Where You Belong

41

Derek sighed in relief as he finally pulled into the driveway of the house he had called home for the better half of a year. It had been a long week going into the hospital without his girlfriend, especially now that he had to deal with the sudden appearance of his former best friend who had, apparently, taken it upon himself to torture Derek at every opportunity.

The plastic surgeon knew no boundaries; cornering Derek in his office, conference rooms, scrub rooms, the bathroom... He kept demanding that Derek talk to him, that he be given an opportunity to explain. All the while Derek had to remind himself over and over that he had promised Meredith he wouldn't hit Mark again.

And now, with the news his ex-wife had given him today, Derek had been very close to breaking his promise. His fists had clenched involuntarily, and it had been all he could do to vacate the room Mark had most recently cornered him in, thus removing himself from the situation.

He turned off the ignition and stepped out of his car, allowing himself a small smile at the realization that the only other car there was Meredith's. It was still fairly early, so he expected to have a few hours alone with her in the house. George, he was pretty sure, was on until late that evening. And Izzy, although they hadn't convinced her to go back to work yet, had taken it upon herself to go out more and more.

The sight that met him inside was not surprising. It was the fourth day he had come home to find Meredith on the couch, surrounded by text books, newspapers, dishes and pop cans.

"Hey!" She called cheerfully.

He smiled and made his way into the living room, avoided the small obstacle course that led to her, and leaned down for a much needed kiss. "Hey honey, I'm home," he mumbled when they pulled away.

Meredith giggled and swatted at him. "I told you not to say that to me..."

Derek smirked and dropped down beside her. "You've told me everyday not to say that to you, but you've laughed every time I've said it."

She rolled her eyes. "It's funny...to hear you say something like that. But it's too domestic for us."

"Mmm," he agreed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to breathe her in. It still amazed him just how much she could calm him. "But it is nice to come home to you."

She relaxed against his chest. "Don't get used to it," she warned. "I'm finally back to work tomorrow."

"Looking forward to it," he responded, making his voice sound light even though he really meant it. He missed her when he was at work without her. And he knew she was going stir crazy at home. He had received dozens of text messages from her in the past several days, claiming herself to be bored and enticing him to come home... Some of the messages had been more 'PG' than others. If he hadn't had so many surgeries scheduled that week he would have taken it off to be with her.

"Appendectomies suck," she mumbled into his chest.

He laughed. It was the same thing she had said every day so far. "So I've heard. But I wouldn't know." He patted his lower torso. "I'm good to my appendix."

She rolled her eyes as she muffled a laugh. "Shut up."

With a smile he pressed his lips against the side of her head. "I missed you today."

"You say that everyday."

"Well, today I mean it."

She raised her head off of his chest to meet his gaze, one of her eyebrows raised expectantly. "So, you lied every other day?"

He chuckled. "Of course not. I miss you every day, but today I..." He sighed. "Today I really missed you."

Her upper incisors found her lower lip as she reached a hand through his hair. "You're all tense. Did you...lose your patient?"