Work Text:
“What car does your brother and Meredith have?” Kai asked as they shut the car door, looking around the car park.
“Oh, their car won’t be here.” Amelia responded as she locked the door. She took their hand as they met in front of the bonnet, and they walked together towards the restaurant.
“Why’s that?” They asked after a second.
She pointed at a black car parked right in front of the restaurant, large spaces between it and the red van to its right, and the small blue car to its left. “He gets the good parking, remember?”
“You do...know, about Derek, right? Because I’ve never actually told you myself, but I just- I'm presuming you know that he- you know.”
“Are you asking me whether or not I’m aware that your brother is in a wheelchair?” Kai inquired back with a soft smile, hoping it would calm her and stop her from having to falter like that again.
Amelia nodded slowly. She could freely talk about it with most people, but it was difficult with Kai. It was extraordinary important that her partner treated Derek with respect and kindness despite it, because she knew a lot of people didn’t. Any new friend who failed to do that would just be cut out of her life, but it was harder with a partner who she was hoping would really be the one this time.
“Can I ask what happened? Is that okay?”
She smiled at those questions. It was a polite request, not a demand, as if Derek owed the whole world the ins and outs of his medical history just because...well, Amelia had no idea what people's reasoning was for their intrusive questions. Plain old nosiness, she supposed. But Kai hadn't done that, they'd simply asked if she was willing to share, which of course she was. “He was in a car accident in 2015, and broke his spine."
Being a neurologist, they had already presumed it was a spinal cord injury, but still took a moment to absorb that before asking, "Level?"
"T10."
"ASIA?"
"C. He’s not completely paralyzed, just has too much motor weakness and unreliable sensory deficits to be able to walk. Well, walk properly. He can. Just not without support, for very long or without pain so, you know, he doesn’t. I wouldn’t call him an ambulatory wheelchair-user by any stretch of the imagination.”
Kai sighed as they grasped her hand. "Must have been really difficult for you."
She gave a quick, sad kind of smile. “It was, but he’s alive. I know you probably want to cancel our date now because I’m going all cheesy but...he’s alive and he wasn’t supposed to be. The scans were devastating, but he survived, and now he’s happy. You can crack whatever joke you want about him and he doesn’t care. Well, you might get a joking death scare but, you know, close enough. It’s difficult, but you learn not to worry about it when you consider the alternative.”
“Amelia Shepherd, you are aware that there is nothing you can say which is going to make me cancel our date, right?”
She smirked. “Damn, almost got rid of you.”
“So close.” They joked back.
Kai gave a single nod as they walked down through parking space besides the car Amelia had just gestured to. “Right, right. I didn’t forget- well, I did. But only the parking bit, not the other bit.”
“You don’t need to be nervous.” She reassured them as the pair walked up the two steps leading to the restaurant – Kai not helping but wonder how Derek had got past those, considering the topic they had literally just brushed on.
“Mmm. You’re the one that made me nervous.” They murmured accusingly. Kai had heard of Derek Shepherd before, as he had done an awful lot in the world of neuroscience but, for some reason, didn't join the dots between them for quite a while. Of course, they realized that they had the same name and spelling, but non-related people could have the same name too. Although, as they didn't see Amelia as Derek Shepherd's little sister for about a week, it did mean she said they were her favourite person, which made them far happier than they'd ever admit.
“I did not make you nervo-“ Amelia started before pausing abruptly as she pushed open the door to find the pair they were discussing waiting in the lobby.
“Hi, Dr Bartley. Kai?” Derek greeted with a quick smile upon the pair’s entry, offering them a hand.
“Kai is fine.” They agreed, taking his hand, but not letting their eyes fall to his chair. They turned to his wife. “And Meredith, hi. You look lovely.”
She blushed a little as she smiled. “Thank you. We were just waiting for you, so we can go and ask the waiter where our table is now.”
“Were you waiting long?” Kai inquired, worried that they were late. They did tell Amelia that she was taking far too long brushing her hair, but she didn't listen.
“No- well, actually, kind of. I had to check the place before we came, and found I had to turn up early so I could lug this one up the stupid stairs out front.” She explained, a hand ruffling through his hair from behind.
He paused suddenly, and Meredith walked right into him. "Stairs are not my fault Mer.”
