32. The New Derek

New plans had been enacted for their trip to New York. Meredith and Derek had talked through all of Meredith's fears regarding their relationship level. They were as solid as ever. Derek and George were on antibiotics, but were plague free. Izzy was starting to venture away from her baking. Burke was still healing well. They weren't scheduled back until the following day, but Derek and Meredith decided to cut a day off their quasi-vacation and go back to work on Tuesday to leave an extra day off for their next attempt to head across the country. Life was going pretty well.

Or, at least, it had been going well until Meredith had decided to come back to work a day early. The first thing she had heard upon entering the hospital was that Burke's parents had come to see him. And that Cristina had been mostly naked on top of Burke when his parents made their grand entrance.

Bailey had immediately lumped Cristina and Meredith in together in her annoyance from the gossip and any headway Meredith had made in convincing that wasn't true had been lost when Derek's patient with the tumour in his frontal lobe, who had lost all impulse control, had mentioned Derek's behaviour towards her.

Is that blond your girlfriend? Because the way you're looking at her, you might as well just mount her right here and now.

And it wasn't like it was Meredith's fault her boyfriend couldn't stop doing the smiley-flirty-coy thing with her. Okay, so it wasn't all her fault. Derek was the attending; he should know better.Meredith had blushed and avoided eye contact with her resident. And Derek, the bastard, had quickly fled the scene.

And now, to top her wonderful morning off, Meredith found herself staring at a pair of black panties hanging ominously on the bulletin board.

A pair of her black panties. The same pair Derek had pulled off of her in the exam room five days before.

"This is a hospital. Serious work happens here! We save lives here! Oh, is something funny?" Bailey snapped at Alex and George, who were barely able to control themselves.

"Whose are these?" She demanded.

"This is bad," Meredith mumbled. "This is really bad."

"You better claim them," Cristina hissed back. "She thinks they're mine. Claim them."

"No."

"I know it's one of you," Bailey said, turning to face off with Meredith and Cristina. "It's always one of mine. Always. So, tell me? Which one of you left your damn drawers on my surgical floor?

Meredith winced, knowing if she left it too long that Cristina would cave and turn her in. But...everyone was staring, and she had worked so hard to overcome the slutty intern rumours...

"Oh, no, did I leave my underwear lying around again?" Callie said suddenly. "I am so sorry, Bailey. It's my bad."

For a moment, Meredith swore she didn't breath. And in the next moment she swore she loved Callie Torres more than anyone.

Bailey didn't look completely convinced as Callie took the underwear off the board, but Meredith and Cristina both quickly morphed their expressions into one of innocence and their resident was forced to let it go. Meredith shot Callie a hugely grateful look before taking her charts from Bailey and getting to work at the nurses' station.

It wasn't, however, more than a few short minutes before she heard Derek volunteering her services to replace Cristina so that she could 'enjoy' a cup of tea with Burke's mother.

"I'm sorry?" She asked as she turned from her charts.

Derek shot her a cocky smirk. They had spent the previous day together. George had been home to keep an eye on Izzy, so Derek and Meredith had gone out. And after they had talked through everything, all had seemed so much better and so much lighter. Derek had changed. His interactions with her had changed. After such a stressful week, she would have understood if he had been a bit darker, clingy maybe. She certainly felt a little clingy still. But, instead, he was lighter, freer. He was making jokes. And flirting at inappropriate times. And smiling a lot. And catching her out of nowhere to kiss her. His arm would hook around her elbow and she would find his lips pressed against hers before she could even turn fully towards her. And he was saying things; happy, mushy things.

At first she had thought maybe he was finally snapping under the pressure. Then she wondered if maybe it was happiness and relief that they had survived such a horrible week. But then she remembered his hesitation when he had admitted he got scared sometimes. And maybe, just maybe, he was actually opening up more. Maybe there were more levels of Derek Shepherd then she had realized.

And she liked it.

Because he was opening up to her.

And he was always around; doing things and saying things.

She just didn't like that he was doing it at the hospital, as she was the one taking the brunt of it. She'd been at work an hour, and already he had ditched the situation when a very forward patient had 'addressed' their relationship, and now her panties had been taken off the bulletin board. And if she found out it was him who put them there, he wouldn't be taking any more pairs off of her for some time.

