We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This

You Were Good To Me

He stood behind her with his arms locked around her waist as she leant back against the front of his bare chest. His chin rested gently on her shoulder as they looked out at the water, stood on his balcony. His soft whisper sounded in her ear, "I could stay like this with you forever."

She tensed a little at his words, feeling the drop in her stomach as she swallowed, closing her eyes as she realised what she had to say to him. Her voice broke a little as she spoke, "Derek, I can't... we can't do this." She pulled away from him and walked back into his hotel room, unbuttoning his shirt she was wearing.

Before he could respond to her sudden withdrawal, a loud knock sounded on his door and a voice shouted from the other side, "Derek! Where the hell are you?"

He darted across the room to Meredith, speaking in a quiet voice, "Keep that on. I'll be one second, okay?" He used his eyes to plead with her, and once she nodded, buttoning the shirt back up, he went to the door.

Mark was stood there, a grin on his face, "There you are! I was starting to think you'd gone missing, if it wasn't for all that noise I heard last night -"

Derek cut him off in an attempt to save Meredith from embarrassment, "Mark, shut up. What do you want?"

"Well we have to go catch our flight home in two hours, are you ready?" As he took in Derek's appearance, hair a mess and only in his boxers, he realised his friend was far from ready, "You could at least be dressed by now."

When Mark made a move to enter the room, Derek tried to stop him, "Mark you can't come in just now. I'll be ready."

Mark laughed and pushed past him, "What could you possibly be... Well, hello there."

Derek groaned as he turned and followed Mark into the room, where he'd evidently found Meredith who was waiting in the bed for Derek to come back. She responded to Mark, the sheet held around her, "You must be Mark Sloan, infamous manwhore."

Derek stifled a laugh as Meredith raised an eyebrow, "Mark, this is Meredith."

"Wait not Meredith? Really? Well, that's a surprise."

"What do you mean?" Meredith shot a questioning look at Derek but it was Mark that responded.

"The Meredith that stopped Derek from even looking at another girl this past year," Mark said with a roll of his eyes.

Meredith laughed softly, her eyes on Derek, "Is that so?" She became aware of how close Derek and Mark actually were at this point, and asides from her aversion to the fact Mark was at this point a self-proclaimed manwhore, she actually found herself liking him.

"Mark, you can leave now," Derek spoke as he attempted to usher his friend out of the room, "I'll be ready to leave in two hours when the airport cab gets here."

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving," Mark held up his hands as he retreated out of the room, and then shouted to Meredith, "Bye Meredith!"

Meredith bit her lip as she waited for Derek to return from closing the door after Mark.

He climbed on the bed beside her as he spoke, "I'm sorry about Mark, I swear he has no boundaries."

Meredith shrugged a little, a smile of amusement playing on her lips, "It's okay."

"Now, back to our conversation," he slid his arms around her, guiding her to sit between his legs and pressing a soft kiss to the side of her head, "I know. I know you can't. I know we can't. But I just want you to know how I feel about you. I don't want you to doubt that."

As he spoke, her head nestled on his shoulder and she bit her lip again. After Mark's announcement, she was very aware of the little time they had left to spend with each other before reality set in again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she spoke, "If things were different, if this was another life... but I really can't. And it's not you, and to an extent, it's not even the distance."