Leave Right Now

25.

Having been a surgeon for a long time, Derek knew just how long a normal bowel resection took. And he knew how long it took if there were any complications. And it was way past that time and Meredith should have been home. He has beginning to regret telling her that he wasn't going to wait for her after surgery and telling her that after what she had said to him, he wasn't going to try to keep her in Seattle. But she wasn't home and now he wished he hadn't said any of those things and that she was on the couch in his arms and nothing had happened. He had no voicemails or text messages on his phone and no pages and he was about to give up and go to bed when he heard the front door to his apartment open.

"I thought you would be in bed." Meredith said quietly, letting herself into his apartment before letting her eyes go wide. "I should go to my place...I'm sorry it's just a habit now and..."

"Stay." He said quickly, stopping her before she could turn around and walk out. The last thing he wanted was for her to walk away from him.

"Oh." She came in, closing the door behind her.

"How was the surgery?"

"It was alright."

"Did it go smoothly?" Derek asked, standing up from the sofa.

"Yeah." She scratched her head before putting her bags down.

"Good." He sighed, still wondering why she was so late.

"You're still up."

"I was waiting for you."

"Why?" Meredith breathed.

"Because you're..."

"I went to the bar with my friends....you were mad at me...I was mad so why are you waiting for me?"

"I don't know." Derek answered. She had gone out. Instead of coming home to him like she always did she had gone out and now any hope that he had that they could work this out was gone.

"Then I'll go." Meredith shook her head, unsure of what was going to work.

"I didn't say I wanted you to leave."

"You don't think I can do this." Meredith crossed her arms as she blurted out what she felt. "My Mom....you said the one thing I worry about..."

"You're an exceptional surgeon Meredith. I know that...everybody in that hospital knows that. But all that guy cared about was your last name and who your mother is. He wasn't even looking at any of your accomplishments."

"And I didn't need you to come in there and point them out."

"Maybe not...but someone needs to."

"I was doing just fine." Meredith argued, the stress evident in her voice.

"Are you going?" Derek asked the one question that he needed to know the answer to.

"I'm going to LA next week just to see the hospital and meet a few people."

"Okay."

"And I'm really pissed at you."

"Okay." He repeated.

"I've never done this before and you....you just marched in and tried to save the day when I didn't need you to and you think...you don't think I can possibly be the reason UCLA wants me and I needed....I don't know how this works but I thought maybe you were supposed to be supportive or whatever." She rambled.

"If you want to go...I want you go." Derek breathed.

"I just want to see what it is like...that's all." Meredith breathed, leaning against the chair.