When she entered the room, she very quickly found herself to be stuck. She didn't know how to react: what to do, what to say, what her eyes should look like, how open her mouth should be. So she just let her true emotions through, which involved her staring at him without a word.

And she was still stuck now.

"Now- I am not a man of fashion. I know nothing of trends nor...whatever you call things that aren't trends- uh, anti-trends, fashion-disasters."

She grinned. He was a fashionable man despite his claim, but she was pretty sure he just wore what he fancied and what was comfortable for a whole day of sitting.

"But the one thing that I am aware of- is the fact that this- this is not fashionable. So you'll have to excuse my attire."

"Attire excused." She muttered. "Attire so excused."

He smiled. "Well, I'm glad, because it wouldn't really work without it."

"You're actually going to-"

He chuckled, just once. He was definitely nervous. Definitely very, very nervous. "I'm going to try."

"You don't need to, you know, I love-"

"Trust me, no matter how much you love me as I am, it'll make you smile." He promised her before giving out a heavy sigh. "Now, gonna actually do this thing-"

Her heart skipped a beat when he did.

Literally.

Physically.

An ectopic heart beat.

An emotion-induced ectopic heart beat.

It wasn't like it was a surprise; she knew what he'd be doing when she noted the room she had walked into, but it still felt like one nevertheless.

"You're standing." She breathed after one long, long moment of silence.

He smiled sheepishly. "Just about."

"But like...you're standing." She repeated. She couldn't help it.

His smile grew. "Yes, Meredith. I'm standing."

"I- I just-" She swallowed. "I mean-"

"Stay there-" He requested when one of her feet moved forward.

She finally broke out of her shocked expression to smile. "I want to kiss you though...please."

"I know. And I want to kiss you too, but-" He swallowed, and looked away from her...and to his feet for a second. He could do this. Maybe. He looked back to her. "Let me come to you."

She couldn't say anything to that. Not even a mushed-brain repetition of what he had said, like she had before.

"See-" He swallowed as his right hand left the bar and grasped onto it a little bit further down. "-it looks kind of easy-" He paused again as he 'stepped'. "-because my injury is AIS C-" Another pause. Another step. "-but it only really works because I'm cheating."

It wasn't cheating.

This so wasn't cheating.

Nothing could be cheating when you weren't even supposed to be doing something and you could.

"But- nevertheless-" He sighed heavily as he paused and he looked up to her from his feet. There were only about a metre between them now. He just about managed to smile. "I'm doing it."

After a whole fifteen seconds of an open mouth (which Derek didn't witness, too busy staring at his feet while he 'walked'), she smiled. A big, joyous, shocked grin. "You're walking. Freaking walking."

"Told you it would make you smile." He replied, taking a slow step with his left foot. Although, neither of them would call it a step. It was always more shuffling than walking, and it didn't really count when he was attached to the ceiling with two thick wires and had braced his legs to stop his joints folding at the slightest pressure.

"This isn't smile-inducing, this is like- you're going to give me a heart attack."

"In a good way?"

She took the two steps between them in an instant, hands wrapping round him as her lips landed on his. They didn't leave for a very, very, very long time.

"Mer-" He breathed.

"In a super freaking amazing way." She muttered before kissing him again. This time was much shorter though, and didn't steal his breath. "In a way that makes youreally super freaking amazing."

He smiled, but it still had that slight sheepish feeling to it.

She released him just a little, and she was left staring at him. At her height. Above, even. This was weird. This was so weird. But amazing. "I'm sorry for stealing your thunder, you had a few more steps to go."

"It's fine." He smiled. "But uh- the uh- pain is-"

"You're in pain?"

His eyes jammed shut. He could never last long on his feet. And his arms were shaking from how desperately he was holding onto the parallel bars.

"Okay- okay-" She breathed, she put her arms back around him. Unfortunately, it wasn't because she wanted to touch him and hold him this time. "What do I do? Tell me what to do. Tell me how to help."

"Just- um-" He swallowed. Emily was so good at getting him out of a fall, but he was so surprised he couldn't even get the words out to explain some kind of idea. He needed someone else, really. "There's a thing my physio pulls on-"

"This?" She asked, her hand finding something at the back of his harness.