“I know, I know.” She sighed. Stupid, stupid stairs. She hated them more than him, as she'd be the one who would have to go along with his mad ideas about how to reach their destination despite them.
“Hi, table for four. Pre-booked.” Amelia said as she greeted the woman behind the desk that she could presume was acting a mini reception.
The woman nodded and turned to her tablet, lips pursing a little as she dragged her finger down the screen. “Under Shepherd?”
“Yes.” Three voices chimed in unison. Amelia and Derek were genetic Shepherds, but Meredith was so used to be people either presuming her surname was the same as her husband's or double barrelling their name that she no longer found herself being named Shepherd particularly weird. Kai pressed a smile at their response; their unison was creepily in time.
“I’m afraid we’ve had some staffing problems recently.” The woman apologised. “It might be a while.”
“How long is ‘a while’?”
“We’re down our lead chef and two waitresses. I’d say you’d be better off another night unless you want a late one.”
“Anyone got an early shift tomorrow?” Amelia asked once shed turned from the woman at the desk to look at the three of them.
“Well I’ve got a plane at nine.” Kai said with a frown, grasping at Amelia’s hand as if they only just realized how little time they had together in Seattle.
“I’ve got a surgery at seven.” Derek listed off next.
Meredith shook her head. “Surgery at six.”
“Right, I’m the only one with a day off.” Amelia sighed before turning back around to the woman. “We’ll try another night.”
“Okay, thank you."
They left in silence, three out of four of them landing in the parking lot within a few seconds. It was an extremely awkward way to start their first double date. There were only really two prerequisites needed for a double date to work: two couples and a venue, but now they only had the former.
“Well, that’s great, where are we going now?” Amelia asked no one in particular.
“There’s a bar down the road, but I can’t really think of anywhere else nearby.” Meredith sighed, scanning her mind for nearby restaurants. Even if they were open and fully staffed, she didn’t suppose they’d have a table for them anyway with pre-booking.
“Sounds good to me.” Kai agreed.
“Okay. Cool.” Meredith smiled before looking up to the stairs her husband was half his way down. “You okay?”
“Sorry.” He apologized before carefully dropping a step, hands gripping and releasing abruptly at his wheels to let himself fall. Thankfully, they were wide steps, which were lacking in height. “Going down is an awful lot easier than getting up but this-” He dropped to the floor. “-still takes forever.”
“It’s fine, no rush.” Kai dismissed earnestly.
He sighed as he released his hands after such a tight grip before settling them back to where they were. “Right, let’s go.”
“Excuse me, can we order some drinks?” Amelia called out to the barman who just walked past them. Judging by the empty tray he was carrying, he was returning to the bar after delivering some drinks.
The man smiled and took a small pad of paper out of his pocket. "Of course-" He agreed before turning to Meredith. “For the lady?”
“A small vodka tonic. I’m driving.” Meredith answered, being careful to reinforce how little of a drink she wanted. She wanted to experience the taste, but not be intoxicated by it.
“The gentlemen?”
“Double scotch, single malt.” He answered before turning to Kai, opposite him on the table. “Kai, what would you like?”
“Oh- uh- just a lemonade.” They answered, a little hesitantly. Of course, they were perfectly aware of the fact that they were soon about to be asked for their drink of choice – or rather the drink they were selecting to make Amelia feel at least a little more comfortable about not drinking – but they were expecting the question to come from the barman, not Derek.
“Make it two.” Amelia added, hand wrapping round Kai’s in wordless thanks.
The man nodded to the forth and final request for a drink before leaving.
“So, Derek, I have to admit, despite being in the neuroscience field, I had never really heard of your work until uh- I believe it was 2016. You removed the largest Diffuse Astrocytoma on record. In fact, I think it still is.”
“Last time I checked, yeah.” He said with a quick nod.
“Then I discovered that that was not your only record.” They remarked, thinking about the extensive list that they had read before they left for Seattle, knowing that they were going to meet Derek.
“Well, it is my thing.”
“I say it’s because he’s a hopeless case too. The patients remind him of himself.”
His head fell into one hand as he sighed. “I am not hopeless!”
“Sure. Whatever you say honey.” She teased, patting him on the back sarcastically.
