Chapter Eighteen: Day Three, Morning
When the alarm went off at 4:45am, Meredith slammed her hand on the snooze button of the offending clock and shut it off.
The harsh noise of the alarm had caused her dream to shatter into a million pieces the instant she had opened her eyes and saw the time.
"Crap…" she groaned and hid her head under a pillow.
She lay there for a few minutes but as her body started to wake up, Meredith felt rare energy coursing through her.
That big sleep sure did me good it seems…
Thinking over about what the day could possibly bring there was one thought that kept on recurring in her head, making her smile and actually bring her head out from under the pillow.
Glancing at the window, it was still dark outside but Meredith stared at it with a faint sense of relief.
Today she would be back with Bailey and would not have to worry about being with Addison.
Meredith didn't know what had happened in the end with Addison and the Chief, but she suspected it would have been bad enough that she could confidently think that she would not be back with Addison at all during the remaining days of the waiting period until she could finally leave.
Which meant she could maybe be with Derek for the day as his intern.
Meredith sighed deeply as last night's dream flashed in her mind again.
"At least we aren't alone when we dream…" she whispered to herself, shutting her eyes. "Derek what will I do..."
Suddenly there was a knock on the door that made Meredith jump into a sitting position on her bed.
"Mer? You awake? Time to get up."
Immediately Meredith recognised the voice of Izzie and she smiled at the closed door.
"Thanks Iz." She called out and yawned quietly.
On the other side of the door, Izzie was very surprised that Meredith was awake, and had answered her…without sounding as if she wanted to kill her!
Smiling to herself, Izzie just replied, "See you soon Mer, there is a fetch brew of coffee being made as we speak."
Meredith, now fully smiling in relief, slowly made her way to the door and opened it to reveal Izzie leaning against the doorframe in her pyjamas and holding two large mugs of steaming coffee.
Regarding both cups with a suspicious eye, Meredith looked at Izzie with an expecting expression, "Which one is mine?"
Izzie handed her a cup and smiled, "Wow Mer, normally you just take one then shut the door in my face after a gruff 'thankyou'."
Meredith looked at her in hurt surprise at her, "I do not."
Izzie raised both eyebrows and nodded with a sarcastic expression on her face, "Of course not Mer."
Looking down at the hot cup in her hands, Meredith thought really hard and tried to remember how she acted whenever Izzie had made her a cup of life saving coffee in the morning.
Meredith thought regretfully that yes she was definitely not a morning person and had always been grumpy towards George and Izzie no matter how nice they were to her.
"Ok Iz, it's true. I'm sorry for all the times I've been grumpy with you in the morning." Meredith apologised.
Briefly looking at Meredith in shock, Izzie just grinned at her, "I like what a good night sleep does for you Mer. I nearly can't recognise the morning person you normally are."
Meredith just gave a dry sarcastic laugh and smiled, "I am going to drink this now and shut my door so I can get dressed."
Izzie nodded and said, "Ok, see you soon then."
Meredith nodded back and smiled before stepping back and shutting the door at the same time as Izzie turning around and walking away through the hallway.
The instant the door was shut, Meredith took a sip of her coffee. When the sugar enriched black liquid hit her tongue and slid down her throat, Meredith shut her eyes and sighed in pleasure as she felt its warmth travel all the way down to her stomach.
"Mmm…I love coffee first thing in the morning." She said quietly and took another sip.
The morning coffee Izzie made wasn't as delicious as the morning coffee that Derek had made her when they were still together and he stayed overnight at her house.
She didn't know how they tasted different, but it just seemed that everything he had made for her had automatically tasted better.
Damn Derek and his yummy morning coffee!
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It took Meredith only a few minutes to get dressed and wander down to the kitchen with her coffee and she joined George in eating breakfast. Soon Izzie wandered down too and they all ate breakfast together, all in a very good mood and not rushing for once.
They all left for work on time and arrived there a few minutes early, which was a rarity for the trio.
Although when they walked into the hospital, Meredith looked through her bag and saw in horror that she had left her nametag in the car.
