Seven Thousand Hours

Chapter 11| NYC

Meredith woke up to the sound of her friends down in the kitchen.

This instantly annoyed her.

It annoyed her because after she came home from a 6 day shift, they'd left the house a mess and she was left to clean. And now they'd woken her up at 6am on her only day off.

She threw back her covers and walked to her mirror to tackle her hair. Today she was meeting Derek and she was actually happy to get away from the house, even after the week she'd spent at the hospital. She loved her friends, but they were messy and yesterday was a step too far for Meredith and she felt it was just disrespectful.

She grabbed her phone and decided to text Derek to confirm her plans for the day.

Hey, you awake? X

Derek: Yep, how can I help?

Just checking everything was okay for today x

Derek: I'm about to take Doc for his morning walk. Do you want to meet me?

Please. X

Meredith jumped up and got ready before grabbing her phone and a water bottle before running downstairs to her car. She followed the address he had sent her and after about 20 minutes she turned down a road through the forest.

She pulled up to an open field of land surrounded by tall trees and a small creek running down the side. Set back in the trees was a silver trailer and a fire pit burning outside where she saw Derek was sat with the dog by his side.

"Hey" she smiled as she walked over to them. "Hey" he said back before Doc jumped up and ran over to Meredith. "Hey buddy!" Meredith crouched down and let Doc lick her.

Derek grinned.

Meredith looked up, catching his smile, and she began wondering what had him in such a good mood, which was a change from yesterday.

"Why are you up so early?" She laughed as Doc came and sat by her feet as she took a chair. "I'm a light sleeper" he said as he moved something above the fire. "Is that fish?" She asked. He nodded. "I caught it this morning. You're welcome to try some" he said as he lifted the pan from the fire. Meredith nodded slowly, "sure, I'll give it a try"

She watched as Derek plated up some scrambled eggs, tomatoes and a piece of fish. "It's mackerel that I've smoked. It's salty and not too fishy so I hope you like it" he said as he handed it to her. "Thank you, Derek. It looks delicious" Meredith smiled before she began eating.

"Mmm this is so good!" Meredith mumbled as she shoved her mouth full of food.

Derek laughed.

She was taken off guard by his sudden laughter that she choked on her food and started coughing. "Sorry!" She spluttered as he smacked her back to help clear the food.

"I was going to say I'm glad you like it but you eating it so quick and choking is a greater compliment" he smiled at her. Meredith was very confused. "You're a strange man, Derek." Meredith said as she placed her empty plate on the small table. "Why?" He defended as he poured 2 coffee's before handing it to her, she nodded in thanks.

"One minute you're storming out the OR and the next minute you're making me breakfast on our day off" she laughed nervously.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday" he said as he straightened up. He closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath. "I consider you a friend, Meredith, a close one at that. I know we don't know each other well, but we have a lot of similarities and I think you're a trustworthy person so I'd like to tell you a bit more about myself if that's okay?" Derek looked to her. "Of course it is, Derek. I'm always here" she smiled at him and took a sip of her coffee.

"I used to live in New York with my ex wife, Addison. And our relationship was never great, we only lasted 2 years because she was absent being in our 20s. She ended up cheating on me 2 years ago at my 30th birthday celebration. But then she got pregnant with my kid. And she told me all of this the night he was born. I stayed with her in the hospital for my kid obviously and that afternoon, she asked me to go get us some coffee. As angry and upset as I was, she'd just carried my kid with her for 9 months and had just given birth so I went and got us some. That was my biggest mistake. I came back and her and my son were gone. I searched in every hospital in NYC and couldn't find them. I finally found they were in Connecticut and apparently my son had suffered a massive brain hemmorage at 3 months old. Thankfully he's okay by the sounds of things but I was sent a letter that I was t allowed to make and that she was running alway with him and I wasn't allowed to even say goodbye. By the time I got the letter, they were gone. I was broken for a few months, I still am, I want my son, but I needed to leave NYC. And that's what has brought me to Seattle."

Meredith paused and looked at him, tears in her eyes.

"That's a lot" she whispered as she stood up and came to hug him. "Operating on kids is hard, because I think of my own kid. Yesterday was a bad day, it was his 1st birthday" he said sadly as he leaned back.

"You're a very strong person, Derek. I never expected such a story to come from a guy who seemed so quiet" she pulled away from their hug.

"Everyone has a story..."