He sat back up, rolling his eyes at his wife. “Jason’s tumour was nothing to do with hopelessness. It was to do with...actually, I have no idea.”
“The astrocytoma guy?”
“Yeah. The astrocytoma guy.”
“I know this is suppose to be a double date, but, would you mind...”
“See, I would have never thought of adjusting the angle that way to make the two gage fit and lower the risk of deficit of the healthy brain tissue.” Kai murmured, pondering over the technique as they flipped a coaster between their two hands, deep in thought. None of them meant to have a conversation about surgery on a date, but it kind of just ended up happening. They were all surgeons after all, none of them were that surprised.
“It was...a difficult thing to figure out. When we opened him up-“
“That was so many years ago and I still remember opening up that skull flap and looking at- hell in a tumour. Literal hell.”
“It was literal hell, I agree.” Derek nodded.
Meredith agreed but didn’t say anything. She still remembered feeling the same panic as him over the tumour, even though it was nothing compared to what she felt later on, when Ellis decided she was bored of her mother's womb on the worse day possible.
“But you removed it.” Kai replied with a smile. “How is the guy? No reoccurrence? No deficits?”
He returned the smile. "No reoccurrence. No deficits. Got married about a year after I removed the tumour and had a kid, they're a very sweet family. He actually retrained to become a paramedic, which I always like to take credit for.” He only half-joked.
Kai nodded gladly, but didn't quite understand what made the other two smile at his paramedic comment.
“I would ask about what you’ve been doing now but, obviously, Amelia informs me about what’s been going on in your trial often so I don’t really have the need to.” He said, feeling a little bad that he just talked of his own successes for five minutes without any return from the person he was trying to get to know.
“Why didn’t you just close him up when you saw how bad it was?” They asked, still intrigued by the particular case.
“I- I couldn’t.” He answered, exchanging a look with his wife.
Kai’s brow creased, and they wondered if this was the something they were missing. “Why’s that?”
“Oh-" Derek breathed, eyes focusing on the confused person’s face. He swallowed. After all these years, it was still an awkward thing to confess. He had told people about his SCI so many times that it was as common as saying his own name. But why he couldn’t let that particular man go wasn’t a question he was asked often. “He was the other driver in the MVA...he was the one who broadsided me.”
“You mean- you removed the brain tumour of-“ Kai faltered. Amelia wasn’t quite sure she had ever seen them struggle so much to get out a full sentence. Then again, it most definitely wasn’t anything like what she had ever heard before herself.
“It sounds like I’m kidding. But, unfortunately, I’m not. He had mild blurriness at the time, some numbness and frequent headaches.” He answered to their struggle of comprehension. That’s why it was always so awkward. No one ever knew quite how to respond. “The accident was his fault, but it-“
“It also wasn’t.” Kai finished for him, thankful for the interruption as it gave them just that extra second to compose themselves. “Bold move, I must say.”
“Thanks...I think.”
“Drinks.” Meredith murmured as he looked up to see one of the men that was previously behind the bar with their four ordered drinks on a black platter.
“Here you go-" The barman said as he approached the table, settling each one on the table.
“Thanks.” Meredith said as she organised the drinks between them.
Upon receiving his drink, Derek took a sip of it and approved of the taste, but wasn't so happy when he caught his sister's eye. She was smirking. Great. He knew what that meant. “Oh Amy, don’t sa-“
“Drunk driving again, are we?” She asked, her smirk turning to a light giggle.
“You look unimpressed Derek.” Kai noted, head shooting between the siblings as Amelia’s laughter faded to a silent snigger. It was the look on his face that made her laugh, not the joke itself. He was constant with his death stare, to say the least. In fact, he was pretty sure the only reason he was so good at it was because he got so much practice with her.
“You know, she says that every single time I have an alcoholic drink. Literally every single time.” Derek informed them, explaining the unimpressed frown and low brow.
“It’s funny.” Amelia insisted.
He sighed, shaking his head. “It’s not funny. I’ll accept any of your other stupid jokes about my chair if you promise to stop this one."
“It’s too funny to stop! Plus, I do not say that every single time.” She corrected. “Just sometimes.”
“You do.” Derek said before taking another sip of his drink.
