"I'm so sorry we had come here," said Meredith. Finn had called and instead of going for coffee, they had decided to go to the zoo with Ella. But Meredith had forgotten to hand one of her transfer forms into the hospital so they had to stop off there first.
"It's fine," said Finn. "Just go and give it to your Chief then we can go."
"Alright, I'll be right back," said Meredith, balancing Ella on her hip while she dug around in the diaper bag.
"Here let me take her," said Finn, taking a gurgling Ella from Meredith. "Go and do what you need to do, we'll just wait here and… admire the view."
"Are you sure?" asked Meredith hesitantly.
"Yes, relax I'm great with kids," said Finn. ticking Ella's stomach making her squeal with delight. "You'll be right over there anyway."
"Okay… thanks," said Meredith, getting her form out the bag and going into the chief's office.
Unfortunately Derek chose that moment to turn into the corridor on his way to the chief's office. The first thing he saw was Finn, holding Ella, bouncing her up and down and making her laugh.
"Dr. Dandridge?" said Derek, his eyes flashing in anger.
"Oh… Derek hi," said Finn, noticing the look in Derek's eye. "How are you?"
"What are you doing here?" said Derek, not caring that he was being rude.
"I'm just waiting for Meredith," said Finn smugly, clearing sending a message to Derek 'This time I win'. "We're going to the zoo."
"The zoo?" said Derek disdainfully.
"Yes the zoo," said Meredith, who had all but run from the Chief's office when she had spotted Derek and Finn talking. "You know the big place with all the animals?"
"The two of you are going to the zoo?" said Derek.
"The three of us are going to the zoo," Finn corrected with the same smug smile on his face.
"How nice," said Derek in a tone that completely contradicted his statement.
"Isn't it?" said Finn.
"We… uh, better go actually I just came in to drop something off for the chief," said Meredith. She couldn't help but feel a little angry at Derek's behavior; after all, what did it have to do with him if she was seeing Finn? He had Rose, he had no right to be angry or hurt at anything she did anymore, he had lost that right a long time ago.
"Alright, I'll come by tonight?" said Derek meaningfully.
"Uh… I'm not sure when we'll get back, could you come over tomorrow morning instead?" said Meredith.
"I have an early morning surgery," said Derek, glowering at Finn.
"Uh…alright," said Meredith. "Call me and we'll sort something out."
"Right, thanks," Derek muttered.
"Come on, Finn," said Meredith, throwing Derek a dirty look.
---------------------------------------------
"You didn't tell me Finn was back," said Derek, stiffly the next morning as he changed Ella's diaper. He had pushed his morning surgery so that he could spend time with Ella, he hated it when he didn't see her at least every second day.
"You didn't ask," said Meredith, taking the dirty diaper and throwing in the trash.
"I just thought you would do me the courtesy of at least telling me," said Derek.
"I just ran into him a few weeks ago," Meredith shrugged, wishing Derek would just hurry up and take Ella for a walk already.
"A few weeks ago?"
"The day before the hearing," said Meredith. "Why do you care?"
"I care when I find him in the hospital with my daughter," said Derek sharply. "Why couldn't you come and find me? I would have looked after while you were talking to the Chief."
"I was with the chief for literally two minutes," Meredith protested. "Anyway my love life is nothing to do with you, I don't ask you about yours so you keep your nose out of mine."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"I'm taking Ella for a walk," snapped Derek, needing to calm down before he said something he regretted earlier. Ever since Meredith had come back into his life all they did was argue, everything she did made his blood boil and he seemed to have the same effect on her. But there was one difference, she seemed to hate him but he certainly didn't hate her. He found himself checking her out more than once, even when they were arguing he couldn't help but notice that when she yelled at him her breasts move up and down, and they had definitely gone up a size the last time he had seen them.
"Fine then go," snapped Meredith. Derek had been watching her as if he was in some sort of daze or deep in thought.
"Right okay… I'm going," said Derek clumsily, thankfully she hadn't noticed him staring at her chest again.
Then before he could stop himself Derek turned so that he was standing right behind Meredith, so close that they were almost touching.
"Does he make you happy this time? He wasn't enough before, what makes you think he will be now?" he said softly.
"Fuck you," Meredith retorted, trying to sound unaffected by how close Derek was.
"Does he make you happy?" he repeated.
"He doesn't make me feel like crap," she said.
"Meredith…" Derek sighed sadly.
"No don't you 'Meredith' me," said Meredith angrily as she spun round to face him. "Just don't!"
"I'm sorry," said Derek sincerely. "I'm so sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry for all the times I hurt you."
"I'm fine!"
"I know but I'm still sorry," he said, looking at her with his sad eyes. "Please don't be bitter because of me… I didn't mean to damage you."
"I was already damaged."
"I damaged you further," said Derek sadly. "I'm sorry."
"What do you want me to say Derek?" said Meredith, getting angry again. "I forgive you, is that what you want to hear?"
"Only if it's true."
"Well I haven't," said Meredith quietly. "Not yet."
"Okay," said Derek, quietly looking in her eyes intently. Then Ella started to fuss because she was faced away from her parents and thought she was alone. "I won't be long."
"Take your time."