That's How We Met ('tis the damn season) [Merder]

to be sure

It was almost midnight when Meredith woke up from her nap. She was exhausted from the surgery and from the emotional breakdown she had earlier. She was calmer now. The intense emotion that had taken over her before was gone now, but she still felt somewhat distracted by it. She didn't have any more patients to see for now, so she could go home, but it was already so late, and she would probably have to come back early in the morning to check on her patients.

She was almost set on staying in the hospital for the night when she heard her phone buzz. "Hey." It was from Derek. A smile crept across her features. Only if he knew how much she needed him right now.

"Hey". She replied. She didn't want to tell him about her breakdown yet, she knew he'd worry too much. She knew all too well they had to talk about it eventually, but now was definitely not the time.

"How'd your surgery go?" She saw another notification pop up on her screen.

"It went good. I even took a nice nap after." She sent the message with a smiley face emoji at the end. "I wish you were here." She added. She had missed him terribly in the past few days.

"I will be in a few hours." He replied with a winky face emoji in the end.

"Wait, seriously?" She asked, her face lit up. She suddenly got this intense feeling to hear his voice and immediately pressed the call button. He answered in a heartbeat.

"Hey again," he told her, and she could somehow hear him smiling.

"Hey. So you're coming back tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'll be there in the morning."

"What time? I'll meet you at the airport."

"I don't know yet. Don't worry about it. Go home and get some sleep. I'll see you home in the morning." Home. He called her house home. And even though she loved that, she knew that was one of the many things they'd have to talk about later. She hadn't given it much thought before, but now she could clearly see that they were moving too quickly. Her home couldn't be his home, not so quickly.

"Okay, but text me before your flight takes off." She answered calmly, as if her mind hadn't just been immersed in all kinds of thoughts.

"I will."

"Okay."

"I love you." His voice was so calm and so sure of what he was saying that she couldn't help but believe it.

"I love you too." She told him, and she really did, in that moment maybe more than ever.

"Good night, Mer."

"Good night." She told him and hung up.

She closed her eyes for a second, felt thoughts flooding her mind again and opened her eyes. She couldn't let herself overthink about all of this again. They'll be fine. They can do this. She can do this. She can love and be loved, and have a happy ending. And no, not like those where everything's perfect. That was never her dream. She didn't know what her dream was, all she knew was that she wanted him forever. She was happy with him, truly happy, like she'd never been happier. She didn't want to lose that and she was ready to fight for it no matter what.

She stood up and got ready to leave. Derek said he'd come home in the morning, so she wanted to be home for him. It was past midnight when she got home. She went straight to bed. She needed morning to come as soon as possible so Derek would be with her.

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It was early morning. Meredith was still asleep, dressed in Derek's shirt, curled up on his side of the bed. "Stupid, stupid man," she muttered before falling asleep, blaming Derek for making it impossible for her to sleep alone. They had talked the day before. He told her he wasn't coming home until the next day, which was today. He told her he didn't know exactly what time his flight would land. He knew it was going to be early morning, and he knew she'd want to meet him at the airport. He didn't want to disturb her sleep, so he lied to her.