So this is an AU story if Ellis hadn't gotten Alzheimer's and she still worked at the hospital. I had the idea for this after going back and watching some old episodes and just felt like writing because it's the weekend ;P

Enjoy and please don't forget to review to let me know if you want more.

Meredith closed the door to her house as quietly as she could, making her way with cautious steps towards the stairs in hopes to not have a confrontation with her mother. She made it to her room, packed a bag, and had made it to the door without being noticed when her plan was utterly foiled.

"I heard you botched a craniotomy today. You almost killed a man. If Dr Shepherd hadn't been there to clean up after you, he would be dead." Her mother's cold voice called from behind her. She sighed, closing her eyes and turning on her heel to face the woman, who had a sour look on her face and pursed lips.

"It was a simple complication and Dr Shepherd fixed it easily. I'm an intern, and Seattle Grace is a teaching hospital. I'm supposed to make mistakes." Meredith defended, her heart pounding in her chest. She rarely defended herself against her mother, but that night, she was fed up. She had only come home to pack a bag of clothes before she was going over to Derek's and getting away from her mother for a few days, and she didn't need their latest argument fresh on her mind.

"Well, unfortunately, you're also a Grey, which means you have a reputation to uphold, one you've done quite a good job of tarnishing so far in your miserable life." Her mother spat. The words cut through her like a knife and she looked to the floor, the hatred in her mother's eyes sending shivers down her spine.

"You're terrible. Utterly terrible." Her mother started as tears jumped to Meredith's eyes. "You disappoint me every day that you make trouble in that hospital. I really wish I could tell people that you have potential, but the truth is, I'm just praying that you can get someone rich to see through your disgusting personality and marry you for sex, because, honestly Meredith, you will never amount to anything. There are days when I wonder why I didn't drop you somewhere as soon as I realized you were useless, but you should be thanking me for at least having a few motherly instincts. Yet, you're just an ungrateful brat even after all these years and I'm truly embarrassed to be related to you." She continued. Meredith stayed silent and let the tears fall from her eyes and soak her face, her hands shaking as she steadied them on the strap of her bag.

"I hope you don't think whoever you've packed that bag for actually cares about you. Everyone knows you'll never find someone who loves you. For your sake, you should just stick to meaningless sex. It's about the only thing you're close to being good at. Probably because you do it so much." She said, gesturing towards the hastily packed overnight bag. Meredith's legs began to wobble and she shook her head, her voice shaky and weak as she spoke.

"I'm leaving, okay? Isn't that what you want? Can't you just let me leave so we don't have to deal with each other?!" She cried, barely able to see through her tears. Her mother groaned in anger, her hands forming into fists as she stormed towards her daughter.

"You are such a b*itch!" She screamed, striking the intern across the face. Meredith gasped in surprise, her hand shooting up to cradle her cheek as tears cascaded down her face.

"Get out! Get out of my house, get out of my life, get out! I hope I never have to look at your disgusting face again you little rat! GET OUT!" She screamed. Meredith scurried away, throwing open the door and running to the car. Her body shook with sobs as pain radiated across her tear-drenched face and she drove away, gripping the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles turned white. This had been the worst fight they had in a long time, and her mother's words echoed in her mind over and over again, seemingly endless torment repeating over and over as she drove to the only place she could think of: Derek's Apartment.

Normally, she would go to the hospital and find an empty on-call room to sleep in or if there were none, she would sleep in the locker room. If there were people there, she would find the nearest bathroom and sleep on the floor, which thankfully didn't happen often. People always wondered why some days she was the first one to the hospital and other days she was the last, but it all depended on her mother... and sometimes Derek if he kept her up all night.

As she drove, she was unable to think of anything else other than the hatred that had burned in her mother's eyes and cascading pain that still radiated from her cheek. Her mother's words echoed in her mind and tears soaked her face over and over again.

