Meredith wandered around the bright, open foyer in potential new home number five. Her eyes were lifted upwards, staring at the bright blue sky three stories above them. She followed the line of skylights to the mahogany spiral staircase leading down from the open upper floor above them, and down to meet Derek's eyes.
She wandered towards him, tucking her body in beside him. "Maybe my way of house hunting is better than yours," she said jokingly.
He closed his arm around her waist and rolled his eyes at her. "This was a small, unforeseen complication," he whispered, his eyes on the realtor who was talking away about the size, history and location of the mini-mansion they found themselves in.
"A small complication? This is a freaking huge complication." Meredith spoke, making a point of pointing out the size of the houses they were being taken to see. This one was huge, and was definitely not the largest one they had seen that morning. "Did you give her any other criteria than Jacuzzi, view and windows?"
"Of course. I specified small, starter home."
"Well, she obviously didn't listen."
"Thank-you for pointing that out," he responded sarcastically.
She smirked. "You know, the classifieds may be time consuming, but at least when you go to look at the two bedroom apartment, it's a two bedroom apartment. And the one and a half story condo is one and a half stories. The small starter condo or apartment isn't a freaking mansion."
He sighed and mock glared at her. "This isn't a mansion."
She rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not a small starter home."
He shrugged his shoulders. "No. No, it's not."
"How do you two like it so far?" Their overly enthusiastic realtor, named Bridget, turned her attention back to them with a large, white-toothed smile and seemingly unblinking eyes. She kind of reminded Meredith of Izzy at Christmas, if she were on drugs and sleep deprived.
Meredith suppressed a smile and glanced up at Derek.
Derek smiled politely at the realtor. "It's still very large," he started.
"Yes, and very open. Lots of light, as you can see," she pointed up at the sky lights above them, as if they could have missed them. "And you haven't seen the view from the upstairs bedroom yet."
"I'm sure it's wonderful," Derek spoke before she could lead them up the stairs. "But what I meant is the house is much larger than we are looking for. All we really want for right now is a starter home. Something small."
Bridget turned lifted one manicured eyebrow at Derek, shifting her attention towards Meredith and then back. "Dr. Shepherd, for a couple in your profession, this is a starter home."
Derek paused before speaking. "Well, I guess we're just not like most others in our profession. We're really just looking for an apartment or a small condo."
Bridget looked shocked and turned her attention towards Meredith, as if expecting support.
Meredith shrugged. "We don't really take up much space."
Bridget looked completely flabbergasted. "Well, I, uh, I need to make some calls. Please excuse me." And with that she stepped out the large wooden double doors onto the wrap around porch, her cell phone out and open before she was out of sight.
"I think we scared her," Meredith stated through her barely controlled giggles.
Derek nodded his agreement as he closed his arms loosely around her middle. "I don't think I've ever loved you more than I love you right now. She completely expected your support there."
Meredith laughed and buried her face in his shoulder. "Why would two people who are never home need this much space?" She mumbled into him.
"I don't know." Derek ran his hand up and down her back as she sighed happily.
Meredith lifted her head up, meeting his eyes, a gleam reflecting back from hers. "Do you think we could make a run for it?"
Derek laughed. "You want to ditch her?"
Meredith shrugged. "Well, we're obviously not making any progress. And we only have one day off work this week."
"I guess we could try to-"
"I've made a call into my office, and there's at least one place we can go see that's more... uh, to your liking. It's not far from here." And with that she motioned for them to follow her out the door to the car.
Meredith sighed as Derek released her and made to head out the door. "We could still run," she whispered as she took his hand and let him lead her after Bridget.
"We could," Derek replied, squeezing her hand. "But we'd have to walk home from here, and my car is still at her office."
"So, you're not willing to sacrifice your car for our escape?"
Derek laughed. "I like my car."
"More than me?"
"Of course not," he replied immediately. "But I think you could suffer another hour so we don't have to sacrifice the car forever."
Meredith snorted. "I suppose we could go to one more place," she told him with an exaggerated sigh.
He leaned close and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. "You're making my car very happy."
"Whatever," she muttered as she released Derek's hand to tuck herself into the backseat of Bridget's car.
With a mock glare at his girlfriend for once more leaving him to sit in the front beside Bridget, Derek sighed and resigned himself to the passenger seat.
