Chapter 5 – Joyride

She's a flower, I can paint her, she's a child of the sun,

We're a part of this together, could never turn around and run.

Don't need no fortuneteller

To know where my lucky love belongs, oh no.

'Cos it all begins again when it ends,

And we're all magic friends

(Joyride – Roxette)

"We should go to an amusement park. Do they have any of those in Seattle?" Derek asked Saturday morning. Meredith tried to look excited.

"Yeah! Um… I think so. Never been to one but…" she trailed off. Derek looked baffled when he heard this information. Gathering it for later he realized this was another one of those things that Meredith had never experienced because of her shitty childhood.

"Well… All the more reason to go then," he smiled gently. Meredith grinned sweetly back.

The rest of the morning Derek sat by his computer, comparing prizes, reviews and attractions to get Meredith the finest first impression of an amusement park possible. By eleven that morning they were off. All the way there, Derek told her about his own theme park experiences and tried to egg up her excitement. He was very proud of himself when he succeeded to make her laugh to his story about how he had forced his big sister to go with him on a rollercoaster as a kid. It all ended up with him vomiting all over her brand new pink skirt.

As they pulled up to the park Meredith's spirits dampened though. She really did not know what to expect from these sorts of things. Her mother had detested them and Mark was not really a "Let's go puke in people's laps"-kind of guy either.

Meredith looked around the parking lot distractedly. With her hands in her pockets she absentmindedly observed her surroundings. There was a fair amount of people here. Lots of kids and their parents were making their way towards the entrance, all of them in seemingly positively giddy moods. Meredith turned towards Derek and was startled before having to swallow hard.

He was just in the process of taking off his jacket and throwing it into the car. Meredith's eyes widened slightly. She had always thought her friend was handsome, usually in an off limits kind of way. His charming smile and lean body usually made all the nurses at Mount Sinai swoon with lust, and as Meredith was a fully functioning woman, she was not blind to it either. Now though, she took a closer look and really appreciated Derek's well-toned physique and broad shoulders. He was wearing a dark blue sweater that brought out his eyes. The arms were rolled up, showing off a pair of beautifully muscled forearms and a trusty Rolex on his wrist. His pants that day were some light khaki pants covering a very nice ass and on his feet sat two comfortable looking leather shoes. Derek looked good enough to eat. Plus he hadn't shaved that morning, creating a sexy-looking stubble on his face. She swallowed again as Derek turned around to look back at her with heightened eyebrows.

"You ready to go?" he asked. Completely ignorant of the fact that his fellow member of the recently cheated-on club had just been rather obviously been checking out his behind.

"Uh-huh" she managed and quickly averted her gaze.

"Derek, it's so big," Meredith looked slightly amazed. Derek laughed.

"You don't have to put it all in your mouth at once…"

"Oh ha-ha… Like that was even an option."

"Look, just try it. You'll love it!"

"Well fine." Meredith put some in her mouth and savored it on her tongue.

"It tastes good. Kinda sticky…" she drifted off. Derek smiled and took a taste himself.

"Mm… pure sugar. It's like eating the Easter bunny," he said and ate some more of the big cone of cotton candy he had bought for Meredith.

"Morbid," Meredith stated and licked her lips. Derek found himself following the path her tongue was making with his eyes. Then he shook himself back into reality.

Weird. It's Meredith!

"So, what should we do next? The Ferris wheel?" Meredith's voice was excited and Derek grinned at her enthusiasm. They had already covered the bumper cars, the fun house and a large roller coaster. All of them had left Meredith in awe and she currently looked like a tiny little girl. It warmed his heart.

It's just because you feel sorry for her. And because she's all you've got right now. Shake it off! You're getting desperate, Derek!

Derek shook his head to try and clear his racing thoughts. What the fudge was happening? He plastered on a smile and took her arm as they started wandering around in the large park.

The more time that passed from that awful night in New York, Derek found himself felling happier and happier. Meredith was an absolutely delightful person and he regretted not having come to really know her earlier. Of course, this week of fun was just a short vacation. On Monday morning reality would set in and there was work waiting for the both of them at the hospital. Strangely enough, he found himself looking forward to the change. This clean cut had been exactly what he needed to get over the fact that he now saw himself as being without a wife. She had almost ceased to exist to him completely since he saw her in that one worst of betrayals.

"Sure, Ferris wheel is fine," Derek said, finding himself not being able to deny this little woman anything. "A warning though… It's pretty dull. Probably not much to see from up high in this part of Seattle."

"Well you don't know that! We have to go," Meredith decided and pulled Derek's hand towards the line in front of the huge Ferris wheel. He laughed and stumbled behind her.

"Mer, slow down! I'm coming!"

"Oh, Derek. That was so much fun," Meredith looked almost high where she sat in the car leaning towards the window. Derek smiled warmly at her.

"I'm glad you liked it." He really was. This whole trip had reminded him that life didn't entirely suck. There was plenty of good in the world. A lot of it was put inside of the dark blonde woman beside him. The thought that Meredith, of all people, had been given such bad lots in life was frightening and sad. It put his feet back on the ground and made him appreciate the fact that he had had the chance to visit quite a few theme parks in his days. That he had a family that loved him back home.

