If Im Not In Love

19

"Mer! Are you ready?" Derek called up the stairs of his house as she stood at the bottom, his coat on and holding hers in his hand. He couldn't believe she had talked him into this but now they were going to buy him new sheets to replace the ones that she complained were itchy and uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry but its a little hard getting comfortable...almost as if I have broken ribs!" She shouted from the upstairs, before walking to the top of the stairs. She was wearing a green dress with then white straps.

"Hey...you look nice." He breathed, a smile spreading across his face.

"I just felt like a dress might be more comfortable then denim all day." She ran her hands over her sore stomach.

"Maybe a good idea...but you're a little dressed up for sheet shopping." He laughed.

"It's just a sundress."

"Come down here and put your coat on."

"I wore a dress to go out with you for the day and you're complaining." She laughed, coming down the steps.

"I like the dress...you look...very nice."

"I bought it for a dinner with Brad and some associates from Nashville...obviously that dinner never happened. Not with me there."

"Okay. Time to go." Derek quickly changed the subject and held her coat up for her.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Let's go get some nice sheets." She giggled, tying the jacket around her waist.

"Are you buying?" Derek joked, opening the door for her to go out and go to the car. She looked...amazing. But the Meredith that Derek knew didn't wear a dress to go shopping. He missed that old Meredith. They joked and laughed in the car on the way to the store, mostly about his sheets and her repeatedly telling him that they were the reason that he didn't have a girlfriend.

During the short drive to the store, Derek saw glimpses of Meredith he hadn't seen before the accident and she had been staying with him. A happy Meredith that he had met, minus the tequila. Now she was domestic and helping him pick out sheets.

"You should probably get a lighter blue...your walls need lighter sheets and maybe you could get a red set too." Meredith interrupted his thoughts. She sounded different, not very different but since Bradley had been gone he had enjoyed her normal Meredith ways. "And not flannel...a lighter cotton that is cooler to the touch."

"What's wrong with flannel?" Derek frowned.

"It holds the heat in...a girl isn't going to want that sticking to her body."

"It keeps me warm."

"It's scratchy."

"Fine...no flannel." Derek groaned, picking up a set of blue sheets. "Blue...not flannel..."

"You're not even looking at thread count...or whether or not they're sateen or...do you know anything about bedding?"

"I know that king size fits my bed and thats all I need to know."

"Idiot."

"I like these." He still held the same set in his hands.

"Put them down." Meredith pushed the pack from his hands, before lifting her bag to open it. Derek hadn't noticed the purse before, but it looked expensive.

"And why do I need two sets? I only have one bed."

"When your other set is in the laundry."

"What about these?" He held up a set of striped ble sheets.