You're Like Coming Home

58.

"Hey," Meredith grinned as she entered the apartment a couple weeks later, kicking her shoes off and walking over to the couch where Derek lay, a textbook propped open on his chest.

"Hey," he replied, leaning up to kiss her. "How was the test?"

"I rocked it," Meredith giggled, moving towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. "I was the first one done, and I wasn't stuck on a single question."

"That's my girl," Derek laughed.

"So where are we going tonight?" Meredith asked.

"It's up to you, really," Derek sighed. "But honestly, Mer, I'm not feeling that well."

Meredith was at his side in a flash, her hand pressing against his forehead. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Did you throw up? Do you have a fever? Are your glands swollen? Mono's going around, I swear to God, if you gave me mono..."

"Meredith, calm down," Derek laughed. "I don't have mono, I had it in high school. And I'm fine, just a sore throat. We can still have date night, and just...eat ice cream or something."

"Are you sure you feel okay?" Meredith asked, chewing on her lower lip. "Cause now that you mention it, you look a little pale..."

"Meredith, I'm fine," Derek sighed, standing up and walking over to her. "You don't have to be so overprotective."

"I learned from my crazy husband," Meredith sighed as she leaned up to kiss him.

"Hmm," Derek sighed. "I'll go pick out a movie, how about you get dressed in your pjs and grab some ice cream? We'll have sundaes for dinner."

"Okay," Meredith giggled. She turned to walk up the stairs, quickly changing into a pair of Derek's boxer shorts and one of his sweatshirts. She thought for a moment before she ran a brush through her hair and rubbed some lotion over herself, knowing that even though she didn't have to wear fancy lingerie to make Derek want her, it was still nice to have a little bit going for her. She bounded back down the stairs, smiling as she saw Derek pulling the ice cream out of the fridge.

"You want the usual?" he asked.

"Yup," Meredith giggled as she walked to the table and picked up the mail. "But tell me when it's time for the chocolate sauce because you never put enough on."

Derek rolled his eyes as he began scooping the ice cream, listening as Meredith tore open a couple envelopes. "Anything good?" he asked.

"Bills," Meredith rolled her eyes. "And a letter from Addie."

"Good," Derek smiled, bringing the ice cream out of the kitchen. "Okay, here's...Mer? What's wrong?"

Meredith was staring down at a piece of paper, clutching it tightly in her hands as her face turned paler by the moment.

"Meredith," Derek breathed, setting the ice cream down on the table and gently prying the paper out of her hands. "Oh my god."

He was holding two pictures in his hand, both of which made his stomach churn. The first was of Meredith, clad only in a towel as she stood at the end of their bed, clothes thrown over the bed.

The second made him see red and want to throw up at the same time as he stared down at a picture of the two of them, wrapped in each other's embrace as they made love. He swallowed hard as he stared down at it, taking notice of the pure ecstasy on Meredith's face, which he was sure hadn't gone unnoticed by whatever creep had sent these pictures to them.

"Derek," Meredith breathed, reaching out to clutch his arm. "There's...someone's..."

Derek threw the pictures onto the table as he stormed over to the window, staring out at the surrounding buildings. "There's hundreds of apartments across the street," he said. "The roof...anyone with a halfway decent camera could zoom right in."