After a long explanation, followed by a multitude of questions for him to answer, Derek bid farewell to the family of his most recently saved patient. After his last scheduled surgery the night before had gone long, the patient they were keeping an eye on went into distress, and he was right back into surgery. The sun was now coming up, dawn just peeking through the dark, cloudy morning. He sighed heavily. He had no idea if Meredith was still at the hospital or not, having not seen her since dinner the evening before. Regardless, she and Cristina were scheduled to leave in just a few hours.

He bought himself a coffee and wandered towards the elevator, pressing the up button and leaning tiredly against the wall to wait. Just seconds later the elevator dinged and the doors opened. He pushed himself off the wall and stepped to the door, surprised to find himself face to face with Meredith and Cristina.

"Hey," Meredith spoke as her eyes landed on him. She and Cristina were dressed in street clothes.

"Hey, I thought you'd already left."

She shook her head. "Just going now, actually. Cristina needs to pick up a few things at... her old apartment, then we're going home to pack."

Derek nodded. "Okay, I should see you there soon. I just have to get changed."

"Okay," Meredith answered. "See you soon."

Cristina shook her head. "Mer, give me your keys." She demanded.

"What? Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "Lend me your car. I'll go get my stuff. You can go home with McDreamy." She spoke. "There's no reason for you to come with me."

Meredith was silent for several seconds, and Derek held his breath, expecting her to protest, but she nodded and gave Cristina her keys. "Okay, thanks. I'll see you soon." And she stepped onto the elevator beside Derek. The door closed and they were away, alone for the first time since Cristina had interrupted their meal with her vacation plans.

She turned to face him. "Derek, I'm sorry. This is horrible timing, but..."

He nodded. "Cristina needs you," he stated. "Don't be sorry, you're being there for your friend."

"But we're just starting to talk and stuff. I don't want to ruin it."

He smiled. "You won't ruin anything. We have stuff to work through, but nothing that can't wait two weeks."

She sighed. "I just hate leaving when I know you're in pain."

His breathing hitched, just a bit. And his heart felt like it was in a vice grip. However, before he could respond, the elevator stopped and the car doors opened. He took a large gulp of coffee as he stepped out onto the floor, welcoming the scolding liquid as it flowed down his throat. He was so tired. Meredith followed him to attending locker room.

He stopped at the door, turning to face her, and smiled. She looked so tired. And so worried. "It really is okay, Meredith. I'm okay. You're here, and we're okay, and you passed. Right now things really are fine."

She sighed, her upper teeth biting down on her lower lip, as she met his eyes. He almost smiled at her expression, not used to being the person stared at like that. Like she knew he was holding back something, but didn't know how hard to push. It made him a touch uncomfortable.

He pushed his mostly full coffee cup into her small hands. "I need to get changed. You look exhausted. Have some coffee."

Opening his locker, Derek quickly stripped out of his dirty scrubs and pulled on jeans, a button up and a light sweater. He dumped the scrubs into the laundry bin, pulled his bag out of the locker, and re-connected his beeper and phone to his fresh pants. He hung his bag on his shoulder and pushed out the door.

Meredith was leaning against the wall opposite of the locker room, coffee cup still in hand. She smiled when he exited. "Ready?" She asked.

He nodded. "Absolutely." And the pair broke into stride beside each other as they headed back towards the elevator. The door was just closing as they walked up, and Derek managed to stick a one-million-dollar-a-year hand between the doors. They re-opened and Derek and Meredith stepped into an empty car.

He yawned, despite himself and smirked as he reached over to pry his coffee back out of his girlfriend's grasp. "You leave me any?" He added sarcastically at the significantly lighter weight of the cup. He took a sip.

She rolled her eyes. "You told me to have some. Do you need me to buy you another one?" She raised an eyebrow, her eyes sparkling as she tried not to laugh at him.

He laughed, taking one more sip. "Nope, I'm good." And he passed the coffee back to her.

She smiled thankfully, and the elevator car stopped its descent.

They exited the elevator together, striding through the lobby towards the doors, only slowing down for Meredith to dunk the now empty coffee cup into a garbage can.

000

"I found the suitcase," Derek said as he walked through the door of Meredith's room, suitcase in hand. Apparently the concept of going away for two weeks hadn't connected with the concept of packing until Meredith had walked into her room and realized several things: she hadn't done laundry in a while, she didn't know where her suitcase was and, most importantly, she was quickly running out of time.

