Meredith has had a hard past few months. Her best friend and person, Cristina leaving for the head of cardio in Zurich, Switzerland, and worst of all, her husband Derek Shepherd, the famous neurosurgeon, was heading off to DC to pursue his offered job by the president of the United States, she might add, to go work on his brain mapping project.
"Meredith!" Derek had yelled out early in the morning only a few days after Cristina had left. "What?" Meredith said quite annoyed. "Have you seen my blue button down? The one I always wear." Meredith sat up in the couple's bed with a shocked expression, "You're asking me? It's not my job to keep track of your laundry," she shot at him. Meredith was still not over the fact that he decided to leave her, Zola, and their newborn, Derek Bailey, behind. Meredith flung the covers off of her as she got up, shimmied off her pyjama bottoms and stepped out of them and walked over to her dresser, pulling out her worn but favourite pain of blue jeans, stepping into them and feeling the cold jean against her thighs and down to her ankles, closing her eyes. She forgot about reality for a moment before quickly pulling off her top to replace it with a nice navy blue jumper, grabbing her purse and hurrying out the door to escape her problems and go to work.
As Meredith got to work, she sulked into the attending's lounge, changing into her dark blue scrubs and pulling her hair up into a ponytail. "This is the end," she thought, looking into a mirror. "The love of my life is leaving and my person is gone." She sighed and turned away from the mirror, walking out of the lounge. "Hi!' Jo Wilson perked up as she saw her. Meredith closed her eyes, reaching her hands up to rub her temples. It was too early to be dealing with the annoying residents. "Shouldn't you be focusing on peds and not annoying me?" Meredith shot at her with an annoyed expression. "Whatever, come on, Wilson. Big day today."
Downstairs, Derek was just dropping off baby Bailey and Zola down to the day care, and then going up to the surgical floor. As he stepped into the elevator to go up and as the doors closed, his eyes closed as well. The past eight years was flashing through his eyes. Him meeting Meredith in the hospital, all their mischief in the on call rooms, kissing her in the elevator numerous times, his proposal in the elevator, the post-it note, finding Zola, having Bailey. He shook his head as he stepped out of the elevator as he reached the floor. He loved Meredith, he couldn't leave her. They had come so far together, through so much, her suicide attempts, his shooting, the death of Lexie and Mark. He changed his mind on impulse on the second. He could not and would not leave her, he then made his way to a patients room to discuss her upcoming surgery.
Derek had spoken to his patient about her tumour that was wrapped around her spine and how he would disect it out, he had done this before and he would do it again. He walked out of her room when he spotted none other than the chief of surgery and one of his close friends, Owen Hunt. "Hunt!" he exclaimed as he saw the ginger, ex-military man walk down the hallway looking flambouyent in his usual half-suit getup. "I've changed my mind," he continued with confidence. "I'm not going to DC, I can't, I'd like to keep my neuro department if that's alright?" Owen raised an eyebrow at his words, "wha-what? Shepherd, you got called by the President! Do you know how big of a deal that is? This is your dream." he said with an astonished look. Derek shook his head with his signature McDreamy half-smile. "Not anymore. My dream is wherever Meredith may be."
Down the hall and a few turns away, Meredith was discussing a simple out-patient galbladder removal with her patient and Wilson. Meredith adored this patient, a upbeat and happy mother who was surrounded by her twin girls who were three, and her husband. Meredith walked out of the room with a smile on her face which slowly faded as she saw Derek coming down the hall. She turned on her heel to turn away but it was too late, he had already grabbed her arm and pulled her into the nearest on-call room.
"Meredith.." Derek began as Meredith sighed, looking to the side."We can't keep fighting like this, it's not us. We're better than this," he said softly as he cocked his head to the side to look at her with a small smile as he reched his hand out to take Meredith's chin between his index finger and thumb, turning her head to look at him. "I can't leave you, and I've realised that. You're my life and I want to be wherever you and our children are. I'm not going." Meredith's eyes went wide as he said this, "What? This is what you want, it's your year.." She looked at him with a shocked expression as she continued, "You can't stay. Owen won't let you." "He already has," he smirked as he leaned in to softly peck her lips. "I want lifetime with you, not a lifetime across the country."