They were squabbling children again. Although, neither of them was quite sure that stage if their siblinghood ever ended. “I do not!”
“You do Amelia. Seriously, think of every time we’ve ever gone to Joe’s.”
“You got siblings, right Meredith?” Kai asked over their bickering.
She nodded, giving an awkward smile as her eyes darted between the pair. “Halves."
“You know we have three other sisters?” Amelia inquired.
Meredith, in some ways, was thankful for Amelia’s interruption of the start of their conversation. She didn’t really want to go into the tale of how she discovered her half sisters, nor how she lost one.
“Your mother had five kids?” They exclaimed.
Derek nodded, exchanging another death stare with Amelia as he picked up his drink. “Yep. Plus, they’ve got so many kids, I don’t think I even know the names of them all. We’re a big family.”
“So how come you’re the only one I’ve ever heard of?” Kai pondered back.
“One, they all live far away and-“ Derek started.
“Two-” Amelia interrupted. “-they’re really annoying. Like- really, really annoying.”
Derek nodded in agreement, although, he wasn’t quite sure that was how he put it. It wasn’t that he didn’t think they were really, really annoying by any stretch of the imagination. They were. He would have just chosen some more...subtle words to describe them.
“Plus you’re not out to them.” Kai added confidently, despite the fact that it was a complete guess.
Amelia looked to them, a little surprised by the (accurate) guess. She had never had the discussion with her mother, nor her other three siblings. Just Derek. Although, despite her initial problems spelling out what she was trying to confess, he had taken it extremely well and requested she joined him on his side of the sofa for a warm hug.
“I was the only one who ever saw you kiss Jess.” He said, reading her mind. “You would have had that conversation eons ago if I told anyone else. Kathleen wouldn’t be able to keep it in for thirty whole seconds.”
She shook her head, finger raised to him. “Me and Jess were not a thing.”
“You so were!” He exclaimed. “I bet you’ve dated all sorts of people and never told me.”
“No.” She denied, downing half of her lemonade.
“Go on, just one.”
“I...I thought Kate was pretty hot, I’ve got to say. Not that she got un-hot. Just...you know, things fade over time.”
Derek’s eyebrows hit the roof. “Seriously?”
“Who’s Kate?”
“She’s a police officer who was paralyzed when she was shot in the spine. I met her when her physio session overran into mine.” He clarified to Kai before turning back to his sister. “She’s married. Happily married. Well- she's married to a woman, so at least you had some kind of shot, I suppose.”
“You, out of anyone, should know that marriage doesn’t stop the Shepherd siblings.” Amelia retorted smugly, ignoring the latter part of his comment. Unfortunately, falling for a straight woman was something she'd experiences before.
“Marriage doesn’t do what?” Kai asked. They were rather lost with it all when the three of them knew each other so well.
“It doesn’t matter, it just-“
Before he even had the chance to finish his response, he found Meredith’s hand flailing in his face, making the any words he was even considering saying drop out of his mind instantaneously. “Hey- don’t you dare speak.” She instructed. “I was dating his super hot doctor I met at a bar the night before I started at the hospital,” She began, just the starter of the story making Derek’s head fall into both hands, elbows leaning on the table. “After the whole ‘oh my god, my one night stand is my boss’ fiasco, we got all happy and cosy until one night we plan to go out on a date only for me to find out that he was married. Freaking married!”
He couldn’t help but look up at the exclamation of the verb. She wasn’t actually mad, it just accented the point. A lot. An awful lot. He had lied to her in that bar, but he wasn't going to do that now, even if they were a girl and guy in a bar again.
“Well...that's um- an interesting way of meeting."
“For clarification, we were separated, but not legally divorced.” Derek added, trying to explain himself. The last thing he wanted Kai to think was that he was some sort of bigamist.
“I mean, we broke up, for a while. Then he divorced his wife to get with me. I said no.”
“But I was too irresistible.” He murmured as he looked to her, thankful for the confirmation that she did indeed still love him. “You just had to marry me.”
She almost laughed at that. “You would not stop stalking me around the hospital like some creep, asking for forgiveness!”
“Your vision has been clouded over time.” He corrected in a slightly off accent to his regular tone, as if he was imitating hypnotisation with one of the kids.
