The First Time

18.

Alexandra was standing on the sofa looking out through the window waiting for Derek to arrive. As soon as his car turned into the driveway she was out the door in a flash and down the few stairs so that as he stepped from the car he was hit by a flying blonde. He reached down and pulled her into his arms.

"Hey Munchkin. How have you been?" he asked lifting her and twirling her around.
The little girl squealed with delight and then as soon as he stopped she instantly pouted. "I been missing you."

"I've been missing you too." Derek replied hugging her tightly and then moving her to his hip as he made his way to the passenger side where Meredith was now standing discreetly watching the interaction. Derek had warned her that Alexandra may be a little tentative so she intended to take things slowly, hoping that the little girl would accept her if she saw that Meredith was no threat to Alexandra's relationship with her uncle.

Alexandra eyed Meredith up and down and then gripped Derek even more tightly burying her face in to Derek's shoulder. Her mother had explained that Uncle Derek was bringing a friend with him and that she needed to be nice to her but Alexandra didn't understand why. She wanted him all to herself. She didn't want to share him.

Derek tried to pry the small fingers from around his neck. "I've brought a friend of mine to meet you." he explained. "This is Meredith ..." and he was about to say more when David and Kathleen emerged from the house.

"Thank goodness you're finally here. She's been driving us crazy waiting for you." Kathleen commented and then seemingly without even taking a breath she added. "And you must be Meredith. Welcome. We're so excited to have you here." She said pulling Meredith into a hug.

Meredith was surprised but went with it. It felt genuine. It felt right. Not something that her mother would have ever done, she was much too standoffish, so it won points for Kathleen right off the bat.

"That goes for me too." David added as he trailed up behind. "I'm David by the way and that's Kathleen." He said offering his hand and indicating his wife with a nod of his head. "I figure that you would probably like to know more than my name before I take you in my arms." He laughed teasing his wife.

Kathleen quickly let go of Meredith and distanced herself a little. "Oh David. Don't be awful. I'm just excited that's all." Kathleen replied.

David looked at Derek. "It's been touch and go, who was the most excited, Alexandra or your sister? Me of course ..." he shrugged. "not so much ... took it all in my stride. It's what I do." He explained nonchalantly.

"Right." Derek said skeptically knowing that David was always pleased to see him.
"You're just as excited as I am." Kathleen corrected David. "Who was up at the crack of dawn trying to get the tree house sorted out so that Derek wouldn't get to see how hopeless you are?"

"Oh. Now you've offended me." David said wide eyed to Kathleen. "And in front of our guest no less?" he added.

Derek glanced at Meredith to see her reaction to what was being played out in front of her and she had a smile from ear to ear obviously enjoying it.

"Meredith I'm so sorry for my wife's behavior." David said.

"Really. It's fine." Meredith replied smiling.

"Well come on through and let's get a look at you." Kathleen said now turning her attention to Derek and taking him by the arm just above his elbow and leading him towards the door. She squeezed his bicep a little and asked. "Are you losing weight? Have you been eating well? You know, I think that you should come by more often so I can feed you or I could get a courier to deliver some meals to you. You're probably studying so hard you don't have enough time to cook for yourselves. How's Mark? Does he have a girlfriend yet? ..."