A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews, I'm glad you're liking the story so far. This chapter is kind of a short one, and a filler of sorts, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Chapter 16

"Have you seen Steve yet? What did you say to him?" Cristina asked as Meredith shifted the phone to her other hand. She was propped up in bed, Derek showering in the bathroom before he went off to work. It was Sunday, and Meredith had gotten up early to work the morning shift, and since Derek would be working overnight, she had decided to catch up with Cristina and Izzie for a while before studying and doing homework.

"I haven't yet," Meredith answered. "I skipped Biochem on Friday to spend the day with Derek, and it's my only class that day."

"You skipped to spend the day with Derek?" Cristina said disbelievingly. "You live with him; you spend enough time with him."

"Well, and Steve's in that class, so maybe I partly skipped to avoid him," Meredith admitted.

"Uh huh," Cristina said knowingly. "And what exactly do you plan on saying to Steve?"

"I don't know!" Meredith said exasperatedly. "I mean, I don't have to say anything right? I don't have to tell him that I can't hang out with him anymore. At least not until he asks me to, or he does something creepy and hug me or whatever."

"Are you sure Derek isn't overreacting a little?" Cristina asked cautiously.

"No, he isn't," Meredith said firmly. "Steve asked me out. And then he was really nice, which seemed fine, but then he started doing the touchy thing. And I thought it was just what friends do, and it was Derek and Amelia that made me realize that it's not a friend thing, it's a flirty thing. And I can't stay friends with him if he's going to keep doing that. I can't do that to Derek, and I would hate it if Derek did something like that to me."

"Right," Cristina agreed just as Derek stepped out of the shower and padded back to their room.

"Listen Cristina, Derek's heading out for work soon; can I call you in about an hour? Maybe we could three-way Izzie?"

"Yeah fine, whatever. Tell McDreamy I say hi,"

"I will, bye Cristina," Meredith laughed. "Cristina says hi," she responded to Derek's questioning gaze.

"How's she doing?" Derek asked as she threw on a clean shirt. "Does she like Stanford?"

"Yeah she's loving it," Meredith said. "I think she has a thing for one of her professors."

"What do you mean a thing?" Derek looked puzzled.

"Well, I think it's just a little crush, she goes on and on about one of her cardiothoracic professors. She's hoping to help him with some of his research next semester so she can suck up."

"Who is it?"

"Ugh, you don't even want to know. It's Collin Marlow, isn't that gross? He has to be at least fifty-five right?" Meredith said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"The Marlow transplant Marlow?" Derek asked, grimacing when Meredith nodded. "Yeah, that is gross."

"You know, I have a thing for older guys," Meredith teased.

"Mhmm," Derek smirked. "But I hope the age cap is something around ten years older than your own age."

"You never know," Meredith said seriously. "With all my daddy issues, combined with my stone hearted mother, I might want a father figure in my life."

"You better not," Derek said, walking towards their bed. He cupped her face and kissed her firmly.

"I was just kidding," she giggled.

"I know," he smiled before kissing her again. "I gotta go to work now, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon okay?"

Meredith nodded. "I love you!" She called as he walked out of the bedroom.

"Love you too!" Derek yelled before the front door shut.

XXXXXX

Meredith dreaded going into her lab today. It was Monday, which meant that she had to see Steve twice today, once in biochemistry and once during her anatomy lab. She had successfully managed to avoid him in biochemistry by showing up late, but now he was unavoidable. She peeked into the room; he was already sitting there, pulling his notebook out of his backpack.

You can do this Meredith, she told herself. You don't have to say anything unless he brings up hanging out again. It may not even come up. With that, she took a deep breath and walked into the lab room. She sat down quietly in her seat, and immediately pulled out her lab manual.

"Hey Meredith," Steve said, smiling at her when she looked up.

"Hi," she said turning back to her book.

"I didn't see you this weekend. I thought we were all going to go out for drinks on Saturday night. I tried calling you, but you didn't pick up," he continued.

"Yeah, I spent the weekend with Derek. He had a few days off," she studied his face, and she didn't miss the way his eyes darkened when she mentioned Derek. Had that always been there, or was this new, she tried to recall.

"Oh, well did you two have fun?" he asked, seemingly polite. Actually, he was perfectly polite, there was no bite in his words at all, but the look in his eyes remained. "Because he seemed pretty angry when he dragged you out of the bar."

"We did have fun," Meredith said, snapping a little. "And he did not drag me out of the bar, I left freely and of my own accord. We had plans for Thursday night, and they bled into the rest of the weekend."

"Good," Steve nodded, seeming a little confused with Meredith's tone. "I was just worried. You looked like you didn't want to leave, and I wanted to make sure he wasn't hurting your arm or something."

"You shouldn't be worried. You do not have to come to rescue me from my fiancé, the guy I love and plan on marrying. You don't need to worry about me; it's not your job." Meredith stared at Steve pointedly, hoping that he had gotten the memo.

Steve looked back at her, not appearing the least bit embarrassed or ashamed, but there was a jealous glint in his eye. "Of course I should worry Meredith. I am your friend, and Derek"-he sneered slightly when he said his name-"looked pissed. Like he wanted to hit something, and I didn't want that something to be you."

Meredith sighed. "Derek had a very good reason to be angry that night, but he would never take it out on me. As I said, it's none of your business. We're classmates, and lab partners, and maybe friends, but we aren't good friends. And this relationship with Derek isn't new; it's been four years, so I know what he would and wouldn't do. So, while I appreciate the fact that you care, do not treat my relationship like it is a new one and like you have to worry about my boyfriend. Derek has been in my life for a long time, and he's a permanent fixture, so just accept him, or I don't know how we can be friends."

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Steve did not have a chance to respond because Dr. Barker had come in and immediately instructed them on what to do, leaving little time for Steve to talk to Meredith about what she had just said.

When lab was over, Meredith jumped out of her seat, trying to get out of class as quickly as possible. However, she wasn't fast enough; she heard Steve calling after her, and his voice kept getting closer. She felt someone grab at her arm, and she yanked out of their grasp as she spun around.

"What?" Meredith snapped at Steve.

"Listen Meredith, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, and you're right whatever is going on between you and Derek is none of my business," Steve said, sounding sincere.

Meredith didn't say anything, she simply nodded.

"Maybe we can get drinks later tonight? You know, just me, you, Sadie and Jack," Steve continued.

"Listen Steve, I want to be your friend, but I have some stuff going on right now, so maybe it would be best if we were just classmates for a little while. We can still talk and stuff, but I just don't think we should hang out outside of school, at least for a while." With that, Meredith turned and continued down the hallway, leaving Steve alone.