Hey all! So...this is my first time posting a fic for GA. Am I nervous? Hell yeah. I feel all jittery right now, lol. And I have no idea if I should continue this story. This story is going to be AU, and that's about as far as I know right now. I have some general stuff thought out for the story, but I'm pretty much charging blindly into the unknown here, lol. Oh, and it's MerDer. Enjoy! And comments would be great! I want to know if anyone's interested in this story at all.

Disclaimer: I own the laptop with which I watch Grey's Anatomy with. And that's about as far as I'll get with owning anything GA-related, unfortunately.


Chapter 1 – First Meeting, Last Memory

The moon shone brightly above the starless night sky. Clumps of flowers lined a small stream, and little dragonflies pranced about in the still night air, their fluorescent wings fluttering nonstop. In the distance, a soft shuffling could be heard as a little boy made his way through clumps of lavender. He clambered forward, guided by the soothing sounds of the stream. After several moments, he finally reached the edge of the stream.

For a second, he gazed at the calm water with eyes that seemed to reflect what was before him. He sat down, sighing as he inhaled a deep scent of lavender. He had accidentally stumbled upon this mysteriously beautiful garden when he'd left his house in frustration after a round of his sisters' teasing. The quiet solitude of the place felt relieving compared to the hectic household that was his home.

"What are you doing here?"

The young boy looked up from where he had been sitting by the pond, staring aimlessly down at the water. As he raised his head, he was startled to see a pair of bright green eyes staring back at him curiously. His heart pounded as he found himself unable to respond. Would he get in trouble for trespassing?

"Do you know how to talk?" The eyes blinked in confusion, and the boy slowly took in the rest of the girl that was talking to him. She was younger than him, probably around five years old. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into two pigtails, waving in all directions. She was wearing a bright yellow sundress, and her small hands clutched a white hat. The little girl seemed unfazed by the cold wind that buffeted her hair around.

"Of course I know how to talk!" The boy exclaimed indignantly.

The girl shrugged. "You weren't responding. Anyways, what are you doing in my garden?"

"Your garden?" The boy's eyes widened with surprise. How was it that such a young girl could have cultivated such a beautiful garden?

"Well, it was my mommy's. But Daddy says she's not around anymore," the girl said quietly. Then her eyes lit up again. "But it's mine now! And I can do anything I want with it. So I planted lots and lots of flowers. I like the way they smell. Someday, I wanna build a castle here and live all by myself. Actually, I want a dog too. He can play in the grass. We can do whatever we want."

The boy reached to his left for a flat stone and skimmed it across the pond. One, two, three, four, five skips before the stone sunk down to the bottom of the water. He waited silently for the girl to stop rambling before he responded. "My dad's not around anymore. He taught me how to do that," he said, nodding his head towards the place where the stone had skipped moments before.

The girl stooped down, grabbed a stone herself, and attempted to throw the rock. It landed in the water with an unceremonious plop. She pouted, and the boy couldn't help but laugh at her facial expression.

"What's so funny?" She demanded, glaring at him. "I know how to skip a rock! That was just bad luck."

"Sure you can…"

"I can!"

"I'll teach you."

"Really?" The boy turned at the excitement in her voice. She had apparently lost her momentary anger, and was now looking at him hopefully.

"Yea, sure."

"Can we be friends?" Plop, as another unfortunate stone left the girl's hands and fell into the water. "'Cause I don't have a mommy, and you don't have a daddy. We can be friends."

The boy perked up at that thought. He didn't have many friends. Actually, none at all. Yes, he could be friends with this affectionate little girl. "I guess we can…"

"Great!" The girl jumped up immediately, tugging him up with her. She looked up at him. "I'm Meredith. What about you?"

"Derek," he replied. "Call me Derek."

"Hello, Derek," Meredith smiled happily. She had never made a friend before. This Derek seemed friendly, and was her first.

"Hello, Meredith," Derek echoed, finding himself smiling for the first time since his father passed away.

And with that simple greeting, the two children turned back towards the lake, the girl watching the boy intently as he showed her the proper way to skip a rock.


A few months later…

He was worried. Derek paced around in the tall grass, looking around him every so often in hopes of seeing his friend. He and Meredith had met here nearly every night for the past few months. They would sit in the stalks of lavender and talk…about simple things—childish jargon that adults, and certainly not the ones in their life, would understand. They could spend hours just debating about the shape of a cloud in the sky, or fascinate each other with random facts about what was around them. Over the year, the evenings in Meredith's garden had become an important part of his life. It offered him a few hours in which he could be himself, and say anything he wanted to without fear of getting teased, or picked on. She would listen to him in her own childish way, and then her sharp sea-green eyes would look up at the sky pensively before she responded to him. That was what made it so easy for Derek to enjoy the time spent with Meredith. She made everything so simple. With her, there was no right or wrong, no getting lectured, teased, or bullied. She was just there, listening.

Derek paused in his pacing and rubbed his head in frustration. It was way past their normal meeting time, but Meredith still hadn't arrived. He was all the more worried because of the conversation they had last night, in which Meredith had warned him that she might not show up anymore.

"Derek, if I left, would you find a new best friend?" She had asked, playing with the hem of her dress.

"Why would you leave?"

"My daddy says he wants to go. But I don't want to."

Derek had sat up abruptly then, looking at Meredith desperately. "You can't go! Who'll I play with then?"

"I don't want any more friends…I just want you." She responded as she tugged on a few blades of grass.

The two of them had then fallen into a deafening silence, both wondering what would happen if they weren't together. Who would they talk to? Who would listen?

"Derek." Meredith said quietly, once the silence got too overbearing.

"Hmm?"

"What if Mommy comes back and we've gone and she can't find me anymore?" She turned her head to look Derek in the eyes. "I'm scared, Derek. She might come back for us."

Derek watched a squirrel clamber up a tree behind Meredith. "I'll tell her about you. And she's your mommy, so I think she'll always know where you are," he said comfortingly. He hadn't known what else to say. But he knew that he would try his best to help her.

"She won't…" Meredith's voice trailed off, then picked up again. "You have to remember to tell her about our garden, Der. She'll know how hard I worked on it."

"Our garden," Derek murmured, smiling despite the unhappy position they were in. "I'll definitely tell her about it. She'll love it!"

Meredith had stood up then, looking despondently down at him. "I have to go now, Derek. Daddy told me to go home early today."

"Mer…"

She looked away suddenly, not wanting him to see her tears. "The hat, Derek," she said softly. "Tell her I'll always have my white hat with me. In case she doesn't recognize me. Even when I grow up and become an adult like Daddy, I'll carry the hat with me, for her to find me." And you, she thought to herself. For you too.

"Will we see each other again?" Derek shut his eyes tightly, unable to imagine what would happen if he never saw his friend again.

"If we ever get lost or scared, let's both come here, okay? We can find each other then."

Derek nodded, looking at her back. "Goodbye, Meredith."

Meredith whirled around suddenly, facing him and giving him her brightest smile. "Goodbye, Derek. Thank you for teaching me how to skip rocks."

And then she had left quickly, without another word. Goodbye. Those words had held such finality to them. Now, Derek sat down next to the pond as he had so many months ago when they first met. It had just occurred to him that the only thing he knew about Meredith was her first name. For them, it had never been important to exchange any other details about their personal life, especially since they treated the garden as a way to escape from it. He sighed and tossed a rock back and forth in his hands as he realized that yesterday was indeed the last time they would meet. Meredith was gone.