Mine

Chapter 3

A/N: [around 10-25 min read, obviously music is optional]
no comment 😙
Time Jump
Derek's POV:
I wake up with a shake again. Not remembering what I dreamt of, I throw on clothes and grab my phone. Smiling, I see Meredith's face. I open our texts and read them over. They are just good mornings and good nights but still, her wishing me sweet dreams actually works. Grabbing a fishing pole, I throw on boots. As I exit the trailer, the cold air chills my bones. My mind runs to Meredith again as I walk to a lake on my land. The first night of Seattle sticks in my mind like glue. Single malt scotch, seeing Meredith for the first time, the walk down the dark streets. Her hands wrapping around my arm. Her fingers sliding in the space between mine. I catch a fish and hold it from leaving my hands. It struggles to move but I deprive it of water. I check my watch while it cooks. Meredith's shift starts at 4:30. I grab the fish off the stove and cut it into bite sized pieces. I ate the fish and ran into the car. I check my watch again to make sure I would get to the hospital 10 minutes before her rounds. Once I reach the hospital, I see her walking into the building with her roommates; Isobel and George. Her hair flips in the  breeze causing my heart to beat faster. The sliding glass doors close and I walk behind her close enough to catch the flowery scent where she once was. I stop as the interns close the door. I sigh and change into my dark blue scrubs. I see Bailey talking to the interns and head to the coffee cart. I order a black coffee and pour a few sugars in. I smile seeing all the interns leaving the locker room and head to wait for Meredith. I smile as she walks into me.
"I am screw-" She stops as her face pushes into my chest.
I step back and laugh as she walks away.
"You're here early." She says.
"I have a chordotmy at 5, I'll be out at 6. Thought I could buy you breakfast before your rounds." I said.
"I've already eaten." She said walking with me.
"Oh, what did you have?" I ask turning around.
"Nome off your business." She says looking straight ahead.
"You a cereal person? Straight out of the box? Or are you all fruit-and-fibery?" I asked walking backwards.
Her left arm outstretched and she grabs my scrub top and pulls me closer to her. I get surprised and drop my coffee. She grabs it out of the air with her right hand and pulls me even closer.
"He is really sorry about that. He didn't mean to." I smile as she apologizes to a kid in a bed who is being wheeled away.
"Look where you are going next time." She smiles.
I turn as her hands un-grip my scrub top.
"Sorry, I didn't hear them. Can I have my coffee?." I ask.
"Right." She says sipping at the coffee.
I smile as she licks her lips and hands me the cup. I pull it to my mouth and savor my sip as I feel her saliva and taste a gentle cherry at her lip gloss.
"Pancakes? Do you like pancakes?" I asked laughing.
"Left over grilled cheese. Curiosity satisfied?" She asked.
"That's sad. That is pathetic. A good day starts with a good breakfast." I said dissatisfied.
"Look, I'm not being seen with you in this hospital. Learn it, live it. It's unprofessional." She says while we walked into the lobby.
"Think of it as an attending getting to know one of his interns." I smirked.
"He slept with the intern." She sounded annoyed.
"Barely knew her." I answered truthfully.
"And it should stay that way." She shot back.
"You want me to be professional? I'll be professional." I say.
"That's what I want." She said with a sigh.
"Then that's what you'll get." I said calmly.
She rolled her eyes.
"Nice talking to you Dr.Grey!" I said loudly.
As I walked away, I smiled wide knowing she wanted more. Walking into the patient room, I got a 911 page for a head trauma. I ran down stairs and entered the room to see Meredith holding the mans hand tightly.
"Mr. Cruz. Can you hear me? Your wife is on the way." She says loudly.
He nods as I walked past her, letting my hands run across her back. She glared at me and I smirked. My expression dropped as I looked at the image. The man had seven nails in his head.
"Hello? I can't see." He says.
"Push titration up to 10 milligrams. You know what...never mind, I don't want him to move." I said loudly.
