Meredith Grey was evil.

Derek had decided that a few days ago when she'd come to bed completely naked, claiming that it was too hot for clothes. But now, as she stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of stiletto heels, he now knew that she was a completely evil and manipulative person who was just evil.

"Mer," he moaned. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What?" Meredith frowned. "Oh, these?" she asked, stretching her long legs to show off how much the heels elongated her legs. "Izzie said I should wear them to your intern mixer thing. So I figured I'd try them on, you know…break them in."

Derek didn't say a word as he stared at her, trying to think of anything besides taking her hard against the wall. "Oh," he managed to choke out.

"Is this…bothering you?" Meredith breathed, leaning casually against the wall and bending one leg so her foot rested against the wall.

"No," Derek whimpered, trying to avert his gaze from the wetness on her thighs.

"Good," Meredith nodded. "Because I seem to remember something about a fantasy having to do with high heels. So I'm glad you're not bothered, because I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable at all."

"Nope," Derek shook his head, his hand casually moving down to the bulge beneath his flannel pajamas that were definitely uncomfortable.

"Okay," Meredith smiled as she stepped closer to the bed. "Because I really need to practice. Walking in the shoes I mean."

"Right," Derek nodded. "I'm um…shower."

"What's the matter?" Meredith breathed as her hands moved through her hair, shaking her head so her waves pooled around her shoulders. "Are you…dirty? You look very dirty."

"God, Meredith," Derek groaned as he rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door closed behind him.

Meredith giggled softly as she slid out of the uncomfortable shoes, knowing that she was going to win. There was no way she would cave before Derek did. She knew way too many of his fantasies, and she barely knew any of his. She'd already had fun this past week, and she still had another week of complete torture lined up for him.

She smiled as she slid into one of his t-shirts and listened to the moans coming from behind the closed door of the bathroom.

Derek squeezed his eyes closed as he pumped his fist around his erection, imagining Meredith's body around his as he released into his hand. This was getting ridiculous, and he had to do something about this. Meredith was playing games, and he'd tried to play fair, but after the third night in a row of taking care of himself in the bathroom, he knew that he was going to have to stoop to her level.

Two could play her little game.

He washed his hands and took a deep breath as he opened the door, smiling brightly at Meredith.

"Everything okay?" she asked from her place on the bed.

"Fine," Derek nodded. "I um…the heels look good. You should definitely wear them."

"I'm glad you like them," she giggled.

"I'm going to sleep now," Derek announced.

"Me too," she smiled coyly.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she breathed, running her foot along his calf.

Derek bit back a groan as he tried to control his arousal. Tomorrow. He would definitely get his revenge tomorrow.

XXXXX

"Morning Mer," Izzie smiled ass she walked into the kitchen the following morning.

"Morning," Meredith smiled from her place at the kitchen table.

"Where's Derek?" Izzie asked.

"He had to run out to his dad's store," Meredith giggled. "Or so he says."

"What did you do now?" Izzie asked as she poured a cup of coffee and sat down beside her at the table.

"Well, he may have walked out of the shower this morning to find me…taking care of myself," Meredith giggled. "I so didn't realize it would be this fun."

"Well, I just hope you two get an apartment before this bet thing is over," Izzie sighed. "I do not want to hear the reunion sex."

"We've got a lease in the works," Meredith smiled. "Don't worry."

Before Izzie could respond, Lexie rushed into the kitchen, breathless and smiling. "There's a shirtless band in our living room," she said.

"What?" Meredith asked.

"Derek…guitar…friends…no shirts," Lexie breathed before she turned to run out of the room.

"What is she talking about?" Meredith asked.

"I don't know, but if there are shirtless guys in our living room I'm not going to waste my time sitting in here," Izzie said, rushing towards the door.

Meredith followed at a slower pace, her eyes narrowing as she saw Derek sitting in the armchair, guitar strapped over his shoulder as he tuned it. A couple other guys were setting up their instruments as well, but Meredith's eyes remained focused on her boyfriend.

