A/N- I promised I'd fix it, and I have. I wanted some Meredith and Cristina time, but I think deep down Cristina wants Meredith to have her happily ever after as much as Meredith wanted Cristina to walk down the aisle. Again thanks for your reviews and follows and favourites. Enjoy :)

Meredith buzzed for Christina's apartment, praying that she wasn't on call or asleep.

"Yeah." Came her voice on the intercom.

"Let me in." Meredith pleaded, her request granted when the door buzzed allowing her into the building.

"what's up?" Cristina asked, a pint of ice cream in one hand a spoon in the other, an old movie playing on the TV.

"George is leaving. Going with lexie. Me and Derek big fight. We. He. Not. Moving in anymore." She stammered out between sobs.

"Whoa, mer. Slow down." Cristina said putting the ice cream into Meredith's hand and gesturing her to sit down on the couch next to her. "Start with O'Malley." She said passing Meredith a clean spoon.

"He's moving out." Meredith sniffed spooning ice cream into her mouth. "He's going to live with lexie somewhere."

"Bastard." Cristina scoffed as she went in for some of the ice cream in Meredith's hand. "You gave him a home for the last year, consoled him when he failed his intern exam, and he goes off with three? What does she say about all this?"

"just that George has found it really hard living with residents while he repeats and that she wants to get away from her dad and thought George would want to go play house with her."

"God, what is that about?" Cristina sneered as she put a chunk of the frozen dessert in her mouth.

"I know, so I got the hell out of there. And I told Derek and he tells me how this is a good thing, how when we get married and have babies we're not going to want roommates. We haven't even moved in yet Cristina, and I'm supposed to kick out my friends and get my legs in the stirrups ready to push a baby out." Cristina giggled.

"I can see it now, you all covered in sweat on an exam table, exposed to the world, tiny human making its way out of you, just letting everyone know they have to be out before you're done."

"Oh stop it." Meredith giggled too and pushed Cristina playfully. "That's not even the worst part. I said to Derek that I didn't have time to have a kid just yet, and he said it was my fault that George was leaving, and that I clearly didn't want him to move in if I was so desperate to keep living with izzie and Alex and George."

"Oh, mcbastard!" Cristina said jumping up off the sofa and taking the ice cream from Meredith.

"Hey!" Meredith whined, licking what was left on her spoon as Cristina put the tub away.

"Oh quit whining and get up, we're going to Joe's." Meredith reluctantly got up and put her spoon in the dishwasher.

"Fine." She said, "But you're buying." The pair walked out of the building and down the street to Joe's, completely oblivious to the familiar black car parked in lot.

Meredith and Cristina went in and found a booth before sitting down and poring over the menu trying to decide what to eat.

"I can't believe you brought all that food and then didn't even stay to eat it. I mean you walk out at least pick up a slice of pizza." Cristina joked.

"Fine, I'm an idiot." Meredith surrendered. "But I'm a hungry idiot, so just order already so I can actually get to eat something today."

"Okay, how about some chilli cheese fries and a tray of tequilas?" Cristina suggested, knowing she wouldn't have to come up with any other ideas for food and drinks. She knew Meredith, and that meant she knew what Meredith's food habits were like too.

"Oh, perfect. I'm so in the mood for fries." She moaned in appreciation of the thought.

"Okay, I'm going now before you orgasm over my fries idea. It's just food mer. Remember that." Cristina scoffed "just go." Meredith commanded laughing with her person. She looked around the bar to see who else had made it over to the bar that night. She stopped when she saw a familiar figure, his back to her, his perfectly coiffed head bent down, mark Sloan's hand on his shoulder. He looked sad. She didn't want him to be sad, not really, she just wanted him to understand how scary this whole thing was for her. She took a few steps towards him, catching mark's eye. She tilted her head at him to tell him to leave them for a second. He walked to the booth Meredith had been sitting in and watched as she took a seat opposite Derek, her hand instinctively travelling to his hair. He looked up and met her eyes, her kind, forgiving eyes drawing him in the same way they did the night they met.

"Meredith…"

"Shh…" she whispered, placing her finger on his lips. "I'm sorry I freaked and walked out on you. I wanted to be sad about George and you showing me the bigger picture was scary, but you were right, I do want those things with you, and there's never going to be enough time, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try and make time. I want a lifetime Derek, I do. Right now I still need to take the small steps, but Derek, when it's the right time for us to do all those things, I'm in. you're stuck with me." Derek smiled and looked deep into those green-blue orbs of hers.

"I'm sorry too." He said wrapping his arms around her waist. "I shouldn't have snapped, I know you still need time to get to that place, and I'm gonna be right here when you do. You can be sad about George if you need to be, and when you're done being sad we can be happy about all the things we're looking forward to. I'm not leaving, ever. You're stuck with me too." Cristina peeked over Derek's shoulder holding the baskets of fries before heading back to their booth.

"I guess we're stuck together then." She whispered, and he planted a kiss on her face lifting her up out of her seat eliciting whistles and cheers from the people around them. He put her down and she grabbed his hand pulling him back to the booth. She downed her tequila and grabbed a handful of the fries.

"I have to go start the rest of my life." She told Cristina, dropping Derek's hand and reaching into her wallet for some cash for her food and their drinks. "Feel free to finish up my share." She told mark as Derek lifted her into his arms and made for the door with her. She fed him a fry before eating what was left in her hand.

"Chilli cheese? Really?" Derek said trying to make the taste disappear. "What are you twelve?"

"Oh shush." She pouted "you're stuck with me remember, that means my twelve year old appetite too!" she kissed him with her chilli covered lips making him groan in disgust.

"God help our kids." He chuckled earning him one of her killer smiles and a kiss on the cheek. Stuck with Meredith grey. He could do a lot worse. He could learn to live with chilli cheese fries and little freak outs. For Meredith he'd do anything. She was good for him. He just needed to find the next small step for them, something to focus on, something she could hold onto while George moved out and things changed again. For now he just had to get her home, small steps could wait until the morning.

Cristina and Mark watched them leave, finishing the fries and the last few tequila shots. They were Meredith and Derek's people, they'd done the drama and the tears for long enough to know that they just needed a little time apart to get grounded and they'd kiss and make up. They might consider themselves all grown up but they were like any couple, particularly surgeon couples, they were still teenagers inside. They had their fights, they bitched and moaned and they got it back on track, they fought for their relationship. Cristina and Mark just had to give them the little push that they needed, that's what friends did, they fought alongside each other. When something was as right as Meredith and Derek, it was always worth fighting for.

A/N- This is the end of the continuous piece i had written, it should fall much more nicely into chapters now except for some of the bigger things which are in desperate need of being split up a bit. I'll try and have chapter 9 up in the next day or so :)