A/N: Thanks for your support as always!

I'm so glad y'all are enjoying this series. I'm enjoying writing it too!

"Earlier, you said you were stressed."

"What?" Meredith hummed.

"When we were doing the weird metaphor thing - which came from my therapist, by the way, not me - you said you were a full jug, ie stressed."

"Oh. Yeah." She agreed hesitantly. She'd forgot about that. Sometimes, when she was around him specifically, she seemed to let things slip.

"Why are you stressed?" He asked, his voice soft and concerened.

She swallowed. "Just work and stuff."

"You sure?" He asked, looking at her. She was cutting carrots at the island - because he supposed she couldn't do that wrong - while he actually cooked dinner.

"I mean- some personal stuff too but- private personal stuff."

His first instinct, of course, was to push for more on this 'private personal stuff', but he couldn't really do that. His whole life was a secret too. She knew more than most new people to his life, but still not everything. "I'm just going to say I'm here if you need someone to talk to, and that's it, because I'm highly aware of how much of a hypocrite I would be if I forced you to tell me about your personal life."

She smiled. "So, when you were talking about how loopy you were, you said about social anxiety-"

"One of the ones I don't have anymore." He replied, presuming he knew where she was going.

"Right. I mean, I wouldn't call you a social butterfly or anything, but I was a little confused about that."

"Yeah, I'm a lot better now."

She smiled. "I'm glad."

"I think it came from having to relearn how to speak again. Obviously, most of my learning was done in rehab with a speech therapist, as well as with Mark - he used to sit there with me afterwards and get me to talk to him for the pure purpose of practicing - but I also had to talk to like- random people. Mark and Addie took me to this restaurant, and I wanted to ask for milk. I totally failed. Way worse than with the GSS patient. I literally couldn't even form the first letter. So I, the thirty-four-year-old man, cried in the middle of the diner. And, believe it or not, I never wanted to go outside again after that."

She smiled. "But you did. And now you have a job where you talk to a bunch of people all day. Plus, you're talking to me."

"Talking to you is different."

"Why is talking to-" She paused when his phone started buzzing on the side. She walked to it, and picked it up so she could see the screen.

"Who is it?"

"Someone called Marianne is calling you." She said. She looked up, expecting him to shrug it off, but his hand was outstretched, and he was smiling. Normally, if you were mid-conversation, you'd say something like 'they'll call back later if it's important', but apparently that didn't apply to him. Or maybe it just didn't apply when this Marianne lady was calling. Either way, Marianne was more important than her, apparently.

"Hey! How are you doing? How are the girls?" Derek exclaimed with a broad grin as he put the phone to his ear. "Oh. Right. Yeah, okay. Actually- just need a quick favour too. I'm just cooking dinner, can I call you back in literally two seconds? Okay, yeah, bye."

"Who is Marianne?" Meredith asked as he put the phone down on his lap.

"Just a friend." He said simply as he started turning off the stove.

"Not a doctor though?" She asked as she thought through all the doctors and nurses she knew to try and figure out if she knew the woman. Doctors, generally, didn't have many friends outside of work due to the nature of their career.

"No, no. Not a doctor." He answered. "Now, I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"

"Yeah. Uh- okay." She agreed hesitantly as he opened the bedroom door and disappeared. A private conversation clearly. "Bye then?"

Who the hell was Marianne?

"Is this about the private personal stuff?"

Meredith looked up from her meal. "Is what about the private personal stuff?"

"The quietness, the frown, the emptiness- is that the private personal stuff? Or does my cooking just suck afterall?" He asked, concerned. Normally, they talked while they ate, but she didn't even want to look him in the eye.

She stared at him for a long moment, bile in her throat before asking, "Is the woman who called you- is Marianne your girlfriend?"

"No." He answered without a thought.

"Do you want Marianne to be your girlfriend? I remember Mark questioning me about whether I thought you'd be datable- was that because you wanted to ask her out and thought she'd say no to you?"

