She twirled the slightly green liquid with her straw in circles. The ice was dancing along the insides of the glass. Meredith glanced at Derek, who had his hands firmly gripped around his rocks glass full of some high-class scotch. Single malt, of course. Forty minutes had passed without him saying a single word, nor a single motion. "Derek."

He hung is head down. "I'll get to it."

She let out an inaudible sigh, finishing the rest of her margarita. "We don't have to be here. We can go home," She touched his hand gently, only receiving a slight jump.

"Mark's going to piss me off," He glanced up. "Go say hi to your friend."

Meredith grabbed her empty glass and made her way to the bar, finding a seat next to Cristina. "Can I have a double shot of tequila, please? Yeah, I guess another drink too."

"What's wrong with you?" Cristina smirked, while Meredith tossed back her shot with ease. "Or, should I ask what's wrong with princess?"

Meredith looked over to see Derek toss back his third rocks drink, which could have only happened in the matter of minutes. "Oh great," She rubbed her temple. "I honestly have no idea. I have to be at the stadium at eight in the morning."

"It's midnight."

"Sure is." She sighed. "I'm being a bad friend today."

Cristina shrugged. "I'll forgive you for it this time."

"I'll call you after the game tomorrow," She frowned, walking back towards her boyfriend, who finished yet another drink with one on the way. She looked down in front of her to see a folder. "What is this?"

"This is Addison, trying to take my daughter from me," Derek was guzzling at this point. There was nothing stopping him from his intake.

"You know this is bullshit, right? She can't do that. You're a great father, Derek. She can't."

"She can try. And, to be honest," Derek paused, "The light of me being in the media lately isn't helping. Ever since the start of the season and…" He trailed off.

"Me?" She stared at him.

"I mean," He paused. "I guess." Derek took a long sip of the newest drink in front of him. He was so distracted he didn't notice Meredith's eyes watering. "It's not that it's you. I can't lose my daughter." He looked at her. "Please, don't get upset."

Meredith took a breath, "I'll just go."

"Babe," He grabbed her hand, but Meredith just pulled away. "I guess I really can't seem to do anything right these days, can I?" Derek stumbled to his feet and towards the bar. "Ralph, can I have one more?"

His friend looked at him with a frown, "Derek, I think you're about done. Don't you?" Ralph placed his tab in front of him. "The good Doctor has to be at the field early, doesn't she?"

Derek looked over his shoulder at Meredith, who clearly didn't want to be there anymore. "Yeah. You're right," He slurred. After signing his name at the bottom of the receipt, Derek held his hand out for Meredith. "Can we go home?"

"My home is right upstairs," She stared at him. Derek didn't flinch. With a sigh, Meredith grabbed ahold of her bag and headed out of the bar, quickly hailing a cab. "I'm going to bed when we get there."

Derek ran his hand through his curls. The scotch was hitting him hard right now. When the cab pulled up to the front of Derek's building he was immediately out the door, emptying the contents of his stomach onto the pavement.

Meredith handed the cab driver a fifty-dollar bill before interlocking her arm with Derek's. "Not outside, Derek. Come on."

They took the elevator to the top floor. Meredith could see Derek struggling to not throw up everywhere. She unlocked the door as he almost ran towards the bathroom. Mark sat up with an amused look on his face, "What the fuck happened?"

"I'm pretty sure he drank a whole bottle of scotch," Meredith pulled her hair into a high bun, walking into the bathroom. Derek was sitting up against the wall, his one hand holding his head up. "Derek."

"I'm sorry. Today was… shit."

"You don't need to push me away, Babe," She frowned, running her fingers through his curls. "I'm sure you have an excellent lawyer. You'll go to court and she's not going to take Kyla from you. I'll be there, if you want me to."

"I do," He nodded. He grabbed her hand. "Meredith, go to bed. It's so late."

"I'm good right here, Derek."

x.x.x

Lincoln Financial Field. It is arguably one of the loudest football stadiums in the country. Meredith was having a very hard time keeping her eyes open. The six shots of espresso hadn't helped much this morning. "Doctor Grey?"

"Yeah, sorry," She shook her head, trying to wake herself up. "What's up, Alex?"

"How's Mark making out?"

"Well," She pushed her sunglasses on top of her head, glancing at the field. The team was holding on, even without their two stars on the field. "He's still cracking his usual jokes, so I assume he's good."

"You alright?"

Meredith nodded, "Just tired, yeah." She stared up at the clock. Three. Two. One. Game over. She was the first one off the field and on her way towards her office. Meredith sat down with a sigh. "Hey, babe."

"Hi," She smiled. "I'm glad to see you're alive."

"Yeah," He chuckled. "What time are you leaving the office? Sloan's going stir crazy and wants to go out for dinner with us apparently."

"Is he feeling alright?" Meredith shook her head. "Yeah, we can go… oh, my god. I gotta go."

Derek hung up his phone with a frown on his face. "What's up?" Mark raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know. She just freaked out and hung up."

"Maybe she realized you're a douchebag," He shrugged, quickly receiving a pillow to the face. "I'm sure everything is fine. Stop acting like such a bitch."

"I really wish I could kick you out," Derek flipped the channel to the after game press conference. He looked at his phone with a frown, calling Meredith back again. Nothing.

He laid down and sighed, "You're so in love with her."

"What?"

Mark smirked, "You're in love with her. And the fact that she didn't punch you in the face for the shit that happened last night, I'm thinking she's in love with you, too."

"And since when did you become the relationship guru?" He raised an eyebrow at him. Mark shrugged his shoulders.

"You know I'm right," Mark kept the smug look on his face as they continued to watch the press conference. When their head coach was at the stand, both Derek and Mark expected to hear their names come up. "What is Sloan's prognosis? Will he return this season?"

"Doctor Grey performed surgery on Sloan yesterday. From what she explained to me, he will be starting physical therapy tomorrow and if all goes well, he'll be back around game nine."

"And Derek Shepherd?"

He paused, "Shepherd will be back at practice at seven am starting tomorrow. We'll be expecting he hasn't missed a beat. Thank you."

Mark started laughing, almost uncontrollably. "You just got called out. Seven am practice? Have fun with all your suicides tomorrow."

"I hate them," He groaned as there was a knock on the door. "It's open!"

Two pairs of footsteps could be heard, "Hey," Meredith dropped a kiss on Derek's lips quickly. "I'm sorry I hung up so quickly. This is my boyfriend, Derek, and his best friend, Mark. This is my sister, Lexie."