AN: So here is a chapter I wrote a while ago…it was an idea I had that I wanted to eventually include in this story….I have been waiting in anticipation for the right time….let me know what you think of it.

Disclaimer: Nope, I own nothing what so ever.

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"MEREDITH!" Meredith stopped walking to try to find the body the voice belonged to; Cristina. She saw Cristina running towards her grinning like a maniac. She waited for her friend to say something.

"I just scrubbed in on open heart surgery," Cristina said smiling even more as she said it. She paused between the last three words. Meredith smiled at her, happy that Cristina had satisfied her need for the OR today. It seems to be an insatiable hunger though she thought. But she is really freakin' happy….like now for example…Happy Cristina is scary…but not as scary as pissed off Cristina…Meredith continued to smile at her.

"It was amazing! Burke is amazing! I can't believe he let me scrub in! AAH!" Cristina said bathing in afterglow.

"Burke let you scrub in?" she asked curious.

"Yes," Cristina said in a much lower softer tone.

"Oh," Meredith said smiling.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"But it was AMAZING Mer," Cristina proceeded to rant. Meredith's phone began to ring.

"Cristina, I have to take this call," she started. She watched as Cristina's happy smile turned into a disappointed frown. "Go tell Alex!" she said knowing that it would make him outrageously jealous.

"Yeah!" Cristina agreed as she took off down the hall.

"Hello?" Meredith spoke into her phone; she turned around a few times to make sure no one was near her. She waited for the voice to speak back to her; the woman's voice spoke back. It's what she said to Meredith that made her feel sick to her stomach. She cut off the voice by closing her flip phone. She squeezed her eyes tightly and began walking down the hall at a fast pace.

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Meredith walked up to Bailey; she couldn't even remember the last time she had spoken to her. "Dr. Bailey," she started. Bailey turned around to look at the blonde intern; she wore a stern face and waited for her to speak. "I….I have to go," she said not moving an inch. The look on her face made it clear that she didn't mean go from where she stood, but as in...leave from the hospital. "It's an emergency," she added hoping Bailey would catch her drift. She was trying very hard to hold in the tears forming in her eyes. Bailey noticed this. "Go," Bailey said not asking her any questions or giving her the third degree.

Meredith was surprised to say the least at Bailey's reaction, but grateful none the less. She walked over to the locker room and changed quickly hoping that she wouldn't run into anyone on her way out of Seattle Grace. She walked out of the hospital and ran to her car hoping to escape from the rain.

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She couldn't believe it. Her mother was dead, dead as in not alive. Corpse. Body. Morgue. Casket. She was dead. Ellis Grey was dead.

The odd thing was that Meredith wasn't even emotional. She was more in a state of shock if anything. The thing that made her upset was the fact that she wasn't sad. She felt nothing….nothing but relief. Feeling nothing made her feel like a bad person. I don't even care that my mother is dead. I'm relieved. That makes me horrible.

Meredith kept driving. She let the warm tears stream down her face. She was so frustrated; with herself, with her mother, with life, with everything. Her mother had died and the only thing she could think about was how much she had resented her mother; how much time she had spent hating her.

She began thinking about all the things she would never get a chance to learn from her mother; all the things she would never get to talk to her about. Meredith didn't spend much time with her mother…it wasn't even her mother….the person in the home wasn't Ellis Grey….it was the shadow of Ellis…she left with the sun each evening. Her mother had been missing out on life, and here she was, missing out on her mother.

Meredith felt her eye brows furrow. She could feel the trickle of her tears running down her cheeks and onto her chin. Her face was soaked now; her hair a mess. I wonder if I look as crappy as I feel Meredith thought.

