Hey, you guys still there? I hope! I'm sorry it took so long, but life got to me and has been causing my life to be chaotic, also I just didn't know where I wanted this to go. But, I am moving it along and updating now. Enjoy!

They were engaged and happy. Life seemed to be going great for them as they shared the wonderful news with their loved ones and friends. Cristina was her normal annoyed, pessimistic self towards the whole situation but she still seemed to let a pinch of happiness through and that was enough for Meredith.

Izzie was her perky, happy self instantly wanting to plan the whole thing in one night. George shared his congratulations, and Alex mumbled something about happiness. Mark slapped Derek on the back and requested to be the best man once again, promising in a joke that he wouldn't sleep with Meredith. That comment caused Derek to get annoyed and just nod his head.

Derek placed calls to his family and they were all equally happy with the news. So life was good.

"You woke up without me." Derek told her as she applied light makeup on in the bathroom and saw his reflection in the mirror.

"Not my fault you're a lazy bum and can't get up for work." She said with a serious tone and straight face though inside she was trying her hardest to not laugh at his sleepy, messed up look and confused expression.

"Hey, I am not lazy. You are the one who normally needs to be nudged and woken up in the morning for work." He told her with a snap. "Why are you up so early?"

"Uh, the nursing home called. I have to go see my mom for some reason. They wouldn't tell me." She told him.

"Oh, well do you want me to go in with you?" he asked.

"No, it's fine. I can do this, nothing has probably changed so it'll be fine. Just let Bailey know that I'll be late for rounds and anything else going on." She told him.

"Ok, are you leaving now or do you have some time?" he asked.

"You aren't getting any morning sex." She told him with a look.

"I wasn't thinking that…ok yeah I was." He said trying to get a laugh out of her.

Her giggle escaped her mouth and echoed through out the small room as Derek pulled her close to him and placed several kisses on her lips, neck, cheeks and forehead.

"I have to go," Meredith said as she tried to push him away.

"Uh, fine. But I will see you later and tonight we will finish this." He told her with a hopeful smile.

"Ok, I love you." She said with a smile. She loved being happy with him.

"I love you too," he replied.

"She woke up this morning and was completely aware. She's her old self. We don't know why, it's just a gift." The nursing home lady told Meredith as they looked in on her mother's room to watch her pace.

"What?" Meredith asked. "How long will it last?"

"It varies, we don't quite know. But not long." Explained the woman.

"So she's lucid, she remembers?" Meredith asked.

"Pretty much everything, except for the last five years and she doesn't know she has Alzheimer's. We thought she should hear it from you." Said the woman with a gentle tone.

"So she'll know me." Meredith stated.

"She's been asking for you." The lady told her before leaving and letting Meredith decide on what to do.

Crap. Meredith had to go in there and tell her mother all that had happened in the past five years. Remind her of Richard, and their fight and the fact that she was happy and engaged.

Here goes nothing…

"She has chest pains." Meredith told Burke as she exited the ambulance with her mother being carried in on a gurney. She had been in the middle of reminding her mother of all that had happened and explained that she had Alzheimer's and that's when her mother began to have chest pains.

Now she was at Seattle Grace hospital with her mother as a patient, and her mother was lucid. Today sucked.

On top of that her mother was asking for Richard. This was all bad. She was bringing up the past and asking questions and now she was talking to Richard. She made a subtle dig at him about Adele and now she was being wheeled to her private room. A gift. That's what Richard had said it was.

She was in the best hands. Meredith knew that. She knew Burke and Cristina would take care of her heart and she would be fine. She would return back to the nursing home and everything would be fine.

"Hey Mer!" Cristina called out to her as Meredith stood outside by the pit just taking in some much needed air. This was all too much. This whole thing was too much. Where was Derek? She needed him, but yet she didn't want him to be trapped into this whole mess and feel the wrath of her mother. She didn't want to explain their relationship to her mother when she would probably just end up forgetting anyway. "I've been looking for you. Burke has me working on your mom. Are you ok?"

"I'm avoiding the gift." Meredith explained.

"Well, your gift wants to meet Derek." Cristina told her.

"What? What did you say?"

"No no, not Derek your fiancé, Derek Shepherd the neurosurgeon." Cristina confirmed. "She's going to know he's your fiancé, she's got waves. She knows things. I'm in love with her by the way."

"She has that affect on people who aren't her daughter." Meredith grumbled.

"This is your chance. You should talk to her." Cristina told her.

"She has this thing for being disappointed in me." Meredith explained.

"You're a doctor now; parents don't get disappointed about their doctor daughters." Cristina told her.

"Not this parent, if you can even call her that." Meredith said annoyed as she made her way back into the hospital.

She was with her mother now, trying to enjoy this gift. Her mother wanted her to talk.

"So, tell me about yourself." Her mother simply said as they sat in her private room.