After leaving Cristina to fend for herself with 'Momma Burke,' Derek strode confidently towards her and pressed his hand against her back as he steered her away from her charts.

"Derek, what are you doing?"

He smiled. "Saving you from charts. Mrs. Burke wanted to spend some time with Cristina, and who was I to say no?" He raised an eyebrow.

She had to physically bite back a smile at his exuberance. "Fine. But don't touch me." She shrugged out of his grasp.

"But I like touching you," he countered. "More touching, I say."

"Derek!" She chastised as she dragged him into an empty stairwell. "We're at work. There's no touching at work. You can touch as much as you want at home."

He smirked. "Really?"

"Wait...I didn't mean it that way."

"Mmm-hmm," he mumbled as he pressed close to her, his lips finding the sensitive skin of her neck.

"No, seriously, Derek, that made me sound really bad..."

"I knew what you meant."

She tilted her head away from him, giving him full access to her neck. "I like the touching too," she murmured. "But if I find out you had anything to do with the panty thing, there will be no touching ever again."

"What panty thing?" He pulled at the neck of her scrubs to reach her clavicle. He loved her clavicle. And she loved that he loved her clavicle.

"I was doing rounds with my fellow interns and my resident when suddenly my panties were on the freaking bulletin board."

He chuckled against her collar bone. "That has to be a little embarrassing."

She grumbled. "A little? After the morning I had, it was just the freaking icing on the freaking cake."

He laughed, his breath hot against her skin. And for a moment, all she wanted was to find the nearest on-call room and give in to what he was making her feel.

Then the door slammed open.

Meredith jumped away from Derek, and sheepishly met Callie's knowing gaze.

"Never in the hospital, huh?"

Meredith blushed and glared at Derek. "No," she said meekly. "Not before Thursday..."

Callie raised an eyebrow and pulled Meredith's panties out of her scrub pocket. "I believe these are yours?"

She stepped forward and took the small item from Callie. "Thank-you, Callie. Thank-you so much."

"It's okay. We look out for our own and what not..." She turned and exited the stairwell quickly.

Derek stepped up beside her and laughed as he fingered the soft material. "You know, now that you mention, I remember seeing these on the board when I got here this morning..."

Meredith spun to face him. "What?"

He smirked. "I saw them. On the board. This morning."

"Why didn't you take them down?!"

He shrugged. "I guess I didn't recognize them."

"How could you not recognize them? You took them off!"

Derek laughed, his hands landing on her hips. "Touché..."

"Stop touching me," she said as she pried his hands off of her. She held up the panties. "This is what happens when you touch me at work. Okay? My freaking panties end up on the freaking board."

"It's no big deal," he told her. "One of the nurses probably found them and did it as a joke."

"Hey, if you think it's not a big deal then you carry them around until we can get to my locker or your office." She shoved them into his hand.

He smirked again. "Oooh, I like it. Carrying my girlfriend's panties around at work in my lab coat..."

"No, I take it back!" She exclaimed as she fought to pull them out of his pocket as he laughed.

000

Meredith was still grumbling to herself about Derek's sudden uncaring nature to remaining strictly professional at work as she worked about prepping the patient she had inadvertently taken from her best friend. Even as Derek had walked her to the patient's room, he had been reaching for her hand and smiling her way when she glanced towards him. And it wasn't that she didn't like the attention, it was that she didn't like it at work. She needed to stay professional because she still had a reputation to build. People already respected him.

But he was so light hearted and happy that she couldn't bare telling him off.

He was really opening up to her, exposing layers she hadn't even realized were there. And it was making her want to let him in more. It was making her want to be more open with him. But it wasn't making her want to flaunt their relationship in front of the entire hospital.

She scowled to herself as she wondered whether their exam room tryst had anything to do with his sudden behaviour change at work. Maybe she had opened a door when she had pulled him off the dance floor in search of a more private venue.

"You're very pretty," her patient said suddenly. "But you look kind of tired, and I think maybe you should change your hair conditioner."

"That was rude, Benjamin," his sister chastised immediately.

"It is?" He asked, completely unaware of the social consequences of his words, as his tumour was invading his frontal lobe.

"No, actually," Meredith said with a laugh. "It's true, and it's refreshing." Benjamin may have offended Cristina about her 'pinched, uptight look,' but Meredith enjoyed his open honesty. And he was right, she was tired. It had been a stressful week, dealing with everything that had happened, between Burke getting shot, Denny dying, and her and Derek's fight. Their first real fight, really.