Driving away from the wreck of the day
And the light's always red in the rear-view
Desperately close to a coffin of hope
I'd cheat destiny just to be near you
If this is giving up, then I'm giving up

She had been driving around for hours now….going no where in particular. She was just driving to drive…to get away, to go somewhere, anywhere. She didn't want to go home to George and Izzie. She didn't want to be asked questions and have to explain it all to them and get the pitiful "I'm so sorry"s from them. She definitely couldn't go back to work. I could go to Joe's she thought. But I don't feel like being around people…well, except for him…

Meredith didn't think about it. She took a right turn and headed towards his house. She pulled up and shut off the car. She didn't bother trying to make herself look presentable; she didn't care. Besides, it was probably useless anyways. She got out of the car and walked up to the door.

I turned around 3 times and wound up at your door

She knocked and he came and opened the door. He was wearing plaid pajama pants and a gray tee-shirt. Although he was dressed for the occasion, it didn't appear as though he had just been sleeping.

"Meredith?" he asked with a frown on his face. He looked worried about her.

She had stopped crying, but couldn't bring herself to speak. She just stood there looking at him not knowing what to do. Her arms were drooped at her side. She became more and more frustrated with every passing second.

"She died," was all she could manage to get out.

"What? Who died?" he asked concerned.

"My mother," she said as a silent tear fell.

"Oh Mer," Derek spoke as he embraced her and wrapped his arms around her. They stood there, like that for a moment, before Derek led her inside and gave her some comfortable clothes to change into.

So there she sat on his bed, in his clothes, drinking coffee he had made for her. She had barely spoken to him since she had gotten there.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" he asked warmly.

"No," she forced a smile for him. "Thank you," she added.

Derek had been standing at the end of the bed. He walked up to her. She felt her heart beat quicken. He always seemed to make her open up without trying to, or even saying anything really. She felt comfortable around him. That's why she thought. He sat down next to her and looked into her eyes for a moment; he looked down.

"It was a stroke," Meredith said blatantly.

He looked up, and stared at her. He didn't say anything and he didn't touch her. Meredith knew why he wasn't hugging her or anything. It's because he knows I'll melt. He wanted to give her a chance to get it all out; to talk, if she wanted to.

"That's what they said," she told him, but then realized that he didn't know about her mother having early onset Alzheimer's. "They meaning the people at the home," she clarified. Derek looked confused, but didn't question anything she had said. "My mother has," Meredith paused "had," she corrected herself "early onset Alzheimer's," she finished. Saying it out loud caused her teary eyes to build up even more.

She squeezed her eyes shut and let the tears run down her face. Her mouth twisted into an unpleasant frown and her body began to shake as she began to sob. "Oh Derek," she managed to get out before he moved closer to her and held her. She buried her head in her chest, and he allowed her to soak his tee-shirt. He rocked her back and forth like someone would with a small child.

"Sssh," he whispered as he rubbed her lower back trying to comfort her. After a few minutes, she began to quiet down. She lifted herself up from his chest and wiped her face. She looked at him; he was looking straight back with sorrow in his eyes. He appeared to be very worried about her.

"Thanks," she said softly. He smiled at her with his mouth, but his eyes showed nothing but concern for her well-being. Shame began to wash over her as she tilted her head down so he couldn't see her face. Soon enough, Derek slipped his thumb underneath her chin and tilted her face so that she was looking at him. He placed a gentle soft kiss on her tender lips and whispered in her ear, "Don't ever be ashamed to let me see you when you're crying."

Meredith closed her eyes and let out a deep breath as a wave of relief and serenity washed over her. She looked at him and smiled.

Driving away from the wreck of the day

And it's finally quiet in my head

Derek reached around her small frame and wrapped his arm around her waist and gently pulled her down into a laying position on the bed. She was laying so that her back was pushed against Derek's chest and his arm was draped over her mid-section. He moved the hair out of her face and whispered in her ear, "I love you Meredith Grey." She smiled and pulled his arm tighter around her as she drifted off to sleep.

AN: Thanks for the reviews….once again guys….I love them. Hope you all are enjoying the fact that I update much too often. grin