Everyone Has Secrets

Chapter 3

Derek was feeling slightly overwhelmed with the number of consults he'd been asked to attend to in the ER since he'd come down. He was starting to question the response times of his new colleagues, getting more irate by the second that even after having them paged multiple times no one seemed to show up. He was standing at the nurses' station, signing off a patient's chart ready for admission when Mark made an appearance in the chaotic room, making a beeline for Derek.

"Did you have me paged or was it someone else?" Mark asked, leaning against the nurses' station.

"That would be me, Sloan," April said from behind the desk, passing him over a chart, "Woman bed four with a face lack will only let the head of plastics touch her face."

"Ah, I see. Thanks, Kepner," Mark said as he took the chart from her, turning to Derek once more before heading off, "Oh, Shep, I was introduced to your mystery woods girl, I don't think she recognised you, but she's very interested in finding out more about the work of Dr Derek Shepherd, she's on her way down here with Webber."

"Thanks, Mark," Derek said with a defeated sigh, passing his chart back to the nurse after finishing with it, "Where next, Kepner?"

"Well it would've been trauma room three, but apparently someone is already in there," she said, looking over his shoulder at something else.

"You mean one of my attendings actually showed up?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, turning to follow her gaze.

"Not unless she's finally taken the job offer from Ellis, but then again, she'd probably be your boss in that case," April said with a short laugh, and Derek caught on to who she was talking about.

He could see through the window of the trauma room, Meredith was in there, her hair now tied back and a trauma gown protecting her clothes as she assessed the patient inside, seemingly taking control of the room as she did so. He was almost caught in that trance he seemed to get stuck in when she was around, but was quickly distracted by Richard Webber's approach.

"Dr Shepherd, there you are! I wanted to introduce you to Dr Grey," he said with a grin, having noticed what had caught Derek's gaze.

"Maybe we shouldn't interrupt her when she's working," Derek said with a slight chuckle, his gaze moving to Richard now so it didn't look like he was staring at his step-daughter.

"Nonsense, come with me," Richard said, starting to lead the way.

Derek followed with an internal groan, really not prepared to be introduced to her in this way. They entered the trauma room just as Meredith was doing her final examinations of the patient, and she glanced up at Richard, clearly not registering Derek's presence as she spoke.

"It's going to be surgery, Richard," she stated, her attention now back on the patient, "I assume my privileges are still in place?"

"Of course they are, Meredith," Richard assured her as she came away from the patient, pulling off her gloves and putting them in the bin before picking up the electronic chart to make her notes, "I've found Dr Shepherd to introduce you."

"Oh," she looked up properly now, her gaze flickering between Derek and Richard with a knowing smile, only a slight widening of her eyes indicating towards any hint of nervousness she might have as she recognised him stood in front of her.

"It's good to finally meet you, Dr Shepherd," she said, holding her hand out toward him.

"The pleasure is all mine, Dr Grey," he said as he took her hand, shaking it firmly with his, definitely holding her hand a little longer than necessary before she pulled hers back.

"Maybe Dr Shepherd could join you in surgery, Meredith?" Richard suggested, completely oblivious to both the minimal history and obvious energy between the two surgeons.