A/N Hey there, many apologies for the delay. I had issues with getting into this account!
If you're still reading, PLEASE let me know by leaving a review.. even if it's just one line. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)
"You managed to do your own tie…" Meredith spoke, walking through to Nathan's large open-plan lounge to see that he was perched on the sofa with his laptop open. He'd left her in his room to put her dress on whilst he proof-read a couple of work related assignments.
As soon as he looked up, his attention was immediately drawn to her… To just how pretty she looked in the midnight blue floor length gown with spaghetti like straps, showing off her shoulders and a little bit of her ample chest. Her hair still slightly damp from the shower was now all braided to one side with the odd piece falling around her face to accentuate the shape of it. Her makeup was nothing over the top either, just a touch of foundation and mascara to bring out her natural beauty even more. He'd only ever seen her dressed up on one other occasion – Owen and Amelia's wedding which lasted all of 7 months, but who was he to judge, after all?
"I did." He smiled; proud of his efforts but unknowingly to him it was a little lopsided and messy. "Did you have doubts that I was incapable of doing it myself?"
She came closer and sat down beside him on the sofa, grabbing her bag and placing it on her lap. "Nope, but I always thought that it was a guy's prerogative to have a women do it for him, make him look presentable and handsome." She chuckled half heartedly; Nathan looked at her in slight confusion as she rummaged around in the bag to eventually pull out a pair of silver high heeled shoes.
Meredith fastened them onto her feet and stood up, taking a few very wobbly steps across the room to get used to the feeling of them. She was clumsy in them at first and had a noticeably different posture to usual but she wasn't too bad at walking in them.
Nathan put the laptop aside and found his feet, smoothing down his suit jacket to make sure it hadn't creased too much whilst he was sitting. He caught up with Meredith who was now practicing laps around his lounge, through the kitchen area and down the hall.
"Am I allowed to drive your car?" Meredith quizzed as she stopped in her tracks to look out of the window into the car park below.
Nathan's Range Rover of course standing out amongst the sea of Nissans and Toyotas which belonged to other people in his apartment block. He'd almost certainly had it cleaned recently, the evening sun reflecting off its roof enhanced just how shiny and new it really was.
Nathan finally realized that his tie wasn't right and began to fiddle, whilst admiring Meredith in her dress as she admired his car from the window. "I'm gonna say not in those shoes…" He squinted, pointing at her heels and thought that it was an accident waiting to happen. "However, I wouldn't rule out the possibility."
"So is that a definite yes? You're being very vague."
"Can I drive your car?" He knew Meredith hated it when people answered her questions with another question.
She trailed over towards him, now fully confident in her shoes which made her the same height as him, if not a tiny bit taller. "If you like. But I bet stepping foot in my car again will bring back some awfully sweet memories of what went on in there…" She bit her lip and inched closer to Nathan who had totally surrendered fixing his tie. He reached up to her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear which had fallen loose from her braid, remembering how frustrated she got with herself after attempting it three times.
"Mmm, I see. I gotta admit babe…" He inched closer to Meredith's ear to whisper; "I replay the memories from that night often, and I bet you do too." His breath became deeper as Meredith shook her head, surprised at him being so sure of himself. She tugged forcefully at his tie to undo it and twisted each end around her hands to pull him close so that he was millimetres from her lips.
They stood still for a few seconds as neither one of them felt like moving, it was nice to be able to take the smallest amount of time out of their busy lives and just have a moment, the two of them totally content in each other's company. His hands ever so slowly snaked around her hips over the satin fabric she was wearing to pull her into his warm torso. "Kiss me." She sighed, blissfully. He didn't need to be told twice.
He kissed her, softly at first, sending a tingling feeling throughout her whole body as her head instinctively leaned back to intensify the moment. His tongue parted her lips to be welcomed with a moan escaping from her throat. She clung to him as the only solid thing in that moment; afraid that if he wasn't there as support she'd end up collapsed on the floor overcome with sensations.