"Oh, Derek, thank-you." She said as he hoisted it up, onto the bed, careful to avoid the piles of clothes haphazardly strewn on top of it. "Thank-god. What would I have done if it wasn't here?"

He shrugged, a smirk fluttering across his face. "Well, you would had to have spent most of the trip naked."

She glared at him, but he could still see a laughing gleam in her eye. "You're an ass," she muttered, as she began scooping piles of clothes into the suitcase.

"What are you doing?" Derek asked, amused.

"Packing."

He laughed. "Seriously? You call that packing. All of your clothes are going to be wrinkled when you get there."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well I pulled most of them out of the laundry, so they're already wrinkled."

He shook his head.

"What?" She asked as she held a shirt up to her nose, sniffed, wrinkled her nose, and yet, tossed it in anyway.

"Meredith, you just packed, like four sweatshirts."

"So?"

"So? So, you're going to Hawaii. It's warm there."

She breathed out, taking a moment to glare at him before pulling out two of the sweatshirts. "There. Is that better?"

"I'm just trying to help."

She scoffed and returned to her closet. Derek took the opportunity to pull some of the piles of clothes out and start folding. She rolled her eyes at him, but didn't protest. After she had effectively packed half of her wardrobe, and many pairs of shoes, she turned to him. "What am I forgetting?"

"Kitchen sink?"

She glared and threw a shirt at him. "Shut-up. I don't usually pack this much, but I don't have a lot of time to think about it, okay? I've never done the vacation thing, so I have no idea what to pack and I'm doing my best to not forget anything in a very short amount of time."

He held up his hands. "Okay."

"Now, what am I forgetting?"

He smirked. "Well, you're going to an island, where there's a beach, so you may want a bathing suit."

She laughed. "Right." She pulled a mangle of suits out of a drawer in her dresser and dropped them onto the suitcase. "What else?"

"Toothbrush?" He supplied, the item alone opened up a large category of bathroom stuff.

"Damn," and she disappeared into the bathroom for several minutes, giving him time to pull out a few unnecessary items: winter boots, half on the infinite pairs of socks, a particularly revealing bathing suit. This freed up a fair amount of room and he just managed to tuck a specific item between the folds of a pile of shirts when she re-entered, dropping an arm load of toiletries down on the bed beside the suitcase. She stuffed an array of shampoos, conditioners, body lotions etc into a plastic bag, and stuffed them into the suitcase. Followed by a make up bag. Hairdryer. Toothbrush and paste.

"You won't need the towel," he reminded. "They'll have them at the resort."

"Okay," She answered, pulling out towel, along with two pairs of pants and a few shirts. "I really don't need these." She continued her removal project by taking out a pair of shirts, another sweatshirt, two pairs of shoes, one pair of sandals. "There, I think that's better. I just need to grab my jacket from downstairs." She paused, staring at the suitcase, her expression pensive. Then, out came another pair of shoes. More pants, two more shirts, one blouse. The suitcase was now surprisingly empty.

Derek smiled and shook his head at her antics. He was pretty sure she had unpacked more than was left packed.

There was movement in the hall, and Cristina appeared in the doorway. "I'm all packed. You ready to go?"

Meredith nodded. "I think so."

"Good, I'll call a cab."

Derek shook his head. "You don't need a cab. I'll take you to the airport."

Cristina paused, cell phone in hand. "Great."

Meredith smiled. "Thanks, Derek." She sighed as she surveyed her suitcase and nodded. Then pulled handbag closer and rummaged. "Okay, I have my cell, my wallet. I won't need my keys," she tossed them onto the bed. "Don't need my nametag." It landed beside the keys. "No beeper." It landed beside the nametag. "Do I need anything else?" She posed to Derek and Cristina.

Cristina shrugged. "All you need is a ticket and a credit card." She stated.

Derek rolled his eyes. "And a passport."

"Oh!" Meredith exclaimed. "I almost forgot." She laughed as she dug through the top drawer in her bedside table for her passport. She tossed it into her purse. "We good?" She asked.

"Camera?"

She pulled it out of her closet and dropped it into her suitcase.

"If you're taking your cell, you'll want your charger."

It was immediately unplugged and joined the camera.

"Sunscreen?"

"Don't have any. It's never sunny in Seattle. I'll have to buy it there."

He thought. "Something to read on the plane?"

She paused. "I don't really have anything..." she trailed off, her eyes landing on the Nature: Medicine journal lying on the table on his side of the bed. She tilted her head and smiled.

He rolled his eyes. "Take it."