"Mmm, probabl-"

Unfortunately, Meredith was a little too confident in her decision, and pulled it without another word from him.

That would have been fine, if he was in physio, but Derek hadn't got to the extraordinarily crucial part of the conversation, regarding the other physiotherapists she would employ to release his braces and bring his chair under him, as well as guide him on his way.

There was no one to release his braces.

There was no chair under him.

And there was no one to guide him.

Nevertheless, it wasn't the worst time she'd ever done this particularly thing; last time she ended up with two broken toes.

Neither spoke for a long moment before she smiled, sat up to look at him and whispered, "I think I did that wrong."

He couldn't help but grin, even though it wasn't that funny. It just hurt. He looked up to her, unable to move even slightly from the floor. "I was thinking the same, surprisingly enough."

"Are you okay?" She asked, examining him now. She was the one that fell on top of him, and the one who hit the floor first. Luckily, the floor was padded with a mat, probably for that exact reason.

"Fine. But I think I'm having deja-vu." He muttered.

"Me too. But last time-" She kissed him. "-I wanted to kiss you but I couldn't."

He smiled. "Really?"

"Yes, really." She said, watching as he pulled off the velcro of his harness.

"I...wanted to as well." He admitted as he finally sat up, just a little, balanced on his elbows.

"We should have done it there are then. We fall on the floor, our lips touch and- boom. Like a movie."

"I like the way that you told me you loved me. Our awkward confession was good, or not that good, but it...it was us." He replied with a smile. "Me - the crappy-self-esteem, still-not-quite-good-at-talking-to-people weirdo - and you, the cute rambler. It was an 'us' kind of confession. And I loved it."

"And it was on a ferry boat."

He grinned. "And it was on a ferry boat. And-"

"-you have a thing for ferry boats." She finished. "I know, Derek, I know."

"Yes. I do." He agreed. "But I'm also stuck on the floor so could you do me a favour and click the little red things by my knees so I can sit up, and then go and get my chair?"

She kissed him one more time. "Of course."


"So all these jokes you make about not being able to walk are lies?"

"Sorry?" He asked, confused by the abrupt observation.

"When I say something and you make a joke about not being able to walk or stand, you're lying." She elaborated with a small smile. "You're a fraud."

He smiled. "I'm not a fraud. It...it wasn't really walking, was it?"

"Whether or not it was real walking doesn't really matter to me. Honestly, I thought it was very impressive no matter what you want to call it." She replied.

"Good." He muttered before grinning. "Took me like...a year of hourly physio just to take 5 steps so I'm really freaking glad you think all my work payed off."

She smiled. "You could...you know- there are like things that you might want to do-"

"Things like?" He asked, honestly confused.

"Don't you stand in physiotherapy as part of your session? Like...for atrophy, osteoporosis, stuff like that."

"This...is true." He agreed after a second.

"If you wanted to do it here- I mean, is it something you can do at home?"

"Can be. Kinda...need someone to check you've not collapsed onto the floor though so it's much easier with a physio."

"Would you rather do it here? Since your sessions don't always line up with your schedule."

"You don't want to help me with physio, Meredith." He replied, not bothering to answer the question she had asked, and skipping straight to the question she had implied.

"What if I do?" She returned.

"Unless you've changed your mind about your career and now fancy going into physiotherapy, you don't."

"You are amazing. You know this because apparently I told you in my drugged-up stupor and no one can lie on all of those drugs."

He gave a tentative smile. It was true; it was highly unlikely that she was thinking hard enough to lie with the chemical mayhem going on in her brain, so he decided he could trust everything she had said that day.

"And I always feel a little bad. Wish I could do more to be as great as you. So...let me help. Let-" She sighed. "Let me in. Tell me all the horrible stuff about being paralyzed and your other injuries. Let me look after you."

"I've already told you a lot of stuff."

"I'm sure you don't tell me everything though, do you?"

He couldn't even try and lie. "No."

"So let me help you." She replied. "Please."

"Really?"

"Plus...if you don't have to leave to do physio, on Monday mornings we can get an extra 20 minutes in bed and that's plenty of time for sex."

He chuckled. "This is just about sex?"

"Think of the travel time you'd save, and what we could do it that travel time. Think of the sex. All the sex."

"I'm thinking about it-" He muttered. "And it sounds pretty freaking great."