Just a one shot set in Wishin and Hopinbetween Derek and Meredith. Don't worry; I'm still continuing This is Australia so please check that out too! Reviewers get a gold star and my eternal love.

DISCLAIMER: I have $15 in my wallet…because I just bought Grey's Anatomy. Look out Rose.

"Derek Michael Shepard. I am going to kick your ass!" Meredith said, as she walked through the door into Derek's room. He pulled the oxygen mask away from his face and smiled. Meredith took her shoes off and climbed into bed next to him. She put the oxygen mask back on his face and curled up against him. Derek pulled her tighter into his arms.

"You're going to kick my ass? I was in an airtight suit, unlike what I hear about some people!" he said. She smacked him on the chest and he silenced himself.

"Derek, you're all I have left. If you died, I'd just be all alone, and dark and twisty. I don't want to be dark and twisty anymore." Meredith was rambling, and Derek let her. He could tell she was terrified and he wanted to let her get her feelings out before he responded. He pulled her closer into his arms again and sighed.

"Meredith, did you go speak to your mother?" He asked her. He felt her nod against his chest and felt her tears dampen his scrub top. He stroked her hair and let her cry. He knew something significant must have happened between mother and daughter for Meredith to be this upset. After a few moments Meredith's tears subsided.

"She called me ordinary." Meredith whispered; voice scratchy with tears. Derek looked at her.

"Mere, babe. You don't believe her do you?" he asked her. Meredith didn't answer. Again, Derek pulled the mask off his face and looked at her, his face living up to the McDreamy nickname. She took a deep breath.

"It's so easy to blame how cruel she is on the Alzheimer's. But she's lucid. She's lucid and she hates me. I'm unfocussed. And ordinary. I was raised to be an extraordinary human being. But I'm a disappointment. And it hurts. I thought I was grown up enough to stop letting them hurt me. But I'm not. And maybe she's right. I'm just nothing." Meredith dissolved into tears again. She fell against Derek's chest, looking like a lost little girl.

"Meredith. You are ANYTHING but average. You are extraordinary. You went into a toxic room with no protection and covered a woman's insides. You stepped up to the plate and took control of your mother's affairs when it would have been the perfect revenge to say no. You laid on your bathroom floor for hours on end with your roommate after her fiancée's death. You helped that same roommate steal a heart for her fiancée. Hell, you took me back, even after the nightmare I made you live through. You are anything but ordinary Mere, and it's your mother's loss that she can't see it." Derek wrapped Meredith in the tightest possible hug he could manage. Meredith let out a shuddering sigh.

"She wants to refuse the heart surgery. She doesn't understand. One day they're going to cure Alzheimer's, and I could never live with myself if I let her die and she could get better. She thinks that there's no hope."

"Meredith, you need to tell her that. Your mother lost hope in everything, including you, when the Chief left her. So you need to tell her why you want her to have the heart surgery. You need to make her see how amazing you are." Derek's optimism, as always, resonated over his words. Meredith smiled. She knew that Derek had no concept of parental disappointment and how much it hurts. But she could try.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." Meredith said. Before she could leave, Derek swept her into a passionate kiss. Meredith broke away, and pulled the oxygen mask over Derek's face.

"You keep that on, or I will kick your ass ok?" she said, as she walked out of the room.


And that, my friend, is my attempt at angst. Please read and review, good, bad, whatever; just let me know what you think. If you're after some happy, go check out This is Australia, as poorly titled as it is, it isn't that bad a fic…Brooke xoxo