A/n: I'm hoping to slowly increase the chapter-length each update. Thank you for being patient, and I hope you all will continue to enjoy this story.

Much love,

Kayleigh.

"Meredith?!" Ellis grey shouted at 6:50 am, banging on her daughter's door. Where was she? "Meredith Grey! You open this door right now!"

It was 7:05 am when a man who was not her daughter, finally opened the door. Wearing nothing but black boxers.

"Ellis Grey?!" The man shouted, in shock.

"Mark? What's going on? We don't have to get up for another half an hour!" Lexie yelled walking into the room. Mark whipped around and pointed dramatically at the door.

"Shit! Uh-hi Mrs. Grey… we will be right back." Lexie grabbed Mark and shoved him back into the bedroom. "You imbecile! That's my sister's mother out there!"

"How was I supposed to know it was her at the door? I thought it was the pizza guy or something!"

"We never ordered any pizza!" Lexie exclaimed, flinging her arms in the air and Mark just cracked a smile and shrugged. She slapped his arm, "Whatever, put on some clothes and meet me out there."

"I'm so sorry Dr. Grey we weren't expecting you."

"It's fine. Where is my daughter? She's the one I came for."

"Oh, um she's still sleeping. We are never really up this early."

"Of course she is. I told her I would be here at 7, that girl never listens. Where is her room? I will wake her myself."

"No! I mean… there's no need for that! I'll go get her myself." Lexie insisted, she couldn't imagine what she would say if she saw Mer and Derek all cuddled up together.

"Hurry up then."

She tiptoed into Derek's room, she didn't want to bother them but she had no choice. "Mer?" She whispered, gently shaking her shoulder. "Mer? Your uh, mother is wanting to see you."

Meredith shot up in bed, eyes searching around the room, "She's here?! Already I thought she wasn't coming until…" She trailed off when she saw her alarm clock reading 7:13 am.

"Uh crap. Tell her I'll be out as fast as I can." She would have to settle for her jeans from yesterday and one of Derek's sweatshirts. She tried to flatten her hair as much as she could, and stole a breath mint from on the dresser. Good enough.

She thought about waking Derek, but then she would have even more to explain then she already does. At least one of them gets to sleep in.

"Meredith! There you are!" Her mother exclaimed once she entered the main room.

She winced, "Hi Mom, sorry I'm late I guess I slept in. Can I get you anything?"

"No. I'm just here to meet your roommates and make sure you aren't slacking off."

"Well, you're already met, Lex and Mark. Derek is still sleeping."

She shook her head a disproving look in her eyes, "I hope you're not letting any of these people influence you, Meredith. You don't have time for games if you want to become even half the surgeon I am."

"Yes, mom." She's already heard this a million times before, It was drilled into her skull.

"Anyway, I will be meeting you at your lunch break at the front of campus, I have some things I want to discuss."

"Wait, Dr. Grey!" Derek's voice ran through the room as he jogged up. Meredith shot him a look, but he just smiled and shrugged at her. "I'm Derek. Derek Shepherd. It's nice to meet you, Mam."

Ellis did not look impressed, "You will never get anywhere with that happy-go-lucky attitude and slacking off in the mornings." Meredith clenched her jaw, the women had no filter.

Derek's eyes widened not expecting her bluntness, "...I just wanted to introduce myself and say I'm happy to have the opportunity to get to know your daughter."

Ellis rolled her eyes, "Please, someone like Meredith is not somebody you would want to get to know. Turning to Meredith glaring "You should be focusing on your studies, not getting to know college guys. You'll never make it as surgeon if you keep this up."

"Sorry, Mom," Meredith mumbled awkwardly, why did she have to be like this in front of everyone.

"I'll expect you at lunch. Don't be late this time." and with that, she left. Not even a goodbye.

Meredith sighed, trying to ignore the awkward silence filling the room, and turned on the coffee pot. Lexie and Mark had long gone went back to their rooms, and Derek was standing in the living room not moving or saying anything.

