Chapter 15: Setting Up A Meeting

The next morning when Meredith woke up, she looked over at the alarm clock in her room, which said 7 am. She groaned and buried her head in the pillow. She remembered the conversation with Kathleen, and her one night stand she had threw out hours before, after calling him. She wished that she had asked Kathleen for Derek's number, just to hear his voice, hoping it would numb the pain for just a second. It was too late, now, she needed to move on with her life, and her new start in Los Angeles would provide just that. She couldn't go back to sleep; she didn't want him in her dreams. Her phone rang; she reached over for her phone.

"Hello, Meredith Grey."

"Ms. Grey, sorry to call you so early. I am Miranda Bailey, Derek Shepherd's secretary. He asked me to call about meeting for lunch to discuss your client's Serena Wilson's role on Passions?" she tells her. Meredith tries to process everything she had told her, but her head is all over the place.

"I'm relocating to LA tomorrow, is the day after alright?"

"Just let me check with Mr. Shepherd, please." Meredith takes the chance to grab her diary, and a pen from her bag.

"Ms. Grey, I'm going to pass you on to Mr. Shepherd, please hold" Meredith hears the holding tone, silently cursing, not in the mood this early in the morning.

"Ms. Grey." Meredith breath hitches in her throat for just a second, she could have sworn that he sounded like Derek, but quickly dismissed it.

"Mr. Shepherd, sorry but you do realize it is 7 o clock in the morning in New York", Mer says, at the other end of the phone Derek is surprised to find her sounding so much like Meredith, but he just dismisses it as false hope after the events of the previous night.

"I am aware of the time Ms. Grey, I wanted to get this out of the way this morning, I'm sure you can understand, I'll be quick Ms. Grey. I was hoping to meet with you before we started filming Passions. was wandering if there was a chance that you could fly out here to meet with me. I am aware it's short notice, but as soon as possible would be nice."

"Can I ask why, Mr. Shepherd? It's unusual for the agents to meet with producers like yourself."

"Yes, Ms. Grey, but I like to get to know my actors agent, especially as we will be working together a lot of the time.

"Mr. Shepherd, as I told your secretary, I am relocating to Los Angeles. I am due to fly out tomorrow morning, so the day after would be ideal. "

"Ms. Grey, is there any way I would be able to meet with you tomorrow? I am going away on Wednesday." Meredith was silent for a moment.

"I will see if I can get the red eye out tonight. I will call the airport, and I'll get back to you as soon as I know."

"Okay, thank you Ms. Grey, I look forward to hearing from you." Derek hangs up the phone. He runs his hand through his hair, he is going insane, everyone to him is sounding like her.

Back in New York, when Meredith gets out of the shower, she can smell Izzie cooking; there is a knock at the door.

"Mer, are you decent?" Alex asks through the door.

"Hold on, Alex." Meredith quickly pulls on her jeans and a sweatshirt. "You can come in now." Alex opens the door, and walks into her room, with a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Here you go, Mer."

"Thanks Alex. I might be leaving a little earlier than planned."

"Why?"

"Meeting with Serena's new producer, if I can get the red-eye out tonight."

"Okay, I'll let you get hold of the airline, but I want to talk to you before you go, Mer"

"Okay Alex." Alex gives her a kiss on the cheek, before leaving the room. Meredith just quickly tied her hair back as she called the airport. She was on the phone with them for almost an hour, trying to get flights to LA, but not having any luck. The airline promised to call her if they had any cancellation. She decided to go and have some breakfast with her friends before phoning back Mr. Shepherd. She knew that she would miss her friends but also knew that this move was going to be good for her, and she was excited. They made small talk before Izzie went to work. Mer promised to let her know if she was leaving early.

"Meredith, what happened last night? You were doing fine and then you seemed upset" Alex asked her after Izzie had left.

"I bumped into Derek's sister last night."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, it just shocked me to my core. I've not seen any of them for so long that I never thought i would just bump into her. I asked her about Derek." Mer told him, burying her face in her hand.

"What did she say?"

"Everything I hoped she would say that he missed me, and he still loved me"

"Mer..." Alex pulled his chair closer to her, taking her in her arms, Meredith finally letting out all the emotion she kept inside her yesterday, Alex let her cry it out in his arms. After what to Mer seemed like hours when it was only minutes, pulled herself together. She gave Alex a small smile.

"Thanks Alex, I really needed to do that"

"That's okay, Mer" Alex says, as Meredith stands up, she needs to go and make that phone call, just then her phone rings.

"Meredith Grey." she says not bothering to check her caller ID, she hears no-one answering at the end of the phone. Derek is in shock at the other end of the phone, not believing that one person he has wanted to find, was just on the other end of the phone, and that he has spoken to her the day before.

"Hello." Derek froze for a second, before pulling himself together and he continued to be professional.

"Ms. Grey, it's Mr. Shepherd"

"Mr. Shepherd, I was just about to call you back, i have had no luck changing my flight. I'm waiting for any cancellation, so it could be anytime or not"

"Well, if I give you my cell number, i leave the office at 6. If you give me a call and let me know."

"Okay, Mr. Shepherd," she grabs a pen and writes down the number that he has given her. "I've got that, I will be staying at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, at least until my apartment is set up. Have you seen Miss Wilson? I haven't heard from her in a couple of days."

"I saw her yesterday morning, when she came in for fitting"

"Okay, thank you Mr. Shepherd, hopefully I will see you tomorrow."

"Yes, have a good day Ms. Grey, bye." Derek quickly hangs up.

Derek can feel a wave of panic come over him, not believing that the person he has been talking to for over a month, was the love of his life, surely it couldn't be that easy. He was debating whether or not to tell her before she meets him, but he is scared that if he does, she won't come. He remembers how much she avoided him, at first in Cape Cod, all those years ago. For the first time in years, he felt a heavy weight being lifted off him, and when he left his office, Miranda was shocked looked to see him smiling, the sparkle in his eyes had returned, for the first time in the ten years that she had known him, he really smiled, she didn't know what the change was, but he would tell her when he was ready.

"Miranda, I'm going home for the day, so go home to Tucker, and little Tuck, but can you do me a favor beforehand"

"Of course, Derek."

"Can you call the vineyard and tell them that i won't be up this week, something came up?"

"Yes, Derek."

"Thank you, Miranda" Miranda sat at her desk with a look of surprise across her face. Derek had never cancelled going to the vineyard. Something was defiantly up with him.