Meredith settled herself onto Derek's couch with a gigantic sandwich and some type of carbonated beverage. Mark already had the pre-kickoff game on, with Lexie cuddled up next to him, staring at her textbooks in her lap. "You know he really cares about you, right?"

She glanced at Mark with a mouthful of food. "He asked me to move in here."

"Are you?"

She paused, "I don't know. I just asked Lexie to move in to my apartment. Cristina is moving out. I'd feel a tad bit shitty if I just left, too. I want to. I don't know. I heard Derek has a really annoying neighbor, too."

At this point, Lexie looked up and laughed, receiving a sad look from Mark. "Oh, you know she's kidding. Meredith, if you want to move in here, by all means. Anything is better than living on my exes couch. Trust me."

"Still, I don't know," Meredith smiled seeing Derek working out on the field. "Do you think I could get fired for this?"

"For having an appendicitis?" Mark shook his head. "Let's be serious."

"You're right," She sighed, watching the teams headed into the locker room for the pregame events. She was kind of surprised to see her phone ringing. "You know how much this call is going to cost me?"

He chuckled, "I think you could forward me your bill, babe. What are you doing? How are you feeling?"

Meredith headed towards the kitchen for a bit more privacy. "I'm in the living room about to watch the game with Mark and Lexie. I'm okay. I'm tired, but the swelling is mostly gone."

"Good," He grinned. "I really wish you were here with me."

"I wish I was, too. Shouldn't you be having a pregame pep-talk or something?" She couldn't help but smile through the phone.

"I should probably go. I love you."

"I love you," Meredith hung up her phone and went back to her spot of the couch. She was grinning like an idiot and Mark just shot her a look. "Okay, yes, I know he really cares about me."

x.x.x

Derek was having a career high game. He was hitting every target and completing touchdowns. He threw for about 300 yards just as the third quarter came to the end. When the clock hit 15:00 again, he was back in the pocket. Zack was on his left to defend him. Snap.

He danced around in the pocket, trying to find a target down the field. He thought to run it, but the defense was still stacked. He had a wide receiver open down the field. All he needed was a block from his linebacker.

Derek hit the ground harder than he ever had, right onto his shoulder. Almost immediately he grabbed his shoulder, curling onto his side. It only took about three minutes to be surrounded by medical personnel and his head coach. "Derek, talk to me."

He just let out a low groan, "He fucking let me get pummeled."

"We'll deal with that later. Talk to me."

With a bit of help, Derek was in an upright position, with his helmet thrown a few feet from him, "I can't move it."

"Let's get you in the locker room."

With some help, Derek was on his feet, gingerly walking towards the tunnel. He was so angry he could scream, but he just kept his head down as he left the silent crowd. Almost immediately, his uniform was being cut from his body.

He already knew it was dislocated. He looked in the mirror to see bruising already occurring as they teams second ranked doctor stood in front of him. "Derek, I'm going to need to pop your shoulder back into place and get some images done. Are you ready?"

"Just do it. Don't do that count down bull- Jesus Christ!" He yelped out in pain. "Oh, god."

The doctor gave him a shot for the extreme pain that was coursing throughout his body. He then sighed, looking at his phone that wouldn't stop ringing. "I think this is for you."

Derek cracked a small smile, "Well, hey there."

"Are you okay? What happened? That was a terrible block!"

"I'm okay, babe. I have about fifteen people around me right now. I'm going to get some x-rays. I'll call you as soon as I can." Soon enough Derek handed back the phone, blushing a bit. "So sorry," He mumbled.

"It's quite all right. Let's get you some pictures."

x.x.x

Derek sat on the bench in the locker room and sighed. His arm was in a sling, but thankfully it wasn't a bad injury. With all luck, he'd be playing the next game. The locker room was emptying out, but Derek couldn't find the energy to move. He motivation was just to get on a plane and go home.

"I didn't do that on purpose."

Derek stared at his open locker in front of him. "So, that had nothing to do with me laying you out, huh? You find the best moment on the field to have someone else do your dirty work."

"I had a bad footing."

Derek moved his body so he was straddling the bench as he stared at his teammate. "I have a fucking custody battle in two days. I don't give a shit about this right now. You did what you had to do."

"Whatever."

Derek sighed as the room emptied, and it was just him left. "Hey, baby. What are you doing?"

"Just laying in our bed," Meredith smiled through the video chat.

He grinned, "Our bed, huh?"

"Yeah. I think I could like living here with you. That is, if you still want me to," She sat up, pushing her hair from her face. "Lexie is cool with living on her own in my apartment."

"I want that more than you know. I think we should talk about some things when I get back," He glanced at the ground.

Meredith just nodded, "Okay. I can't wait to see you."

"Only ten more hours."