a/N: Hi everyone! You know how sometime you need a place to release any bundled up energy or frustration? Well this is my place. It's a group of one-shots, written by me, fixing some Meredith and Derek that I felt could use a little fixing. Every moment isn't related (example: I could write a chapter about 6x01 and then 6x07, but they wouldn't have anything to do with each other. Get it?) I'll be updating this every now and then, mostly when Shonda does something to upset me and I need to get a little Meredith and Derek bright and shininess in. Enjoy, read and review! Disclaimer: Characters owned by Shonda & company, and mainly the italicized dialogue in the beginning is from her episode, too!

This update is from the end Meredith and Derek scene from the episode Desire, from season three episode twenty-one.

Meredith looked at him, not believing his response to her. He looked tormented, a look that certainly didn't suit his face. Meredith could tell off the bat. Above them, rain patted on the window, pounding high above their heads. She sniffed the thick and sticky air laden with moisture. She continued looking at him, waiting for a response. All that came out was a meek, "I'm fine." Meredith was Meredith, though. And she knew him better than that. She gulped and mumbled a response.
" Are we fine?"
She watched as Derek's expression changed. "Sure." Meredith let a sigh escape the gap between her pink lips.
"Not so convincing." At all. "I shouldn't have accused you of hovering. It wasn't nice. You were just trying to be there for me. But now I'm being available and communicating and being naked and doing all of your favorite things." She looked at him, begging him silently to look at her.
Of course, he let out a flat: "Mmm, good things." His expression stayed the same. Same as before. She sighed again, hoping he'd hear her worry.
" Then why are you still staring at the ceiling?"
" I don't know. It's just that...that day...you came out of the water...I spent the scariest hour of my life trying to breathe for you." Meredith tried to listen to him, but half of her being was trying to relive it. She knew he had been breathing for her. In her unconscious state, she had found out that he couldn't live without her. Of course he had been breathing for her. "I love you and I want you but I don't know what to...you didn't swim." She wanted to protest. She did swim. Didn't she? "You didn't swim and you know how to...and I don't know if I can...I don't know if I wanna...keep trying to breathe for you." Her heart faded. It had been so ready, so open, so available. She had opened it up to him, and she felt it squish under the big heel of heartbreak. She winced.
She bit her lip and whispered against her will, "I should go." She waited for him to protest, or apologize, or hold her, but there was no response. She felt a wad of tears fill in her throat, and it made her voice damp and unfamiliar. "I'll go." She breathed, climbing out of the bed.

She pulled her clothes on, biting her lip until it stung and hoping whatever heart break she was feeling would fade. It of course didn't, and the painful thumping intensified. "I guess… I'll just… go." She added passive aggressively. She began to pad away softly, the rain drowning out the sob that escaped her mouth.

"Meredith…" She heard Derek behind her gently, as he wrapped his warm hand around her forearm.

"I should…"

"Meredith," He said again, firmer. She didn't turn around as she heard him pull his clothes on as well. She just stood there, frozen in the time passing around her. Of course the rain continued. You can't stop the rain. "I…" His voice was thick and unfamiliar. It sounded sad. She gulped, shoving the clump of tears back down her throat forcefully.

"I'm trying!" She spun on her heels, surprised by the intensity of her voice. He looked at her, his eyes casting apon her distraught face. "I… I'm really trying. I don't know how to communicate. I certainly don't know the difference of hovering and watching over me. I wish I did. But…I don't… I've never done this before." Her eyes wandered down, staring intently at the floor as if it was interesting. She couldn't look into his icy eyes in a fear that it would open the gate to all the emotions that were attempting to shove their way out. She took a deep shaky breath.

Pound, patter, splat. The rain taunted the eerie and unwelcome silence between them. Meredith shook her head, not expecting an answer. Pound, patter, splat. Pound, patter, splat. Mocking. Again and again, as if the silence wasn't enough.

Derek's voice sliced through the noise of the downpour. She felt his warm hands on her chin, as he cupped her face gently and brought it up. His oceanic eyes met hers, "I'm sorry, Meredith." His voice lowered. "I know you're… new to this. I tend to be a little overprotective. I guess that's just a trait. Or something." A trait? She tried to pry out of his grasp, but he held her. "I didn't mean I don't want to breathe for you. Trust me. I would breathe for you every day of your life if you needed it. Old, smelly, senile- anything, anywhere, whenever you needed it." She felt the tears come.

"Then why'd you say~" She gasped out, a splatter of sadness hitting the back of her throat.

He interrupted her gently, "I have to say, I'm new to this too. I mean, I've never had an experience like that. When you went into the water… It's just…" He ran his hands through his silky raven hair. She watched as he fumbled around for words messily, trying to find the right ones to use. "I blamed myself. I blamed myself for it… I told myself I wasn't there for you, that I hadn't been there when you needed it. I forced the blame a poun myself. I guess… So I started hovering. You were right. I wasn't just watching over you, I was really hovering. And I apologize."

"Then why…" She whispered again, looking into his eyes with a broken frown.

Pound, patter, splat.

"I really just wanted to place the blame on someone other than myself." He said quietly, shame dripping in his warm voice. "And I guess I blamed it on you. Meredith, I'm sorry…"

Meredith looked at him- really looked at him, willing with all her being to believe him. He gazed fully into her eyes, a gentle reassurance that what he said was true. Derek was always true. No matter what happened to him, no matter what crossed their paths, they were true. No running, no lies. True.

Pound, patter, splat. More rain. A downpour, rapping off his trailer, cluttering her thoughts. Pound, patter, splat.

"I'm sorry," He added again, meaningfully.

Her voice was filled with sincere hope. Meredith Grey wasn't normally one to hope. But she allowed herself to, taking a deep inhale as she breathed, "I know."

With the rain tapping and the time passing, Meredith then leaned in closer to him, inviting him to return the action. He did, swaying his body to lean into her. Both their bodies formed a perfect shape as she wrapped her arms around his warm neck, pulled him in and kissed him. He pulled her tighter and did the same, as they both could feel the weight of what happened be lifted off their shoulders.

And they kissed.

Pound, patter, splat.