As the next day dawned Meredith was attempting to take a "cat nap" in her mother's room. She was little more than half way through this 48 hour shift, and really just wanted it to be over. She had minimal sleep and only a couple of bites to eat. Her mother's surgery was scheduled for later that morning, with Derrick performing it. The unbelievable irony of the whole thing struck Meredith as funny. She couldn't remember the last time she found something funny. It was simply amazing how quickly things could change!

After rounds, Meredith went back to her mother's room only to find Derek there once again. Ellis Grey was awake now and Derek was speaking to her as a doctor about a patient with her real life condition at the moment, and he was asking her advice. Ellis was in her element here, and in complete agreement with Derek as to what the treatment plan for this patient should be. On his way out, he said to Meredith, "She completely agrees with the treatment plan and the surgery, good, right? Now you know what she would do in an indirect way, for one of her own patients. I hope in some small way this helps you. By the way, where will you be during your mom's surgery?"

"I can't watch, so I thought that I would try to stay busy. Can you just page me when it's over and let me know how things went? Otherwise, I'll be in the OR waiting room or back here in her room."

"Sounds good, now why don't you go visit with your mom before her surgery, and page me if you need anything." Derek said, wishing that Meredith would ask for his help, his shoulder, something.

As he turned to walk away Meredith spoke. "Dr. Shepard, thank you, I think that does help in some small way." She was gone before he could respond.

Later that afternoon Meredith's pager went off and she rushed to meet Derek. When she got to recovery he was waiting for her.

"Everything went as well as could be expected," he said. "Your mom should be out of recovery within a few hours. It was exactly what we suspected, so that is good, but I wasn't able to get it all without risking the optical nerve. That is intact and we can attack the remaining portion of the tumor with radiation. I got most of it."

Meredith felt a sense of relief. She thanked Derek, and went in to see her mom.

Later that night they moved her mother to ICU while they waited for her to awake from surgery. As the minutes passed Meredith found herself less and less reassured about the situation. Around midnight Derek stopped by to check in on Ellis (and Meredith even though he would never admit that to her). He found Meredith sitting next to her bed, awake and watching her mother. When Derek entered the room he said quietly to Meredith, "How is she doing, any changes?"

"No" she replied, "Do you think we should be concerned?" Meredith spoke as if she had no medical background at all.

"No Mer, I just think that she had major surgery and its going to take a little while longer for her to come around. Can we step outside and talk for a moment?"

"Sure" she replied thinking that this had something to do with her mother.

In the doorway of her mother's room Derrick once again spoke of how they really needed to talk, how he needed the chance to explain to her what had happened and why. He told her that she deserved to hear the truth.

This was almost more than Meredith could take at the moment. Why would he not stop pushing this issue? Didn't he understand that she just couldn't handle this right now? She needed space from him, not him in her face. She also needed sleep, food and for her world to stop spinning, but that apparently wasn't happening either. She looked him dead on in the eye and asked, "Why do you keep pressing this issue? What is it that you want or need to hear from me?"

"Meredith I just need the opportunity to explain, to make things right with us again. I screwed up and I need you to listen to me."

"I don't think so, otherwise you would have said what needed to be said some time in the last few months. I think you just have some perverse desire to know that you have turned my world upside down. Is that what you really want, to know that you have affected me and how? Because if it will get you off of my back and out of my life I will be more than happy to oblige."

"Meredith that is not what I am trying to say at all! Please don't put words in my mouth. I never wanted to hurt you, that was never my intention!"

"Well whether you meant to or not, you did! Is that what you so desperately needed to know?" She said as quietly as she could with tears in her eyes. "It feels like you ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped all over it. It feels like I can hardly breathe sometimes because it hurts so badly! Is that what you wanted to know?"

"Meredith, please, no! I'm hurting too; please let's go somewhere more appropriate so that we can have this conversation." As Derek spoke he saw Meredith's eyes noticing, and then watching something in the distance. As he continued to try to plead his case with her, her eyes never left their new focus. Then slowly she walked away from him without ever looking back. Derek turned to watch her walk towards a man at the entrance to the ICU. Then he watched her walk right into his arms and start to sob. He was a large man, especially in comparison to Meredith's small frame. He was tall with a large, but handsome build and approximately 30-35 years old Derek would have to guess. He held Meredith quietly for what seemed like forever to Derek, while running his hand through her hair and holding her tightly. When Meredith calmed down ever so slightly he said to her, "now how am I suppose to be there for you when you won't even tell me when to be here?"

Still crying she said, "I'm sorry Tom."

"No need to be, I'm here now if you want or need me. I'll leave that up to you."

"I'm extremely glad you are here, but how did you know to come?"

"Meredith, you spoke volumes yesterday on the phone without saying very much."

"If I forget to tell you later, thank you." She said.

"You are more than welcome, now how is your mother?"

"She is doing as well as can be expected. We are still waiting for her to wake up. She hasn't been out of recovery long, come in and see her."

"One more thing Mer, I would say you probably haven't eaten or slept in quite a while. Am I correct?"

"Pretty much, why?"

"Because I am here not only to support you, but to take care of you until you get your feet back on solid ground. I'm not sure completely what is going on here, but I know you are hurting and I know you are my best friend and it's not only my job, but my desire to take care of you. So, first things first, we'll go in and see your mom and then I'm going see that you get what you need while we wait. So that means that there will be food and sleep in your near future like it or not. And don't think you're going to give me any flack over this either, because like it or not, I know you better than you would ever like to admit, and I know what you need."

Derek's interest in this man "Tom" was definitely piqued. He obviously knew her quite well and Derek wasn't sure how he was feeling about this newest development. He knew he wanted him to take his hands off of Meredith. He knew that he wished Meredith had held onto him and cried on his shoulder that way, but beyond that, he was confused.

Meredith didn't have the energy nor the desire to argue with Tom, she was just so glad that he was there. A tried and true friend that she could trust and lean on. Tom was always the best. They were just the right people at the wrong time when it came to being a couple. As they walked towards her mother's room, and Derek, she held on to him like he was the only life preserver in a storm. When they got to the doorway where Derek stood, Tom introduced himself to Derek, and told him that he would like to talk to him a little bit later about Meredith's mother's condition, but first he wanted to spend some time with Meredith.

For the first time since his wife arrived from New York, Derek started to question if he would ever get Meredith back, or if he had just gone way out of bounds on this one and it was the end of them, for them. As soon as he had this thought he dismissed it, because it was not something he was willing to accept at this point. He knew in his heart of hearts that he and Meredith were not just a casual fling as she was thinking now, but something more. The biggest question remaining was how he was going to get Meredith to realize this, accept it, forgive him, or ever trust him again.