Everyone Has Secrets

Chapter 33

He hadn't had much trouble getting Maddie to sleep. She'd been bouncing with excitement ever since they'd seen Meredith at lunchtime and had been more than happy to go to sleep at bedtime knowing what they had planned to do tomorrow. Now he was in the kitchen, prepping the picnic that his daughter had made a list for earlier of everything she deemed important to include.

His mind started to wander as he buttered slices of bread for the egg salad sandwiches, thinking back to before Maddie had arrived, before Meredith had gone away to Italy. The rendezvous' they'd had, secret meetings, nights spent at her apartment. The date they'd been on.

One memory in particular was going round and round in his head; he couldn't stop thinking about it. The way they had both seemed so carefree, but desperate for each other. The back and forth, the teasing... He wanted that back, and more. He wanted a future with Meredith Grey, but he wasn't sure that's what she wanted, and he needed to try and come to terms with that.

He packed up the food he'd prepared before grabbing a glass of whisky, sitting on the couch in the living room as he leaned back against the cushions. He closed his eyes as he let himself sink back into the memory.

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Her hair was thrown up on her head, messy, as though she'd just thrown it up out of the way as she worked. His eyes focused on the end of the pencil between her teeth as she read over the information in front of her on the computer screen. She hadn't noticed his presence yet, and he took the opportunity to stand and watch her for a moment before finally speaking.

"Chief Grey," he teased, smirking slightly as she glanced up.

She smirked slightly as she rolled her eyes before looking back at the laptop, pulling the pencil from her lips as she spoke, "What do you want from me?"

"What makes you say that?" he frowned as he stepped further into the office.

"Like, five things about your behaviour right now," she laughed slightly, not taking her eyes off the screen in front of her.

He couldn't keep his eyes off her as he regarded her statement, completely dumbfounded by her words, "Well, I definitely need to hear this."

"Close the door," she glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow.

He turned and shut the door, making sure it was locked before he moved closer to her desk, leaning against the side of it, his arms crossed over his chest, "Tell me about these five things."

"First of all, you called me Chief," she started as she pushed her chair back from the desk and stood up, her nose scrunching up slightly as she faced him, "Which I'm not, my mother is, so that is just weird."

He chuckled slightly, his eyes narrowing at her as he kept quiet, waiting for her to continue. She moved around the desk, her lips pursed a moment as though she was thinking of how to word her next point. He couldn't stop studying the fullness of her lips, wanting to just grab her and kiss her now, but he knew that would just distract her and he'd never get his answers.

"Secondly, your tone of voice," her voice was slightly lower in volume, her eyes avoiding his gaze still, "You act like you're totally innocent, never done a thing wrong."

"We both know I'm not innocent," he smirked, his head turning to follow her as she stood by the window, glancing outside.

"Number three," she disregarded his statement, turning to look at him again as she gestured with her hand toward the desk, "You lean against things; the desk, doorways, chairs; if it's stable enough, you'll lean against it."