Viewing Single Post From: I DO

Viewing Single Post From: I DO - Part 2
oncetherewasaway	Dec 27 2007, 01:34 PM
McEditor Posts: 1,625 Group: .Grey Girls. Member #23 Joined: October 25, 2006	Disclaimer: If we owned Grey's, Katie would wake up every morning going, "Yay! I get to go to work!" And days off would suck terribly. But we definitely don't own Grey's. He didn't want to move. He opened his eyes and knew that sooner or later he'd have to move but he didn't want to. After amazingly silent sex the night before they had collapsed and now Meredith was curled tightly in his arms, a soft smile on her sleeping face and he didn't actually want to even think of moving from this spot ever again. It wasn't possible but it sounded nice. The alarm had gone off at some point, he knew that much. He knew the alarm had gone off and Meredith had rolled over on top of him to turn it off before settling back down next to him, both of them falling back asleep immediately. He wasn't entirely sure how long ago that had been, but it couldn't have been longer than fifteen minutes. Which meant he could sleep for another fifteen. He held her tighter and let his eyes fall shut again as he kissed the top of her head. She moaned softly in his arms and hugged him tighter. They had a very strange habit of clinging to each other in the morning and he could only assume it had something to do with them knowing the day ahead would be crazy. Not that he was complaining, he loved the clinging to each other. It was definitely his favourite way to sleep, even if it was just for a stolen fifteen minutes. He sighed as he heard the door creak open slowly. Hannah was up early, entirely too early. It was probably a good thing though. He could get her ready for school and then Meredith could drive her. Definitely a good thing. He held Meredith a little closer as he felt the bed jostle slightly from both Hannah and Eskimo jumping up. Eskimo turned three times and laid down at the foot of the bed, while Hannah crawled towards them and effectively separated them, cuddling between them. "Morning, Daddy," she whispered. "Morning Meredith." "Morning Han," Derek murmured, ducking his head down to kiss her cheek lightly. She turned slightly more towards Meredith, who had become her favorite cuddle buddy in the past couple of months. He wasn't entirely sure why, but his little girl always seemed to cuddle with Meredith a little bit more in the mornings. It was entiredly adorable and he couldn't help but smile as he turned slightly, watching as she kissed Meredith's cheek. "Are you sleeping, Meredith?" "Was," Meredith sighed, opening her eyes slightly. "Morning Han." "Morning," Hannah giggled. "Guess what." "What?" Meredith grinned. "Uncle Monkey's here," Hannah smiled widely, wrapping her arms around Meredith's neck. "With donuts and chocolate milk." "Unlce...crap," Derek exclaimed sitting up quickly. "What time is it?" "Seven twenty-five," Hannah chirped proudly. "Sh...crap," Derek shook his head, jumping out of bed. "What?" Meredith frowned as Hannah cuddled against her side. "I'm supposed to be out of here in five minutes," Derek groaned, heading toward the closet. "Didn't you set the alarm?" Meredith asked, climbing out of bed, Hannah quickly following her. "Yeah and you turned it off." "Sorry," Meredith sighed. "Come on, Han, let's go get breakfast and then Daddy will get you ready for school before he leaves." "Mer...you're going to have to do that," Derek sighed. "I don't have time." "But you always get me ready for school," Hannah mirrored Meredith's frown. "I know," Derek nodded. "But Daddy's running really really late so Meredith's going to help you this morning." "It's okay, Han, we'll figure it out," Meredith sighed, taking her hand. "Let's eat first and then we'll find something for you to wear." "Thanks Mer," Derek sighed gratefully as he pulled his shirt over his head. "No problem," she sighed, kissing his cheek quickly. "Morning, by the way." "Morning," he smiled. "Han," Mark's voice called, "I told you to get their lazy butts out of bed. I guess I'm going to have to eat all your donuts." "Come on, Han," Meredith giggled, leading her out of the bedroom. "You better not eat my donuts, Uncle Monkey!" Hannah exclaimed. "I'm sure he won't," Meredith sighed as she led Hannah the rest of the way downstairs. "Morning," Mark smirked as Hannah ran up to him, climbing ontop of the chair to look into the box of donuts. "You're lucky, Hannah Banana, I was thinking about giving some to Eskimo too." "Eskimo can't eat donuts," Hannah sighed. "Daddy said so." "And when has your dad ever been right?" Mark laughed, kissing her curls. "Meredith says it too." "Meredith's wrong too," Mark shrugged. "And Uncle Monkey is crazy," Meredith rolled her eyes. "That's not nice, Grey," Mark shook his head. "And