Derek was dumbfounded, he knew that Meredith and her mother didn't have a good relationship for a long time, but he never would expect to hear what he did. How could a Mother say those things about her daughter? Outright accusing her of never being enough. It made him sick.

Those thoughts made him think of his own family, how very different they were, it was almost black and white. Suddenly the urge to introduce Meredith to his family and show her what a family is supposed to be like became very pronounced in his mind. He shook his head, they weren't even officially boyfriend-girlfriend yet, a family meeting was a long time to come but Derek couldn't wait.

"Mer? You okay?" He finally moved out of his vegetative state and moved into the kitchen.

"I'm f-...No, actually I'm not." A smile made his way across his face, progress.

"You shouldn't believe a thing she said. You're going to make an amazing surgeon, I know it."

"Thanks, Derek. You shouldn't either."

"We have Neuro first, we can walk together." She smiled but mumbled something inaudible under her breath. He cocked his head, "What's that?"

"We have Neuro with Addison." She deadpanned.

"Yeah. and?"

"She's really pretty."

Derek was confused, where was she going with this? "...And?"

Meredith huffed frustrated, "She likes you!"

"What?! She does not!"

"You don't see the looks she gives you."

Derek chuckled softly, "Aw You jealous Mer?" She quickly looked away, a cute little blush appearing on her cheeks. "I'm kidding. Besides you're the only girl I have eyes for."

"Really?... But she's so pretty and I'm...me."

"You're beautiful Mer, You need to give yourself more credit."

Meredith giggled, "That's what Lexie said."

"Lexie is a wise woman."

"Whatever. I promise to work on it okay?"

"That's all I want." He smiled ad helped her get out the door.

Once they had walked into class, Meredith still had an unsure look on her face, even after he reassured her. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, leading them up the stairs, smiling at Addison.

"Hi, Derek!" Addison chirped.

"Hey, you remember Meredith, my girlfriend right?" He gestured to her, pulling her in front of him proudly. Addie nodded politely, letting them sit down.

Meredith didn't say anything, but a grin rested our her face and she squeezed his hand just a little tighter than before. Derek knew it was kind of a dick-move, but if he was being honest, he would do anything to keep that little grin on Meredith's face at all times. He knew he wanted to keep Meredith in his life, for a long time coming.

"McDreamy said that?" Christina exclaimed, in lab class later.

"Yeah" Meredith giggled.

"Dam you've got it bad for him huh?"

"I do not! He's just...a good man."

"Uh-huh, so you haven't banged yet?"

Meredith blushed, "No. We're waiting."

"I bet he's good. He looks like he'd be good."

Meredith blushed immensely, but she had to agree with Christina, he does look like he'd be very good. It was her last class before she had to meet with her mother, and she was not looking forward to it. What did she have to say to her that she couldn't say that morning? It couldn't be good.

At least she'd be gone by tomorrow morning. "Meredith? You're spacing out on me." Christina asked, waving her hand in front of Meredith's face.

"Oh sorry. I was thinking."

"About sex with McDreamy?"

"No!"

"Sureeeeeee."

She rolled her eyes, she needed to change the subject. "What about you? Any guys caught your interest lately?"

"I hope when you say "interest" you mean, sexual attraction. You know I don't date."

"I don't know why."

"Why? Because boys are stupid and only good for one thing and one thing only."

"Derek's not like that."

Christina snorted, "I doubt it, I bet it's driving him crazy that how you haven't fucked yet."

Meredith huffed and turned her attention back to the lab. She hoped Christina was wrong. Besides, she had a good reason for it, when she was doing her undergraduate degree at Columbia, that's all she would think about. She barely had any friends, she was either studying or hooking up.

She wanted Derek to be different. To be special. Meredith probably should have told him that. She would later.

After the class was over she hurried, though she crowds of students trying to leave or get to the cafeteria to the front of campus. And sure enough, her Mother was already standing there a taxi parked waiting to take her to the airport.

