Can't Help Falling in Love

19

"Meredith, I know you," he said, reaching to squeeze her hand. "You love your students. If you can't be helping them, you'll be miserable."

"And I'll be miserable without you," Meredith smiled, leaning forward to kiss him softly. "Let me handle this, Derek. It's my job, I'll take care of it."

"Okay," Derek sighed. "Are you hungry?"

"A little," she sighed, reaching for the tequila.

"I'll make some stir fry," Derek nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Did you drop my camera off at the repair shop?" Meredith asked as she turned to look at him.

"Yeah, it should be ready in a couple weeks," Derek nodded, moving to cut some peppers.

"How much was the deposit?" she asked as she reached for her coat.

"I don't remember, the receipt's in the pocket of my jacket," Derek replied.

"Okay," Meredith smiled as she reached for the jacket that hung over the back of the chair beside her. She reached into his pocket and rolled her eyes at the handful of paper scraps she pulled out. "You should really clean out your..." her voice trailed off as she looked down at the piece of paper in her hands.

"Mer?" Derek asked as he looked at her. "Did you find it?"

"What the hell is this?" Meredith asked quietly, placing the rectangular piece of paper on the counter in front of him.

"What...." Derek frowned as his eyes landed on the paper and he felt his heart stop. "Mer, that's not what it looks like."

"Really?" Meredith asked, tears filling her eyes as she stared at him. "Because what it looks like is a check from my mother to you for five thousand dollars. And I know what it's for."

"Meredith," Derek breathed as he set his knife down on the cutting board and moved around the counter island. "Let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain," she said as she backed away from him. "It's perfectly clear that you're going to break up with me as soon as the check clears. Well you know what, I'm going to save you some time."

"That's not what happened," Derek said desperately.

"Okay," Meredith said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. "What happened?"

Derek inhaled deeply, hoping that he could get himself out of this mess. "I went to the hospital to see your mom," he started.

"Wait a minute," Meredith said. "What the hell were you doing at the hospital?"

"I wanted to talk to her about the way she treats you," Derek replied. "It's not right, Mer."

"Derek, you have no right to do that," Meredith snapped. "So what, you went to see her to tell her how amazing I am, and then you just suddenly ended up with a check for five thousand dollars?"

"No," Derek shook his head. "I told her she should be proud of you, that she should really want to get to know you because you're amazing. And she thought that meant that I was asking for money. I said no, I didn't want to take the check."

"And yet somehow it ended up in your jacket?" Meredith asked loudly.

"I didn't mean to keep it, it just...ended up there," Derek said meekly.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Meredith rolled her eyes. She froze for a moment before she asked, "What did you say to her about my job?"

"I said you were amazing teacher, that your students love you," Derek breathed. "Meredith, please."

"Did you say anything about Meg?"