"Hey Mer," he said, smirking slightly as he caught her eyes. "It's okay if we practice here, right?"

"Definitely," Lexie answered for her.

"Totally okay," Izzie nodded.

"Fine," Meredith said, knowing what he was up to. "I have to go take a shower anyways."

"Actually, we've got a new song," Derek said, glancing at Mark. "We could really use an audience to see how it goes."

"Fine," Meredith rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, staring up at the ceiling for a moment.

"Everyone ready?" Derek asked before he began playing, his eyes focused on Meredith the entire time. He knew she loved when he played, and every time he strapped on a guitar in front of her he was guaranteed wild sex. So that combined with his shirtless body and the air conditioning he'd turned off earlier, this was sure to get her just as worked up as those damn heels had him last night.

Meredith shifted uncomfortably on her feet as her eyes remained focused on Derek, trying to ignore the dull ache between her legs as she watched his strong hands carefully cradle his guitar. She knew how perfectly those hands could touch her body, and she swallowed hard as she watched the sweat appear on his chest. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to be pressed up against that sweaty body, feeling him crush her between his hard body and the soft mattress.

"Mer?" Lexie frowned from beside her. "You okay?"

"Fine," Meredith breathed, trying to control her panting. "Just um…hot."

"Okay," Lexie said, and Meredith turned back to Derek, hating the smug look on his face.

"I'll be right back," she said, going into the kitchen. She appeared a moment later with a cup of pudding, sticking the spoon into her mouth and meeting Derek's heated gaze. He blinked in surprise as she slowly drew the spoon out of her mouth, running her tongue over its surface as she tried to make sure she had every drop of pudding. She giggled inwardly as she noticed Derek's playing begin to slow down, and she scooped more pudding onto the spoon, gently moving it inside her mouth, mimicking his actions when he was inside her, and she saw Derek groan loudly.

"Dude, what the hell is your problem?" Mark asked suddenly.

"What?" Derek asked.

"You just stopped playing," Mark replied. "What gives?"

"I uh…" Derek stammered for a response and Meredith giggled as she turned towards the stairs. She'd totally won that round.

XXXXXX

"How's your band?" she giggled a couple hours later as he came into her bedroom where she was folding clothes and putting them into moving boxes.

"You're evil," Derek stated. He looked at her for a moment before he grabbed her around the waist, pinning her to him as he kissed her passionately.

"Derek," she moaned as she pressed her hands against his sweaty chest, feeling his erection press into her. "Hmm…"

Derek's hand traveled to her thigh, pulling it up to hook around his waist as he continued to kiss her passionately. After a moment, he felt her pull away and whisper, "Are you giving in?"

"No?" Derek said, more of a question than a statement, and he groaned as he felt her remove her leg from his hip and move back to the pile of clothes on her bed. "What… what are you doing?"

"Packing," she giggled. "They said the apartment would be ready by the day after tomorrow."

"Right," Derek sighed, finding a clear spot on the bed and collapsing onto it. "You sure you're ready for this?"

"What?" she asked, pulling another drawer open and dumping its contents onto the bed.

"Living together," Derek said.

"Derek, Mark's living with Addison now," Meredith said. "You've been living here since we got back. And we were in Europe for two months, I somehow managed to put up with you then. I think I'm ready.

"As long as you're sure," Derek said. "I don't want to rush you."

"Derek," she smiled. "It was my idea. I can't wait to live with you. In our amazing apartment with a balcony in our bedroom and Jacuzzi in our bathroom. I want this, Derek, I promise."

"Good," he nodded.

"Oh, by the way…turning off the air conditioning so you'd get all hot and sweaty? Very creative," Meredith giggled.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Travis nearly had a heart attack when you were eating your pudding," Derek replied. "Seriously, Mer, only you could make that dirty."

