Meredith giggled as she let Derek pull her chair out for her before sitting down beside her.

"You're in a gentlemanly mood tonight," she commented as she opened her menu.

"I'm just glad that we can get back to living normally," Derek said. "And when am I ever not gentlemanly?"

Meredith smiled coyly. "There are times," she said, leaning forward to whisper in his ear. "Of course…those times I'm not very ladylike either."

Derek swallowed hard as he felt Meredith run her bare foot under his pants leg. "Mer," he groaned softly.

She giggled as she pulled back and opened her menu. "What looks good?" she asked. "I think I'm going to get salmon."

"Wha…" Derek frowned as he realized she'd been playing with him. "Mean, you're mean."

"It's called flirting," Meredith laughed.

"It's called being mean," Derek muttered as he reached for his water and took a long pull.

"Thirsty, Der?" Meredith asked.

"Shut up."

Meredith smiled as she reached across the table to take his hand. "You know I'll let you punish me for that tonight."

Before Derek could reply, a voice from behind them said, "Meredith?"

Meredith looked up and smiled when she saw who had addressed her. "Dr. Brown," she said as he stopped at their table. "Um…hi."

"Fancy meeting you here," Dr. Brown said. He glanced at Derek and smiled slightly. "You must be Derek."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Meredith said. "Derek, this is Dr. Brown, my neurology professor. Dr. Brown, this is my husband Derek."

"Nice to meet you," Dr. Brown said, offering Derek his hand.

"You too," Derek said cautiously, shaking his hand. "Just out of curiosity, how did you know my name?"

"Derek," Meredith hissed.

Dr. Brown smiled politely. "I've heard we had Michael Shepherd's son here," he said. "There's a reason offspring of successful doctors get in. All the faculty knows about it."

Derek frowned and opened his mouth to talk, but Meredith kicked his shin and smiled up at her professor. "It's nice to see you, Dr. Brown," she said. "We're kind of having a special night, but I'll see you in class on Monday?"

"Of course," Dr. Brown nodded. "And let me know if you want me to go over that paper, I'll be sure to accommodate your schedule."

"Thanks," Meredith smiled. "I really appreciate it."

"Anything for my favorite student," Dr. Brown smiled, nodding to Derek before he turned and walked to a table on the other side of the restaurant.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asked as soon as he was out of hearing distance.

"What?" Meredith asked distractedly, not looking up from her menu.

"Meredith, he was just flirting with you," Derek said.

Meredith rolled her eyes as she closed her menu and looked at him. "Seriously?" she asked.

"I can't believe you're not bothered by this," Derek said. "Does he always treat you like this?"

"Like what?" Meredith asked. "Tell me one thing he did that was unprofessional."

"First of all, he called you Meredith."

"I told him he could," Meredith rolled her eyes. "I do have a name besides Mrs. Shepherd you know. Just because you want everyone to call me that so you can mark your territory and make sure everyone knows I'm yours."

"You know I don't do that," Derek hissed. "That guy…there's something about him."

"There's something about him?" Meredith repeated. "That's your argument?"

"I can't believe you don't see it," he groaned. "The way he was looking at you…it was like he was undressing you with his eyes."

"Oh my God," Meredith said, leaning forward to whisper harshly. "Derek, I cannot believe you are doing this. We're in public."

"Maybe we should go somewhere private then," Derek suggested. "Of course, our apartment isn't really that private anymore, especially with that professor of yours lurking around."

"Are you serious?" Meredith asked. She stared at him for a moment before she backed her chair up and stood. "I'm going home."

"Fine," Derek said, standing as well.

Meredith ignored him as she stormed out of the restaurant, Derek muttering under his breath as he trailed after her. This was not how the night was supposed to go.

They were silent the entire walk back to their apartment, and Meredith waited until the door was closed behind Derek before she started yelling.

"I can't believe that you would suggest that my professor is the one who has been watching me," she yelled. "Derek, he was being nice. He's a good teacher!"

"He's making it seem that way, because he's obsessed with you!" Derek exclaimed. "Meredith, he called you his favorite student!"

"You are so dense!" Meredith snapped. "Every teacher says that when they see a student outside of the classroom, it's like a universal teacher thing!"

"No it's not!" Derek replied. "Meredith, I know you're compassionate and you usually give everyone the benefit of the doubt but…this is ridiculous!"

"Now I'm ridiculous?" Meredith shouted. "What do you think that I'm having some passionate affair with my professor? How much of a slut do you think I am?"

