I don't own Grey's Anatomy. I sure as hell wish I did.

Meredith awoke abruptly in the middle of the night to crashing sounds. It sounded like someone was trying to break in. She heard things falling, and banging around. She grabbed Derek tightly. She had no idea what it was. He was sleeping soundly. How can he not hear that, she thought.

"Derek." She whispered and shook him lightly.

"Hmm?" He moaned, opening his eyes with a smile.

"Someone is outside." She said quietly. He heard the crashing, and he woke up quickly.

"What the hell?" He said loudly, jumping out of bed. Meredith was scared, but she had to laugh at the sight of his bare ass running toward the door.

"What is it?" She asked as she too jumped out of bed. With a sheet wrapped around her, she rummaged around and found a machete. She heard him yelling and she walked to the door.

"A bear." He said simply as he walked outside.

"A bear?" She said in a panic. "What do you mean, a bear?"

"They're all around out here. We left our food out on the table. I guess he decided to help himself." He said as he grabbed the rubbish and threw it in the trash bag.

"Will it come back?" She asked with a fearful look on her face.

"I will protect you." He said with a smile as he put his hand around her waist.

They walked back into the trailer together. Climbing back into bed, she clung to Derek just a little tighter. He laid there, breathing in the lavender scent of her hair. She closed her eyes, and fell asleep feeling safe in his arms. He fell asleep soon after with a smile on his face.

Meredith woke up before Derek. She wasn't sure if he had set an alarm. She could not afford to be late. She looked over at the clock. She still had an hour to sleep. She wasn't tired. In Derek's arms, three hours sleep was enough. She looked up at his face. He looked happy. She had seen him a lot lately, but at this moment, he looked truly happy. She traced the lines on his face. She memorized his features. She was so afraid to take the next step. She wanted to. She wanted to so badly, it hurt. She wanted to trust Derek. Like everyone says, the third times a charm. But what if this time. it didn't ring true? Derek jerked awake a few minuted before the alarm went off.

"Good morning." He said as he kissed her forehead. She basked in his touch.

"Good morning." She said with a smile. She didn't kiss him back. She couldn't afford to.

"How long have you been awake?" He asked her. He rolled over and turned the alarm off before it went off.

"A while." She answered, looking into his eyes. Their faces were so close.

"Did you sleep okay?" He asked, rubbing her arm gently.

"Yeah. I slept really well." She said softly. She wanted to lay in bed with him all day.

"So, what do you want for breakfast?" He asked her, as he rolled off the side of the bed.

"Um. I don't care. Whatever." She answered.

"How about french toast?" He asked as he threw on a pair of sleep pants.

"French toast is fine." She said, as she sat up.

"I need to take a shower." She said, standing up with the sheet wrapped around her.

"What a coincidence, so do I!" He said, raising his eyebrows.

"No. I shower alone. Plus, your shower is too small. Plus, last night was bad." She responded quickly.

"Oh." He dropped his head. "I thought it was good." He whined.

"It was good. It was fantastic. But it was bad. It was a bad, bad judgment call. You get me into trouble." She snapped.

"Me?" He laughed. "You attacked me." She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe...but it won't happened again." Meredith responded with optimism. "This is what happens."

"What do you mean?" Derek asked, dipping the bread into the egg.

"I haven't brought anyone home from Joe's in a month." She said quietly.

"I am so proud!" He said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah. It has nothing to do with you!" She said, lying to him, and herself.

She walked over, dropped her sheet and walked into the shower. Derek smiled at the sight of her. She looked around the shower. Everything was manly. Everything he had smelled like man. She had to bathe. After the dirt and water, followed by the dirty sex, she had to bathe. She grabbed the musky body wash and lathered up. She had to laugh to herself, this was something she had never done. She turned off the water, and realized she didn't have a towel.

"Derek?" She opened the door and shouted.

"Yeah?" He yelled as he flipped the french toast on the griddle.

"I need a towel." She heard him set the spatula down.

"But I like you better wet." He said with raised eyebrows. He opened the shower door and smiled.

"Just give me the damn towel!" She said, grabbing it out of his hand. She wrapped it around her. He grabbed her and pulled her close. "This is against the rules..." She stated.

"What rules?" He asked.

"The friendship rules..." She muttered, picking up her clothes. She realized that they were still soaked.

"Yeah. I think we probably broke all of those last night." Derek said with a smile.

"Shit. My clothes are wet. And dirty. I have no clothes!" She said in a panic.

"Breakfast is ready." Derek said, sitting her plate on the table. "Sit down, it's getting cold."

"I have no clothes." She said again.

"I like my women in towels." He chuckled.

"Seriously." She said quickly. "Your women?"