to think I brought you donuts and saved you from Shep's muesli crap." "I'm just happy you woke us up when you did," Meredith sighed. "Daddy's really, really late," Hannah reported, taking a bite of a chocolate donut. "Wonder whose fault that is?" Mark smirked. "You're disgusting, Mark," Meredith rolled her eyes. "Just stating the facts, Grey." "What's the facts?" Hannah asked, reaching for another donut. "Nothing, Hannah," Meredith shook her head. "Eat up so we can get you ready." "I'm not getting ready," Hannah shook her head. "And why not?" "I'm sick," Hannah sighed, finishing off the donut and reaching for another. "My tummy hurts." "You know Daddy only lets you have two," Meredith reminded her. "And you're obviously not sick." "I am," Hannah insisted, looking at the donut in her hands and then taking a big bite. "Don't tell Daddy, Meredith. It's a secret." "Hannah...put the donut down and go get ready." "I'm sick," Hannah stated firmly. "You're clearly not sick." "I am," Hannah faked a cough. "Right, Uncle Monkey? I'm very, very sick." "Well...if you're sick you should definitely put down the donut, sick kids don't get to eat donuts." "Sick kids get ice cream," Hannah nodded. "Jenny got her 'sils cut out and she got lots and lots of ice cream. I gotta get my 'sils cut out." "Hannah, yuo don't just get your tonsils cut out," Meredith sighed. "And being sick is no fun, even if you get ice cream." "And she got to stay home from school and everything," Hannah continued. "So I'm real sick and I gotta get my 'sils cut out." "You seemed fine this morning," Meredith pointed out. "It was fast sick." "Tonselitis isn't fast sick." "Yeah it is," Hannah nodded. "I'm real sick and I can't go to school. Cause I gotta get my 'sils cut out. But don't tell Daddy." "Daddy would have to sign for you to get your tonsils out," Mark pointed out. "You can sign for him," Hannah giggled. "Like when I got in trouble at school and you signed the letter, 'member, Uncle Monkey?" "I did," Mark nodded. "But this is different." "But I'm sick." "No you're not," Meredith groaned. "We have to get you ready for school." "Nope," Hannah shook her head. "Meredith, we can stay home sick together and watch movies and stuff." "As fun as that sounds neither of us are actually sick." "Hannah Rose Shepherd," Mark sighed, "if you don't get upstairs right now and start getting ready, I'll tell your dad. And he'll get mad and you'll get grounded." "But I am sick," Hannah tried again. "Hannah," Meredith groaned as Derek came into the kitchen, pulling a sweater over his button down. "What's going on?" Derek asked, noticing the frowns surrounding him. "Nothing," Hannah shook her head, reaching for her chocolate milk. "Okay...don't have a lot of time here. What?" "Hannah's apparently sick," Meredith groaned. "And refuses to get ready for school." "You were fine this morning," Derek frowned at his daughter. "Meredith!" Hannah exclaimed. "It was a secret, 'member!" "Hannah..." Derek's frown deepened. "If you're sick you have to go back to bed and stay in bed all day." "I'm not bed sick," Hannah shook her head. "I'm couch sick." "If you're not bed sick you can go to school. Now take Meredith upstairs so she can help you get ready." "But, Daddy..." "No but daddy," Derek shook his head, kissing her quickly. "I have to go but if you keep giving Meredith a hard time she'll tell me." "Derek, I've got this, and you're late," Meredith sighed as Hannah pouted. "I know," he nodded, kissing Meredith quickly. "Thanks. Love you." "Love you too," she smiled. "Love you, Hannah," Derek smiled as he headed toward the door. "Love you, Daddy," Hannah sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at Meredith. "Hannah, you heard him," Meredith nodded firmly. "Upstairs now." "I'm sick." "No, you're not," Meredith shook her head. "And you weren't apposed to tell," Hannah frowned. "Friends don't tell secrets." "Hannah, if you were sick Daddy would need to know. And that's beside the point...as you're not sick. Go upstairs." "You know what?" Mark sighed, backing away from the counter and scooping Hannah up in his arms, "you're going upstairs. And you're going to get ready for school and then I'm going to take you. And then I'm talking to your dad at work." "Mark...I can do it," Meredith sighed. "Yeah, good luck with that," Mark rolled his eyes, holding a struggling Hannah in his arms. "Fine," Meredith nodded. "Fine," Mark agreed. "Come on, Han." "I hate you," Hannah whined. "Yeah, I know you do," Mark shrugged, walking out of the kitchen. Meredith grabbed a donut and tried to hold the tears back. She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't. She would get on top of this. Hannah was happy having her here, Hannah was happy with the three of them living together. She just wasn't used to Meredith doing