The Headboard Chronicles, take three
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own it. Also, I'm kinda hopped up on flu meds., so if this makes no sense, blame that, not me. ;)
I noticed in the latest episode that this is Meredith and Derek's third headboard. And I was curious as to why that is, even though I'm sure we can all figure out the dirty reasons behind it. Set between 6.06 and 6.07. Enjoy.
When Derek knocks on Alex's door and asks him for help, Alex can't do much else but agree. They let him move back into the house, which doesn't leave him a lot of room to say no. So when Derek leads him into the master bedroom, sees the headboard leaning against the wall like a defeated soldier, and Meredith, sitting in the armchair trying to pretend like everything is just peachy, his suspicions are piqued. Of course, it doesn't take an expert to figure out what happened. Again. It happened before, and if Alex were the betting kind of guy, he'd venture to guess that it would happen in the future. But for now, he keeps his mouth shut and helps Derek lug the broken headboard out to the curb.
--
Derek offers to buy a new one on his way home from work, but Meredith is adamant. "I'm partially to blame for why it's broken. We should both go."
"Mer, it's a headboard. Not a puppy," he chuckles. "How about you flip through the catalog and I'll just pick it up?"
"Because. I want to be there," Meredith argues. Derek eyes her curiously, knowing that she doesn't care about the headboard that much, and she huffs. "Fine. I want to get out of the house. You know, fresh air? Cars? Trees? If I have to spend one more day staring at the TV, I'm gonna lose it, Derek."
"I'll pick you up after my shift tomorrow and we'll go get one," Derek gives in. "Then after I put it together, we can test it out."
Meredith smirks at her husband. "You know, technically, we shouldn't have even been having sex."
"For the record, I advised against it..."
"Saying it has to be a secret isn't exactly advising against it," Meredith points out playfully.
Derek smiles. "I walked into the room and found you naked in bed. How can I really say no when you do that?"
"I was bored. And horny. And that was the slowest, quietest sex we've ever had, so I don't even know how the headboard broke," Meredith says defensively, crossing her arms over the magazine clutched to her chest.
"I think the night we got engaged did it in. It's been dying a slow death for a few months now," Derek grins as he sits down on the end of the bed and pulls off his shoes.
Meredith tosses her magazine on top of her nightstand where it sat atop a growing pile of books, her iPod, cell phone charger, remote, nail polish, and DVDs, hence the reason she suckered Derek into the forbidden sex she was told not to have for four weeks post-op. She needed it to keep her sanity.
"How did the first one break?" she asks, jogging her memory for the sexcapade that was responsible for the first headboard casualty.
They both seem to recall it at the same time because she bites her lip and blushes, and he gets that dirty look on his face. "Oh, right. The, uh, the night we used the blindfold..."
"That would be the night," he agrees, thoroughly amused. There was never a dull moment in their bedroom, really. "Okay, shirt up."
Meredith rolls her eyes but still lifts up her shirt to the bottom of her bra. "You know, this is about as un-sexy as it gets."
"You're my wife. You don't have to be sexy around me," Derek counters as he grabs the four ounce tube of Mederma off his own nightstand and squeezes some onto a Q-tip. He gently applies the ointment over her healing surgical scar, unable to suppress his smile when he sees her skin prickle with goosebumps.
"I could do this myself," she says out of the blue, though she really doesn't mind. He was charming in his own annoying way.
"And yet, you let me do it every night," he laughs. He tapes some fresh gauze over her abdomen to keep the medicine from getting everywhere, pulls her shirt down, and kisses her. "All done."
"Thank you," she whispers.
He crawls into bed next to her and she curls into his side. This had become the time of day they both looked forward to. No work, no drama, no surgery. Only them, and the world that existed inside their bedroom. "Same time tomorrow," Derek laughs.
"I hope I never need a c-section," she sighs, her head resting on his chest. "That would be a third scar on my stomach. Appy, liver, baby. It would be a war zone."
"When did I knock you up?" he teases her.
Meredith giggles and pats his chest lightly with her fingers. "Shut up. I'm just saying, when you inevitably do, that's all," she explains.
"You won't," Derek assures her, not that he's a psychic or can really make that call. But still. "And if you do, I'll be here to rub ointment on your stomach every night."
"Is that what marriage is? You rubbing cream on me?" she asks humorously.
Derek just grins at her. This is what a marriage is. Being with the person you love, and knowing that despite the cream-rubbing and occasional un-sexiness, you're still the only two people in the world that would do it for each other. There's really nothing more they could ask for. He smirks. "We also break headboards."
--
Derek commissions Alex to help carry the new headboard up the stairs the following night, with Meredith bringing up the rear, guiding them through the hallway. Alex really hopes this new one survives the battle better than the previous two did. He's getting tired of walking broken headboards to the curb.
I've always thought of Meredith and Derek as being much kinkier than people give them credit for, hence the need for headboard number three. Hope you enjoyed! And Happy Halloween! :)