This is my latest project.... TMTOTOF (There's More Than One Type Of Family)
If you know me from my Bones fics you'll know I love acronyms hehe....
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Grey's Anatomy... if I did, Meredith and Derek would already have many happy, smiley and talkative children :D
Summary: A Mer/Der Fanfic that begins at that heartbreaking scene where Meredith is slapped by her own father after Susan's death. Instead of pushing Derek away she lets him in, because with what follows, she will need every ounce of his help and support.
I am going to use some dialogue from episodes in season three..... I'll be including some events that happened in the show in my sotry... I'm sure by now most people will have seen season three.... but incase you haven't and you don't want to be spoiled. I, regretfully, suggest you press the back button ;)
Warning Over....
Enjoy!
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Derek POV
I watched her as she made her way towards her father. If I hadn't already heard about Susan I would have immediately known something was seriously wrong just by watching her. I could see it in her slumped posture. The way she walked as slow as she could, almost like if she walked slow enough, everything would disappear. She stopped a short distance away, and although I couldn't see her face, I knew it held the answers.
I heard her broken voice, and could sense that tears were only mere minutes away.
"We did... everything we could"
Thatcher's face immediately registered the news and his face went into that of shock. His eyes turned glassy and I watched in sadness as his mind tried to comprehend the tragedy.
"You said it was simple... like this... simple thing" he managed.
I heard her reply "It was" and then watched on in horror as his hand connected with her face.
"She had the hiccups! She trusted you.... I trusted you." I saw her legs start to back track, and it wasn't long before she was running, and fast. I watched her come towards me and I fully expected her to push me away. It was almost a certainty. It was therefore completely shocking when I felt her run into my chest.
"Mer..." I tried to think of something soothing to say but when nothing came I resorted to holding her tighter against me.
"Have to get out of here.." I heard her mumble against my chest and I quickly made my legs move towards the nearest room that I could find. It turned out to be an on call room at the end of the corridor.
I pushed the door open and quickly checked to see if it was occupied and was relieved when noone was inside.
"Come in here" I encouraged and led her into the room. As I turned back to close and lock the door she had fallen to the ground and the tears that I had seen threatening to come were in full motion.
"Sssh.... It's okay Mer. It's Okay" I crouched on the floor in front of her and then sat down properly and let her crawl into my arms.
"She only.... had.... hiccups" She managed in between sobs.
"I know, this was not your fault, Mer. Not your fault." She didn't say anything in reply but I felt her body relax into mine.
We then sat in near silence, only the sound of her sobs could be heard. I methodically stroked her hair, trying to calm her and after only a few minutes her sobs decreased. She moved in my arms and looked at me, I offered a slight smile.
"I'm sorry for nearly dying" My eyes opened wide in alarm. That was definitely not what I was expecting. She leaned into me and kissed me before I even had to form an answer. "and I'm sorry that I stopped swimming" Again, she kissed me before I had the chance to answer. As she leaned away I started to talk, but she put up her hand to stop me.
"I just want to go home" I nodded and helped her to her feet.
"You're okay" I whispered and kissed her forehead.
"I'm okay" she repeated and we made our way out into the hallway.
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I had led her to the intern locker room and had told her to meet me in the lobby. She had just nodded and entered the room. As I walked to get changed, I reflected on what she had said. "I'm sorry that I stopped swimming" Had she really said that? While I knew that we needed to talk about the issue, I had resigned to the fact that we would always avoid it until a much later date. Yet, her complete and utter honesty had made me feel warm with pride. Meredith, my dark and twisty Meredith had actually talked to me. She hadn't ran away after the event with Thatcher either. She was almost a different person.
Susan's death had come at the most difficult time. Days off the most important test of her whole intern career, she had to struggle with the fact that her 'fake-mommy' as she had called her, was gone.
"Hey, Shepherd" I looked up and nodded to the chief as I walked by.
"Uh, wait. Derek" I stopped and turned around.
"Meredith? Is she... uh... okay?"
"Yeah. Ecstatic." I whispered angrily.
"It's not my fault, Derek"
"Yeah, I know, sorry. I just can't believe that he hit her like that. Where is he anyway?"
"I left him where he was. He might still be there as far as I know. His daughters may have joined him."
Without even thinking I headed back to where I had previously led Meredith away from. I heard the chief yelling behind me, yet I just walked faster. I would make sure Thatcher would never come near my Meredith again. As I turned the corner, I saw Thatcher and all thoughts left my mind and the image of him slapping Meredith filled my mind.
One of his two daughters saw me first.
"Excuse me, we would like to see Susan Grey now?" her voice broke on the word. Her voice reminded him of what his sister had sounded like when their father had died. So long ago.... He shook his head, trying to rid the thoughts free from his mind.
"I want to talk to Thatcher" He said forcefully.
"I'm his daughter, Molly. What do you want?"
"I want him to keep away from my girlfriend"
"Your girlfriend? What?" I looked past her, and ignored her when she asked the question.
"Think you can just slap her? Treat her like crap, Thatcher? You know, despite what you think she's pretty amazing and to think you believe that you can treat her like crap after all this time is beyond me. So..."
"Excuse me! My father has just lost his wife! How dare you say that to him? Your girlfriend has nothing to do with him"
"Meredith Grey? Sound familiar?"
Molly looked surprised for a second and then recovered. "Leave my father alone, leave my family alone and keep her out of our life"
I looked towards Thatcher again and noticed that he was now looking at me.
"You're pathetic" I turned and headed to my original destination.
"You know, she'll destroy you. She's just like her mother. She killed my wife" I ignored him and kept walking.
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"Hey" she gave me a slight smile
"Hey There" I returned her smile. I was still reeling from the accusations posed by Thatcher. I didn't understand how he could hate his own daughter so much.
"Where were you?" her voice was still hoarse from the crying she had done earlier.
"Sorry, didn't mean to take that long" I tried to avoid the real reason I had taken too long. She had enough on her plate.
Luckily, she was tired from crying and accepted my answer.
"Time to go home?" she asked. I nodded in reply and we made our way out of the hospital.
I put my arm around her waist and pulled her towards me.
"I'm really sorry about Susan, Mer" I felt her nod against my side.
"Me too" she whispered in reply "You know what's really weird?" she waited a few seconds before continuing "I feel worse about her death than my own mothers. Isn't that odd?"
"Susan was a great person, she was being really nice to you" she sighed
"I didn't like her at first, she stayed. She was better at being my mother for only weeks than my own mother was for my whole life. She trusted me and I killed her" I stopped walking and made her look at me
"Meredith, you didn't kill Susan. Not one person killed her, alright? There was nothing you could have done."
"Okay" I wrapped my arm around her again and we started to walk again. As we reached the car I let her go, but she grabbed my hand and smiled.
"Thanks for being there, Derek. Thankyou"
I turned to kiss her forehead "Nowhere I'd rather be, Mer. Nowhere I'd rather be"
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Enjoy? Yes? No? Reviews would be very helpful :D