Most of the passengers from the flight 5429 from Massachusetts to Seattle had recovered their luggage by now and many of them were hugging the beloved ones right in that moment, while just one passenger was fuming because the airline company had lost two of her suitcases.

"God, what a wonderful way to start your new life in this stupid, annoying city! There is nothing more depressing than the rain!" she sighed, frustrated.

She walked out from the transit area and started survey the waiting area. Someone had to be there waiting for her, one of her parents or maybe her best friend. She spotted two people collapsed in two chairs, looking as though they were asleep, resting on each other.

She giggled as she recognized her father and her best friend. Her mood lighted up a little bit, so she started dragging her suitcases and headed towards them.

When she arrived in front of them, she let the suitcases down together with the hand-carrying bag, slamming the last one on a chair beside them. "I wasn't that late!"

They both stirred and jumped to their feet when they saw who was standing in front of them.

"Meredith!" Her father was the first one to pull her into a tight hug.

"Hi dad," Meredith wrapped her arms around him, very happy to see him after such a long time.

Thatcher stepped back a little bit to be able to look more carefully at his daughter. His eyes were so happy, almost filled with tears. He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, smiling and not even blinking. "I missed you so much, Mer!"

"I missed you too, Dad!" Meredith smiled wide, her eyes reflecting the same affection as her father's eyes. "How is Mom?" she asked, stepping back from his arms.

"She is stuck in hospital- as usual." Thatcher rolled his eyes, amused; Meredith must have already known how common that was for Ellis. "She sends you all her love and she hopes that you will stop by hospital and see her"

"I'll see what I can do. I have to stop by Seattle Grace and talk with Chief Webber, he is expecting me today," Meredith stated, smiling, and then turned to her best friend. She threw her arms around her. "Cristina!"

"Hey Mer!" Christina hugged her back. "What were you doing for so long in there? Screwing the captain?"

Meredith pulled away laughing and slapped her arm. "Christina!" She pointed out her father's presence to her best friend.

"Sorry, Mr. Grey!" Christina grinned, unashamed, even though she knew she was inappropriate.

Thatcher gave her a disapproving glare in response to her cavalier attitude. Sometimes he wondered how his little girl could be friends with such a rude and bitter person as Cristina. Sometimes he was fearful that his daughter might be exactly like her friend, but that was as fear that was never founded.

"I waited for my entire luggage to come out, but everything stopped at one point and I just found these!" Meredith stated, rolling her eyes in annoyance. It was great to see her family and friends again, but the incident with the two missing suitcases was still pissing her off.

"Incompetents!" Christina hurried to support her.

"Morons!" Meredith seemed to get back her good mood, so she joined her friend.

"Idiots!"

Thatcher watched them with an amused look on his face; that scene was one of those that typified their friendship.

"Ok, now, you two stop and you go and fill out a form to get your stuff back," Thatcher interrupted before their verbal indignation could be noticed by any of the airports workers.

"Yeah, we'll go and beat their lazy asses a little," Christina stated while she smacked a fist into her palm.

"Try not to do it too badly, because I don't want to have to bail you out of jail!" Thatcher warned her.

"Don't worry, Dad, we will be gentle," Meredith stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

"Ok. It doesn't matter if you go to Mercy West today and see your mother or not, but we will wait for you for dinner tonight!" he told Meredith.

"Alright, I will be there!"

Thatcher gave his daughter a kiss and a tight hug. "I am so glad to have you back!"

Thatcher left and Meredith handed Christina one of her suitcases, heading in the opposite direction.

"How is Lexie?" Meredith asked her remembering her cousin. "How come she didn't come with you?"

"Oh, forgive her. She is so hangover that she can't even to get out of the bed and pee!"

"Wild party, huh?" Meredith giggled, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Yeah, and you know very well what tequila does to you, but speaking of Lexie," Christina stopped, turning to her. "If you still want to live with us, then you have to share a bedroom with her, because we got a new roommate."

"Come on, Christina!" Meredith whined, visibly unhappy with the news. "Why did you have to rent my room?"

"First of all, it's not your room, and secondly, we asked you to be here two months ago, but apparently it takes your moron boyfriend dumping you to get you here."

"He didn't dump me," Meredith jumped to clarify that gossip immediately. "I dumped him," she said, very convincingly.

"Ok," Christina nodded, letting her know that she hadn't been that convincing. "Let's get your things back."

--

In the meantime, in the same town and the same airport, but at a different flight and a different gate.

"Finally, Derek!"

The waiting area was not very crowded anymore, so Derek could easily spot the black woman who was calling his name. His scowling look lightened up at the sight of that person and he quickened his footsteps pushing the cart heavy with luggage.

"Hi Adele!" Derek set his luggage aside to go and greet the woman he had known for almost a lifetime. Once he got to her, his arms flew around her, bringing her into a strong hug.

"Hello Derek! It's so good to see you again!" Adele hugged him with the same tenderness, very happy to see him.