It was added to her carry-on.

"I think you're good."

"Great!"Cristina said. "Then let's get going. Plane leaves in two hours." She led the way down the stairs, Meredith trailing behind her, suitcase in hand. Derek took the rear, carrying the purse she had left on the bed.

Cristina picked up her suitcase from the bottom of the stairs, and the two girls headed out to the car. Derek rolled his eyes as he grabbed his keys from the front hall table, and stopped to pull Meredith's forgotten jacket out of the closet. He tossed it over the arm that was holding the forgotten purse.

000

Pulling up to the departure gait, Derek put the car in park, and Meredith and Cristina were out like a flash. They had been stuck in traffic on the way, and would have to hurry to get checked in on time. The suitcases were already out of the trunk by the time he made it to the back of the car.

Cristina took a few steps away, and Meredith turned to him. She reached up her arms and wrapped them tightly behind his neck.

"Thank-you," she whispered. "Thank-you for being so good about this."

He closed his arms around her. "It's what I'm here for." She laughed. "But seriously, Meredith. She needs you. And you need this too. You've had a hell of a year, and you deserve a vacation."

She stayed silent for several seconds, her only reaction evident in her arms tightening their grip around his neck. "I love you," she finally whispered.

He kissed the side of her neck. "I love you too."

"You'll be okay?"

He nodded as much as he could in the embrace. "I'll be fine."

"And you'll still be here when I come back?"

He smiled. "Absolutely. There's nowhere else I'd rather be."

She breathed and pulled back a bit. "Thank-you," she said again, before slamming her lips against his in a long, deep kiss that left him breathless.

After she pulled away, they spent several seconds simply staring into each other's eyes.

Then she nodded. "Okay, I have to go."

He nodded. "You have to go."

"And we're going to be fine."

"We're going to be fine."

"And we're going to finish our talk when I get back."

He smiled. "And we're going to talk when you get back."

"Okay."

"Okay."

One more quick kiss.

"I love you so much, Mer."

She smirked and her eyes danced. "I know. But I still love you more."

He rolled his eyes. "We so don't have time to continue that now."

She smiled, taking one deep breath before pulling away.

"Have a good trip. Have some fun."

"I will. Hey, I'll see if I can buy you a tropical shirt." She joked.

He laughed. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Okay."

"Okay."

They stared for a long moment before she smiled, nodded to him, and was gone, she and Cristina hurrying into the airport.

He watched for as long as he could see them, sighing when she disappeared out of his sight. He turned back to his car, dropping behind the wheel, fastening his seatbelt before pulling out of parking space. He drove back to Meredith's, utterly exhausted; mentally, physically and emotionally. He had been awake for over twenty-four hours, had barely eaten, and wanted more than anything to fall asleep with his girlfriend in his arms.

Unlocking the front door, he stumbled up the stairs and into her bedroom. Pushing the mound of clothes and other rejected items off the bed, he stripped down to his boxers, pulled back the covers and collapsed. Pulling the blankets over himself, he pulled Meredith's pillow into his arms and breathed in her scent. Two weeks was a long time. A lot could happen in two weeks, especially two weeks away from the stress of her life. The mess of being with him. Two weeks was a long time.

His breathing hitched as he pulled the pillow tighter, tears welling in his eyes. Everything was going to be fine, he told himself. Everything was fine. And it would continue to be fine. Everything would be okay.

But two weeks was a long time.

AN: Sorry I'm a little slow on the updates lately. I'm trying to gauge where the story will go after the next few planned chapters, so I'm hesitant to update to soon. And I totally forgot in the last chapter to thank everyone who either reviewed or PM'd me with info on what's going on with the show. I actually managed to find the ep online yesterday, which is awesome, but don;t know if it will happen again. So, the only thing I really still need to know, is if they get more results from their exams, which I don't expect to happen, but you never know. Lol So, thanks for the info, i really appreciate it.

AN2: Okay, so I need to rant a little. I re-read a few chaps online, because I couldn't remember if a certain topic had been discussed by certain people, and its easier to look online then open every chapter in word one by one. In one recent chapter apparently changes didn't get made like they should, and it stated that the interns stared that day, and the new residents didn't get them, which is what I was thinking originally. And no one mentioned it, which is okay, not a big deal. BUT, why did no one mention there is an authors note right in the middle of one of the chapters? Seriously? I was like, wtf? No idea how that happened. I will fix it when I have time to re-upload. But, please point out acts of my stupidity in the future? Thanks. lol