Secret smile

46

Derek liked these days best. The days when he was free during Meredith's lunch so she would come down and they would have lunch together. It was a really nice shining point of his day. It didn't happen nearly as often as he wished it would but regardless of how bad his day was going, lunches like this always made it a little better. Not that today was a bad day, it was a good day but still. He had been having a great day so far. He had saved a life already, and had even managed to call one of Meredith's friends by their actual names. Today was definitely a good day so far and when he had walked out of surgery, tearing his scrub cap off, and had seen Meredith standing there, her jacket in her arms, he had actually grinned widely. Meredith always somehow managed to make a good day better.

And now she was sitting beside him complaining about her day because apparently Sophie being on maternity leave made Meredith all that much busier. And yet she had managed to sneak away long enough hoping to have lunch with him. He wasn't sure she had any idea how much these short lunches together meant to him but that was okay, she seemed to enjoy them too.

"And I'm sorry, Walt is like...a demon child. He's Satan. Satan, Derek," she ranted, stabbing her fork into her salad.

"I'm sure he's not Satan, Mer," Derek laughed.

"He is!" she nodded firmly. "He's actually Satan. He's terrible and awful and he kicked me. I actually have a bruise."

"He probably just doesn't like doctors," he shrugged. "You can't blame him."

"He kicked me and his mom laughed!"

"His mom laughed?"

"Yes!"

"Well...maybe his mom is Satan."

"No, he's Satan. She's...Satan's whore or something."

"So he pimps his mom out?"

"That's...what?"

"If he's Satan and she's Satan's whore is suggest that he's her pimp."

"Who is a pimp?" Mark asked as he walked over, throwing his tray down.

"Mer's patient."

"I thought Big Grey takes care of kids."

"She does."

"And he's awful," Meredith sighed.

"Mer hasn't figured out a way to get through to him," Derek explained, grabbing a tomato off her salad.

"He's not even my patient."

"Complain to Soph," Derek shrugged.

"I can't complain to Soph!" Meredith gasped. "I called Sophie yesterday and it sounded like she was going to kill herself!"

"She's being overly dramatic," Derek sighed. "Mom's there."

"She said Brianna never stopped crying and Chels is coming down with something and Jared is pissed because Soph didn't go to his hockey game."

"That sounds like life at the Thompson house."

"Which probably doesn't help when she has all those crazy hormones," Mark chuckled.

"Compared to those she has every other day," Derek laughed.

"You guys are awful," Meredith rolled her eyes, reaching for a piece of Derek's muffin.

"You adore us."

"You," she pointed to him. "But not Sloan."

"Well no one adores him."

"That's not true," Mark frowned.

"Who adores you? Besides Lex, she doesn't count."

"Why doesn't Lex count?"