I Will Follow You Into the Dark

CHAPTER 101

One week later.........


Derek was truly exhausted. He had had the longest of days, and he was in a bad mood. And he missed Meredith. Until now, he had no idea how much missing someone could hurt. It was slowly killing him.

But it was Saturday night. How was he supposed to blow off a night with his friend—his dearest friend—after all that she'd done for him last weekend? Tempting as it was, he knew he really shouldn't. But he was certain he'd be doing her a favor if he spared her from his current misery. As he was trudging his way to his car in the hospital parking lot, he dialed Jen's number.

"Hey," he said flatly.

"Hey. You sound tired," Jen responded. Derek had been moping more each time she had checked in on him during the week. She knew this would be hard for him, but she had expected him to be coping a bit better than he was.

"Yeah. I'm beat. Long week. And I just lost a patient who should have made it. I'm in a bad mood—can we cancel?" Derek always beat up on himself when he lost a patient. He had a hard time letting them go, especially when things had looked so hopeful before or during surgery.

"No. It's Saturday night, Derek. There are laws or regulations or something about this. I'll come to your place. Go home and shower and call Meredith. She'll cheer you up. Then I'll show up and feed your miserableness."

Derek just sighed in response. He was too tired to argue.

"I'll bring beer and.....what? Fish?"

"OK."

"We'll play cards. I won't make you talk."

"OK."

"Derek, you sound truly pathetic tonight. It's only been a week."

"Longest damned week of my life."

"I know. Poor baby. Do what I do when I'm feeling blue. Go put on a ratty t-shirt and some flannel pajama pants—some good moping clothes. Drink a beer. Whine to your woman."

"Don't tease me. I'm too tired to fight back."

"Teasing you is one of my life's greatest thrills."

"Can't you just let me mope in private?"

"No. I like watching you mope. It's fun...in a weird sort of way."

"Fine. See you in about an hour," he muttered.

"OK." They said their goodbyes and Derek called Meredith. He needed so much more, but he had to hear her voice.


**********


An hour later, Jen knocked on his apartment door.

"It's open," he yelled from his fixed spot on the sofa.

"Hey!" Jen said enthusiastically, "You look pitiful........no......pathetic is a better word."

"Thanks. You're a good friend," he groaned.

"Yes, I am," she said grinning.

"And modest, too," he said smiling a bit in spite of himself.

"Yes, that, too," Jen sang from the kitchen.

"Hey, mopey! I left a bag outside. Go get it, would you?" Jen asked as she busied herself unpacking the things she had brought for dinner.

"Jen.....," Derek whined. It was a longstanding tradition. They did this for each other. When one of them was feeling down, the other did all the work and just let the miserable one "be."

"I'm busy with YOUR meal. Get the freaking bag, Derek."

He had hoped that he had been settled in that spot for the rest of the night. His body screamed at him to just sit and drink and nothing else. But it was just one bag. Miserable as he was, he could do that. His tired muscles and aching heart winced as he dragged himself to a standing position and walked slowly across the apartment to the open door. He walked out into the hallway and spotted the abandoned shopping bag. And then his mouth fell open.


















"I missed you so much," Meredith said, tears streaming down her face at the sight of him. His brain was still trying to register the fact that she was there with him as she closed the distance between them and literally leapt into his arms. They crashed against the open apartment door, kissing wildly and completely engrossed in each other.

Amused but not surprised that the couple didn't notice her walking past them, Jen said loudly, "I'm going for a jog. Don't forget to close....the...door!"

They didn't hear her. She cleared her throat. No response. "Oh, for heaven's sake," she muttered, shoving them inside and closing the door.

Thrown off-balance by Jen's shove, the lovers stumbled into the apartment and crash-landed on the sofa. Well, they were on the sofa until they weren't anymore. Not that either of them noticed that they had rolled off onto the floor.

Round one was hungry, impatient, hot, and fast. They connected as quickly and as indelicately as possible, barely bothering to push clothing aside—let alone remove it.

Collapsing upon her in a happy daze, Derek rolled beside her and pulled her to him, murmuring his love for her and his gratitude for her visit. Meredith reached up to brush some hair away from his face. "It scares me how much I need you, Derek." They kissed again and quickly regained some of the energy they'd just expended. Smiling lustily at her, Derek rose to his knees and scooped her up, carrying her to his bedroom. After laying her gently on the bed, he crawled up and hovered above her.

Leaning close, he ran his tongue along her ear and then whispered, "You have only just begun to need me...And I haven't even begun to show you how much I want you..."

Meredith gasped as he kissed his way around her ear and down her neck. Working his way back up to her lips, he muttered in between kisses, "Round one was about cravings and instant gratification. Round two will be all about you. About making you want me and need me...forever." Without waiting for a response, he kissed her so gently that it drove her crazy.

He ran his tongue along her lower lip and then eased it into her mouth. With painstaking care, he kissed her so tenderly and so completely that it hurt because it made her want so much more.

His mouth hot and magical and his strong hands like branding irons claiming her body for his own, he gently but thoroughly began her seduction. As he removed each item of clothing slowly, he drew the fabrics away and unclasped the buttons and hooks and zippers, replacing each piece of clothing with his lips and his ever-caressing hands. Meredith was melting and brimming with desire as he drew from her gasps and sighs of pleasure followed by moans and then groans and promises of eternity.

She'd begun quivering with need for him before he had her naked, and he was determined to take her past the point of sanity. Working religiously to caress and attack her most sensitive body parts, he used his own body to show hers that she was the whole world to him. Wave after wave of pleasure coursed through her. He wasn't giving her recovery time—as soon as she seemed satisfied, he made her body respond to him again.

Meredith was floating and whimpering and begging for him to join her in ecstasy. She begged him to stop and then she begged him never to stop—mostly never to stop the incredible things he was doing for her. Still, he worked to remove her capacity to think about or feel anything but him. Normally, he'd never have had the patience and willpower to hold back, and finding both amused and heartened him.

Her showing up when he needed her was huge. She had kids and a job and responsibilities. And she had pushed them aside just for him. She was making the grand gesture and confessing that she was in this as deeply as he. Such actions deserved ample rewards, and he was determined to make his "thank you" memorable.

As she screamed his name over and over again, he stopped his handiwork and pulled her to him, holding her and professing his undying love and devotion as her body still pulsed with pleasure. It was a truly beautiful, happy, love-filled moment that neither of them would forget.

Later, he mumbled something about Jen and dinner and that he should go grovel for them until Meredith was ready to come out.

"No," she said, surprising him with her sudden focus and energy. "Round two was wonderful and perfect and amazing. But it was all for me." Before he could protest, she silenced him with a kiss.

"You can't expect me to leave it there. You deserve your own special treatment. And I have plans for you, mister."

Derek tried to shrug it off and assure her he'd make love to her later. But Meredith insisted that she be allowed to have her way with him. He knew it was pointless to argue with her. He loved nothing more than Meredith having her way with him. He pulled her in for a kiss that she returned in kind. Then she pulled back and rose on her still-wobbly legs, taking his hand and pulling him up to stand with her. "Better," she said, walking across the room with him. "I want you standing up," she said, trailing kisses and fingertips across his shoulders and down his chest, "so that I can literally bring you to your knees." And with as much focus and flourish as he had just lavished upon her, Meredith went to work ensuring the complete undoing of the man she loved so much.

At the point at which Derek was convinced he really would die from pure pleasure, he managed to lift her and carry her back to bed. They fit their bodies together perfectly and made love more perfectly than they ever had before.