Just as Meredith reached to rid him of his jacket, she clumsily bashed her head against his, bringing them both back to the present in a loud fit laughter.
"Oh, God. That was embarrassing." She giggled. Nathan's expression mimicked hers, a smile upon both of their faces. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry." Meredith apologized, lightly skimming her fingers over where she'd just knocked his head, freaking out as she saw a red mark appear upon his forehead.
Nathan reached up to grab her hand away; he intertwined his fingers with hers and planted a kiss on the back of her hand. "I'm good, Meredith. Honestly, it was kinda funny." He smirked, looking deep into her eyes. "You were trying to take get me naked again and if you hadn't have done that we'd be at it again right now, probably on my kitchen counter or something."
Meredith bit her lip, and looked awkwardly away. He was referring to the fact that they'd very rarely had sex in a bed. They hadn't ever spent the whole night together to sleep and wake up next to each other, expect for their night in Sioux Falls after the plane situation. Meredith couldn't quite picture herself lying in a bed with him and having post-sex cuddles just yet.
"Yeah. We do not have time for that again." Meredith muttered as she looked Nathan up and down, just a little bit tempted to give in and turn up late to the fundraiser that she desperately wanted to avoid.
"We should make tracks." Nathan glanced at his watch; it was much fancier than the one he wore everyday at the hospital. "Aren't you so excited that I'm coming with you?" He asked in a sarcastic tone, he loved to wind Meredith up; she could take his banter and give it back just as good when she wanted to.
"Mmm, sure."
She eventually fixed his tie, feeling proud of herself that she'd managed to do it up without fumbling when he palmed at her ass unexpectedly. He realized that she must be wearing a thong after thoroughly feeling her up and not feeling a panty-line.
Nathan swallowed hard and took a deep breath to compose himself, she was beautiful and with each moment he wanted her more.
The warm October air was a pleasant surprise as they both approached Nathan's car in the parking lot, he swiftly jumped in front of Meredith who was busy stuffing her phone and car keys into her tiny purse to open the door for her.
"Why thank you, Riggs. Chivalry isn't dead after all." She grabbed a loose hold of his hand as she climbed in, hitching the long skirt of her dress around her knees so that her heels didn't get caught and rip the fabric.
"Anything for you." He smiled at her and shut the door, jogging around the front of the car to his side. He buckled up and carefully manoeuvred his car in reverse towards the gates of the lot and onto the main road. Meredith looked over at him and observed his expression for a couple of seconds as he concentrated on driving, how she wished she knew what he was thinking in that moment.
"I'm putting some music on." She spoke.
"Okay, sure. You can link your phone to the Bluetooth and it'll play your playlist." He began fiddling with the screen in the middle of them both. "Here, that button there…"
"Yeah, you should concentrate on the road." She admitted in a firm tone, swatting his hand away and pressing some buttons so that the radio began to play. "The only playlists I have on my phone are from Frozen and whatever else Zola decided to put on there, definitely not what I want to listen to right now."
Nathan's eyebrow raised, "Frozen? What, is that some kind of weird dance class or something that kids go to?" He genuinely had no idea what Meredith meant.
"Are you for real?" Meredith belly-laughed for at least ten seconds, unable to continue her sentence… "You're joking…?" She asked with a straight face after consoling herself and finding her words.
"So it's not a dance class?" Nathan turned to face Meredith, cracking up at her expression and turned back to the road just as quickly.
"No, stupid. It's that film with the snowman and the… princesses?" Meredith wasn't so convinced of the plot herself, she just knew that Zola in particular liked to watch it at least three times a week. Ellis wasn't into sitting still long enough to watch a movie just yet and Bailey only seemed to appear when the singing parts started.
"Okay, someone's getting their panties in a twist. I haven't been on a Peds case in about three months and I have no kids. I don't even know any kids." Nathan spoke, his tone sounding a little more forward than originally planned. "It sounds like a good film though."
