Yay! Another chapter! Finally! Sorry for the wait, but I think you guys will like this one. So without further ado, please read on…

When he woke up, she wasn't next to him. She was sitting on the couch at the opposite end of the trailer, looking at him quizzically. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and smiled sleepily. She looked beautiful and wonderfully disheveled. "Morning," he murmured.

"You said you would wait for me."

He nodded, unfazed by the accusation. "I know."

"You didn't," she said.

"No," he agreed, "I didn't."

She nodded and he saw it again—that doubt in her eyes. "I'm sorry," he offered. She nodded again, but still seemed unsure. "Meredith," he said, softer this time. Gentler. "I am sorry."

"I know you are," she said, but he knew she didn't mean it. He suddenly realized how close he had come to losing her and the thought scared him.

He got up and walked closer to her, pausing a few feet away from her. He regarded her carefully. "You make me crazy," he said evenly. She glanced up at him, bemused, but he only shook his head, smiling softly. "You always have," he continued. "You're so beautiful and so sexy and I…" I want you.

He didn't say anything more and she was quiet for a long time. When she finally looked at him, her eyes were confused and hesitant and wondering. She stood up and took a few steps toward him, pausing just outside his reach. His words hung between them, crackling in the air like electricity. She was aware of him and he was aware of her. For one, halting moment, he saw her in perfect detail—from the outline of her lips to the curve of her waist to the swell of her breasts. He remembered touching her. He remembered her body. The way her skin felt beneath his fingertips. The way she gazed at him, half-lidded and wanting, just before he filled her. The way she trembled slightly when she let go, falling against him, beautiful and loved.

He wanted her. She could see it in his face, in his eyes as they roved hungrily across her body. She watched the frustration rise as he stifled the want once again. No sex. That was the rule. He would follow it. He would do it for her, even if it drove him mad. She closed her eyes and recognized her own ache. The ache for him and his arms. For his smell. For the way he kissed her mouth and her forehead and her breasts. For the way he pulled her languid body against his and stroked her until she came.

She wanted him. He could see it in her face, in the way her eyes drifted shut and her body trembled. He reached across the space between them and touched her waist. She let out a small sigh at his touch. Her neck arched forward towards the ground. She gripped the edge of the sink. He waited for her to say it. Wait, stop, we can't. But the words never came and suddenly, he was everywhere around her, rough and wanting.

He grabbed her waist and yanked her body against his. His mouth found hers. His kisses were desperate and hard and filled with everything stifled, everything ignored. She felt his stubble scratching along her chin as he dipped his lips to her neck. He nipped and sucked at her and pressed his thigh between her legs. Frantic for his body, she lifted her hands to his shirt but he pushed them out of the way. She let out a feeble whine of protest but he only smiled smugly, reveling in her desperation. He pulled her shirt away from her body and pushed her forward aimlessly. She stumbled backwards until she hit the wall. The impact wasn't hard, but it was just enough to make her gasp and suddenly, he froze. She was confused and annoyed that he had stopped. She slouched against the wall. "Don't stop," she breathed, her chest rising and falling unevenly.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She frowned. He was still touching her, but not in any satisfying way. His hands trailed gently across her body. The frenzy was over. The need was gone. "What?" she mumbled stupidly.

"Did I hurt you?" he said. He sounded genuinely worried and it was enough to pull her partway out of her haze.

"Hurt me? What? No, of course not." She made a whimpering sound low in her throat and tugged him forward, but he didn't budge.

He let out a long, unsteady breath and rested his hand against her stomach. "I'm sorry," he murmured and she suddenly understood why he had stopped. He thought he had been too rough. He thought he had hurt her.

"Derek," she said, her tone almost annoyed. "I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

She sighed and nodded. When had she become so fragile to him? It was annoying. She didn't want to talk anymore. She wanted him. She pulled him forward and he obligingly pressed his body against hers, pinning her between him and the wall. He found her lips again, but the hunger was gone. He was tender and careful and kind. He held her gently, like she would break. She hated it. She pulled away. "Would you quit it?"

He frowned. "Quit what?"

"Touching me like I'm going to break," she said.

He smiled at her standing before him in her bra, arms crossed, glaring. "Fine," he said, grinning. "We can have hot hate sex if you want."

