Strangers in the night

36

Derek Shepherd was on a mission. Which even as he thought it he could hear Meredith giggling at him in her head. Which was why he was on a mission, because right now the only way he could hear her giggle was in his head. Which was definitely an issue. A very large issue and he was tired of it. He had to find her and talk to her and figure out what was wrong.

She wasn't avoiding him. At least, he didn't think she was. She worked with him, she talked to him, but they weren't them. She didn't giggle, she pulled away when he touched her, even their surgeries felt off. He had been resisting the urge to talk to her about it, but this had gotten bad enough. His mom and sister were leaving tomorrow, which meant she had been acting like this for two weeks.

Two weeks was too long to go on with this. This wasn't them. They were attached at the hip. They were supposed to be constantly together, and constantly talking and comfortable and everything else. This was just a mess. And he didn't even know why. He had no clue as to why. Sophie swore she knew nothing. His mom figured it was just the weirdness of them being there. But it was bigger than that.

If it was the weirdness, she'd be okay when it was just the two of them, but she wasn't. Not that she had given them much a chance to just be the two of them. She had come to walk Pip, but she never stayed long. He couldn't figure out what was going on. Which was why Derek Shepherd was on a mission. He was on a mission to get his best friend to talk.

"Meredith!" he shouted as he saw her familiar hair at the other end of the hall. She couldn't run away if he brought attention to them. That was just asking for gossip. Which would just add to the gossip that was already circulating. Apparently everyone else in the hospital had noticed something was off as well. "Mer!"

"Oh," she breathed, stopping and turning to look at him. "Dr. Shepherd...Derek...Dr. Shepherd..."

"Derek," he frowned. "It's always Derek."

"I...working," she sighed. "People, nurses...working."

"And now you're taking a break."

"I am?"

"You are," he nodded.

"But...patients. I have patients. And charts. And...doctory things."

"And I'm your boss, I can decide when you have a break."

"I haven't even been here three hours."

"I need to talk to you."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," he sighed. "Come here."

"Derek, I...really, doctory things," she murmured as she followed him into an on call room.

"Doctory things can wait."

"Fine," she sighed.

"I'm asking again...what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Derek," she rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes, I believe that," he rolled his eyes back.

"Derek, nothing's wrong. I'm good. We're good. I told you that."

"You told me that two weeks ago and it's still not true."

"It is."

"Really?"

"Yes, Derek, I'm fine," she sighed, moving away from him.

"If you're fine what is that?"

"What's what?"

"The moving away from me."

"I'm not...I don't know...I'm fine."

"No, you're not," he frowned.