Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable is mine. A lot of the dialogue is direct from the show. No copyright infringement intended.
A/N: Thank you again for all the great reviews, they really warm my heart! This is the last part of episode 3! Enjoy!
Derek and I wake not because of our alarm but because of a knock on our door. We're naked and tangled between each other and our blankets. He groans into his pillow as I pull a sheet from the bed, wrap myself in it, and go to answer the door. I open it an inch to find Izzie already dressed and holding a steaming mug.
"We made coffee," She says in a voice too chipper for the early morning, "In case you and your husband," She cuts herself off and puts a hand on her hip, "You know, it's a little weird that we don't even know his name. Are we ever going to meet him?" Izzie makes a move to open the door wider but I block it with my body, laughing nervously.
Adjusting the sheet around my body I reply, "Yeah, of course. You'll meet him. Umm, so, coffee?"
She nods, "Yeah and french toast if you and McHusband want any."
"McHusband?" I ask, confused.
"Well we don't know his name and we need something to call him."
By the time I'm done speaking with Izzie, Derek is already asleep again. To wake him, I whack him with my pillow. He startles and if looks could kill the glare he sends me would be my cause of death. I tell him to get up and let him know that I'll distract George and Izzie as he slips out the door. Climbing out of bed he groans and stumbles over to me, kissing me lightly.
Rubbing my arm soothingly, he says, "We need to tell them."
I nod and agree, "I'm working on it, okay?"
Sighing, he moves to pull his pants on and get ready for the day.
Once he's ready to leave, I slip into the kitchen and close the door behind me giving Derek ample time to leave through the front door. Izzie and George are both in the kitchen, happy and eating Izzie's five star continental breakfast.
"Maybe the two of you should learn to keep it down," Izzie suggest as she looks at me and laughs harder, "And you know, Mer, I might not know what McHusband's face looks like but his ass…"
I groan and bury my face in my hands. The conversation over breakfast haunts me the entire drive to work. George and Izzie kept going on and on about meeting my husband, how loud my sex was last night, and cleaning the house. Their voices seem to be stuck in my head buzzing around and driving me insane. When I reach the hospital and Cristina is there, climbing off of her motorcycle, I feel immense relief. She is just as cynical as I am and if anybody will feel sympathy for my roommate issues, it is Cristina Yang.
Walking inside together, I rant about George, Izzie, and Derek. As much as I wish I could kick out my new roommates, the fact is they just moved in and Derek thinks they're a good idea, so my hands are tied. Maybe I'll just switch all of the locks and not tell anybody, not even Derek. Then the house would be just mine. That sounds appealing. Everybody in my house is happy all the time. I don't think my house has ever seen one person happy, let alone every room filled with bright and shiny people.
Cristina asks me when my rant is done, "So what, you're just going to repress everything into some deep dark twisted place until one day you snap and kill them?"
"Yep," I confirm, as we turn the corner to enter the hospital.
Smiling a little Cristina gestures towards me and declares, "This is why we're friends."
All of Bailey's interns are assigned to the pit again today to catch any stragglers from yesterday's chaos. I've already been through three different bikers when I glance out towards the waiting room and spot my patient from yesterday, the arrogant son of a bitch who kissed me, Viper, sitting in a chair and looking sickly. He's clutching his side, right where the nails had been, and every few seconds he grimaces. I ask Alex what Viper is doing here and he just brushes it off, claiming that there was probably another bike crash.
Viper starts having a coughing fit as I approach him and he doesn't respond as I call his name. I know something is seriously wrong as soon as he moves to stand up. His motion is shaky and jilted. I'm only feet away from him when he coughs up a mouthful of blood and collapses. Immediately, I drop down to my knees at his side. I lift up his shirt, ready to triage him, when I feel my heart stop. His stitches are ripped open and there's blood covering the wound. The area where the nails were has swelled to the size of a small melon and there is so much blood underneath the skin that I can see it move with each heartbeat.
Springing into action I call for a gurney and for nurses. Once we have Viper laying on a gurney, I climb on top of him to hold the wound closed. Any movement could open it more and cause the wound to burst and for him to bleed out. I'm applying as much pressure as possible and I order for an OR to be prepped. Alex is staring at everything in a daze. I bet he's feeling pretty guilty right about now after passing off Viper's injuries as nothing yesterday. It takes me yelling at him to get Alex to start moving the gurney to the elevators and to knock some sense into him.
