Chapter 27: Parental War

"Ok I want reports every hour." Meredith instructed the resident that was helping her push her patient into the post op recovery room "You are to sit with him and if he has so much as a hiccup you will page me."

"Sit with him?" she asked with a whine to her voice "But that means I don't get to go anywhere else."

"And where else would you be going?" Meredith raised her brow "To the mall to do a little shopping? To the salon to get a haircut and massage? Or maybe heading down to Disneyland to take a dip down splash mountain…"

"I…Um.."

"You're a doctor!" Meredith snapped "You're at work! This is what work consists of, you lazy little.."

"Meredith?" she heard behind her and sighed, shooting her resident a glare before turning around and smiling.

"Dad." She said "I was just coming to look for you."

"Well here I am."

"You know you're not supposed to be wandering the halls of the hospital right?" she asked as she walked to the door "You're supposed to be in the waiting area with all the other civilians."

"Technically I am a doctor too."

"A doctor of research Dad." Meredith laughed as they walked down the hallway "You've never cut into anyone."

"Is that why you and your mother are so cold?" he asked "To keep from getting too attached to the people you might have die on you? Well that makes sense. But why scream at every one?"

"Mistakes are what kill people dad." Meredith sighed "And I work very hard to not have anyone die on my watch. So, I get upset when people make mistakes, especially common sense."

"I still don't think you need to be so hard on them, but if it works for you so be it." He said, "Just know that outside the hospital husbands are not your residents."

"Derek knows me Dad." She said, "We're different than you and mom."

Thatcher nodded "Well I came to see if I could get you a coffee?"

"I'd love one." She smiled "Just black with three shots of espresso."

Thatcher nodded and walked off toward the coffee cart. She turned the corner to head down the hall then skidded to a stop as she heard her mother's giggle and looked in horror to see her leaning into the Chief of Surgery office as she laughed at something he said.

"Shit." She hissed. "I feel like I'm twelve years old again."

"Hey." She heard beside her with a smile. She looked over at Derek narrowly "What did I do?"

"I thought she was gone?"

"Huh?" he looked at Ellis and sighed "Oh, I thought she was gone too."

"Obviously not!"

"Ok," he frowned "So she's not gone, what's the problem?"

Meredith opened her mouth to yell when a figure turned the corner carrying two coffees, his eyes went immediately to the laughter.

"Ellis?" he mumbled. She looked up at Thatcher and glared.

"Thatcher." She scoffed "I thought the air was stale in here, makes perfect sense now."

"How dare you." He muttered as he glanced at Richard "After the hell you put me through…"

"It's over Thatcher." She glared "It's been over! When will you get the point!"

"Are you happy!" He yelled "Look at how our daughter has turned out because of YOUR poor example!"

"My daughter turned out to be a very prestigious woman because of me!"

"Oh god." Meredith groaned as she rubbed a hand over her face and sighed.

Her parents went into an all-out argument and she tried to tune it out but her stress level was rising by the second. Derek watched, looking back and forth between the arguing ex's and his wife. He understood now just a glimpse of what she'd seen all through her childhood and why she wanted them apart so desperately. The stress lines on her beautiful face seemed to anger him, not a little, but a lot.

"That's it." He muttered and marched forward.

Meredith snapped her head up and watched as Derek grabbed each of their arms. And turned them around to face him.

"Stop it!" he muttered "You are both ADULTS! This fighting and bickering has got to stop! If you're so worried about this daughter of yours, just look at what you're doing to her!" he gestured to Meredith who was pinching the bridge of her nose "You two will learn to get along!"

"I don't think so." Ellis scoffed "I can't stand this man; I don't know what I was ever thinking."

"You're no prize yourself!" Thatcher muttered.

"Alright." Derek said through his teeth as he pulled them towards a door "Meredith, get the door!"

She was curious but jumped over and held the door to the on-call room open. Derek pushed them inside and sighed.

"If you won't willingly get along then I'll make you." He said "Learn to get along in the next hour or I'll drive you to the airport myself and you will NOT be welcome back."

"You can't do this!" Ellis scoffed.

"Watch me."

He slammed the door shut and pulled a chair to set in front of it. Meredith grabbed a passing intern and threw him down into the chair.

"Sit boy." She said through her teeth "Move and you'll be scooping up vomit with your bare hands for a month."

He gulped and nodded. Derek put his arm around Meredith's waist as they walked down the hallway. She sighed with a little relief and then stopped and turned to him.

"You really went all cowboy on them."

"Well I finally saw how absurd they were acting." He said, "And how it was hurting you."

"You know I always had a thing for cowboys." She smirked.

"Really?" He grinned, his eyes slowly darkening "I wouldn't have guessed you to be a western kind of girl."

"No but I always wanted to save a horse and ride a cowboy."

Derek groaned just as their pagers both shrieked. He sighed "I'll be keeping this in mind for later."

"I'll wear the hat; you wear the chaps."