Secret smile

61

It was freezing. Not freezing, it was definitely not freezing, but Meredith was cold as she moved, trying to figure out why she was suddenly so cold. She definitely wasn't supposed to be cold right now, that just seemed ridiculous. She had just had the best sex of her entire life, she had fallen asleep feeling safe and warm and a whole lot of other gooey things. But now, as she felt a tug on her blanket, she was cold. She didn't want to open her eyes. She really didn't. Because after that amazing of sex, it seemed like she should probably be having the best night of sleep of her life and opening her eyes would ruin that. If she just kept her eyes close she could pretend that she was still having that perfect night of sleep. She just had to figure out exactly why she was so cold and what had happened to the blanket.

There was another tug on the blanket and then suddenly, she felt a hard weight on her shoulder. Or not a hard weight, a really soft weight that felt like Gracie or something. Except Gracie always slept on Derek. Meredith sighed as she tried to salvage what was left of the blankets and then frowned as Gracie whined, pawing quickly at her. "Grace," she breathed, "Daddy can take you out." Grace whined again, nuzzling her with her nose. This was insane. Derek was the lighter sleeper of the two of them, Derek woke up and took Grace out at night. It was routine and she was pretty sure Grace never even tried for her. Grace knew whose dog she really was and usually she acted accordingly, usually she went to Derek for everything and it worked well. "Derek," she mumbled and then paused. She was cold. She was actually really cold, which was not normal because Derek usually spooned her. He always had his arms around her when he slept. Grace whimpered and then barked, pawing at her desperately just as another sound joined the mix. A groan. A loud, painful groan that came from next to Meredith. "Derek?" she breathed, sitting up.

"Hmmmm..." he boyfriend groaned. He was shaking, he was curled up in a ball and shaking and his face was wet with tears. "Hmmmm....no." She couldn't move. She knew she had to. She had to move and take care of him. He was having a nightmare and she was his anchor. When he had a nightmare, she helped him. But they had just had sex. And the last time they had had sex and Derek had had a nightmare, he had said it was a mistake. He loved her, she knew that, but a nightmare could ruin that. It could make this all go away. "No," he gasped quietly, moving his hands to cover his face. "No."

Grace whined next to her, a long, hurting whine as the puppy moved to lick her owner's face. "Derek," Meredith whispered, her heart pounding as she rested her hand on his naked bicep. "Derek."

"Hmmmm..." he groaned again.

"Wake up, Der."

"Hmmm..."

"Derek, wake up," she ordered a little louder as Grace climbed over Derek and tried to crawl under his shaking arms.

"Hmmm..." he breathed, his eyes opening slightly. "Oh..."

"Wake up," she said harshly. "Derek...Derek, wake up."

"Mer..." he whimpered slightly, his eyes opening more.

"It's a dream. It's just...it's a dream. It's...you need to wake up."

"Mer..."

"I'm here," she breathed. "Derek, I'm here. Just...wake up."

"Oh," he gasped, his eyes opening completely before a sob racked through his body.

"It's okay," she whispered, even as her own voice shook.

"Oh...oh..." he gasped again, his body shaking with heavy sobs.

"It's okay," Meredith repeated, wrapping her arms tightly around him as Grace licked the tears from his face.