5

Water

The wind plays with Meredith's ponytail and is soft compared to last night, when Meredith woke up feeling sick and had found the boat heaving on the outraged waves. The sound of her throwing up had startled Derek from his sleep and he'd held her hair out of her face until her stomach had been emptied. After that, he'd taken his miserable Meredith to bed and had held her in his arms for the rest of the night.

Today she feels better and is wearing the green sweater Derek got her before he told her about their vacation. Derek's arms are protectively wrapped around her small shoulders and he's determined to make this day as much fun for her as he can because he feels guilty about the miserable night she had. After all, this was his idea.

John and Jason come up behind them and say good morning.

"I sure hope the lady isn't afraid of sharks," John says, smirking.

"Oh no, I'm not scared as long as they're in the water and I'm in the boat," Meredith answers casually.

"They're pretty mean fish and we're sailing through their territory right now, you know," adds Jason.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you're actually trying to scare me," Meredith replies, maintaining her casual tone.

John and Jason smirk at her and Derek feels he needs to say something. Obviously Meredith's had a rough night and she usually wasn't in a joking mood after that.

"John, Jason, we were wondering when we could have our first breakfast on your wonderful boat," Derek cuts in.

John signs for them to follow him and walks back to the stairs.

"Follow us," Jason says and follows his father, "You can have breakfast together while we're getting the poles ready".

Derek presses a kiss against Meredith's head and she lovingly rests her head against his chest.

Meredith's polite smile has dropped awhile ago and on the other side of the table John and Jason are cracking up over their own jokes. Actually, they have been making fun of Meredith all morning. First about the sharks, then about her seasickness and if they could get her a nice fat fish, followed by how many beauty products they thought she's taken with her and that they ought to clean their own sheets if they wanted to have sex. It is obvious that not many women have stayed on their boa yett: these men seem not to be used to having human beings with breasts and oestrogen around.

Derek softly squeezes Meredith's hand under the table to give her some support. He knows she's trying not to let them get to her but he also knows that she's been doing that all morning and afternoon and knowing Meredith, she'll probably break at some point and tell them to go to hell. Derek would talk to them that evening when Meredith is taking a shower. The way they behaved that afternoon is not acceptable. First they laughed at Meredith when she was fumbling with the line, then Jason finally decided to give her a hand but it was obvious that he tried to get his hand somewhere else. Meredith uncomfortably tried to push him away but it wasn't until Derek shouted at him to knock it off that Jason made himself scarce.

"So, I've had enough. Excuse me, please. I feel like going to bed early tonight. Enjoy the rest of your dinner," Meredith says with held-in anger as she gets up and puts her napkin on the table beside her empty plate.

Derek quickly wipes his mouth and gets up, too.

"I'll come with you," he says to Meredith, "John, Jason, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night!"

"Sleep tight!" the men called after them and roared with laughter.

"No, Derek, really, it's okay. I understand why they're behaving the way they do. They're just not used to women and they don't know how far they can go. I think that's clear now. Tomorrow will be fun," Meredith rubs soothing circles across Derek's back. After Jason left her alone she really had a good time but Jason's rudeness seems to have kept bothering Derek. Meredith doesn't want their vacation ruined over small things. Derek deserves to relax, he's earned it well.

"I know, but I just hate it when... I know. Never mind, tomorrow will be great fun."

Especially when I tell her about my surprise... Derek lifts himself onto his feet and opens the door.

"I'm going to have a little chat with them nonetheless," he says and disappears. Meredith sighs. He's the sweetest, most caring, loving, gorgeous man she's ever met. How did he happen to love her back? How did that happen? She is probably blessed. Yes, that is what it must be, Meredith says to herself and gets up to gather her 'shower-equipment', as Izzie calls it, consisting of far less beauty products than the Js believed.

"Why, look at that! Half-naked women emerging from my own humble bathroom and it's not even my birthday!"

Meredith gasps and sharply turns, clutching her bath towell that is wrapped tightly around her body. She looks straight into the smirking face of Jason.

"Will you cut it out?" Meredith spits angry. "I'm trying here! I'm trying with my boyfriend to have a fun vacation and all you can do is pushing the line seeing how far you can go. The line is drawn! I can't help it that you haven't had a woman around since you got out of your cave and onto this freaking boat! So stop undressing me with your eyes. Stop talking to me in that contemptuous way. Stop harassing me!"

Meredith grabs her bag containing her clothes and shower-equipment and marches to her cabin door, leaving a still broadly grinning Jason leaning against the wall.

Fire

"Iz…," Alex murmers without opening his eyes, "Izzie...? Do you... do you smell... smoke? Smoke!" Alex gasps and sits upstraight and frantically glances around in the tent. Then he struggles out of their sleeping bag, accidentally stepping on Izzie's arm on his way out.

"Ouch!" she cries, "What the hell are you doing, Alex?"

But Alex is already outside. Izzie sighs in exasperation and trades the comfortable warmth of the sleeping bag for the cold of the night. She shivers as she stops next to Alex and folds her arms in front of her chest in an attempt to keep herself warm.

"What is it?" she asks softly as Alex glances intently at a spot between the trees.

"Iz, we have to get out of here," he says in a low voice.

"But wha-"

"Izzie there's a fire somewhere! Don't you smell it? Look at the leaves, they're curling upwards," Alex whispers with held-in nervousness.

Izzie now smells the smoke, too.

"Alex," she says as she pulls his arm, "Let's go put on something warm and call 911. Then let's get out of here."

"Our cell phones don't work out here. We'll have to get to the nearest village and use a phone there," Alex answers and follows Izzie to their tent.

"The smoke is getting thicker," Izzie says, "Shouldn't we go back? I mean, aren't we supposed to get away from the fire instead of walking right into it?"

Alex stops and glances around. It's hard to see a great distance through the smoke.

"No. We're heading the right way," he says stubbornly and continues down the path.

"I sure hope you're certain. This is definitely not the right time for macho-behaviour," Izzie mumbles as she catches up with him.

"Let me know if you're more certain it's the other way," Alex retorted.

"Hush, hush, don't get angry with me, blame the fire."

And Alex and Izzie resume their stride through the woods, unbeknownst to what danger lies ahead of them.