was all he said as he moved to stand in front of her, leaning against the railing.

" What? It's a notary thing...a thing to get notarized , " She replied defensively. He looked at her. confused.

" I meant about the heart. You want to talk about it? " She shook her head as she moved away from him.

" We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop, " She asked sullenly as she walked away, heading in the opposite direction.

He only wished he had an answer for her.

He'd been about ready to head home, fully intending on doing research into Meredith's problem when he and Alex's pain addict had needed emergency surgery. He felt bad for being so hard on the kid when Alex admitted during his surgery that his Dad had done a lot of smack. That explained Alex's problem with giving this guy drugs. The moment the surgery was over though he'd hurried to get out of there, leaving Alex and Stevens to close up.

Hoping to find Meredith at home, he'd headed there after managing to steal a look at the chart of the woman. He'd have to talk to her of course, find out more patient history, but Meredith was no where to be found at the house. When Cristina arrived home, she told him Meredith had to run an errand. It just struck him as odd that she wouldn't tell him where she was going. Then he remembered she'd mentioned something about having to go to the nursing home that morning.

It was half past one when he heard the door slam. Derek had been lying in bed, surfing the web on his laptop when she had all but fell through the bedroom door. He didn't have to get close to her to know that she was drunk. He could smell her from across the room. For some reason that got him angry. She was facing a career altering meeting in which she could potentially get kicked out of the intern program and the night before she goes out and gets smashed? He knew she had a drinking problem, it had just never crossed his mind up until that point that it was a serious problem.

" I hope you didn't drive in that state, " He managed to keep his tone even, not moving off the bed to help her even as she kept losing her balance.

" Nah-uh. Joe called me a cab, " she slurred and shook her head.

" You do realize you have a meeting in less than eight hours and you are completely trashed, " He pointed out un-necessarily.

" I know. Jus' needed a couple drinks to help me prepare."

She flopped down on the bed beside him and he slammed his laptop shut.

" Right. Because drinking's going to help, " Derek said sarcastically.

" Lighten up would you? I can handle this, " Meredith giggled and he rolled his eyes.

" What is the matter with you, Meredith? Do you not realize that a mistake like the one you made today could cost you your career as a doctor? "

Derek wanted to understand. It was just that it seemed he was more worried about this than she was. He had to make her understand the severity of the trouble she could get in. She just looked at him blankly and he growled from frustration. Sometimes, her method of denial just wasn't working and right now was one of those times. She wasn't willing to listen and he knew that if he pushed the issue they would just end up in an argument and that was the last thing she needed. Reaching over and turning the lamp off he turned away from her and went to sleep.

She was completely floored when they let her go with a minor slap to the wrist. She saw Izzie, George and Cristina waiting on the landing and she headed towards them. Derek had ultimately been the one to point out to her this morning when they were discussing the case that the woman lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. Speaking of the devil, he appeared at her side as soon as she got out the door. She told him how it went and he was happy for her, but disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

Meredith vaguely remembered his annoyance at her the following evening and she knew she needed to apologize. He was only trying to help, but as usual she was stupid and didn't listen. He'd been distant at breakfast, only talking to her about the case and then leaving for work. Pissing Derek off had been the last thing she wanted to do and now she was lost as to how to make it right.