"I'll take it," said Derek.
"Good."
"So…can I take you to dinner tonight?" he asked.
"I'm on call tonight," said Meredith. "Sorry."
"Tomorrow night?"
"I have a…date with Greg," said Meredith awkwardly. "I…uh actually have to go and scrub in with Dr. Peterson."
"Okay," said Derek disappointed. "Are you sure we need a whole year?"
"Yes."
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A WEEK LATER
"Grey," said Mark cornering Meredith at the nurses station after her shift.
"Sloan," she replied.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Well right now I'm signing this chart and then I'm going home to curl up in bed and eat some bad Chinese food," said Meredith. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I meant with Derek," said Mark impatiently.
"Oh…we're dating for a year," said Meredith knowing full well that Derek had already told Mark that.
"So you and Derek are dating each other?"
"Yes."
"So why do you refuse to see him?"
"He has asked you out every day this week," said Mark. "Why give him a chance if you're not going to actually give him a chance?"
"I…I-I didn't realise," said Meredith realising that maybe Mark was right. "I'll talk to him."
"You better," said Mark. "He deserves to suffer, but don't be cruel.
"I said I'll talk to him," said Meredith. "I don't need you to make me feel bad about it."
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Derek was lying on his bed looking up at the trailer ceiling, thinking about Meredith. He couldn't complain about Meredith going out with Holden, twice in a week, he agreed to the whole date other people thing. But she wouldn't see him, she was either working, on a date or too tired. But he knew he couldn't give up on her either, he had to hang in there and not let his ego get in the way. Maybe he could surprise her with lunch or something while she was working…Derek's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone, he was about to let it go to voicemail when he saw the called ID. It was Meredith.
"Hi…Hi Meredith."
"Hi Derek," said Meredith. "Are you home?"
"Yeah," said Derek suspiciously. "I'm at the trailer."
"I don't suppose you've had dinner already?"
"Uh…no I haven't," said Derek. "Do you want to go out?"
"I actually have a better idea," she said.
Derek looked up when he heard a knock on the trailer door, he got up and answered it. It was Meredith holding a bag of Chinese food, and her cell phone still pressed to her ear.
"I ordered too much," she said. "Wanna share?"
"Yeah," smiled Derek hanging up the phone. "Come on in."
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"Oh this is the sad part," said Meredith. She and Derek were sitting on the sofa watching the Lion King. "I can't look," she said turning her head so that her chin was resting on Derek's shoulder.
"You know that this is a cartoon, right?" laughed Derek.
"Simba's Dad is going to be stamped on," said Meredith. "It's sad and I can't watch it."
"Alright, I'll tell you when it's over," said Derek breathing in the smell of her hair. "Can I say something, and when I do can you promise not to clam up or leave?"
"Okay," said Meredith not moving her head.
"Promise."
"I promise," said Meredith quietly. She had a feeling what it would be.
"I can't stop thinking about the baby," he confessed. "I keep going over and over it in my mind."
"That's normal," said Meredith.
"Do you think about it?"
"Sometimes."
"Sometimes? It's all I seem to think about," said Derek. "I think about if we had known, would things he any different? If the crash hadn't happened…would you still be…"
"Derek that's normal," said Meredith moving her head so that she was looking up at Derek. "It'll pass. It just wasn't meant to be."
"I know," he said. "But still you seem so okay…and I…"
"Derek I had six weeks in a hospital bed to think about it, I had nothing but time," she said. "I went through exactly what you're going through…I remember one day I actually went down to the nursery and tried to work out what our baby might have looked like. It will pass though, there was nothing anyone could do."
"It would have been beautiful," said Derek.
"I agree."
"It's late," said Derek.
"Yeah I should probably go," said Meredith pulling away but Derek reached out to stop her.
"You could stay here," he said. "It's raining outside."
"It's always raining in Seattle."
"I'll sleep on the couch," he said. "Some of your clothes are still here."
"I guess it couldn't hurt," she said reluctantly. "And we can watch the rest of the cartoon."
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"Derek," said Meredith late that night.
"Yeah," he called from the couch.
"Are you comfortable?"
"Yes."
"Liar," she laughed. "That couch is barely fit for sitting on."
"It's fine."
"Don't be silly, sleep in your bed."
"I'm fine."
"Derek we can sleep in the same bed," said Meredith knowing it probably wasn't the smart thing to do.
"We can?"
"Yes, we're adults," she said. "We can sleep in the same bed platonically."
"Alright," said Derek getting up and walking over to the bed. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Derek crawled into his bed and dropped his head on his pillow. It was strange how familiar it felt to be lying there next to Meredith, it was as the trailer felt like home again.
"Do you have your earplugs?" asked Meredith.
"Yeah, I have some," said Derek. He had forgotten about her snoring.
"Good, I don't want to be blamed for keeping you up all night," said Meredith slyly.
"Hmmmm I really don't think I would mind," said Derek.
"Goodnight," said Meredith smiling.
"Goodnight."