It only took a few minutes to navigate the roads away from what Meredith now silently referred to as 'mansion town.' They pulled up to an apartment complex on the outskirts of the city near the hospital. Bridget quickly parked the car and stepped out, barely leaving Derek and Meredith time to follow before she hit the lock button and motioned for them to follow her into the front lobby.
"We're meeting the landlord," was all Bridget offered as explanation, her enthusiasm suddenly much lower, as if realizing this gig wasn't about to get her the large commission she had expected.
Meredith snorted at the attitude change. "I like her better like this. She's almost normal now."
Derek laughed as he reached for her hand and glanced upwards at the building. "Well, this is looking more promising," he commented.
"Yeah, unless of course she plans on us renting the entire building," Meredith joked.
He rolled his eyes, but stayed silent.
Meredith smiled at her small victory. "It does look promising," she commented as he led her inside.
A pleasant looking older man was just entering from the hallway opposite the front doors.
"Hello, folks," he spoke as he offered a hand to Bridget. "I just got a call from your office, you must be Bridget. I'm Ron." He turned to Derek and Meredith. "And you must be Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Grey?"
"Derek," Derek answered, shaking his hand. Meredith followed suit.
"It's nice to meet both of you," Ron said, smiling warmly. "I hear you two are looking for an apartment. Are you newlyweds?"
Meredith only paused long enough to suck in a breath before her mouth opened and a jumble of words came flowing out unbidden. "Oh, no. No, we're not newlyweds. Not newlyweds at all. Or married. We're not married. Not married or newlyweds. Just...dating. Wanting to live together. Not married. Not getting married. Not that we won't ever get married," she glanced at Derek, her eyes wide. "I mean, we haven't talked about it, so I probably shouldn't be talking about it now, but here I am, doing what I do best; rambling about things I shouldn't be. But no one is shutting me up, so here I go again. Not married, no plans for marriage any time in the near future, but maybe eventually, or-"
"No, we're not newlyweds," Derek cut in, finally taking pity on his rambling girlfriend. He dropped her hand to wrap his arm around her waist. "And yes, we're looking for an apartment."
Ron smiled warmly at both of them. "Alright then, let's go have a look at it then." He motioned for them to follow him into the elevator.
Meredith felt her face redden as she averted meeting eyes with Bridget, who was throwing her a questioning expression that told Meredith that Bridget thought she was completely insane. She pulled away from Derek's arm, swiping him across the chest with her hand as she did so. "You couldn't have stopped me sooner?" She hissed at him.
He laughed and fought to grab her hand back. "I thought it was cute."
She rolled her eyes at him as she stepped onto the elevator, only weakly attempting to pull her hand free of his.
"We have sixteen units," Ron offered as the doors shut and the elevator car began to travel upwards. "Four on each level above ground. Me and my family live in half of the building's ground floor, and there are storage lockers for each unit on the other side of the ground floor. Each unit has an open living room-dining room, and a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom on the base floor, with a master bedroom and bathroom in an upper loft. The one we have available is the northwest apartment on the upper floor." The car beeped to signal the correct floor as it came to a stop and the doors opened.
Meredith and Derek followed Ron down the hallway as he fiddled with a large key chain, searching for the correct key. Bridget huffed as she trailed behind. It only took a moment for Ron to find the correct key to open the door of unit fourteen. He swung open the door and motioned for them to enter first.
With Derek's hand resting lightly on her lower back, Meredith walked through the doorway and her breath caught. After walking under the overhanging second floor, the room opened up into a full two floors, large open windows lining the wall all the way up to the roof, complete with its own set of sky lights, an obvious perk of being on the top floor. The open concept gave a magnificent view of the bay below them.
"Wow," Meredith murmured as she threaded her fingers through Derek's, squeezing tightly.
"Yeah," he replied.
After knowingly giving them a few moments to take in the view, Ron spoke up. "So, off to the left we have the second bedroom and bathroom. The second bedroom is often converted into an office. And the door over there is the laundry room. There's also a closet back here by the door," he motioned behind them, back to near Bridget who was sulking by the door. "Obviously the wide space here along the windows is the combined living room and dining room." The only feature distinguishing the two rooms was the floor; thick carpet for the living room, and mahogany hardwood flooring for the dining room. "The doors across the room lead to the balcony. And the kitchen is here on the right." He motioned to the kitchen wrapping around the corner to the side. The windows along the back wall showed a peek of the forest area along the side of the bay. Large silver appliances were intermingled with light beige and blue cupboards. A half wall with a narrow counter top jutted out to define the parameters of the kitchen. There was enough room in the center of the kitchen for a small table.
