Where You Belong

119

Day Three

Derek smiled as he caught sight of his wife across the busy surgical floor, leaning against the Nurses' Station with her friends. She was facing away from him and his view was mostly blocked by the hustle and bustle of hospital staff, patients and family members mulling about the floor, but one fleeting glance and he knew it was her. The light blue scrubs weren't exactly unique, but the dirty blond hair in the messy pony tail was a dead giveaway. He'd know her anywhere, despite how fleeting the glance.

Carefully weeding his way through the throngs of people, and cautious of the small duffle bag hanging on his shoulder, he eagerly made with way towards Meredith.

He had been taken aback by her emotional state the night before, but once he'd gotten home and had time to mull over the past few weeks, he picked out several instances where she had seemed off. He had known Tucker's accident had affected her – it had affected them all – but he hadn't realized just how deeply. He had always known she had looked up to Miranda Bailey, but he had never recognized the potential problems that could lead to. Being an attending, he was privy to more of Bailey's personal life than her residents, not that she shared much at all with anyone, so he had seen signs of unhappiness in Bailey in the months leading up to Tucker's accident, whereas Meredith would have been caught completely off guard. And the apparent 'fall' of her role model had had a profound effect on her confidence.

She was the single best thing that had ever happened to him. He only hoped he had done the right things and said the right words the night before to make her see all that she was to him. He had been confident the night before when he had gone to bed, but he had woken early that morning and had been unable to fall back to sleep. One reason, of course, was the fact that her body was not lying next to his, but the other was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that she was at the hospital suffering because she thought he was mad at her.

He hadn't been lying during their talk the night before. He wasn't mad. He wanted to see her shine at work. He wanted to see her dominate this competition. And he definitely didn't want her distracted because she was worrying about him. So, he had gotten up earlier than he needed to be and had stopped at the specialty coffee shop around the corner from their condo – the shop with the ridiculously overpriced, but amazing, specialty hot beverages – and bought her an extra large specialty coffee.

Finally reaching his destination, he smiled softly at her appearance. She had clearly stayed up most of the night trolling for cases. Her body was hunched forward, her elbows resting on the desk and her chin supported by her hands. Her eyes were closed.

Derek silently sidled up beside her and set the coffee down in front of himself. She didn't move.

Placing a hand on her lower back, he greeted her friends with a friendly, "Morning."

Meredith startled slightly under his touch, but he knew she hadn't been sleeping. He too had become an expert at 'upright dozing' during his residency. You had to get all the rest you could wherever and whenever you could. She stood upright and turned to him.

"Hey," she greeted, her voice scratchy, though she cleared her throat and when she spoke again her voice was much clearer. "You're here early."

He shrugged. "I wanted to catch you before rounds." He leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek while he slid the coffee across the counter towards her.

"For me? Thank you," she murmured, wrapping her hand around it. "And it's the good coffee from the place."

He chuckled at her non-specific comment. "The good coffee from the place," he agreed.

She took a sip and her eyes closed as she savoured it. Then she opened her eyes and offered him a bright smile. "You've made my morning. I was too tired to go down to the coffee cart."