Quickly she said to Izzie and George that she would meet up with them in the locker room in a few minutes, she ran back to her car and fished the lost nametag out of the glove-box.
Meredith walked back into hospital with a grin that spelled triumph and she made her way to the closest elevator.
No one was around when she pushed the button and the doors opened nearly straight away.
Thinking that maybe this was going to be her lucky day, Meredith walked into the elevator and pushed the button to shut the doors.
As they began to slide shut, Meredith leant over and pushed the button to her floor when suddenly a hand slammed between the doors, causing them to instantly slide open again.
Meredith looked to see whom the mysterious hand belonged to, but the second she saw that the hand belonged Derek Shepherd, her heart sped up and she flashed him a small smile before looking away at the floor.
"Nearly made me miss it Meredith." He said with a smile, his voice sounding extremely warm this morning.
Meredith looked at him and had to fight extremely hard to not allow herself to blush under his warm gaze.
How can he still do that to me? She thought with slight annoyance.
"I'm sorry Dr Shepherd." She said, smiling at him, "Believe me when I say it was unintentional."
He smiled at her and nodded silently.
Meredith leant over and re-pushed the button to close the doors.
This time the doors slid shut with no interruptions but when Meredith quickly glanced at Derek out of the corner of her eye when she leant back into a normal standing position, he was still gazing at her with a smile.
She turned to look at him with a confused expression, "Why are you still looking?"
Derek suddenly looked slightly taken aback, but he quickly masked it by turning to face and stare at the double doors of the elevator with a blank expression.
"I uh…just was." He said, sounding slightly lame because he could not think up of any decent excuses.
Meredith just grinned in both amusement and disbelief at the situation.
"These elevators…" she said quietly under her breath, but Derek still heard her.
"What's wrong with these elevators?" he asked softly, his eyes sparkling with something that looked like emotion but Meredith found herself lost in them.
"They ummm…" she started but the atmosphere in the elevator suddenly came to life and began to be filled with sudden tension when their gazes locked and they suddenly took a step towards each other.
"They ummm?" Derek echoed, gazing at her with the 'McDreamy' expression.
They were only a few centimetres apart but she was close enough to be able to smell his fresh aftershave.
Meredith had always loved that smell and she would happily smell it on his neck than drink tequila ever again if she was given that choice.
"They are," she mumbled slightly, staring at him and her expression melting into one of emotion, "conspiring against me."
Derek smiled a slow smile, "I think they are conspiring against me too…"
As his voice trailed off, Derek's eyes darkened into something that resembled…hunger?
Meredith blinked at him a few times in sudden confusion as she felt a familiar heat rush through her body.
"Ah Dr Shepherd…" she whispered quietly, physically unable to talk louder for the way he was looking at her and the way it was affecting her.
"Dr Grey…" he said taking a step towards her and closing the gap between them.
Immediately Meredith took a step back but Derek just took another step towards her.
Meredith suddenly found herself backed up against the wall of the elevator and Derek was extremely close to her.
He wasn't touching her but it would only take a centimetre to connect them together.
Meredith looked up into Derek's hunger filled face and she knew she was mirroring it on her own.
"Derek." She said.
"Meredith."
"What are we doing?' she asked her voice sounding sad, lost and alarmed, completely opposite to how she was looking at him.
His eyes softened and filled with sadness as he looked at her.
Derek did not reply for a few seconds but he opened his mouth to answer when suddenly the elevator stopped moving and the bell sounded to announce they had arrived at the destined floor.
Instantly Derek looked at Meredith with a torn expression before stepping away from her and standing, watched the doors open in silence.
Meredith quickly stepped away from the wall and just watched the floor as the doors slid open.
"See you around Dr Grey." Derek said in a professional tone and Meredith just shut her eyes as an epic wave of sadness, loneliness and disappointment hit her.
The charged emotion inside her caused Meredith to quickly call out after him, "Derek!"