She pulled into the first parking space she could find and jumped out of the car, her bag still slewn over her shoulder. She threw the door shut and locked it, making her way towards the brightly lit building in the darkness of the night. She walking in and jumped in an elevator, closing the doors quickly before anyone else could get on. She selected his floor and waited for the doors to ding so that she could step out.

I hope you don't think whoever you packed that bag for really cares about you...

As soon as she was out of the elevator, she ran towards his apartment, knocking desperately on the door and hoping that he wasn't still at the hospital.

I'm just praying that you can get someone rich to see through your disgusting personality and marry you for sex...

When there was no answer, she slid down the door and gathered herself in a heap on the floor, sobbing silently against the cold metal.

Everyone knows you'll never find someone who loves you...

"Meredith?" Her trance was broken when she heard his voice, seeing him walking towards her with a concerned look on his face. There was no use in running anymore, not when he had already seen her. She didn't have the strength to run away from him because, in that moment, she needed him. She didn't want to admit it, but she needed him.

Derek had just gotten off the elevator when he saw her, curled up under his door and shaking. He called her name, approaching her and seeing that she was crying. He saw that her face was turning redder on one side and had swelled noticeably. He quickened his pace, seeing that he got her attention and feeling his heart break when she looked up at him, her eyes filled with only pain.

"Meredith, what's wrong?" he asked as he reached her, and suddenly his heart dropped into his stomach as he saw her face clearly. The redness on her cheek was roughly in the shape of a hand, puffing out from her face and swelling up. Just as he reached her, she began to cry harder, the tears already soaking her face being replaced by newer, fresher ones.

He pulled out his keys and opened his apartment door, allowing her to walk inside and closing the door behind them. Immediately, she turned fresh tears in her eyes, and collapsed into him, sobbing loudly and feeling his arms around her. She made multiple attempts to speak but all of them failed, causing her to erupt into more hysterical crying.

Derek was seriously worried about who had done this to her and very anxious to know, but Meredith was his first priority. He wanted to make sure she was okay and he wanted to be there for her before anything else. If it meant letting her cry into him for hours, he would do it in a heartbeat.

"Let's get you some water, alright?" He asked when her sobs became dry and raspy. She nodded weakly and he carried her to the couch, setting her down on the soft leather and placing a blanket over her shaking body. He moved quickly, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and filling it with cold water as fast as he could and then rushing back to her, handing the water to her gently and climbing onto the couch next to her.

She sipped the water tentatively at first and then began to gulp it down, feeling the freezing cold liquid slide down her throat, which had been stripped from sobbing and crying. Derek wrapped his strong arms around her as she placed the empty glass on the end table, snuggling into his embrace. She suddenly remembered their plans for dinner and jumped up, turning to look at him and wiping the tears from her face.

"I'm sorry." She croaked, and he looked at her, perplexed.

"What are you sorry for?" He asked softly and she sighed, looking towards his neat kitchen.

"We had plans... for dinner... I'm sorry, I'm just ruining everything." She sighed, leaning back against the couch. He jumped up, cradling her face in his hand and being careful not to touch where the still prominent handprint had swelled. She looked down at the ground and he tilted her head up slightly, forcing her to look at him.

"Hey, hey, that is not true. Whatever happened to you tonight... even if you're not okay with telling me, I'm here. And I'm glad you're here." He said quietly, releasing her face and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead before resuming his position with his arms around her. She turned and buried her face in his shirt, allowing him to rest his head on top of hers and wonder what could have happened that put her in this state.

He hoped it wasn't something that he did, he couldn't handle the guilt of thinking he might have done this to her. She must have sensed this because she looked up at him with her teary green eyes and finally told him everything.

"It's my mother. She heard about the surgery today and she caught me before I got out of the house." She said. Derek's eyes went wide and he reached his hand up, turning her face as gently as he could to look at the reddened area. He saw a small cut where her mother's ring must have sliced her, which had dripped blood down her cheek. She hissed in pain when he touched it and he pulled away, apologizing softly.

