Izzie took a deep breath and walked down to the basement to her secluded corner. Everyone was preoccupied, but she was immensely jumpy anyway. Someone was bound to head this way, and she dreaded what that someone would discover. However, she really needed this.

Instead of sitting down at her spot, she passed it and went to a room further down the hall. She never knew this room existed and was amazed how no one had ever bothered to venture this far. It was away from the sex laced on-call rooms, the eyes that spied who went where, and the talk that followed who did what. She was glad she knew of this place away from everyone else so she could at least clear her head once in a while.

But today, she was on a different mission.

She walked into the room at the end of the hall and silently closed the door. It was a surplus supply room. Odds and ends of hospital stock that were no longer used were kept here and eventually forgotten. She walked towards the center of the small room and waited.

She was counting. It was nearly three minutes before she heard the door open and close. She heard a small click as the door was locked. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her heart was beating so loudly, she was sure he could hear it.

In mere seconds, she felt him push aside her long hair and felt his breath tickle the back of her neck. He brushed several kisses across her neck before she turned around to face him.

Derek looked down at her with the most brilliant blue-green eyes she had ever seen. He smiled his dazzling smile that caused his eyes to crinkle at her. How could she resist? She seductively grinned back at him.

She reached up and kissed him. He immediately captured her lips and began to heatedly dance with her tongue. Where did he learn to do that?Izzie felt her body immediately melt into him, perfectly. He pushed her against the wall as she broke this kiss to pull of her scrub top. He took the moment to shove off his white coat and attacked her mouth again. She slid her fingers inside his navy blue top to feel his chest. How could he feel this good?

He drew his leg between hers causing her breathing to hitch and pushed her against the wall, all the while holding her head, his hands through her hair and continued to kiss her with some kind of fiery intensity.

At this point, Izzie wasn't sure what to do with her arms. Usually, she would know what to do, but she wasn't sure if she and Derek were as far along in this so called 'relationship' to do what she really wanted to do. So instead, she held his arms, the ones that were in her hair massaging her scalp so that she couldn't even make sense of anything anymore.

Derek moved his kisses farther down, and she simultaneously tugged at the drawstrings of his scrub bottom. As Derek left a trail of wet kisses down her neck and chest, she shimmied out of pants. Derek couldn't help but chuckle at the way she moved, graceful and wantonly.

Derek suddenly pulled his head back, but his body pushed her against the wall harder. Izzie was thankful for the wall because at this point, she wasn't sure how she managed to stand up.

Derek looked into her eyes and she melted at the sight of them. His eyes pierced into her, watching her face as he came into her. Her breathing hitched, and a moan escaped her lips. He continued to watch her, moving his hands to hold her head so he could see everything that she was feeling.

Izzie was mesmerized at the look he was giving her. He continued to thrust, and then his face changed to pure ecstasy as he groaned her name. She felt herself tingle at the way his lips had curled around her name.

Izzie felt the heat and now gripped his back as she slowly wrapped her long legs around his waist. She didn't want to let him go.

Derek leaned in and kissed her again with something more than passion and physical lust. He muffled her moans with his mouth and soon Izzie felt fireworks exploding. No, really--there were fireworks. She couldn't even see properly.

Izzie slowly came down from her high, just as Derek fell into her, his head resting on her shoulder as he set her down gently. He rested his head on her, and Izzie felt something strange. It was good, but the atmosphere had suddenly changed.

Derek pulled back and Izzie saw something in his eyes. It was only a split second before he changed, but it was enough for Izzie. She had warned him against it and now feared what might happen.

As they pulled on their clothes and tried to straighten each other out before heading back to the main floor, Izzie felt knots in her stomach. Just as Derek turned, pulling his coat back on, Izzie blurted, "This is the last time!"

_________________________

Derek had to admit it. He was pretty shocked with Izzie's request. He didn't expect it from her. And although, he should have turned her away to save her from herself, he wanted to be around her. So, he agreed.

She explained she needed it for some obscure reason and that it would be under the radar, just sex, and they could walk away at any time. Derek didn't care what her reasons were, he just wanted to be around her. And the 'walk away at any time part' . . . well . . . Derek knew at this point that after being with her once, he didn't think he could every walk away.

