A.N. Hi there! This is chapter 18 in which Mark becomes nosy.

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"You look like you were hit by a truck." Mark was sitting on a huge rock on the bank of the river and looking worriedly at his best friend, Derek Shepherd who didn't reply. "And you're very talkative today."

"I'm fishing," said curtly Derek staring fixedly at the point in the water where he cast the line. "Fish don't like talking."

"What I don't get," Mark completely disregarded Derek's reluctance to verbal exchange, "is that a few days ago you were waling on cloud nine and now you're and grumpy. If you were a woman I'd thought you were pregnant."

Once again his comments were met with strained silence.

"What did McFoxy do?"

Derek sighed, "Nothing. She did nothing. It's me… Something's seriously wrong with me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think… I think I assumed too much," said Derek heavily. "I just assumed that she was back and we would eventually go back to the point we always did but… she… something's different about her."

"Of course she's different, she's an attending."

"It's not that. She's… she's keeping something from me. I think… there might be… someone… I don't know what I expected. I should have known she might … move on."

"You think she has someone, like someone someone?" inquired Mark frowning his forehead.

Derek nodded slowly with a sad look on his face.

"Impossible! I've seen you two going lovey-dovey all around the hospital," blurted out Mark.

Derek shrugged his shoulders, "We have a history, as she said. That's normal for us. But… that's all. We…" he trailed off.

"You haven't had sex and that's not normal for you," plodded Mark.

"The old Meredith… wouldn't say no. There have been several moments when we could just rip our clothes off... but she's always backing off."

"And you think there's someone that keeps her bed warm?"

"Thanks for putting that image in my head," snapped Derek angrily. "Yes, I think she has someone. We have chemistry, we've always had but she backs off because she wouldn't betray anyone, someone with whom she was in a relationship. I know there's something she's not telling me and it's not just my crazy obsession. Do you know she hasn't been to Joe's since she got back, not single time. And she goes out of hospital for lunch every day."

"You suspect she's having secret dates? You've asked her about it?"

"Yeah, she said she couldn't stand the crappy hospital food."

"Sounds like a lame excuse," agreed Mark. "But she might be doing thousands of other things."

"That's not all. Two days ago… she completely broke down. I found her crying on the floor. She said she was upset with her father being at hospital but…" he shook his head, "it's not true. Every time she looks at me, she looks… sorry… or guilty… I know, I just know she's not telling me something."

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Meredith became restless. Not telling Derek about Bessie weighed constantly on her conscience. She knew the timing could hardly be better, they were on speaking terms, they were… friends. Derek was supportive and attentive and promised to be there for her when she needed him.

Why couldn't she look straight into his eyes and tell him? Deep down, she was afraid; afraid with a fear that brought cold sweat and pressed her lungs. Meredith was scared of his anger, of him being hurt and disgusted with her. Despite all his McDreamy qualities, Derek was impulsive. Meredith couldn't imagine his reaction to the news that he had fathered a child but she suspected it wouldn't be calm and understanding.

She knew she had to do it and fast. Nonetheless, every time she was close to him, every time she considered coming out clean, she pushed it out of her mind. There never seemed to be a convenient moment. He was tired or she got paged, he had a difficult case, she was beginning the clinical trial… and so on and so on.

To cap it all, Meredith's pseudo-family was hanging around the hospital. Molly was recovering nicely; it was too early to discharge her, though. As a result, Meredith had to endure unexpected encounters with Thatcher, constantly awkward and inarticulate, and Susan, made of a completely different stuff than her husband. She tried to initiate a contact with her stepdaughter and she was insistent about it. As for Meredith, she found it hard to resist her so she employed the best technique she could – avoidance and flight.

Right now, she was avoiding and fleeing from the hospital lobby. She was on her way to Bessie's nursery when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Susan sitting on one of the chairs, probably waiting for Thatcher. Meredith pretended not to notice her and quickened her pace. She didn't even slow down outside, which turned out to be a mistake.