"I don't want to ask her out, because I don't want her to be my girlfriend."

"Because of the chair?" She assumed. "Because you think you'll ruin her life?"

"I don't want to ask her out because I don't like her like that." He answered simply. "I don't have feelings for her. We're just friends."

"What did she want when she called you?"

"She wants me to babysit. That's it."

"Babysit?" She repeated. Not come round for sex. Not go out on a date. Not make out on his sofa. She wanted him to look after her children, and that was it.

"Yeah, two little girls. They're absolutely adorable. And they call me Uncle Derek, or at least try to; they're only a year and a half old." He said, smiling at the thought of them. "But it also means you can't come round tomorrow, if that's okay."

"I could babysit with you." She offered. She didn't love kids, but she'd gladly deal with them for a few hours if it meant that she could spend more time with him.

"I um-" He swallowed. He needed an excuse. Any excuse. Just something that she couldn't work around. He'd love to babysit children with Meredith. In fact, if he was ever going to have children, he was pretty sure he'd only be happy if they were children he had with Meredith, but she couldn't be there for Marianne's children. "Mark is gonna be here too, because he knows Marianne as well. I haven't told him that we're friends, so it would probably be weird if both of you were here."

"Right." She agreed with a smile, which even she wasn't quite sure if it was real or fake. If he was telling the truth, then that was fine by her, but the problem was that she wasn't entirely sure that he was. "Well, I'll just have to enjoy tonight more then."

"How do you know if you're being cheated on?"

"I thought you said you don't have a boyfriend." Izzie replied with a superior kind of smirk as she shrugged her lab coat on.

She faltered for a second. That was a good point. "I don't."

"Your imaginary boyfriend is imaginary cheating on you with an imaginary woman?" Izzie asked with a dropped brow. "Mer, are you okay? Do we need to call psych?"

"The friend who I would like to be my boyfriend has a suspicious woman friend. I'm okay. I don't need psych." She reassured her, although she wasn't entirely sure of that herself.

"How is the woman friend suspicious?"

"He stopped cooking dinner so he could talk to her. And he was shady when I asked him about her."

"Have you considered the fact that you may be delusional, considering the fact that you're not actually together? He's allowed to have a girlfriend if you're not going to tell him you're in love with him, you know?"

Meredith sighed. "But does that sound suspicious to you?"

"A little. But it doesn't mean he's dating her. Could be...maybe he was being blackmailed. Maybe- maybe they had a one-night stand and he's secretly a dad. I don't know. Could be anything."

"So he isn't with someone else, he just has a secret baby, that's really great, Iz!" Meredith sighed.

"Mer-" Alex called, and both Meredith and Izzie looked round to see Bailey approaching the locker room.

"O'Malley and Karev, you're in the pit. Izzie, Ortho. Cristina, Cardio." Bailey listed off as she met her interns. "And Grey, you're with me."

Meredith nodded as the others filtered out of the room, leaving the pair alone. She swallowed as her mind tried to figure out whether she was about to make a horrible mistake or not. "Um- Dr Bailey-"

"Yes?"

"Do you know who Marianne is?"

"Derek's Marianne?" She assumed.

She gulped. Not only was she so significant that Bailey also knew the woman, but she was also so associated with Derek that she could be a possession. That was the opposite of what she wanted to hear. "Um- yeah."

"Did he tell you who she is?"

She didn't reply straight away, knowing she wasn't going to get any information, before regretfully admitting, "No."

"Then that would suggest that I am not to tell you who she is either, wouldn't it Grey?"

She sighed. "Yes, Dr Bailey. But-"

"But what?"

"Don't tell him I asked." Meredith requested, trying to make her best puppy dog eyes. "Please."

She sighed. "You two have the same darn eyes, you know that? Fine."

"Hey. You ready to go?"

Derek looked round from the patient whose bed he was sat next to and smiled. "Yeah, sorry, getting a little distracted."

