A/N: I am so sorry for the huge delay, guys! I know y'all have been waiting patiently for an update, but studies and work have been keeping me really busy, so I went AWOL. Sorry! I'll not keep you from the long-awaited chapter anymore and just let you dive in!
P.S. A BIG thank you to Lara for being my pre-reader for this story! I swear she is the best pre-reader ever! :)
P.P.S. My friend, Karen, found these huge, ugly, hideous mistakes in this chapter! *sob* Makes me feel like the most terrible writer in the world :'( Anyway, I'm reposting this chapter for that reason. Sorry that you guys had to deal with these embarrassing mistakes :(
...this night is sparkling, don't you let it go
I am wonder-struck, blushing all the way home...
Meredith entered the bar hesitantly with Dr. Shepherd in tow. She wrung her hands together nervously as she walked inside the warm room that was bursting at the seams. She was completely convinced that letting him buy her a drink was a bad idea. A really bad idea. Because she hated Dr. Shepherd. Or not so much now, because of that little moment during Katie's surgery, but still... Bottom line was that she hated Dr. Shepherd. And having drinks with him was an idea straight from hell. Why had she ever mentioned him buying her a drink in the first place? Stupid, stupid, stupid her.
"So...Dr. Grey, what would you like to have?" he asked as he hopped up on a barstool and spun around to face her.
"A shot of tequila. Neat," Meredith spoke softly, trying to avoid looking Dr. Shepherd in the eye. It was his eyes. His stupid, dreamy blue eyes. They made her brain go fuzzy and made her say things that she regretted. She was pretty sure she had been looking into his stupid blue eyes when she had asked him to buy her a drink. Big mistake. Rookie freaking mistake.
"Tequila?" Dr. Shepherd asked, raising his eyebrows. "You drink tequila?"
Meredith's eyes snapped up to meet Dr. Shepherd's. She narrowed her eyes at his expression of disbelief and said, "Why? Why is it so surprising? Can I not drink tequila? Is it because I'm a woman? Just because I'm a woman, I'm supposed to drink only champagne and wine and move around wearing those pesky gowns?"
"No!" he exclaimed rather loudly. "I didn't mean it in that way..." He sighed audibly and said, "Grey, why do you always take what I say or do in the wrong sense?"
Meredith shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe the things you say or do are wrong themselves," she said, averting her eyes from his gaze. He was doing it again. The stupid thing with his stupid eyes that made her do stupid things. She had to get ahold of herself.
She heard another sigh being expelled from him before he called out to the bartender.
"Hey Joe," she heard Dr. Shepherd say to the bartender.
"Hey doc. How are you?" the bartender rejoined.
"I'm good. Yourself?" Dr. Shepherd said.
"Doing pretty well," Joe said, "So, what do you want today?" Meredith noticed Joe eyeing her while saying that, and she purposely slid her barstool away from Dr. Shepherd.
"A shot of tequila, neat, and a double scotch single malt," Dr. Shepherd said.
"Will do," Joe replied and walked away from the counter to get their drinks.
Meredith and Derek sat in awkward silence as they waited for their drinks to arrive.
She fixed her gaze on a teeny spot on the counter and continued staring at it, not knowing what to say to her companion. Not that she was dying to talk to her companion, because she wasn't. It was just that it was awkward as hell, sitting there with Dr. Shepherd, without a single word being exchanged between them. The air was so thick with tension and awkwardness that you could slice it with a knife.
Dr. Shepherd harrumphed once, and Meredith fidgeted with the wristband of her watch, trying to come up with something to say to him. Something. Maybe a simple 'how are you doing' or 'what are your plans for the night?' At least something to scotch the unbearable awkwardness and deafening silence.
"Today's surgery was great," Meredith finally murmured. She wanted to smack herself. Who said that? Of course Katie's surgery was great. He already knew that. It was not breaking news. Why did she say that, of all the things she could have said? She was a moron. She hoped desperately that Dr. Shepherd had not heard her.
"Yeah, it was," he replied, and Meredith closed her eyes. Damn.
"It was...um...It was a great learning opportunity," she said, fumbling for words. "You are so great at what you do. It was a pleasure working with you." She had done it again. Stupid her. Of course he knew that he was great at what he did. He didn't become the head of neurosurgery just like that. She might hate him, but she had to admit that he was an incredibly talented surgeon.
