Untouchable face

67.

Her shift was finally over. After hours and hours of sitting in the ER and doing nothing, Meredith was finally going to go home to her boyfriend and have sex and eat and laugh and cuddle. She had been looking forward to eight o'clock all day and now, finally, she was completely and totally done. It had been a long day, and not the good kind where she felt like she never got to stop moving, it was the kind when she had too much time to watch the clock tick by. She found she was doing that more and more now that she had Derek to get home to.

They were practically living together at this point. He was almost always at her house, waiting for her to get off work, and it just felt...right. It felt totally and completely right. She didn't even know how else to describe it. So instead, she spent her days counting down the hours until she was with him and the world slowed down. She had never really noticed it before but now that she had Derek, she had a feeling that her life, maybe her whole life was a series of things swirling around and going crazy but he just made it all stop. Just being with him made it all go away.

When she was with him, she felt safe. She felt like she could do anything she wanted and she would be completely safe. It was a completely new feeling and she loved it. Which was why she was so ready to just leave the hospital and cuddle up next to him, as cheesy as it sounded. Lexie said it was because they were in the honeymoon part, the part where everything felt perfect and that it would change but she said it was a good thing. Lexie swore it would be a good change, a really natural change that would make them just comfortable so that was good but Meredith liked this.

She wasn't ready for any changes. The getting together thing had been beyond hard, so she just wanted to be happy and in this easy place where nothing was wrong and Derek loved her and she loved him and she actually felt like she could be in a relationship. Derek was really amazing about how new this was all to her. He knew how it was supposed to work but he didn't rush her or push her or anything. Even if things were going a lot faster than she had expected, he was letting her do this her way. And her way seemed to be practically living with him and saying I love you. She knew it was fast, she knew she should be freaking out, but she wasn't. So her way seemed to be working and she was perfectly happy with that. She would be even happier when she got home. They didn't really have anything special planned tonight. They had a nice date planned for the weekend but tonight they were just going to relax and he'd cook for her and they'd probably watch a movie or something. It was nothing special but it felt like life was good or something.

"Grey!"

"Yes?" Meredith asked, turning quickly.

"There you are," Dr. Crichek nodded as he came walking towards her. They had been working together a lot since Derek's accident, and she really did enjoy it. He was a great surgeon and knew the human brain better than anyone. "A man just jumped from the roof of a parking garage."

"Oh, I...I was about to leave. I'm done for the day."

"Yes, I realize that," Crichek smiled. "But I thought you'd like to scrub in. The paramedics will be here in three minutes, and I'm expecting a severe subdural hematoma."

"Oh, I just...I..."

"I thought maybe you'd like to open."

"That'd...that'd be really amazing, Dr. Crichek and I...thank you for asking me but my boyfriend was expecting me at home, he's holding dinner and..."

"Oh. Of course," Dr. Crichek nodded. "I'll see you in the morning then, Dr. Grey."

"Thanks for the offer though," she smiled. "See you in the morning."

"Enjoy your evening," Dr. Crichek nodded again before turning and walking away.

Meredith sighed to herself and moved toward the door. She hated turning down a surgery, really hated it but it had been a long shift and she was more than ready to go home and collapse. Crichek had seemed totally fine with it and she'd just make sure she stayed next time. "Tell me you did not just do that."