Driving Sideways

15.

Ellis had gone upstairs to work on packing a few things as Derek prepared dinner. When dinner was ready, the three of them gathered around the dining room table as they ate in silence, the sound of clanking forks on the plates was the only noise that filled the room. "So are you going to tell me the real reason we're here?" Derek asked, glancing up at Ellis as she continued to eat.

"To put things to rest, Derek." Ellis said, her eyes flashing up to Derek as they went back to her plate. Her voice was serious and stern as she continued to eat.

"That's not good enough of an answer for me, Ellis." Derek replied, playing Ellis' game of turning things professional. "In this city, I am not your employee, and you are not my employer... In this city, we are equals... you are a person that I care about... because you mean something to so many people that I love... if there is something going on that you're not telling me about, I will be very disappointed when I find out."

"And you think that I genuinely care about your disappointment, Derek?" Ellis asked, looking up into Derek's eyes, her face stern and cold as she watched him stare back at her.

"You care."

"I do not care, Derek. I do not need your approval."

"You need it." Derek nodded as he took a bite from his fork.

"Derek... do you regret anything in your life?" Ellis asked. "Is there anything in your life... that you have done, that you feel that you cannot rest peacefully until you do it?" She asked.

"No." He replied honestly.

"Good for you." Ellis said as she stood up with her plate, walked to the sink and placed it within. She turned quickly and walked out of the kitchen quickly.

Derek sat at the table, his son's eyes on him as he watched him. "Is it just me, or is your GG acting kind of funny?" Derek whispered.

"She's acting sad, Daddy." Richie whispered. "She sounds scared."

"That's what I thought." Derek said as he stood up and walked to the freezer. He pulled a container of ice cream from it and walked to the table. He slid it across the table at his son, whose eyes were wide with surprise as he grinned. "Stay in here...Don't get a tummy ache... and do not...under any circumstances tell your mother..." He said with a grin as he tossed his son a spoon and turned towards the living room after Ellis.

Derek stepped into the living room, following after the quickly retreating figure of Ellis Grey. "Ellis, you are going to have to talk to me about this." Derek said as he followed her.

"I don't have to do anything that I don't want to, Derek." She said as she turned around slowly. "You should know that."

"I didn't come all the way out here to..."

"Then go home, Derek." She said sternly. "You don't want to be here... take your son, go home... alright? It's fine... I will not hold you back, I won't beg and I won't make you feel guilty. You don't want to be here, that's fine... just go home." She said as she turned towards the stairs.

"That's not what I want, Ellis... I want to know why you're here... why it takes two months to clean a house that half the things were already packed, and why you haven't even started it yet...Why are we going on all of the excursions around the city when what we should be doing is getting back home?"

"I was trying to show my grandson Seattle." She said as she glared at him. "I was showing you Seattle as well... and you had gotten off your angry, irritated, spoiled, selfish high horse for two seconds, you would have seen that and possibly enjoyed yourself." She said sternly as she walked up the stairs.