"Thanks. It was a pleasure working with you too," Dr. Shepherd said, "After you complete your residency, I am sure you'll be quite a talented surgeon yourself."
Meredith looked up from the spot she had been staring at, and locked eyes with Dr. Shepherd, surprised. She felt her cheeks warm up and pink, and she mumbled a thank you amidst trying to control her blushing.
"No need to thank me. It's the truth. Very few interns can diagnose such an intricate case on their second day of work, with little to no knowledge of what they might be dealing with. You diagnosed Katie's condition when I couldn't. You've got the insight and intuition that you need to become a great surgeon," Dr. Shepherd said, looking Meredith straight in the eye. "Have you decided on a speciality yet?"
Meredith just shook her head, unable to say anything. She couldn't believe that she was hearing all those things from Dr. Shepherd, who hated her and whom she herself hated. It felt surreal. It felt...surprisingly nice.
Before she could mull over the conflicting emotions coursing through her at warp speed, Joe arrived with their drinks.
"Oh, thanks," Meredith said to Joe, breaking her gaze from Dr. Shepherd.
"No problem. Enjoy your drinks," Joe said with a genial smile and left the counter.
Meredith looked to Dr. Shepherd, unsure about what to do. Were they going to clink their glasses together, or should she start drinking?
Dr. Shepherd gave her a tiny smile and raised his glass. With smiling eyes, he said, "Here's to saving a life, working on a great case and working with you. And here's to you, Meredith Grey."
Meredith felt herself blush furiously as she raised her glass and clinked it with his. She had no idea how he knew her full name. She was pretty sure she had never told him what her first name was. And that was not what really mattered. What mattered was that he had just made a toast to her. He had just made a toast to her, and she had been calling him horrible names only a couple of hours ago.
Not wanting to say another thank you, not because she wasn't grateful, because she was, but because all she had said to him in the last couple of minutes was thank you, Meredith raised her glass to her lips and threw her head back, downing the shot in one gulp.
As her head came back up, she slammed the glass down on the table and turned to face Dr. Shepherd, only to find him staring at her. He was staring at her. Not in a creepy or gawking kind of way. But in a really weird way. A way that she couldn't describe in words, nor could she place her finger on it.
"What?" Meredith asked self-consciously, tugging at the hem of her blouse.
"Oh – um – uh – nothing," he said, looking away immediately. He turned his eyes to his drink and began to sip at it.
"Okay," Meredith said, even though she was fully convinced that it was not nothing. "So, that was the one drink that you promised to buy me. Um...I'll leave now..." she trailed off uncertainly, picking up her purse.
"Wow! I didn't know that one drink meant strictly one drink," Derek said with a chuckle as his eyes met hers. "Are you afraid to get drunk, Grey?"
"Excuse me?" she said sharply, narrowing her eyes.
"I asked if you're a lightweight. You know, if you can't hold your alcohol," Dr. Shepherd said with a sneer that made Meredith's blood boil in her veins.
"I know what a lightweight means, thank you," Meredith said through gritted teeth. "And no, Dr. Shepherd, I am not a lightweight. I bet I can hold my alcohol better than you," she said with a smirk.
It was his turn to narrow his eyes. "What did you just say?"
"I said that I think I can totally drink you under the table, anytime," Meredith said, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her chin defiantly.
"Ohhhh...You would like to think so...But, boy are you wrong," Dr. Shepherd said.
"I am not wrong. I am seldom wrong. One would think you would know that after today," Meredith snarked back, alluding to her being right about Katie's case.
"Says the person who is fleeing from the bar like a bat out of hell because she is too afraid of getting drunk if she has more than one drink," Derek said with a full-blown laugh. "If you are really right, then stay here and prove it to me."
Anger – pure, blinding rage coursed through Meredith's veins as she heard Dr. Shepherd's derisive laughter. He had challenged her. There was no backing down now. One thing that Meredith Grey couldn't stand was being made fun of – of being mocked and flouted at.
"Fine," she said, hopping back on the barstool and slamming her purse down on the counter. "It's on."
