Where You Belong

22

It was almost three in the morning. Meredith shivered as she hurried across the parking lot towards the front doors of the hospital. She had awoken alone about forty minutes before, and had discovered a message on her cell phone from Derek, telling her he wouldn't make it home. She must have slept right through his call. After spending the previous night on call and working all of the previous day, Meredith had forgone waiting for Derek to finish his emergency surgery and had allowed Izzy to drive her home. After a quick shower, she had collapsed onto her bed and fallen asleep, wet hair and all, expecting to wake up to him collapsing beside her some time in the next few hours.

But his patient had been critically injured. And a set of burr holes hadn't done enough to elude the pressure. So he had been forced to stay into the night, removing clot after clot. His message had told her if he wasn't home it was because his patient was still alive and he would be sleeping at the hospital, ready to go back into surgery at any moment.

He had referred to her house as home. It had been three weeks since she had officially asked him to move in with her, but the term, rolling off of his lips with such ease, still gave her goose bumps.

Meredith reached the front doors and shivered as she stepped inside, the blast of warm air clueing her body in to just how cold it had been outside. There was only one family in the waiting room, sprawled across the uncomfortable chairs. Meredith wondered if they belonged to Derek's patient.

She quickly made her way through the lobby to the elevators, shifting her shoulder bag up along her shoulder so it wouldn't fall. She had been planning this day for some time. And she wasn't about to let him being stuck at the hospital all night throw her off track. It was going to be special.

She had never been in this position before, so she had no idea what was expected from her. And when she had asked, he had only told her one thing.

'All I want is to wake up next to you in the morning and fall asleep next to you at the end of the day.'

And if that was what he wanted, that was what he was going to get. She quickly made her way to the intern locker room and stashed her bag, hoping everything would stay good for lunch. And she changed into her scrubs; they would be more comfortable to sleep in than jeans and a sweater.

The first on-call room she tried was full, and Meredith almost laughed at the sight of Alex snoring away on the lower bunk. The second one was where she found the man she was looking for. Thankfully, the other bed was empty. The highlight to being an attending was that residents and interns tried not to disturb your sleep, so they often opted to pile into the same rooms with each other and leave you be. She quietly stepped in the room and closed the door behind her.

Meredith smiled at the serene expression masking his tired features. He was laying half on his side, half on his stomach, his arms under the pillow supporting his head. His breathing was deep and even, and for a moment Meredith closed her eyes and simply listened to the familiar, comforting sound that she was quickly discovering was difficult to sleep without. She opened her eyes again and smiled down at him, shaking her head. Izzy had been right so many months ago. She had fallen for him. Hard. And there was no going back now.

But she didn't want to go back. Yes, it had really only been eight and a half months. And yes, sometimes it was scary to realize how dependent she had become on his presence. And yes, she had never expected this to happen to her. But she was glad it had happened to her. She was glad he had happened to her. Because she was in love with him. And she was starting to be able to look ahead and see him there with her; and she was no longer only looking forward a week, or a month, or even a year. She was finding herself looking forward decades. And he was always there, smiling that dreamy smile and telling her how much he loved her.