the adult thing but she'd adjust. She had to adjust. This had to get better. And in mean time, Meredith wasn't going to cry. It's time to be a big girl now And big girls don't cry Disclaimer: We figure it's only a matter of time before this has to happen on the show, it's only natural. And we'd hope it would happen like this as that would be too funny for words. If we owned the show it would happen like this. "Okay, Han," Meredith sighed as she looked at the entirely destroyed living room. Which was partially her fault. Or maybe entirely her fault. She had been the one who had come up with the idea for a secret fort in the living room. Except now Derek would would be home any minute after a long day at work and he definitely wouldn't be amused. "Your dad's going to kill us." "Nu-uh," Hannah shook her head. "We can clean it." "In the next," Meredith looked down at her watch, "twenty minutes?" "Yep," Hannah smiled confidently. "I'm good at cleaning." "You're also good at making messes," Meredith giggled and then nodded. "Cleaning. We can clean it up and he'll never know." "It will be our secret," Hannah giggled. "Exactly," Meredith grinned. "Our secret. So you grab the blankets and I'll start putting the books away." "Okay," Hannah nodded, grabbing a blanket off the floor. "Because I'm pretty sure your dad would kill me if he saw this," Meredith sighed, putting the pillows back on the couch before grabbing the books and walking towards the bookshelf. "Daddy says killing is bad," Hannah sighed. "He'll just yell. And he never yells so you know you're in really big bad trouble if he yells." "Very, very true," Meredith nodded. "And we can't get in really big bad trouble right before Christmas." "No," Hannah shook her head quickly. "Santa doesn't come if I'm bad. And I asked Santa for a new tutu so he has to come." "He definitely does," Meredith grinned, picking up the remnants of their paper war with Eskimo. "Hopefully your daddy will get caught in traffic and he'll be late." "So we have more time," Hannah giggled. "Exactly," Meredith nodded, freezing when she heard a car pull up to the house. "Oh crap." "Oh oh," Hannah breathed. "We could tell him Uncle Monkey came over and did it." "I think Uncle Monkey was working today," Meredith groaned, chewing on her lower lip. "Could we tell him Eskimo did it?" "Maybe," Hannah frowned. "Or that a bomb went off and we were lucky to be alive," Meredith sighed, her frown deepening as the doorbell rang. "Okay...that's...maybe it isn't Daddy." "Daddy doesn't ring the door," Hannah nodded. "He doesn't," Meredith agreed, putting a book down and moving to the front door, opening it to reveal an older woman. "Um...hi." "Oh...hello," the older woman frowned slightly. "Is Derek home?" "Nana!" Hannah exclaimed, running past Meredith and hugging the older woman tightly. "There's my Hannah bug," the woman smiled, hugging Hannah tightly. Nana. Nana. Hannah called Derek's mom Nana. Which meant...crap. This was defintiely not good. Definitely and entirely not good. "Daddy's at the store," Hannah informed her grandmother. "Oh is he?" Derek's mom asked. "I guess that means he'll be home soon enough." "In twenty minutes," Hannah nodded. "Well, in that case how about I come inside and wait for him." "Okay," Hannah grinned, grabbing her hand and leading her inside. "You missed my top secret fort, Nana. It was...it was really cool and me and Eskimo had paper wars and you can't tell Daddy cause I gotta clean it 'fore he gets home or I'll get in really big bad trouble and I can't get in really big bad trouble or Santa won't bring me my new tutu." "Won't say a word." "Good," Hannah nodded. "I gotta clean so I'll be right back, okay?" "Of course," the older woman nodded. "Okay," Hannah grinned, running back towards the living room, leaving Meredith rocking slowly back and forth on her heels. This was incredibly bad. Worse than bad. Really, really bad and she definitely didn't like how Mrs. Shepherd was looking at her. She was screwed. Completely screwed. "I'm Katherine Shepherd...Hannah's grandmother," the woman nodded slightly. "I don't believe we've met." "Oh," Meredith breathed. "We...no we haven't and um...Derek's...he'll be home any minute. Like...any minute and then you can talk to him and I'll...Meredith. I'm Meredith." "Nice to meet you, Meredith," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "You too," Meredith sighed, staring at her watch. Derek needed to be home now. Right now. Because this was...this was bad. Really, really bad. "I hope Hannah hasn't given you any problems today," Mrs. Shepherd said kindly. "What?" Meredith frowned. "She can be a handful. I love her dearly but she's not always the easiest to deal with. Derek's too soft with her." "Oh," Meredith's frown deepened. "No she's...I mean she's great. She's