Mind over Matter

Chapter Eight: Bittersweet

Meredith woke up to the morning sun enveloping her closed eyelids with its beams. She wiped the drool off of her face and rolled over, sticking her arm out. When her arm touched an empty and cold mattress, her brows furrowed. She felt around the mattress again.

No sign of Derek... 

Meredith opened her eyes and rubbed them to wake herself up. She sat up and glanced around the room.

Still no sign of Derek...

She listened carefully to hear the sound of water hitting the bathroom floor. Still nothing...

Not even a single peep...

When she noticed that his clothes weren't on the floor anymore, she started to feel alarmed. She put on a long t-shirt quickly and made her way down the stairs, stopping halfway. She smelled something coming from the kitchen.

It smelled like... pancakes?

She sped up her pace and walked into the kitchen, amazed at the sight before her. 

Derek was making pancakes... while dancing... shirtless. 

She licked her lips and watched him, he obviously wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. She sat down at the kitchen table and followed him with her eyes. 

He was singing along to the song playing on his iPod. He had his headphones in, tuning out the sounds of his environment. He didn't hear Meredith's light footsteps making her way towards him. She stopped a couple of inches behind him, anticipating him noticing her.

Derek turned around and his whole body spasmed as he noticed Meredith suddenly standing there. His reaction caused him to drop a spatula on the floor, hitting his foot. Meredith laughed as he yelped a little and picked it back up again. 

He saw her giggling and shook his head. 

"It's not funny.." he said as she clasped her stomach from laughter. She didn't answer him, and he rose his eyebrows at her, smiling. 

"Fine, I'll show you something funny then" he said as he stepped over to her and swooped her off of her feet. Meredith let out a little scream, followed by more laughter. 

He sat her down onto the kitchen counter gently, and kissed her soft lips. She returned the grin and sighed happily when he pulled away, returning to the stove. 

"I didn't know you could cook" she said as she watched him put a new scoop of batter into the pan. 

"Why? It's not 1950 anymore Mer, men can cook too" he said and she shrugged her shoulders.

"I just didn't peg you as the cooking type" she said. 

"First of all, I am not peggable. Secondly, I grew up with four sisters, it was practically a right of passage for me" he chuckled as he fed her a piece of pancake. 

"Mhnnn.... oh but you are... pegged" she said and gave him a playful smirk. 

"Shhhh eat your pancakes" he replied as he stuffed her mouth with another bite of fluffy goodness.