"Fine. No rush." Meredith dismissed as she leant on the doorway of the room.

His patient tugged on his sleeve, and he turned his head back around to look at her.

"Is she that doctor over there your girlfriend?" The patient signed.

He smiled as he glanced at her. "I wish. Hot, isn't she? Super smart and funny too." He signed back.

"Has she got a boyfriend then?" She continued, looking at Meredith. She looked extremely confused, but also very intrigued by what was going on.

"No."

"You should go for it!" She signed. "She won't say no; you're too hot. In fact, I'll date you if not."

He snorted. "Thanks. But I'm not allowed to date patients. Hospital policy."

"So she wouldn't be allowed to date you then?" She signed jokingly with a smirk.

"Just for that, I'm leaving." He returned before he flicked the breaks off his chair and pushed himself backwards a little. That was why he was so glad he didn't need to sign to communicate, because then he'd only ever be able to do it when he was stationary.

"Fine. As long as you phone me if it doesn't work out." She returned.

He smiled. "In your dreams."

Her grin expanded into a smirk. "I'll tell you if you are, I'm gonna sleep now."

He gave a simple wave as a goodbye because moving to the sliding door of the room, where Meredith was. "Hey."

She smiled as she stepped back so he could leave. "Hey."

"I didn't know you could sign." She said as she watched him slide the door shut.

His eyebrows furrowed. "Didn't you?"

She was about to speak, but faltered. She swore he'd never told her he knew how to sign. "Uh...no. Was I supposed to know that?"

"Yeah." He replied with his best convincing voice. "I've signed at you before."

"You have?" She asked. "When?"

"In the pub, before we were friends. Well- I'd say by the end of the night we were friends but- you know. It's this one-" He paused so he could demonstrate.

Her eyebrows creased as he lifted his hand, then stuck his middle finger up.She giggled, and her hand covered her mouth as she blushed. It wasn't even that funny. But it was, because it came from him, which made it hilarious.

When the laughing ceased, she became aware of how deeply he was staring at her, as well as how wide his grin was. He had the standard smile which always made her heart palpitate whenever she saw it. "What?"

"Mmm?" He murmured, confused by her question.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?"

Because I'm in love with you, Meredith, and because I want to kiss you so freaking much right now but I'm absolutely terrified of losing you as a friend that and terrified that I'll ruin you're life that I'm just going to sit and day-dream about you until I'm a hundred-and-ten, would be his answer if he could manage to spit it out. But he knew he was never going to be able to say that, so he just shrugged and answered, "Just excited for tonight, that's all."

"Hey- that patient-" Meredith started as soon as she was sure he'd safely gotten out of the car.

He shut the car door, and locked the vehicle. "Yeah?"

"She kept looking at me when you two were signing at each other." Meredith continued as they headed to the building. "Were you two talking about me?"

"No." He answered, preying to god that his face wasn't going to betray him.

"Are you sure? Because she was really looking at me."

"Just said we were going to pick up the dog together today." He answered after an extraordinarily quick second of thinking. He was definitely not confessing his undying love for her to a complete stranger.

"Oh, right." She agreed as she opened the door for him before entering the building herself.

"Hey, Dr Greys. Plural." The vet who was waiting for them greeted. Meredith had said what time they were arriving, and the vet agreed to meet them in the reception.

"Um- Hannah." Meredith muttered.

"Yeah?"

"We're not married." She explained. "I'm Grey, Derek is Shepherd."

"Oh, god. Sorry!" She apologised, cheeks turning a little red. "You're just such a cute couple, I just assumed you were married. I'm so sorry."

"Um- not a couple either."

"Really?" She exclaimed. This time her first emotion was shock. "I mean- um- Sorry, I didn't realize."

"It's fine Hannah." Derek dismissed with a smile. "Is she ready?"

"Yeah." She agreed. "Just follow me."

"So, how is she doing?" Meredith asked as they followed the woman down the hall.