"Well…"

"What's your life like? I really do want to know you, Meredith." Her mother said when she didn't say anything.

"Well, I'm engaged."

"Does he understand the demands of your career?" her mother asked with a sharp tone.

"Yes, he's a doctor too. Actually he's…"

"Have you chosen a specialty?" Her mother interrupted. No longer wanting to know more about the engagement or man she was in love with.

"Not yet."

"Why not? Cristina has. She's chosen cardio." Her mother snapped, disappointment evident already on her feautures.

"Yeah, well I guess I'm just waiting to be inspired. I'm happy now, I've found who I am and plus I think when you have someone in your life who you love, you really love…it's just…I'm really happy." Meredith explained, hoping for once they could have a moment. A special moment where most moms would be thrilled to hear their daughter say things like their happy and in love.

"What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Meredith asked unsure of the question.

"You're happy? You're happy now?" Her mother asked with a mocking chuckle. "What happened to you? The Meredith I used to know was determined, a fighter. You've gone soft! Talking about some guy you're engaged to. You're waiting for inspiration? I have a disease, isn't that inspirational?"

"Mom…"

"Meredith, anyone can fall in love and be blindly happy. But not everyone can pick up a scalpel and save a life. I raised you to be an extraordinary human being. So imagine my disappointment when I wake up after five years and find out that you're no more than ordinary. What happened to you?!" Her mother continued to yell.

Meredith felt the soft, wet tears come to her eyes. She pushed them to the back of her eyes and moved from her seat. She needed to find Derek. To warn him of her mother and let him prepare for what was going to happen.

"Derek!" she called as she spotted the man she wanted to spend forever with in the hallway walking away from the nurses station.

"Mer, hey I've been looking for you. I heard your mother's here. Is that what the nursing home wanted to talk to you about?" he asked concerned for her. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not. I don't want to talk to her, but everyone is telling me to enjoy this gift and I can't. Look, I don't want to talk about it right now. She wants to meet you. She knows I'm engaged but she doesn't know it's you." Meredith told him quickly as they walked towards her room. "Keep it that way. She's charming, she's nice and then suddenly she's the enemy."

"I'm meeting the enemy?" Derek asked with smirk.

"Just don't get personal." She told him.

"You're being ridiculous." He told teased.

"I am not being ridiculous." She told him.

"Hey, it's going to be fine." He told her moving closer to her. He hadn't seen her since that morning and she was called in to go to the nursing home.

"Just be careful." She warned.

"Mer, I've met girlfriends' parents before. It will be fine." He told her.

"This is so not the same thing. We're engaged. She won't care about that. She just cares that you are an attending and I'm an intern. She's horrible." Meredith told him.

"It will be fine." He assured once again as he enveloped her in a hug and placed a soft kiss onto her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too, and good luck."

"Dr. Grey! I'm Doctor Shepherd for you Neuro consult." He told her.

"Hello," she answered.

Meredith looked similar to her mother. He could see the similarities as he sat down across from her on the bed, ready to explain anything she wanted to know. He got involved with this case because of his love for Meredith, and he could deal with her so-called wrath as well because of Meredith. He'd do anything for her.

"How about a MRI now that I'm lucid?" she asked him.

"A MRI isn't going to show us anything. No test will." He told her softly.

"So after five years there is still no advancement. I don't understand how you can work with people every day with this disease."

"Oh, actually I don't. I just took a special interest in this case because of Meredith." He told her. Ever since Meredith's mother had come into the hospital over a year ago he had tried to help out as much as possible.

"You're what happened to her." She stated.

"I'm sorry…" Derek said confused.

"You're here for her. I thought you were here to help me. You're an attending, she's an intern."

"Dr. Grey, I don't think you understand."

"I understand perfectly. You want to be admired. You want someone who will follow you around and be amazed by what you do. No wonder she's so unfocused. You don't care about the damage you do to her along the way. Just as long as you get admired." She scolded.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Grey, you don't understand. I love your daughter. Not because she admires me, because if anything she doesn't. She keeps me focused, she keeps me level headed. She helps me. And I do the same for her. We work together, here we're professional and at home we're a couple in love. I plan to marry your daughter. I proposed and we're going to get married, it doesn't matter what you think. She is extraordinary. She's worked so hard and gotten so far. If you don't recognize that or realize how wonderful she is, then that's on you and you alone." Derek said angrily before leaving the room.

How did Meredith grow up with that? She was horrible, and he knew she treated Meredith that way as well. He suddenly felt so much more love, if possible, towards her. He couldn't imagine her going through that. Hearing that and all the things he imagined Meredith had to go through only made him want so much more for their future. He wanted to make sure their lifetime together would make up for all the things she went through as a child.

Derek was paged down to the OR room, apparently a patient that was literally toxic had been operated on and when the Chief and his staff opened her up, they collapsed from the disease. So now, here he was reporting down there to hear what Burke had to say.

