"Ma, can you please just let it go?" Derek groaned, dropping his spoon into his bowl. He had been awake for less than twenty minutes and he already wanted to be back in bed.
"No, I'm afraid I can't, Derek," Carol continued as she chopped carrots into fine pieces, preparing meals for the day.
"Why not? Nothing's going on. It's not like we're having sex or anything."
Carol stopped, the silence welcomed by Derek's aching head. "Derek, I know you aren't because my son wouldn't be so irresponsible when he has so many possibilities ahead of him. Now, I don't care whether you are sleeping with this girl or not. I want to meet her. You've met her parents and I let it go for a few weeks, but now I demand it. We're having all of the family over tonight and I would prefer that you were present instead of day dreaming about her. It's about time your father and I met her anyways."
"Dad's met her down at the docks. Can't that be good enough for now?" Derek bargained, picking up his empty dish and depositing it in the sink.
"No it is not, Derek Andrew Shepherd. I'm your mother, so I need to approve of this girl before you spend any more time with her than you already do."
Derek turned off the water he'd been using to clean his dish, turning to his mother. "Approve of her? Meredith is amazing. There is no reason that you wouldn't approve of her."
Carol nodded, grabbing another carrot to chop, "Well, then this should be very easy. And once I do meet her, I expect you to spend some more time around here."
"Ma, I'm not dragging Meredith here all the time. Our house is boring."
"I didn't say you had to bring her, you just need to spend more time here. You've spent almost your entire summer either on that stupid boat or with this girl and we've hardly seen you. You're going to college next year and it'll be a while before we get to see you again. I want to spend some time with my son instead of having him wasting his last days about with a girl. This isn't optional, Derek Shepherd," Carol warned, her tone resolute.
Derek cleared his throat, preparing himself for one of his first overt retaliation to anything his parents had said to him. "Stop calling her some girl. Her name is Meredith Grey. I'm not going to bring her over here if you can't call her by her name. She's already going to have a hard enough time with the sisters. I'm not putting her through a terrible night."
"Not optional, Derek. If she doesn't come, then you won't be spending all of your time with her anymore. I need to meet this Meredith."
"What's going on in here?" Andrew said as he walked into the kitchen, allowing the door to the outside slam behind him. He walked over to his wife and placed a kiss on her forehead, grabbing a piece of carrot.
"Andrew Shepherd, this is why your son doesn't listen. You've been a terribly role model," Carol scolded jokingly as she slapped his hand away from her ingredients.
Andrew chuckled, "My son is perfectly fine." He clasped his hand on Derek's shoulder, his son immediately straightening his back in response. "But what isn't he listening to?"
"I want to meet Meredith this afternoon at the picnic," Carol answered.
Andrew looked at his son, "I don't see what's so bad about bringing that pretty girl down here. She's been here before, hasn't she?"
"Yeah, but not with the whole Shepherd clan in all their glory. I'd prefer not to scare her away completely."
"From what you've told me, the girl is strong. She'll be fine." Andrew clapped his son on the back, turning back to his wife to steal something else. "Now go take a shower so you look nice when you invite her over."
Derek shook his head, leaving the kitchen as he mumbled his frustrations under his breath. As he reached the stairs his mother yell something up to him about fixing his hair too, but he was too busy trying to figure out a way to deal with tonight to hear her.