Never Expect The Unexpected: MERDER AU

Chapter 30: Sleepless Night

Hours after their peace offering Derek woke and realized they'd fallen asleep in the bathroom. She was in a coma against his chest and she hardly stirred when he swooped her into his arms bridal style and brought her to the bed. He fell asleep on top of her, exhausted from the parents and the siblings and the sex.

They took their last day of the long weekend to watch movies and Derek kept trying to bribe her with sex to get her to play chess with him. Meredith didn't comply and their Sunday lounging soon came to an end.

Derek had an early surgery scheduled and he left the house before Meredith was even awake. Not that she minded much; she found it easier to get ready for work when there wasn't a man to share the bathroom with.

"Shepherd!" Richard shouted across the hall, trying to catch him before he turned the corner.

"Chief." Derek turned and walked over to where he was standing in the middle of the desolate hallway. Not many people were excited enough to come into a hospital on a Monday before the sun came up.

"I haven't seen you around. You haven't been scrubbing in on as many surgeries, you're barely in the skills lab..."

"I've just been...busy." Derek tried to brush it off but Richard seemed like there was more he needed to get off his chest.

"It's Meredith, isn't it?" Derek's body language and scratching of his head confirmed Richard's theory.

"Derek, if I knew you were going to get wrapped up in a girl I wouldn't have pushed you so hard to find someone."

"It's not like that, she's..."

"She's a Grey." Richard said it like it was supposed to mean something. Like there was an underlying reasoning as to why she wasn't the right one for him. Derek looked at him questioningly trying to figure out what that reason was.

"I just," Richard put his hand on his shoulder, "I hope this relationship doesn't interfere with you getting the job."

Derek watched as his father walked away and he stood there in disbelief. Richard was the one that forced him to settle down, to find the perfect person to spend his life with. Why was he acting strange when he did just that.

***

Meredith's day went like any other at the hospital. She bossed around interns and saved lives, all with the absence of her...whatever he was. She hadn't ran into him in the halls. He wasn't pulling her into on-call rooms for quickies; something was wrong.

Her suspicions started to feel like reality when she laid the entire night waiting for him to come home. He was an attending; he didn't have to work long hours or run the pit if he didn't want to. So why wasn't he there? She wasn't the type to worry if her partner was off screwing someone else. Not that it mattered if he was because they weren't together, it was just about the sex and they were both able to see other people if they wanted to. But they'd grown into a routine and ever since he moved in they didn't spend a night not sleeping in the same bed. She would never tell him because it sounded ridiculous, but it was one of the only things that she could count on; Meredith's entire life consisted of people letting her down, failing her in ways that she didn't deserve to be failed. Derek not showing up was nothing in compare to the ways that she'd been let down in the past, but she got used to his body being next to hers as she snored, even though she didn't believe she did it.

***

Derek fluffed his pillow for the umpteenth time and tossed his head back, staring at the ceiling. The blankets that he used to find perfect were nothing compared to the comforter in Meredith's bed. Meredith. She couldn't leave his mind as he tried to sleep in his trailer that wasn't even the size of their, her, room. His subconscious wanted to get in his car and drive to her house, get in her bed and wrap her in his arms. He didn't know why he kept thinking about it. Maybe it was the waft of her hair that filled his nostrils when he spooned her. It could've been the way her fingers searched for his in the middle of the night if he came home late. Whatever the reason, it was preventing Derek from getting a good nights sleep; and that was crucial considering the amount of surgeries he'd scheduled and hours he planned on spending in the skills lab that week. Richard wasn't going to take away the one thing that he'd been working for his entire career.

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Okay I've decided to make a part two to this fic after I finish it (I already have it planned out)

This is kinda short too but the next chapter will probably be longer.