"Listen to me Mr. Cruz!" She yelled.
Everyone got quite and watched her as she spoke.
"You are going to be fine. We need you to stay as still as possible." She said calmly, making him listen.
I stared in awe for a second before examining his eyes.
"He managed to miss a blood-vessel. That's a minor miracle. His optic nerve had been affected." I said.
"Can your feel this? No? Okay, numbness on his right side. What's our immediate concern?" I asked giving the residents an opportunity to answer.
"Infection." Meredith said quickly.
"Right. I'm going to be pulling these nails out in the next half hour. I'm going to need a CT." I said.
"CT's are down." A nurse said.
"What?!" I yelled turning around.
"They were exchanged last night, computers crashed- they won't be up till one." The nurse said.
"Of course they are." I said angrily.
"Calm down Derek." Meredith whispered brushing my fingers with hers.
"Alright, okay. Other options?" I asked.
"An MRI." George said in triumph.
"Brilliant. The mans got nails in his head, put him in a giant magnet. You want films from 3 access points and a C arm in surgery." Alex said.
"Excellent. Dig up research and find out if this has ever happened before." I say.
"George and Alex walk quickly out of the room while the patient gets agitated.
"My wife, my wife, my wife." He said.
"Your wife is on the Mr. Cruz." She said clearly.
"Stay with him, keep him calm and look for changes." I said.
She nodded as I walked into the hall. Grabbing a fistful of my hair, I pushed it back. I sighed and walked up the stairs to a patient.
"Dr. Shepherd! Hey!" My patient said.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Smith, we have an emergent man with a head trauma." I said giving him sad eyes.
"What does that mean?" He asked.
"I have to postpone your surgery to tomorrow." I sighed.
"That's alright Dr. Shepherd." He smiled.
I apologized again and walked down to Mr. Cruz's room. I saw Meredith writing in her chart and speaking to the man. "Sona- that's my wife. Sona- she'll say; why do you think it's called a gun moron. She hates the damn things." He said.
"With good reason." She laughed while examining him.
I watched her frozen to my spot. Her hair was up in ponytail and her smile sent warm feelings through me. A woman walk past me and I moved over.
"Baby?" The woman asked.
"Sona." Mr. Cruz said.
Meredith and I made eye contact while she walked to me. I moved behind her to watch the patient and her husband.
"You are in so much trouble." The woman said.
I smiled as I walked closer to Meredith and stood behind her. I sigh gently, breathing her in.
"Get a history from her before you scrub in." I whispered.
'Okay.' She mouthed.
I nodded and walked away to see the chief.
"Derek!" He said standing as I walked in.
"Hey Richard." I said walking to him.
"Please sit." He said.
I nodded and sat down in a chair. He followed by sitting down. He smiled and leaned in silently.
"Look, is there a reason you called me in. I have a surgery." I said hurriedly.
"Are you okay? Have you talked to anyone about Addison or Finn?" He asked.
"Richard. I came out here for the job, please don't bring up Addison and especially Finn." I said their names through gritted teeth.
"Alright, you know that I'm getting older, when I retire, I want you to be chief." He said.
I smiled wide as happinesses ran through me.
"I'm not retiring for a LONG time. But when that happens, you are my vote for chief." He said smiling.
"Thank you, Richard." I said laughing.
My pager rang and he waved me away. Laughing, I walked into the scrub room. Meredith stood in the scrub room holding a CT drape. I smiled and turned around. She slipped it on my chest and I felt adrenaline from her touch. I turn and slipped on her back and strapped it to her waist. She grabbed a mask and stood on her toes. Smiling, I let her tie the mask on to my head and did hers.
"He said that he was getting dizzy. His wife confirmed it." She said as we scrubbed.
"Vertigidness or Light-headedness?" I ask.
"Light-headedness, sometimes he would have to brace himself to get out of bed." She said.
"Could be a million things- simple orthostatsis." I say.