Meredith smiled as she leaned over the bed to kiss him. "You usually like the dirty," she breathed in his ear.

"Oh, I love the dirty," Derek smiled softly. "We could do something very dirty right now."

"I'm not giving in," she smiled as she leaned over him to reach for the ringing phone on his side of the bed. "Hello?"

Derek smiled as she spoke quietly into the phone, moving his lips to her neck as he inched his hand underneath her shirt, pushing her bra aside to cup her breast tightly in his hand. She pushed his hand away and shot him a dirty look, but he simply moved his hand back, enjoying the fact that he was torturing her for once.

"Okay, thank you," Meredith said before she hung up the phone and slapped Derek's hand out from under her shirt. "Take a shower," she ordered.

"Excuse me?" Derek laughed, leaning forward to kiss her neck again.

"Take a shower," Meredith giggled. "Because our apartment's ready early."

Derek pulled back to look at her, excitement gleaming in his eyes. "Seriously?" he asked.

"Seriously," Meredith smiled. "We can move in today."

Derek pressed a kiss to her cheek before he moved to grab a shirt, pulling it over his head. "I'll shower after we've moved," he said. "At our apartment."

"Our apartment, Der," she breathed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"We're really doing this?" Derek asked.

"We really are," Meredith giggled, reaching for his hand. "Come on, Lex and Izzie will help."

Derek couldn't help the smile that stretched across his face at the sight of Meredith's excitement. He hadn't anticipated that they would find an apartment this easily, and now that they could move in early, this was definitely perfect. Even if she was torturing him with this stupid bet, this was entirely perfect.

XXXXXX

"I can't believe we're here," Meredith sighed into his chest later that night. Their apartment was entirely empty, save for a bed and a couch, but they had spent the entire day shuttling boxes over to their new home, and the next day was entirely devoted to shopping for furniture.

"Me either," Derek sighed, tightening his arms around her.

"I don't want to go back to work," Meredith sighed, throwing her leg over his and moving as close as she possibly could.

"Let's not talk about work," Derek sighed, ducking his head down to hers.

Meredith was silent as she picked up his hand, playing with his fingers for a moment before she whispered, "Are you nervous?"

"Yeah," he breathed. "I'm…I have no idea how to be a doctor, Mer."

"Derek, you graduated first in your class from med school," she said. "You can't be any more ready than that."

"It's terrifying," he whispered. "Being responsible for other people's lives, operating on them…I don't know if I'm ready."

"I don't think anyone's really ready before they have to do it," Meredith replied. "You can't freak out over this, Derek. You're a smart man, you know what you're doing. And you have so much compassion, you'll have an amazing bedside manner."

"I'm glad you think that," he laughed, pressing a kiss to her head. "I just hope my resident thinks so too."

"Internship is supposed to be hard," Meredith sighed. "But you'll get through it. I promise."

"I'm so glad I have you," he whispered. "I don't think I could do it without you."

"You could," Meredith smiled. "You'd be completely miserable, but you could do it. Because you're you."

"I love how much confidence you have in me," Derek said softly.

"I love that you're letting me see you like this," Meredith whispered.

"Like what?" Derek frowned.

"Vulnerable," Meredith sighed. "You're always so strong and confident in yourself. I love that you trust me enough to not be strong around me."

Derek tightened his arms around her. "I love you, Mer," he said softly. "And I can be myself around you, who I truly am. That's big."

She was quiet for a moment before she whispered, "I trust you, Derek."

He blinked for a moment before he pulled back to look closely at her. "You do?" he asked.

She nodded as she reached up to press a kiss to his lips. "I do," she sighed. "I hate that we lost all that time, and it took awhile for me to be able to trust you again, but right now, in this moment…I feel completely and totally safe. And I know that you'll never hurt me again. And as long as we're together, we can face whatever else life throws at us."

Derek leaned down to kiss her firmly. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she replied, resting her head on his chest as she allowed herself to finally feel truly safe for the first time in months.