Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
Rating: K
Pairing: MerDer
Summary: Denny is the ghost of Christmas past… My muses are nuts.
Huge thanks to my friend Kristi who helped me out with this fic.

--

Meredith lay down in the on call room after a particularly long day. The whole Derek and Rose thing was still getting to her and she was close to giving up. She had just fallen asleep and began dreaming.

In her dream she was sitting on the counter of the nurses' station and Denny came up to her.

"Hello, Meredith."

"Hi Denny," she replied.

He leaned against the counter next to her. "Do you remember when I told you about Derek, told you why you had to go back to him?"

Meredith nodded, "Yes."

"Do you realize how powerful it is that one person can influence another so greatly?" he asked her, "that by you dying, it would change Derek's personality and outlook on life."

"Yeah. And I came back and he's fine," she replied.

"How can he be fine? He's with Rose."

Having just heard that from her therapist she got aggravated again: "I know he's with Rose! I see it every day and I hear about it all the time!"

"Why don't you do something about it?" Denny questioned.

"What can I do? I told him I didn't want him to date other people. I know I'm difficult and I have issues but I guess he couldn't wait anymore. It's fine. I want him to be happy."

Denny sighed, "He's happy with you. He belongs with you. Sure, he seems fine for now because he sees you every day, he still has a little bit of you. But the two of you belong together."

"I don't believe in fate or whatever," she said stubbornly.

"Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it doesn't exist," Denny smiled. "Do you want to be with Derek?"

"I want him to be happy," she replied automatically.

"Because you love him; do you want to be with him?" he asked again.

Meredith nodded, "Yes."

Instead of trying to tell her, Denny decided to show her.

--

Meredith spotted Derek sitting with Mark outside of his trailer looking completely hopeless.

"It's been almost three months, man," Mark said, "You have to at least talk to another woman."

"I talk to other women all the time," Derek replied.

"Ok, outside of work in non-mandatory situations," amended Mark.

"I'm not ready, Mark."

"I'm just worried about you, man. You seem different."

"Yeah, well you pull your girlfriend out of the freezing water, perform CPR on her and have her die and see if that changes you."

"I'm sorry," Mark replied, "I've just never seen you so pessimistic."

Derek shrugged and downed his scotch.

Meredith looked at Denny. "What is this?"

"This is what would have happened if you didn't come back."

Denny moved them again and they were in a scrub room with Derek and Rose seemingly after a surgery.

"This is about 6 months later," Denny told Meredith.

"So, Derek, have you thought any more about having dinner with me?" Rose asked.

Derek gave her a small smile. "I'm sorry Rose, you seem like a great woman but I can't. Maybe under different circumstances, in a different time but..."

"It's alright," Rose smiled, "I understand. Have a good day, Dr. Shepherd."

"You too Rose," He replied as she had finished scrubbing out and left the scrub room.

Denny turned to Meredith after Derek, too, left the scrub room.

"See?" Said Denny, "Your death completely changed him."

Meredith nodded, "Yeah," she replied not able to say much more.

"Now," Denny started, "since you didn't die I can show you what your future can be."

Their surroundings changed again and Meredith found herself standing in a house with Denny. She heard kids yelling from down the hall.

--



"Give that back!" a girl yelled.

"Make me!" she heard a boy reply.

"You have to give it back! Its mine!" yelled the girl again.

"Nuh uh."

"I'm gonna tell mommy!" she heard right before the girl ran out of the room.

Meredith lost her breath for a second when she saw the girl; she was about 5 and had long dark curly hair like Derek but Meredith's eyes. The seven year old boy - who looked like Meredith's clone - soon followed after his sister. "You're a tattletale, Emily!" He called, racing her downstairs.

Denny popped them downstairs at the same time the kids got there.

"Mommy!" Emily called running up to older Meredith sitting at the kitchen table working on something.

"Yes, Emily?" she asked looking up. She saw her son running in too, "What did your brother do?"

"Chris said cuz he was gonna be a surgeon I couldn't be one too and he tooked my sethascope."

"Its stethoscope, Em, and Chris of course your sister can be a surgeon, too. Daddy is a surgeon and two of his sisters are as well," older Meredith told them. "Now give her back her stethoscope, please."

"Fiiine," Chris relented and gave Emily back the stethoscope.

Emily took it and climbed up on the chair next to older Meredith.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just finishing some paperwork."

"When is daddy coming home?" Chris asked.

Older Meredith looked at her watch, "He should be here any minute," she signed one last piece of paper and was finished with her work, "And I'm done too."

"Then we get to go get a dog?" Chris asked.

Derek, having just gotten home managing to surprise them, replied, "Yes. Then we get to get a dog."

"Hi daddy!" Emily called, having climbed onto Meredith's lap, pretending to do work.



Derek picked up Chris and put the giggling boy over his shoulder as he went over to kiss Meredith hello.

"How is the work coming, Dr. Emily?"

Emily laughed, "I'm not a doctor yet, daddy."

--

Denny, feeling Meredith had finally gotten the point, took them back to the empty hospital where they started.

"So you see what I was talking about with Derek changing if you died," Denny recapped, "and if you tell him what you want that could be your future."

"They look just like us," Meredith said, still in awe over her possible future children.

Denny nodded. "The two of you belong together, Meredith."

That was the last thing she heard as her pager woke her up.

After her shift she ran into Derek in the elevator. She thought of Denny's words and of what he showed her and decided she had to go for it. Pushing the emergency stop she turned to Derek and began talking.

"I know I'm not perfect and I'm broken but I need you to help fix me. I love you and I can't deal with you being with Rose."

Denny smiled from his spot watching over Izzie and all her friends. Mission complete.

--

"This is the big one - so you pay attention. Do you know what kinda miracle it is that Derek is who he is? Do you know how rare it is that someone like him even exists? He's still an optimist. He still believes in true love and magic and soul mates. He's waiting for you and if you don't come back from this it will change who he is." - Denny