If that's what it takes

93

Sarah sat with Meredith for the longest time, her stories of Derek rattled off her tongue as if she had been rehearsing them for years. Meredith's eyes stayed focused on her, and she was simply delighted to be able to talk to someone different for a change, someone who wasn't focusing on her illness, on her inability to react.

She could see a lot of Derek in his sister, the same dark hair, the same piercing blue eyes, though she had a few more laugh lines than Derek, she could see that his sister was a nice woman, a happy woman. She felt very comfortable in the presence of Derek's sister, and Sarah seemed to be very comfortable talking to Meredith, her stories were funny and she could feel herself start to laugh, her head moving slightly as she listened.

"Derek told me a lot about the situation... about your family." Sarah said softly. "I don't want to get into it... but I can vouch for him... he is a great father figure." She said softly as Meredith's eyes softened. "He told me how he met Zoey... and I have to say... watching them together, you would think the man were in love. He watches over her so carefully... and I can see how important she is to him, and oh my goodness, she is the most adorable little girl I've ever met... she is absolutely precocious, smart... and she keeps Derek on his toes." Sarah laughed.

"Thhh..." Meredith said, trying to thank the woman for the compliments, she felt proud and happy that someone else was seeing the same things that she was seeing from a distance.

"I'm just speaking the truth." Sarah smiled.

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Derek took the three little girls to the bathroom, waiting for them to finish up, he helped them wash their hands and led them back into the hallway. He stopped as he saw a familiar face coming in his direction. "Derek!" The woman said as she approached them quickly. Zoey hid behind Derek and Derek stiffened at the voice.

"Rachel..." He said as he watched the woman coming toward him as his nieces each hid beside his legs.

"Are you adopting more?" She laughed as she approached, pretty proud of herself with her little joke as Derek stood in front of the three girls.

"I'm actually thinking of moving to Africa, and adopting a small country of children and raising them as my own. If you'd like to marry me, you can come along too." He said with a completely straight face as he watched her mouth drop.

"I... I... Derek, I..."

"No? Too bad... to think of all the fun we could have had..." Derek said as he turned. "Let's go, girls..." He said as he grasped Morgan's hand and Zoey grabbed Samanthas, as they led the way back down the hallway toward Meredith's room.

"Who was that, Uncle Derek?"

"Ever hear about the big bad wolf?" Sammy asked.

"Uh huh..."

"That's his financial director." Derek replied, watching the little girl give him a confused look. "Don't worry about who that is... Nosy kid..."

"That's Rachel... she hurt DD's heart."

"Oh!" Sammy said as Derek rolled his eyes and ushered them back into the room.

"Someone has a big mouth..." Derek muttered as they all walked inside the room as Meredith's eyes moved to the door and Sarah looked over.

"Who has a big mouth?" Sarah asked.

"I do." Zoey smirked as she walked over to Meredith's bed. "Mean Miss Rachel was making DD angry."

"Rachel was out there?" Sarah asked.

"Mean Miss Rachel." Derek said as he nodded toward Zoey and helped her climb onto the bed beside Meredith. "Big mouth." Derek said to the grinning little girl. "Did you two have a nice talk?" Derek asked as he watched Meredith blink once.

"We did have a nice talk." Sarah said with a smile. "You're very lucky to have a person like Meredith to talk to, Derek... but I have a feeling that once she's up and about... you're not going to get away with a thing." She said as she watched Meredith's smirk.

"No." Meredith said aloud, as Sarah, Derek, and Meredith shared a laugh.