Meredith sighed; she gradually lifted her left hand and gravitated it towards Nathan's leg. It ended up on his thigh and moments passed without her saying a word as to why it was there, in that moment he was truly bewildered but her touch wasn't at all unwelcome, it was comforting.
He connected his hand with hers, a firework going off in his stomach as he did and patted it once or twice until he needed to put it back on the steering wheel. She turned her face towards him, a hopeful expression radiating on her face; "Nathan, I want you to meet my kids."
It took a lot of build up for Meredith to come out with those words, they were swirling around in her head just waiting to come out as soon as Nathan mentioned kids. And it was true about not having any Peds cases for a while; he'd made a pact with himself about not getting under Karev's skin, often passing any cardiac cases to Maggie just to avoid him.
"I…" Thoughts rushed through Nathan's head, he'd always liked kids and kids seemed to like him. He swiftly seized the opportunity; "I'd love to meet your kids." He positively replied, having known for a while now that Meredith liked to change her mind in a heartbeat when it came down to him.
"Good. They love meeting new people. I'm sure they'll like you. Ellis especially."
….
"I am going the right way aren't I?" Nathan quizzed as Meredith looked out the windows, not exactly sure where they were. "This is Boren Avenue, so it must be down here…" He spoke, adamant that they'd actually made the correct turn off.
"How would I know? You're the one driving. I wasn't paying attention. I can't say I've been down to this part of the city before."
They pulled up onto a quiet side street. "Let me just check my directions, real quick." Nathan tapped at the screen in his car, eventually realizing that there was indeed a hotel a little further along. "Yep we're all good, just down here." He smiled at Meredith, who was low-key dancing in her seat along to a Calvin Harris song on the radio. "You like that song, huh? Remember when you refused to dance with me at Amelia's wedding, and yet here you are; in my car, giving me a free show right now."
"Free show? Nathan, you're making it sound like I'm a stripper!" Meredith glared at him, barely able to keep a smile from crossing her lips. "It was just a thirty second dance party, I do those often when the song's right. We'll do one together at some point. But not in public."
"I got you. We could do one right now…" He suggested, turning up the song just a little to which Meredith shook her head disapprovingly.
"To this song? Absolutely not, like ever."
"So that's a no to Madonna."
They continued their journey just a little further and into a large, fancy gateway of a hotel. A valet soon appeared at the driver's side window and offered to take the car out of Nathan's hands to park up safely. "Sure man, thanks. The name's Riggs."
Meredith smoothed her dress down, put the silver chain from her purse over her shoulder and gathered a small amount of her dress up so that she could walk with ease. A warm hand found its way around her back to rest on the opposite hip. Although she had grown very fond of Nathan's touch, there was no way he was allowed to touch her at a working event. "Nope. Hands off Mr."
A roll of Nathan's eyes quickly followed and he dropped his hand to his side as Meredith strutted off in front towards the door.
Meredith slowly paused in her tracks just as she was about to enter through the doorway, a cheerful woman passing pleasantries to some other guests arriving spotted them. "Nathan, we have a big problem." She whispered, just as the women grabbed a firm hold of Meredith's arm and welcomed her with a large, toothy smile.
"What is it?" He asked, searching deep into Meredith's face.
"Welcome to the Gold Oaks Hotel, I'm Louise and we're so glad you could join us for the Lawyers of Washington State dinner." Louise ushered them further inside, knowingly unaware of the grimace on Meredith's face. "Please, lets go on in and mingle, everyone is so welcome here."
Meredith's eyes darted towards Nathan's sparkling blue ones, her lips set together in a firm line. "We have the wrong freaking hotel!" She hissed, subtly slapping his chest as Louise was a few steps ahead of them, waving her arms to make sure they both followed into the main lobby of the hotel.
Nathan reached up to scratch the stubble on his chin, a nervous laugh escaping from his lips, one that only Meredith could hear.
"Oh, shit!"