Disclaimer: You may now know, we write this as a complete team thing, it's all about the writing team thing. We can do writing team. We could so own Grey's Anatomy. But we don't.
Sunday. The day after Meredith had left me in my trailer, completely naked. It was Sunday and here I was, getting ready for another Shepherd family dinner. I wanted to be at this dinner about as much as I imagined I would want a root canal. Actually, a root canal sounded a little more appealing than dealing with my family today. At least root canals came with drugs. My family, however, did not. Usually I loved my family, my huge insane family. These dinners were something to look forward to, to cherish. But usually I hadn't been left naked the night before, shaking with desire and finding myself in an empty bed. Right now I wanted to hate Meredith, I wanted to yell and scream and kick. God, I wanted to hate her. Okay, maybe not. Maybe I just wanted to finish what we had started.
I walked into the house and immediately found myself being attacked by my mother. "Derek, honey, you're late. Are you all right? You look exhausted. Have you been sleeping? How's Meredith?"
No, mom, I hadn't slept at all the night before because I had been too busy rolling around in my bed thinking about the rolling I had been doing earlier with Meredith, who by the way is probably a lot better than I am right now, ran through my head. "I'm fine, Mom. Meredith is fine. And yes I've been sleeping."
"Are you sure?" she asked. "And you look thinner. Much thinner. You're not eating. I swear, you're just like your father. The job takes over everything else."
"Mom, I'm fine. Stop worrying!" I snapped at her. Which was wrong, and I knew it was wrong. But after the night I had had last night the last thing I needed was my mom clucking over every tiny detail of my life.
She paused for a moment, her eyes beginning to fill with tears and she looked away, immediately walking back towards the kitchen, where I could hear my sisters and Mark laughing. "I'm sorry," she said as she walked. "I just worry about you, Derek."
"Mom...Mom...I'm sorry, I didn't mean...I'm sorry," I pleaded with her, following her back into the kitchen. I loved my mom, I loved that she worried. "I had a long night last night...I'm sorry."
"Long night?" Mark had just caught the last part of the conversation and of course his mind had to go straight to the dirty. "Are you finally banging the pediatrician, Shep?"
"I don't think that's any of your business," I angrily told him, my eyes narrowing in his direction.
"Derek!" my mother admonished. "What is the matter with you today?"
"Nothing Mom. It's nothing," I said, running my hands through my hair as I walked towards the fridge, intent on grabbing a beer. God, I needed a beer.
"Oh," Mark laughed. "Someone's been blueballed."
I popped open my beer and openly glared at Mark. His womanizing ways were a constant source of amusement, but sometimes they made him too smart for his own good. Or mine. "Shut up," I told him grudgingly.
"Oh, poor Derek," Nancy giggled as Mark laughed. "Life with Meredith isn't sunshine and rainbows?"
"It's none of your business what life with Meredith is or isn't," I snapped again. I knew I wasn't being fair, they weren't doing anything to ask for my behaviour. But today I couldn't delve into what Meredith and I were. Not today, not after last night.
"What are you two talking about?" my mother asked, bringing about a round of giggles from all four of my sisters, and a smirk from Mark. At that moment, I hated them all. Maybe not hated. But strongly disliked. Especially Mark. My feelings for Mark were heading towards hate.
"Nothing Mom, it's nothing," I told her, giving her a quick kiss in hopes of taking her mind off of it all.
"Aww, don't feel bad, Shep," Mark laughed as he threw his arm around my shoulder. "It happens to the best of us. Well, not me. No girl leaves me hanging. But it happens to other guys."
"She had to go, she didn't leave me hanging. She had to go," I tried to argue. I know the excuse seemed lame, but I couldn't make this sound like Meredith was the awful tease who left guys with blue balls. Even if she was.
"While you two were screwing she just suddenly got up and left?" Mark raised his eyebrows at me. "Sounds like a cock tease to me."
"It wasn't her fault. Something came up, there was a phone call, she had to go," I argued with Mark. Hell, where was these arguments even coming from? What Mark was saying had been running through my head since last night, and now I was arguing against it.
"I'm sorry, man, but any girl who just gets up and leaves during sex is a bitch," Mark shrugged. "Not worth your time, man. Move on."
No longer heading towards hate, I hated Mark. My best friend since childhood, the man that was practically my brother. I hated him. "Don't you dare talk about Meredith like that! Don't you dare!"
