87. Chapter 87

Meredith silently followed Nathan up the driveway – away from Derek – to the house.

Nathan had obviously spent time with the Shepherd family, as he didn't even bother to knock when he reached the front door. He pulled it open and motioned for Meredith to enter first.

"Thanks," she said quietly, sending one last glance back over her shoulder before stepping into the house. This was very different from the last time she had entered the house; the night before, when she had been completely exhausted and anxious and hopped up on adrenaline all at the same time. And Derek had been in the house. She had been taken to Derek. Now she was being taken away from Derek.

"This has been coming for a while," he commented as he stepped into the front hall behind her. "But I'm sure it will be okay once they get everything out of their systems."

Meredith nodded, though she wasn't sure why. Derek had told her his sister was single. Obviously he had been caught by surprise at Nathan's presence. But that shouldn't be enough to create the sort of reaction that was going on now. Sure, Derek had an overprotective streak, but three of his sisters were married and they all had kids.

"I'm going to run the suitcase upstairs," Nathan continued, slipping off his shoes and heading down the hall for the stairs.

And she was alone.

And a little terrified.

With a deep breath, she leaned down and slowly – very slowly – untied the laces on her sneakers, pretending like she didn't normally just slip them on and off still tied. When that was done she pulled them off and stood, barefoot, silent, still.

What now?

A thump, thump, thud of tiny footsteps echoed from somewhere in the house, followed by a series of giggles. The basement, Meredith assumed. The kids were in the basement; or at least some of them. Fourteen kids were a lot. They probably didn't all fit in the same place.

There didn't seem to be any life on the main floor. The family was probably out back, where they had been earlier that afternoon when she and Derek had left.

She could make a run for it. The thought entered her mind before she could help it.

The stairs were so close. So temptingly close. All she had to do was make it to the second floor and the safety of Derek's bedroom. No one would even know she was home until Derek and Lauren came in when they were done arguing about...whatever it was they were arguing about. If they were even arguing.

She would be safe if she went upstairs.

She would also be a coward.

Safe.

Coward.

Safe.

Coward.

Hmm.

It was a tough call.

"Come on, Grey," she muttered to herself, trying to force herself to make a choice. The stairs were beckoning to her, pulling her to them. All she had to do was lift one foot after the other. Reach the landing. Tiptoe down to Derek's room. Shut the door. And she'd be safe. And a coward.

She'd be a coward, but she'd be safe.

And yet...

"Come on," she repeated, a little louder. "You made it this far."

She had travelled thousands of miles to spend the week with Derek and his family. She could walk the fifty feet or so through the house to the backyard. They were getting married. Married. Her and Derek. That meant these people, who she wanted to avoid, would be here in-laws. Her family.

And that meant she needed to learn how to do this family thing. She needed to learn how to be alone with these people.

She took a step forward. And then another. And another. She reached the doorway to the living room. Step. Step. Step. She was halfway across when she paused. Stopped. Took a deep breath. Convinced herself she was still the New Meredith. Convinced herself she could do this. Derek wouldn't be long. He wouldn't abandon her for long.

Step. Step. Step. She reached the back hallway. Just a few more steps.

And then the back door was looming in front of her.

She could hear voices and laughter from the other side. They were out there. All of them.

She took a deep breath, reached for the doorknob and-

The door swung towards her unexpectedly, catching her by surprise. She didn't have time to get out of the way, and the door slammed against her, the door knob catching her in the hip bone.

"Shit!" Hissed the voice on the other side of the door, with a hint of a British accent. Scott. Meg's husband. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you. Are you okay?"

Meredith shook her head quickly, ignoring the stinging against her hipbone. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

He stared at her for a long moment. "You sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah...scared me more than anything."

He smiled, one hand draped dramatically over his chest. "Scared you? You scared the hell out of me." He stepped around her. "I was just going to get a drink. Do you want anything?"

"I'm good, thanks," she replied quickly.

He nodded. "Okay."

"Yeah..." She mumbled, suddenly feeling awkward and uncertain.

Scott cocked his head. "So..."

"So." She echoed.