The corner of her lips twinged upwards, but she stubbornly managed to keep her scowl in place. "I do want hot hate sex. I love hot hate sex," she informed him cheekily.

He pressed his palms against the wall on either side of her head and leaned close to her. "I know you do," he breathed, his mouth at her neck. She parted her lips and sighed. Her hands drifted upwards into the open collar of his shirt. He let her explore his chest and shoulders and back and then he grabbed her wrists abruptly, pinning them above her head. She smiled. Much better.

He kissed her fiercely, his entire body aligned with hers. She wanted to touch him, to get rid of his shirt, but he held her hands fast against the wall. She arched against him, hitching her leg up at his waist and he finally gave in, releasing her arms so he could scoop her up and deposit her on the bed. She landed against the sheets and he immediately bent over her, undoing the button on her jeans and sliding them down off her legs. She reached for him then and he lowered himself on top of her, suspending his weight in his arms. Her fingers found his shirt and flew down the line of buttons. He sat up and rolled the shirt off his shoulders before lying down beside her. He pulled her against his naked chest, his lips dipping to her breasts. She sighed. Finally.

xxx

Meredith walked into the resident's locker room and shrugged out of her coat. She was just opening her locker when an oh-so-familiar voice piped up behind her. "You had sex," it declared.

"Cristina," she grumbled tiredly.

"Ha! I knew it," her best friend cried triumphantly as if Meredith's answer had completely confirmed her suspicions. "You guys suck at being just friends."

Meredith sighed and slumped down on the bench in front of her locker. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Too bad," Cristina said cheerfully, plopping down next to her friend.

"It was a mistake," Meredith said definitively. "A slip up."

"You two are getting really good at those," Cristina said, eyeing Meredith's abdomen significantly.

Meredith absentmindedly smacked her friend's shoulder, feeling a surge of guilt in her chest. She had left the trailer without talking to Derek, slipping away silently, leaving so many things unsaid. It seemed to be her specialty. "What's wrong with me?" she asked dejectedly.

Cristina snorted. "What isn't?"

Meredith scowled. "Thanks, Cris, that's really helpful."

"What are best friend's for?"

xxx

Near the end of her shift, Meredith got paged to an on call room. She knew Derek would be waiting for her. She could only imagine his anger, his despair. The thought nearly made her turn around and go home, but she didn't. She found the room easily and knocked on the door. "Meredith?" his voice called from within.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside. She looked at the floor, the bed, the lamp. Anywhere but his face. She waited for the yelling, the accusations. "Meredith," he began. She cringed. "I'm so sorry." What?

She looked up at him abruptly. Her eyes were filled with confusion but he mistook it for doubt. He rushed forward, the words tumbling out of his mouth. "I should've known better. I should've stopped. I know you said no sex and I understand that and I respect that and it won't happen again."

"Derek, I—"

"No, please, you have to believe me. I never meant to…to take advantage of you."

"Take advantage of me?" Meredith repeated, bewildered by his obvious remorse. "I practically begged you, Derek."

"Yes, but you said—"

"I know what I said."

He fell silent chastened by her abrupt tone. She shook her head and turned away from him, eyeing the door longingly. It would be so easy to walk away and revert back to her old, dysfunctional self. Derek would ask if they could be "just friends" again and she would say yes and a couple weeks from now, driven half-mad with want, they would tumble into bed and enjoy yet another slip up. She turned back to him. "I have an appointment tomorrow," she told him softly. "A doctor's appointment."

He nodded. "Okay."

She swallowed and took a hesitant step toward him. "Do you want to come?" she asked, her voice unsteady and unsure.

His eyes went wide and then he grinned, nodding his head. "I'd love to," he said.

He watched as she relaxed, as the most beautiful, relieved smile spread across her features. He closed the space between them, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against his body. She rested her hands against his chest; he could feel their warmth seeping through his scrub shirt. "Thank you," he whispered, his voice fierce, his eyes full.

She only smiled and kissed his cheek, before bowing her head and resting it on his chest, right above his heart.

So this is the beginning of the end of this story, I'm afraid. Meredith and Derek are on the road to happiness. I'm thinking that a few more chapters will wrap it up nicely. Don't worry—I won't deprive you of baby fluff, but I'll probably jump ahead a few months in the next few chapters. Anyway, enough rambling. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Review!