Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Grey's Anatomy. Not the characters. Not the plot. Not anything. Nor do I own anything to do with the NHL. At all. But it would be pretty cool if I did.

Carolyn Shepherd had been through a lot, she had watched her father die from cancer when she was young, she had suffered so much after her husband was shot in a robbery, even though he did recover. But after all that, she still hated seeing her baby boy get injured. She had watched the game the night before but had held off as long as possible, she had been known to overreact to the mildest of things. The hospital had rung her within a few hours to inform her of his status, in normal situations she would've gone straight there, but she had grandchildren at home to look after and she couldn't very well leave them there by themselves.

But now it was tomorrow, and she hurried towards her son's room, he had been approved to be discharged but he didn't seem to be awake yet, so the nurses wanted him to have his rest. She found the room and walked in to find a beautiful blonde sleeping next to Derek. Her head was on his chest and Derek had both of arms tightly around her small frame. Carolyn assumed that this was Meredith. She was aware that she and Derek were dating now due to several weekly interrogations from his sisters, but she had never met the girl. But right now, it looked like she fit, she fit perfectly in Derek's arms and the contented smile on Derek's face said it all.

She didn't like to disturb them so sat on one of the chairs outside and waited, unworried. A few minutes later, a young brunette came up to the door holding the hand of a little blond-haired boy.

"Is Mom in there?" He asked the woman who was peeking in at the sleeping duo.

"She is, but she's sleeping, so maybe just wait for a bit, they both had a hard day yesterday. And Derek will be okay, he's allowed to go home today."

"I know," the boy sighed, "but I thought he really hurt himself yesterday, and he didn't look good last night," he sat on a chair, a space away from Carolyn.

"I know he didn't," the woman crouched in front of him, "but he was just getting better. You'll see when he wakes up don't worry."

"Okay Aunt Lexie." He swung his legs back and forth as he sat on the chair. The woman, Lexie, took a seat next to him and brought out a brownie.

It was only 9am and Carolyn recognised stress eating when she saw it. They didn't have to wait long when they all saw a dishevelled Meredith walk out of the room.

"Mom," the boy ran towards her, it must be Aiden, she thought.

"Hey sweetie, how are you?"

"I'm fine, what about Derek?"

"He's fine too Aiden, he just woke up."

"Can I see him, please Mom?" He begged.

Meredith smiled, "I'm sure you can as long as you're quiet, he still needs to rest."

"I will," the boy whispered and crept into the room.

Meredith walked to the nurse's station, asking them to check on him, then sat next to Lexie, Carolyn still observing the scene.

"Thank you for taking him home last night," Meredith sighed.

"Of course Mer, I didn't have a shift, it was fine. How is he? Really?"

"He really is okay Lex, he's still tired and he says he has a headache but that's normal. He should be back to his normal self within a couple of days."

"That's good, that's good," Lexie breathed.

"Yeah, but I can't think about what else might happen to him. God Lexie, he just has a concussion and I was scared out of my mind. I thought... I don't know what I thought but it wasn't good. And I love him Lex, I love him so much and I don't know what I'd do if he was..." she trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh Meredith," the brunette drew her into her arms.

Meredith quieted down after a few minutes and stood up, "Thanks again Lex, I'll keep you posted. I have the next two days off so I'm going to go and look after him."

"I'll see you later Mer," Lexie hugged her, and Meredith disappeared back into the room. Lexie left and a few minutes later, the nurse came out and asked her if Carolyn wanted to see him. She had held off as much as she could but now, she just had to see him, so she crossed the hallway and knocked on the door. Derek was sat up in bed with Aiden on his lap, Meredith's hand locked tightly in his.

"Ma?" He smiled.

"Derek, I was going to come yesterday but there were grandkids to look after," she laughed.

"Of course," Derek chuckled, "at least you didn't overreact this time."

"Derek Shepherd, I do not overreact," she said, knowing it was a lie.