really great and...handful yeah but she's great and...sometimes she's a handful and tough but I...usually she's great." "Are you okay, dear?" Mrs. Shepherd frowned. "I'm...I have...something in the...kitchen or..." Meredith took a deep breath. "I'll be right back. Are you good...no of course you're good here with Hannah. She's your grand daughter so obviously you're good with her. I'll be right back." "Okay," Mrs. Shepherd nodded slowly. "Okay," Meredith sighed, grabbing her cell phone from the nearby coffee table and making her way towards the back of the house, quickly dialing Derek's number. He had to be home. Now. Because of all of the ways she had planned on meeting Derek's mom, this hadn't been one of them. She definitely hadn't been planning on rambling. She had thought she'd be cool and collected and entirely together. But instead...his mom thought she was the babysitter. She hadn't even known how they had avoided something like this happening for so long. She had spent more time at Derek's in the past months than she had at her own home and yet somehow their paths had never crossed. It had been the perfect mix of avoidance and luck and it had been working for them. Until now, which they probably should have seen this coming. "What am I forgetting?" Derek greeted her. "Where are you?" she demanded into the phone, trying to keep her voice down as she ducked into the pantry. "At the store, Mer. We need food." "No. No we definitely don't need food. Food isn't...we have food. Well, we apparently have soup and macaroni and cheese because I'm staring at it right now. You know, we actually have three boxes of macaroni and cheese. Which actually makes sense considering there's a six year old here. But still...a lot of macaroni and cheese. And chicken noodle soup." "I'm not actually sure if I should ask why you're in the pantry or why you're obviously freaking out." "I'm in the pantry because I'm hiding from your mother. Which then answers your question about why I'm freaking out. Because your mother is here. Your mom. Your mom who has no idea we're dating. She's here. Right now. Which means you have to come home. Now." "My mom's there?" "Yes, your mom's here," Meredith groaned, poking her head out as she opened the door slightly and then closing it again. "She's in the living room. With Hannah. And I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm the babysitter or something." "Shit," Derek murmured. "Mer...I have a cart full of food." "That's nice. Your mom's here." "But...food." "Derek....your mom. Your mom who has no idea I even exist is here. In the house. And she thinks I'm the babysitter which technically I kind of sort of am except I'm the babysitter who lives here and is screwing her son. Which she doesn't know about. And she's here. And she's...she's your mom. And I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm insane. She's probably going to tell you to fire me or something." "I'll leave the food and we'll come back for it later," Derek sighed. "On my way home." "How long?" "Ten minutes if traffic is good, can you manage?" "I...what do I do? Do you think she'll notice if I'm in the pantry the entire time? Because Derek...she thinks I'm the babysitter and...what do I do? What do I say? Oh god, she's going to hate me. She's going to completely hate me." "She won't hate you," Derek sighed. "Just...let her talk to Hannah, they adore talking. Just...stay busy in the kitchen or something." "You're going to let me do stuff in the kitchen?" "Not cooking stuff just...wipe the counter down or something." "Derek, she thinks I'm the babysitter. Not the maid. Babysitters babysit or whatever." "True...just...tell her you have to make a phone call and call Lexie or someone. She can't talk if you're on the phone." "Doesn't that make me a terrible babysitter?" "Which would be an issue if you were actually a baby sitter." "I don't need to give her a reason to hate me, Derek," Meredith groaned. "Is she nice? I mean, she seems nice but is she nice?" "She's nice," he laughed softly. "She can be scary but definitely nice." "Well, you have to say she's nice. She's your mom and she raised you and...so if I went out there she wouldn't like kill me or anything?" "She definitely won't." "Okay," Meredith sighed. "Ten minutes. I can do ten minutes." "You can. Just...don't tell her about us." "Wasn't planning on it, Derek." "Just making sure," he sighed. "I love you." "I love you too," she whispered, opening the door. "And get home fast." "I will." "Okay," Meredith sighed. "Bye." "Bye Mer." She hung up the phone quickly and sighed as she walked out of the pantry. It was Derek's mom. Who was apparently nice. This actually might not be all that bad. Derek would be home in ten minutes and he'd talk to her and they'd be okay. Unless of course she was