Chapter Eleven

"It's like Mer-Der"

Seattle, Washington - October 2022

"What was I supposed to do Mer? He needs help, he needs people to talk to, he's lonely Meredith. And he's not going to find anyone else out there." Derek shouted across the room, he was angry and waving his hands and he knew Mark was sitting in their living room like a kid outside the principal's office. He sat twiddling his thumbs whilst the raging inside the bedroom was violently loud.

"What was I supposed to do? He took our cow, our little Rainbow. He put himself before the rest of us, and I'm just not ready to forgive him yet." Meredith came back with, her body flexing as she sat herself down on the bed, trying to calm herself down and think clearly.

"Meredith we're creating a new society, we're trying to get rid of all those things that made the world kind of horrible to live in. We can't start by pushing people out." Derek replied, sitting down beside his wife and taking hold of her hand. "I'm not sure, what's going on in there," he pointed to her head, "but maybe we should do something. We got married but we didn't really have a honeymoon, we could do with getting away from this for a while - what do you think?" He suggested lightly, he felt like he was treading on thin ice, and that maybe they could reach some place of calm that they'd had a year ago. That they'd been fine together for a long time before people showed up. He'd forgotten that Meredith was alone for a long time too, that the others had their own stories, that they'd all be through something so massive and life-changing that expecting them to just get on in a new society wasn't always easy.

"We could go to the Grand Canyon?" Was all Meredith could reply with.

Owen and Cristina were sitting eating breakfast, it was a calm morning, nice and not raining for once. Cristina had spent the night in Owen's trailer, cramped into a bed that was too small and so their limbs were hot and tangled and sticky. In the morning they had to peel themselves away with a kiss as Owen leapt up out of bed and began making toast over his gas stove. She sat up in bed and let her eyes graze over him gracefully, there was a certain freedom to this new world, there was a peaceful energy around the whole trailer and around her sense of commitment. There were no laws and rules and 'conflicts of interest' she didn't even know if Owen had been married before all this. It hardly mattered, whoever she was, she'd be long dead now.

Cristina had let her mind flow into a state of whimsey, she allowed herself not to be busy, to let the days pass her by without much thought. So when Owen sat down beside her and began to smile at her lovingly, she smiled back. Then he had to go and spoil it all with the words - "I love you Cristina."

She was taken aback, she thought he understood what this was between them, that it was a freedom, a casual combination of their parts for coexistence and occasional pleasure. In any case, she was mad at him for taking things too seriously, she was mad at him for not understanding how she wanted to do this. So she sat and stared at him for a while, she sat and munched on her toast and didn't meet his eye. "That's nice." She said, gritting her teeth and internally shrieking, why didn't he get it? She didn't want to be tied down, and she wasn't sure how she felt just yet. She didn't know what was happening to her but suddenly she felt sweaty and hot and like she was trapped in a small box.

Everyone sat around in the square outside Owen's trailer, it was a nice space with a newly lit fire and couches laced around the place. They'd had to add a few new ones because of the growing population, Callie and Arizona now had their own two-seater to perch on and Mark had armchair that Derek had placed in a corner. After much discussion and planning, Meredith and Derek had decided to take a holiday, a break, a sabbatical even. And Derek not wanting to be rude to everyone decided they should talk to the group about it.

"So guys, we've been talking," Derek started, and Mark refrained from saying 'yeah we heard' because of the kindness that man had shown him despite Meredith's disapproval. "And me and Mer have decided to take a holiday, we're gonna take the RV around the country for a bit, we're not entirely sure how long we'll be gone exactly, just that we need to get away." He finished and looked down at the rest of them.

There was some huffing and sighing and some confusion amongst everyone because they weren't close yet. Most of them didn't know about the others' lives, Derek seemed to be the person who kept everyone smiling when the morale was down. He walked around making people food that they didn't need and watering their gardens when they forgot. It felt weird to the others that he was leaving the cul-de-sac.

"It's like Mer-Der." Arizona said, which made Cristina laugh, and then the others laughed. And Mark gave a little chuckle from his chair and everything felt a bit more ok again. Callie gave Mark a glance and tilted him warm eyes, there was a part of her that lingered over him for too long but she didn't think he'd noticed.

Meredith smiled and looked over at her husband, she squeezed his hand and found his warm palm in her own. Maybe marrying him was the best decision she ever made.