7
Water
Meredith has told Derek nothing about the incident of the previous night. The last thing she wants is for him to get tense and agitated, let alone angry.
Boatmen suck.
She's in their cabin, stretching time before they have to have breakfast with the Js.
"Mer, are you coming?" Derek's head pops around the corner.
"I'll be right there," she says, smiling a small smile.
"Okay, well, see you in a bit, then." And his head disappears.
All right, let's do this, Meredith thinks and reluctantly leaves the cabin.
Entering the kitchen, she finds herself surprised by the sight in front of her. On top of her plate sits a dive mask and the Js smile sheepishly at her.
"Good morning, miss Grey," they say in unison and Meredith cocks her eyebrows in surprise.
"Good morning," she mumbles and sits next to Derek, who is grinning broadly.
"Uhm, what is this doing on my plate?" she asks suspiciously and sways the dive mask in front of his face.
"It's a surprise," Derek explains happily. "My surprise. For you. We're diving today, like you said you wanted to some day."
"Oh, Derek!" Meredith exclaims and flings her arms around his neck. "That's great, thank you," she whispers in his hair.
He pats her back softly.
"You're welcome," he says and kisses her forehead.
Jason gives a grunt but neither Meredith nor Derek can be bothered by it. They're going to dive!
It's a bright day and the water is calm. John and Derek are waiting on deck for Meredith to emerge from the cabin.
"Mer? Everything all right in there?"
"Kind of."
"You need a hand?"
"Quite literally, yes. Will you come in?"
Derek finds his girlfriend inside, struggling to get into the tight diving suit, her back towards him.
"You look hot!" Derek eyes her appreciatively.
"Don't even think about it. I'm not getting out of this suit until I've seen at least a hundred fish. The closest thing to sex you're getting is to zip me up. Geez, who picked this size?" Meredith feels as though she's being crushed from all sides. Derek zips her up and finally she notices how he looks.
"Can you breathe in this thing? 'Cause I can't," she decides to ignore his blunt handsomeness and takes a few deep breaths to demonstrate her point.
"It will get better in the water," Derek assures her. "Come on, and stop looking at my ass as if I only have brains to keep my ears apart. There's more to me than just good looks," he teases.
"Hm, very good looks," Meredith whispers in his ear and follows him outside.
John is already in his diving suit and wants to get into the water as soon as possible.
In the water is where they find themselves ten minutes later. Jason has offered to stay on the boat and Meredith in particular doesn't mind this at all. Swimming in-between the figures of John and Derek, she watches the lively under-water creatures pass her rapidly. She's having the time of her life and wishes she could spend one third of her life in the OR, another in bed with Derek and the last peacefully floating around here.
After a while the small group resurfaces and notice they're almost half a mile away from the boat.
"Wow, that was-" Meredith starts to say, but the sound of an explosion interrupts her. All heads turn sharply towards the sound and then their eyes fill with terror.
As it seems, the explosion came from… their own boat. What used to be their boat at least, for now all that is left is an angry dark cloud of smoke and pieces of wreckage being blown into the air, colliding with the water surface before disappearing into the ocean probably forever.
"JASON!" John screams and starts in the direction of the wreckage.
"John, wait!" Derek grabs the poor man's arm and tries to get him to calm down.
"My son! I have to go to my son!" John struggles, his voice laced with horror and concern.
"If Jason was still on that boat there will be nothing left of him now," Derek tells him harshly. The cold stab of reality hits John finally and he stops fighting Derek's grip, instead throws off his diving mask and cries out, making Meredith's eyes tear up at the defeat and grief in his voice.
"I'm sorry," she says in a small voice. This is all so surreal; one moment they were having fun and the next… a young man is dead. And their boat destroyed.
"The boat…" Meredith whispers suddenly, a shocked expression on her face and tugs at Derek's arm. "Derek! The boat!" she repeats and watches his expression match hers.
"Oh God," he utters hopelessly.
"I told him not to mess down there. H-he must have a-accidentally b-blown up the boat… himself…" John cries. "I told him to RTFM God damnit!"
Meredith places a comforting hand on the broken man's shoulder.
"RTFM, John?"
"Read The Fucking Manual," he sniffs.
"I'm so sorry." And she really is.
"We ehm, I think we should swim back to- swim back there and see if there's anything to sign with so we can get out of here," Derek suggests carefully.