"What?" I asked at her expression.
"What made him fall down a flight of stairs?" She asked.
"He said he tripped. Just because you hear hoofbeats don't assume Zebras." I contradicted.
"Something caused him to loose consciousness and fall down the stairs. He could have a tumor." She said.
"Look, I have not idea why this guy is still alive let alone moving and talking. Let's just get him through this before we start dogging around for something else." I say.
"I'm being professional." I whispered, smirking.
I could she was smiling based on the small wrinkles that formed on the edge of her eyes. She laughed slightly and stood by the patient. Throughout the surgery, I kept trying to keep looking at her despite everyone watching through the gallery. We completely the surgery without killing him. Meredith pulled my hand into the stairwell. I smiled and let her drag me into the stairwell. She closed the door and looked up and down.
"What?" I asked.
"I have thought about your question. And I have an answer." She said clearly hiding her expressions.
My heart dropped to the ground. It also flew. I couldn't tell what her answer was. Yes or no? Does she want to go out with me or not?
"Yes." She replied.
I felt a rush of adrenaline through my body. My lips pressed against hers aggressively. I smiled wide as she pressed herself closer to me. My hands tangled themselves in her hair while hers ran down my chest. I shook slightly as her pager rang and she groaned.
"I have to go." She said.
"Yeah." I said out of breath.
I nodded and smiled, watching her walk away. I laughed and my expression dropped. What if Richard found out? I would be out of the job for chief. Who would tell? We were the only ones that knew. Smiling, I drove home and dismissed my fears. As I fell on my bed, my dreams overtook me. I went through date ideas with the Meredith in them. I woke up happy and drove back to the hospital. As I sipped my coffee, I approached her.
"Grilled Cheese again?" I asked.
"Cold pizza." She laughed.
I smiled and took the chart from her hands.
"Is he awake yet?" I asked reading off the chart.
"Even better." She smiled.
"Really? Let's see what his nurse says." I smiled.
"Hi, Sona, Jorge. How are you this morning?" I asked them.
"Tell them what color my dress is Jorge." Sona asked.
"I'd know the answer even if I couldn't see." He smiled.
I turned to see Meredith smiling at me. I smiled back and continued to read through the chart.
"Can you tell me what breakfast you had on Monday?" I asked.
"Cheese omelet and on Sunday and Saturday and Friday. Sona gets up every morning and makes me a cheese omelet." He smiled as his wife walked into the room.
"It's the only thing he likes." She smiled.
"It's the only thing you know how to cook." He laughed.
"Okay, things look good but I need Jorge to get an MRI this morning to check for residual bleeding." I said.
Meredith smiled and followed me, with his bed. She rolled him into CT and walked back to the screening room. As we waited for the image to show up on the screen, she giggled.
"So, I was thinking..." I said.
"Shocker." She replied causing me to laugh.
"Meredith would you like to get breakfast with me tomorrow?" I asked acting nonchalant.
I stepped backwards and gently connected our pinky's.
"Okay." She smiled.
"I'll send you the address and you can meet me there since it would be too risky for me to pick you up." I smiled.
"Damn." She said getting serious.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" I asked worried.
She pointed to the computer and I shook, disconnecting our fingers.
"You were right. That's a midline tumor near the hypothalamus." I sighed.
Her fingers pushed into mine and rested her head close to my clavicle. Placing a gently kiss on her head, I squeezed her hand.
"You okay?" I softly asked feeling a tear hit my chest.
She nodded and let my fingers go. I watched as she wiped her eyes and walked into the CT scan to wheel him to his room. I sighed and followed her to the patient room. We called his wife who sat beside him. Meredith and I stood at the foot of the bed and let our hands fall out of sight. I took her hand in mine and she looked at me. I rubbed my thumb over the front of her hand and faced Sona.
"Jorge you have a tumor." I said softly.
Sona sat beside with him a sad expression on her face.
"What can we do?" She asked.
