Merder: Different Circumstances

Chapter Seven

Derek was nervous to say the least. Whilst he knew that he daughter was a very understanding person, he was worried after her reaction some years earlier when she found out her mother had moved on from the divorce. At least in New York she had her father and then her Aunt Amelia to go to after a night of shouting and tears with Addison, in Seattle she was yet to develop those relationships.

As he drove home to the trailers, he found himself reliving that night. The previous week, Addison and Mark admitted continuing their relationship to him after the affairs and although he was almost sure of it coming, it left him feeling betrayed all over again. Similarly, Ash knew of the affairs and for a week after finding out about them, she refused to speak to her mother and was closed off from her father. Her reaction to the relationship was much worse, rather than her silence a night was spent arguing before she ran off to a friends house, not telling even her father of her whereabouts.

While the memory of that night replayed in his head, Derek suddenly began to reconsider his choice to tell his daughter he was dating. There was nothing more that he wanted to do than introduce Meredith to Ash, but at the same time the last thing he wanted was for his daughter to distance himself from her again.

Before he even realised, he was pulling up outside of their two trailers and took a breath to prepare himself for what he may be left to face. Ashley came out of her trailer, greeting her father with a hug before she disappeared again to continue with her homework. Deciding to break the news over dinner, Derek prepared a pizza for them, something that only occurred if one was trying to bribe the other, or they were simply too tired to cook. Seeing as it was barely 5pm it was obviously not the latter and so when Ashley opened the door to her fathers trailer and smelt the pizza, she knew something was off

"So, Dad, how was work today?" Ashley asked skeptically.

Derek knew exactly what his daughter was playing at, as she acted oblivious to his obvious attempt to charm. What she clearly didn't work out was why he was trying to charm and Derek wanted to get through at least a couple of slices of pizza each before the potential dispute.

"Okay, no seriously what's going on Dad because a health nut like you hardly ever willingly eats pizza."

"Ash, I need you to promise me that you won't get mad. That you won't run away. You can scream at me all you want but don't do what you did last time."

"I promise, now what the hell is going on." Ashley asked again, apologising in a smaller voice when her dad raised his eyebrows at his language.

"You know that I love you and that you will always be my most important priority. Recently I have been seeing someone, she works at the hospital and we have been out on a couple of dates. She's really excited to meet you, but wants to make sure that you're okay with me moving on first." Derek explained, holding his breath ever so slightly at the end as he awaited his daughter's reaction.

"Thanks for telling me. Let me guess, those evenings I have spent with Adele Webber those weren't late shifts were they?" Ashley replied, standing up and running from his trailer to hers.

As expected, the door slammed in his face and the sound of the lock was soon to follow. Derek knew from previous experiences it was best to let her be for a while, rather than overwhelm her with questions regarding her opinion. He went back to his trailer, sitting back down and letting his head fall into his hands. It took a minute before he found the effort to do anything else, but pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Hey, what's up?" Meredith asked through the phone.

"I just told Ash, about us."

"Oh... how did it go?"

"I got a door in my face and silence." Derek said with a small chuckle. "Better than when she ran away when Addison admitted to dating."

"Ah, so she's hiding in her room."

"More like her trailer, but yeah smilier concept."

"She's a teenager I wouldn't expec-... wait her trailer. What?"

"Yeah I sort of opted for buying us land rather than a house, so we live into trailers."

Meredith was momentarily lost for words and the found herself stumbling over some of them before she was able to speak again. Her dreamy neurosurgeon boyfriend lives in a trailer, not quite what she was expecting.

"I'm about to go to sleep because I'm on my 24 hour shift, but phone me in the morning to let me know how Ashley reacts." Meredith said, choosing to come back to his unique choice of living arrangements at a later date.

"Of course Mer, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight."

Derek smiled to himself once the call ended, even though Ashley's reaction wasn't what he hoped for it was better than what he had expected and, Meredith wasn't going to run as soon as there was a hitch in their relationship. Just as he was going to walk across to his daughters trailer, hoping to have a proper conversation with her, his phone rang again.

When he looked down at the caller ID it was far from who he expected it to be, but once he put two and two together, it all made sense. Of course this is who his daughter would talk to straight away.

"Derek Christopher Shepherd. I have had to find out from your daughter, who by the way thanks to me is no longer out for your blood, that you are dating again. Have you really been gone that long that you can longer spare the time to send me a simple message? I hope you understand the rant that I just got off your daughter about absolutely everything. Don't get me wrong, she's loving life in Seattle, but she feels betrayed that you have kept this from her. I don't care how long it's been, just be grateful that I have managed to talk some sense into her and if you go across to her trailer she might be a little more willing to speak to you now."