dead. Because there was a possibility Mrs. Shepherd had seen the pictures on the mantel and figured it all out and now wanted to kill her. It had to be okay. She just had to keep breathing or whatever Derek would be telling her to do right now if he was at home instead of off doing stupid things at the grocery store. Breathing was good and she'd just concentrate on that. Then ten minutes would be over and Derek would be here and he'd have a plan on how to handle this. Derek always had a plan. He was Derek. He had to know how to handle this. He had to have planned for this at some point. He had to know how to explain all of this to his mom. Because she was his mom and he had to know what to say to make sure she didn't kill her. He definitely had to know that. So they'd be okay. They'd figure this out and survive this and everything would be perfectly okay. "So does Meredith watch you a lot when Daddy works?" she heard Mrs. Shepherd ask as she approached the living room. Crap. They had gotten Hannah into the idea of not saying anything, of keeping their secret but specific questions might mess her up. "Yep," Hannah chirped. "And when she has to work then Uncle Monkey does. Or you do." "And what does Meredith do?" "She's a doctor. Like Daddy." "She is? Than why does she babysit you?" "Cause she has to," Hannah giggled. "Or else I'd be home all alone. And she's my bestest friend in the whole world." "That's great, Hannah," Mrs. Shepherd smiled. "Yep," Hannah smiled. "Daddy says Meredith loves us both a lot. But in different ways." "Oh...Meredith loves you both?" "Yeah." "How does she love Daddy?" "I don't know," Hannah shrugged. "She's his girlfriend so she loves him a lot." Crap. She had said it. Mrs. Shepherd was good. Really good. Because Hannah had just said it and...Meredith groaned quietly as she fought the urge to call Derek back. "She's his girlfriend?" "Yeah," Hannah nodded and then clapped her hand over her mouth. "Oh oh." "Oh oh?" "I wasn't apposed to tell you," Hannah groaned. "Daddy said it was the biggest secret ever." "I see," Mrs. Shepherd sighed. "Is Meredith nice?" "Yeah," Hannah nodded. "She's the nicest. Well, most of the time. Sometimes she says I have to go to bed. Or that I have to clean my room. But she's really nice." "So she comes over a lot to help out when Daddy works?" "No," Hannah shook her head slowly. "She lives with me and Daddy." "She...what?" Crap. Crap. Crap. This was bad. This entirely bad. Completely bad. "So uh....that's taken care of," she said, walking into the living room as Hannah opened her mouth to answer. "I can just imagine," Mrs. Shepherd sighed, looking her up and down in a way she hadn't before, before her eyes flew around the room, obviously finally taking in some of the pictures that Derek had always managed to hide from her. "So when did you say my son would be home?" "Um...less than ten minutes," Meredith sighed, wringing her hands. "Good," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "It seems I have to talk to him." "Oh," Meredith breathed. "I...he should be back soon. Or soonish. Ten minutes, less than ten minutes so soon. Really soon and you can talk and...you can talk to him." "Hannah tells me you're a doctor." "I...second year resident," she murmured. "I assume you met Derek when you were an intern." "I...yes," Meredith nodded. "He was my attending and...yes." "Interesting." Interesting. That was probably code for slut or something. Slutty intern who slept with her bosses. This was just...Derek had to be home. He had to be home right now before Mrs. Shepherd killed her with her eyes. Derek's eyes. "I uh...can I get you anything, Mrs. Shepherd? Water or wine or...something?" "A glass of water would be nice, dear." "Right. Water," Meredith nodded. "I...water. I can do water. I'll...Derek's home!" she exclaimed as she heard a car pull up just outside the house. "Good," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "Good, that's...definitely good," Meredith started to back out of the room as she heard Derek running quickly up the walkway. She opened the door quickly and pulled him into a tight hug. "She knows." "But...how?" "Hannah told her." "Which is what we get for trusting a chatty six year old with our secret." "And she knows I live her. And...she keeps looking at me. And she asked...she knows we met when I was an intern and...Derek...she knows." "It's okay," he murmured, kissing her quickly. "She had to eventually. Did she say anything to you?" "Interesting. That's all she said. She said interesting. Is that...what does that mean?" "I have no idea," he groaned. "I'm probably dead." "Derek Michael Shepherd," Mrs. Shepherd came into the foyer. "Hi Mom," Derek grinned sheepishly. "Do not hi mom me," Mrs. Shepherd frowned and then turned to Meredith. "Meredith, please take Hannah upstairs