Where You Belong

76

Meredith groaned and burrowed her head against the soft pillow beneath her head and pulled the sheets up to her face, trying to block out the ring tone that was cutting through the otherwise quiet morning air. The ringing stopped and she sighed, inhaling the comforting scent of Derek and herself wafting from the worn sheets. Her mind began to drift and she felt herself falling back to sleep. She and Derek didn't need to be in to the hospital until late morning, and she wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity to sleep in.

The ringing sounded again, and she sighed, fully awake once more. Her cell had rung several times. Obviously whoever was calling her wasn't about to stop trying. With a defeated sigh, she unlatched Derek's arm from around her middle. Still asleep, he moaned his unhappiness in having her leave his embrace and clutched to her.

"Seriously," Meredith muttered, struggling to stay out of his grip. Once she was standing, she shoved her pillow into his arms and smiled as he pulled it close against his chest and fell silent and still once more. Their first swimming lesson the previous day, although not as heart wrenchingly terrifying as expected, had still been stressful on them both. After returning to the trailer, they had shared a shower and spent the afternoon in bed, only leaving for nourishment.

When she had finally fallen asleep the night before – possibly sometime early that morning – Derek had been holding her just as tightly as he had been when the phone ringing had first woken her that morning.

The phone rang again, and Meredith huffed, pulling on her pants and one of Derek's sweatshirts before padding quickly to the small living room and fishing her cell phone out of her purse. The caller ID told her it was her best friend.

"What?" She hissed into the phone.

"Finally! What they hell took you so long. I'm in hell, Meredith. I need you to save me."

"What's going on? And what's that noise?"

"It's the shower."

"You're calling me while you're in the shower?"

"No!" Cristina hissed. "I'm hiding out in the bathroom; the shower is my cover. They're invading my apartment, Meredith. I have nowhere else to go!"

"Who's invading your apartment?" Meredith whispered, glancing towards the bedroom, where Derek was silent and still. This was obviously going to be a long conversation, and she didn't want to wake him. She shoved her feet into her sneakers, grabbed the throw blanket off the small couch and let herself out onto the deck.

"Mother and Mama!" Cristina exclaimed. "Mother and Mama are here, Meredith! What am I supposed to do?"

"Mother and Mama?" Meredith repeated. "I don't understand..."

"My mother and Burke's Mama!"

"Oh, Mama... I got you know. Why are they here?"

"To plan the freaking wedding!"

"I thought you were getting married at city hall?"

"That's what I thought!"

"Okay, Cristina, seriously, you need to stop yelling. I can hear you perfectly fine."

"I'm freaking out, Meredith. I'm freaking out. It's early. And they're here. And there are flowers everywhere. And bridesmaids. They're talking about bridesmaids. I need you. How soon can you come and rescue me?"

Meredith sighed and sat on one of the deck chairs, ensuring the blanket was wrapped around her, protecting her from the cold of the morning. "Cristina I'm at the trailer. I can't just rush back into town."

"Why not?"

"You woke me up. Derek is still asleep. There's just no way. Plus, what exactly do you expect me to do? Break you out of your bathroom? You'll have to face them at some point."