Book Three, Part Eleven: Mini Family Gathering

Derek's Point of View

"Hey!"

I looked up from perusing my patient's chart to see Addison with a pleased smile on her face.

"Hey." I said, not as enthusiastic as she. I try but sometimes can't muster up the energy.

"I just finished a surgery. You wanna go get some lunch…with me?" She clarified.

I looked back down at the chart. It was a post op and my next surgery was in two hours. I sighed.

"If you are too busy, it's fine. I just thought it would be nice." She said, uncertain now.

I felt like a dick.

"It's nothing pressing." I closed the chart, clicked my pen closed and stuck it in my lab coat. "Let's go, Madame. Fine dining at Seattle Grace awaits us." I said, offering my arm, making her laugh as she latched on.

"So…" Addie began, as we dug into our salads. "I thought that maybe I could meet Mia. Well, officially this time. Why don't we see if she wants to spend the weekend with us?" She suggested.

I chewed my food thoughtfully. The idea did have merit, but the trailer was really small and the thought of Mia actually seeing me in bed with Addie made me uncomfortable.

"I don't know if the trailer is big enough for overnight stays." I finally said.

"All the more reason to get a house." She nodded, as if agreeing with me.

"We discussed this. We are building a house." I reminded her.

"No, you discussed it. I said I would think about it. I just think that now that you have a daughter, you would want to spend more time with her sooner rather than later. I mean, of course, you may be the kind of dad that is okay with a few hours here and there." She said.

My eyes narrowed at her blatant attempt to manipulate me. However, I did have to agree that she did make sense. If I wanted time with Mia, she would need her own space.

"We could look into leasing an apartment." I said.

Addie smiled victoriously.

"Just for a year. Just until the house gets built." I finished.

"Sure. That sounds like a plan. I will call the realtor today." She said.

I stabbed my fork into the lettuce, massacring it. I might have imagined it being Addie…

I then heard a familiar giggle and my head automatically turned to that sound.

I smiled when I saw Mia…

With my mother?

"Ma?" I said, incredulously, knowing she couldn't hear me.

"What?" Addie shrieked, turning to where I was looking.

She groaned when she confirmed my statement.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I asked.

"No, of course not. Why would I? Not like she doesn't hate me or anything." She said, with a bitter smile.

"Of course not. Why would she?" If she could be sarcastic, so could I.

"Dad!"

I turned again to Mia, who drug my mother happily behind her.

"Grandma came for a visit!" She said, excitedly,

"I see that." I said, speaking through gritted teeth while looking at my decidedly over eager mother. "Hey Ma."

"Hello Derek." She bent over and kissed my cheek, whispering in my ear, "You know I couldn't wait."

I nodded in understanding.

"Hello Carolyn." Addie said stiltedly.

"Addison." Ma said shortly. She looked at me again. "Mind if we join you?" Which was an unnecessary thing to ask as Mia had already planted herself in the seat next to me.

"Hi, I am Mia. You must be Addison. It's nice to officially meet you."

Addie smiled warmly.

"You as well. I have heard so much about you." She said.

Mia looked at me and rolled her eyes.

"I can just imagine. I love your shoes. I want some heels, but Mom says not until I am thirty, but then again she backed up Mark when he said that about dating and yet I do that." Mia laughed.

"Dating?" Ma asked.

"Yeah, Jake. He's great." Mia smiled.

"How old is this Jake?" Ma asked, tactfully.

"Seventeen." Addie said, nibbling on a French fry.

"Isn't that a little old for you, Dear?"

"He just turned seventeen and I am fifteen. That is only two years. That's nothing."

"It's fourteen in dog years." I blurted.

"Yeah, good thing I am not a dog." Mia said.

I crossed my arms and grumbled.

"God, you act just like Uncle Mark." Mia exclaimed.

Good to know we still have something in common.

"I want to meet this Jake." I said.

"Soon but you have to behave." She said.

"I always behave." I told her.

Ma and Addie snorted, which in turn made Mia laugh.

'They don't think so." She said pointing to the two traitors.

"Oh, the things I could tell you." Ma taunted.

"But you won't." I growled.

"We'll talk later." Ma promised Mia.

I kept reminding myself that my mom and daughter meeting was a good thing.

"So what other interests do you have?" Addie asked.

"I love surgery. I am going to be a neurosurgeon when I am older." She stated proudly.

"That makes sense." Addie said, sparing a glance at me.

"I practically grew up here with my mom and Uncle Mark."

"How is Mark?" Ma asked. She had been fond of him.

