Outside of Fear

Chapter Twenty

Finally, it is the day of the ball. Derek leaves work early, and Meredith has been home all day organizing her clothes.

"Hey," Derek calls through the house, announcing himself as he arrives.

"Hey. Bedroom." Meredith calls back, telling him where she is. He makes his way to her bedroom and when she sees him she smiles and moves to give him a light kiss. "How was work? Any interesting surgeries?"

Always a surgery junkie, Meredith asks the same question every single day.

"Nothing, really slow day."

"Don't jinx it!" Meredith exclaims, "I swear if they page you away from this-"

"I told them not to page me, there are other neurosurgeons on staff. We'll be fine."

Meredith nods, then turns back to what she was doing. Derek follows her into the room, his breath hitching when he sees the deep navy, buffed jacket hanging from a hook on the wall. He watches as Meredith's fingers move deftly around the left breast pocket, and he catches a glimpse of rows of ribbons, below it her Purple Hearts, Navy Cross, and Distinguished Service Cross.

"What's all that?" He quips, interested in finding out more about her awards.

"You already know the medals, but the ribbons are just Combat Actions, Commendation and Achievement awards, Good Conduct, that kind of thing. These-" she pauses, picking up a large velvet box from her nightstand, "-are a Surgeon General Medallion and a Public Health Distinguished Service Medal."

She offers him the box, and he gently takes them from their places and runs his fingertips over the heavy, colorful medals, completely in awe. "Wow."

"They're for the abdominal wall transplant and my other advancements in trauma surgeries."

"You're amazing." He looks at her, and she blushes. Derek hands the awards back and gives her a quick peck before she turns again and fastens them to her jacket.

"You have your tux?" Meredith asks without looking at him.

"It's all ready."

"Go put it on, we have to leave soon." She urges, and Derek, always one to please, leaves the room to obey.

When he's gone, Meredith takes a step back to admire her work. Pride wells up inside of her at the sight of everything she's worked for her entire life pinned onto a jacket in front of her.

As she shifts her weight between her feet a twinge of pain in her abdomen reminds her that she's not totally healed yet. She moves to the bed, easing herself onto the soft mattress and relaxing into the pillows.

Not long later, Derek appears in the doorway once again, frowning when he sees the mess of blonde waves facing away from him in the bed. Soft snores tell him that she's sleeping, and he smiles.

Derek closes the door, making a note to wake her up in twenty minutes or so. As her surgeon, he knows how exhausting recovery can be, so he lets her sleep. She'll need it.

He spends those twenty minutes preparing himself- mostly his hair- for the ball. When he deems himself fit, he drapes his suit jacket on a chair in the kitchen next to his shoes and enters back into Meredith's room, thinking of just a few days ago when she explained to him what to expect.

"So, you know what will happen?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Derek answers her question honestly, glancing at her from his spot sitting at the table with a case file in front of him.

She smiles warmly and stiffly sits on the table next to him. "Okay. So, the first thing when we walk in is a line of greetings. We can put our stuff at a table first, but we have to go down the line of all the hosts and highest-ranking service members and shake their hands. You exchange a few pleasantries with each of them until the end, where I'll have to stay in the line but you can go back to the table."