"I'm just speaking the truth," he shot back. "You're a mess, Derek. She's not worth it. No cock tease is worth the mess."
My hands clenched into fists by my side as I fought the urge to punch him. "If you want to continue this friendship you might rethink what's coming out of your mouth," I told him honestly.
"You've got to be kidding me," he laughed, looking at me with humor in his eyes. "Putting a girl first? What the hell has she done to you?"
"She's not just a girl Mark, she's the girl. That's what she's done to me. So if I have to wait, if I have to put up with some phone calls pulling her away, you're damned sure she's worth it," I yelled at him, wanting to wipe the smirk of his face.
"Derek!" my mother finally intervened as she stepped between the two of us. My mom was short, tiny, even, but the way she looked now put the fear of god into me. "Mark! Both of you, stop it, immediately!"
"Mom, you know how I feel about Meredith, and Mark...Mark...Mark..." I sputtered over the words, still far too angry to finish a complete rational thought.
"Mark is just being Mark," she stated calmly. "But I don't need temper tantrums from you, Derek. And, Mark, I would suggest watching your language in my kitchen."
"I just...I just..." I walked away from Mark, plopping myself down onto a chair closer to my sister, who were all starting at me. "Mom, it's Meredith, my Meredith. I...she drives me crazy."
"I know," she nodded sympathetically. "But, Derek, that doesn't mean you need to raise your voice. Now, I want the two of you to apologize to each other."
"He started it," I said, pouting. God, since I had met Meredith I sounded more like a five year old than I had since I was...well a five year old.
She turned to Mark and gave him a pleading look. "Mark, would you apologize to my son who has apparently regressed back into his terrible twos?"
I shot Mark a warning look. For my best friend he sure wasn't acting like it. "Sorry," he muttered under his breath, sounding entirely unsorry. Mark was an ass. A huge total utter ass. Even if I had been maybe a little testy today, Mark was an ass. He also was my best friend.
My mother sighed and turned to me. "Derek?"
"Sorry Mark," I told him. "You're still an ass though."
"Yeah, and you're whipped," he winked at me. "Totally whipped."
"Jealous?" I asked him, our usual banter returning.
"Of your romance with a pediatrician?" he rolled his eyes. "I've got my nurses. You should be jealous."
"That's sex Mark. That's not romance," I told him. Meredith and I were on an entirely different level, which probably had something to do with the lack of sex.
"Love is for losers," he grunted. "And as it is, I'm getting more sex than you right now. I'm pretty sure I'm the man around here."
"Mark, you get more sex than some porn stars," I said, laughing.
"Okay, okay," my mother sighed dramatically. "That's enough lewdness for today. Derek, it's good to see you laughing. Do you think you can be nice enough to have dinner with your family?"
"Fine," I told my mom. If she knew what had really happened last night, she'd be a little more sympathetic, you'd think. The love of my life had been finally opening up to me, even if it was just her legs, and one phone call snapped them and her closed again. I deserved a little sympathy.
"Good," she nodded and kissed me on the cheek. "Girls, could you help me carry the food into the dining room?" My sisters all got up and followed Mom into the dining room, each giving me a wary glance as they passed by.
As soon as the room was clear I turned around and glared at Mark again. "I hate you."
"No you don't," he laughed. "You love me. I'm completely lovable."
"Keep telling yourself that when you're 50 and you've lost your looks and your bed is cold. I'll have Meredith," I told him.
"I'll never lose my looks," he stated. "I'll always be the better looking of the two of us. And girls will always fall over themselves to sleep with the great Mark Sloan."
"Wait and see, you'll get lonely," I said, starting to walk towards the dining room myself. "And I will still have my Meredith."
"Derek," he said, the tone of his voice suddenly changing from humor to seriousness.
"Yeah?" I said, stopping where I was and turning around to look at him. It was odd to hear the great Mark Sloan serious.
"I'm happy for you," he said, carefully. This was definitely odd. I had apparently entered the twilight zone.
"Ummm...okay. Thanks," I told him, shrugging.
"Yeah," he laughed. "We should, probably go in there. And forget about this. I must have hit my head too hard on the headboard last night."
"Over sharing, Mark, over sharing," I told him laughing and going to find the rest of our family.