Secret smile

13

Mark was talking. Derek was aware of the fact that his brother was talking, and ten minutes ago, he had been listening and participating in the conversation. But now his eyes were trained on the petite blonde at the bar, swallowing tequila shots quickly and easily. Joe, the bartender, was watching her too, his eyes wide and Derek was fighting every urge to get up and ask her if she was okay. She clearly wasn't okay. He wasn't exactly an expert on the subject but he knew that people that were okay didn't tend to down shots like that. It was a sign that something wasn't okay with Meredith Grey, which was a problem because he wanted to be her anchor. She was his and he wanted to be hers, because this probably had something to do with what Sophie had said.

He looked around the bar, wondering where her friends were. She was dressed in jeans and an old t-shirt, not at all like someone who was going out with her friends. He watched her carefully as she pushed her shot glass forward and poured salt on her hand as Joe poured more tequila in the glass. He took a deep breath, trying to focus back on Mark's conversation, but instead wondered why, when he had had a good day, Meredith had to have a bad one. She should be happy. He was happy, or at least happy in some weird relatively speaking kind of way. He figured this was as close as he had been to happy in a bit so he was taking it. It had been a good day and when his brother had suggested drinks, he had readily agreed. He wanted a good and normal night with his brother but Meredith kept drinking and she was frowning.

"Earth to Shep," Mark waved his hand.

"Sorry, I'm here," Derek nodded.

"Yeah, I bet you are," Mark rolled his eyes.

"She looks sad."

"Who?"

"Meredith."

"The hot blonde's here?"

"Meredith," Derek groaned, nodding over at the bar.

"Hmmm," Mark nodded. "So if you had a choice...Lexie or Meredith? Or both?"

"What?" Derek frowned.

"In bed."

"I'm not even dignifying that with an answer."

"It's an honest question!"

"It's a disgusting question."

"Why?"

"They're people."

"No shit."

"It's...you can't just..." Derek sighed. "Besides, I'm not going to sleep with either."

"I'm asking if you were going to..."

"Which is a moot point."

"Derek, try to be a guy for a second."

"Fine," Derek groaned. "If I was going to sleep with one, which I'm not, definitely Meredith."

"Not Lexie?"

"She's cute but Meredith's...Meredith."

"Yeah, yeah," Mark nodded, frowning at his beeping pager. "Son of a bitch."

"Emergency?"

"Yeah," Mark groaned, standing up and throwing on his jacket. "You good to get back?"

"Yeah, I'm going to check on Mer. I'll be fine."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Mark laughed, pulling out his wallet and stuffing a condom in Derek's coat pocket.

"Mark, I just finished saying that wasn't going to happen."

"Yeah, yeah," his friend chuckled as he walked out of the bar and Derek shook his head, turning again to look at Meredith. Meredith was definitely down. He was pretty sure she hadn't even noticed that he was in the bar and he need to figure out how to cheer her up. Just being around her had managed to cheer him up recently and now she was sad and that just couldn't be sad. He got up and moved toward the bar, gesturing to Joe to get him another drink. He liked Joe.