Who Would Have Thought

Chapter 26

"I'm pretty sure I left the coffee maker on," Meredith said quickly, turning around quickly, dragging Derek with her. "Actually, I left the coffee maker on and the stove and...my apartment might be burning down. We'll go back and no apartment. And that would be...bad. Because I wouldn't have anywhere to live and...definitely left the stove on."

"You'll just have to live in the trailer," he laughed, pulling on her hand to drag her back to the way they had been going.

"I could go to prison for burning down an entire apartment complex, Derek. Would you want me to go to prison?"

"I don't think they would send you to prison," Derek shrugged. "Leaving your oven on isn't against the law."

"It is if I kill people."

"No, I don't think so," he shook his head. "It would be accidental."

"Still...I can't actually kill anyone. And we should definitely go. Like...nowish. To fix it. Turn of the oven. Or the coffee maker."

"Or we could go talk to your sisters."

"My maybe sisters. We don't actually know that they're my sisters."

"But they probably are."

"Not the point."

"The point is we have to go talk to them."

"No we actually don't. We could...we could go hide under the covers again. That was fun. We liked hiding."

"We did," he nodded. "I loved the hiding actually but we have to work now. And we have to do the facing the sisters thing."

"We could work first."

"Or not."

"Saving lives, Derek," she sighed, grabbing his hand again and turning him around. "We have to save lives. We're doctors. So we have to save lives and...Roberts saved my maybe sister's life so we don't have to."

"You're freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out," Meredith shook her head quickly. "I don't freak out. Or I do. Sometimes. But I'm not freaking out. I don't have a reason to freak out. I'm just...concerned for people who are dying of brain disesases. And injuries. I mean, there are people dying, Derek. Dying. And my oven is on so even more people could die and...I'm not freaking out."

"You're cute when you freak out," he grinned.

"I'm not freaking out."

"You are," he nodded.

"I am not. Why would I be freaking out? There's no reason to freak out. I'm not freaking out. You're freaking out."

"Mer, breathe."

"I'm breathing, Derek. When people don't breathe, they die. I'm breathing."

"You're not ready for this," he sighed.

"What?"

"You're not ready to meet the sisters," he smiled slightly.

"The maybe sisters."

"And I already met them," she pointed out.

"You know what I mean."

"I don't see why I have to," Meredith mumbled.

"Because not meeting them doesn't make them go away."

"It could. We could pretend they just went away."

"Except we don't do the pretending thing anymore."

"I know," she murmured.

"But if you're not ready, I'm not pushing you."