Don't mess with the Grey.

Chapter 25

"Hey, what's up?" Nurse Kristie joined a giggling group of her colleagues by the counter at the nurses' station.

"Shhh!" Nurse Debbie put a finger over her lips and pointed at a row of seats with her head, "You'll wake him!"

Kristie surreptitiously looked up in the given direction and melted at the sight. She cooed dreamily cocking her head, "Awwww, he looks so cute!"

"You're an idiot," snorted Pam. "He's not cute, he's sexy!"

"Yeah, it must be heaven to fall asleep and wake up beside a piece of man like that," added Nikki.

The ladies let out a collective sigh studying the form of the sleeping doctor that dozed off in the seat in the lobby. His head slumped on his shoulder and his mouth was slightly agape. A bouquet of red roses on the chair beside him screamed date.

"Where's the Chief?" asked Kristie. "Doesn't she know her stud is lying all unconscious and defenseless and ready to be snatched by some horny female?"

"Trust me, if she got wind of some female creeping up on him, she'd be here in no time with the sharpest scalpel ready to strike," argued Nurse Liz, the oldest of them.

"Even the Horse understood that," snickered Debbie referring to Gretchen Miles. The visiting doctor came to be known publicly, and unknowingly to herself, as the Horse when one of the male residents called her Black Beauty due to her rich mane of dark hair, the name that quickly derogated to "Horse". The loyal hospital community clearly wasn't content with the intruder; she dared to reach her sticky fingers for something that wasn't hers, something belonging solely to Chief Grey.

"I don't know about that," said Liz disbelievingly. "I think she's binding her time."

"She can bind as much as she wants," shrugged Nikki. "She stands no chance; he's off the market."

"Until Dr. Grey gets bored of him," remarked loftily Kristie.

"You've got to have your eyes tested or what?" snapped Pam scowling at her colleague. "It's clear as day that they're so in love! The Chief doesn't even bitch that much anymore!"

"Of course, she doesn't," Debbie rolled her eyes. "Would you complain if he stuck his-"

"Debs!" Pam swatted her friend lightly.

"I'm just saying," Debbie shrugged her shoulders innocently. "No wonder he's so exhausted he falls asleep whenever he can, she probably rides him all the time!"

"Shut up, she's coming!" Nikki ushered them to stay quiet.

"I bet she is," muttered Debbie with a smile.

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Meredith quickly closed the safe and made sure it was locked. Her eyes swept over the office feverishly. She made Derek wait long enough, she didn't want to take any chances of forgetting to do something important and getting back to work in the middle of their second official date. Last week they went for a dinner to a fancy restaurant, the best in Seattle. It was fun, especially watching Derek squirm when she was teasing him wither foot under the table while surrounded by the city's snobs.

Today they were going more informal. Meredith smiled at the thought of what she planned for Derek. She walked out of her office turning the key in the lock, passed Patricia's now empty workplace and onto the corridor, when she experienced an annoying sense of déjà vu.

Lexie rose from one of the seats lining the wall, with a hopeful smile. Meredith groaned inwardly, why couldn't she give it a rest? She was treating her with the utmost coldness, she was dismissing her constantly, yet Lexie didn't seem to mind relentlessly trying to chat with her, all polite and smiling.