Six months later.
January in Seattle was Meredith's favourite. She loved the cold more than she loved the heat, or even the warmth. It wasn't so much to do with the temperatures, however, but more with the memories she associated with the cold.
When Meredith was young, about six years old, her father and her mother were still together. They were surprisingly happy. Thatcher, her father, would take Meredith on long walks in the cold January air. He preferred walking in the winter when there weren't many people around. The town was an overall grey colour and the sky was covered in clouds. At the age of six, Meredith's mother would still come along with them on their walks. They would find a park to walk in. Thatcher would educate Meredith on all of his favourite trees while her mother, Ellis, would roll her eyes and walk a step behind them. These were the happiest memories that Meredith had with her parents. Once she hit the age of seven, Ellis stopped joining them on their walks. Instead, she would stay late at work and sometimes not come home for days. Meredith's father would continue to go on his walks, but Meredith could see the sadness in his eyes. He stopped talking about trees and would prefer to walk in silence. When she turned eight, on her birthday, Meredith walked in on her father and mother fighting. It was the first time that Meredith had seen her mother in weeks. Thatcher would tell Meredith that her mother was too busy saving the world as a world-class surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital. He tried to sound proud, but Meredith could hear the hurt in his voice. He missed his wife. Meredith missed her mother.
"Do you even miss us?" Thatcher yelled bitterly as an eight year old Meredith hid behind the door, looking through the gap. His words were slightly slurred. "I'm not sure if you've forgotten, Ellis, but you have a family at home too!"
Meredith watched as Ellis laughed. Her face wasn't the gentle expression that she was used to seeing. Instead, her mother looked tired and angry. She looked so out of place standing in her small kitchen with her husband.
"Family?" Ellis scoffed, placing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "You mean a daughter I never wanted and my alcoholic husband?"
The words hit Meredith like a tonne of bricks. The daughter I never wanted. Not being able to help it, Meredith let out a small cry. Both her parents turned to face her simultaneously. Thatcher's angry expression drained away and was replaced with guilt as he quickly made his way over to Meredith. Her mother, on the other hand, remained where she was. She no longer looked angry. Meredith half expected her to look as guilty as her father was, but instead Ellis looked… relieved.
"Are you happy now, Ellis?" Thatcher spat, narrowing his eyes at his wife. Turning to Meredith, he smiled, "Your mother didn't mean it, Mer. She's just tired. She had a long week at work, okay?" His breath smelt like scotch.
Meredith nodded her head slightly, but from the corner of her eye she saw her mother roll her eyes. She wasn't an idiot. Meredith knew that her mother meant every word, but she wanted to make her father happy. He gently patted her on the head before instructing her to go to her room. As Meredith made her way up the stairs, she heard her parents burst into another fight. It was so loud; she was surprised she even managed to get to sleep that night.
"Hey, Mer," A muffled voice interrupted Meredith's memory. Her old bedroom faded away as a new one appeared before her eyes. Her view was blurry for a moment before Cristina's face came into view. "You okay?" She raised an eyebrow.
Meredith looked around her room, slowly waking up. For a split second, she felt as if she were still in her eight year old self's bedroom, but Cristina falling onto her bed snapped her back to reality.
"I heard you crying," Cristina said softly, sounding concerned. She flipped onto her side and propped her elbow up. "Bad dream?"
"Yeah," Meredith responded, rubbing her eyes. "You could say that."
They both lay in silence for a while. Meredith turned her head slightly to look at her clock. It was 7:00AM. It took Meredith a second to realise what day it was. It was the first day of her second year of University.
"Shit," Meredith cursed, quickly climbing out of bed. She looked back at Cristina and noticed that she was already dressed and looked as if she had just showered. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner? Now I've only got 15 minutes to get ready!"
Cristina shrugged and crawled out of bed, "I'm not your mother."
Meredith shot her an annoyed look and signalled for her to leave so that she could get changed. All of Meredith's clothes were hanging up in her closet. None of them looked particularly appealing. She only had a few pairs of jeans and some pastel coloured tees. She had a number of jackets, but they were all her mother's hand-me-downs. The thought of her mother caused her to shudder, especially after the dream she just had. The "dream" that was more of a flashback than an actual dream. Meredith shut her closet doors and fell onto her bed. She had no idea what to wear. When she turned her head again, she saw the time from the corner of her eye. 7:05AM. Meredith now had 10 minutes to finish getting ready. Without taking the time to think about it, she grabbed a pair of skinny jeans from her wardrobe, a plain black shirt and one of her mother's leather jackets. On the bottom of her wardrobe were her favourite converse shoes. She smiled down at them momentarily before putting them on. At 7:15AM on the dot, after putting on some light make up and doing her hair, Meredith was finally ready to go to University. Cristina, George and Izzie were all in the kitchen waiting when Meredith walked in. They all exchanged brief morning greetings before climbing into Meredith's car. They were all ready for their first day of second year.
