what i'm here for

Chapter 24: Mail dilemmas

Meredith closed her eyes and breathed in a sigh of relief as she settled herself down into the hospital lobby chair that suddenly seemed much more comfortable than usual. Apart from the whole fourteen hour shift, keeping track of four other people, avoiding Dr. Riley, saving lives, and trying to convince thing one through three, and George, that she wasn't crazy was exhausting. The irrational smiling had diminished to an almost completely controllable consequence of extreme happiness through the early hours of the afternoon, but after her brief encounter with Derek during her late lunch, Meredith had been feeling the edge of her lips twitching habitually once again. And having George ask her if she was high at every chance was ruining her attempts to hide it. She was sure her interns thought she was crazy, but she shrugged it off. They were probably right.

She lifted her wrist and peeked one eye open just long enough to focus on the digits displayed by her watch. It was a little after seven. Derek had left a message on her phone telling her he was running late. He'd missed his ferry and had been forced to wait for the next one. He'd be as quick as he could.

Shifting her body to find a more comfortable position, Meredith actually debated lying down across a row of seats, but she quickly dismissed the idea. People in this hospital didn't need another reason to think she was crazy. So she'd settle for snoozing in an upright position. If her internship had taught her anything, it was how to sleep anywhere and anyhow. But she wasn't actually going to sleep. She just wanted to rest her eyes. Just wanted to let her tired body drift a bit as she recuperated from her day. She wasn't going to sleep.

At the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, Meredith jolted upright, her wide eyes immediately locking with familiar blue ones. "Derek," she breathed, her heart settling back into its rightful place in her chest.

He surveyed her with playful eyes. "So, maybe you aren't up to the whole dress-down thing tonight," he joked.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, but held her tongue. Whatever she said he would be able to twist. If she agreed, he would be right and he would win; if she argued, she'd find herself proving him wrong and he'd still win. Of course she'd be winning too, but she still wasn't going to vocalize anything.

"I wasn't sleeping," she told him as she took his offered hand to pull her up off the chair.

"Of course not," he responded, both his voice and expression betraying his words.

"I wasn't. I was just resting my eyes. I just sat down. I must not have seen you..." She trailed off as she looked down at her watch. It was seven-thirty. Damn. She'd definitely been sleeping.

He was smirking at her when she finally looked back up at him.

"Fine, I was sleeping." She admitted unhappily. "And don't look at me like that, mister my-shift-started-after-yours-and-ended-before-yours-and-now-I'm-making-fun-of-you-for-being-tired."

"When did I make fun of you?" He asked, one eyebrow raised, a smile still playing on his lips.

"Shut up," she muttered, allowing him to rest a hand on the small of her back and lead her out towards the car.

"Are you up to going out tonight?" He questioned as they approached the parking lot, his tone genuine, not sarcastic and joking as it had been before.

She sighed and leaned closer to him as they walked along, causing his hand to hook around her side. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." The cool outside air was waking her up.

"You sure?" They were approaching his car and he was shuffling with his other hand to pull out his keys.

"Mmm-hmm," she nodded as she reluctantly pulled away from his warmth to walk around to the passenger seat. "I'll be fine, just need to wake up again. I really didn't mean to fall asleep." The car beeped once as Derek finally managed to extract his keys and hit the unlock button. Meredith pulled open her door, but her eyes caught something through the tinted windows of the back seat of his car. She collapsed into the seat and craned her head around to examine his rear seats. Then she started laughing as he settled himself in beside her.