Author's Note: Behold, the chapter in which I introduce Meredith Grey. Yes, I know, it's gonna get interesting. By the way, I really like reviews...

Disclaimer: Shonda Rhimes owns it all.

It was a little over half a year after their wedding. Derek had thought the past six months with Addie had been great. They rarely fought, and when they did, it was over trivial things that were unimportant. They hadn't gotten to spend as much time together as they would have liked to; their jobs separated them. Every time Derek saw his wife in the hospital, his heart would skip a beat, and they would acknowledge each other warmly. Every free night together they would go to Joe's, or a nice restaurant for dinner. These special moments were rare, as both their schedules frequently conflicted the other's.

It was just a normal day at Seattle Grace. Derek was doing charts at a desk when she came up to him.

"Dr. Shepherd, hi, I uh—I, I am, uh, assigned to you for the day," Meredith Grey stuttered.

Derek looked up at her. Meredith was one of the new interns who had just started working at Seattle Grace a few months ago. He had worked with her a few times before, and had no complaints. He had heard she was a very promising surgeon in the making, but he could not decide that for himself, as he didn't know her very well.

"Hi," he replied absentmindedly, looking down at the charts again and making his final notes. "Round on all these, then report back to me after you've finished," he said, thrusting a pile of patient binders at her.

"Uhm, uh, all right, see you later Dr. Shepherd," Meredith said, awkwardly carrying the pile of binders out of the office and scurrying away.

"Interns these days," Addison shook her head, entering the room and handing Derek a cup of coffee. "Here's an early morning pick-me-up," she said, planting a quick kiss on Derek's lips. "I won't be home tonight, I have a surgery that's expected to go pretty late, so don't wait up for me."

"But Addie, that's your third late surgery this week! We were supposed to go out to dinner tonight," Derek reminded her.

"I'm sorry, Derek, I know," Addison replied, looking truly repentant. "We'll do something special at the end of the week, all right?"

"Yeah," Derek sighed, as Addison walked out of the room. He put his head in his hands. The life of a surgeon was hard enough. Being married to another surgeon was even harder.

The rest of the day flew by. Derek didn't see Addison at all, but he made himself busy, and he made sure to keep Meredith busy as well. He was sitting in the office, doing more charts, feeling overcome with drowsiness. He looked at the clock. Midnight. He stayed later than he needed to, in the hopes of seeing Addison, but no such luck. He began to gather his things when a timid voice came from behind him.

"Dr. Shepherd, is there anything else I can do for you?" Meredith inquired, entering the room.

"Oh, no, Dr. Grey, you're finished. Good night," he said bluntly, turning to leave.

"Weren't you supposed to go out with Addison tonight?" Derek barely heard her; perhaps she had been speaking more to herself than to him.

He turned around and looked her square in the eye; she seemed to shrink back under his gaze. "Yes. How did you know that?"

"I, uh, I, well, I just, uhm, kind of assumed since you two spend every free moment together, and yeah, so, uh huh," Meredith stuttered.

Derek's tone turned accusatory. "You were eavesdropping on us this morning, weren't you? How come? You were supposed to be doing your rounds!"

The look on Meredith's face was one of pure guilt. "I, uh, couldn't help but overhear...I'm sorry Dr. Shepherd. But I really do see you two at Joe's a lot too."

"So you're a frequent customer at Joe's too?" Derek asked, his tone lightening a bit. "I've never seen you there."

"I go. A lot. I was there that night when Joe had that thing for you. With the song," she trailed off quietly.

Derek was confused. "Oh, back a few months ago? Oh yeah, that. Huh. Yeah I didn't see you there that night."

Meredith shrugged. "I was there. It was very...nice," she finished lamely. "I was probably sitting at the bar. Or in a corner. Doing shots. I like shots."

Derek suppressed a laugh; was she this awkward around patients? He decided he didn't really want to know.

"So...yeah. Uhm, good night, Dr. Shepherd," Meredith finished, and hurried out of the room.

Derek was now alone. He gathered up his things, and without another thought to the nervous intern, walked out of the room, to go home and wait for his wife.