“You’re the one with the all the bonks to the head and brain damage, not me.” She said, a hand ruffling through his hair.
He grumbled something indistinct that sounded a little like he was saying, “Sure.”
Her fingers climbed through the black mess of strands, finding the ridge of his craniotomy scar, but not saying anything about it out loud. She was aware that the last thing he wanted to do was discuss it with his sister’s partner. Obviously, seeing as they asked none of the regular questions he received, they had at least been filled on the most obvious aspect about him.
“Anyone know where the bathroom is?” Kai asked.
No one volunteered an answer. “No idea, but I’d like to go too, if we can find it.” Derek said as he slid himself out of Meredith’s hold and pulled his chair from the position he had shoved it into – that way, it would take up less room and be less noticeable – to a situation that he could transfer onto from the seat. He did it a little prematurely, but all Kai had to do was stand. His method took a lot longer than theirs.
“I think I see a sign over there.”
Derek nodded, following them through the pub and dodging tables. They were quite tightly crammed but he managed to slip through alright without anyone having to shuffle for him. He always hated that. Anyone else would simply be able to turn and glide through a closed gap, but he couldn’t.
“Derek?” Kai named as they reached a small, slightly grimy corridor which contained multiple doors, each leading to a different type of bathroom.
He nodded. “Yeah?”
“Did you call my name because the waiter called Meredith ‘lady’ and you ‘gentlemen’ and you were worried what he was going to say to me?”
“Tell me about the pronouns one more time.” Derek pleaded, entering his daughter’s room.
"Okay. But only quickly, because I've got some work to finish." She said as she spun around on her office chair so she could see her dad. She liked the sound of Kai. From what Amelia had said, they sounded nice and she wanted them to be happy together. The last thing she needed was her old man to screw it all up with the wrong pronoun. “If you called someone by the wrong name, what do you do?”
“Correct the name, call myself an idiot internally, learn to pay more attention to that person’s name so I don’t do it again.” He supposed.
“Like, ‘I saw Bob yesterd- sorry, Jimmy, yesterday and-’”
“Right.” He agreed, nodding.
“So instead, ‘I saw him yesterd- sorry, them yesterday and...’” She said, providing an example in the hope that would make it easier. For someone with, arguably, one of the hardest jobs in the world, he did ask a lot of questions about something so simple. On the other than, since he was first corrected when the project started, she had heard her father refer to them correctly hundreds of times. Why he was so worried, she had no idea. He’d never screwed up before. “Say person instead of male or female. Don’t trip over yourself with apologies. Don’t make up a paragraph about how sorry you are and try and convince them that you aren’t some horrible transphobe, a simple one word ‘sorry’, then correction is all you need. It’s annoying otherwise.”
“Right, okay.” He confirmed with a nod. “Where did you learn all this stuff anyway?”
“I do stuff other than read biology books Dad, you are aware of that, right?”
He smirked. "Yeah. I'm aware. Just...impressed anyway."
“Thanks...I think.”
He pushed himself further into the room, pausing besides the desk she was working at. “Anyway, what’s the homework I’ve disturbed you from?”
“Biology stuff of chlorophyll. She still makes me do all the homework even when I know it so I just want to finish it quick so I can go back to my book."
He nodded. “Well, I won't disturb you any longer." He murmured before giving her a quick kiss on the head and pulling himself away from her desk to leave so she could continue.
He nodded again, confirming, “Uh- yeah, why?”
“Nothing. That’s just- it’s really kind of you.” They elaborated. It shouldn’t have been a big deal to not have to be adjudged for a gender everywhere they went, but it was. It always was. They had never gone out without a ‘sir’ or a ‘ma’am’ or a ‘he’ or a ‘she’.
“My sister does not shut up about you. If I blow it on our first proper meeting, I’ll never get to know you.”
They smiled. “True, true.”
“Do you- do you want to get to know me?” He asked, turning serious.
“Huh?” They inquired, not entirely sure what he meant.
“I mean- are you sticking around for more than a couple weeks, or are you gonna run off when you discover how interesting my sister really is? Because you know there’s no point in us getting to know each other if you two are going to break up in a week.”