"Are you going out there?"

She released a laughing breath. "I'm thinking about it."

He offered her a warm smile. "We don't bite. We might hit you with a door here and there, but we don't bite."

Meredith laughed.

Scott laughed as well, and with a nod to her, he turned and left her in the back hall.

The door was still open, so Meredith knew she didn't have any time to hesitate any longer.

Time to rip off the band aid.

The door creaked as she swung it all the way open and then creaked again as she pulled it shut behind her. She'd seen the backyard earlier, but still had to admit it was beautiful. The green grass was relatively flat for a hundred feet or so behind the house, before gradually sloping downward and levelling off in time to end abruptly at a line of trees.

The door shut behind her with a click, and she hesitated, her hand still on the knob. No one had seen her yet.

What now?

Jane looked up from the patio table off to the left and smiled. She was sitting with Meg. Nancy and Kathleen were laying on lounge chairs to the right. The men and some of the kids were running around at the far end of the property.

Meredith smiled back and decided that was her best bet. She walked over and sat down, hoping she had not taken someone's seat.

"You're back," Jane greeted. "I hope you found everything you needed."

Meredith nodded. "Yeah. Derek took me for a tour of the neighbourhood as well. It's a really nice area."

"And where is Derek?" Meg asked.

"Uh, he's in the driveway with Lauren. We arrived at the same time and..."

"And Derek wasn't too happy to meet Nathan?" Meg finished for her.

She nodded.

Meg sighed. "I told her she should warn him over the phone." She exchanged at look with her mother.

Jane echoed her daughter's sigh. "They'll figure this out. They always do." She turned to Meredith with a smile. "Derek and Lauren have always been close. And Derek has been protective of Lauren since the day she was born."

Meredith nodded, believing. She knew Lauren was the youngest in the Shepherd family. It would be most likely that Derek's protectiveness would have been focused on her.

Meg giggled. "Remember when he stood up to Nancy's friends when they were making fun of her, when she was barely a couple months old?"

Jane laughed and nodded. "I'll never forget it." She turned to Meredith. "It was Nancy's birthday party. Her ninth, I think. Lauren was just a baby and...let's just say it took her about a year to grow into her head. Nancy's friends were making some jokes. Derek was ready to take them all on. I can still picture him, barely three, standing there with his little hands up in fists. He was half their height."

"He would have fought them too, if dad hadn't intervened." Meg added.

Meredith laughed. "Yeah...I can picture him doing that."

Jane looked at her thoughtfully. "I guess you've seen the grown up version."

"Oh, well, Derek's not really... He's never been openly...protective."

"Other than the time he hit Mark?"

"I didn't know you knew about that."

The corners of Jane's lips curled upwards as she met Meredith's eyes.

A wave of realization washed over Meredith and she winced. "I told you." Another surprise from her morphine induced phone call.

Jane nodded.

Meredith groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Is there anything I didn't tell you?"

Jane shrugged. "I'm sure you still have one or two secrets left," she joked, before speaking again. "You didn't say anything bad, Meredith. Nothing too embarrassing."

Meredith slipped her hands down her face and met Jane's eyes again. "If you say so," she said quietly, trying to believe it.

"Derek beat up Mark?" Meg spoke up. "I'd heard that he moved to Seattle, but I hadn't heard that."

"It happened before he moved to Seattle. He showed up in January. And there was no beating. Derek hit him once. And then Mark left."

"Maybe if he had hit him more than once Mark would have taken the hint and stayed away."

"Meg..." Jane said lightly.

"What? He deserves it. I would have hit him too, after what he did to Derek."

Jane sighed. "I understand that, but he's still...Mark. He's family."

"He was family," Meg said angrily. "But he's not anymore. He chose to stop being family when he chose to forget Derek was his family."

Jane remained silent, but it was clear she was still upset.

Meg turned back to Meredith. "How bad is it having Mark out there? I wanted to ask Derek yesterday, but he was depressed enough already..."

Meredith felt a stab of guilt at the mention of how upset Derek had been before she had gotten there. She swallowed, willing the feeling away, because everything was okay. She and Derek had talked, and he was still looking at her like he had before.