"What's your first class, Mer?" Izzie chirped, looking down at her own timetable. It had only taken them about a half hour to get to University from their house. "I have Chemistry II."
Meredith pulled her timetable out of her jean pocket and had a look. When she saw the class, her heart stopped. "Anatomy II…" She breathed. Cristina, George and Izzie all stopped in their tracks to look at Meredith. Without having to say it, they all knew why Meredith was shaking. Anatomy II was supposed to be Derek's class… and Meredith hadn't seen him for at least three months now, after hearing the news about his sister Amelia. Not wasting any time, and without even saying goodbye to Meredith, Derek had moved back to Washington to be with his family.
"I have Anatomy now too," Cristina said, linking her arm with Meredith's. She smiled up at her sympathetically.
After the night that Derek had opened up to Meredith about his break up with Addison and his sister's death, Meredith had driven home a complete mess. She cried the whole way home and it took all of her will power not to scream. When she had finally gotten home, instead of going to her room, Meredith crept into Cristina's bed and curled up into a ball next to her. To her surprise, Cristina was still awake. Her own face was stained with tears.
"Why are you crying?" Cristina had said, wiping her own tears away.
Meredith explained all the drama that unfolded at the bar with Derek, Addison and Mark. Cristina's mouth had dropped wide open and she had placed a reassuring hand on Meredith's shoulder.
"Why are you crying?" Meredith questioned, once she had finished her story. It took Cristina a moment to respond. Her bottom lip trembled, but she bit it to stop herself from crying.
"Owen… divorced his wife." Cristina explained, watching as Meredith's mouth dropped open. "He divorced her… to be with me."
The two girls spent the rest of the night talking about Derek… then about Owen, then about themselves. There were tears, laughs and lots of sighs. Surprisingly, Meredith actually felt better after opening up to Cristina. She was happy to have her best friend around.
"We're here." Cristina announced, snapping Meredith back to reality. Without even realising it, Meredith and Cristina had already reached their classroom for Anatomy II. Meredith stared at the doorknob and then back at Cristina.
"Shall we?" Cristina asked, placing her hand on the doorknob. Before Meredith could respond, she opened the door and made her way in. As Meredith stepped past the door and scanned the room, she felt herself let out a loud gasp. All eyes from around the room were on her, including Cristina's. From the corner of her eye, Meredith saw a small smile creep across Cristina's face as she found a table to sit at in the corner of the room. At the front of the room, there was a tall man with thick black hair and piercing blue eyes. He stood in silence as he stared at Meredith, a small smile slowly spreading across his face. Meredith stared back, her mouth hanging slightly open. Her heart rate had picked up dramatically as she felt herself dropping everything she was holding.
"Meredith," The man breathed. He flashed Meredith a familiar, charming smile that made her knees feel weak.
"Derek?" She responded, her voice shaking. Meredith couldn't believe her eyes. There, at the front of the classroom, was Derek Shepherd. The love of her life. Meredith had assumed that someone else would be taking his class while he lived in Washington. But apparently he had moved back.
"It's so nice to see you." Derek said honestly, taking a few cautious steps towards Meredith. Everyone in the classroom started whispering. Cristina shushed them all and watched on with a huge smile on her face. Usually Meredith hated having everyone look at her, but in this moment she couldn't care less. All she cared about was Derek. He was here. He was standing only a few steps away from her. She could smell his familiar cologne. She could feel the warmth radiating off of his body. Without waiting any longer, Meredith dumped her bag on the floor and took the last couple of steps towards Derek. She wrapped her small arms around his neck and felt one of his bigger, muscular arms around her shoulders and another around her waist.
"You're here!" Meredith cried out happily, burying her face into his neck. She could feel his heart racing. She could feel his warm breath against her hair. It sent tingles all down her spine.
"I'm here," Derek whispered into her hair. After embracing Meredith for a minute longer, he finally pulled away and placed his big hands against her face. He wiped away the tears welling up in Meredith's eyes with his thumbs. Derek was smiling so hard that his cheeks started to hurt, but he had never felt so happy to see someone in his life. Leaning down slightly, Derek planted a small kiss on Meredith's nose, causing her to blush slightly. Her cheeks started to feel warm and they became a beautiful subtle red colour. They stood in silence for a while. Derek kept his hands on Meredith's face and couldn't tear his eyes away from her. Meredith stared back too. The room around her became irrelevant. All she could see was Derek Shepherd, the love of her life. She breathed in deeply, taking in his familiar scent.
"I'm finally home," Derek said, planting a kiss on Meredith's left cheek and then her right. "I'm finally home." He repeated.
Meredith smiled excitedly like a school girl. Happy tears were welling up in her eyes. The room around her was spinning. "You came back to me!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Derek's neck again. "Please don't ever leave me again."
"I won't." He replied softly, kissing her hair. "I promise I will never leave you again."
And in that moment, Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd truly were home. Their home... was in each other's arms.