You're Like Coming Home

40.

Meredith stared at the wall in front of her, her eyes blank as she thought about what she had done. Derek had been gone for two days now, and no one had heard from him, even his mother. As soon as she had explained to their situation to Addison, her best friend had been sympathetic, but too excited about the accidentally discovered diamond ring to be too supportive. At the moment, Addison and Mark were out to dinner, probably getting engaged as she sat in her room, surrounded by tissues and an empty ice cream pint, wondering whether she even still had a boyfriend.

Suddenly, she heard the apartment door slam shut, and she frowned as she looked at the clock. Seven on the dot. Addison and Mark had only left a half hour earlier, there was no way they were back yet. Which meant....

"Derek," she breathed as his form appeared in the doorway. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Seattle," Derek replied. "And Stanford. And I'm going to make an appointment at Dartmouth."

"You...what?" Meredith asked.

Derek sighed as he moved closer to the bed, sitting down in front of her and taking her hand gently. "I'm sorry, Mer," he said softly. "For yelling, for leaving without telling you where I was going. I just...I wasn't expecting you to be applying to any other schools that I wasn't, and the thought of being away from you...that scared me to death."

"Oh," Meredith said.

"Are you going to say anything else?" Derek asked, tilting his head to the side and smiling softly.

"I'm still mad at you," Meredith murmured. "You can't just take off like that, Derek. Even your mother didn't know where you were. So you can't do that. Ever."

"I won't," Derek shook his head.

"You said that last time," Meredith whispered. "When you got in your motorcycle accident. But now you did it again."

Derek sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I know, Mer, I'm sorry."

She sighed as she examined him closely. "It was very sweet," she finally consented. "And I appreciate it."

"I'm sorry, Mer," Derek whispered. "I just...I have plans and I was thrown off. But I'm not leaving this, I'm not leaving you. I could never do that."

"Okay," Meredith whispered.

"You're being far too understanding about this," Derek said. "I was expecting to come home and have pots and pans and various other household objects thrown at my head."

Meredith shook her head. "It's fine, Derek," she said. "I hate that you disappeared without telling me, but I love that you did that. We'll apply to schools, and see which ones we both get into. We'll just have to go from there."

"Good," Derek leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers gently.

"Hmm," Meredith sighed, running her fingers through his hair and pulling him down to rest against her chest as she leaned against the headboard. "You want to hear something exciting?" she asked.

"Of course," he replied.

"I'm ninety nine percent sure that Mark's proposing to Addie right now."

"What?" Derek sat up quickly, looking into her eyes with panic in his own. "Are you sure?"

"Well...no, not positive," Meredith replied, flustered by his reaction. "But she found a ring in his nightstand, and they went out to a fancy dinner..."

"No," Derek breathed, jumping off the bed and running out of the room.

"Derek?" Meredith asked, climbing off of the bed and following him into Mark's room. "What are you...."