peace

chapter 14

"Hey." She said as she nudged Derek's shoulder. "Wanna get lunch?"

"Love to." He said as he closed the chart and got up. They walked together to the cafeteria and Meredith lead him to a table with the rest of the interns.

"Hey Mer, Dr. Shepherd." Cristina greeted.

"Hello Dr. Yang." Derek responded awkwardly as he glanced over the silent other interns. George was glaring at him, Alex was nervously eating quickly, while Izzie was staring quietly at Meredith. Derek turned to Meredith and said, "this is awkward." Meredith gave a nod and then made an effort to start the conversation.

"So, uh Alex. You are with ortho chick right?"

"Yea." He responded quickly.

"You interested in ortho?" Derek asked quickly.

"No. I'm going into plastics."

"Oh really? My- I had a friend in plastics." Derek said.

"Hmmf, you had a friend?" George said under his breath, then Izzie hit his arm.

"Oh get over it baby boy." Cristina said to George.

"I can't just, 'get over it'" George growled.

"O'malley, how can I make this right?" Derek asked.

"Move out, and stay the hell away from us." George stated.

"George. That's enough." Meredith snapped. "Get over it. Derek was an ass to you months ago, and since then he has apologized and tried to make it right. He is in my life, and he can't leave. And I don't want him to leave. He is a good guy and if you just took a second to try to get to know him, you could see that."

"He is not a good guy." George said as he gathered his things and stormed off.

"Bambi just needs to grow a pair." Alex said, in his way trying to comfort Meredith.

"No, he is right, I am not a good guy." Derek sighed.

"Yes you are." Meredith corrected.

"I said some pretty awful things to him."

"Yea you said awful things to all of us but we all got over it." Cristina groaned.

"You have gotten over it?" Derek asked.

"Yea." Izzie stated.

"Yup." Alex added. "Just, don't go all satan's whore again and we are cool."

"Mer is my person. If she is okay with you, I am okay with you." Cristina said.

"See, I told you." Meredith gloated as she grabbed a piece of food from his tray.

"So your food makes you sick but my food is fine?" Derek snickered.

"Yes." Meredith confirmed. "Trade lunches."

"Sure." He laughed as they switched trays."

"So Derek," Izzie said, "it's okay that I call you Derek right? I mean, we live together, roommates, and we are at lunch right now so not a professional setting."

"Yes it's fine to call me Derek." Derek chuckled.

"Why did you come here from New York?"

"I caught my wife fucking my best friend, and found out my sister knew about it the whole time. So, I packed up and left." Derek said bluntly.

Everyone at the table put down their food and stared at him.

"Makes sense why he was a jerk now, doesn't it?" Meredith added

"Yea," Izzie breathed.

"That sucks dude." Alex added.

"It does." Derek agreed as his pager went off. "I have to go, it's been lovely eating with all of you." He said as he got up to leave.

"Mer." Izzie said.

"What?"

"Are you and Shepherd?" She asked.

"Are we what?"

"Are you doing it with Dr. Monster?" Alex asked, earning a slap on the arm from Izzie.

"No, of course not. We are just friends." Mer said.

"Well, he definitely wants to do it with you." Alex said.

"No he doesn't." Meredith shook her head.

"Sorry Mer, but he does." Cristina confirmed.

"Mer. His eye's go all sparkly when he looks at you. It's kind of dreamy."

"He's like Beauty and the Beast. He turns from Dr. Monster to Dr. McDreamy." Cristina said.

"Oh he totally is McDreamy." Izzie agreed.

"I am not about to call another dude 'McDreamy,' but he definitely wants you." Alex said.

"You guys are crazy." Meredith said. "Me and Derek did it once. It was great, but it's not going to happen. He is not into me."

"Are you into him?" Izzie said.

"No- I mean- he looks- and he is-" Meredith rambled.

"Oh she totally is." Cristina said.

"Mer has the hots for baby daddy." Alex said.

"It's a good thing Mer, I mean you already have a child together." Izzie said.

"No it's not." Meredith snapped, "We already are friends who live together. Baby will live with both of it's parents. But if we dated and then broke up, then what would we do."

"Continue to co-parent like mature adults." Alex said.

"And what happens when one of you guys meet someone. What if McDreamy finds a perfect McWife and moves in with her and lives happily ever after. You can't expect to be able to continue your current plan forever." Izzie said.

"I- Us dating would be a disaster. I don't even date or do relationships. I have sex with strangers and move on." Meredith said.

"Well, hate to break it to you, but the baby at home sort of puts a damper in the getting drunk and sleeping with strangers thing. Would you really want to bring strange men home to the place where your child is?" Cristina asked.

"Fine, then I won't have sex with strangers." Meredith said.

"So if you don't have sex with strangers, and you don't date, who are you going to sleep with?" Izzie asked.

"I'm always available." Alex said, earning another slap from Izzie.

"Meredith. You don't do celibate. It won't end well." Cristina said.

"Fine, so Derek is my only option for sex?" Meredith asked.

"No, you can date, but if you are dating anyways, you should date Derek." Izzie said.

"And what if I don't want to date Derek."

"You do." Cristina said.

"And if you don't, you can date other guys. But you shouldn't count out dating." Izzie said.

"Whatever." Meredith's pager beeped. "The point is moot anyways because he is not into me,"

"whatever you say Meredith." Izzie laughed.