The winter was coming early along with the frosty pavements. One careless step and she fell flat on her back. She felt a blunt pain in her skull and saw nothing more than overcoming blackness.

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The first thought that crossed Meredith's mind when she started regaining consciousness was that she was in a zoo. She was unmistakably that turtle she and Bessie saw in the zoological garden. She was poked and prodded, and the people around her were shouting.

"Move aside, I need to have a look at that," Meredith recognized Derek's frantic voice.

"Could you let me work? I'm the trauma specialist here." Was that Owen Hunt?

"And I'm the neurosurgeon here, like the specialist of head trauma," argued Derek impatiently.

"I'm the Chief here. I'm going to take care of her personally," interrupted Webber.

"Shut up, all of you!" chided them Bailey. "You call yourself doctors? Your patient could die in the meantime!"

"She's not going to die," blurted out Cristina. "She's just bumped her head."

"Is it something serious?" Ughhh, Susan…

Meredith groaned in head-splitting pain and blinked several times before she opened her eyes.

"She's awake," yelled Cristina. "How are you feeling?"

"Like my head just collided with concrete surface," muttered Meredith.

She looked around her. She was lying on a gurney in the ER surrounded by at least ten doctors, Susan and her father.

"There's swelling but no bleeding," said Owen.

"Are you feeling nauseous?" asked Derek concernedly.

"No," she breathed out.

"It's probably just a light concussion," stated Owen.

"We should run some tests, just to make sure," said Derek.

Meredith raised her hand to feel her head, inadvertently hitching up her scrub top and exposing her stomach.

"Is that a stretch mark?" asked Mark Sloan curiously.

Meredith hastily straightened her shirt. Stupid plastic guy…

"It's the appendectomy scar," she huffed but her heart rate was increasing.

Her body recovered almost effortlessly from the pregnancy. She was tiny and slender and no one could tell she had ever carried a child just by looking at her. However, there was a little testimony that she birthed her daughter. The skin on her appendectomy scar wasn't flexible enough and it evolved into a stretch mark, which Mark, as a plastic surgeon, recognized at once.

"I've hit my head," snapped Meredith. "Then why do I see a panel of surgeons ogling me? I don't need cardio, I don't need plastics!" They all started to scatter away.

"I'm staying," Derek stated firmly leaning over her.

"Than stay! I have to go!" she made to stand up but Derek pushed her back on the gurney.

"No, you don't!"

Meredith grabbed Cristina's wrist before she disappeared.

"Cristina, I was… going… to…" she tried to convey the message that she was on her way to Bessie.

Her friend nodded in understanding.

"Can you…?" pleaded Meredith. "I'll clear it with whatever attending you're working with today if you're late." She couldn't let her daughter on her own the whole day. Bess was accustomed to her coming every day.

Cristina rolled her eyes, "Ok, you don't need to persuade me. I'm with Sloan, nothing interesting-" She cut off under Derek's bewildered gaze. "I'll… just go."

Derek wasn't sure if he should be worried or happy. He understood less and less the situation. But one thing seemed certain – Meredith wouldn't send her best friend to a date with her boyfriend. And Cristina wouldn't be so enthusiastic about agreeing to meet Meredith's boyfriend. That was disturbing… Cristina Yang, indifferent about the possibility of missing a surgery…

"Hi, Meredith," Susan and Thatcher came closer to the gurney. "How are you?"

"Good, thanks."

"Mrs. Grey was the one who raised the alarm; she saw you fall down," explained Derek.

"Ok, thanks, I guess." Awkward…

"Your father and I wanted to invite you for lunch but if you're not good…?"

"Maybe, some other-"

"She'll be fine," said quickly Derek. "We just have to run a CT to make sure."

"Wonderful," smiled Susan. "We'll meet you in the cafeteria."

