On returning to the hospital, Derek asked his mother to wait for him in the waiting room in the lobby while he went to persuade Meredith to join them for dinner. Carolyn agreed willingly; she figured that it would be better if he approached Meredith alone, given that Meredith had run from the room within a few minutes of Carolyn's arrival.

Derek He decided to first look for Izzie. He found her writing charts in the surgery floor. "Hi Izzie, how are you?"

"Fine," she said smiling. "What do you want, Derek?"

Derek smiled, acknowledging that she had figured him out. "Two things. First, Meredith had offered to let my mom stay at her house. I thought it would be best if tonight you or Alex or George could take her back to the house and bring her back tomorrow. It might be hard for her to find her way in the dark."

"No problem. I get off at 8 today. Would that be okay?"

"Sure. Will you be able to bring her back by noon? I have to leave for the airport around 2."

"No problem. What's the second thing?"

"I want Meredith to join me and my Mom for dinner at Joe's or even here at the cafeteria, so I need someone to stay with Chrissy while we eat."

"Cristina is getting off at 6, so I'll ask her to relieve Meredith so you can have your dinner."

"That would be great. It's almost six now."

"I wouldn't count on it working, Derek," Izzie said with a smile.

"Why not?"

"Chrissy's having a tough day, and Meredith is scared of your mother."

"My mother's a doll. Why would she be scared of her?"

Izzie decided to go for candor. "She's afraid your mom thinks she's slut for sleeping with you when you were married. She also thinks your mom must be mad at her for keeping Chrissy a secret from you."

"But I was the one who took marriage vows. Meredith didn't even know I was married when she met me."

"Derek, she's not rational about this. She hasn't had a good experience with mothers, and she feels guilty for not telling you about Chrissy. She thinks your mom will disapprove of her. And she can't take disapproval now."

"Thanks for telling me. Do you think you could explain this to my mom?"

"Why me? You're her son."

"Okay. I'm going to go to Chrissy's room and wait for Cristina there."

Derek walked into Chrissy's room and smiled as soon as he saw his daughter. She was smiling while Meredith was reading her a story.

"Hi Chrissy, Meredith," he greeted them.

"Hi Daddy," Chrissy said with a smile. "Mommy is reading me about Madeline."

"That's a great book. I'm happy to listen to the story," he said with a smile as Meredith went back to reading the book. Meredith had just finished the book when Cristina knocked on the door.

"Hey, Chrissy, your godmother is here to play GoFish with you. Are you up to a game?"

"Yes, Aunt Tina."

"Okay, Meredith, Derek, I'm here to play with Chrissy. You can go get dinner."

"Chrissy, how are you feeling?" asked Meredith.

"Chrissy, you're up to playing cards with me, right?"

Chrissy nodded. "It's okay if Mommy goes and has dinner with Daddy, right? You know that I'm a doctor, and I can take good care of you. And we'll page mommy if you need here." asked Cristina.

"Yes," said Chrissy.

"Okay." Meredith got up reluctantly and left the room with Derek. As soon as they left, Meredith turned to Derek and said, "You set that up, didn't you? You told Cristina that you wanted to eat with me."

"Actually, I told Izzie," Derek said with a smile.

"Same thing. We can get a quick bite in the cafeteria."

"That's fine. Let's stop at the waiting room and get my mother."

"Your mother?"

"Yes, I'm leaving tomorrow, and I want to talk to both of you together before I go. "

"Okay," said Meredith.

In less than five minutes, Derek collected his mother and the three of them arrived in the cafeteria. Derek and his mother choose the fish entrée and a salad while Meredith grabbed a cheeseburger and fries. They sat down without much conversation.

"Mom and Meredith, I wanted to talk to both of you tonight before I left. As I have told both of you, my plan is to work in New York for the next couple of weeks and come back here Thursday night at the latest so I can spend Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday with Chrissy."

"That's great," said Meredith.

"And my Mom has told me that she's planning on staying here to help you and me for the next few months."

"That's very nice of her," said Meredith, "But she doesn't have to disrupt her life like that."

"I want to be here and spend time with my granddaughter," said Carolyn.

"Okay," said Meredith. She thought it was nice that Chrissy had a grandmother who wanted to spend time with her. She didn't remember ever spending anytime with her grandparents.

"Meredith, you have kindly offered my mother your home. I have decided that it made sense for me to rent an apartment, so I found an apartment in the same building as Cristina, right across from the hospital. Our lease starts on the first of the month, so my mom will stay at your house until then and then move into the apartment."

"That's fine," said Meredith.

"The apartment is unfurnished, so one project I've given my mother is furnishing the apartment."

Meredith nodded, puzzled about why Derek would want to discuss furnishing the apartment with her.

"It would be great if you could help her."

"I'm not an interior decorator, Derek," said Meredith.

"I know," said Derek. "I thought you might find it fun to help her choose furniture."

"I have little experience in buying furniture. My mother furnished my house."

"I know, but it might be a fun distraction, and maybe Chrissy could help."

"Chrissy?" asked Meredith.

"Well, the only apartment available was a penthouse apartment with three bedrooms. So, if it is okay with you, I'd like one room to be for both you and Chrissy. You can have a trundle bed."

"Derek, no," said Meredith. "Right now, Chrissy has been living in the hospital for six weeks. She wants to go home, to our house. I don't want to talk about any other house for her right now. You and your mom can visit her there, once she is discharged. You can spend as much time with her as you like. But no other room for her."

Carolyn looked at Derek, who was trying to restrain his anger, and she put her hand on his. "Derek, we don't have to talk to Chrissy about the furniture. But maybe Meredith can tell me what Chrissy might like. Would that be okay, Meredith?"

"Okay," said Meredith reluctantly. "Now I've got to go back to Chrissy."

"You should finish your burger," said Derek.

"I'll take it with me," she said, putting it on a napkin to take it with her.

"Remember, I'm staying with her tonight," said Derek.

"You can stay, Derek, but I'm going to stay, too. She's had a rough day, and I want to be with her."

"Okay," said Derek. He didn't think he had a choice at this point.

After Meredith left, Carolyn turned to her son and said, "She's definitely a mother bear guarding her cub. You don't want to get between her and Chrissy right now. You did the right thing by not insisting on staying alone with Chrissy tonight and not insisting on getting Chrissy involved in designing her room. She's very devoted to your daughter, and Chrissy needs that devotion now."

"But I'm here dad, Mom."

"Yes, you're her dad, but you just met her this week. And she's going to need both of you on her side, together, for this battle. Your job is to make things easier for both Chrissy and her mom. Unless Meredith is doing something bad for Chrissy, you shouldn't interfere."

"Okay, mom."