"Hey, mom. What did you want to talk about?"

"Thanksgiving, you're supposed to have 3 days off and give the students a chance to come home." Meredith nodded, not sure where Ellis was taking this, Thanksgiving was still two weeks away.

"You can't come home. I have a conference in Germany that I can't afford to miss."

Of course. "So what? I'm just supposed to stay in the dorms well everyone else gets to leave." Meredith didn't particularly enjoy the idea of spending her 3 days off with Ellis, but she thought she could get together with some of her Boston friends, go sightseeing.

"Yeah, you're not old enough to be home alone."

"Mom, I'm 22."

"Whatever, I don't trust you not to do anything stupid. Besides you can catch up on your studies with no distractions."

"Is this all you wanted to see me about?"

"Yes. I must be going, I have a plane to catch." Meredith wanted to retort back, but she was so done, she just decided to walk away. So basically her Mom made her skip lunch with her friends to tell her that she was going to spend thanksgiving alone.

She's never actually celebrated thanksgiving since her dad left at five, but she was still looking forward to being back in Boston. So much for that idea. She trudged home, thankfully her final class wasn't until 3:30 so she didn't have be anywhere.

There was no one at the dorm when she got there, she guessed they all had classes or decided to go out for lunch. Technically Meredith should be preparing for her last class but, she ended up on her laptop watching a Rom-com with a bucket of ice cream instead.

A quarter into the movie, the door opened, she ventured out of her room, silently hoping it was Derek.

"Der." She sighed in relief when she saw hanging his coat.

"Hey! What did you're mom want to talk about?"

She shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it." Derek didn't need to know how pathetic her family was, he knew enough as it is. "Come finish this Movie with me."

"Derek" She whispered once they were wrapped up in each other, watching the film.

"Yes?"

"Are you...unhappy that I'm making you wait for sex?"

"No, I can't wait till we finally can, but not until you're comfortable. What made you think I was unhappy?"

"Just Something Christina said. Look, the reason I want to wait, because...Let's just say I got around a lot when I was doing my undergraduate. I want us to be different." Meredith didn't meet his gaze, fiddling with the duvet.

"That's a perfectly valid reason Mer, I will wait as long as you need."

She smiled, he was so dreamy. "Thanks for understanding Der."

He pecked her lips, making her giggle, "of course." He pulled her again, but with more passion, his tongue slipping past her perfect lips, exploring her mouth. Derk could never get enough of those lips.

Out of breath and breathing heavily, Derek spoke up huskily "Go out with me."

"When?"

"How about Saturday? I want to take you out for real, not just for lunch."

"Do we have to wait until Saturday?"

He chuckled, "Yes. We'll make a whole day out of it, promise."

"Okay." She giggled, leaning in to kiss him again.

"I'll you on Saturday then."

"Wait, Will still get to see each other before then right?!" She knew it was cheesy, but right now she didn't know how she would make though the rest of the week without seeing him.

He laughed some more, "Of course, We kind of live together Mer."

Meredith huffed and swatted his chest, "You know what I meant."

He nodded, grinning happily like a child, "I couldn't imagine not seeing you for a whole week. I think I would go crazy."

Meredith was about to comment on how lame and cheesy that was, but she realized she was thinking the same thing minutes earlier. "I think I would too." She grinned back, resting her head on his shoulder.

She couldn't believe how fast time went when she was Derek. She already had to get going for her next class, but it felt like they've only spent 20 minutes together rather than 2 hours.

Derek helped her put on her coat, and he kissed goodbye at the door. It wasn't a passionate kiss, It was sweeter like they would be doing every day for the rest of their lives. It scared her that she wasn't scared of the thought of spending the rest of her life with Derek. It made her feel all warm and giddy inside.

A/n: Tada! What did you think? Sorry, there wasn't very much Lexie/Mark this chapter, I was thinking of doing a whole chapter dedicated to them in the future, would do you think? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review. :D