“I’ll ‘stick around’ until Amelia decides she doesn’t like me anymore.” They confirmed with a reassuring grin, using his own words back at him. They supposed this was the whole “he can get a little...defensive at times over me. It’s a big brother thing, don’t let it freak you out, he’s nice really” thing that they had discussed on the way there.
“You think she will?”
“No, but you think she will.” Kai assumed with the same confidence in their voice that they had had when they presumed Amelia wasn’t out to the rest of her family.
“She’s not the greatest at relationships.” Derek confessed. He wasn’t sure it was the best explanation to be giving to the person who was literally in a relationship with his sister, but it was the truth.
“Who is?” They shrugged.
He smiled at their answer. They didn’t falter. They were sure. “You’ve got to promise me you’re not going to run.”
“I can handle Amelia Shepherd, Derek, don’t you worry about that.”
“Hey, can I have another lemonade?” Kai asked, just as Amelia joined them at the bar. “Hey.”
“Should I add it to your tab ma’a- man?” The bartender inquired, clearly faltering as he made an attempt to determine whether or not he should be calling the person in front of them a man or a woman.
They nodded through a smirk. It was annoying most of the time but sometimes, it was just funny to watch people struggle to come up with a word. They were always so sure they had a 50/50 chance as well. They didn’t, and that resulted in an awful lot of ‘Ma’sirs’ and ‘Sirma’ams’.
“You want one?”
“We can share.” Amelia suggested, watching as the man prepared the drink.
Kai, on the other hand, was paying attention to anything but the fizzy drink being made. "Could you imagine being just so...God.”
Amelia turned to looking at them, but found their focus had shifted to where they were sat together just a few minutes ago. “What?”
“Your brother and Meredith. Is it weird if I say they’re cute together? I mean they’re just so...I don’t know, it's just- nice, I guess.”
The pair was laughing together, so much so that they were pretty sure Meredith was almost crying from the extremes of their giggles. And there was this look. This look that the man of the couple gave the woman as he composed his laughter before her, staring at her with...well, love. Kai wasn’t sure they had ever considered a stare to be so loving before.
“They are sickening.”
“You wouldn’t say that if it was you and...”
“Me.” She couldn’t help but blurt. “I think we’re cute together.”
“Amelia Shepherd...can you wanna say that again?” They murmured as Amelia suddenly found them extremely close to her lips. She closed the gap before they had the chance. Obviously, the bartender witnessed it, seeing as when they broke apart, the drink was besides Kai, but he, thankfully, didn’t comment. He probably had people kissing over lemonades – or more likely beer – every night anyway. They both turned on the bar stool so they were perfectly parallel to one another.
“I-” She murmured, fingers grabbing for their hand.
They converted the attempt to a hold gladly, fingers hanging around each other’s palms. “Yes.”
“Think-" She continued.
“Mmm mmm.” They hummed.
She licked her lips. “That-"
She didn’t get a verbal response that time, just a quick kiss on the lips.
“We-" She carried on, words slowing.
“Yeah.” They breathed, anticipation for those final three words to break from her lips tugging at their heart.
“Are cute together.” She finally finished.
“Is it wrong that I want to get outta here and- uh-“ They didn’t hesitate or falter. They just got lost – really, really, lost – in Amelia’s expectant eyes. “You have a headache.”
Amelia didn’t need an explanation for their plan. In fact, they were thinking exactly the same thing. Well, Amelia was considering stomach ache as three quarters of their group were neurosurgeons so Derek would most likely come up with some twenty point checklist of symptoms. “Really painful.”
“You have some paracetamol at home.”
“That doesn’t work. Derek carries analgesics everywhere he goes. Has to.”
“You need a dark room then.” Kai suggested.
“Quiet.” Amelia smirked.
“I’ll be disappointed if we’re quiet.” They joked, sending another smile across her face. There was nothing anyone could possibly come up with to diffuse that. Unless she was about to say that her brother also came packed with a bed, an eye mask and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones.
“Me too.” Amelia murmured as Kai slipped off their stool and walked over got the couple.
“Hey, I think Amelia wants to go home; she’s got a headache.” Kai said, surprisingly convincingly to the couple.
Derek almost chuckled. He had used the exact same excuse before with Meredith to let them escape from a dreadful party or double-date gone wrong. “I’m sure she does.”
