It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

23.

Meredith sat up a little on Derek's lap and in a moment, his sister came into the room with a cup of coffee for Derek, and some hot cocoa for Meredith. They both thanked her as they took a sip. The children seemed to be nodding off in their spots, the littlest ones had been sleeping for a while.

"Okay... what's next?" Derek asked as he smiled, watching the family wait in anticipation for more stories. He couldn't believe how interested everyone was. Maybe it was the excitement of the engagement, or that they hadn't seen him in such a long time, or maybe it was because they had never seen him this happy before, he wasn't sure, but he did enjoy the attention, and it gave him the perfect excuse to flaunt his feelings for the woman in his arms. "Alright... so we got back to Boston... and I dropped Meredith off at her mother's house... and..."

"She of course, wasn't home... she was at the hospital..." Meredith shrugged.

"And then I went to work..." Derek rolled his eyes.

"So Meredith's mother is your boss..." Kathleen said with a nod.

"Yes... she is... and I wasn't quite sure how it would go over... if Meredith and I did start dating... if Meredith ever agreed to a date." He chuckled as Meredith poked him softly on the nose.

"I was playing hard to get." Meredith nodded.

"Good girl..." Mrs. Shepherd laughed.

"I dropped her off at her mother's house that day... and gave her my cell phone number... and told her if she wanted to call me, she could call me anytime... and she didn't call, and didn't call... and on New Years Eve...I got sick of waiting like a lovesick puppy dog." Derek said as he chuckled.

"It was four days..." Meredith laughed.

🎄🎄🎄

Meredith danced around the kitchen in her jogging pants and sweatshirt. She listened to the stereo and slid across the linoleum floor, her hair flouncing all over and her face red from all of the exercise. She popped a bag of microwave popcorn in the microwave and turned it on, continuing to listen to the loud music. She wiggled her butt and slipped and slid across the floor as her hair flew wildly around and her body moved with the music.

"You should really learn to lock the..."

"AHH!" Meredith screamed on top of her lungs at the sound of the voice coming from the doorway. She turned quickly to see Derek standing there in the doorway, with the most amused look on his face. She stood there for a moment, stunned, her hair hanging in her eyes, her mouth and eyes wide open.

Derek stepped to the counter and turned the dial on the music, turning the music down. "You should really learn to lock the front door." He said with a smirk.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, out of breath as she pushed her hair back in any attempt to look even moderately normal.

"You never called me... I got worried... so I came over to see if you were alright... I'm sorry... I'll let myself out." He said as his smile disappeared, turning.

"No! No, Derek... don't go..." She said as she ran up to him, grabbing his arm to turn him around. "Don't go..."

"But you're obviously busy... it's alright... I'm glad to see that you're alright." He nodded.

"Derek... wait..." She said, grabbing his arm again as he tried to walk away. "I'm not busy... I'm sorry..."

"If you're not busy... why didn't you call me?" He asked, the hurt in his voice was evident, the pout was irresistible.