while I speak to my son." "Of course," Meredith nodded quickly. "Thank you," Mrs. Shepherd nodded, watching as Meredith went into the living room to get Hannah and then turned to Derek. "What exactly do you to say for yourself?" "I was going to tell you." "Of course you were," Mrs. Shepherd sighed. "Tell me now." "That's Meredith, Mom. My girlfriend. Who I fully plan on marrying one day." Disclaimer: So we're now starting to think there may be rewrites or something. Yep, maybe they saw fan backlash and there's no more Lauren Stamille. That's called Denial-land. If we owned Grey's, you wouldn't have to live in Denial-land. Just happy Mer/Der land. He hadn't wanted her to find out this way. He had wanted to her to know, for the last few weeks he had been toying with ideas of how to tell her, but none of them had included Meredith calling him in a complete panic telling him to get home. That hadn't been exactly what he had been hoping for and he knew his mom. He knew he was in all kinds of trouble. It was really really bad. He wasn't sure he had seen her this angry since he was in college and he and Mark had stumbled home after a night out drinking on his twenty-first birthday. And when his mom got angry, she yelled. And she pulled guilt trips. And even though he had just told her what she had been waiting to hear since the day he had finished med school, that he wanted to get married, he had a feeling he was in for one hell of a guilt trip. "Mom..." Derek cleared his throat. "You're going to say something eventually...right?" "Derek, I'm not exactly sure what to say," she frowned. "As from what I understand, she was your intern and she now lives with you. How long have you been seeing this girl?" "Nearly a year," he replied quietly. "Nearly...nearly a year, Derek?" Mrs. Shepherd demanded. "You've been with this girl for nearly a year and didn't think to tell me? Didn't think to inform me that you were in a serious relationship?" "I thought to," Derek said quickly. "It was...we had a lot of issues to work through and I thought...I wanted to wait. Sorry." "You thought to? Derek, you've been with a girl for nearly a year. A girl who was apparently your intern and who seems to be quite close to Hannah. Given that fact alone, you should have told me." "I know, I'm sorry. Meredith and I...it was really complicated." "Complicated? Is it not also complicated that the poor girl was kept a secret? Kept a secret like common street trash? She's the woman you plan on marrying, Derek, not a prostitute." "Mom, it wasn't like that. Meredith doesn't do families and...she was entirely fine with you not knowing." "And what about Hannah?" Mrs. Shepherd continued. "You used a six year old to keep a secret from me?" "I...we...yeah, sorry." "Besides the fact that you never tell a six year old to keep a secret, as they most certainly can't, you used your daughter, Derek. You told her to lie. What sort of lesson is that?" "A really bad one," Derek sighed. "I know it was bad, I know lying is bad. Hannah knows that too." "Does she? She's spent the last year lying to me." "We kind of played it as secret keeping." "Secret-keeping," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "Secret keeping from her grandmother. Lying, Derek. Good Lord, no wonder she's been acting out." "That had nothing to do with the ly...secret. She's just...there's been a lot of changes, Mom." "Apparently," Mrs. Shepherd sighed. "Of course, you weren't keeping a secret from me, Derek. How many times have you lied to me in the past year?" "I don't actually know...sorry." "Every time you've asked me to watch your daughter, every time you told me you were tired and wanted a night without your daughter, complained about a tough week, you were lying, Derek. Lying about a woman you apparently love, but don't find it important to actually tell me about her." "I love her more than anything, Mom. I was just trying to do what was best for my family." "I'm your mother, Derek." "And Meredith and Hannah are my family. This year has been full of ups and downs." "How much longer were you planning on lying to me?" "I don't know. I was trying to figure out a way to tell you." "You could have told me about her and then asked that I give you time. I would have done so, Derek." "Sorry," he murmured. "I wasn't sure if you would." "I just can't believe you've spent the last year lying to me," Mrs. Shepherd sighed. "Have I ever given you a reason to lie to me, Derek? Am I such a horrible mother that you need to be ashamed of me?" "Of course not," Derek shook his head. "Mer and I...it's been really rocky, Mom. I didn't...I took the easy way out." "Rocky?" "She's my intern. And she grew up in...her life hasn't been easy and this is...I have a six year old daughter. There was a lot of adjustments for me and Hannah and