"Fine," Dr. Shepherd said, motioning to Joe to come over.
"Perfect," Meredith said through her teeth as Joe made his way towards them.
"I don't like you," Meredith slurred as she shelled a peanut. "I don't like you at all, Dr. Shepherd."
"I don't like you either, Dr. Grey," Dr. Shepherd answered, and she could feel his eyes burning holes into her skin. But, she kept her eyes on the heap of peanuts that she had created. She had already had one too many drinks. She didn't need to look into his stupid, dreamy eyes to make her do something that she regretted. The room was already spinning as it was.
"That's great. We both don't like each other. Problem solved," Meredith mumbled, looking up at the ceiling and trying to ascertain whether it was arched or not.
"I would like to know why though," Derek slurred slightly as he downed another drink.
"Why what?" Meredith asked. Why was Dr. Shepherd speaking in circles? Why was everything going around in circles? Her head, Dr. Shepherd's words, the room...It was odd.
"Why you don't like me," he rejoined, spinning around to look at her again.
"Oh..." Meredith said. That was an easy question. Easier than adding two and two. "You want me to give you one reason? Because I have a list," she bit back with a small laugh.
"I want the list," Dr. Shepherd said.
"Okay..." Meredith said and bit her lower lip for a moment. "You are insufferable, cocksure, cocky, arrogant...Wait, I think the last three words I said mean more or less the same," she said, pausing.
"You have an extensive vocab," Derek said.
"Thank you," Meredith said, throwing her nose in the air. "Hmph...You are also obstinate, egoistic and...and...You have a God complex."
"I do not have a God complex!" Dr. Shepherd protested rather loudly.
"Yes. Yes, you do. You think that just because you're a great surgeon, you are God," Meredith said, furrowing her eyebrows as she concentrated on shelling another peanut.
"Hah! You think I'm a great surgeon," Dr. Shepherd said, doing a little fist pump.
"Duh," Meredith murmured, "Big deal. You're the head of neuro – you have to be good at what you do."
"Still. It's the first time you gave me a compliment. Thank you."
"You are so not welcome," Meredith murmured.
"See, this is why I don't like you," Derek said. "You have an attitude problem. You're rude. Very rude. Insolent. Impudent. I think you might be the rudest person I have ever met."
"I think you are the first person to call me rude. No one has ever called me rude before, so maybe the problem is not me," Meredith pointed out.
"Point noted," he said and then let out a histrionic sigh. "The room is spinning, Dr. Grey."
"Duh. It's been doing that for a while now," Meredith said irritably.
"I think we should go home now. We both have had too many drinks."
"It's all because of you. If you didn't challenge me, I would have never got this drunk. Now, how am I, a frail little girl, supposed to go home all alone at this time of the night?" Meredith asked angrily.
"Fine. If the fault is mine, I will make up for it too. Let's take a cab and I'll drop you off at your home. You don't have to go home alone in this condition."
Meredith gathered her purse and clambered off the barstool in an ungainly way. As she took a step forward, she staggered and immediately felt a tight grip on her elbow. She looked up to find Dr. Shepherd holding her elbow tightly. She smiled at him gratefully and then proceeded to walk towards the exit. As Meredith and Derek walked out of the bar, his hand still catching her elbow, she murmured, "Dr. Shepherd, sorry for calling you an asshole."
He knitted his eyebrows together as he said, "You didn't call me an asshole."
"Oh, but I did," Meredith said solemnly with a nod of her head. "Sorry."
"I can't find my house key!" Meredith exclaimed loudly as she rummaged in her purse, standing on the front porch of her house.
"Pray to God and then look for it. Maybe you'll find it," she heard Derek say with a chortle.
"Don't make lameass jokes, Dr. Shepherd," Meredith said angrily as she glared at him once before going back to foraging for her key.
He continued to chuckle as Meredith searched frantically for her key. After a few minutes, Meredith felt someone hovering over her. She turned around to find Dr. Shepherd standing behind her on the porch. The cab that was supposed to give him his ride home was gone.
"What are you still doing here? Where's the cab?" Meredith asked, bewildered.
"I told the driver to go."
"But why?" she queried, her head swimming.
