Hello!

Here's what you've been waiting for! I'm not going to say any more so that you can get straight into the chapter.

Enjoy! :)

He couldn't help his giggle as she spoke. He really couldn't, no matter how much he chided himself internally. He really did feel mean; it was like someone laughing at him for not being able to speak properly after his accident, but acknowledging that didn't reduce his grin even a little.

"Stop laughing at me." Meredith said with a pout, crossing her arms over her chest.

That didn't help his grin, but it did get his chest to physically stop bouncing with chuckles. Although, he did get a reminder of what was making him laugh when she spoke.

Earnestly, he was sure that most of his smile was actually coming from just seeing her...seeing heralive. This morning, before anything had even happened, he was imagining sitting by her bed in vigil like Mark did after his accident. After visiting a perfectly-safe Meredith at work he was still imagining the worst. But then, once something actually happened and it was confirmed that Meredith was in the OR at the time of the explosion, he started imagining new things. Like how he was supposed to act at the funeral of his secret girlfriend. Like how her friends would react, and how alone he'd feel when talking to them, knowing she wasn't going to be there to give them some speech about how they weren't allowed to comment on his chair or say that it would make him a bad boyfriend. He was imagining her grave stone, but she was just lying in bed with a gown, had an IV in her hand, and had a single wrap of gauze around her head.

"Meredith, you do know that you're-"

"What?" She asked, interrupting him. Although, to her, it wasn't an interruption, seeing as she couldn't hear anything he was saying. "You have to talk louder."

He grinned again at the irony as he pushed himself to her bedside, explaining, "You're shouting, Meredith.Youhave to talkquieter."

"I'm shouting?" She asked...at a shout, confusion on her face.

"Yes. So you have to talk quieter." He repeated, trying his best to accentuate each word so she'd hear them. Blast injuries were natorious for causing both damage to the eardrum from the event itself, and barotrauma from the pressure changes. "You'll make me deaf as well soon."

She smiled, although the joke wasn't that funny. "Is this okay?" She asked, her voice much quieter now.

"Yes. And I'll try and talk a little louder." He said. He pulled himself up onto the bed, fitting into the space that she had made for him when she realised that he wanted to sit with her.

"Did they tell you anything?" She asked, smiling when Derek took her hand and held it tight.

"That you have blast ear in your left." He answered.

"They said I need a myringoplasty- gonna patch up the big hole in my eardrum now."

"It's okay. It's a tiny surgery. They can even do it under local anesthetic if you want. Just- don't worry too much, okay?"

"Do you think Mark will let me wait until tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Well- I can survive being deaf for another few hours."

"And I can deal with a slightly deaf Meredith for a few hours as well- but-" He paused. He was about to ask why, but he understood now. "Oh."

"Just...just incase." She murmured. She was a tad embarrassed by the fact that she believed the idea as well, just as Derek was at the time. Neither of the pair believed in superstition, the supernatural or anything along those lines, but dread, technically, appeared to some superpower relating to predicting the future. Although, it was an extremely vague prediction.

He smiled. "I'll make sure it's not today. I'll...stick a pencil in my ear and make him have to deal with me first if I have to."

She smiled back. "That's sweet, but really stupid."

He laughed. "I'm stupid for you."

"Mmm. I know." She agreed, but couldn't help but ask, "Derek...are you okay?"

"Yeah." He breathed after a short, silent moment. "You...you're the one who was just exploded."

"I wasn't exploded, the bomb was- but that- that's not important. You being okay is important."

"And I am."

"Are you sure?"

He didn't reply to her concerns for his mental state for a long moment, and in the next one, his hands were around her, holding her tight. His hands clawed at her hospital gown, as if the crushing arms weren't enough. They were enough. She would say he was squeezing him so hard it hurt, but she had quite a lot of bruising from the impact of hitting the floor, so she supposed the hug would always hurt.

"Okay- okay-" She breathed after a few seconds. She loved hugs by the people she loved, which basically just consisted of Derek, but she didn't enjoy this one. This wasn't a happy hug. This was a desparate hug. This was a scared hug. This was a sad hug. "Derek. It's okay. You can let go."

Nothing.

"Derek. Please." She begged.

He just about managed to pull away before she had to place her hands on him herself to push him away.

"I'm okay, Derek. I know what you're doing...you're hugging me like I've just come out of a burning building but- it's okay. Really. You know I'm fine."

"You...you weren't fine. You-" He swallowed. "You weren't fine."

"But I'm fine now, Derek. I know it must have been...horrible waiting, but I'm fine. You can breathe."

"I...I can breathe."

Her eyebrows couldn't help but drop a little, but she didn't reply to that.

"I just- I know we've talked about it before but- Meredith, you don't know how much you've changed me. I don't think you'll ever know. You've shown me that my life can actually not be terrible. It's the opposite of terrible. I- it's amazing. You made my life amazing and the thought of-" He paused. "The thought of not having you is- I just- couldn't imagine life without you anymore, you know?"