"Uh, it was bad at first. Derek was really unhappy. But now...things aren't as bad. They're not exactly friends, but...friendly, I guess. You should ask him about it."

Meg met her eyes for a long moment, before nodding and changing the topic of conversation.

It was ten minutes later that Meredith realized where she was; realized what was happening.

She was in New York, at her fiancé's mother's house, sitting with his mother and his sister, and all the while Derek was MIA.

And she was fine.

There was no anxiety. No stress. No worrying about saying the right thing.

She was fine. Comfortable. It was enjoyable, even.

Jane and Meg were really nice. Derek's other sisters, and their families, seemed genuinely nice.

Meredith smiled softly to herself. She was doing the family thing.

ooo

It was close to an hour after he had been left alone in the driveway with his sister that Derek made his way through his mother's house, looking for Meredith. He hadn't meant to leave her alone for so long; he had just been so shocked to have his sister show up with a man in her life that he had been distracted. He had lost track of time.

And now he had left her alone for nearly an hour.

He had taken in the shopping bags from the car, and had run them up to his room, half expecting to find Meredith hiding out, but she hadn't been there. Which meant she had been brave enough to join his family, and he had abandoned her for almost an hour.

The kitchen and living room were empty, which meant his family was outside, taking advantage of the good weather. Lauren had headed through the living room after their talk, instead of upstairs, so he assumed she was out back as well. With Nathan.

He still wasn't sure how he felt about that.

The back door was ajar, letting in a stream of conversation and laughter from outside. Derek padded closer to the door, but stopped abruptly as he recognized the unmistakable sound of Meredith's laughter joining the fray.

She was out there with his family. And she was laughing.

He smiled to himself and leaned his forehead against the wall beside the door, thanking whoever was listening that she was there with him. That they were there together. She had been so broken. And he had been prepared to give her the two weeks. He had been prepared to give her time and space to heal.

But she had surprised him.

And maybe it was a surprise to them both that they both needed to heal; that they needed each other in order to heal.

He could still picture the look on her face the night before when their eyes had met. The uncertainty mixed with the hope. And the feeling of finally having her back in his arms...

With a deep breath, he lifted his forehead from the wall and stepped outside.

Meredith was seated at the patio table to the left. Along with his mother and all four of his sisters. His smile grew at the sight. The love of his life and his family. Together.

Stepping forward, he pulled an extra chair up to the table beside Meredith. She offered him a smile, and he couldn't help but press a kiss to her cheek and snake an arm around her waist.

"What's everyone laughing about?"

Meredith giggled and leaned into him. "They're telling me stories."

He raised an eyebrow. "Stories?"

She nodded. "About you."

He growled in the back of his throat. "What kind of stories?"

"The embarrassing kind," Meg said.

"What have I ever done to you?" He countered.

"Its payback," Meredith spoke up.

"For what?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "For making me call your mother while I was on morphine."

"I didn't make you do anything."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have left me alone with your phone."

"Are you ever going to get over that?"

She shook her head.

He sighed, suppressing a laugh. She was nothing if she wasn't stubborn. "Fine. What have they already told you?"

"That's for us to know, and for you to find out," Nancy spoke up.

Kathleen nodded her agreement. "We were just telling her about that month when you were twelve and refused to take off that stupid superman cape."

He rolled his eyes. "I was six."

Meredith laughed. "Are there pictures?"

"No," he said quickly, as his sisters echoed him with a 'yes.'

It was going to be a long couple of days.

But Meredith was laughing.

And that meant he wouldn't have things any other way.

AN: Shorter than usual, I know, but still over 2500 words. Sorry about the delays; my computer problems seem to be multiplying. I've managed to fix a couple issues, and it seems to be a good, but temporary, fix. Waiting for the tax return so that I can get a new one.

I tried to introduce the Shepherd family slowly so readers could get a grasp on who was who. Are they easy enough to keep straight? If not, I can post a 'cheat sheet' in the beginning of the next chapter.

Thanks, as always, for reading. The next chapter is underway.