Literally, Derek woke up.

And it was hardly pleasant at all.

His head shot up, his pupils dialated, as he looked around his surroundings. He quickly closed his eyes again as he took off his glasses, putting his free hand over his eyes. He tried to calm down, to slow his heart rate that had ever so quickly risen to the point of almost being fatal, and held his breath to keep himself from hyperventilating, although he was pretty sure he already had been. He removed his hand from over his eyes and ran it through his hair, exhaling sharply. His head was pounding and a bead of sweat trickled down his temple to his jaw bone before he wiped it away quickly, gasping for air again.

What was that?

He looked at the clock on his desk, and noticed that it was noon. Although he normally wasn't confused about when it was, or really cared for that matter, whatever had just happened put him all out of sorts.

When had he fallen asleep? For that matter, since when was he in his office? When did he have the time to sit at his desk and fall asleep on top of his paperwork?

His paperwork.

He looked down at the papers strewn across his desk and rifled through them, desperately trying to figure out what was going on, and what the date was. He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, and he wasn't really sure what was his dream and what had been reality.

Suddenly, he heard the familiar click of his office door, the sound seeming to resonate even more fully than it had in previous experiences, probably due to his surge of adrenaline upon waking up from that horrid nightmare, or hallucination for all he knew. As if on cue, there was the urgent soft click of heels, carrying with them an unparalleled professionalism that he knew had only belonged to one person out of all the people that he had ever met in his entire life.

"Doctor Stiles." The woman's voice scolded, urgently slamming down another pile of folders, now drawing his attention to one that was sitting right next to him. Urgent seemed to be the entire aura of this entity, the entire aura of the room, which made him feel a bit anxious as his adrenaline combined with this new feeling of urgency.

This situation felt familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on why. Why did he feel like the way this woman talked, the way she said his name, the way she walked into the room quickly with strides bigger than they needed to be, feel so familiar like he had witnessed it all before?

Of course, she was his assistant, but there had always been variety when she had walked into their shared office. She had never scolded him the same way twice, and of course only he picked up on the subtle differences in her tone and the way she walked.

"Are you really slacking off, again? If you keep neglecting your paperwork, I'm sure someone other than me is going to start being angry with you."

Her professional voice cut into the atmosphere of the room, making the brown haired Doctor's deep chocolate eyes to widen in recognition. He had heard this before. This wasn't just some coincidence.

Déjà vu much.

He looked up at his blonde assistant's infinitely emerald eyes, noticing the hint of impatience quickly fade away and ghost into an expression of pure worry at her disheveled looking Doctor, looking worn out and completely lost at his own desk.

"Doctor-" she began, clearing her throat as a look of pain washed over the Doctor's face "D-Derek, are you… alright?"

Derek didn't respond. He just sat there, staring into eyes that seemed to bore into the very core of his existence, spreading warmth throughout his subconscious and making him feel like he should be alright. He knew he should be alright, he didn't want to see that look on her face. Her perfect, angelic, porcelain skin shouldn't wrinkle like that. She should have her face show the lines of worry and concern that can only be caused by someone she cares about. Especially him.

She shouldn't worry about him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words escaped him. He closed his mouth quickly again and looked down at his hands contemplatively, fiddling with a paper on his desk.

"Derek, if you're not feeling well, we can postpone the operation…" the angel in front of him murmured, clasping her hands in front of her gently. Her urgency had totally washed away and in front of him stood the timid side of his nurse that hardly ever showed itself, but that he loved all the same as her normally professional exterior.

So he had fallen asleep earlier while doing his paperwork. Finally, he understood where, or when he was.

He shook his head quickly, getting up from his desk slowly. That dream had to have been telling him something. He knew exactly what it was telling him, but he didn't know if he could do what it was asking him to do. He knew he wanted to, desperately, and had wanted to ever since he had first seen the expanse of her beautiful emerald eyes that had a smile to them even when she was frowning.

"No, no…" he muttered, stepping around his desk to stand in front of her. He looked down at the white tiles on the floor and bit his lip, trying to think of what to do.

There it was again. That sporadic cluster of thoughts that had caused so many problems time and time again.

He couldn't let this game continue. This game that was hardly a game, since games are normally supposed to be fun for one person at least. He wasn't positive, but he didn't think Angie was having fun either.

Or if she even knew that they were playing.

"Angie, I…" he began, stopping himself. He had to word this right, this was a big deal.

"Doctor…?" She asked timidly, eyes probing his.

"Stop that." He snapped, looking up at her. She expected to see his eyes angry, for his eyes conveyed an irritation, but instead what she saw was pleading.

What?

"I… excuse me…?" She whispered, bringing her hand up to her mouth tentatively.

"Stop calling me Doctor, Angie. I know we're at work, but please, don't call me that." He sighed, stepping closer to her, taking her wrist gently and taking her hand away from her face.

"I don't understand, Doctor…"

"Angie, stop!" he pleaded, eyes looking more and more distressed. "Stop calling me that, just stop! Don't we know each other well enough that you can call me my name? Haven't we worked together long enough that you can call me something else than Doctor? It sounds so professional, Angie, and it doesn't sound right. I want to hear you say my name, Ang." He reached out and took her other hand, now holding both tenderly in his hands, looking down at them.

"Hasn't it been long enough that you could call me by my name?" He asked again, quieter than before. "Haven't we been through so much together? You may get irriated with me at times, and I can relate… But that shouldn't make a difference, Angie. Should it? Don't you think it shouldn't?"

His brown eyes twinkled when they met hers, and a smile curled the sides of his lips, and she noticed that his eyes were turning slightly red and that there was a diamond glistening in the corner of his eye.

He was… crying?

"Derek-" she began, but stopped when he shook his head at her.

"Angie… " he began, and bit his lip.

"Don't you love me enough?"

Oh hi, long chapter.

This is finally a chapter that I've written that's longer than 1,000 words on it's own. OTL;;

SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG GUYS. Pokemon Black is a life eater /lazy

I hope you enjoyyyy, I don't know how I feel about the ending. xD

Reviews always make me happy3