We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This

Never Tear Us Apart

They sat across from each other in the booth at a diner just down the road from the hospital. Meredith has driven them both to the hospital and they had walked down, hopefully not seen by anyone they didn't want to see them driving in together.

They had stopped by Derek's hotel that morning so he could change and grab his suitcase. Instead of wearing his suit from the previous night, he had jeans and a shirt on now while Meredith wore her familiar jeans and simple top ensemble she would normally wear into work before changing into scrubs. Part of her couldn't wait until she started her fellowship and to not have to wear scrubs all the time - they made her look far much younger than she was and patients would often underestimate her authority and experience while she wore them.

Seeing the way Derek looked at her, though, you'd think she was still wearing the dress from the night before. He couldn't seem to keep her eyes of her, and their hands were constantly joined together, whether in the car, walking down the street, or on the table between them, as though they were afraid to let the other go.

Meredith started opening up to Derek a lot more than she had when they'd been together in Hawaii, not feeling restricted by the secret of her mother's identity. She wanted Derek to get to know her and she wanted to get to know him more. She was pretty sure she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him... or was it too soon to decide that? They had known each other just over four years now, both of them just weeks into the fifth year of residency.

"What have you got scheduled today then?" Derek asked her, the small grin still on his face that hadn't left since he'd woken up with her in his arms.

"Well, I'm starting a clinical trial with Dr..." she told him, realising she's hadn't mentioned this to him yet.

"Oh? What kind of clinical trial?" Derek asked, genuinely interested, knowing it would be neurosurgery based.

"It's a treatment plan, to treat inoperable malignant gliomas, by injecting the tumour with a virus, theorising the virus will attack and shrink the tumour," she explained, watching the interest on his face as he listened to her.

"And Dr Miller chose you to assist?" He queried, wanting to know more about it. Normally, he was up to date about up and coming research in neurosurgery, but this was something he hadn't heard about, which was strange to him because he followed the work of Meredith's mentor, Dr Miller.

A slight blush rose on Meredith's cheeks and she grinned slightly at him, suddenly feeling very shy about the whole thing, "Well, no, not exactly. I came up with it. She's supervising because I'm only a resident still..."

His eyes went a little wide as she spoke, a surge of pride running through him and he grinned wider, if it were possible, squeezing her hand gently, "I can't put into words how proud I am of you right now."

She shook her head with a soft laugh, "it's just a theory, it might not even work."

"Can I have a look at the proposal when we get to the hospital?" He asked, keeping his grip on her hand.

"Sure," she shrugged, still smiling at him. She'd have to get this smiling under control before she got to the hospital, before people started asking questions, but she was just so happy.

They finished off their respective coffees before heading back toward the hospital, hand in hand. As they entered the hospital, their hands pulled back from one other, although they walked shoulder to shoulder up to the residents' lounge so that they could both change into scrubs.

There was no one in there when they arrived, and Meredith pulled her top off as if it weren't anything she hadn't done a million times before. Derek's eyes didn't stray from her once as she stripped to her underwear before pulling the scrubs on.