"It doesn't matter," he laughed slightly, "I'm glad you came."

"So am I," she agreed lightly.

"And Ma, this is Meredith and Aiden," he introduced them.

"It's lovely to meet you both," she greeted.

"It's great to meet you too Mrs Shepherd, I've heard a lot about you," Meredith replied, still smiling as Derek's thumb rubbed soothing circles across her hand.

"I've heard a lot about you too dear."

"All good I hope," she giggled.

"Of course all good Mer, I wouldn't like to suffer the consequences if I said something bad," Derek grinned.

Meredith rolled her eyes but squeezed his hand.

"Hi," a little voice popped up. Carolyn turned her attention to the boy that had been waiting patiently to be introduced.

"And you must be Aiden," she smiled.

"Yeah, and you're a really good mom Mrs Shepherd cause Derek is awesome."

"Thanks bud," Derek laughed, Meredith along with him.

"Well I'm glad you recognise the time and effort spent while he was growing up," Carolyn laughed.

"How did you get to know Derek?"

She already knew the story from Derek, but she was keen to learn it from the boy's point of view.

xxxxx

Carolyn left awhile later and was halfway down the hall when a shout made her turn.

"Mrs Shepherd?" Meredith called.

"Yes?"

"I just, I just wanted to, I don't know. Derek told me you know that we're dating."

"I do."

"And I just, I wanted to introduce myself as his girlfriend. Not the mom of a boy who values him as a friend. We haven't told Aiden yet; we want to wait until Derek moves here. So, I just wanted to say, I love him, I love him so much and he loves me, and he loves Aiden like his own son already. Aiden looks up to him, more than just a famous hockey player, but he's the perfect role model for him. And, I'm so grateful to have him in my life, I've never met anyone like him." She finished.

Carolyn was amazed, she admired the woman for wanting to prove how much she really loved her son. It was clearly important to her that Derek's family liked her. And from what Carolyn had seen, she couldn't imagine anyone else more perfect for her son, and that was exactly what she told the woman standing in front of her.

"Oh, thank you Mrs Shepherd, I'll make sure he bounces back."

"I'm sure you will. And please, call me Carolyn, if you're comfortable, I've heard so much about you already I feel like I've known you for years," she laughed, "You and Aiden should come to Sunday dinner sometime. I'll talk to Derek about it."

"Thank you, Carolyn, I'll tell him." They said their goodbyes and Carolyn walked away from the hospital certain that Derek had found the love of his life.

Meredith went back to Derek's room feeling better, she hadn't been expecting to meet his mom, but it had gone reasonably well. She sat down next to Derek, Aiden in his arms. "Hey."

"Hey, you okay?" He gently rubbed her arm.

She smiled happily at him, "I'm perfect." And settled back against the cushions, watching as Aiden talked to Derek animatedly about something. Derek was fine, and there wasn't anywhere else she'd rather be.

xxxxx

Derek was feeling better today, his head wasn't hurting so much, save only the dull ache at the back of it. It certainly wasn't the worst injury he had ever gotten, and Meredith was here. That just made him forget about the pain he was meant to be in. When she had told him that she loved him, he thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest, he couldn't help the comical grin on his face when he thought about it and was pulled out of his thoughts by a booming voice.

"What are you smiling at?" Riemsdyk called, "You on the pain pills?"

Derek looked up and found most of his teammates walking through the door. Meredith had gone to get him some more water and Aiden had run off to find Lexie again so that he could get him something from the giftshop. It was cute. But anyway, Mer would get a shock when she came back.

"No," he laughed, "I'm sane don't worry."

"Debatable," Hayes laughed, as they surrounded his bed.

"How long are you in here for?" Giroux asked in his Canadian accent.

"I should get out today, you can't get rid of me for long you know," he smirked.

"Yeah, I don't doubt it," he laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.

He continued to laugh with his friends but Meredith standing in the doorway with wide eyes caught his eye.

