Can't Help Falling in Love

74

"Are you seriously still not talking to me?" Derek asked as he leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen a week later.

"I'm talking to you," Meredith nodded, not looking up from the grilled cheese sandwich on the stove in front of her.

"I got home an hour ago and you haven't even looked at me," Derek sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm busy," she shrugged. "I'm feeding your children. They're completely sucking up anything I eat."

"That's the fifth grilled cheese you've eaten since I've gotten home," Derek observed as she poured ketchup over the sandwich.

"Are you saying I'm eating a lot?" she demanded, turning to look at him with raised eyebrows.

Crap. "No," Derek shook his head quickly. "I'm just wondering how many sandwiches you're going to make before you start talking to me. Because you have to do so eventually."

"I am talking to you."

"Arguing doesn't count."

"Funny," Meredith rolled her eyes. "You seem to like arguing. It's all you've been doing."

"Is this still about Liz?" Derek asked with a groan. "I thought we were over that, it's been a week."

"Still about Liz?" Meredith repeated. "Derek, she's your sister. And she's pregnant. And now she thinks you hate her."

"I don't hate her," Derek snapped. "I'm letting her stay in my house since she's refusing to tell Mom."

"Our house," Meredith argued. "And that means nothing. She needs her big brother, not a room."

"She doesn't have anywhere else to go," Derek said. "It's something. She needs to live somewhere."

"She's terrified to tell your mother!" Meredith cried. "She wants help from her big brother."

"I am helping."

"I've got news for you, Derek Christopher," Meredith snapped. "Locking your pregnant sister away in the corner of our house is not helping anyone, especially her. Or your pregnant wife."

"I can't force her to tell Mom."

"Yes you can!" Meredith replied. "Derek, you are the glue that holds this family together. Everyone turns to you when they need someone because we all know you can handle it. Liz turned to you when she needed help, and you brushed her aside like she meant nothing."

"She didn't turn to me, she turned to you," Derek replied, collapsing into a kitchen chair and running a hand through his hair.

"What?" Meredith asked with a frown.

"When I tried to talk to her the other day," Derek sighed. "She said she needed you. She would never have come here if it was just me."

"Oh," Meredith said, blinking in surprise.

"So I'm not letting her down," Derek said. "She asked me to give her space. And I'm giving her space."

"Derek," Meredith sighed, moving closer to him. "I'm sorry if I've been putting pressure on you. But I think she needs you to push her. If she doesn't have your support, there's no way she'll be able to tell your mom. She needs to know that her big brother is okay with this. She looks up to you, Derek, and she's never disappointed you before. This is killing her."

"She wants you," Derek shook his head.

"She wants me because I was in her place four months ago," Meredith whispered. "She needs me to tell her it's normal to think you're going to throw up so much that all of your internal organs will come up. She needs me to hold her hand during the sonogram appointments and reassure her that every little symptom is normal. She needs you for everything else, Derek. She needs you to reassure her that this doesn't change who she is, that she still has a place in this family."