Meredith fell down on the gurney and winced in pain as she had forgotten about her bump. She sent Derek a filthy look, "Are you happy with yourself? Now I have to go through incredibly awkward and uncomfortable lunch with the man who's supposed to be my father and his wife."

Derek looked at her tenderly, "You'd have to do that at some point."

"No, I wouldn't," she pouted indignantly. "Stop hovering!"

He just nodded not to antagonize her further. "I'll take you for the CT and then you'll be able to have your incredibly awkward and uncomfortable lunch."

"Oh no! No, we'll be able to have the incredibly awkward and uncomfortable lunch. You said you'd never walk out on me," she reminded him.

The corners of his lips rose slightly upwards; she was leaning on him. And he would go to hell to have lunch with her if it meant no more of her mysterious outings.

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"You sure you shouldn't lie down? Was there something wrong with the exam?" Susan asked concernedly at the sight of Derek following Meredith to their table.

"Actually-" started Meredith. She saw her last chance of wriggling out of the lunch.

"Actually, the scans were all clear," said Derek smiling.

"So there's nothing wrong with her head, Dr. Shepherd?"

"I've never been completely sure of that," he joked only to feel Meredith's elbow on his ribs. "But there's nothing out of norm. She's just got a bump. Oh, and call me Derek." He reached out his hands towards her.

"Susan and Thatcher," she smiled widely, looking between Derek and Meredith, "Oh, are you…?"

"No," Meredith quickly shook her head. "Not really… not anymore, that is… we're kind of… we're actually friends…"

"Yeah," nodded Derek grinning at her rambling.

"Oh," Susan got a completely different answer that Meredith intended to give. She elbowed Thatcher to encourage him to join the conversation. He seemed frightened at the sole prospect of verbalizing his thoughts in front of his oldest daughter.

He cleared his throat, "So, huh. Meredith, I… I've heard… that you did… that you participated in a special program?"

Derek and Susan exchanged surreptitious grins. The father and daughter had more in common that they realized.

"Yeah, yes, I got a place in the Independent Educational Program for Surgeons," she explained. It was a safe subject; not Derek-orientated, not Bessie-orientated, just perfect. "I was away from Seattle for two and a half years, mostly abroad. I got back only a week ago."

"I'm so happy you did," confessed Susan warmly. "You saved my granddaughter's life."

"It's… my job," stammered Meredith. "It's what I do. Derek wouldn't do any worse. He was my teacher, actually."

"Oh, so you knew each other before you left Seattle."

"Very well," grinned Derek. "It's a long-term-" he stifled a yelp of pain as Meredith kicked him on the shin, "friendship. How's your daughter doing? It must be hard for her, she's in hospital and her husband's overseas."

Thank you brain man, thought Meredith. Now, they'll know I'm talking about them!

"They miss each other terribly and with the baby on the way…" sighed Susan. "Molly's anxious to have him back home. Hopefully, he'll be back before Laura's birth. But they're holding strong."

"That's good," said Derek nostalgically. "Sometimes, you can feel closer to a person who's miles away than the one that's next to you."

Meredith sought desperately a way to escape. Cristina had just appeared in the cafeteria!

"It was nice talking to you," said Meredith, "but my resident, the resident that's assigned to me, is looking… for me, so… I must go." She leapt from her chair to meet her person and listen about her daughter's day.

"I'm sorry," sighed Derek to Susan and Thatcher. "She's trying… but it's difficult for her."

"You make a beautiful couple," remarked Susan innocently.

Derek's face lit up in a briefest of smiles, "Not… not anymore."

Susan cleared her throat and excused herself. "I'm going to see Lexie. She's mentioned she found an apartment. Lexie's moving out," she explained to Derek.

Susan kissed Thatcher and left the two men alone. Rambling and insecure as Thatcher was, he showed a protective side when it came to his daughters. It was a slight surprise when Thatcher cross-examined Molly's and Lexie's boyfriends when they stated to date. Meredith was his daughter as well and she was somehow involved with the dark-haired Dr. Shepherd.