for her. She's still adjusting to being a parent figure, I didn't want to bring anything else in." "Anything else? Such as your mother?" "Such as my very large family." "I'm not asking you to send out an e-mail announcing your relationship with her, Derek," Mrs. Shepherd sighed. "I'm simply asking to be apart of your life on some level. I feel I've deserved that much." "You do, Mom. But with Mer...she's amazingly complicated, I was just trying to do anything to make this work with her." "Of course she's complicated. Having an affair with an intern is complicated." "It's not an affair, it was never an affair. She's always been more than that. And it's not what I meant." "She was your intern, Derek. How old does that make her? In her twenties?" "No, Mom, she took time off. She's 33." "And yet you hid her. As if you're ashamed of her. Don't you think she deserves better?" "She deserves everything," Derek groaned. "It wasn't hiding...she was good with this, she loved the hiding." "I can only imagine what you told her about me to make her think she needed to hide." "I didn't tell her anything," Derek sighed. "Her family life has been a mess, especially in the past year or so. She wasn't jumping up and down to meet any more family." "I wasn't asking to meet her, Derek. I was simply asking to be made aware of what's going on in your life. And my grand daughter's life. She's been acting out, and, as usual, you're much too soft with her. If I'm going to watch her, I need to know what is going on in her life." "Mom, I know and I'm sorry. But can you honestly say that if I came home and said I was dating the girl I wanted to marry you wouldn't have found a way to meet her?" "If you had asked me to wait, I would have." "I find that hard to believe." "Derek, this is not the time to develop an attitude." "Sorry, Mom." "I just can't believe you've spent the last year lying to me. And probably would have spent another if I hadn't come today." "No, I was planning on telling you soon." "I should hope so." "I was," Derek nodded firmly. "My going plan was after Christmas dinner." "Was she going to come with you to Christmas dinner?" "No." "Well now she is." "What?" "She's coming to Christmas dinner," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "Oh..." Derek sighed. "I don't know if she can, Mom. She has...a stepmom and some half sisters that probably are having dinner." "And when the two of you are married, will she still be avoiding the Shepherd family dinners?" "It's not avoiding, Mom. She has her own family." "And she'll still have her own family when you're married." "I know that," Derek nodded. "And we'll make plans around both of you...but...it's two days before Christmas. I don't know if she'll want to call Susan and cancel." "Have you met her family?" "Just her youngest sister. She's an intern at the hospital." "I'm assuming her step mother at least knows about the two of you." "Lexie is worse at keeping secrets than Hannah is." "So I was the only person kept entirely in the dark about this?" "Well...umm...the sisters too." "Your sisters don't need to know, Derek. They don't watch Hannah on an almost weekly basis." "I'm sorry, Mom. I don't know what else to say." "You're not engaged yet, are you?" "No, we're not. Meredith isn't ready for that yet." "Well thank God for that at least." "I would have told you before it got to that point." "I just find it incredibly hard to believe you've hid it from me for this long. Your brother has settled down, your brother is engaged, and I've been wondering if it was ever going to happen for you and here you are living with your girlfriend." "I know, I'm sorry, Mom." "I hope you are. I thought the girl was the babysitter." "I know, she told me." "I'm sure she called you to panic." "She did," he nodded. "That poor girl," Mrs. Shepherd shook her head. "I didn't want you to find out this way," Derek sighed. "I love her...a lot. I wanted to do it right." "Best intentions, I understand," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "Of course, you might have thought about introducing me to her before asking her to move in." "Mom, asking her to move in was terrifying enough." "How long has she lived here?" "Just a few weeks." "Derek, I can't believe you asked a girl to live with you. Last time we spoke about something like this, you were avoiding serious relationships until Hannah was older." "I was. And then I met Meredith." "She seems nice. A little nervous, but nice." "She's amazing, Mom," Derek smiled widely. "You'll love her." "I'm sure I will." "Did she ramble?" "She did. She sounded a little like Hannah." "She does that," Derek grinned. "I really am sorry I kept her from you. It's not anything to do with who she is. She's amazing." "I'm sure she is," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "Can