"He is awesome. He's always been there, ya know? What I love most about him is that he never pretended he was my father. I knew since I was old enough to comprehend that he wasn't. But it was nice that he stepped up to the plate and helped Mom. She always said she doesn't know what she would do without him." She said honestly.

A fissure broke off my heart hearing those words, but I couldn't deny I owed Mark for helping to raise such a fine young woman.

"I am really glad you had them both." Ma said.

"I was wondering if maybe you would like to go shopping with me Saturday?" Addie asked Mia.

"I would have to be home by six." She said. "We have dinner over at Grandpa Thatcher and Grandma Sue's." She explained.

"That's fine. Just ask your Mom, or I can, and see what she says." Addie suggested.

"I think I will ask her, if that's alright with you. I just…you seem great, but I don't want to upset her."

"I understand." Addie said, and I could tell she was being sincere.

Mia checked her watch.

"I have to get back." She said regretfully. She stood up and kissed my cheek. "Grandma, will you come find me when you are done?"

"Of course, Dear. I will be there soon."

Mia slipped off and I turned to my mom.

"Really Ma, you give me a day? One day?" I asked.

"Derek Christopher Shepherd, I do not appreciate your tone, young man. What did you expect me to do when you call and tell me I have a fifteen-year-old granddaughter I have never met?"

"She does have a point." Addie told me.

"Thanks Addie. Really. You are a big help." I said sarcastically. She shrugged in answer.

Her beeper went off and she checked.

"Mother in labor." She stood up and gave me a kiss, just like Mia had. "See you later."

"Bye." I said.

"I know you are having a hard time with this Derek." Ma said sympathetically.

"Yeah, well, I have this wife that cheated on me that I feel obligated to be with, a woman that I loved more than anything in the same city that bore my child and hates my guts, a man who helped that woman raise my child because I was MIA, and a daughter who is a joy to be around but doesn't know me from Adam. Yeah it is pretty hard." I said.

Ma looked at me speculatively.

"I saw Meredith." She said.

"You saw Meredith." I repeated monotonously.

"Actually I sought her out."

"Why?" I asked.

Ma looked at her hands.

"I told her."

"You told her what?" I asked.

"About why you really left." She admitted.

"Ma! You had no right!" I exclaimed.

"Seeing as I was the reason you left her, yes I did have the right. She deserved to know, Derek."

"And it was my place to tell her."

"Do you really think she would have listened to you? That she would have sat down with you and let you tell her why you ripped her heart out so many years ago?"

I settled back in my chair.

"No."

"Exactly, no."

"How did she…what did she say?" I asked.

"She was upset with me, deservedly so. I played on your need to protect the women in your life, that is my burden to carry. It shouldn't be yours."

This is the first time she had ever admitted to wrongdoing on her part in the end of Meredith and I.

"We were both at fault Ma. You might have guilted me, but I chose to lie instead of telling her the truth." I assured her. "It doesn't matter. Not anymore."

"Of course it matters."

"No, it doesn't. I am married. She is with Mark."

"Do you ever wonder why she never married him?" She asked.

"Maybe she doesn't believe in marriage."

"She used to. Amber and she used to talk about it all the time. About how she would wear my wedding dress and how she wanted it outdoors, even if it was crazy to want to get married outdoors in the rainiest state in North America. She believed in it, with you."

"Great so I also destroyed her faith in marriage." I sighed.

"Why don't you stop being so negative and be more proactive. Really, Derek. Your father would be so disappointed. Go for what you want."

"Ma, I am married. Remember?"

"I might be persuaded to forget that little detail. Just for the greater good." She hinted.

"You are encouraging me to commit adultery? What would Father Hannigan say?" I mock gasped.

"Hush. I will say a thousand Hail Marys later. I would be happier with divorce but if adultery happens first, I will live with it."

"You are talking about breaking up the only home that Mia has ever known."

"No, I am talking about giving her the family she was supposed to have in the first place. Besides, all is fair in love and war. Now, the only question is, how do we make this happen?"

I looked at my Ma, and love for her overwhelmed me. Here she was, willing to throw aside her values and help me win the love of my life back. She really was a great mother.

"I think that we need to leave it alone. Let her be. She deserves to not have me ripping her life apart any more than I already have. I appreciate your offer, I do, but I am married. And no matter what Addie did, I would be no better than she is if I did the same thing. Do you understand?" I asked.

Ma sighed.

"Yes, I understand." She smiled serenely at me.

I wasn't so sure I trusted that look, but let it go.

"Come on. I have to get back to work and you have to get back to Mia."

"Just think about what I said." She insisted before walking in the direction that would lead her to Mia.

Like I could think about anything else.