[Kate Austen]

Danke Gunni && Jeane (woohoo, neue Leserin! :clap: ) <3

Soviel Engagement muss doch gleich belohnt werden...

+ Möpimöp +

“Derek, I can’t..” she whispered softly and withdrew from his arms, looking straight into his twinkling cobalt blue eyes. She expected to see something like disappointment or even anger in them, something she thought she deserved. But instead she was faced with pure tenderness. Which, to be honest, confused her even more.

“It’s okay.” He softly smiled at her.

She didn’t want him to smile. She didn’t want him to be okay with it. She wanted him to be angry, to tell her what the hell was wrong with her.
That would have made it way easier.

“No, it’s not.” She lowered her head, unable to look at him right now. Unable to see him un-angry. Unable to see him looking at her. She couldn’t breathe with him looking at her like that. His look was mesmerizing and the last she needed right now was… to be mesmerized.

He gently lifted her chin up, forcing her to look at him.

Damndamndamn!

“Meri… it’s okay.” He placed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I won’t push you into something you don’t want.”

She smiled at him thankfully. “You won’t?”

“I won’t.” he repeated.

“Look…” After all, she felt as if she owed him an explanation. “I had a lot of bad luck in my former relationships… talking about jealousy and distrust and…” she sighed, “infidelities. And I’m still dark and twisty because of that and I guess it would not be fair if you had to deal with a dark and twisty me… Plus… the Cristina Break Up Rules say..-”

“The what?” Derek raised an eyebrow, yet an amused grin appeared on his face.

“Never mind.” she added quickly. “Anyway, these rules… whatever… say ‘Do not date hot men unless they are named George Clooney or Brad Pitt’..-”

“So you think I’m hot?”

Meredith playfully hit him on the chest, causing him to chuckle. “Would you please stop interrupting me! Anyway… My point is, I’m taking baby steps.”

“Baby steps?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Baby steps.” she nodded.

Silence. He seemed as if he pondered over something very carefully. And then…

“Could you use company? With taking baby steps, I mean.” he added after he had recognised her asking glance. “You know, I’ve had shitty relationships myself and maybe we could practise group therapy.”

Huh? What was wrong with that guy? She has just turned him down the second time within a few days and he still kept it up. Either he was one of those sick stalkers who even hide behind some bushes, offering their prey self-made strawberry ice cream and stuff because they are… well… sick… or… he really, really liked her…
Tricky question.

“I… guess that’ll be okay.” she agreed finally. “But there are rules to this… therapy thing… or whatever.”

“The Dark And Twisty Club has rules?” He didn’t care what it was. He would accept everything if it meant he would see her again.

“Number one, strictly on sociable basis.”

Okay. Granted… that was a hard one. But did he have another option?

Damndamndamn!

He took a deep breath. And another one for good luck. “Strictly sociable basis, got it.”

“Number two, no giving me the face…” she continued when Derek interrupted her again.

“The face?” he asked, arms akimbo. God, she was cute when she was bossy…

“The McDreamy face. The head tilt, the smile… Stop it or else I screw group therapy!”

He exerted himself for sounding serious when he agreed to her statement with a simple nod, afraid of doing something… flirt-y.

“And three,” she declared, “no singing songs about me.”

“I do not sing songs about you, Meri.” he replied sanctimoniously.

Liar, liar, liar, sang the little man inside his head. The only thing worse than a liar is a bad liar. And he was a very big bad liar.

“Great!” She smiled brightly at him though he could tell he saw a glimmer of disappointment flashing in her eyes.

She could do the friends thing. Seriously. Being friends with Derek would be fun. Fun, fun, fun, she told herself. They would do funny friend-y things like… never mind. But it would be so much fun.

Funfunfun.