more than anything

italy

"Meredith we have to leave now if you don't want to miss your flight" Derek yelled, "coming" she shouted as she lugged a suitcase down the stairs, "Mer i thought it was 5 days, why did you pack for a month?" he asked, "let's just go" she rolled her eyes.

Once they got Meredith's bags in the car they started driving to the airport, "do you need me to do anything while your gone?" he asked, "just feed bubbles once a day and try talk to him, he gets lonely" she instructed, "seriously? your fish gets lonely?" he asked sarcastically, "well you would too if you just had to swim around a tank all day" she told him, "okay i'll try and talk to him" he chuckled.

"Thank you, for driving me, i'll be back saturday morning" she smiled and hugged him before leaving, "have fun on your trip" he waved goodbye as she walked into the airport, for some weird reason, he was sad to see her go. He was also slightly infuriated by the fact that she would most likely hook up with random Italian man. But it wasn't his place to be angry, she wasn't his girlfriend.

The next day Derek checked his phone, smiling when he saw she had texted him to let him know she'd arrived safely.
Meredith - just got to the hotel, it's really nice
Derek- good i'm glad, have fun
Meredith- thank you.

Later in the evening after she'd gotten some sleep, she finished up some colour sample sheet for her clients and then ordered room service, she texted Cristina who was no doubt with Owen since she didn't reply. She was bored so decided to call Derek.
"Hey how's home?" she asked
"Not nearly as fun as Italy" he replied
"Well your wrong, i'm bored out of my mind, but the room service is to die for" she explained
"Well i'm glad your being fed well" he laughed
"me too" she giggled, his knew favourite sound
"so have you heard anything from addison, mark, your family?" she asked
"no, i don't really feel like talking about it" he sighed
"i get that, but as the CEO of avoidance it doesn't normally get you anywhere" she told him
"maybe" he smiled softly
"at least call your mom and dad" she suggested
"i might call my mom, it would be hard to talk to my dad since he died 20 years ago" he joked, dark humour was usually how he coped
"Der i'm so sorry" she sounded genuine, and also slightly guilty that she had just assumed.
"You didn't know, don't worry" he reassured her, he could tell she was nodding over the phone
"I think he would have liked you" he said
"i'm not the girl you want your parents to meet" she laughed
"why not? your smart, funny, hardworking, and incredibly kind" he complimented.
"Thank you, but really you don't know the whole story" she said sadly
"then tell me" he asked
"Der i really like being your friend, i just don't want to screw that up" she said
"Nothing you say could make me not want you" he blurted, "i mean- like as my friend..." he corrected
"right" she felt herself getting sleepy
"are you going to tell me?" he questioned, it was silent apart from the soft breathing he heard, she had fallen asleep. "Goodnight Mer" he whispered and fell asleep, not putting down the phone.

Derek woke up and realised she must have woken up because there was no one on the other end of the line, he brushed away his unnecessary disappointment and got up to go shower. He couldn't help but think about her, in situations you don't normally think of your 'friends' in.

He checked his phone,
Meredith- Hey i need a favour, i left some notes in my side table and i need them for today, would you mind sending a picture?
Derek- sure i'll go do it now
Meredith- great thanks!

He walked into her bedroom to go find the notes and opened her side table, it was full of stuff. He emptied it to find the notes but was extremely shocked when he found a huge stash of condoms and a hot pink vibrator, immediately realising what the object was he threw it down, he remembered why he was in there in the first place and found the notes and quickly took a picture. He put everything back in the draw, including the object he sort of wish he'd never found. It wasn't that he felt weird about it, it was that he couldn't get the imagine of her using it out of his head... He really, really needed a cold shower.

Derek- *two images attached
Meredith- thank you !
Derek- you might want to warn people before you ask them to go rummaging through your stuff
Meredith- huh?
Derek- hot pink?
Meredith- shit i completely forgot that was in there
Derek- not to mention the stash of condoms
Meredith- well at least i'm not knocked up or riddled with STD's
Derek- fair point
Meredith- sorry about the 'toy'
Derek- no worries, i just didn't peg you as the vibrator type
Meredith- there's a 'vibrator type'?
Derek- sort of
Meredith- tell me more?
Derek- i was just a little surprised that's all
Meredith- okay? thanks for the notes.
Derek closed his phone and laughed, he really was surprised, but really fucking turned on.

Meredith loved Italy, she always had, it was one of the very few places she visited as a kid, her mom had a best friend there. She loved the food, the weather, the people she just felt at home there. She giggled thinking about how she traumatised Derek, they hadn't known each other long at all, but it was just easy being around him, they were really great friends.

Relived she had finished the work she had to do for her clients, she strolled down the ally ways, eating gelato in a skirt and blouse. She decided to make the most of her extra time in the country and went back to her hotel to go swimming. She changed into a small pink bikini and got a fluffy white robe out of the closet.

Walking down to the pool she checked her phone, she decided to call him and see what he was up too. "Hey" she smiled, "you okay?" he asked, it was very early morning for him in Seattle. "I'm great i'm going swimming" she beamed, "well i hope you have fun, don't drown" he joked, "if you knew my history with pools you wouldn't be joking about that" she told him, "why what happened?" he asked concerned, "I was just being stupid at some party and to impress people i took my clothes off and jumped in a pool, drunk!" she explained, "what happened?" he questioned, "My mom never taught me to swim and my dad wasn't around, so i would've drowned had my friend not jumped in after me, but it was fine, i just threw up like a gallon of water" she laughed. "Well i'm glad you're okay" he was relieved, "call you tomorrow?" she asked hopefully, "of course" he smiled and hung up the phone.