Endless Summer Nights

34.

Meredith's mouth falls open as she stares at him. Living under the same roof. For a month. The two of them. They used to not be able to last more than five minutes, how are they going to last a month? How is she going to last a month? Her pregnancy hormones have been everywhere lately and the itch has intensified with each passing day. No matter how bad it itches, she definitely doesn't want Derek to be the one to scratch. Not yet, anyways.

Her look of shock quickly turns to one of anger as a scowl furrows her brow and she purses her lips. "You ass!" she yells at him.

He chuckles as he crosses his arms over his chest, the sound reaching the two people standing out in the hallway. "How am I an ass?" he asks her, the twinkle in his eyes slowly beginning to return.

"You tricked me!" she tells him as she glares at him.

"I simply forgot to tell you," he tells her as he grabs her bag from the end of the bed.

"Whatever," she huffs as she falls back on the pillow, her arms crossed over her chest.

Derek chuckles again as he watches her childish display of anger. "Now, what do you want to wear? I sort of didn't know what you would want, so I grabbed as much stuff as I could..." he tells her as he digs through the bag.

Meredith attempt to raise up so that she can go through the bag, but Derek looks up at her and places a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "What are you doing?" he asks her as he tilts his head to the side.

"I was just going to see what you brought," she says as she looks at him, confusion in her eyes.

"You have to take it easy, Mer. You can't be jumping up like that," he tells her seriously as he moves the bag higher up on the bed. He then reaches back and lifts the bed up, elevating her so that she can look through her things.

"Sorry," she mutters as she looks down at the sweater still clutched in her hands.

Derek reaches forward and places his fingers under her chin, forcing her to look at him. "Don't apologize. You have done nothing wrong. You are a strong person, you just have to remember to take it easy..." he says as he tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.

She smiles for a moment before jerking back slightly. He furrows his brow questioningly. "What?" he asks.

"You can't do that," she says as she shakes her head.

"Do what?" he asks as his eyebrows travel even higher.

"Act all...McDreamy...you just can't...you can't do that to me...I can't...and you can't...and we...we definitely can't...so...so just stop...please...just stop..." she begs him as she hugs the sweater close to her chest.

Derek sighs as he runs his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry," he says somewhat harshly. "I will just try to be more of an ass from now on," he tells her before turning around and walking out of the room, his frustration finally boiling over from feeling completely incompetent.

He ignores the questioning looks from his parents as he flies by them and down the hallway of the hospital, the events of the past twenty-four hours finally overwhelming him. All that he can think right now is how badly he really needs a drink.