I Will Follow You Into the Dark

CHAPTER 51

Derek was stunned. He was reeling from this news.

'I'm so sorry I didn't tell you in Boston. I thought it was too much all at once. And I needed to talk to Steve and to Trent about this. It took me a while to screw up enough courage to tell Steve. Then I told Trent. He knew that Steve wasn't his father, but he thought you were dead. I had told him that so he wouldn't feel abandoned or let down that you weren't in his life. I've always told him things about you....'

'Derek, are you, OK? Say something. Say anything. If only I hd known you were back.....Don't hate me.....'

Derek swallowed and looked at her, 'Mer, you know I don't hate you.' He gulped, tears in his eyes, 'You're the mother of my son.' Tears pouring down their cheeks, they hugged each other tightly.

'Thank you for understanding, Derek. I know this is a lot to take in.'

Derek smiled warmly through his tears, 'It's wonderful. I'm a father......We have a child. Can I see him? Spend time with him?

'Of course. I want you to have time with him.....' Meredith took a deep breath before continuing, 'In fact, I brought him with me. He's downstairs in the lobby. I told him you might want to meet us for lunch tomorrow....'

'He's here? And he knows about me?' Derek said grinning.

'Yes.'

'Bring him up. Please bring him up.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah.'

Meredith nodded, got up and left the apartment. Derek wiped his eyes and tried to breathe. He was about to meet his son.

Before he knew it, there was a knock on the door. Derek took a deep breath as Meredith opened the door. She walked in, holding the hand of a young boy who was looking at Derek carefully, already holding him under the spell of his piercing blue eyes.

"Trent," she said, holding her son's hand. "This is Derek Shepherd. He's your father."

Swallowing hard, she looked at Derek. "Derek, this is Trent," she said, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, "our son."

"Hi," Derek said, his heart swollen with pride and happiness.

"Hi," Trent said, walking forward and offering his hand for Derek to shake. The pair shook hands and ended up embracing. Then they stood back and looked at one another. Derek said, "You have no idea how happy this makes me. I want to get to know you. I've missed so much of your life. I'm so sorry. If I had known......"

"It's OK. Mom told me what happened," Trent said quietly, "She......she says I'm a lot like you."

Derek smiled, and when Trent grinned back, one of those remarkable similarities between then became obvious. Their mirror image grins were unmistakable.

"Have a seat. Let's talk about you," Derek said. Meredith grinned at him as they sat down. "I'll get you a Scotch," she said quietly as she made her way to the kitchen to leave them alone for a few minutes.

"Thanks," Derek said, still nervous and overwhelmed by this news.

Their early conversation was a bit awkward and sometimes was filled with painful starts and stops because they were both so nervous, but all things considered—it went pretty well. Meredith helped ease things along when she came back in the room, pointing out topics of conversation they'd both enjoy and telling them things about each other.

A few hours later, Meredith spoke up, "Well, we'd better go to our hotel. It's late."

"Oh, OK," Derek replied, surprised to notice how long they'd been talking. "It was so wonderful to meet you, Trent. Call me anytime. I'll talk with your mom and plan a visit, OK?"

"Cool. It's nice to meet you, too," Trent said waving shyly.

"Trent, can you wait downstairs a minute?" Meredith asked him.

"Sure," he said smiling. "Bye."

"Bye," Derek said, unable to take his eyes from the boy.

"I'm sorry to drop this huge news and run, but I wanted you to know about him."

"God, Mer. He's amazing."

"Yeah," she replied, "he's his father's son."

"Can I?.....I want to get to know him."

"He'd love that."

"Tomorrow? Can I see him again tomorrow?"

"I'll talk to him about it and call you."

"OK."

"Are you sure you can take time off on such short notice?"

"For him? Of course."

"You'll be a wonderful father, Derek."

"I hope so. I've missed so much......"

"I know. I'm so sorry."

They hugged each other tightly. Derek whispered, "Thank you, Mer. Thank you so much. This is the best gift ever."

"I'm so glad you're happy," she said, smiling through her tears. "I.......I also needed you to know that I didn't sleep around when you didn't come home. There was nobody else, Derek. Until Steve. And that took a year."

"Thanks, Mer. It means a lot to me."

"Well," she said, "I'd better go."

"Yeah. Call me about tomorrow, OK?"

Meredith was struck by the hope shining in his eyes. She hadn't seen that in him for so long. Relieved and happy for him, she turned to leave.

"Hey," Derek said.

"Yeah?"

"Thank Steve for me, too. Thank him for raising my son. I owe him so much."

"You really are amazing, you know that, right?" Meredith said as she left the apartment.

Derek just sat there grinning. A few minutes later, he picked up his cell phone and hit speed dial.