Merder: Different Circumstances

Chapter Three

As ashamed as she would be to admit it, when she was making her breakfast Meredith couldn't help be again think of Derek. It had been two weeks since they had their coffee... whatever you would call it. Besides a short conversation about their wellbeing, all communication over the past two weeks had been solely about work.

Meredith had refrained from telling her friends of their night spent together and hour spent over coffee, but they were slowly becoming curious. With Lexie being in her final year of her neuro fellowship, she spent a lot of time following Dr. Shepherd around the hospital. Whilst Meredith thought she has been subtle with her regular questions about the surgeon, her friends and sister didn't take long to notice her consistent curiosity of him.

When she arrived at work, Meredith went straight to the attending lounge, passing Alex on her way in and being left with just Cristina in there. The two friends reminisced on their previous night of drinking at Joe's bar and the slight regret they had that morning, but it was cut short by the shrill of Cristina's pager, leaving Meredith thought to be alone.

Thinking it was just her in the room, facing her locker she quickly removed her top to replace it with the navy blue scrub one awaiting her presence. A cough from someone else in the room caused her to jump and simultaneously drop her scrub top on the floor. Quickly, Meredith picked up the clothing item and hastily pulled it over her head before she turned to face the other person.

"Morning Doctor Grey." Derek said, causing Meredith to internally grimace.

Of course it had to be him in the room with her. Meredith reassured herself that he was not originally in the room and, like her with Alex earlier, he must have passed Cristina through the door when entering.

"Doctor Shepherd." She replied, a blushing spreading across her face.

"It's nothing I haven't seen before."

Meredith gaped at his comment and stuttered over what was meant to be a defensive comeback but found herself struggling to speak. A grin spread across his face as he took a step towards her, flashing the same eyes he gave her that night in the bar.

"Go out on a date with me." He said, not once breaking the eye contact they held.

Once again, Meredith found herself unable to speak due to her colleagues comment. Surely he was joking, right? What about the girl he had left the hospital with on more than one occasion since their first work day?

"No seriously, you and me a meal out tonight." He followed up, noticing her hesitation. "I looked at the shift list and you're not on a night shift tonight, neither am I. It's perfect."

"Oh so you've been stalking me?"

"I take that as a yes?"

"What about the girl you're always seen leaving the hospital with?"

"Remember what I told you over coffee, I moved from New York single, I will explain it over dinner tonight. That is, if you accept my offer."

"Sure, why not?" Meredith said, unable to hide the smile that crept on her face.

"I'll pick you up at 8?"

"Yeah that works, my address is..."

"Don't worry I remember it." Derek called out as he walked out of the same door he so silently entered through.

For the rest of the day, Meredith felt as though she was floating. From the glances he was giving her in the canteen, to her liver transplant patient successfully recovering, she knew that the day was a good one and only hoped that the evening would match it.

"Lex, I'm going to have to skip dinner at Dad's tonight, I'm sorry." Meredith apologised during their lunch.

Since Lexie had joined the hospital, she was adamant on her father and half-sister rebuilding their relationship. Although Meredith had been strongly against the idea for at least three years, the loss of her mother and then that of Lexie's made her start to accept the importance of family. It had been a rocky start, with each monthly dinner ending in either accusations or silence, but two years later their monthly get togethers were something Meredith strongly looked forward to.

"What, why?"

"She's got a hot date" Cristina intervened, causing Lexie's mouth to gape.

Meredith suddenly panicked, wondering if her friend had heard the conversation between herself and Derek in the attending lounge. It was only a matter of seconds before Cristina burst out laughing.

"Okay that was a complete guess but from the look of pure shock and fear on Mer's face I'm going to take that as she has." Cristina breathed through her laughter, setting Lexie off as well. "Well, do spill."

Just as she was about to waffle her way through a lie, Meredith's pager went off and she gave off an unnoticed sigh of relief. Not only did she not want to have to make up a believable lie, the laughter was starting to catch the attention of Alex and Jackson, who were having a separate conversation at the table.

"Saved by the pager." Meredith beamed as she went off in the direction of the room.

The end of her shift couldn't come fast enough, as Meredith found herself glancing at a clock every half hour. When it finally arrived, she dashed off to the attending's lounge to gather her belongings before she could be caught by a questioning friend. Despite Cristina's attempts to catch her, which would have only been to interrogate her about the date she accidentally gave away she was going on, Meredith weaved through the people in the lobby to make sure she didn't get held up.

When she arrived home, there was no hesitation that she required a shower before she even begin to think about what she would wear. After a much needed shower, Meredith blew dry her hair and applied a light layer of makeup before opening up her wardrobe. All of her boxes were finally unpacked and items that belonged to her mother had all been gathered in one of the spare rooms, making it a lot easier for her to see her outfits.

After many dresses being pulled out and hastily thrown back onto the rail, she had finally decided what she wanted to wear. Meredith had decided on a green dress with spaghetti straps that came to just below her clavicle and just above her knees. It was tight and not somethings would typically wear on a first date, but as he made clear before, Derek already knew her body very well.

A pair of heels were found at the back of her pile of shoes, an item of clothing the surgeon rarely wore. As if the timing was perfect, once she had thrown her phone, some money and a lipgloss into a bag, the doorbell went. Meredith took a deep breath in before opening it, revealing Derek standing there with a bunch of flowers and smile on his face.

"Hi." She smiled.

"Wow."