“I- uh.” They faltered, not expecting the couple to see through their lies so quickly.
“It’s fine. Should probably call it a night with all our early surgeries anyway.” Meredith diffused, giving a free, uncaring wave of her hand.
“Are you-“ They started.
“We were in young and in love once.” Meredith reminisced, cutting them off before they could say anything else.
“Excuse me- we still are!” Derek exclaimed.
“Derek, it’s hard for me to say this, but I think you’re in denial.” She returned to his outrage as she shook her head, giving him an overtly apologetic frown. That was what Kai meant by cute. They were constantly sending each other into a land of endorphins by just a simple look, or a sentence-long joke or a change in facial expression. They didn’t even have to talk to each other for them to feel the love between the pair. She returned to a more normal state, stopping her joking with the man. “Either way, it’s fine. I think we’ll be heading out now to.”
“You sure?” They asked, looking between both members of the pair.
Derek nodded. "Sure."
“Okay, I’ll go pay.”
“Oh- I can-“ Derek started, attempting to make an offer of payment instead.
They shook their head just before they walked off to the bar. “I insist, really I-“
“Oh my god Emit!” A woman from behind them shouted. “Is anyone here a doctor?”
"Good save." Kai muttered as the group watched the ambulance pull away. Hopefully, Emit would be fine, as long as he got treatment in time.
"Could say the same about you." Derek returned. "Or- well, Amelia, or Mer."
Amelia smiled. "I think he's the luckiest unlucky guy in the world. I mean- collapsing in the presence of- three surgeons and neurologist...three neuro people and a general surgeon."
"And saying that reminds me why we should probably get going."
"Agreed. I had fun...kind of. Maybe we should do it again- with less strokes this time. We'll walk-" Kai paused. Normally it was everyone else who got them wrong, not the other way around. "Uh- escort you back to your car."
Derek smirked. "Thanks. And don't sweat it, seriously. I'm trying my best, but I'm sure I'll mess up something about you very, very soon. Apologies in advance."
"Right. Well, apologies in- uh- the present, I guess."
Derek sighed as he watched his sister and her person-person, as Kai was once known, walk across the car park together, hands interlocked and swinging with each step. He pulled open the car door at the quick flash of light Meredith sent across the headlight at the click of the key. “We used to be fun.”
She returned from the boot, the first door she always opened, and paused by his door as he got into the car. “We are still fun.”
He was left to ponder that for a second as she shut his door, chucked his chair in the back and opened her own door.
“When was the last time we had sex somewhere other than our bed?” He asked as she slid into the car and closed her own door. It barely took them an extra ten seconds to get into the car than it used to, as they were so used to it now. “Cause I wanna say its been like literally ten years.”
“Why don’t we change that now?” She asked, raising a suggestive eyebrow.
He raised his more because of the preposterousness of her question. Maggie had agreed to settle the kids to bed, but not stay all night with them, so they couldn’t...could they? “Now? Like- right now?”
“No time like the present.” She winked this time and Derek wasn’t sure whether that was any better or worse for the overwhelming urge he had to kiss her...among other things. He settled on worse. “Like...that time in the Neurology conference.” She suggested with a quirk of the eyebrow.
“Not the Neurology conference!” He exclaimed. Derek had waited ten minutes for the janitor to finish cleaning the bathroom and, seeing as it was in a fancy-pants hotel, it was extremely large and extremely well-finished. The floor was clean, seeing as he was the first one in there after the woman finished washing it, and he doubted many people would be in need of the toilet, seeing as he was in a conference of neurosurgeons and he had never met another surgeon like him, nevermind neurosurgeon. So, he called Meredith in to ‘look’ and locked the door. He left with an askew jacket and her hair was an awful lot wilder than it was going in, but he was pretty sure they got away with it. Well, minus Amelia. She gave them a serious death stare.
“Where are you thinking then?” He asked as she plugged the key, starting the engine.
“How about-“ She started before leaning over to him, whispering something delicately into his ear.
He couldn’t help but burst into a light chuckle at her suggestion. “Meredith Grey! I cannot believe you would even suggest that we could- that would be wrong. We can’t do it there!“
She quirked another eyebrow as she cut his return off, “That wasn’t a no.”