"Don't look at me like that." She muttered, turning away from him.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm some little girl who's been abused and deserves to be felt sorry for. I'm not. I'm not a little girl and I don't deserve you feeling sorry for me." She said. Derek frowned, surprised at how poorly she spoke of herself. He had never seen this side of Meredith before, her vulnerable and scared side. Sure, he knew she was dark and twisty, but she had always been confident and strong in front of him. he had never seen her this upset.

"My mother is the great Ellis Grey. She can't do anything wrong. She's amazing, she's won awards, she's made countless medical breakthroughs... and yet... she has made one mistake. That mistake haunts her every day of her life, and she's not afraid to hide it. That mistake disappoints her with every moment that it exists. That mistake... it's me." She cried. Derek looked at her, dumbfounded, and struggled to find words, any words at all, that he could say to her.

"She hates me. I can never make her proud of me, I can never be good enough. I'm not good enough. Because I sleep with my attending and I mess up easy surgeries and I make friends who cut L-VAD wires..." She trailed off, the list of all the times that her mother had yelled at her running through her mind. Derek still stared, aghast at her as she paused, clearly thinking.

"Before my father left, the only thing they could agree on was how much they hated me. He was always the one that got physical first. He hurt a lot more. Then he left and she blamed me. She got angrier, more aggressive. Every time I would come home with anything less than perfection, she would yell at me, call me horrible things and tell me how much she hated me. Eventually, I figured out it wasn't normal, but I couldn't leave. I didn't have anywhere to go. A couple times, I tried running away to the hospital, but.. she always found me. She pretended to be a worried mother up until we got home, and she was angrier than ever. Richard never saw any of it happening, but I think he just didn't want to imagine that she could be flawed. I don't blame him, honestly. I never have." She sighed. Derek finally found the strength to speak.

"Meredith... you are not a mistake. You are good enough. Even if your mother doesn't think you're good enough for her, you are good enough for me. You are more than good enough for me, you are amazing. I never knew how strong you were, and to survive this... you are amazing. They don't deserve to be proud of you. She can't take credit for how amazing you are. You are amazing despite her. And you deserve everything you have because you've worked. You've worked hard and you've survived. And trust me, she's made plenty of mistakes. You're not one of them." He said. She had turned to look at him, the tears in her bright green eyes dancing as they filled with hope. The hope slowly transformed into something more complex, something that both of them knew as dangerous but felt anyway. It was love.

He leaned down and he kissed her, his hands cradling her face but careful not to cause her any pain. She reached up and steadied her shaking hands in his hair, her fingers running through the mess of curls. Derek wiped the tears from her face, inhaling her scent and feeling the tips of his fingers in her hair. He slowly pushed her down on the couch so that he was laying on top of her, using his arms to stop himself from crushing her small form.

They pulled away for a moment and he gave her his best smile, the one he knew always made her laugh. The sound of her giggling filled his ears and he was filled with happiness, the smile on his face growing brighter if possible. He leaned down and kissed her again, both of their giggling filling each other with joy and washing away all of the pain.

"I love you." He whispered, so softly only they could hear it. Meredith's face transformed to surprise and Derek was stunned to see a flicker of pain in her eyes as she looked up at him.

Everyone knows you'll never find someone who loves you.

"You do?" She asked, tears flooding to her eyes. Shut up, mom.

"I do."

Ugh, I can't handle Derek's dreaminess. He's just so... ahhh! Anyway, if you enjoyed this, please leave a review and let me know if I should continue this or just leave it as a one-shot. Also, I don't really know when this story takes place, but it's somewhere between the season 2 finale (Prom) and 3-16/17 (Ferry Crash). As another note, Meredith is going to be a little bit OOC in this story because part of the reason why Meredith is who she is in the series is because of her mother and her Alzheimer's so if she didn't have Alzheimer's that would have changed Meredith's character and personality a lot.

Kisses!

-E