John nods his head and bitterly wipes away his tears.
"Yeah, that's probably the best thing to do. I don't- don't suppose there'll be anything left of- of my son, right?"
"No. I think that's very unlikely," Derek answers in earnest and pats John on his back to show his sympathy. "I admire your strength, John."
To their horror, they have not found anything useful between the wreckage except part of a door to hold onto and the safety jackets, so there's nothing they can do. But wait. And they have been waiting for a good three hours, in silence, letting the gravity of their situation sink in and terrify them.
Meredith and Derek are on opposite sides of the door and their fingers are entangled in the centre of it. John is a few yards away, needing some time alone to grief.
"Derek."
His head tilts upwards to meet her gaze.
"You all right?"
"We've got to do something. Anything. Nobody's going to come down here and rescue us. We have to find land; we can't stay in the water like this forever."
"You're right."
"Should I ask John?"
"I'll do it," Derek offers and gently releases Meredith's hand before he lowers himself into the water and starts swimming towards John. Meredith watches with concern as the men talk for what seems like hours. Suddenly she starts to take notice of the sun's burning beams on her skin and tries to create a shadow over her eyes. Then she licks her chapped lips, which are dry and taste salty.
In her mind she's willing Derek to please hurry up. The less time they spend in the water the better. Pushing her knowledge of the affect of salt on their skin to the back of her mind, she focuses on the conversation again, unable to eavesdrop in on it.
Finally Derek turns around and approaches her.
"And?" Meredith asks with anticipation as he's come within earshot.
She feels a stone on her stomach when Derek shakes his head sadly.
"The only land John knows of is in that direction," he points it out to her, "And that's shark territory."
"So?"
"Meredith!"
"It's the only chance we have right now, Derek."
"I hate it when you're right in this kind of situation."
"Yeah, well, me too, but I still prefer being eaten by sharks over dying from thirst and having my skin fall off because of the water."
"Like I said, I hate it when you're right."
Fire
"No, Alex. No! You're going the wrong way," Izzie screams at him as she stands still in a desperate attempt to make him turn around.
It works.
"Iz! Get back here!" Alex yells back.
"You get back here!"
"Izzie, come on!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Look behind you, there's smoke!"
Alex does as she says.
"Idiot," Izzie mutters under her breath.
A few yards away Alex is confused. Sure, smoke is coming from behind him, but it seems to be coming from all directions. He thought he was sure…
"Chicks," he mutters and quickly closes the space between them.
"You're so damn stubborn," they tell each other in unison and perhaps they would have smiled if it isn't for the herd of deer galloping frantically towards and past them.
"Let's go," Alex grabs Izzie's hand and pulls her in the direction where the animals are going. They run and jump over obstacles, breathing hard, until Izzie glances over her shoulder and her eyes grow big with terror.
"Alex?"
"What?" He sounds more irritable than he is, but hey, running from a fire doesn't exactly improve his mood.
"Just… don't look back," Izzie advises him.
"Okay," Alex replies, but glances over his shoulder anyway.
"Holy-" The flames are well within their sight now, chasing them like preys.
"Jesus Alex, I told you not to look back!"
Their hands have gotten sweaty and when Alex unexpectedly speeds up he loses his grip on Izzie's hand.
"Izzie!" he calls as he slows down. "Where are you?" as he frantically glances around.
The flames keep crawling closer, licking branches and leaves and illuminating the world around them.
"Iz!" He starts to walk back. Why isn't she answering? "Iz!"
Then he sees her. He finds her face-down on the earth, motionless.
"Fuck." He rolls her over, but her foot is stuck under a root. The heat of the fire has already reached them.
Trying hard to focus but working fast at the same time, Alex twists her foot loose and then hurries to tend to her vital functions. The sight of his girl hurt is almost unbearable and he silently wills her to wake up.
He turns her on her back and brushes the hair from her face and neck. He finds a reassuring pulse and hears breathing sounds as he feels her hot breath on his skin.
"Thanks," he lets his breath escape, relieved like never before. "Thank you, Izzie."
She must have tripped and hit her head hard, he analyses as the heat increases.
Oh hell.
The flames have come too close, yet Alex gathers Izzie's small form in his arms and carries her away from the fire until he can't take another step. Mercilessly, the fire rolls forward, towards them.
No way he'll be able to get the both of them out of there fast enough.
Make a choice. Make a choice, Alex. What do you do now?