"You can wear one of my t-shirts." He said simply. She sat down and began eating.

"Pants. I need pants." She responded.

"You can wear a pair of my scrub pants." He shrugged.

"Oh yeah. Dark blue scrub pants..." She muttered.

"Say they are your mom's." He said.

"That could work..." She returned as she continued eating her french toast.

"So, are we going to have a repeat performance of last night?" He asked with a glimmer of hope in his eye.

"Derek..." She said coldly. "Nothing has changed. That was-- It was a mistake. I-- I-- can't. Not again." Derek dropped his head, feeling defeated.

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Meredith had a bad feeling as she pulled into the hospital parking lot. Something didn't feel right. She shrugged as she climbed out of her Jeep. She smiled at Derek who was just pulling into the parking lot. She took the back stairs and made her way into the locker room. When she opened the door, Izzie and Cristina looked up at her. She didn't say anything as she went to her locker and grabbed her scrubs. She couldn't change there. She wasn't wearing her bra or panties. She tried. She couldn't stand the way they felt on her skin, all wet and dirty. Luckily she did have a bra in her locker, but no panties. She emerged from the locker room bathroom in her scrubs. She threw Derek's clothes into her locker.

"So, you didn't come home last night." Izzie stated, with questioning eyes.

"And you were wearing some interesting clothing this morning." Cristina laughed.

"And you smell like a man!" Izzie said, as she walked over and smelled her. "You really smell like man!" Cristina took a whiff.

"Wow. You do." Cristina shook her head. "McDreamy. Definitely McDreamy."

"No. Nope. No." Meredith said, shaking her head. George and Alex walk in. Meredith sat down on the bench. Alex leaned over and grabbed his pants off of the bench next to her.

"Damn, Grey, you smell like a dude!" Alex said, loudly.

"I do not!" She argued. They all shook their heads at her. She laid down on the bench. "I think I am going to stay in here today." She mused as she placed her hands on her flat stomach.

"Why?" George asked.

"I have a feeling." She shook her head. "I don't want to go out there." Dr. Bailey burst through the door.

"Grey, get your ass up!" She shouted. "O'Malley, get your pants on. Okay, assignments. O'Malley, you are with Montgomery today. Stevens, you are with Burke. Karev, you are with Shepherd. Yang and Grey, there is a case in the pit. Go." She said quickly as she shoved them out the door.

"So how was it?" Cristina asked.

"How was what?" Meredith asked.

"Sex with McDreamy." Cristina said, looking at Derek standing at the end of the hallway.

"I thought we went through this..." Meredith said.

"But does he keep of an average?" Cristina asked. "Or was lucky the first time?"

"I am not going to answer that." Meredith said back.

"So he sucked." Cristina said confidently. "I knew it."

"Okay, it was mind-blowing." Meredith spat out. "Are you happy?" The walked passed Derek. He stopped her.

"You look much better in my shirt." He whispered. He missed the smell of lavender in her hair.

"I'll have you know, I have no panties on." She said back, with a smile.

"Thanks for telling me that. Now I am going to have to hold a patient chart in front of me every time I look at you." He said happily.

"Everyone is saying I smell like a man." She whispered agitatedly.

"You smell like me. I marked you." He chuckled. "You are all mine."

"You don't own me!" She said angrily, but immediately realized she was too harsh.

"Dr. Shepherd." Meredith said.

"Dr. Grey..." He smiled, as he walked off.

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Derek rounded the corner. He felt bad. He felt like he wasn't getting anywhere with Meredith. He would think they were getting somewhere, and she would throw up a brick wall faster than a super hero masonry. He needed coffee. He headed straight to the cart. Addison was standing there paying for her coffee and muffin.

"Hey." Addison said happily.

"Hey." Derek said with a short tone. "A double espresso." She said grumpily.

"What's the matter?" Addison asked.

"What do you think?" He asked. "A month. We have been getting a long for a month. We have been connecting. It's been great! Then, all of the sudden, she shuts me out." He explained with a frustrated sigh. He runs his fingers through his hair.

"Derek..." Addison trailed off.

"Addison, am I wasting my time?" He asked her, looking into her eyes.

"Isn't she worth the wait?" Addison asked while sipping her coffee.

"She is. But that doesn't matter if it never happens. Maybe I'm not the guy for her. Maybe she needs someone else. Someone who understands her." Derek said.

"Maybe she does." Addison said, with agitation. "I guess you will have to see..." She was getting tired of him whining to her.

"Thanks, Addie. I have to say, that helped immensely." Derek muttered angrily. "I don't want to be an asshole, and give up. But I don't want to be a puppet, either." He said, shaking his head as he walked away.