Derek pulled back, still holding her hands to look more carefully at the woman who had been like a second mother to him. He hadn't seen her for almost two years now, but she was the same charming and smiling lady he knew. "It's good to see you too, Adele."

"But what happened? Why did it take you so long to come out?" Adele asked him a little worried.

"Oh." Derek let out a sigh of frustration. "The airline must have lost a suitcase."

"Did it have anything valuable in it?" She asked.

"No- not really; just clothes."

"Don't worry too much then! Fill out a form and you will get it back."

Derek nodded, his letting her hands go and returning to his cart "After this incident, I must say that I might not like Seattle that much."

"Oh, you're silly, Derek! This town is great," Adele chuckled, gently patting his back as comfortingly.

"Not to mention, how much I hate the rainy weather." Derek needed to add one more point on his list of frustrations.

"The rain can be very romantic," Adele laughed very convincingly. She knew better.

"I can't see anything romantic in getting soaking wet, but whatever," Derek chuckled and gave up. He knew that Adele could be very convincing at times.

"You will love Seattle!" Very cheerfully, she sneaked an arm around his and walked by his side.

Derek looked at her, smiling. "Promise?" he asked as a little child asking for its mommy's comfort because a mommy always keeps her promises.

"Promise. Otherwise I wouldn't have worked so hard with your mother to convince you to move here," Adele smiled.

"By the way, Mom sends you a hug." Taking a hand from the cart, Derek wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "And she wants me to remind you that you haven't visited her in a while."

"I'll see what I can do. Maybe now that you are here, he will take it easier with the work and then I can to leave him alone without worrying." Adele shook her head referring at her husband.

"It's great that you have been able to live with a workaholic man." Derek stated with admiration.

--

As they got to the claims office, an officer escorted Christina out.

"Let go of me right now!" she shouted at him and jerked her arm out of his strong grip. "I need to go be with my friend."

"Sorry, but I can't let you in again if you are going to behave like that." The tall double-sized man from security remained firm and blocked her way, when she tried to pass by him and go back in the office.

"How do you expect me to act if you clearly don't know how to do your jobs?" she responded, freeing her arm from the officer's grip again. She gave him a nasty look, ready for another nasty comment.

"That's it ma'am!" The officer held out a hand to stop her. "You sit right there and wait" He said loud and very harsh pointing. She was about to say something to him but he stopped her. "In silence or I will have to arrest you," he warned her.

She let out a sigh and sat on one of the chairs. Derek and Adele could not help, but laugh at the whole scene. Cristina noticed them and just turned her head away, disgusted. In the meantime, Derek and Adele reached the officer.

"Excuse me, officer, we need to go into the office as well; one of my suitcases is missing," Derek said politely. The officer looked at the two of them, scrutinizing them "It's ok sir, but I'm going to have to ask you to go alone; we have had many problems with the companions today." He looked at Cristina as he made that remark.

"Oh it's okay, officer. I can assure you this lady is going to behave in there," Derek chuckled.

The officer thought about it. They looked like decent people.

"It's ok, Derek. I think I'll just wait here," Adele interjected, smiling.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, you go ahead," Adele smiled and sat down, four chairs away from the one that Christina was sitting in.

Derek walked into the office. As he stepped in, the officer handed him a bunch of forms, "Here sir, you have to fill these out first, please," he said to Derek.

He looked at the papers in her hands and let out a sigh. All these papers for a suitcase?

"You can sit next to that lady, so you'll be more comfortable." The officer pointed to the desk where Meredith was.

Derek kept looking at those papers trying to decide if it was really worth it to try and get that suitcase back. He went to the desk anyway and then, immediately something else caught his attention, rather someone; a beautiful blond girl, angrily filling out the same forms he had to. He chuckled watching her struggle with all the papers and sat next to her.

She was so focused on what she was doing that she didn't seem to be disturbed by Derek's presence at all. He broke her concentration when he talked to her. "Wow, I guess you never thought there was so much paper work to do over a simple suitcase, right?"

He kept admiring her as he spoke, but she responded without even looking back.

"Mhmm"

"Makes you wonder if it is really worth it." He anxiously waited for her response, but all he got was a simple "yeah" from her, again, without catching the color of her eyes.

"Well, maybe for me it isn't. It was just clothes after all. I think I might just buy some in here and a new suitcase," he laughed, but all he managed to do now, was annoy Meredith a little.

She was in a hurry and this man kept distracting her with nonsense. She put the pen down and turned to look at him to tell him to shut up for a minute, but couldn't quite get the words out. As she met his dreamy smile, all she could do was smile back at him and then she took the pen and went back to her forms.

'Ok what was that?' she thought to herself 'seriously, what was that?' she kept repeating to herself, giggling in the back of her mind.

Derek was still trying to decide if he should file the complaint or not. He stood up and started to walk away. He made it a couple of steps, then, he stopped, turned around and started walking back to the table. He didn't really have the time for this, so he turned around once again to leave the office.

