(Not sure how I feel about this update. It's a little filler-ish but with a purpose. As always, thanks for reading and commenting, and I have nothing to do with GA.)

Derek carried the drinks back to Alex and George, thinking about space. How he and Meredith had too much of it. Meredith wanted space because they needed to talk and she needed to get past his stupidity from last night. But when were they going to talk? He turned his attention to the table. Meredith, Cristina and Izzie sat conversing and sipping their drinks. The night was still young, and they were both sober. What the hell?

"Thanks."

The voice made Derek realize one hand was empty. He turned to find Alex helping himself to his drink.

"Sorry, but I'm thirsty and I've been waiting a while." Alex shrugged. "Watching you and Grey suck face really made me dry."

Rolling his eyes, Derek pressed his scotch into George's hand. "You look like you need a drink, Dr. O'Malley. This one is on the house."

With barely a nod to Lexie, she and George were left staring at Derek's retreating back before either one could say a word.

"Admit it Izzie, you're stuck on Evil Spawn." A tipsy Cristina crowed louder than Izzie liked.

"Shut up, I am not!" Izzie removed the half-empty glass from Cristina's hand. "You are a loud, nasty drunk."

"I think Cristina is on to something Izzie," Meredith giggled. "You throw stuff at Alex like you're in high school. You want to kill whats-her-name…"

"Your sister Lexie."

Meredith shot Cristina a very dirty look. "…for looking in his direction. Face it Iz. You like Alex."

"A little support would be nice Mer." Izzie grumbled. "I wasn't first in line to slit Derek's throat last night. If I say I'm not interested in Alex, then I'm not interested and you need to support that."

"And while I appreciate your help last night, you have to admit your behavior around Alex has been weird lately." Meredith shrugged.

"Define 'weird.'"

"Questionable."

"Define 'questionable.'"

"Weird."

"What's weird?" Derek kissed Meredith's cheek while grabbing his leather jacket from the chair next to her.

"Izzie likes Alex and is embarrassed to admit it." Puzzled, Meredith watched Derek don his jacket.

"I'd be ashamed to admit in public too." Cristina couldn't let it go. "Evil Spawn and Barbie, sitting in a tree…"

"Cristina!" Izzie muffled Cristina's off-key singing with her hand.

Derek pulled Meredith's chair back from the table and her up from it in one smooth move.

"What are you doing?"

Derek grabbed Meredith's jacket, purse and arm. Throwing a "good night ladies" over his shoulder, Derek quickly escorted Meredith from the bar.

"You seriously think you have a chance at getting any tonight, Dr. Shepard?" Meredith smirked as she brushed a wayward curl from his forehead. "We're taking space, remember?"

Lying facing each other in Meredith's bed, Derek mimicked Meredith's pose of her head propped up by her elbow, resting on her hand. His finger gently traced the neckline of her Dartmouth t-shirt.

"You're the one who said I could stay tonight. I'm here, you're here, so I think I stand a pretty good chance." His finger moved onto a shoulder seam.

"I love sleeping with you. Wrapping myself around you and sleeping. You know, eyes and legs closed." Meredith's fingers journeyed across Derek's cheekbone and into his soft curls. "I've missed that."

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I've missed your snoring."

"Well, I've kind of missed your morning breath."

Derek turned slightly into the touch of Meredith's hand tracing the outer edge of his ear. He knew it wouldn't take much to persuade Meredith to forget about space, but Derek was trying his best to respect her wishes. He wasn't sure how much they were back on track and he didn't want to screw this up. Derek didn't know how many "second chances" were left.

"Mer…"

"Hmmm…"

Derek reached for Meredith's hand, kissing it before placing it on the bed between them. "You're too distracting right now."

"I am?"

"You are." Derek drew a deep, steadying breath. "We need to talk." He hated the worried look in her eyes. "You said we need to talk about things. Everything."

"You want to talk now?"

"I think we should."

"About everything…?"

Derek shook his head, and laid his hand over hers, trapping it against the bedsheet. "Don't think we can cover everything in one sitting. But we need to start somewhere. We need to start."

Meredith leaned backward, inserting a little distance between herself and a distasteful topic. "We're not talking about last night. We've already done that."

Derek leaned forward. "We're not talking about last night. Unless you want to, we don't have to talk about it ever again. But we need to figure out what happened to us. We drifted, and I never want to go through that again."

Glancing at their hands, Meredith turned her hand palm up against his, their fingers intertwining. "I don't either." She whispered.

Meredith didn't resist as Derek rolled onto his back, pulling her body against him. Resting her head on his shoulder, Meredith draped her leg over his and settled her arm across his torso. Meredith couldn't see the smile on Derek's face as she nestled closer to him. She enjoyed the feel of his hand gently stroking her back.

"What did you want to tell me?"

"When?"

"Last night, on the porch. You said you needed to tell me something."

Derek tried to concentrate on Meredith's question. Their cozy cocoon was slowly draining his brain of any rational thought process.

"You can't remember?"

Porch scenes floated through his partial memory of last night. Derek remembered coming to Meredith's house and finding her seated on the front steps. After talking, Meredith offered her couch to him. In his mind's eye, Derek watched himself stand before Meredith and say 'there is something I need to tell you.'

Surprisingly, it came back to him. Webber. He had to tell Meredith about Webber.

Meredith felt his slow, steadying deep breath. "Derek?"

"I'm not going to be chief."

"What?" His brief, emotionless statement caught Meredith's attention.

"I am not being considered for Chief of Surgery."

Meredith quickly sat up, looking at Derek in shock. "Why the hell not?"

"Because of a promise made to your mother."

"What?" Meredith couldn't understand what Ellis had to do with this.

Derek pulled Meredith back down to him.

"Your mother asked the Chief to take care of you. And by removing me from consideration, he believes he is keeping his promise." Derek tightened his hold on Meredith. "I wasn't very happy."

It took Meredith a few moments to absorb Derek's words. Why didn't he say anything? And how could a woman lacking maternal instinct and in the throes of Alzheimer's ask a former lover to take care of her adult child?