Immediately he turned around and looked at her, hands in his jeans pockets, his hair slightly wild once again, his blue eyes fixed solely on her.
"What is it Meredith?"
She stepped out of the elevator and walked over towards him, "You didn't request for me today did you?"
He saw her nervousness at the question by the way Meredith was clutching her bag and half biting her lip in the adorable way that she always did.
Derek gave her an easy smile, "No Meredith I didn't."
Meredith's face went completely blank and she nodded in silence before turning around to begin walking back to the elevator.
But before she could take a single step she heard him say in his very sexy husky purr that he always used on her whenever they went to bed together, "That will be tomorrow Dr Grey."
Meredith walked all the way to the locker room with a smile plastered on her face, but inside she could not help but feel both guilty and confused about the whole 'elevator interlude' that had happened only minutes ago.
What on earth was she going to do if things kept on carrying like this when she hadn't even left the hospital?
That she was guilty with every fibre of her being that she had wished that they kissed in the elevator…even though it was so wrong and that her McDreamy was completely off limits and married.
But there was a part of Meredith that felt as if it were right, that maybe she would get away with it and it would be a guilt-free thing because she would never be seeing him again after eleven days…
But then again there was also the other side that completely revolted against the whole idea because it knew that the more involved she became with Derek again, the harder it was going to be to leave him and the hospital.
I'll just ask Cristina when I see her later…
A/N:Elevator interlude number uno! :D
Could not resist when writing it so it immediately went into the first chapter I could put it in.
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed and liked last chapter! :D
I hope you like this latest chapter. :)
Jenn
DeniseSB: Thankyou very much. I had definitely neglected writing about the others and their reactions so I had to take a step back and write about them. And I am so glad that I did. :) Now about Izzie and Alex…that was intended to make you wonder. :D Thanks for the review. :D
lilxjames: I love Addison in the show too. Sorry to turn her into such a horrible perso. :) And I can't stand Derek sometimes too for what he has done to Meredith… but yeah. I felt bad for her friends too when writing it…
But thanks for the review and I hope the update was quick enough…ish.
McMerDer: hey! Thank you very much. :D I think the relationship between Derek and Meredith is a long and complicated one and they can't just kiss and make up and get married, like what happens in lots of 'after-the-Rose-kiss' fics. It just would not happen. And I actually haven't read any fics where Derek falls into a coma…but I am happy with how I am spreading out my story so far. D: I hope your view will continue as I continue this story. :D Thank you very much for the review. :D
MissRe: Thank you very much. How the group feels is ultimately going to affect how they act towards Meredith and her day eventually and we all know what is going to happen when that does occur, well I do. He he he. But yes they needed to realize it because I hadn't addressed it yet. Thanks for the review! :D
sweetgreuy: hey! Thanks for both reviews! :D She is abandoning them I guess but sometimes she does have to think about herself for once…but either way they are all going to hurt. Lol. Yeah Addison is the metaphor as to what Meredith believes is blocking her and McDreamy getting together again.
malfoyie456: Yeah it is sad for her friends, and sadly yes that is a huge part as to why she is leaving but it isn't the only reason. I hope it doesn't come back to bite her either! Thanks for the review! :D
jlamb13: Lol. Rant away, I don't mind. :D But I totally agree with you with everything you have said. Maybe it will be that final kick, but maybe it won't. But Meredith would not be fully respected if she is always gossip. Thanks for the review and I am happy you are enjoying this story! :D
InGreyEyes: Meredith is a matchmaker. :) I just like the idea of Izzie and Alex having a clean shot without him being silly and going with the Syph-Nurse, but yeah it is cute. Well I like to think so too. Lol. :D But the main point of this chapter was to show just how crushed Cristina really is but we have only just scratched the surface with her feelings and showing them. And I would not be able to stay there and watch Der and Addison either. The pain alone would just be…immeasurable. Thanks for the review and I am glad that you thought there were lots of juicy things in this chapter. I worked extra hard when writing it for there to be. ;)
snv3: Thank you very much! I hope you like the update and thanks for the review! :D