Mind over Matter

Chapter Twenty-Two: Christmas Time Is Here Pt. 1

Meredith was pacing around the living room nervously, waiting for Derek to come back with the rest of the Christmas decorations from the attic. 

The giant tree that he picked up a day earlier stood proudly in the house's living room. A soft carol playing on the radio on the coffee table. 

It had been a week since she invited Amelia over for Derek and she still hadn't told him. Every time she wanted to, he would look at her with those loving puppy eyes and she would be back out at the last second. 

But now the guests were supposed to arrive in 9 hours and the window of opportunity was closing in on her. 

Meredith could always wait and not tell him until his sister was actually standing in front of him, but she figured that would make the whole situation even worse. 

She needed to tell him. 

But how?

"Hey look what I found!" Derek said, bowing his head down; showing the Santa hat that was decorating his raven curls perfectly. 

A smile the size of Texas rested on his perfect face. 

Damnit, how could she tell him about what she did while he was being so damn perfect...

Derek planted the box of decorations on the floor while Meredith nervously chewed on her bottom lip. She watched as he pulled out a string of lights and began wrapping them around the naked tree. 

She tapped her foot and quickly decided that it was either now or never. 

"Come on Mer, help me out here," he said with a chuckle, grabbing a hand of ornaments to hang in the tree. 

"Derek," she said with a nervous undertone. 

"Yeah?" he asked, turning around to notice the posture of his nervous girlfriend. 

"Mer, if this is about the dinner tonight I already know," he said. 

Meredith tensed up. He knew!

She looked at him confused. "You're not mad?"

"No it's okay, I understand," he said, grabbing a new hand of ornaments, adjusting the shifting hat on his head. 

She let out a deep breath that she didn't even know she was holding. He knew and he wasn't mad. It was a weight lifting off of her shoulders. 

She grabbed a hand of ornaments too, joining him now; feeling more relaxed. 

"Oh thank god that you're not mad, I've been racking my brain on how to tell you that I asked Amelia to join us all for dinner" Derek stopped decorating; turning to her abruptly. "But now that you know I-" she was interrupted by the sound of glass hitting the floor. 

"YOU DID WHAT?" he asked, raising his voice a million octaves. She looked at him confusedly. 

"I... invited Amelia for dinner...?" she asked carefully. Now she was more confused than nervous. "Wait... what did you think I was going to say?" she asked. 

Derek took a deep breath and looked at her while picking up the glass pieces; his jaw obviously clenched. 

"I thought you were talking about the fact that we were going to have to cook for so many people" he gritted through his teeth.

"Oh...uhm" she stammered, not really knowing what to do now. 

"You invited my sister behind my back! Meredith, you had NO RIGHT!" he said, his voice boiling over in anger. 

The tone of his voice made her irritated as well. 

"Derek. She is your SISTER! It's Christmas and she just moved here, she should be with family on Christmas" she said, her voice rising to his level.