"Good. Really good, actually. Are you all set up at home? Food, beds, bowls and all?"

"We went shopping, but I think we bought a little too much stuff, if anything." Meredith explained with a smile. "We couldn't agree on toys so we bought like twenty of them. I said we should buy pink stuff because the dog is a girl, but he said he didn't want pink all over his house, so now there's just rainbow all around the house instead."

The vet paused as she met the door and looked round at the pair. "Are you two absolutely sure you're not a couple?"

Meredith smiled, but didn't look at him. She wasn't sure she could handle looking at him without cracking. "I'm sure."

"Hey, Meredith, are you-" Derek paused when he entered his bedroom, and found Meredith lying on his bed.

"Yeah. Got a little distracted by this one here." She said as she smiled at the sleeping dog, stretched out across the bed. Meredith was lying behind the creature, a hand running through its fur. "She's just so damn cute."

Derek smiled as he pushed himself to the bed. "She is. She is very, very, very cute."

"So, since we know she's a hundred percent okay now, how is this sharing-the-dog thing going to work?" He asked as moved from his chair to sit on the side of the bed. Moving from chair to bed took far more pain and effort than moving from one chair to another.

"Well, seeing as I-" She paused when his eyes scrunched and his teeth bite his bottom lip. "God, are you okay?"

He nodded as he slid his hand under his right leg and lifted it so it was sat next to his left. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry." She pleaded as she sat up a little, and the hand that was stroking the dog abandoned her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Happens every time."

"Every time? Every time you get into bed?" She asked in an accidently raised voice. Now that she thought about it, he was always already settled in their on-call room when she arrived.

"My pelvis can't handle it when my legs are too far apart, but I can only do one leg at a time." He explained. "So yeah, basically."

"Why? Did you push yourself too far in physiotherapy again?"

"I'm made of metal. I broke a lot of bones; so most of me is metal." He explained. "I'm like Iron Man, except without ability to fly...or walk. Oh- and it's mostly like- titanium, not iron."

She smiled, just a little, at his joke before her smile fell. "Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you always in pain?"

He looked at her through those green eyes he loved so much. Expect he didn't love them so much right now, when they were staring into his bare, unprotected soul. He sighed, before admitting, "Yeah, most of the time."

"It sounds like the kind of thing that would take an awful lot out of a person. You know- being in pain must be-"

"Exhausting." He sighed, finishing her sentence. "It's exhausting."

"When are you not in pain?"

He swallowed. "When I'm distracted."

"Like- in surgery? You always seem very focused in surgery. It's a skill I admire."

He stared at her for a long second. The best example he had of a pain-free moment was when he was with her. He had a constant drone of pain throughout the day with spikes when he either moved, or stayed still for too long - it was a complicated, difficult balance to get right - expect he never felt it around her. He swallowed. "Yeah. Like surgery."

Just as their conversation died off, the dog lifted her head, and weakly pushed herself up onto her three legs.

"Oh, hey, sleepy head." Derek greeted, scratching his hands against her fur as she walked to him, sniffing his face.

"She's allowed to be lazy; she was hit by a car." She returned as the dog turned the other way to sniff Meredith, which meant Derek didn't reply.

After a few seconds, she pulled away and placed a paw on Meredith's abdomen to climb ontop of her, only to collapse over her torso and right arm.

"Oh...okay-" Meredith breathed with raised eyebrows as she submitted to her new position and relaxed completely onto the bed.

Derek smirked. "Apparently you're a good place to lie down."

"Mmm." She agreed as she raised the arm that wasn't being crushed so she could stroke the creature. After a few brushes, her head dropped as well, and her eyelids started to drop.

"So you're telling me we bought a bed for the kitchen, a bed for the bedroom and a bed for the living room, when she's literally just going to sleep on you?"

Meredith laughed, but tried her best to restrict it so it wouldn't disturb the creature. "Apparently so."