Let It Go

29.

Meredith walked through the halls feeling refreshed. Letting Derek take her on-call shift had been a stroke of genius. She had slept for hours. She hadn't washed any clothes or gone to the grocery store but that was what take out and hospital-issued scrubs were for. The sleep had made not doing any of the household things she should have done worth it. She had come home, took her dog for a walk, and then slept until time to come back to the hospital this morning.

She made her way to the second floor and headed towards the surgical board. She had made it her habit to go to the OR floor before heading to her office four floors above to get a feel for what was going on in the hospital. She saw Derek standing in front of it, staring at it as though his life depended on it. As she got closer, she could see what he was staring at.

"That's not good," she stated, stopping when she reached his side and staring up at the board as well. "No. Not good at all," Derek agreed. "A quiet board means all hell is going to break loose. Look at that Meredith. 24 ORs in this whole hospital and one is in use - one. For a C-Section." Without looking away from the board, he held one of the two cups of coffee he was holding out to her. She looked at it but didn't take it.

"It's coffee Meredith. Drink it while you can. Things could turn loose at any moment." Meredith still didn't take it. It wasn't that it was an odd gesture. Izzie, George, Cristina, even Alex had occasionally met her with coffee in the mornings. It was the fact that the coffee was coming from Derek that made her hesitate to take it. He was... Well, she didn't know what he was. She was still a bit unhappy with him which he knew. Maybe this was his way of keeping the peace? Derek moved the coffee closer to her. She took it. "Thanks," she said, not sure what else to say. Derek finally looked at her. "You're welcome," he said, shooting her his best smile before turning his eyes back to the board.

"What's your guess?" he asked her. "Mine is a big pileup on the interstate. Mark is betting a blazing fire in a office building. Torres is going for an explosion of some sort. What's your guess?" Meredith thought for a moment.

"Building collapse. Know those apartments going up down the street?" Derek nodded. "Yeah..." "Two weeks ago, that lot was nothing but trees. Now there is a six story building there with people on scaffolding all over it. You can't tell me that thing is stable." "You have a point," Derek said. Meredith glanced up at the empty board again. "While we wait for the dam to burst, I'm going to go up to my office and start your nephew's discharge - just in case we do get swamped." She turned to leave. "Oh, Dr. Shepherd?" she asked. "Yes?" Derek replied. "Thanks - for the coffee," Meredith said with a smile. "Anytime," Derek replied. He watched her walk away before idling off in the opposite direction.

****************
A knock sounded on Meredith's door before it was flung open. "The dam just burst. Let's go," Derek said urgently. Meredith jumped up from her desk chair, signing one last piece of paper that would allow Harrison to go home. She made a mental note to tell an intern or someone where his discharge papers were.

"What happened?" she asked, following Derek down a stairwell. "You called it," he said as they rushed down the stairs. "That apartment building collapsed. There are a couple dozen injures, most of them severe, and a few casualties. The first wave is rolling in now." "Where are Shaffrey? And Carpenter? And Thorn?" Meredith listed off all the other neurosurgeons on staff she could think of at the moment. There were more, but her adrenaline was kicking in. There would be a lot of neuro cases after falling from heights like that. They'd need everyone they could get. "Either there already or being paged," Derek answered.

The scene in the ED was chaos. People were everywhere. It was hard to tell patients from visitors, doctors from worried family members. Meredith and Derek stopped on the edge of the chaos, deciding where to jump in. A man with an open head injury was rolled in from the ambulance bay. "What do we have?" Derek asked, jumping in on the case. Meredith looked around. A man seizing caught her eye. "Mine," she said to herself, moving towards him.

*****************

Hours later, Meredith stepped into the hospital lobby from the elevator, eager to head outside into the late summer night. Moments later, she was outside. The sky was heavy with clouds. Thunder rumbled in the distance. A storm was coming. She hoped to get home before it hit. A figure sitting on a nearby bench caught her eye. It was Derek, half asleep.

"Derek?" she asked. Derek opened his eyes. "Still here?" he asked, glancing at his watch. It was nearing one in the morning. "I'm going home. Of course, I'll be back in about five hours but home and bed look really good right now." Derek smiled a tired smile. "I know. I'm heading to Mark's to crash on his sofa. I live too far out to bother with driving home." "Mark lives on a bench outside the hospital?" Meredith asked. Derek chuckled. "I sat down to rest for a minute. I must have dozed off." "Regretting taking my on-call shift?" Meredith asked. Derek shook his head. "No. It wasn't bad. One consult, that was it. One of the benefits of being Head of Neurosurgery is having a big office - with a really comfy couch. I got a good chunk of sleep last night." He stood up.

"I should walk you to your car. It's late and people lurk... I'm going to walk you to your car," he announced. They started towards the parking lot. The thunder grew louder and lightening flashed in the distance. The storm was getting closer, now peering it's ugly head over the mountains that had previously been keeping it at bay.

"Today was crazy," Meredith said, making conversation. "Quiet board. We knew it was coming," Derek replied. "How many surgeries did you get dragged into?" Meredith asked. "Four. You?" "Three. The last one lasted almost six hours." They reached Meredith's car. "You did good work today," Derek said. "You're good under pressure." Meredith smiled, knowing this was true. "Thanks," she said. "So are you," she added. Their eyes met. Thunder rumbled. Derek could see the lightening flashes being reflected in her eyes. Meredith pursed her lips for a moment then opened her Jeep door, not breaking eye contact. Derek's eyes had turned two shades darker. He was looking at her with a look she couldn't place. She felt the shivers again.

A drop of rain landed on Meredith's cheek, breaking their gaze. "This storm is going to be pretty nasty. Be careful," Derek told her. Meredith nodded. "I will be. I'm only about fifteen minutes away. I'm hoping I'm home before it hits. You... You be careful too. Going to Mark's or whatever." It dawned on her that she should see if he needed a ride to his car.

"Um, do you need a ride to your car?" she asked. "No. I'm just over there," Derek said, motioning towards a BMW parked several spots over. "Okay," she said. She got into her jeep and buckled her seatbelt in one swift motion. "Good night Meredith," Derek said before closing her door for her. She turned her car on and watched Derek make his way to his. He waved at her before getting in. "Good night Derek," she said softly.