Chapter 37: Do You Remember?

Derek looked up and smiled when he saw Meredith standing in the doorway. She snapped her jaw shut as he stepped towards her with a smile, not wanting to give away her shock. She still didn't know anything for sure. She quickly glanced back and forth between him and Bella a few times as if digging for some kind of similarities. Her eyes. They were Meredith's in color, but the shape was rounder, like Derek's. Bella reached up and tucked her hair behind her ears, they were the same shape as his too, but more petite. She held her breath to keep from gasping. How could she have not seen it before?

"Hey." Derek smiled as he reached her and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"Hey." She frowned.

"Oh sorry." He smiled.

"For what?" she gulped "What do you have to be sorry for."

"Peanut butter breath." He smiled "You hate peanut butter."

"You hate peanut butter!" Bella scoffed "How can anyone hate peanut butter!"

"Um." Meredith shook her head and closed her eyes to clear her thoughts "I just... never have liked it I guess." She turned her eyes to Derek and sighed "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah." He frowned "What's up."

She turned and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She wrung her hands together and started pacing as she chanted her thoughts out loud.

"January, March, spring break, August." She mumbled "January, March, spring break, August."

"Mer?" Derek asked as he watched her "What's going on?"

"I need to ask you a question, and I need you not to read into it."

"Ok." He nodded.

"Think back to 2000. Springtime. Did we…well how many times did we hook up?"

"Oh." He frowned and thought for a minute "New year's…Saint Paddy's day celebration…spring break…."

"Was that all?" she asked.

"Oh!" he gasped "Graduation party."

"Huh?"

"Remember." He smirked "After we graduated Med School, we went to the Hamptons with our parents and at Percy Jackson's place we both ran into each other and went into the closet for a few hours."

"What." She hissed "Why did I not remember that?"

"You were wasted." He chuckled "I mean I'm surprised you even remembered my name."

She stopped her pacing and closed her eyes as she thought about the math….it matched.

"Oh god." She whispered, "Derek I'm so sorry."

"What?"

She opened her mouth to speak when a loud beep came from her purse across the room. She stared at Derek for a long moment before turning and grabbing it. It was a 911 from her patient, she sighed and looked remorseful.

"I'm sorry."

"Duty calls." He nodded "I understand."

"I love you." She said as she walked over and kissed in. She leaned back and reached up and grabbed one of his hairs and yanked it.

"Ouch." He scoffed "What the hell?"

"We'll talk later."

On her way out the door she grabbed a hair off of Bella's jacket that was hanging up and left. Derek sighed with frustration and curiosity as he walked back into the kitchen to finish dinner.

"Does she not like me?"

"Huh?" He asked and turned to see Bella sulking at the table.

"Meredith." She said, "She doesn't like to be around me for very long."

"She's just very busy Bella." Derek explained "I know that she wants to spend time with you, she just wasn't expecting you so she needs to work at clearing her schedule."

"You know what I think?"

"What do you think."

"I think you're a bad liar."

"You know what." Derek chuckled, "Your mother tells me the exact same thing."

Do you guys think that Bella is Derek's daughter?