"Best practice, probably to remove the tumor. Probably because I can't get it all. 99% of it. But not all of it." I said watching tears fill in Sona's eyes.
Meredith held on to my hand tightly and I felt awful she had to be here. I felt the need to protect her from everything.
"Radiation and Chemo, your looking at 5 to 10 good years." I said solemnly.
My hands were hot with Meredith's grip as they spoke.
"Let's do it." Jorge said.
"You haven't heard the downside." I spoke sadly.
Meredith let go of my hand so I could sit by the patient.
"See, the tumor is located in a part of your brain where your memory and personality resides. And because of the fuzzy edges of this type of tumor, I have to cut out a lot. Jorge, you stand a good chance at losing your memories, of losing who you are." I said softly.
Turning back, I saw tears flowing from Meredith's eyes as she frantically tried to hide them.
"Is there any other way?" His wife asked.
"The alternative is a gamma or cyberknife treatment with focus radiation. It's less evasive. There's little chance of memory loss or him losing himself. But it would only give Jorge maybe three to five years." I spoke holding back tears.
"This is an incredibly difficult decision. If you have anymore questions or you need to talk to me. I'm here okay?" I asked.
The nodded and I left the room passing Meredith who gently took the chart and followed me. Once she put the chart down, I dragged her into an empty closet. It was obvious that losing ones self was personal for her. Seeing her in pain was personal to me. I held her close as she buried her head into my neck. I heard soft sniffles and pushed back the tears that were threatening to roll out of my eyes. Her tears inked my scrub top, neck and ran down my my shoulder. I let a few tears fall onto her lab coat. Meredith pulled away from me and turned around.
"Meredith." I said pulling her back to me.
My heart dropped when I saw her face. Her eyes were red and her face was dripping with tears. My fingers instantly moved to caress her cheeks.
"Tell me what's wrong." I said.
Her face was in my hands and my skin rubbed against her cheeks. She closed her eyes and let more tears fall.
"Please." I begged.
I pulled her into my arms again and held her close. Her arms wrapped my torso while I let mine wrap her neck.
"I can't- I don't- I haven't known you for long enough to tell you." She spoke softly, muffled into my shoulder.
"Alright, how can I help?" I asked.
"Can we just stay like this?" She asked.
"Of course." I said.
Pulling her closer, I kissed her skin, wet with tears. It killed me to know that she didn't trust me yet, but it did make sense. She hadn't know me for very long and I hadn't shown her that she could trust me. I couldn't bring myself to speak.
'You can trust me.' I wanted to say. 'You have no reason not to.' I wanted to say, but I couldn't. Maybe she could trust me but I couldn't let her. Addison weighed down on me like a chain. The things to really advance my relationship with Meredith was blocked by the fact that I still had a wife. She pulled away and smiled weakly. I gave her an empathetic look and helped her wiped her tears away. She nodded.
"Thank You." She said.
I stepped closer to her and pressed my lips to her temple. I let my lips take over and gently brushed my lips against her forehead.
"Your welcome." I said giving her a quick smile.
She nodded again and left the room. I slumped to the floor and leaned against the metal shelves. Getting up, I sighed and walked out of the the room.
"Patient 345 has an answer for you." A nurse said walking up to me.
I nodded and walked back to Jorge's room. It had been 3 hours since I last spoke with them. I smiled seeing Meredith doing charts. Walking into the room, I stood by the bed.
"We want the surgery." Jorge said.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
They nodded and I sighed.
"I'll do my best." I said shaking Sona's hand.
I walked out of the room and Meredith who was sitting down the hall and doing charts.
"Jorge and Sona want the surgery." I said calmly.
"They want you to cut it out?" She asked snapping her head.
"It's their decision." I said walking away.
I sat in the desk, researching for the surgery on Jorge when I heard commotion. Looking outside the window, I see Meredith and Sona. They both look upset and I hear more.
"This is our decision." Sona said loudly.