"I… I am aware," Thatcher said hesitantly, "that I don't have any right to… pry into Meredith's life but… I'd just like to know… Is she happy?"

"I… I don't know," Derek shook his head. "We… were close but I… don't know that much about her now."

"Do you… huh care about her?" asked Thatcher quietly.

Derek didn't feel like sharing about his love life with a man that was practically a stranger to him but he was Meredith's father and for the first time in years he showed interest in his daughter.

"What if… I said I did?" answered Derek.

"Then I'd say you shouldn't… leave her. I… I saw how she looks at you, like she cares… I know that look; Ellis, her mother used to look like that at…" Thatcher's face fell.

Derek lowered his eyes on the floor; he knew what Thatcher left unsaid. Ellis used to look like that at Richard Webber. From what Meredith had told him, her mother virtually worshipped Richard; he was the love of her life. The smiled returned to Derek's face.

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"What's up?" asked Alex joining Izzie and George in the cafeteria.

"We're watching Meredith," said George sipping his juice.

Alex glanced at the table in the opposite corner of the room and saw Meredith squirming in her seat. "She looks like she's going to pee."

"She's eating lunch with her father and stepmother and McDreamy," stated Izzie in wonder.

"They're her family," George shrugged his shoulders.

"But how does Derek fit into the picture?" Izzie creased her forehead. "She's adamant that they're just friends they're always… mushy around each other."

"Maybe they're getting married," said George excitedly. Izzie and Alex looked at him raising their eyebrow. "It's not as unbelievable as it sounds. Or maybe they're already married but keep it a secret. That's why Meredith never hangs out after work and now… they're having lunch with the in-laws… parents…. huh, stepparents?

"Dude," Alex shook his head pityingly. "The fact that you got hitched in Vegas doesn't mean everybody else does. Besides, Shepherd doesn't know what's going on with Mer outside the hospital either. He's asked me if Meredith has been to Joe's."

"It's… weird," commented Izzie.

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Meredith was bubbling with excitement. The day was disastrous but it was going to end well. She was on her way to greet her first trial patient at Seattle Grace Hospital.

"Hey," said Mark Sloan following her into the elevator.

"Hey."

"So," began Mark. "How has it been back in the Rain City?"

"Great," replied Mer enthusiastically. "Many things have changed but… great."

"Huh, anything interesting happened in your life while you were away?"

Meredith frowned at the tone of Mark's voice; she suddenly remembered his question about the stretch mark.

"No," she replied hastily. "That is… yes! Lots of things happened, lots."

"You know," he said slowly. "That mark on your stomach, it really looked like a stretch mark."

"And you really shouldn't think about my stomach," said Meredith neutrally. "For your information, it's an appendectomy scar."

"I'm a plastic surgeon," Mark stood his ground. Meredith Grey was surely acting suspiciously. "Stretch marks are a big part of my life."

"Sorry, Mark, but I'm not interested in hearing out your secret pains."

"I might be interested in taking a closer look at your appendectomy scar. I would smooth it out in no time, basic procedure."

"I'm happy with my body," assured him Meredith.

"What about your boyfriend?" he asked casually.

"I don't have a boyfriend," she snapped at him, unnerved by his grilling.

"Goodnight, Dr. Sloan," she huffed as the elevator stopped and she hopped out. Mark walked leisurely to his office feeling that she was keeping cards close to her chest but not necessarily a secret lover.

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A.N. Thanks a lot for the reviews, keep them coming! I have a question for you – what do you think about Mark and Lexie pairing? I might get them together in the story but I'm still hesitating.

P.S. I can't wait for the next week's eppie with dark and crazy Derek yelling at Addison. Wondering what the McFight is all about… I hope Der's not pissed about Mark/Lexie thing; it would be a bit pathetic. Anyway, cheers!