"Looks who's back? If it isn't my favorite Dirty Mistress," said Mark.
It was Meredith's first day back at Seattle Grace, she was of course assigned to Neuro for the day, as if her life wasn't complicated enough now she had to work with Derek. She was on her way to find him to get her new patient's details.
"I'm not the dirty mistress anymore," said Meredith.
"You'll always be Derek's lusty intern to me," said Mark.
"Was there something you wanted Dr. Sloan?"
"Why are you in such a pissy mood?" said Mark bluntly. "It's a beautiful day."
"It's raining," said Meredith flatly.
"It's a metaphorically beautiful day," said Mark rolling his eyes at her.
"There was a pile up on the freeway," said Meredith.
"You need to get laid," said Mark bluntly.
"You might be right," said Meredith bitterly.
"Ah once a dirty mistress always a dirty mistress," chuckled Mark. "We should have another meeting of the dirty mistress' club, hey we can invite Stevens."
"Another meeting? Did we have a first meeting?"
"Didn't we?"
"No," said Meredith.
"Oh well we can always make up for lost time," said Mark.
"Is this another twenty minutes in the on call room and no' one needs to know offer again?"
"Another what?" said Derek coming out of a patients room overhearing what Meredith had said.
"Dr. Sloan was propositioning a first year resident," said Meredith wondering if she could get a reaction out of Derek, if Finn didn't do it Mark definitely would.
"What?!"
"I wasn't, I was just…cheering her up," said Mark a little pathetically.
"You just can't help yourself," said Derek furious.
"Oh relax it's not like he was hitting on Rose," said Meredith rolling her eyes. "I'm with Finn anyway."
"It sure didn't take you long…"
"Took you even less time," snapped Meredith.
"We weren't together…officially."
"No I was just pregnant!"
"How the hell was I supposed to know that?"
"Alright that's enough," roared the Chief overhearing Derek and Meredith arguing like six year olds in the hallway. "Derek you have surgery Go! Meredith my office now!"
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"Mer what's going on?" Cristina demanded when Meredith finally came out of the Chief's office. Meredith completely ignored her and kept walking. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to do something my mother would never do," Meredith called back.
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That night as Meredith put Ella to bed she couldn't help but think about what the Chief had said to her. He had told her she was more like her mother than he had thought. He was right she was turning into her mother. She was bitter and twisted. She was deliberately trying to provoke Derek that morning with Mark. Why would she want to get a reaction from Derek? Just to prove to herself that she could. That wasn't her, she didn't play games like that. Derek was with Rose now, he didn't love her anymore and she needed to get used to that idea instead of trying to test if Derek cared about her at all. Of course he would care, they had a daughter together.
So Meredith was determined. She wasn't going to be bitter and twisty anymore. She was going to spend as much time as she possibly could with her Ella. And she was going to get along with Derek!
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A WEEK LATER
Derek was standing at the nurses station updating a patient's chart, he allowed his gaze to drift over towards Meredith. Something about her had changed in the past few days, she was happier, she laughed more. She was nice to him again, she stopped acting like she hated him.
She was laughing now, he couldn't help but smile at how her entire face lit up and her eyes sparkled when she laughed now. She was more and more like the young intern he had met almost two years ago.
"Derek…Derek…Dr. Shepherd," Derek was interrupted by Rose waving her hand in front of his face and he couldn't help but feel as surge of annoyance.
"What?" he said trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
"Contractors? What do you think of this guy?" she said handing him a leaflet.
"Contractors? What is this about?" said Derek burrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
"Building on your land, remember?"
"Building on my land? What are you talking about?" said Derek genuinely having no idea what Rose was talking about.
"Don't you remember last night we were talking about moving in together and we said that if we do that we should build a house," said Rose. "I knew you weren't listening."
"Sorry I was miles away," said Derek apologetically.
"I was thinking we've been together for a while, we should think about moving in together, don't you agree?" said Rose.
"Uh yeah…sure," said Derek slowly as if he was still processing.
"And there is no point in living in the trailer, so it would be better if we built a house on your land," said Rose looking up at him hopefully. "We can design it all ourselves, it will be great…" she trailed off when she realised that Derek didn't look remotely excited in fact he looked as if he was hoping for a distraction.
"Uh I think this is a little fa…"
"And Ella would be able to stay over…I know Meredith wouldn't let her stay the night in the trailer but if we had a house, she could have her own room and everything," said Rose a little desperately.
"That is a good point," said Derek more thinking out loud than anything else. "It would be great to have her all night…"
"So we can hire a contractor?"
"I'll think about it," said Derek thoughtfully.