Never in my life has an elevator ride felt so slow. I beg for it to move faster as I grasp at Viper's wound. It's only a matter of time before it opens, I'm really not sure how much longer I can keep it closed. I'm rolled straight into the OR, still sitting on Viper to keep the wound closed. Bailey orders me to scrub in as she begins to inspect Viper's wound. From the scrub room I can hear her scolding Karev for only wanting the cool cases and telling him to get back to the pit. Part of me is a little proud, that asshole deserved to be set in his place. He is part of the reason Viper is in the OR right now, he's definitely part of the reason why Viper's condition became this critical.
It's an exciting surgery, I have to admit. There were two scares where his heart stopped but both times we were able to get him back. It was the most blood I had ever seen in a surgery and, just like my first time in the OR with Katie Bryce, it felt like a high for me. Part of me can understand why Viper participated in the bike race, if it makes him feel half as good as I feel holding a retractor in his surgery, I would do it, too. When we're done with the surgery, Bailey yells at all of Viper's friends. I've never seen her speak to a patient or a patient's loved ones like this. She's made, understandably so, because this entire surgery could have been prevented if the group of them weren't idiots.
I'm left to tell Viper's friends, "He's gonna live," After Bailey storms off, still ranting under her breath.
After leading Viper's friends to his room, I'm left with about forty-five minutes of post-op rounds and charting. By the time I reach the intern locker room I'm relieved to find it empty. If I had to deal with anybody right now I would probably blow up at them just like Bailey had done not even an hour before. I'm just finishing up putting my stuff in my bag and applying lotion to my hands when I hear the door to the locker room close. I glance up, hoping that it isn't Alex or my roommates or anybody else who would drive me crazy. A small smile forms when my eyes fall on Derek, already changed out of his scrubs as well.
"It's not a game," He says as he slips his hands into his back pockets.
Rubbing my hands together, I ask to clarify, "What?"
"You and me," He explains, "In the hospital. It's not a game," Derek starts walking towards me and I can feel my heart rate increase just from watching him, "It's that surgery you performed today, on that biker. I watched from the gallery and there was nothing that I wanted more than to be able to say "that's my wife" and let everybody know how proud I am of you. I know that you don't want to be under my shadow here but, god, Meredith if anything I'd be under yours." As he spoke he walked across the room to me. By the time he's finished there's barely inches between us and he's looking down at me with such intensity that I feel as if I'm falling love all over again.
A blush begins to warm my cheeks and I ask, "You think I'm that good? Really?"
He grins at me, "I think you're even better than that."
Smirking, I tell him, "I'm still not announcing it to the hospital."
"You say that now," He says as he starts to walk away.
I call after him, "But maybe, when we get home, I'll talk to George and Izzie."
His eyes widen at my comment, shock clear across his face. I know that Derek expected me to want to keep our marriage a secret at home longer but I just can't do it, I don't want to do it. I had decided yesterday that I needed to tell our roommates soon and now seems like that time. In two long steps Derek walks back over to me. He cups my cheeks in his palms before pressing a deep kiss to my forehead. Slowly, Derek backs away. We keep eye contact until he's at the door and has to turn around to leave.
I turn back to my bag to finish getting ready to leave, my hair falling into my face and obscuring the blush that is still spread across my face. Delicately, I bite my bottom lip. Sometimes I can't believe I was so lucky to meet a guy like him.
Just like the night before, Derek and I walk into the house together. The difference is, tonight instead of sending him upstairs, we walk into the living room, holding hands. George and Izzie are laying across a couch while Cristina is curled in one of the old arm chairs. One of my mother's surgical tapes is on and I can't find it in me to be angry.
When they notice me, George and Izzie seem to panic. Since they were expecting me to react the way I did last night to the surgical tapes, neither of them noticed Derek at first. Cristina takes a long sip from her beer as she looks at me, smirking. I know right away that she's looking forward to the show she's about to see with the big McDreamy is my husband reveal.
George goes to turn off the video stuttering, "We were-"
Whatever excuse he was going to have for watching the tapes is lost when Izzie gasps, "What the hell?" She's glaring at Derek and I, specifically at our joint hands. George's jaw drops when he realizes who I'm with.
Still staring at Derek and I in shock, Izzie repeats, this time angrily, "Mer, what the hell?"
There's another way to survive this competition. A way that no one ever seems to tell you about. It's not about the race at all. There are no winners or losers. Victories are counted by the number of lives saved. And once in awhile, if you're smart, the life you save could be your own.
A/N: So I think this qualifies as a cliff hanger? If so it's my first so yay for that. There might be a little longer wait for the next few chapters because even though they're done, I don't want to start posting them until I've finished writing episode 5 (which has been a bit of a main to write tbh). Looking forward to your reviews, let me know what you all think!