"Do you want to see the upper floor?" Ron motioned towards the staircase to the right of the door. Meredith nodded and made her way up the stairs, Derek on her heels. Ron followed them, but Bridget chose to remain sulking by the door. There was a small alcove at the top of the stairs, complete with a linen closet. They made their way through the open door into the master bedroom. There were large windows along the back wall, showing the same view as the kitchen. To the left was a half wall, allowing a full view through the windows overlooking the living room. The right wall was broken up by three doors.
"There are two walk-in closets," Ron said, motioning to the furthest two doors. "And this is the master bath. " He opened the closest door. The bathroom was complete with a large Jacuzzi tub.
Meredith walked back into the bedroom, crossing the open space to overlook the room below the loft bedroom. She leaned her elbows on the ledge of the half-wall, gazing happily out the windows across the room at the view. She felts Derek's presence behind her only a moment before his arms snaked around her waist and his chin came to rest on her shoulder.
"We could wake up to this every morning," he whispered.
Meredith sighed happily and leaned her head into his. "We could," she agreed. "We should."
"Really?" Derek questioned.
She nodded her head against his. "Really. I love it. How soon do you think we could move in?"
Derek chuckled. "Well, it's empty, so probably as soon as we sign a lease."
"Then let's get that lease."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, I love this place."
"No, I mean are you sure you want to move in so soon?"
Meredith pulled her head up and away from his far enough to look him in the eye. "Of course. Why, don't you?"
"No, I do. I was just..." He trailed off.
"Just what?"
He sighed, resting forehead against hers. "I guess I just expected you to want to take some time."
She leaned her forehead into his. "Why? I told you I want to already be living with you."
"I know, but there's a difference between saying you want it and actually..."
Meredith felt her heart lurch as she realized the basis of his questioning. Since the talk things had been much better; Derek had been better. He had basically been back to his normal, cocky self. She hadn't realized how close to the surface his insecurities still were.
She leaned her face in to kiss him, returning her forehead to lean against his when she pulled away. "Derek. I don't want to take any time. I love you and I want to live with you. Here. As soon as we can move in. I don't have anything to think about."
"Really?" He questioned quietly.
She smiled. "Really." She squeezed his hands.
"I love you too." He placed a kiss on her forehead before pulling his body away from hers, only keeping contact through the intertwining of their fingers.
Derek turned to Ron, who was standing discreetly in the corner, letting them have their moment. "We love it. Can we see the lease?"
Ron smiled at them. "Absolutely. I can get you a copy to read through overnight. I can hold it for you until tomorrow, but be sure to call me first thing in the morning if you want it. I put an ad in the classifieds last week. Phone's been ringing off the hook."
Meredith snorted despite herself. "I knew it," she muttered.
"What?" Derek asked, turning a questioning expression to her.
Meredith laughed. She hadn't realized he would have heard her. "Oh, it's just that we wasted an entire morning with Mrs. Psycho-unblinking-mansion hunter, when I showed you the ad for this apartment three days ago."
He narrowed his eyes. "No, you didn't."
"Two floors, two bedroom, same neighbourhood. I circled the ad and placed it right in front of you."
Derek scoffed. "Whatever. All that matters is that we found this place regardless."
Meredith smirked. "All that matters is that we found this place and that apparently my way is most effective."
"My way still found the apartment. That means they're equally effective."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, then my way is most efficient. We wouldn't have wasted any time."
Derek shrugged. "Whatever."
She laughed, dropping his hand to tuck in close to his body. "You just don't want to admit you were wrong."
He wrapped his arm around her waist. "I'm a surgeon, I'm never wrong."
She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Sure," she muttered sarcastically.
"I'll admit you may have been right, but I wasn't wrong."
Meredith sighed. "This is the way our life is going to be forever, isn't it?"
Derek smirked and laughed and kissed her forehead. Even Ron laughed at her words.
AN: I suck for not updating sooner, but life sucks for not letting me. And the important thing to keep in mind is I updated now...