He was hurt though when she brought up the Meredith factor. She explained she would be his distraction and he would be hers. Derek was hurt that she thought he would use her like that, but he couldn't tell her what he was feeling as it would ruin the noncommittal sex pact they had made.

Mostly, Derek made it so he could be around her longer. So he could feel her warm hands in his and have those eyes watch him as they did incredible things with each other.

The first time they did it after it was labeled casual sex, Derek felt there was some underlying meaning as why they were doing this. They had left separately and were to meet at his trailer. He arrived first. He looked out his window and saw her beautiful form exit her car. She stayed outside a minute. She would take two steps forward and then walked backward. He sadly smiled at what this was doing to her.

But he couldn't turn her away. He couldn't stop thinking about her. And when she came inside, she was all fidgety and wouldn't stop pacing until he took her hands. When he kissed her, she slowly relaxed.

Afterwards, he knew that it was never going to be the same again. There was no way, after being together in such a way that they could continue having meaningless sex.

And he knew meaningless sex. He had tried with Addison when attempting to make their marriage work, and all he could think about was Meredith then. And when with Meredith, it was more of the fact that at least he was with the woman he thought he loved.

But there was no way he could describe what had happened with Izzie. He couldn't compare and he wasn't going to because she had done something unexplainable to him. Touched him in such a way that he couldn't go back to normal, whatever that was. Normal and average was what he had before. It was what he had been wasting all that time on.

Now, he was in a place he didn't think he could ever leave. He had turned to look at her, a small smile across her face. He ran his fingers across her body and raised his hand to feel her hair. She tilted her head and smiled at him before getting up to get dressed.

There was no way that they could have done what they did and not felt anything. Derek sat up. "You don't have to leave."

"Yeah, I do."

"You can stay. We can--"

"No. That would ruin the point of casual sex. Staying would imply a relationship, which is something we're not in." She looked at him and he saw her eyes longing for something more.

After that, she established the rules:

1. Just sex.

2. It's just sex so it doesn't mean anything.

3. No talking. That means something and this is just sex that doesn't mean anything.

4. I don't know you at the hospital.

5. No one can find out.

The list continued. And each time she added another one, he saw that she didn't mean it because she wanted something more. So, he played along because he didn't want her to know how he felt. If she did, being the person she was, she would try to do the right thing and lose everything that meant anything to her.

But still, he played along, hoping that something more would happen. And when it did, he could happily be with her because he didn't care what other people thought and . . . because he felt more for her than he had ever felt for anyone. She meant more to him than he could even imagine.

___________________________

Derek immediately spun around to face her, shock evident on his face. "What?!"

Izzie found herself in more knots. She didn't want to let him go. She knew she was undoubtedly hurting a lot people--mainly Meredith, but Izzie wanted to be happy because she deserved it. She spent her whole life trying to do things she believed would make her happy, and she found it now with the most unlikely person.

She knew she couldn't be with Derek no matter how she felt about him, no matter how he could take the pressure off of her, but just maybe she could hold onto him a little longer. They may just be having sex, but it wasn't meaningless to her. She liked being around him. The way he said her name. The way he touched her. It was like she was the only one in the world. She may be a distraction to him, but he set her on fire; she had the power to take charge and be in control.

He gave her new confidence and inspiration in herself and she didn't want to lose it. She wondered what her friends would think of seeing her now, but still she was happy with him because he made her forget everything else.

However, the only exception to her feelings was that it was and would always be Meredith's Derek. Nevertheless, she still saw the look in his eyes after he pulled away from her. She knew that look, and she hoped they had it in them to go one more time, one last time for closure before cutting each other off.

Because with a look like that, it only meant trouble, and though she liked him, she wasn't going to be the cause of another mess or breaking up a relationship, even if he and Meredith weren't technically together.

"There's just too many people and--"

"We already talked about this, Iz. You said yourself that you needed mind-blowing sex and that nothing else would happen." Derek looked confused.

But something did happen and now she wasn't sure if she could deal with those consequences. And yet, she wanted to hold onto him just a little bit longer. It was the way he said her name that did it. Iz. It made her fly.

"I meant people could catch us here. This is the last time we're doing this in the hospital."