"I never called you a slut," Derek snapped. "Do not put words in my mouth."

"But that's what you think!" Meredith yelled, picking up a pillow from the couch and hurling it at his head. "You think I'm some dirty slut who will sleep with a professor for a good grade! Let me tell you something, Derek Christopher, when I married you, that meant I promised I would never sleep with anyone else. And you know what else?" she continued, throwing another pillow at him. "You're the only guy I've ever slept with. So how dare you accuse me of sleeping with my professor. I guess I know how you really feel about me now."

"Meredith," Derek breathed, all anger gone from his eyes as he saw her standing before him, completely broken and tears streaming down her face. "I never said that. You know I would never think that about you."

"Just go," Meredith whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.

"What?" Derek whispered, feeling his breath get knocked out of him.

"Leave," Meredith snapped.

"Meredith…" he started, but she turned away from him as she tried to hide her sobs from him.

"Derek, I swear to God if you don't leave, I will kick you out myself."

Derek swallowed hard, feeling tears build in his own eyes. He had never seen her like this before. He walked quietly over to the door, opening it before he turned to take one last look at her. "I love you, Meredith," he said just loudly enough for her to hear before he closed the door gently behind him.

As soon as the door closed, Meredith collapsed on the couch and allowed sobs to fully overtake her body, feeling more alone than she ever had before. Her hands trembled as she stood and walked into the kitchen, reaching for the phone.

"Hey, Mark, it's me. I need to talk to Addie. It's important."

XXXXX

Derek sat across the hall from his apartment, his head in his hands as he replayed the entire night in his head. He wasn't sure how it had ended up in the mess it had, but somehow Meredith had kicked him out of the apartment, and all of a sudden his entire world had slipped out from under him. He had nowhere to go now, and he wasn't about to leave the apartment when Meredith had been in so much danger the week before.

"Derek?" he looked up to see Beth and Nathan standing above him, concerned looks on both of their faces. "What's wrong?" Beth asked as she knelt down next to him.

"We had a fight," he sighed. "She kicked me out."

"Meredith kicked you out?" Nathan asked. "What the hell did you do?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "We were out to dinner and her professor came over and I said he was flirting with her and…things just completely exploded."

"Oh, Derek," Beth said. "You should go in and talk to her."

"I can't," Derek whispered. "I've never seen her like that. She was completely torn apart and she really didn't want me there."

Beth blinked in surprise. Although she'd only known the couple for a few months, she knew that Derek and Meredith Shepherd had a steady relationship, one that others tried their hardest to live up to. "Okay, well you can't just sit out here," she said softly. "Come into our apartment."

"I can't leave her alone," Derek whispered. "Not with everything that's been going on."

Beth glanced at Nathan, who nodded. "Come on, man," he said, reaching to help Derek to his feet. "We'll have some scotch and talk this over while Beth goes over and helps Mer calm down. If there's one thing she's good at, it's taking care of the people she loves."

Derek swallowed hard as he nodded. "Okay," he said. "She's…right now she's probably on the phone with Addison. And after that she'll want to eat as much ice cream as she can get her hands on, but if you let her eat more than a pint she'll get sick. And after that she'll probably want to call one of my sisters, but make sure she doesn't call Caitlin because then my mom will get involved. And…"

"Derek," Beth smiled softly, pushing him towards her apartment. I've got it under control."

"Okay," he sighed. "Just…tell her I love her. And tell her that I don't want a divorce."

"I'll tell her," Beth promised, pushing him gently towards her apartment.

"Man, you look like shit," Nathan shook his head as he walked into his apartment and went straight for the kitchen, reaching for the scotch in the cabinet above the sink. "That must have been some fight."

"We never fight," Derek shook his head. "At least not like that. And it was horrible."

Nathan smiled sympathetically as he pushed a glass of scotch across the counter to him. "You'll work it out," he said. "If you and Meredith can't work it out, then there isn't any hope for the rest of us."

Derek shook his head before he downed the entire glass in one throw of the head. "I sure as hell hope so," he whispered. "She was just so broken. And she didn't even want me around her."

"She was upset," Nathan offered. "God knows when Beth gets mad at me she says things that would make the devil cower in fright."

Derek smiled slightly, reaching to pour himself more scotch. "I sure hope you're right," he said as he downed another glass. "I can't even imagine what kind of hell my life would be like without her."

"You don't have to," a soft voice came from the doorway.

"Mer," Derek breathed her name before he had even fully turned to face her.

"We need to talk."