"You have no idea what this will do to you...Isn't 5 good years better than 10 bad ones?" Meredith asked.
"Meredith what the hell are you doing?" I asked walking over to stand next to her.
"She needs to understand." Meredith spoke.
"I do understand. You think that I'm being selfish, that I don't want to give him up." Sona said.
"I don't." Meredith says softly.
"This is Jorge's decision. And if that means 10 bad years for me, then fine. I will give him those years. Because, I will give him anything he wants." Sona cried.
"Look, I am so sorry Sona. Please forgive her. She's an intern-" I tried to say before getting cut off.
"And if he doesn't remember me, if he doesn't remember what we are. He's still my Jorge. And I'll remember for us both." Sona said breaking.
Gently, I took Sonas hand and led her in the direction of Jorge's room.
"I'm sorry for that. Please don't let it get to you. It's probably a personal thing." I said comforting Sona.
She nodded and walked back to Jorge as I turned to see Meredith. I shook my head disappointed and walked up to her. I gave her a look that clearly said: you were wrong. She walked forward like she was walking into me but turned. I looked back and opened my mouth to say something. No words came out and I watched as she walked away. I sighed and took Meredith off my case.

Time Jump - The next morning
I sit at the table waiting for Meredith since we are supposed to date. I read the newspaper article but can't seem to focus on it. My mind is only on Meredith's breakdown. I'm still wondering why she was so upset yesterday. The whole day was perfect. Starting with her ignoring me, then saying yes. I kissed her in the stairwell after the surgery. I am shaken from my thoughts as I see Meredith walk closer to me. I fold the newspaper and set it on the table and smile.
"Good Morning." I laugh to hide my nerves.
"Good Morning." She smiles taking a menu from my hands.
"How did you sleep?" I ask.
"I slept well, how about you?" She smiles.
"I slept amazingly." I smile.
"So you to found each other." The waiter says smiling.
"Ellen!" Meredith says getting up.
She hugs the waiter and sits down. My eyes widen as I realize Meredith is the woman who comes here often.
"Yes," I smile wide.
"Do you want your regular?" The waiter asks her.
"No, I usually share with George and Izzie. I think I'm just going to have scrambled eggs." She says.
"Me too." I say flashing Meredith a McDreamy smile.
I see her blush as the waiter laughs and walks away. Meredith wears a yellow shirt that holds her curves and jeans that make her stand out. I smile as she sees me watching her. After we finish breakfast, she laughs and gets up as I put a 20 dollar bill on the table. She gets up and follows me to my car. We get in and I drove to her house.
"So..." I say. "Was that the end of our date?" I ask.
"Do you want it to be?" She smiles.
I blush hard and smile wide.
"Yes, but I want another date 20 seconds after this ends." I smile stepping on the porch with her.
"Why?" She asks.
"See, there's this thing that people do at the end of a date. I am hoping that maybe we could do that and then have another date." I smiled.
"I think I know what your talking about." She smiles.
I step closer and she presses her lips against mine. I smile at the contact but keep my hands at my sides. She does the same and I slowly open my mouth to let my tongue part her lips. She plays hard to get and pulls away. I laugh as she reaches her hand to mine.
"Are you coming in?" She asks smiling.
"I don't know, can I?" I ask.
"Yes, you can." She says.
I smile and let her pull me through the door. We walk past the den and living room. I gasp slightly at the size of the house. She walks me past the staircase and pulls me to the kitchen. I smile and sit on a barstool to watch her. She makes coffee and hands me a glass along with another for her self.
"Thank you." I smile and pull on her arms.
"Your welcome." She smiles sitting beside me before kissing my lips softly.

Word Count - 4000
Hey! I'm so tired. I feel like this was pretty crappy. Idk maybe that's just my lack of self confidence speaking. Next chapter, I have good ideas. Obviously, this chapter was shorter and it may stay that way. Good night to me, good morning or whatever to y'all's people who live all over the world.