The Fight for Chief

Chapter 10

Presentation day

A week had passed since Derek's fight with Mark and it was now the afternoon of their presentations to the residents, both which they'd spent their week preparing for.

"Are you both ready?" Webber asked them both. They both nodded. "I'm not looking for knowledge here, I'm looking at how you interact with your residents, how you present your ideas to them, okay?" They both nodded. "Well alright then. Meredith, you're up first"

Meredith started her presentation as both Derek and Webber watched from the sidelines. Meredith had broken her points down into acronyms and simple ways to remember the information for the residents, something to quickly remember at the back of their minds when treating patients.

"She's good" Webber commented as he watched Meredith take some questions from the residents. Derek sighed, knowing full well that his presentation was nowhere near as good as hers. He hadn't had much time to invest in it as he'd been the on-call head trauma surgeon all week, barely managing to get 4 hours sleep at night.

Meredith wrapped up her presentation and the residents all clapped, along with Dr Webber and Derek. "That was very good, Dr Grey" Derek commented as she walked towards them. She simply smiled at him before they swapped positions and Derek made his way to the front for his presentation.

Derek was convinced the universe was not on his side today and everything that could go wrong with his presentation did. The projector broke, he'd forgotten one of his flashcards, his laptop died and eventually he had to abandon all technology and just speak to the residents with no pointers.

Meredith could tell he was stressed because he was tugging on his hair as he was talking. She felt bad for him, she really did.

Eventually, he just cut the presentation short, answered a few questions and ended it. The residents filtered out the room and left the 3 attendings. "You two did really well" Webber smiled at them both. Derek just rolled his eyes at his patronisation. Webber got up to leave but Meredith stopped him. "What, we didn't get to know how we did?" she asked. "Meredith, this is 1 of 6 tasks that I am setting to both, this doesn't define a winner"

"At the nurses station there is two files of information for you both regarding two small lawsuits. You two are going to do my job and win them for the hospital. The court hearing is in 4 weeks on the 15th August. From now until December, I'll be observing your every move, so make sure it's right. This is only the beginning; you've got 5 more months to play for."

They both sighed as he walked away. "I think I'm beginning to regret this" Derek groaned. "Me too" Meredith laughed weakly with him. "Do you want to come to the bar after your shift, just for a drink?" he quickly clarified as he remembered what happened the last time they 'just had a drink". She laughed as he blushed. "I'd love to, Derek, but my little sister is coming into town tonight and I need to go get her from the airport. Maybe another night?" she asked. He smiled and nodded.

They stood up to leave and walked to the nurse's station to grab their lawsuit files. "So you have a sister?" he asked as they walked the halls. "Yeah, my sister Lexie, she's a few years younger, half-siblings" Meredith smiled. "I have 4 sisters" Derek said. "Oh wow, that's a lot" Meredith giggled. "Yeah, tell me about it" he laughed. "My youngest sister, Amy, she's wanting to transfer to Seattle Grace in the new year, so you might get to meet her" Derek said as they walked into the Attendings lounge.

"Oh wow, she's a doctor?" Meredith asked as she pulled off her scrubs and began to change into her day clothes. "She's a neurosurgeon like me. Liz is an Oncologist, Nancy's an OB/GYN specialist (and good friends with Addison) and Kathleen is a Psychiatrist. Doctors run in the family" he laughed as he pulled off his scrub top.

Meredith had long stopped paying attention to his words and seemed to only focus on the way his back and biceps flexed as he pulled on his shirt. "I- wow" was all she could say, not about his sisters, but about his body. He smiled at her as he pulled on his jacket and grabbed his bag.

"I'll see you around?" he asked. She nodded, smiling back at him. "See you tomorrow, Der" she said before squeezing his shoulder.

Once he'd left the room, she let out a relieved sigh. Being in his presence was perfectly and wonderfully exhausting.

"It's nice to see Derek has made a new friend" She heard a voice from around the corner. She jumped a mile as she stepped out, only to see Mark laying across the sofa. "When the hell did you get in here?" she asked as she folded her arms across her body. "Long before you two" he chuckled. Meredith frowned.

"Don't you have a kid to take care of or something?" she asked. He only allowed a hollow laugh to escape his throat. "I see him Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays, sometimes Sunday's if I'm lucky" he said as he stared at the ceiling. She frowned again as she walked over to him.

"You and Addison aren't together?" Meredith asked curiously. Mark shook his head. "No. It was a couple of night-stands and now I'm here, sharing custody of my kid" he mumbled. "Was losing your best friend worth it for this?" Meredith asked. She didn't mean to be so nosey, she just couldn't understand the whole situation.

Mark laughed. "Losing Derek is the worst part about this" he said rather solemnly. She could hear the sincerity in his voice and the hurt in his eyes, and then she remembered what Derek had told her, that he didn't blame Mark for what happened.

She came and sat in the chair opposite. "He doesn't blame you, you know? At least not entirely" Meredith said quietly. She knew she was overstepping so many boundaries, but maybe there was a chance that Mark and Derek could work this out.

He frowned as he turned his head towards her. "What do you mean?" he asked. "He blames Addison mostly. You're still a shitty friend, but she was a shitty wife" Meredith explained. "I think he thinks you fell in love with her, maybe you did, I don't know. Maybe it's worth telling him that it was just a one-night-stand, that you're splitting custody. Maybe that'll get him to hate you less. And maybe don't punch him this time" Meredith said before rolling her eyes. "Thanks for nearly breaking my spine by the way" she mumbled before standing up from the chair and turning to leave.

"Meredith," he called. She turned back to him, this time his expression was pained. "Could you ask Derek to come talk to me? He seems to only listen to you these days" Mark said before looking back at the ceiling. Meredith only nodded, neither promising nor denying his wish. She could only try.

"Oh," he called, stopping her in her tracks once more. "and I'm sorry you got hurt last week. That was my fault, and I'm really sorry it happened" he said. Meredith smiled small at him and nodded her head.

"Goodnight, Mark"

And with that she walked out of the room and to her car, ready to go collect one of her favourite people in this world. Lexie.