It wasn't that bad. Meredith had a hard time admitting it to herself but the second day of Derek's presence at the practice didn't seem that bad. He didn't interfere with her patients, he didn't make offensive comments, he was just his overly charming self. She even caught herself cracking a smile when he retold an amusing story from the hospital he worked at. She wouldn't risk taking the tag of the asshole yet of course, but she felt much less annoyed.
She was just finishing with her patient, when Izzie knocked to her office.
"Mer, will you be done soon? Wayne needs you, they found a dead girl on the rocks. Probably an accident, they still need a doctor though. Dr. Shepherd is free but he's all green. I don't think we should send him even if he clearly wants to."
"Good thinking, Iz. It will just take five more minutes I hope. I'll be right back with Wayne."
"I'll be perfectly fine, really." She heard Derek assurance when she joined him, Izzie and Rigsby at the reception desk.
"You don't know what you're talking about," said Meredith. "I'll go. Where exactly did you find her?"
"A little south from the highway."
"Someone we know?"
"Fortunately, no. Clearly a tourist. Are you coming with me?"
"I'll take my car," she answered.
"That's fine," nodded Wayne. "We're about 15 miles away from the town. Then you change the means of transport."
"Be right there."
"I'm going too," insisted Derek.
"Why can't you ever listen to me?" she sighed.
"Why can't you?" he reiterated. "I hate being of no use. This was supposed to be my call. I want to go and see at the very least."
"Okay, fine. Just don't tell me later that I didn't warn you. Have you ever ridden a horse?"
"I have." He had. The last time when he was in Rachel in fact. It was more than two decades ago but it was like riding a bike, right?
"At least that. Come on."
"You don't look so confident anymore," Meredith commented on his focused expression and rigid movements as he sat on top of a brown horse. They were following one of the Sheriffs to the place when the poor girl's body was found. It was virtually inaccessible for vehicles.
"It's... it's been a while," he admitted. "And now I remember my ass hurting like hell."
Meredith let out a little laugh and lapsed into silence.
"So," he started conversationally. "Do you often have to do this kind of thing?"
"Not really."
"Has it ever been not an accident?"
"Uh, once."
"A murder?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Really."
"The weather's nice."
"Sure."
"Are you capable of producing a sentence consisting of more than one word?" he sighed defeatedly.
"What, you wanna talk now?" she arched one of her eyebrows.
"Yeah, that was kind of my point."
"Oh, well, sorry, I don't think we could strike an interesting conversation so I just didn't make an effort."
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Under the Night Sky
قصص الهواةBy his uncle's will, Derek becomes a coowner of the practice in a small town in Nevada. He wants to sell it and be out of the place where he doesn't belong until he meets a feisty local doctor with a past, which leads to a series of hilarious incide...
