𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗 ━━ 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

fifty four | lifetime

Derek lays asleep on the couch for the eighth morning in a row. The blankets lay strewn over his figure from when I tucked him the night before.

I took Lexie's words into thought and. . .started taking care of him. Standing by his side while he goes through a mourning period.

And Mark had confronted him one night, along with my father and the chief, and broke him out of his drinking phase.

"Derek. . ." I run a hand through his hair. "Derek, it's your first day back at work." My lips touch the skin of his forehead.

He smiles in his sleep, slowly waking up from a deep slumber. His arms reach up to caress the back of my head before trying to pull me in for a real kiss.

I whisper breathily into his ear. "There's coffee in the pot and toast on the table."

"Tease."

"Payback."

"For what?" He throws the blankets off of himself and stands. "For the alcohol, the silent treatment, the —"

"For not letting me in." I reply softly.

"Leven. . ."

"And for not visiting me in the hospital. But mostly the first reason."

While he makes us plates of breakfast, I pour coffee into two mugs. Finishing with the table, he slips the velvet black box out of his pocket and props it open in front of me.

I stir sugar and cream into the mugs. "That's not going to make me forgive you. And. . .you should propose to me when you're ready. Because I have my answer."

"How long of a speech have you written out?"

"Six pages. Front and back."

The reason why Derek's decided to come back to the hospital is because Izzie. . .has a brain tumor. And only he can help her.

Bailey confronts the four residents — George nowhere to be found — outside of Izzie's room, warning us that we aren't a part of the doctor's side of the case, but the patient's.

Therefore, we enter the room as her supportive friends rather than residents aching for an interesting case.

"Your father is a vision, Leven."

Cristina works through the pages of articles Dad had assigned to her.

"He wrapped his hands around your throat this morning, and you're pretending like nothing happened." Meredith lightly scoffs.

"Just focus on Izzie." She avoids the thoughts associated with this morning's events.

I balance a pen on the tip of a finger. "The man tried to kill you this morning, and all you can do is bat your eyelashes?"

"He's barely back from Iraq. It's obvious he has issues. But that doesn't mean that you have to stand by and —"

"Do you realize Leven's doing the exact same thing with Derek?"

"But he didn't wake me up by choking me."

"Okay, so, if he, like, had a heart attack or a stroke or lost a leg, would you-would you walk away?" She cocks a brow. "How is it any more acceptable that I walk away from this? He's wounded. He has war wounds."

"But —"

"It's not cut and dry. And it is not as bad as you think it is."

With that final word to stamp her argument, Cristina walks off.