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Meredith was in the operating room with Addison. She was scrubbed in on a laproscopic myomectomy to remove fibroids in the patient's uterus. She and Addison hadn't talked in a long time. It seemed like their schedules just didn't coincide. Meredith didn't feel like talking. She was tired of everyone telling her what she should do.

Meredith couldn't get over the feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. He stomach was turning and twisting. Addison was focused on the surgery. She hadn't spoken a word about anything. Meredith was wondering of she was mad at her. Finally the mood lightened.

"So Derek came to see me." Addison said with no emotion attached to the statement.

"Oh yeah?" Meredith asked flatly.

"He is frustrated." Addison told her.

"Oh." Meredith responded.

"I don't blame him" Addison said quietly. "You have to quite doing this too him."

"Doing what?" Meredith said questioningly.

"Telling him you are his friend. Then kissing him. Staying the night. Having sex. Then you tell him you are just friends." Addison spat. Meredith huffed.

"It's none of your business." Meredith said angrily.

"It is. He is my friend. You are my friend." Addison retorted. "You know he was leaving Seattle, right? He had a real estate agent looking for houses. He was leaving. Derek has always had one love. His love was his job. And now his love is you. Na you stomp on him. You have to quit doing this to him." Addison warned as she looked up at Meredith.

"Doing what?" Meredith snapped with a glare

"Look. I know that life hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows for you. But you need to get over it. You need to quit feeling sorry for yourself. Things don't just change on their own. If you want to be miserable, be miserable. But don't drag everyone down with you, Meredith." Addison scorned.

"Look. I told him I didn't want a relationship. I told him I couldn't commit. I told him to move on." Meredith explained.

"You may have. But when you tell someone something, you have to mean it. You are saying no, but your heart is saying yes. Derek isn't hearing your words. If you are going to say no, you need to mean it!" Addison said.

"I want to mean it..." Meredith said under her breath. Her pager went off. "It's Bailey."

"Go. I'm fine here." Addison responded. Meredith walked out and threw her scrubs mask in the trash.

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Meredith jogged towards the emergency room. She still had the sinking feeling in her stomach. Something was not right. Everything was very quiet. Eerie quiet. She saw Miranda Bailey and Cristina standing by the door waiting for the ambulance to pull up. She threw on a yellow cover and walked over.

"What's going on?" Meredith asked.

"There was a nasty car crash." Cristina said happily.

"Looks like a possible ruptured spleen, a fractured tibia, head traumas, a handful of problems. It's a mess." Bailey explained.

"What's the estimated time of arrival?" Meredith asked.

"Ah, about seven minutes." Miranda answered and walked farther out.

"I have a feeling." Meredith muttered to Cristina.

"What kind of feeling?" Cristina asked.

"Like something bad is going to happen." Meredith answered.

"Oh God!" Cristina said, rolling her eyes.

Meredith shut her mouth and kept it to herself. Cristina was too worried about the possible surgeries to care about her problems. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Meredith grabbed her stomach. Now she was feeling physically ill. She looked around the ER nervously. Something was definitely not right. She did a double take when she spotted a man by the wall. He was pacing back and forth nervously. His face was weathered, though he wasn't that old. He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Back and forth he went. He was walking like he had a purpose. Meredith could hear him talking to himself.

"What do you think in wrong with him?" Meredith asked Cristina.

"Who knows?" Cristina said distractedly.

"He's wearing a winter coat. It's seventy-five degrees out." Meredith said with surprise.

"Who cares. He looks like a psych case. Not surgical. Whatever." Cristina said, walking away.

"Well, I'm going to go see." Meredith said as she walked over. "Sir. Sir? Can I help you?" She asked. He didn't answer. He didn't acknowledge her. He kept pacing.

"Sir? Are you okay?" She asked. He kept moving. He almost walked into her.

"Sir? Please, let me help you..." Meredith muttered. "Sir." She said as she grabbed his arm to stop him. Her eyes were met with a cold stare. "Can I help you? Are you okay?"

"No." He shouted. "No, I am not okay!"

"Can I help?" She asked.

"I will not let them do this to me!" He yelled.

"Who?" Meredith asked with an even tone.

"This ends today!" He screamed. "Right now!" He said as he grabbed her arm. Everyone began to stare.

"Let me go." Meredith said boldly. He tightened his grip. "Please let me go." She said again, more softly this time.

"No!" He shouted. "I won't allow it. They can't do this to me. They can't keep me from her!" He yelled.

"Who won't allow what?" Meredith asked.

"This ends today." He said as he unzipped his coat, revealing a large bomb strapped to his chest. "This ends today..."

"Oh shit..." Meredith mumbled.

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My laptop is being a POS. This would have been up earlier. So Meredith is now a hostage...shit!