Breakthrough

Ch. 4 – Anticipation, my friend

Derek Shepherd was propped up on one arm in the dark on his hospital bed. He was holding his cell phone, and every few seconds he flipped it open to make sure he really didn't have any new messages. He sighed and leaned back down on the bed, rubbing his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of his free hand. What are you doing? He wondered to himself. Finally his phone beeped, and he flipped it open. The text from Mark read:

Yes, unfortunately. What are you doing up? You should be resting.

That's a good question, Derek thought to himself. His chest ached from the surgery, and he touched it tenderly. He pushed the button to call the nurse, and one entered the room more swiftly than he'd expected.

"Yes, Chief Shepherd? How're you feeling?" the young nurse asked brightly.

"Aah, that's the problem, I'm feeling it," Derek said with a tired laugh. The nurse smiled back and stepped over to his I.V.

"There you go," she said as she increased his pain killers. "You should be able to fall back asleep soon," she added. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No no, that's great, thank you," Derek said, smiling back faintly. She nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. The room was dark except for the lights on some of the medical machinery. Derek finally opened his phone again and slowly began typing a reply:

I woke up when my pain killers wore off. Nurse just gave me some more.

After the message sent, he was left staring at the background on his cell phone; a picture of Meredith. He smiled. It was his favorite picture of her. But his smile fell as he realized he hadn't even thought to call her when he woke up. Instead you texted Mark, his thoughts reminded him. In defiance of this, he immediately dialed Meredith's number. Typical of Meredith, the phone only had to ring a couple of times before she picked up, even though it was almost 5:00 am.

"Derek! Oh my god, are you ok?" came her light voice over the line.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said with a smile. "How are you?"

"Worried sick about you, but otherwise, living," Meredith replied somewhat sarcastically. Just then Derek heard the beep of a new text message in his ear. He ignored it for the moment.

"Well I just had the nurse give me some more pain killers, so I'll probably go back to sleep soon. But I just wanted to make sure you're ok. And tell you that I love you," he added, as if proving it to himself.

"I love you too, Derek," Meredith said sweetly.

"Will you be here when I wake up in the morning?" Derek asked.

"Of course," she replied, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Alright. I love you. Goodnight," he said.

"I love you too. Goodnight," she replied, and they both hung up. Derek stared at his closed phone for a few moments, knowing there was still an unread text. He swallowed a few times then read it:

So... any particular reason you texted me? Need me to bring you something?

Derek felt stupid for having said anything at all, and now he really had no response. He decided that he'd play it off as drug-induced-texting in the morning.

No... I'm fine. Sleepy. See you tomorrow?

The reply from Mark came quickly.

You bet. Goodnight, Derek.

Derek shut his phone and went to put it away, but decided upon one last message. As he started feeling more and more hazy, he typed out:

You're pathetic and I'm a lesser man for knowing you.

Then he set the phone back down on the table next to his hospital bed, rolled over and shut his eyes with a grin firmly in place.

Mark laughed out loudly as he read the final text from his friend, then took his jacket and shoes back off. He'd quickly gotten ready to leave, just in case Derek did want him to come by. But no matter, he'd see him tomorrow. He took a large gulp from his glass of water, then dumped out the rest and set the glass in the sink. He went back to his room, pulling off his shirt and pants. Mark slipped under the covers of his bed and shut his eyes, figuring he'd try to sleep at least a couple hours. Another memory dredged it's way to the surface of his consciousness and he watched it in his mind as he slowly became drowsy.

Derek Shepherd and his girlfriend Rose came walking into the hospital as Mark Sloan was at the nurse's station, reading a patient's chart. Derek waved goodbye to Rose as she continued on down the hallway, then leaned up against the counter next to Mark, grabbing another chart.

"What do you see in her?" Mark asked in disbelief. "Is it the hot sex? Is she an animal? Is she a...bobcat?"

"Mark," Derek reprimanded.

"Come on! Lady in the streets, tramp in the sheets, am I right?" Mark continued playfully.

"Oooh yeah, she's amazing," Derek replied sarcastically. "Hot. Sweaty. Very dirty, hot, sweaty, sex," he said in a bored voice while flipping pages in the chart.

Mark tossed him a puzzled look.

"You haven't slept with her yet, have you?" he asked Derek suspiciously.

"She's waiting til we're serious," Derek responded immediately. Mark laughed to himself.

"She has morals, she's a lady," Derek added defensively. "Besides, you know what's better than sex?"

"Hmm, what?" Mark asked skeptically.

"Anticipation," Derek answered, picking up the chart. He leaned in closer to Mark. "Anticipation, my friend," he said with a grin, then walked away.

A/N: I can't believe I'm updating again already, hopefully I can keep it up! Thanks for the reviews :)