"Hey Mer," he smiled, "You can come in you know, they think they're tough because they play ice hockey, they're softies really," he stage-whispered.

She smirked then, entering the room, "Must explain why you freak out at spiders."

"I like her already," Couturier smiled through gapped teeth, "She knows how to put you in your place. That's what you get for telling us we're not tough Shep."

Derek rolled his eyes, taking the water from her. "Thanks Mer."

"No problem," she smiled.

"Hey, is this her?" Hayes asked.

"If you mean my girlfriend, then yes, this is her. Meredith, meet my crazy teammates."

"Hi," she waved shyly.

"Mer, this is Kevin, Claude, Sean, James and you know Mark. God, that felt weird. I don't think I've ever called you by your first names before."

"Yeah and you've got a whole load of other ones you call us," Hayes laughed.

"It's nice to meet you. If you've got any tricks for how to make Shepherd do as he's told, let me know," Giroux laughed as he shook her hand.

"Mainly threats," she laughed.

"Hey, I do stuff. I cook," he pouted.

"Uh huh, only because I can't," Meredith smirked.

"You know the offer is still open for me to teach you," he smirked, "Among, other things." Then pulled her in for a kiss.

"Oh God," Mark groaned, "here they go. It's like they forget other people exist sometimes. You could say anything and they wouldn't hear you. Watch this."

Derek's friends watched on with amusement.

"Hey, Shepherd! Yoohoo! Over here, I gotta tell you something. Okay fine, ignore me, when Derek was five, he used to-"

"Stop right there Sloan," Derek piped up, drawn away from his whisperings. The team all laughed and the couple joined in, the room fuelled by joviality.

Aiden was brought back a few minutes later, having found nothing he thought of interest to Derek and ran back into his room. Though there were a lot more people than he anticipated.

"Woah," he said in wonderment.

"Aiden. Did Lexie bring you back?" His mom asked.

"Huh? No, she got paged, I came back by myself," he answered.

"Hey kid, who are you?" Hayes asked.

"I'm Aiden Grey, and you're awesome," he replied, awestruck.

"I'm glad you recognize talent; these numbskulls don't see it," Hayes laughed.

Aiden giggled before looking round the rest of the room.

"Guys," Derek announced, "this is Aiden, Mer's son. Some of you probably met him ages ago. He was outside the changing room getting signatures," he chuckled.

"So you're the hockey prodigy," Giroux spoke.

Aiden looked to Derek and saw him nod.

"If you're lucky maybe I can steal a puck for you. Then you can have a souvenir," the man grinned.

"Seriously? That's so cool."

The room burst into laughter once again and Derek found it hard to remember why he was here in the first place.

xxxxx

Not long after the team had left, a nurse came, asking her to sign discharge papers, she did so then took Derek to her car. Aiden obediently sat in the back and Meredith drove them both home; there was no way Derek was going to recover in a hotel room by himself when his teammates had to train. Mark had already swung by as quickly as he could but had to leave again for training and to tell everybody else that Derek was actually alright.

Derek didn't argue when she told him to relax and Aiden spent the day entertaining him with his antics.

Now, Aiden was asleep, and Meredith wasn't far behind, she was drifting off, her head against Derek's shoulder when he said, "Do you want to go to bed? I'll stay on the sofa; you look like you need the rest."

"No, no it's okay. I can't ask you to sleep on the sofa, you need more rest than me."

"Then, how do we do this?" They had slept over before, but never when Aiden was here, and Derek wanted this to be on Meredith's terms.

"Well, um, you could just, sleep on one side and I sleep on the other," she nibbled on her lower lip.

Derek smiled slightly, "That sounds great, I'm sure I'll rest easy with you next to me."

"Cheesy Derek," she giggled.

"Oh, but it's true," he chuckled.

"Come on then," she hauled herself up, dragging him with her. They both got ready for bed and stood either side, staring at each other.

