Christmas Lights

6.

"It's a good thing my pockets are deep." I scoffed as I shut the trunk on my car, surprised again that it held the large capacity it was now. "Thank God for credit cards."

"Hey, I'm not the one that went hog wild in the toy store." She giggled "That was all on you."

"I couldn't help it." I murmured "They had a lot of toys that I had when I was a kid...I know for a fact they'll get a lot of use out of them."

"Whatever you say Dr. Shepherd." She giggled, again...it made something inside me tickle.

"Where to next?"

"We can either have a therapeutic lunch session or go look at jewelry."

"How is lunch therapeutic?"

"I was thinking we could talk about the conversation you walked in on this morning." She said to my dismay "I know it's been on your mind."

"Actually it hasn't." I scoffed "I'd rather we just dropped it."

"You don't want to talk about your father's death...that tells me you're not over it." She nodded "You know sometimes you just have to talk to get it out."

"I've gotten it out already." I muttered "Now I want to move on."

"Fine." She sighed "If you won't talk about that..then at least tell me this. Did you really ask me to come out here to lie to your mother, or to take the pressure off yourself from being alone with your family for the first holiday after your death? Am I a lie Derek, or am I smokescreen."

"You're getting on my nerves." I muttered "Let's go look at jewelry."

She sighed and shrugged as she walked off, essentially leading the way. I followed her down the busy sidewalk until she stopped in front of an apricot colored store and stopped with a grin on her face.

"This one will do."

I started to agree-that is until I saw the sign on the window.

"Harry Winston!" I scoffed "You want me to buy a fake engagement ring from Harry Winston?"

"If you want to convince your mother that it's real...it's gotta look authentic." I scoffed as she looked in the window and then pointed at what seemed like the biggest one "That's the one, I'll take the middle ring."

I muttered under my breath as I thought about all the zero's behind the price of it and shook my head at the huge grin on her face that for some reason was pulling my heart strings...a small voice inside my head told me that I should do whatever I had to in order to keep that grin there. It was a pretty grin after all.

"Meredith?"

And suddenly the grin was gone and was replaced with the look of shocked horror.

"Oh my God, Meredith is that you?"

I looked up to search the root of the voice and saw some raggedy homeless man with a long beard and shaggy hair, wearing a worn out army jacket and holy jeans. She slowly turned around and I could almost hear the bricks hit together as she put up a wall around herself.

"Finn." She said flatly, with no emotion.

"Oh God, it is you!" he shrieked as he pulled out and grabbed her in for a hug. I felt compelled to reach out and grab her back as if he were taking something that was mine..but she shoved herself away after a polite enough hug "God you look great!"

"I know." She gulped "I wish I could say the same for you."

He ignored the jab and looked around at the ground around us and frowned "Where is our boy, where's Carl?"

And suddenly the magnitude of this situation hit me-this wasn't just an old acquaintance of hers. I felt my jaw stiffen as my stature suddenly was on protective mode.

"Charlie." She corrected him with annoyance "My son's name is Charlie. He isn't here, he's with a sitter along with his sister...I can imagine why you don't remember her though seeing as you were constantly high by the time I told you I was pregnant. You left a week later with what's her name...Crystal, Connie...hell I don't care, the one I came home to find you passed out on the living room floor with after you smashed the pills up and snorted them? That one."

"I'm sorry." He gulped "I know I did a lot of bad things. And I'm sorry I didn't know about the girl. What did you name her?"

"None of your business." She hissed.

"Well can I see them, I think about them sometimes."

"Sometimes isn't good enough."

She turned to storm away from him when he reached out with a stern grip and grabbed her arm...that's when I stepped in and grabbed hold of his arm with a stronghold of my own.

"Take your hand off her."

He looked at me surprised, as if he hadn't seen me standing there.

"Who the hell are you?" he sneered.

"I'm more of a man that you'll ever be." I growled "And I'm the man that will leave you picking yourself off the sidewalk if you don't take your god damn hand off her."

He shoved Meredith a little as he let go of her, which frankly pissed me off even more than I already was then tried to spit in my face-luckily he was a bad shot.

"What is he your boyfriend?" he asked Meredith "You wasted no time to replace me did you."

"It's been four years." I muttered "And besides that point-someone had to step in and man up to be the guy you weren't if not for her, for your children's sake."

I watched as he reared his fist back and took a swung at me, luckily for me, my reflexes were quick and I ducked as fast as I retaliated with my own swing that hit him square against the jaw and laid him out flat. I stood over him as I shook out my tingling fist and looked at him like the pathetic piece of shit that he was.

"Just so you know, you have no idea what you're missing out on." I said "Charlie is amazing, he's smart and protective...and he'll grow up to be a real man. And Kennedy, she's a beautiful human being-just like her mother. You have no idea the treasure you gave up...and for what, your next high?" I scoffed as I stepped over him "Pathetic."

I looked up to search for Meredith, but she wasn't standing where I'd last seen her. I turned and turned until finally I spotted her standing next to the car with her head down, her fingers hanging on the handle as if she were anxiously awaiting an escape. I gulped and took my keys out of my pocket and pushed the unlock button. She quickly opened the door and slipped inside. As I was quick to follow her, I turned the car on and looked over as she wiped away a few tears.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Yeah." She sniffled "I just want to go."

"Okay."

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You guys seem to like this story a lot so I decided to post 2 more chapters!
And tomorrow I'll probably post the rest of the story!
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