"You can't find your key. I can't leave until I see you walk safely inside your house. So, I told him to leave," he said nonchalantly. "I'll hail another cab once you find your key."
Meredith stared blankly at Dr. Shepherd. He was...He was nice. He was really nice and...chivalrous or whatever. He let go of the cab just so that he could make sure that she got inside her house safely. He was being nice, and it was making Meredith feel...oddly light-headed.
"Ok," she said as she turned back to searching for her key. "Damn! I can't find it. Did I lose it?" she thought out loud.
"Give me your purse," Dr. Shepherd said, snatching the purse from Meredith's hands.
"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Here I was thinking that you are so chivalrous, and there you are, rummaging in a lady's purse? Where are your manners? And you call me rude..."
Dr. Shepherd didn't look like he had heard her. He continued to rummage inside the purse and finally took out a key. Sliding it inside the lock, he clicked it open and the door swung back.
"There you go, honey," he drawled out with an arrogant smirk, and Meredith felt her cheeks warm.
"Thanks," she mumbled, taking her purse back from him without another look at him and starting to walk inside her house. However, she had barely taken two steps inside the foyer when she stumbled.
"Ow!" Meredith cried out as she landed square on her butt and a stinging pain shot through her hip.
"Meredith," Dr. Shepherd said as he rushed to her and knelt down beside her. "Are you okay? Did it hurt?"
"No, it didn't," Meredith said sarcastically as she tried to get up, but sat back down when her head swam. "I can't get up. I'm feeling dizzy," she said with a moan.
"Happens when you're drunk beyond imagination," he said with a laugh, and the next thing Meredith knew was that she was being scooped up by a very strong pair of arms.
"What are you –"Meredith asked as Derek picked her up in his arms and pressed her against his hard, chiselled chest. She was immediately enveloped by a strong, masculine scent of cologne, aftershave and something that was uniquely Dr. Shepherd.
"Which way is your bedroom?" he asked.
"Up the stairs. Second room, left down the corridor," Meredith murmured like a robot, too befuddled and stupefied by it all. She was in Dr. Shepherd's arms. Some part of her mind said that it had to be against her ethics and whatever.
However, she didn't complain as he carried her in his arms to her room. She wrapped her arms around his neck and basked in his unique and alluring scent, closing her eyes and leaning her head against his shoulder.
Derek looked down at Meredith's face once as he carried her down the corridor and found her face nuzzled safely in the crook of his neck. She was fast asleep. Smiling slightly at the sight of a sleeping Dr. Grey in his arms, he entered the room that was second down the corridor and walked up to the queen size bed.
Gently and carefully, he bent over and deposited her sleeping form on the sheets and untangled her arms from around his neck.
"Mmm...James..." Meredith moaned in her sleep as her brows furrowed a bit. Derek stood back up and, running a hand through his hair, he turned around to leave. Dr. Grey probably had a boyfriend named James, and she was saying his name in her sleep. No biggie. He was not James, he was Derek. Or Dr. Shepherd. And he should leave now.
As Derek took a step forward in order to leave, he felt a slight tug on his right hand. Spinning around, his eyes met the half-lidded eyes of Meredith.
"Dr. Shepherd...Please don't leave," Dr. Grey murmured as she enveloped his large hand with her tiny one. "Please stay with me tonight."
Derek hesitated. Somewhere in his fuzzy, fogged brain, an alarm was going off that was repeatedly telling him not to stay. But, as he looked into Meredith's sleep laden grey-green irides, he felt a compulsive urge to ignore that alarm. He was sleepy too, so what was the harm in falling in bed next to Meredith, especially when she was asking him to so beseechingly? And so, without thinking twice about the consequences or the fact that Dr. Grey was his intern whom he happened to hate, Derek's lips curved upwards in a small smile and he collapsed in the bed next to her, their entwined hands resting between their bodies.
A/N: aaah...Another cliffie! And a new name – James. Who is James? Is he really Meredith's boyfriend, or is there a story behind that too? And what will happen between Meredith and Derek now? Will they give in to their drunkenness and sleep with each other? More importantly, what will be the consequences if they do sleep with each other? Sound off in the box below and leave me a review! :) Btw, who thinks that we can make it to a 100 reviews? I think we can! I'll update again this month if we hit 100!