"Well, this is fine, just get in," Meredith said. They both laid down and tried not to face each other, they both knew that if that happened, they wouldn't be able to stay apart. So, Derek stared at the ceiling and focused on a spot though soon enough he felt Meredith's hand in his.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too Derek," That would have to be enough.

He drifted off reasonably quickly but was awoken by the door creaking open, he had always been a light sleeper. He opened his eyes and saw Aiden trying to creep across the room.

"Aiden?" He whispered.

"Derek?" His frightened voice called out in the dark and he changed his path, heading towards Derek.

"Hey bud," he sat up as Aiden stood in front of him, "are you okay?"

"I just had a bad dream; I normally get mom to get rid of the monsters."

"Well do you want me to? I think mom's asleep."

He nodded, clutching his bear tightly, and took Derek's hand. They tiptoed silently back into his room and Derek bundled him up into his duvet and kissed his head. He went to the bathroom and found a used spray bottle, he filled it with water and took it back to Aiden's room.

"This will scare away the monsters," he whispered, spraying the water around the room.

"Woah, mom has never had that before."

"Well I know this works; it always helps my nieces and nephews."

Aiden trusted him and let him finish spraying. Derek then sat on his bed and stroked his hair lightly.

"You can go back to sleep now, you're safe," he said.

"Okay, can you stay here until I fall asleep?"

"Of course, bud. I love you."

"I love you too."

He watched Aiden sleep peacefully, his body rising and falling with each breath. He kissed his forehead and whispered, "I love you," again and tiptoed back out and into Meredith's bed.

xxxxx

Meredith woke the next morning with the feeling that was quickly becoming familiar. Her legs were tangled with Derek's, his arm draped over her waist and she was on her side. He tightened his hold imperceptibly and buried his face in the back of her neck. She closed her eyes again contentedly and Derek inched closer than he already was. He normally seemed to be a morning person, he was all about 'a good day starts with a good breakfast', but today he didn't seem to want to get up. But that might have something to do with the fact that he was still suffering from his concussion. She knew he was awake and turned in his arms, facing his sleeping eyelids. They opened groggily and she stared into the dazzling blue eyes that always seemed brighter in the morning. "Hey."

"Hey," he replied.

"How are you?" She ran a thumb over his stubbled cheek.

"Mmmm," he grinned, "much better."

"Good," she kissed him softly, "but you're staying here today. I don't want you to do anything, you need to get better."

"Yes, Dr Grey," he grinned cheekily.

"Derek!"

"Oh, you like that don't you. I'll do anything you like Dr Grey," he smirked.

"Shut up. If you keep being mean to your girlfriend, I'll have to kick you out," she mock glared as she stood up.

"Oh, we both know you won't do that," he smiled, propping his head up on his hand.

"Well if you're all better you can come downstairs for breakfast can't you," she held out her hand.

He rolled his eyes but got up anyway and they went downstairs. Meredith started the pancakes and Derek wrapped his arms around her waist, peering over her shoulder. He gave her soft small kisses to her neck and cheek, she grinned happily but had to force him to take a step back, in case Aiden came down. No matter how happy she was she wasn't ready to tell Aiden yet. He obliged and Aiden came down a minute later, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey bud, did the monsters come back?"

"Nope, you're spray worked," her son grinned, sitting right next to Derek.

"What monsters?"

"I had a bad dream and I was going to wake you up but Derek was awake, so he got rid of the monsters."

Derek beamed at her, and she could tell her own eyes were sparkling. Her son had gone to Derek, he obviously trusted him and could feel vulnerable around him, it made her feel that much better about eventually telling him. She gave them both a plate of pancakes and Derek got up to take over the mixture.

"Take a seat Mer, I'll do the rest of them."

"Thanks, Der," she sat down and in passing he ran his hand across her back, and she didn't understand how she could feel so good from such a simple touch. She watched him stand over the stove and she could see him there in 20 or 30 years, doing the exact same thing.