As Derek understood it, Meredith had had a lonely start of her life; facing god knows how many traumatic experiences and seeing far too much darkness for a little girl. Even though she didn't like to talk about it, he had heard enough information from Mark to know that it was bad. She had lived through it though, and made a name for herself in the medical world. She held her head high through the truly painful revelation that the only person she really trusted had betrayed her. Yet she still had the ability to rejoice like a child at the prospect of a silly thing like a Ferris wheel. To trust someone so blindly that she placed herself in a small carriage that would turn her left, right, up and down only because he, Derek, said it would be OK. Meredith Grey was incredible. He looked at her now with new eyes and shook his head in amazement.

"You amaze me," Derek said without a drop of irony. Meredith looked at him a bit surprised. Derek looked a bit surprised himself. He hadn't meant for it to tumble out of him like that.

"Um… Why?" she asked and smiled. Derek smiled back.

"Because you've lived through so much crap, and still manages to brighten my-um, people's day with just a smile. The fact that you've been through hell is not your weakness, it's your strength. You use it to make people at ease. When things go bad, you don't freeze. You move forward, you get the rest of us to move forward. Because you've seen worse," he said sincerely, looking her straight in the eye. Meredith's heart skipped a beat and she looked away embarrassed.

"Um, thanks?" she responded awkwardly. That was probably the most beautiful thing anyone had ever said to her. Derek winked at her.

"You're welcome," he said and killed the ignition. Meredith looked around confused and finally saw the white Victorian house outside of the car. They were home. The silence around them was stifling. Meredith found herself staring at a point somewhere between Derek's chin and shoulder. He just examined her facial features for any kind of reaction. Neither of them made any attempt to get out of the car.

Finally, Meredith decided to break the silence.

"So, Derek…" she started in a dead serious voice. Derek held his breath. Had he gone too far in his honesty? Was she offended?

"When I was up in the attic I found this… game," she continued. A smile slowly forming on her features.

"What game?" he asked and she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh… Just some racing game or something. I think it's called... Mario Kart." Meredith wore a shit-eating grin on her face now, giving her companion a devilish look. Before she even realized it, Derek was out of the car and on his way into the house. Meredith hurried after him, laughing loudly at his enthusiasm.

"Your ass is mine, Grey," Derek's voice was deathly serious. Meredith huffed indignantly.

"Hmm… You wish, Shepherd." They both giggled as they raced towards the television to start the game. Derek threw himself into the couch and waited for Meredith to start it all up.

"So… Just checking. Are you a sore loser, Mer? Should I let you win to keep peace in this household?" Derek's voice was condescending. Meredith threw a kick in the direction of his thigh. She hit him hard. He had to try very hard not to wince in pain and rub his hand over the spot like a little girl.

"You just look. I'll kick your cute little butt this way from Sunday." Meredith's voice was dead serious as she started up a race. Derek looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and just as the time ticked down for the players to start he gave her a wicked smile.

"You think my butt is cute, Grey?"

Derek let out a huge guffaw when Meredith gasped in surprise and almost dropped her controller, making her lose her lead in the process.

"Oh, you'll pay for that, little Derek." Meredith's voice turned murderous. Derek laughed even louder.

"Well… I can safely say I have never been called that before," he winked at Meredith. "It's either 'big' or 'humungous'. Never ever little," he drawled with a saucy grin. Apparently, he was playing the distraction card to win the race. Meredith rolled her eyes. Well, two could play that game.

"Really? Good, because just for the record; that's the way I like my men. Big and deep…" Derek's controller slipped out of his hands and landed several feet from where they sat. He looked slightly hot and bothered, making her giggle. The conversation had turned into a completely unexpected direction. When Derek looked back at the TV screen he yelled in annoyance. She was winning.

"Hey, it serves you right. Stop being so cock… y" the pause before the Y made Derek's hands sweaty and he tugged slightly at his collar.

"Oh, you just wait, Grey. I'm cumming right behind you." Meredith guffawed in shock slipped off the track for a second.

"Today was great, Derek," Meredith sighed as they sat in the kitchen eating some sandwiches before bed. They had played on the Nintendo 64 for far too long and had entirely missed dinnertime, resulting in this nighttime meal.

"Yeah…" he said, smiling warmly at her.

"I mean, first the roller coasters and then the games! It was such a high…" she sighed happily "I don't know why anybody does drugs." Derek looked at her with a thoughtful but happy expression. They were silent for a while. Then Derek stood up from his chair.

"I should go to bed," he said and started putting the butter and cheese into the fridge.

"You should," Meredith said and looked at his handsome form. When the table was clean Derek turned to walk for the stairs. Before he disappeared he turned back one last time towards her.

"Good night, Mer," he said quietly with a smile. Meredith smiled back.

"Good night, Derek," she responded before he walked away from her view. Instead of following his example, Meredith sat still by the table, pondering.

This thing- this attraction to Derek… it was obviously not real. Her reactions to him were a simple side effect to the fact that she was alone for the first time in ages. No Mark around meant that she was desperately looking for a replacement, and Derek was just… there. It was only a fling. The fact that she couldn't stop thinking about him and that her heart melted every time she heard his voice was just a part of her imagination. Meredith was determined to let this thing die by itself. Her words were sure in her mind.

So… why didn't she believe them?

A/N: Thank you for the support! Keep reviewing and stuff :)