"They collapsed, how do we go in there with her open?" Burke asked as Derek came to him.

"We have to find a way to get in there and finish that surgery." He said.

"Derek, I heard about something going on down here, how can I help?" he heard Meredith ask.

He turned to see her already in her scrubs and ready to work. She couldn't work right now, her mother was in the hospital. This was Meredith's way of avoding and even though he had just yelled at her mother and felt horrible for Meredith, he had to act professional and right now they were under stress on figuring out how to get in there.

"Meredith, you shouldn't be working right now, you have the day off." He told her.

"I want to work, Derek, tell me what I can do." She said.

"You can go find Bailey and report to her." He told her in a sharp tone. He instantly hated himself for snapping and wanted to turn to her and fix what he had just done. But with a flash of hurt and dirty look directed on her face towards him and a few quick seconds and she was gone.

Damn it.

"I'm not sure refusing treatment is what you want to do." Meredith told her mother. Her mother needed surgery if she wanted to get better.

"It doesn't matter, it's really about what you want, Meredith!" her mother exclaimed.

"You think I like making these decisions. Being called by the nursing home asking about your medicine or if I want to give the nurse who changes you a Christmas bonus. You think I like making these decisions? Well, I don't. I do it because there is nobody else. Because you have managed to alienate everyone in your life. So I am the only one left to deal with it all." Meredith told her as angry tears sprang up once again.

"You want to know why I'm so unfocused? Why I'm so…ordinary? You want to know what happened to me? It wasn't Derek. He's been perfect through this whole thing. He's helped me become a person instead of the robot you tried to raise me as. He didn't do any of that to me, you did! You happened to me!"

"Then let me refuse the surgery." Ellis said. It was like she wasn't hearing anything her daughter said.

"No," Meredith fired back.

"Why not?"

"Because, killing my mother, is not going to be another thing that happens to me." Meredith fired at her before leaving the room quickly as tears slid down her face.

She ran. She ran down the hallway and into the nearest on-call room she could find. No air seemed to be filling her lungs and she couldn't breathe. She had never talked back to her mom or told her how she truly felt.

"Meredith, Meredith," Derek said softly as he followed her into the room.

"I can't…I can't…I can't breathe." She said in gasps.

"Shh, it's ok. Just take deep breaths. I'm here, I'm here and I love you. Just breathe. Please." Derek said softly as he directed her to breathe in a brown paper bag he found nearby.

Meredith breathed into the paper bag and pushed Derek away from her.

"Mer?" Derek asked concerned. Why was she pushing him away?

"Don't. You snapped at me. You snapped at me for no reason. You think I haven't gone through enough already today, Derek? Huh? God, the last thing I needed was you to snap and get mad at me for no reason. This day has been hell on me, but you didn't even think of that. You didn't even consider that I might need something to take my mind off that woman in there!" Meredith said getting angry at Derek as hot, tears welled up in her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks.

"Mer…" Derek said in a soft whisper.

"What Derek, you want to try to explain to me why you did that? Was it all for show so then the Chief would pick you for that damn position as Chief when he retires?" she asked. She knew Richard was planning on stepping down and ever since Burke, Derek and Mark had been trying their hardest to get recognized in a positive way by him.

"It wasn't that Mer. We were stressed on trying to find a way to get in there and save a patient and you just came out of nowhere. I didn't want you to go in there and get sick, I didn't want you to have to be thinking about something when your mother is in the hospital sick. I didn't want you to be distracted. It wasn't about Chief." He told her.

"But you want the position." She told him.

"I do, but that has nothing to do with today." He said confused why she was bringing up the Chief position.

"No, but it has everything to do with our future, or do you not care about that anymore?" she asked him as tears continued to come down.

"What the hell, Meredith!? What more do I have to do to show you that I am ready for a future with you. I already proposed to you, I've told you repeatedly. Just tell me what I have to do." He told her as he got heated up as well.

"All I've ever wanted from you Derek is to love me, and you have. But now you want to be Chief." She said.

"I've wanted that from the beginning. That's why I moved out here." He said.

"And you don't think that affects me, or has to deal with our future?" she asked.

"Not in a bad way," he snapped.

"Right, because it worked so well for the Chief, I mean I hear him and Adele are wonderful right now and so happy." She said sarcastically.

"Is that what this is about? You think our marriage won't work if I take Chief? He asked.

"I don't know, Derek, maybe." She said as she crossed her arms. "But that would involve us getting married in the first place."

"We're going to get married, Meredith. We're engaged and I love you." He told her as he tried to come closer to her. For the first time, she stepped away from his touch.

"I'm going home," she said softly.

"Should I go to the trailer tonight?" he asked her hesitantly.

"Do what you want," she said before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her.

Ok, there's the update. I know it took forever and seems to be totally out of no where, but it's time to get this story moving. So here you go. I got a lot of the scenes with Ellis and Meredith from the DVD's. REVIEW!