Can't Help Falling in Love

42

"Dr. Shepherd."

Derek took a deep breath before he turned around in the middle of the hallway, forcing a smile onto his face. "Dr. Grey."

"I need an intern to run labs," Ellis said.

"Actually, Dr. Thompson said I could scrub in..." Derek started, only to be interrupted by the new Chief of Surgery.

"And I'm telling you to run labs," Ellis said, handing him a pile of charts. "Do you have a problem with that, Dr. Shepherd?"

"No," Derek sighed. "Consider them done."

"Good," Ellis said before she turned on her heel to walk in the opposite direction down the hall.

Derek sighed as he moved towards the elevators. If he was going to be forced to do paperwork for the rest of his shift, he could at least get something to eat while he was doing it.

"Derek," he heard his name as he collapsed at a table, already running a hand through his hair.

"Mom," he frowned. "What are you doing here? Is everything okay? I didn't know you were coming by."

"Everything's fine," Emma nodded. "Although I had an interesting conversation with your girlfriend this morning."

"Really?" Derek raised an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm about to get yelled at?"

"I'm not going to yell at you," Emma replied. "I'm simply going to ask why she's still your girlfriend."

"Why wouldn't she be my girlfriend?" Derek asked. "What did she say?"

"Well, she told me some rather interesting things about her mother," Emma nodded. "But I'm beginning to wonder why I gave you my engagement ring if it's going to sit in a drawer all day."

"Mom," Derek groaned. "Not now."

"Derek, you were so excited to propose," Emma said. "What happened?"

Derek sighed as he looked around the cafeteria for a moment, leaning closer to his mother and dropping his voice. "She's going through a lot right now," he said. "With her mom and everything. I can't propose to her when she's miserable.

Emma frowned. "Did you ever think that maybe what she needs is security?" she asked. "That perhaps she's terrified that you're going to leave her, just like her mother did?"

"That's crazy, Mom," Derek rolled his eyes. "She knows that I love her and I'm never leaving."

"Maybe she says she does," Emma said. "But on some level, she's very frightened, Derek. I really think that she'd have a lot more security in herself and in you."

"I don't want her to say yes because she's scared, Mom," Derek replied. "I want her to say yes because she's ready, because she wants to marry me."

"Derek, a month ago you ran into my kitchen and demanded that I give you my engagement ring because she was ready," Emma said. "That doesn't change just because her mother's here now."

"It would if she knew that I haven't scrubbed in on a surgery in two weeks," Derek replied. "Or that her mother is refusing to let me report to anyone besides her, and she's making my life complete hell."

Emma frowned. "That is not right," she said. "You're supposed to be learning. How are you going to learn doing paperwork?"

"I don't know," Derek snapped. "But it's not like I can actually go to the board and complain about the assignments the chief of surgery is giving me."

"Derek!" his favorite voice in the world called out before his mother could answer.

"Mer," he smiled, standing to greet her, kissing her quickly before he pulled her to sit down beside him. "I didn't expect you to stop by today."