She didn't reply to that, but rather just stared at him, silent.

"Say something." He begged.

"Um-" Her cheeks went a little red. "You weren't talking very loud - I think you may have forgotten that I'm deaf...I only heard like- every other word."

He laughed. He got so carried away that he kind of forgot about that. "I love you. Just...I said I love you basically, okay?"

She smiled. "I love you too, but I almost died and there's still been no kisses from my boyfriend- so he better hurry up and-" She didn't get to finish the rest of that sentence as his lips jumped to hers.

"She-" He sighed. He didn't look at Derek as he answered. "She needs a surgery. But she's going to be fine."

"Surgery?" Liz repeated. "What kind of surgery?"

"Minor surgery." Mark quickly corrected. He should have thought about what he was going to say a little more before entering, and now he was regretting it. "It's just a Myringoplasty."

"Just that? Nothing else? No other injuries?" Liz pressed.

"I mean, she's a little banged up cuts-and-bruises-wise, but she has no significant injuries other than that." Mark replied before his eyes found Derek again. "You okay, mate? You processing this? Is it going in?"

He didn't reply to that. Liz thought he looked just as empty as he did before, but this was a new - and very alarming - state for Mark to witness.

"Derek-" He called. His chest wasn't moving.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

He dropped onto a knee in front of him. "Derek. Derek, breathe. Breathe for me. You've got to breathe, Derek- please- you-"

"Derek?" A voice called, pulling him away.

"Mmm?"

"You just- really zoned out. Just...checking you were still in there." She explained as he looked at her, confused.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." He swallowed. "Yeah, I'm in here. But I um- I think I should-"

"Stay-" She breathed, her grasp on him tightening.

He smiled. "You're sweet, but that's not what I was going to say."

She sighed. Damn.

"I reckon your friends want to see you. And I also reckon that means I should leave."

"You could stay if you wanted."

"I'm just-" He sighed. "I think things have been stressful enough over the last few days with that argument and then my migraine and then this. I'm just- I'm not sure-"

"It's okay. I get it. I agree. I just...don't want you to leave."

"I-" He thought for a moment. "I will go and get your spare clothes from my house and anything else you might need, okay? Otherwise I'll have to do it somewhen else when we could be together and obviously we don't want that."

She sighed. "Okay. But I want lots of kisses when you get back, okay? Promise."

He smiled. "Promise...but you didn't really need to ask; they were on my to-do list already."

"Someone paged for a consult?" Derek asked as he entered the room.

She smiled. "They're gone now. Went home to sleep, coming back tomorrow morning."

"I know." He agreed. "Just...thinking you might need an exam. Specifically, perhaps, of the lips."

Her grin only grew. "Is that right?"

He picked up the bag that he had on his lap and placed it on the floor near the bed. "Sure is."

"I talked about some stuff with my friends."

"Mmm?" He pressed, just before pulling himself up onto the bed to sit beside her.

"About you."

He faltered. "What...what kind of stuff?"

"Not...about you. Not a lot at least."

"So...where's your boyfriend?" Izzie pondered. "You know he's a bad boyfriend if he doesn't even visit his girlfriend when she's in the hospital. Most definitely not one that it's worth not seeing your friends - ever - to be with."

"My boyfriend has already been here. And he's not here now because he is happy to uphold my wish of privacy. I'm sure he's just sat, dying of fear separately."

"You're torturing him to see us?"

"Well- he went to get me some stuff from the house."

"Ourhouse?" Izzie asked.

"Hishouse." Meredith corrected. For 'practicality' they had agreed to keep at least two or three sets of clothes, and of course a set of pajamas, at his house that she could use.

"You saidthehouse." Izzie replied. "As if you were referring to...the place in which you feel most homely. Maybe if you said 'the house' with him, that would make sense but...seeing as it's your houseandwe live with you."

"Can I blame the concussion?" Meredith asked hopefully. Thankfully, although she had hit her head, she only suffered a grade I concussion.

"Mmm...No."

"I mean- they asked me where you were, said you must have been a bad boyfriend, but that was it."

He nodded. "Maybe they'd not say that kind of stuff after they met me...if they met me."

She smiled. "So you want them to meet you then? Or...I suppose they don't meet you because they already know you, but you know what I mean."

"I...don't know, Mer. You know I don't know." He sighed. "I'm sure they're not going to be...rude-rude but- things are complicated."

"Well- we might as well keep going and see when people notice. I mean, you've just bought me clothes and now you're sat on my bed, and we're holding hands so- you know, the second someone walks in we're-" She paused when she heard the sound of a door being pulled shut abruptly.

Derek turned back to Meredith, having looked round at the noise. "Who was that?"

"I don't know. But- yeah, I think you're right about the possibility of this secret of ours not lasting much longer."