All You Need is Love

Twenty- Four

Parents. One thing Meredith couldn't stand were parents. Her mother never cared about her. She never had a motherly bone in her body. She disowned her when she was raped, did away with her and didn't care otherwise.

Her father, he left her. He left her when she was five years old. A drunken- dead beat dad. She never heard from him again.

She hated parents, hers she hated at least. But one thing that she hated most was meeting the parents. In this case, meeting Derek's mom.

Derek and her have been dating for quite some time now, almost a year. She's been cramming in study time for her intern exam, fortunate to have Derek help. But now, now he had his mom coming in town.

He didn't ask Meredith if she wanted to meet his mother, and she knew it was because he didn't want to put her in any position that would make her uncomfortable. But she knew she couldn't avoid the elephant in the room.

She only thought that you met the parents when you were serious. She knew that Derek is serious about them and he's in love with her, but the one thing that scares Meredith more than anything is marriage.

Heading down to the bay for a trauma Meredith drowned her self in work, hoping to continue avoiding the elephant in the room, Derek's mother.

"What do we have?" She asked, grabbing onto the gurney while EMT Nicole helped her.

"Seven year old girl with a compound fracture in her tibia, fell down the stairs at school from slipping on water. Hit her head on the way down. She's conscious, sats are good, heart rate is 116/72." Nicole blabbed off to Meredith as they put her into a room.

"Alright page neuro, she's gonna need a head CT." Meredith huffed knowing that they would page Derek being that he was the head of neuro , avoiding him wasn't as easy as she was hoping it would be.

"I was paged?" Derek entered and I whipped my head around quickly.

"Yeah, seven year old girl. Slipped in a water puddle and fell down the stairs, hit her head." She bit her lip watching his gestures as he studied the chart then followed procedure- consulting the girl, Sarah.

Derek looked up and smiled at me and I know that smile very well. The one where he knows that I know that he knows what I'm doing or avoiding. I look away quickly, not wanting to be caught. "Okay we need to take her to CT right now." He pulled the bars up on the gurney and started pushing it.

Handing me the chart, I 'studied' it as we walked to avoid the inevitable.

"Meredith..." He started cautiously.

"Hmm?" I responded, biting my lip as I continued my 'studying.'

"I know what you're doing." He said with a slight chuckle.

I rolled my eyes, I hated when he as right. We set her up into the CT room, telling her to stay still. Sarah grabbed my hand as I went to walk away.

"It'll be okay sweetie I promise. Your mommy and daddy will be here soon we just wanted to make sure that your head is okay so you can get better." I told her and her green eyes were sparkling at me. She was scared. "You know, when I'm scared I don't like to talk either. But I do like the presence of someone there, it helps. Do you want me to stay with you?" I grabbed her hand and a tear streamed down her cheek.

She nodded in response and I looked up at Derek and he was looking at me with endearment and nodded, telling me it was okay to stay with her.

His look wasn't the usual looks he gives me. I recognize his looks, the one where he tries to make me weak to fold into his charming ways, the one where he has me caught and I can't do anything but confess, the one of love, the one of adorable annoyance. This one, I don't recognize. His eyes veer away from mine to Sarah and it strikes me.