The officer who had watched his back and forward movements curiously, decided to interfere. "Aren't you going to fill out the forms, sir?"

Derek looked down at the papers in his hand. He really didn't want to do that, but then turned to look at the girl sitting by the table.

"Yeah … I think I'm going to fill these after all," he said to the officer, then sat down next to Meredith again.

This time she turned to see him. "I thought this wasn't really worthwhile for you," she said.

He smiled at her again. "Yeah well, I really like those clothes."

They both smiled this time and for the first time, Derek met her cute giggle and Meredith met his dreamy smile.

"What about you, is this really worthy of your time?" he asked her, now feeling more relaxed in her presence.

"Yeah, there is something really important for me in that baggage, so I really have to do this." They both laughed

"So, looks like we are going to be stuck in here for a while," he said.

"Yeah," Meredith responded.

"I'm Derek, by the way," he said with a smile, sticking out his hand. Meredith hesitated for a second, and then shook Derek's hand. "I'm Meredith."

"It's nice to meet you, Meredith!" Derek smiled charmingly. When she returned his smile, something made him say something more. "I was starting to hate this town, but now that I met such a pretty woman, I might like it here."

Meredith's gaze froze over him, surprised by his last statement.

Derek noticed Meredith's shock and immediately he realized what he had said and how that must have sounded. "I… uh…. I didn't mean to be rude… or inappropriate."

Meredith nodded and a small smile started growing on her face. His compliment was cute, but his way to excuse himself was even cuter.

"It's fine. I know what you meant," she assured him.

Derek chuckled, calmed by her smiling nonchalant at him, and sighed in relief. He nodded, a little embarrassed, and tried to focus on his papers.

The silence fell back over them as Derek resumed his writing and Meredith resumed hers, or at least that was what she would have wanted. She found herself watching Derek discreetly from the corner of her eye. He was a good-looking man with such gentle facial features, smiling slightly as he focused on those papers.

Derek felt her eyes on him and tried to ignore them. He tried, but he felt as if her eyes were calling him, so he raised his head and looked up at her. He smiled as he caught her eyes on him. Meredith looked down and tried to pretend that nothing special had happened. Maybe a second had passed when Meredith cursed as she shook her pen. "Damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Derek asked her, a little worried.

"This pen doesn't want to write anymore," she sighed as she threw it on desk. Derek smiled and, after he searched through his briefcase, he offered her a pen. "Take this one."

Meredith smiled gratefully as she took it from him. "Thank you!" Her smile went straight to his heart. He found himself staring at her with a foolish grin.

"You may want to finish your papers," Meredith giggled sweetly, pointing to his papers.

Derek snapped back to reality and smiled, trying to hide his embarrassment at being caught. He looked down at his papers without another word, letting Meredith giggle silently.

No other words were spoken until Derek finished with his form. He put the pen inside his coat and sighed as he looked at Meredith. "Uh… good luck, Meredith!"

Meredith looked at him smiling. "Good luck to you too, Derek! I hope that you won't have problems again in this town."

"I have this feeling that I am going to fall in love with this town," he replied as he stood up. He smiled dreamily at her before he nodded and left to drop off his forms.

Meredith finished with her forms, and as she put the pen down she realized something: Derek forgot to take his pen back. She couldn't help but feel bad for making Derek lose his pen. She decided not to leave it there and took it with her.

She returned her forms to the officer and then went outside where Christina looked as if she was about to fall asleep again. Meredith was already drained physically and emotionally, so she trailed off until the chair where Christina was laying. "Get up!" Meredith made her stir as she hit her leg.

Christina jumped to her feet, scared and panting. When she saw her friend's amused smile, she shot her a glare. "Are we ready?"

"We're ready," Meredith answered smiling.

On their way out from parking lot, out of nowhere, a car came out from the same place as them and stopped one inch away from their car. Christina pressed hard the brake pedal, jolting both of them.

Nervous, she pressed the horn shouting at the other driver. "Where is the hurry, you idiot?"

Meredith was pretty pissed off by the incident too, but when she leaned over Christina, she recognized the person who almost hit them. She pulled back instantly and pulled Christina back too. "Stop it! That is Derek."

"Who?" Christina looked at her, confused.

Meredith realized that she hadn't talked with her about the man she met, so she gave up. "Never mind! Let's just go."

Meredith looked again at Derek, and Derek recognized her too. He smiled, waving at her as he mouthed, "I am sorry." And gave her the sign to go ahead.

Meredith smiled back and Christina drove away.

"Oh no!" Meredith sighed after a while.

"What?"

"I should have returned the pen to Derek," she stated, disappointed.

Christina looked at her confused. It was obvious that she had forgotten about the man who almost hit their car.

"Derek… I forgot to give him his pen back."

Christina looked at her as if she was about to burst into laugh. "Did you have sex with that guy in there?"

Meredith laughed and lightly smacked Christina's arm. "Watch the road!"