She hadn't been lying when she had told Derek she wasn't sure if he would come back home. She had spent hours either in the kitchen with Izzy or upstairs studying to keep her mind off of what would happen that evening. They rarely argued, and never had either one of them just left like that. She hadn't any idea what to expect, had had no idea when she'd see him next. The relief that she had felt when he had returned to their room had been overwhelming. She hadn't screwed everything up. And being offered more time to get ready had made everything seem easier. They had rescheduled for three weeks from now, and she was feeling quite confident about it. And they had talked everything through, and then she had her first experience with make-up sex. And she had decided fighting had it's upside...

So, yes, Benjamin was right; Meredith was tired. She had a right to be tired. And maybe she did need a new conditioner, but she knew she could never go through with changing it. Derek loved the smell of her hair. So, her hair would just have to deal with the lavender conditioner for the rest of her life.

"Did you have sex with that brain surgeon?"

"Benjamin!"

"It's okay," Meredith called to the sister before turning back to her patient. "Nope," she said, before cracking a smile. "Not since last night, anyway."

"I would," Benjamin responded. "He's hot. And arrogant, but in a way that's still sexy. I would totally have sex with him if I could. Good for you for having sex with him."

Meredith forced the chuckle out of the back of her throat at the thought of telling Derek what his patient had said about him. "Oh, well, thanks, I guess."

"Do you have sex with him a lot?"

"Benjamin," his sister cut in again. "That's offensive."

He glanced towards his sister, his expression as calm as always. "Is it?" He turned back to Meredith. "Sorry."

She offered him a smile. "It's okay."

"Do you love him?" He questioned.

Her smile widened and she nodded. "I do."

"That's good, because he loves you."

She cocked her head, a trait she had unknowingly picked up from the man in question. "You think so?"

He nodded. "Yes, I could tell from the way he looked at you."

Meredith felt her heart swell at the thought. The patient she was talking to had a large brain tumour that affected his impulse control, and his ability to recognized social interactions, both good and bad, but he saw that Derek loved her in the three minutes they had spent together in his hospital room.

"Are you going to marry him?"

She was surprised to find herself nodding without hesitation. Surprised in a good way. "One day. We're just living together for now."

"So, you are having a lot of sex."

"Benjamin!" His sister cut in again.

Meredith laughed as she felt a blush creep along her face. She avoided his gaze; it wasn't like she could say no.

000

It was Meredith's turn to head home during lunch to check on Izzy, but when she stepped in the front door, the house was calm and quiet. And only a faint, lingering smell of muffins greeted her.

"Izzy?" She called as she headed towards the kitchen. No one responded, and the room was empty as she stepped inside. The muffins had, however, multiplied in the hours she had been at work. "Wow. Okay..." She picked up a muffin for her lunch and began to peel the paper off when she heard the door open.

"Meredith?" Derek's voice called.

She turned to meet his gaze as he sauntered into the room with a paper bag in his hand. "Derek? What are you doing here?"

He smirked. "Trying to have lunch with my girlfriend. Though you ditched me at the hospital, so I get extra points for tracking you down."

"Ditched you? Derek, I told you this morning I had to come home at lunch, and you told me you were busy anyway."

He shrugged as he stepped towards her. "I changed my schedule."

A chuckle escaped her lips as he stopped in front of her, his free hand snaking around to her back. "Well, you didn't tell me that..."

He leaned in close, his lips only inches from hers. "I was going to surprise you."

She snorted. "Smart, when you knew I was going to leave-" She was cut off when his lips crashed down on hers. His other arm closed around her frame, pulling her closer to him. The bag he had been holding fell to the ground, along with her muffin as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She groaned into his mouth and closed a fist around his hair.

"This wasn't." Kiss. "What." Kiss. "I." Kiss. "Came for," he mumbled.

"Sure it wasn't," she countered.

He pulled back a few inches to meet her eyes. His fingers came up to brush her hair out of her face. "I mean it. I just thought we could have lunch..."

She closed the gap between them, her lips now capturing his for several seconds. "Then why did you kiss me?"

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. "Because you're irresistible."

"Mmm, so are you," she whispered.

He smirked and kissed her again, before scooping her into his arms and carrying her up to their room.

