Leave Right Now

18.

Three times. Well almost four. That was the number of times Derek had slept with Meredith...really slept with her since the first time and just when he thought things couldn't any weirder and more awkward, they had. They barely spoke to each other when they weren't doing other things and now they had to sit through lunch at his mother's house and act like everything was perfectly normal.

"Derek Dear...how is your soup?" His mother asked.

"Oh...it's fine..." Derek looked up, smiling weakly as he stirred the soup with his spoon.

"Good." She nodded.

"Mmmhmm."

"Derek will you please pass the cheese?" Meredith said quickly.

"Yeah..." Derek reached for the small bowl of cheese, handing it to Meredith, their hands brushing against each other.

"Thanks."

"You two have barely touched your food." Mrs. Shepherd sighed.

"Yes we have." Derek argued.

"It's good." Meredith smiled.

"Okay..." His mother put down her spoon. "What's going on? Are you sick? Is there a flu going around the hospital?"

"We're fine." Derek laughed nervously, looking over at Meredith. "Tired."

"Just tired." Meredith nodded.

"You both are horrible liars." Mrs. Shepherd shook her head.

"Is there more bread?" Derek asked quickly, trying to change the subject. his mother didn't need to know what was going on.

"More bread." Meredith reached for the basket in the center of the table.

"Butter." Mrs. Shepherd handed Derek the butter dish. "So Meredith...have you gotten any more offers lately?"

"No...nothing new." Meredith smiled again before looking down.

"She keeps getting things from UCLA." Derek answered.

"Not a lot..." Meredith said quickly.

"Are you looking into them?" Mrs. Shepherd asked.

"Not yet." Meredith breathed.

"Well you know we would hate to lose you."

"Can we change the subject?" Derek interrupted loudly.

"Derek would hate to lose you too." His mother added.

"Mom..." He groaned.

"Well you will."

"She's not going anywhere."

"Derek." Meredith reached for her water, sipping at it as she stared at the clock on the wall. Things had started to feel really strange when they were not kissing or having intense sex.

"What? You're not...she's not going anywhere. She likes it here."

"I do like it here Derek..." Meredith responded, squeezing his hand. "But she's just asking..."

"Is it something you're interested in?" Mrs. Shepherd asked.

"I don't know." Meredith shrugged.

"Can we just talk about something else?" Derek groaned.

"Fine Derek." His mother shook her head.

"Thank you." He sighed, picking up his spoon.

"Derek relax..." Meredith breathed.

"I'm fine..."