Easy Silence

32.

Derek Shepherd was not a cocky man.

He joked about being a cocky man. He loved to make comments about good he was at anything and everything but he wasn't arrogant, not when it came down to it. And definitely never in his own head. Except sometimes he couldn't help it because he really was one of the best hockey players in the world. He didn't like thinking about it, he didn't want to become a cocky man, but he was one of the best. Especially when it came to skating. He basically found skating more natural than walking. He knew all of this.

And right now his girlfriend was staring at the skates he had rented for her like they might actually jump out and bite her.

"Meredith?"

"Yeah?"

"They're not going to bite."

"Of course they're not going to bite, they're skates," she sighed, chewing on her bottom lip. "They're just skates...skates for skating. Which is fun, skating is fun. And they're easy to put on. Skates are, they're like boots but with blades and easy to put on and I'm just..."

"Do you need some help?"

"Help..." she breathed. "Why would I need help?"

"Because putting on skates, especially girl skates is more complicated than it looks," he shrugged as he knelt down in front of her, wincing at the cold snow. "And it's cold out here."

"I...I...you can help," she whispered.

"Okay," he nodded, taking one of the white skates into his hand. "Give me your foot."

"Foot," she murmured, placing a sock covered foot in his hand and he slipped the skate on. He set her foot between his legs as he laced it up slowly. "You have to tell me when it's tight enough, okay?"

"Oh...okay," she breathed.

"Mer?" he frowned, looking up at her. And for no apparent reason, his girlfriend didn't look like she thought the skates were going to eat anymore, instead her eyes were wet and full of tears, her bottom lip now trembling. "Meredith, what's wrong?"

"Noth...nothing's wrong."

"Something's wrong," he sighed, reaching to wipe a tear off her cheek. "If you don't want to skate..."

"No, no...it's...not..."

"We can do something else."

"I...no...you...you want to skate."

"We can skate another time."

"I...no..." she whispered, her shoulders shaking slightly. "No...no...we can't. We can't skate because I...I can't skate."

"You...why are you crying because you can't skate?"

"Because I can't skate," she gasped. "And I'm PMSing."

"Clearly," he laughed softly, straightening to pull her toward him, running his fingers through her hair. "Why the hell didn't you say something when I told you I wanted to go skating?"

"Because you play hockey," she breathed deeply.

"And?"

"Your girlfriend should be able to skate."

"And apparently she can't," Derek shrugged, kissing her gently. "I think I'm missing the actual problem here."

"I can't skate."

"And I can't cut into people. We don't have to be the same person."

"But you want to skate."

"I do," he nodded, looking up and down the canal at the mass amount of people skating. He hadn't actually expected Meredith to not know how to skate. He had been surprised that she didn't own skates but he had figured she at least knew how to skate. She had lived near the longest skating rink in the world for years, he figured she could skate. But she couldn't. Which wasn't a problem, it wasn't actually a problem at all. "Do you want to learn?"