Merder: Different Circumstances

Chapter Eleven

A further four weeks had passed since Meredith and Ashley had met for the first time, their friendship was developing day by day. With Ashley knowing of her father's relationship, it made it easier for Meredith and Derek to go out on dates, as he no longer had to lie regarding his whereabouts.

That being said, they shared as many evening dates as their jobs would allow, some with Ashley but most just the two of them. Likewise, on her days off Meredith would spend her time between their trailers and her house, slowly clothes of her own living in Derek's trailer and those of Derek and Ashley ending up in either Meredith's room or one of the spare rooms.

Once Meredith and Derek had told Ashley, they no longer tried to hide their relationship at work, but by no means did they publicly announce it. Instead, they spent lunches sat closer together, would share the occasional kiss in the attending lounge and had no hesitation to walk out of the hospital at the end of their shifts hand-in-hand.

They were both happier than they had ever felt in a long time, relaxed despite their exhausting jobs and alive despite the ungodly work schedules they had. Derek had never expected his daughter and his girlfriend to get along so well, but on some days he couldn't help but wonder if they preferred each other more than they did himself.

At that moment in time, Meredith was sat in the attending lounge, mid conversation with Derek over a coffee and Cristina and Alex sat on the same table in a conversation of their own. Like usual, Derek's hand was placed on top of Meredith's and his eyes were solely focused on her face as she talked about her earlier surgery.

"Do you mind if you take Ashley with you back to the trailers tonight, or yours? I have a surgery scheduled at 7pm and it's expected to go on for a while, but she has some big physics exam tomorrow and I know she wants to revise." Derek asked after she finished her story.

"Yeah, I'll take her back to mine with me because it's closer to her school and she can spend more time revising tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, I love you." Derek thanked, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Love you too." Meredith replied before he disappeared behind the for to check on a patient from an earlier surgery.

As soon as the door closed, both Cristina and Alex turned to face her with grins spread across their faces. They quickly glanced at each other, before returning their attention to Meredith and raising their eyebrows at her.

"What?" She asked.

"You're really babysitting Mcdreamy's kid." Cristina said.

"Mer you're a surgeon not a babysitter, you better be getting some hot sex off him." Alex followed.

"First of all I am not babysitting her. Ashley is old enough to take care of herself, she just can't drive yet and because my shift finishes earlier than Derek's, I am happy to take her home so she can revise. Second of all, I'm not sacrificing any work for it so don't give me the 'you're a surgeon' lecture. And third of all, I am not talking about my sex life with you." Meredith retorted.

No one caused an issue over the relationship between the general surgeon and the neurologist surgeon, but that didn't stop her friends from throwing comments about it whenever the opportunity to do so occurred. Cristina and Alex were the worse for it, constantly joking and teasing, sometimes taking it a step too far and flinging out of context comments Meredith's way in front of patients.

"Whatever you say." Cristina said before leaving the room at the call of her pager.

"Can you just for once, please be happy for me?" Meredith asked Alex as he smirked at her. "I was there for you when Izzie left, so please can you just stop making comments about my relationship. Besides, I'm not constantly down your neck about you and that intern, Wilson is it this time?"

"Very funny Mer. You better not tell anyone about what you know because otherwise it won't be you down my neck but rather the chief. As you know, HR are a nightmare when colleagues date, I don't quite want to have to go to them about me and an intern." Alex said, actually worried for a moment his friend would tell.

"I won't say anything, but Alex you better stop the comments." She bargained as she got up to leave the room.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll stop." He shouted to her as she left the room.

The rest of Meredith's day was quiet, with only a kidney stone removal surgery and then some consults. When she walked past the OR board, she couldn't help but let the infamous words play in her head as she realised how quiet it was.

"A quiet board means trouble." Meredith said to the chief as he went to stand next to her.

"Grey don't say that, last time we had a quiet board you almost got..." He began, suddenly unsure on how to finish his sentence.

"Blown to pieces?" She finished for him, letting her dark humour get the best of her.

"You almost got what." Derek asked from behind her, Meredith clearly not knowing he was there.

"It's a long story but I'll tell you it over a bottle of wine at some point." She promised, turning to face him and the chief walking away.

"You expect me to be okay with that answer, Mer really?"

"Got to keep you interested somehow." She said, walking away in the direction of the locker room.

As arranged earlier in the day, Ashley was waiting in the lobby for Meredith, with her school bag in her hand and a headphone in one ear as usual. The two of them were about to head out, until Meredith remembered to quickly update a chart and then went back to the nurses station. Once the chart was filled, and Meredith had hollered an intern to watch them overnight, they turned back to leave.

Someone entered the hospital doors and looked around for a quick moment before catching Ashley's eyes, making Ashley stop where she was and the person continue walking over, now in their direction. Meredith turned back to the teenager to ask her why she stopped, but her question was blocked by Ashley's question.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" She asked.