what i'm here for

Chapter 25: Guilty Pleasure

"So, if you don't want to live here, where do you want to live?" Derek questioned, his voice cutting through the quiet of the dark bedroom. His right hand continued its pattern, sliding up and down her forearm.

She smiled into his chest, the manic smile from the day roaring its head once again. Shifting her arm, she managed to stop his movements, claiming his hand in hers. She sighed. "I don't know. I guess I never really got past the whole Derek-had-to-go-get-his-mail-but-he-shouldn't-have-to-and-oh-my-god-I-want-to-move-in-with-him trail of thought."

He chuckled, his chest vibrating underneath her head. "You got past it enough to ban me from moving in here with you." He joked.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, that's as far as I got with it." She lifted her head for long enough to glare at him. "And I didn't ban you from moving in here. I banned us from living here. I won't have it. I'm putting my foot down."

He laughed out loud. "You're putting your foot down?"

"Mhh-hmmm, foot is down."

"Good to know." He told her. "So, not here, and you obviously wouldn't want to live at the trailer, so that kind of leaves us stranded and homeless at the time being..."

"I never said I didn't want to live at the trailer." She lifted her head off his chest again to meet his eyes.
He raised an eyebrow. "You want to live at the trailer?" He questioned.

She sighed, pushing herself further up his body to rest her head on his shoulder. He didn't hesitate to pull the blanket up with her as she moved, and the small gesture made her smile.

"I don't know," she finally told him. "I mean, I'd love to live at the trailer. You know how much I love it out there, but it's really far away from the hospital. And I'll still be working crazy hours for the next couple years, at least until I stop having interns. I'd spend more time commuting than sleeping."

He nodded, his head rubbing up and down against her hair as he shifted. "That's understandable."

"Although," Meredith spoke, pondering an idea. "I guess we could move in there and just keep my room here. Then I could live at the trailer with you, but crash here on late nights when I have to be back first thing in the morning."

She thought he would appreciate the idea, but he was shaking his head again. "No."

She snorted. "No? Just like that? I thought you'd want to live at the trailer."

He sighed, his outtake of breath separating strands of hair on her head. "I'd love to live out there with you, Mer, but I want to live with you. It's not the same if you're not home a few nights a week. I won't have it; I want to go to sleep with you every night, wake up with you every morning."

Warmth spread from her heart throughout the rest of her body at his words. She sighed contentedly, her left hand grasping tighter to his right. "Really?"

She felt his lips come down on the top of her head. "Really," he whispered, the sound muffled by her hair. "This is me putting my foot down," he said, causing her to giggle.

"Okay, so where do you want to live?" She asked.

He laughed into her hair. "That's what I asked you."

She giggled. "Right. I forgot; or not actually forgot, but got distracted by the trailer stuff."

"So..?"

She laughed. "I don't know. Not too far away from the hospital... that minimizes commuting time and maximises living together time."

"I like that."