New Beginnings

Chapter 38

"Mom, what are you doing here?"

"Meredith, I was in town and wanted to stop by. Can I come?" Ellis asked as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah." Meredith replied, as she stepped back and allowed Ellis to walk in.

"Are you still living out of those boxes? How do you do that with a child?" Ellis asked, frowning as she pointed to the pile of boxes stacked in the living room.

Meredith's body tensed up, ready to get a lecture once again but Derek reached out and placed his hand on her lower back, calming her down slightly.

"We are moving out soon, we are just starting to get everything packed up." Derek said, stepping up to take over.

"Oh, right. Who are you sorry?" Ellis asked, reaching her hand out to Derek.

"Derek Shepherd." He replied, shaking her hand.

"Da!" Morgan squealed, pulling her dummy out of her mouth and holding it towards Derek.

"Thank you bug." Derek said, smiling as he took the dummy from her.

"Is this, Meredith, is this your daughter?" Ellis asked, soft expression on her face as she placed her bag down and stepped closer to Meredith.

"Yeah, mom this is Morgan, Morgan this is your nana." Meredith said watching as Morgan reached and squeezed Ellis' nose before giggling.

"Can I?" Ellis asked as she held her arms, ready to take Morgan.

Before Meredith could respond, Morgan leaned out and allowed Ellis to take her into her arms. Morgan smiled as she ran her little fingers over Ellis' face, clearly curious to meet her.

"I'm, I just need to, I'm going to..." Meredith stumbled on her words as she turned and headed towards their bedroom.

"Meredith." Derek said as he watched her walk away. "I'll be back in a minute." He said addressing Ellis, watching as she sat down and their daughter happy as ever.

Entering their room, he found Meredith pacing their room, her hands waving around and talking to herself.

"Meredith?"

"Why is she here? She only ever comes and tears me down, tells me how disappointed she is in me. When she found out I was pregnant, you should have seen the disgust on her face and she would forever tell me that a child will hold you back. She would say that to me. She blames me. Says if she didn't have me then her career would have gone even further. I just, I can't..." her breathing started becoming erratic as her hands rubbed at her chest and neck.

"Alright, come and sit down." Derek said as he approached Meredith, moving her down to the bed. "Just breathe for me, look at me." He said, crouching down in front of her and taking her hands in his, squeezing tight.

It took a while but eventually Meredith's breathing slowed and she calmed down.

"That's it." Derek said as he brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Look, we will go out there and see why your mom is truly, if she starts then she is gone. I'm not going to sit back and watch it, alright?" He waited for her to nod her head.

He pushed himself to his feet and held his hand out to her, interlocking their fingers as they moved back out into the living room.

"Meredith please sit down." Ellis said as she placed Morgan down on her play mat before sitting back in her seat. She waited for the two of them to take a seat before carrying on.

"Look, Richard told me that you was applying, so I'm here to ask is this 100% what you want to do? Because it's hard work Meredith and you have a young baby." Ellis said, pointing out the obvious.

"She can do it." Derek said, his tone sharp.

Ellis and Derek continued to stare at each other as Meredith sat between them, feeling rather uncomfortable.

"She has support from me and my family..." Derek went to continue on before he felt Meredith squeeze his arm.

"Don't." She whispered to him, her eyes pleading with him.

"I know it will be hard work, I know but I can do this. I want to do this. Morgan will always be my first priority no matter what but I don't want to live my life with what's ifs. If I try this and it doesn't work out then fair enough but I need to try it. I owe it to myself and to Morgan to finally do something for myself. Plus I have Derek now." She said turning and smiling at him.

"And who is Derek exactly?" Ellis said, Meredith's head snatching back round to glare at her.

"Derek saved me. He picked me up when I was at rock bottom and saw no way back. He stepped up and became the best father I could ever ask for my daughter. I mean how could I put it, soulmate, love of my life, it doesn't matter but it doesn't change the fact if it wasn't for him then I probably wouldn't still be here." Meredith said standing to her feet.

"Sit down Meredith." Ellis said rolling her eyes.

"No, this is my home and I want you to leave. So please, I don't want to start a shouting match in front of Morgan." Meredith said as she glanced down at their daughter who was reaching her arms towards Meredith.

Leaning down, Meredith took Morgan into her arms and cuddled her close. Protecting her. Meredith turned when she felt Derek stand up behind her, his arm going around her waist.

"Meredith is right. I think you should leave now." Derek said, quickly squeezing her hip.

"This is pathetic. Turns out you haven't grown up at all Meredith. Good luck you're going to need it." Ellis said standing from her seat and walking out the apartment, slamming the door shut.

At the sudden loud bang, Morgan jumped before letting her bottoms lip quiver and then broke out into a cry, her face burying into Meredith's shoulder.

"Shh, it's ok, mommy and daddy are here." She said as she bounced her gently and ran her hand up and down her back.

"I'm proud of you." Derek said as he moved in front of Meredith.

"Why?"

"For standing up for yourself. For doing what you want to do. I am just in awe of you." He said as he kissed her quick.

"I couldn't do this without you. Any of this and I can't wait to be your wife." She said as she leaned into him, her head resting on his shoulder.

Nothing that's worth it in the end will ever be easy to get to but once you get there, nothing else matters.