After Afterall

17

A phone rings and wakes me up. I can't tell what time it is, but it's early and the room is pitch-black. I don't think the sun is up yet. I roll out of Derek arms as he reaches for the phone and I pull a pillow over my head. I vow to never stay here again. The phone is probably always ringing. I'm used to a quiet house and from what I can tell the White House is never quiet.

"Hello?" Derek speaks into the phone. A few seconds tick by before he says anything else. "How?" he asks and sits up.

I know I'm about to be kicked out and I'm already grumpy about it. I'm not mad at Derek, but I'm mad that I'm going to have to go all the way home and I probably won't be able to fall back asleep. I'm going to need a lot of coffee to make it through today.

Derek places his one hand on my hip which lessens my anger, but not by much. "When are they releasing?" Another pause. "And it's definitely the two of us. Meredith can't be mistaken for someone else?"

Now this gets my attention. I pull the pillow from over my head and realize Derek's turned on a bedside lamp. I look at him and he's worried. He squeezes my hip and all at once I realize someone knows something about us. I sit up in bed.

"Okay. Get everyone together and we'll be right there." Pause. "Yes, she's going to be there. This involves her." He gives me an apologetic look. "Fifteen minutes then."

Derek hangs up the phone and I hang on his every word. "There were two photos taken of us last night that are compromising."

"From the Oval?"

He shakes his head. "No. Us dancing. I don't have a lot of details, but apparently the two gossip rags who have the images will be going live at eight and we need to figure out what to do."

"Can't you stop them?"

"No. Freedom of press. As long as they're not lude or obscene, they can run them."

I run my hand through my hair because I can already feel my hands shaking. "So now what?"

"We're going to sit down with my team and hear our options. We can then decide what next step to take." Derek slides his arm around my back, taking a firm grip on my opposite hip. "Don't worry," he says and presses a kiss to the top of my head. "We'll figure this out."

We get dressed quickly and I barely have enough time to brush my teeth and hair before we're to leave. My dress from the night before is hung up on the back of the door, which I assume Derek did. But then I remember that dress was the only thing I had to wear when I walked in the doors last night. I ask Derek where the jeans and sweater I'm wearing now came from and he says, "I'm sure someone was sent out last night to buy you clothes." I'm not sure what I think about that.

We walk down a long hallway, neither of us saying anything and not touching. For me, it feels like everything is about to end.

When we walk into the room, everyone at the table stands. People are wearing suits, probably expecting to just start their days after this meeting. The clock on the wall says it's just after five in the morning and I have no idea how long this will take. I'm expected at work by seven.

Derek takes a seat at the head of the table. He's wearing casual clothes—just a button-up and jeans. I'm assuming he'll be changing before his day officially starts. Grant pulls out a chair to Derek's left and nods to me. I sit down and look around the table. A few staff members I recognize, like Grant and Troy, the Vice President, Lily—the press secretary, and Derek's Chief of Staff. There's at least a half dozen more individuals I don't know, which feels more embarrassing than I thought possible when discussing my sex life.

"So," Derek starts, "let's see these pictures." He glances at me.

Lily stands and hands Derek the two photos. He looks at them first and I sit there in suspense. He hands me the first one while he reviews the second. In the first shot, I'm looking up at Derek while we're dancing. We're dancing much closer than I thought last night; last night it felt like we were miles apart. Derek has my hand clutched in his and our intertwined hands are pressed to his chest, just above his heart. We're smiling at one another and if anyone showed me this picture of two strangers, I would swear they were a couple.