A/N: This chapter is a little bit shorter than usual, but I wanted to get it up, because as you'll see by the end of it, we've got a big chapter coming up. Thanks again for reading and reviewing!

Later that night, Meredith glanced up from the case file she was reading to find her daughter standing in the doorway of her bedroom. Taking off her glasses and putting the file down, Meredith glanced over at the clock and sighed.

"Suzie, it's almost one in the morning. What are you still doing up?"

Suzie shrugged and leaned against the door frame.

Meredith shook her head as she moved the case file off the bed and patted the empty space next to her. "Come on, what's on your mind?"

Suzie hesitated for a moment more before taking a step into the room. "Do you love him?"

"Do I love who?"

"Derek."

Meredith frowned in surprise. "What on earth would make you ask that question?"

"He was here until midnight, Mom. I could hear you guys laughing." Suzie sat down on the edge of the bed as she continued. "Plus, he was in your life way before Dad."

Meredith shook her head and scooted over to sit beside her daughter. "Oh Susan," she sighed. "You're right, Derek was in my life before I ever met your father. But he was only there briefly."

"But you loved him."

"I don't know," Meredith admitted. "Our relationship was exciting and passionate and very short-lived. I cared about him very much. But did I love him? Honestly, I don't think I knew Derek well enough to love him. Certainly not the way I loved your father. Real love takes time to develop, and it takes work to maintain it."

"Do you love him now?"

"I still don't know him," Meredith said. "All I know is that Derek is a good man, and he's your sisters' father. He wants to be a part of their lives, and if that's what they want, then it means that one way or the other, we're just going to have to get used to him being part of our lives too."

"What happened to having way too much history for you to ever want to see him again?"

Meredith arched her eyebrows and stared at her daughter in surprise. "How did you…"

"I may have been eavesdropping," Suzie admitted reluctantly.

"God, I miss my soundproof bedroom," Meredith muttered with a quick shake of her head. "I've had some time to think about everything, and it's been twenty-three years, sweetheart. I'm not going to pretend that Derek didn't hurt me, but even if I didn't have time to be angry with him then, it's certainly not going to do any good now."

"So what happens now? Are you dating him?"

Meredith almost laughed. "No Suzie, I'm not dating him," she assured her, instinctively running her fingers over her wedding band. "It hasn't even been a year since…since your dad died. I'm not anywhere close to ready to date."

"It's not that I don't want you to be happy, Mom…"

Meredith smiled. "I know. I get it." She gently squeezed her daughter's hand. "I'm not ready to let him go yet either."

Evelyn sat cross-legged on the couch, staring hard at the phone in front of her. Glancing at the clock across the room, she frowned and shook her head. Normal people did not make phone calls at two in the morning. Then again, she supposed no one would ever have described her as normal - whatever the hell that meant.

After one last moment of hesitation, she picked up the phone and quickly punched in the number her sister had given her. She nearly hung up after six rings, but finally heard a muffled voice pick up.

"Hello?"

Evelyn took a breath. "Derek?"

In his hotel room on the other side of town, Derek immediately sat up in bed at the sound of the familiar voice. "Annie? Is that you?"

"It's Evelyn."

"Evelyn," Derek repeated in surprise. "It's two in the morning. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Derek frowned. "Have you been drinking?"

Evelyn bristled at the suggestion. "I do not drink," she said emphatically.

"Okay," Derek said cautiously, getting the feeling that he'd already offended her, and they hadn't even been on the phone two minutes. "So, uh…what's going on?"

"I want to make a deal."

"A deal?"

"Yes."

"What sort of deal?" Derek asked in confusion.

"I want you to leave me alone," Evelyn said, her voice shaking slightly. "I don't want you staring at me when you come to see Annie, I don't want Annie calling me at all hours trying to convince me to see you, I don't want your sister showing up on my doorstep…"

"My sister?"

"The lady with the bad hair color," Evelyn said. "Megan, I think. She came by tonight, and that has to stop, Derek."

"My sister came to see you?"

"Yes."

Derek shook his head. "I'm going to kill her," he muttered.

"Anyway, my point is that it has to stop," Evelyn continued. "All of it has to stop, Derek. So, I want to make a deal."

"I'm listening."

"One dinner," Evelyn said. "I'll give you one dinner, just you and I. And that's it. You don't call me, you don't drop by, Annie stops bugging me, your sister goes away…"

"My sister will not come by again, you can be sure of that," Derek said. "But one dinner? That's it?"

Evelyn sighed. "I'm not saying that has to be it forever. But that's all I'm ready to offer for now. Take it or leave it."

"I'll take it," Derek said quickly.

Evelyn nodded. "Okay. Tomorrow. Seven o'clock. Canles. You're paying."