Where You Belong

106

The sun was just peeking up over the horizon when Meredith tiredly pulled her jeep into the driveway beside Derek's land rover and shut off her engine. It was very early morning and the on-call resident had sent Meredith home a couple hours early to make up for the fact that she had been called in at four in the morning the day before.

Meredith let herself out of her jeep and stumbled up the driveway between the many vehicles already present. The twenty-four hour shift left her more drained than usual, likely due to the memories that surfaced after treating the very lucky skydiver with the defective parachute. It left her feeling more grateful than she thought possible for what she had, and she craved the warmth and comfort of her husband's arms. She just wanted to crawl into bed and have him hold her. It was so early now that she hoped he had a couple hours before he had to leave for work himself.

The porch was dark as she climbed the steps and approached the front door. With her keys already in her hand, she reached to slide the house key into the lock, only to jump in surprise when the door swung open.

She clutched her hand to her chest with a nervous giggle, expecting to see Derek, Izzy or Alex, or even George, who had been crashing on the living room couch on and off for weeks. Instead, she fell into shocked silence when she met the eyes of the half-sister she had managed to fall into some type of working avoidance routine with over the past several weeks.

"M-Meredith," Lexie stuttered, her expression equally as shocked as Meredith's. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Meredith echoed. "I live here. What the hell are you doing here?"

Lexie stammered in surprise. "Y-you live here?"

"Yes," Meredith insisted. "This is my house. Now, why are you here?"

"I'm sorry," she stammered quickly. "I had no idea...really. Alex never said-"

"Alex?"

Lexie shut her mouth.

"Alex Karev?" Meredith insisted. "Alex brought you here?"

"We were just...uh..."

An engine sounded on the street, and Meredith turned to spot a taxi pulling up at the end of the driveway. She turned back to Lexie, whose cheeks had blossomed dark red. Meredith took in Lexie's tired appearance and rumpled clothes, and she just knew exactly what had happened.

"I should...uh...the cab," Lexie rambled. "I called the cab, so I should...go. I'm sorry. I...didn't know. That you lived here. Alex didn't say and I'm...sorry." If possible, she blushed an even deeper shade of red before she pushed past Meredith and practically ran down the driveway to the waiting cab.

Meredith started after her in shock. She practically lived in a frat house, and after more than a year she hadn't thought anything could surprise her. Not this much. But she was wrong. Wrong and speechless. Of all the things she could have possibly expected to come home to, her half-sister doing the walk of shame was definitely not something she could have foreseen.

With a huff, Meredith stepped into the front hall and shut the front door behind herself. She kicked off her shoes and then padded towards the stairs that would take her to the upper level, her bed and her husband. Whatever she had witnessed at the front door could freaking wait until she hadn't been up for more than twenty-four hours. Maybe after she'd gotten some sleep she would realize she had been hallucinating.

The upstairs hallway was dark and quiet as she shuffled down the hall to her bedroom. The sight of Derek's sleeping form greeted her the moment she opened the bedroom door. She smiled at the peaceful sight. He was lying in the middle of the bed, half on his side, half on his stomach, facing her side of the bed, and he had pulled her pillow against his chest.