I meet her properly now?" "Of course," Derek nodded. "She's probably in Hannah's room...so upstairs or down here?" "Down here, I think. And I also think Hannah should stay upstairs for this." "Probably," Derek sighed, opening his cellphone and sending Meredith a quick text message. She came down a few seconds later, her hair down from the ponytail it had been up in earlier, a little bit of lip gloss on. "You, uh...Hannah's upstairs. Reading," she nodded carefully. "Thanks," Derek nodded, kissing her cheek quickly as he wrapped an arm around her back. "Apparently we now have to do this the right way. So Meredith...this is my mom, Katherine Shepherd. Mom, this is my girlfriend, Meredith." "It's um...it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Shepherd," Meredith murmured, leaning into Derek. "It's nice to meet you too, Meredith," Mrs. Shepherd grinned. "I'm sorry for our awkward first meeting...of course that's neither of our faults." "Mom," Derek groaned. "It's the truth, Derek," Mrs. Shepherd sighed. "It's...well, it's kind of my fault too," Meredith whispered. "Yes, but it was mainly Derek's. I understand not being ready to meet me, I was terrified meeting Derek's grandparents. But that doesn't excuse Derek not telling me" "You were terrified meeting Nan and Pop?" Derek raised an eyebrow. "Of course I was," Mrs. Shepherd shrugged. "Meeting an entire new family, one you want to be part of, is never easy. Especially when they're Shepherds." "That's true," Meredith nodded. "I...apparently it's a big family and I don't...I don't do families. I have a family but they're new and I'm still...but I don't do families." "That's what Derek said," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "I also told him you are welcome to come over to our house for Christmas dinner but he said something about plans with that...new family." "Oh," Meredith bit her lip. "I...yeah. Christmas dinner and...but if you want me there then I can cancel or something. I just...new family and stuff." "It's up to you, dear. I understand your own family has to come first at the moment." "Maybe...maybe next year," Meredith nodded as Derek rubbed her back. "Next year sounds perfect," Derek nodded. "Maybe we can go to Susan's for Thanksgiving and Mom's for Christmas." "That...that works," she nodded. "And Susan...she'd be okay with that." "Good," Derek smiled slightly, kissing Meredith's cheek lightly. "That work for you, Mom?" "That works perfectly," Mrs. Shepherd smiled widely. "Great," Derek grinned. "Yeah," Meredith nodded. "That's...that's great." "I'd invite you to stay for supper, Mom, but our meal is sitting in a cart at the grocery store," Derek laughed softly. "And what exactly are you planning on feeding my grandchild?" "Not quite sure yet" "We have a lot of macaroni and cheese," Meredith murmured and then looked up. "Not that...I mean, she's a kid. She needs more than macaroni and cheese, so we'll find something. But there is macaroni and cheese but that obviously isn't the only thing we're going to feed her. Because she needs more and..." "It's kind of adorable, isn't it?" Derek smiled to his mom. "What is?" Meredith frowned. "The rambling," Derek grinned. "I...I'm sorry," Meredith sighed, turning back to Mrs. Shepherd. "I ramble when I'm nervous. Not that I'm nervous. I mean, you seem really nice and you're Derek's mom and I'm living with him so...we had to meet at some point. I just didn't think some point would be today after secret forts and paper wars and two days before Christmas. But I'm not nervous." "It's perfectly okay to be nervous," Mrs. Shepherd laughed softly. "Oh," Meredith sighed. "Okay. Well...I'm...there's macaroni and cheese. Hannah likes mac and cheese." "She does," Derek nodded. "We've got to have something in the freezer too." "Probably," Meredith nodded, still leaning into Derek. "So Mom...want to stay for mac and cheese and whatever is hiding in our freezer?" Derek asked. "That sounds wonderful, dear. And it will give me a chance to get to know Meredith a little better," Mrs. Shepherd smiled. "Yep," Meredith murmured. "That's...good. Really good." "And of course to see my granddaughter to make sure she's being good before Christmas." "Of course," Derek laughed. "She's been being an angel." "You always think she's been an angel, Derek," Mrs. Shepherd frowned. "It's rarely the case." "She's a good kid, Mom," Derek sighed. "She is," Mrs. Shepherd nodded. "Just incredibly spoiled and you're much too soft on her. And with what she's been going through lately. Of course, it all makes sense now." "Mom, we're not discussing this right now," Derek groaned. "No, of course we're not," Mrs. Shepherd nodded, taking Meredith's hand. "Come on, Meredith, we'll let my terrible liar of a son cook us dinner while we talk."


I DO - Part 2 · GA FAN FICS