Author's Note: Text messages and emails are in italics.
Chapter Two
How did it go?
Derek sighed, as he stepped into the elevator. His sister, not unlike Meredith, expected greatness from him. He had actually been dreading the moment the texts messages started. Derek and Emma had been messaging each other every day since Derek arrived in Seattle. They used to message each other when they were both in New York, in the same hospital, too, but this was different because it wasn't likely they would run into each other between surgeries.
Nothing we could have done. Virus reverted. Unavoidable.
Derek pocketed his phone, hoping that was enough for now. He felt like he was letting everyone down lately. The list was endless: Meredith, Emma, his Mom, his other sisters: Kathleen, Nancy, and Tessa, Mark and . . . and Rose. He hadn't talked to Rose since last night . . . since they had been together. He had been thinking of Meredith the whole time and in his mind, if felt like he was cheating on her.
The elevator doors opened and the person consuming his every-waking thought walked in with two of her interns.
"Dr. Grey," he greeted, "Dr. O'Malley, Dr. Aaron."
"Dr. Shepard," they mumbled back.
"Dr. O'Malley, the Chief tells me that you're his intern now."
"Yes, Sir," Dr. O'Malley replied.
"What exactly does that mean," Derek asked. When Richard had stopped him earlier that morning Derek hadn't known what to say when he told him that he had made George O'Malley the Chief's intern.
"I'm Chief Webber's intern," O'Malley said, looking at Derek as if he had grown a second head. He caught a glimpse of Meredith smiling out of the corner of his eye. Just that glimpse made his heart soar and he wasn't sure it was going to come back. Not that his heart was in his chest to begin with, Meredith held it firmly in her little, ineffectual hands whether she knew it or not.
That is NOT what I'm talking about and you know it. Spill!
Derek frowned, reading the latest text message from Emma. Yes, he had given Meredith hope last night with their clinical trail – something to look forward to – but it probably wasn't what his sister had had in mind when she told him to talk to her.
"Everything okay, Derek," Meredith asked, quietly so O'Malley and Aaron couldn't here.
"My sister," Derek explained, "she's, uh, giving me a hard time."
Meredith smirked. "Good." And then all emotion left her face as if she remembered she wasn't supposed to be talking to Derek about personal things. If Derek's heart were in his chest, it would have fallen to the floor to see Meredith like that. He sighed. The next time the doors opened, Meredith and her interns got off. Meredith looked back and for a split second they shared a smile before the elevator doors closed.
Maybe Meredith saw through his speech last night to what he really wanted to say. That would certainly explain her behavior this morning. Derek decided not to think about it for a while as he made his way to his office. He grabbed his laptop from his bag and booted it up and he sipped his coffee. He hadn't checked his email since last night and Emma had promised pictures sometime during the conversation on the phone while he had been in the liquor store.
There it was, the email from Emma.
If anyone finds out that I talk to you at least once a day, I'd be a dead doctor. Should that happen, I want you to take Abby in. I'm being serious. Today, Kathleen and I went to breakfast together and she knows something is up. If she figures it out, she'll tell Nancy and Tessa and Mom. And then they'll kill me.
Helen Crawford says hello. Great job on the surgery. I never did mention that.
Anyway, Mom is hell-bent on coming to Seattle and I don't think I can stop her. She went as far as calling Chief Travers to see if I could get time off to go visit you with them. Travers was incredibly accommodating. You should call him or something so I don't have to go. It's not that I don't want to see you, big brother, but I don't want to see the blood bath that will be the Shepard reunion when they get their hands on you.
Oh, and tell Mark to call me back, I have some things I want to tell him but he has to have the time to listen. So, yeah, the pictures are attached. They're from Dylan's birthday. Kathleen is so upset that he turned thirteen. Like it was never going to happen.
We all miss you. Stay out of trouble.
Your favorite Sister,
Emma
PS – Talk to her! I know you didn't, you piss ant! Don't make me get Kathleen to psychoanalyze you. I know how you hate it.
Derek clicked through the pictures. He knew his sister, Tessa, was pregnant with her fourth kid, but she looked ridiculously huge for only being five months along. Maybe she was having twins - that would be cool. Derek sighed, missing his family all over again. All the kids had gotten so big, especially Emma's daughter Abby. Derek could remember the day she was born. He had stood in the waiting room with Mark and Miles. Miles had been kicked out of the room earlier and had had no desire to return until the baby was safely delivered.
It sucked that Miles only lived for another year. Emma had mentioned that Addie was dating a cop. Alright, so a cop and an FBI agent were different, but not when it came down to it. He hoped Addie was alright.
Derek shook his head, as if trying to release his negative, worrying thoughts, as his pager beeped at him. He would talk to Meredith later, whether she wanted to or not, right now he had a life to save.
GAGAGAGA
A semi-truck had careened out of control on the interstate and there were a ton of patients flooding the ERs of Seattle Grace, Seattle Presbyterian, and Mercy West hospitals. Derek had been involved in endless consults and surgeries. He had felt incredibly lucky just to have Meredith nearby all day. He hadn't seen Rose, though, and he briefly wondered as he found an empty on-call room, if she was avoiding him as much as he was avoiding her.
The door opened as soon as Derek was comfortable in the bottom bunk. He looked at the door, waiting to see who was coming in.
"Derek?"
He unconsciously held his breath. Meredith.
"Derek?"
"Yes, Meredith," Derek responded quietly.
She came in and closed the door. "I know that your tired and everything, but I bought you a coffee. There's another ambulance about ten minutes out with head trauma. I thought you could use it."
Derek swung his legs out of the bed and sat up, patting the bed beside him. Meredith hesitated for a moment before claiming the spot beside him and handing him the coffee. "Thank you, Mer, I appreciate it." She nodded. She opened her mouth, looking as if she wanted to say something, but then closed it instead. Derek sighed. "If you're up to it, later, I mean, I was hoping we could talk. I, uh, have some things I've been meaning to say. It isn't anything bad," he quickly assured her, studying her face, "but just something I really feel I need to say."
She nodded. "Sure," she said, "page me later. We should, uh, go meet the ambulance." And with that she was up and across the room, holding the door open. "Derek, I have some things that I want to say, too. So, yeah, page me . . . later." Then the door closed and she was on the other side.
Derek wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to say but he was going to have to talk to Rose beforehand. There was no way around it.
Author's Note: So, I hope that this chapter is equally satisfying. I got a ton of positive feedback last chapter, which is really exciting. I'm going to try and stay focused on the Derek/Meredith, Derek/Family dynamic but Meredith's family will be coming into play soon, too, I think. Let me know what you think, I appreciate it.