Hiding in the Shadows

43. Mer's POV

Meredith awoke the next morning, stretching languidly. She frowned and opened her eyes when she felt the cold place next to her where Derek should have been. She raised her head and looked around the room.

No Derek

She listened closely for the shower.

No Derek

She decided that he had probably went to the main house to visit with his family some more before they had to catch their plane. She smiled.

This past week had been...perfect. Even with the Nancy and Addison issues, she had finally seen what a normal loving family was like. Most of them had welcomed her with open arms and she was so thankful that she had came out her with Derek, even if he had strong armed her into coming.

Derek.

Just his name made butterflies flutter in her stomach. She had never felt this way before. He was obstinate, bad tempered, grouchy, gruff, inconsiderate...just overall unpleasant in Seattle. But here, he was different...he was happy or more happy then she had ever seen him. The Derek that she had seen this week with her and his family was the Derek that she could see herself spending a lot of time with.

Meredith rolled her eyes at herself.

Who was she kidding? She liked Seattle Derek as much as she like Connecticut Derek. She just wondered which one was really him. Could the two be merged?

Did it really matter?

No.

Because she knew that she was hooked no matter what. And it wasn't just the sex...even though that was just amazing...it was the small glimpses of him...the real him...that she had gotten over the past three weeks that had her in knots.

She was excited to see how this week would affect their relationship when they got back to reality.

She knew one thing for sure.

This week was the turning point in their love/hate relationship.

********************************

"What time does your plane leave?" Carolyn asked him.

They were sitting in the kitchen having coffee with Nancy, Mel, Julie and Kathy.

"One. I will wake Meredith up in a few minutes and then we will leave around eleven."

"Speaking of Meredith...." His mother began.

"What about her?" He said, trying to ignore the fluttering of his heart at the mention of her name.

"She is very lovely and I want to know what your intentions are towards her."

Derek choked on his coffee and looked at his mother incredulously.

"Intentions?" He croaked.

"Yes, intentions." His mother confirmed.

"What do you mean by intentions exactly?" Derek hedged.

"When are you taking her off the market?" Mel asked.

"Making an honest woman of her?" Kathy asked.

"Making her unavailable to any other man?" Julie asked.

"They mean, when are you going to marry her?" Nancy asked.

"Marriage? Are you serious?" He exclaimed, standing up so quickly his chair fell over.

"Well...yes. She is perfect for you Derek. Your father would be so thrilled." Carolyn said.

"We just started dating. I am not jumping into marriage."

"Well don't wait too long before someone else snatches her up." Julie advised.

"And you think marriage would stop her from cheating? Cause that worked so well for Addison." He said sarcastically.

"Meredith isn't Addison." Mel pointed out.

Everyone agreed, even Nancy.

"I know that." He said.

His mother regarded him closely.

"Do you? I mean, you have seemed really happy this week. And she obviously adores you. I mean she faced Addison for you."

"I know...Ma, look...I know you want me to be settled down and having babies but I am not going to marry Meredith Grey...ever."

He heard a soft gasp to his left.

"I...I'm sorry. I woke up and figured you were here...I will just go and finish packing." She said before fleeing.

Everyone glared at him.

"Go. Fix. That. Now." His mother said, her voice deadly.

He ran after her. She was already in the guest house.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

She looked at him and smiled.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"You seemed upset." He said.

"What? No. I just thought you were telling her about you lying to her and I didn't want to watch a grown man reduced to tears by his mommy." She said, sassily.

"Oh. I just thought...never mind." He said.

"They are already planning our wedding huh? No wonder you moved to Seattle." She said.

Derek laughed weakly. He pushed his hand through his hair.

"Yeah." He agreed.

"Well finish packing so we can catch our plane. If we stay here any longer they are going to be naming our children."

He moved to finish his own packing, thinking what a wonderful understanding woman Meredith was.

He only hoped she would be as understanding tomorrow.