Chapter Fifteen: Prom
"Meredith, Izzie, are you ready?" Cristina called from the bottom of the stairs at Meredith's house where the 3 women had gotten ready.
"Yep" Meredith said walking down the stairs, she was wearing a long black fitted dress that had spaghetti straps and clung to her curves, her hair was out and slightly curled and Izzie had lightly applied make up to her.
"You look nice" Cristina commented.
"So do you" Meredith replied noticing the red dress that Cristina was wearing and she had pinned her hair up she even wore a small amount of make up.
"IZZIE HURRY UP!" Cristina shouted at the blonde.
"Geez, I'm ready" she replied walking down the stairs, she wore a strapless pink ball gown, her hair was curled and pinned behind her and her make up was done flawlessly. "You think Alex will like it?" she asked.
"Of course he will Izz, he would be stupid not to" Meredith told her.
"Can we go now?" Cristina whined.
"Yep" both Izzie and Meredith replied.
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Derek's eyes wandered the room in search of any sign that Meredith had arrived yet. He had been caught up with a patient so he was a little late but it would seem that Meredith was running even later.
Derek spotted Mark standing by himself near the stairs, Derek approached him feeling bad that he was alone.
"Hey, how's it going?" Derek asked.
"Oh hi, yeah good" Mark replied looking around to see if Meredith was there. "Meredith not here yet?" Mark asked trying to sound like he didn't care.
"No, she was getting ready with Izzie though so I would say that took a while and she said she may stop by and see Ellis before she came down."
"Oh of course, she is being discharged tomorrow" Mark commented.
"Yeah, she is doing much better" Derek replied keeping with the small talk.
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Meredith stood outside Ellis' room wondering what kind of mood she would be in tonight. She noticed Ellis was sitting up awake as she entered the room.
"Hi mom" she greeted waiting to be given an order.
"Meredith, I thought you were never going to come visit me. You're all done up, a date with that man I suppose. I keep telling you Meredith he isn't worth this" Ellis ranted at her.
Meredith sighed. At least she knew who she was but she was living in the phase of Meredith's college years, back when she thought Meredith was with Mark just to spite her. "No Mom, I'm just going out with some friends, Mark and I are going through a rough patch" Meredith told her mother, it wasn't a complete lie.
"I told you the long distance wouldn't work" Ellis spat at her.
"Okay well Mom you get some rest, I will come by later" Meredith told her as she left the room.
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Derek tuned out of what Mark was saying as he noticed Meredith descend the stairs down to the area where the prom was being held. Mark followed Derek's gaze and couldn't tear his eyes away from how beautiful she looked.
"Hey" Meredith greeted Derek with a kiss to his cheek. "What are you two talking about?" Meredith questioned curiously.
"You mainly, Mark was telling me a few stories from when you were back in college, you were quite the little rebel" Derek teased.
Meredith giggled. "Yeah I was" she admitted.
"Did you go see your Mom?" Mark asked.
"Ah yeah, she knew who I was tonight, well she knew college Meredith who was dating an older guy just to spite her" Meredith explained.
"She is back to when we first started dating?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, I forgot how much she disliked you" Meredith teased.
Mark couldn't help but laugh at her. "Well I will leave you two to it, have a good night" Mark said leaving Derek and Meredith alone.
"Would you like to dance?" Derek asked Meredith taking her hand.
"I would love to" she replied wrapping her arms around his neck as his arms snaked around her slim waist.
"You look amazing" he whispered into her ear taking in the scent of her freshly washed hair.
"You don't scrub up too bad yourself" she replied resting her head on his shoulder. She looked over his shoulder and noticed Mark dancing with a nurse she recognised as Rose. She couldn't help but feel jealous as her hands wrapped around his neck.
"Are you okay?" Derek asked noticing Meredith tense in his arms.
"Yeah I ah just need to go grab a drink, be back in a moment" she excused.
"I can get it if you like" Derek offered.
"No, it's fine, I might grab some air too, Mom got me all tensed up as she does" Meredith lied.
She quickly walked toward the hallway once she was out of sight she ran up the hallway toward and empty exam room.
"Meredith" Mark called after her, following her down to the exam room.
"What do you want?" Meredith snapped at Mark turning to face him.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"NO! I'm not alright are you happy I am not alright. You keep watching me and I can't breathe with you watching me so stop" she exclaimed.
"Seriously Meredith, do you think I want to look at you, do you think I want to watch him put his hands all over you. I can't stand the thought of another man touching you" Mark replied breathlessly.
"Why do you keep doing this Mark?" Meredith questioned. "One minute you are talking about divorce and then you are being all defensive" Meredith cried at him.
"Because god damn it Meredith, despite what you may think I love you" he exclaimed at her. "Did you hear me I LOVE YOU!"
Before Meredith could reply, Mark's lips had crashed against her own, his hands roaming through her hair.