000

Meredith took a large bite of the sandwich and passed it across the center consol of the car to Derek. He took it easily, throwing her a happy smirk in the process. Their lunch time activities had drained any time they had to actually sit and eat, and so they were stuck to eating in the car on the way back to the hospital if they wanted to eat at all.

"Bailey's going to kill me if I'm late," she muttered.

He passed the sandwich back to her. "I'll get you there on time, don't worry. And she won't kill you..."

Meredith scoffed. "Oh, yes, she will. After today, I have tons of ground to make up."

"You weren't even supposed to be in today. You were there voluntarily," Derek reminded.

"That doesn't negate the fact that your patient told you to 'mount me' this morning. And that she found my panties on the bulletin board."

"She can't blame you for what Benjamin said. And she didn't know they were yours."

"I think she did. You should have seen the way she looked at me, even after Callie claimed them. She knew, Derek." She took another bite.

"Well, then, there's nothing we can do about it now." He reached his hand out for the sandwich, but she withheld it.

"There's nothing we can do to fix what has already happened, but we can prevent it from happening again."

He glanced at her and put his hand back on the steering wheel when he realized she wasn't sharing. "I'm not liking your tone..."

She snorted. "We need to make some rules."

"What kind of rules?"

"Work rules."

"Meredith..."

"No," she cut in. "Seriously, Derek. I love you. And I love this upbeat, bright and shiny thing you've got going suddenly, but you've got to tone it down a notch at work. People are starting to notice things."

"No, they're not."

"How can you say that? This morning alone, your patient knew about us, and Callie walked in on us in the stairwell."

"That was bad timing."

She exhaled loudly and glared at him.

Derek stopped the car at a red light and turned towards her, a large grin on his face. A freaking grin.

"You're enjoying this," she accused.

His grin only widened. "A little bit."

She grumbled under her breath. "I'm an intern," she reminded.

He nodded. "A sexy intern."

She had to fight to bite back a smile. She really was enjoying his sudden attitude change. "Seriously, Derek."

He tilted his head ever so slightly. "What's wrong with being bright and shiny? I love you, and I want to show you all the time."

Meredith melted, despite herself. "Derek..." She whined.

The light turned green and he steered the car through the intersection. They both remained silent as he manoeuvred into the hospital parking lot and stopped the car.

"There's nothing wrong with being bright and shiny, Derek," she finally spoke up. "Seriously, I'm all for the bright and the shiny. And I'm so lucky to have you... But I know you love me, so you can tone it down at work, okay? I won't forget, even on the long shifts."

For a long moment he stayed silent, gazing at her with deep, soulful eyes that held everything she could ever hope to see in a lover's gaze. Then he sighed, quiet and content. "I'm the lucky one."

She was surprised to feel tears stinging the backs of her eyes at his honesty. His eyes told her, under no uncertain terms, that he truly believed himself to be the lucky one.

"And I'll tone it down," he continued.

"Only at work," she corrected. "I like the new you."

"The new me?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's like you're freer or something... Happy. Exuberant. Whatever."

"I think I'm realizing how good I have it."

She smiled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah..." He gazed deep into her eyes again. "I...don't think I realized how unhappy I was before."

She tilted her head. "Before?"

"Before you," he verified. "I'm so happy, now, Mer. And we're doing so well. And we're making plans and...everything. And I want a lifetime with you. And after this week...I just really need you to know how much I care, because I don't want ever to lose you."

"You won't," she reassured. "I'm not going anywhere, Derek, even if I get scared sometimes."

"Are you scared now?"

She shook her head. "No." And she really wasn't.

He smiled. "Good."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'm really happy too. And I'm worried too, after last week, and I don't want to lose you, either."

"You won't," he echoed.

"I love you."

"I love you too," he said, leaning over the center consul to kiss her. "But you're now late..."

"Crap!" Meredith quickly unlatched her seatbelt and took one last bite of the sandwich before shoving it into his hands. "I'll see you later," she mumbled as she opened the car door and hurried across the parking lot. She was already late, but any punishment was completely worth it for the conversation they had just had.

AN: A lighter chapter...slowly getting away from the stress of their last week. To address a few reviews/PMs in case others are wondering; the appy episode with Meredith on morphine will be featured (and I'm SO looking forward to writing that. Hope you all like what she does/says in this version...lol).