She couldn't believe it. This was not happening. It wasn't. It couldn't be. In confusion, she lifted her right hand up to her left arm and pinched, hard. But the image before her didn't change. Derek was still standing there, Taylor in his arms, at the window in the kitchen with Izzie beside him with pleading eyes.

She was stuck. For some reason, she couldn't seem to move her feet, couldn't seem to unglue herself from her spot by the swinging door. She moved her eyes to Taylor, curled up comfortably in Derek's arms, evidence of Izzie's cupcake apparent on her shirt. Her head was resting lightly against his shoulder and the only sign that she had even seen her mother was the ear-to-ear grin spread over her innocent face.

"Mommy," she cooed, raising her head from Derek's shoulder to look at her better.

Derek looked down to the tiny girl in his arms, then lifted his eyes back to Meredith who still had not moved. He could see the look of longing for her daughter in her eyes and hesitantly crossed the floor towards Meredith, stopping a couple feet from her and holding Taylor out to her.

Meredith was caught off guard. For some reason, she had been expecting Derek to cling onto Taylor and not let her go. Shaking her head back to reality, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and took Taylor from Derek's grasp with a "Hey you."

Taylor looped her arms loosely around her mothers' neck and kept her eyes on her father, wondering why he wasn't around more. She liked him. She really did. She just wished her mother liked him more.

Though she wasn't quite four, Taylor could still seem to sense the great dislike her mother had for the charming man in front of them. She didn't get it. Her was really nice. He let her have cupcakes for breakfast. And by Taylor's standards, any man who allowed her to eat cupcakes for breakfast was ok in her books.

Meredith finally snapped out of her reverie and her eyes came back into focus as she walked across the kitchen and gently placed Taylor down on the counter, grabbing a wet cloth from the sink and dabbing at the little girl's messy face.

"Look at you Tay," she said, swatting away the last of the crumbs. "You're a mess." She was blatantly ignoring Derek. Both she, Derek and Izzie knew it.

"Cold," Taylor giggled, shying away from the cold cloth that Meredith had on the back of her neck. Taylor brought her shoulder to her ear and scrunched up her nose.

Meredith, Derek and Izzie smiled. Stopping and staring at her daughter, Meredith removed the cloth and gathered Taylor easily into her arms, walking over to Derek was a determined look on her face. Izzie was taken aback. In all honesty, she had fully expected Meredith to just walk away and not look back. The fact that she was even acknowledging him was a huge step.

"Derek can you watch her for a second?" Meredith asked, gesturing to Taylor in her arms.

Derek looked at her in awe. He had fully expected her to not even allow him near the little girl again, let alone willing give her over for reasons unknown to him. He snapped out of his thoughts with an "Of course," and gently took Taylor from Meredith, watching as she approached Izzie, mumbling, "Can I talk to you?" under her breath and watching them walk away.

Derek turned his eyes to Taylor who shrugged innocently at him, green eyes that mimicked her mother's shining in admiration.

XXXXXXXXXX

She stood there staring at her, hands planted firmly on her hips in what Izzie recognised as her 'angry stance'. Or so Taylor had dubbed it.

"Mer I'm sooo sorry," Izzie said, her face screwed up into the best apologetic look she could conjure.

Her demeanour dropped slightly as she sighed and collapsed onto the couch behind her. "How did this happen?" Meredith asked, running her fingers through her sleep tousled hair. "How did I let it get this far?"

Izzie sat down tentatively beside her friend, placing a gentle hand on her knee. "Let what get this far?" she asked calmly.

"The lies," Meredith said. "I know that I should have told Derek. I do. Really. It's just that …" She let the rest of her sentence hang in the air. But it didn't matter. Izzie didn't need her to finish. She already knew what she was talking about.

"You were trying to protect Taylor," she finished. Meredith nodded solemnly. "So your not mad?" Her voice was tentative, questioning.

"No," Meredith answered immediately and with confidence. "He's going to find out eventually. And I will tell him. But it's best to break it to him gently. Sort of let him find out on his own."

She knew it didn't really make sense. She was just stalling and buying time before she had to rip the man's heart out. But Izzie nodded anyways. It made sense in a twisted sort of way.

"I understand," Izzie said with an encouraging smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

George ran his hands through his semi-long hair as he padded down the stairs in his Scooby-Doo slippers; a gift from Taylor last Christmas. The house was unusually quiet. Normally by this time Taylor could be heard running around the house screaming about one thing or another or singing along to her favourite Dora songs. But there was nothing. Not even the sound of the TV.

He chalked it down to Taylor being outside on her swing, her all-time favourite gift ever. Walking down the remaining stairs with sleep still in his eyes, George pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen and stopped when his sight fell upon what he was seeing.

He raised his fists to his eyes and wiped the sleep from them, unable to believe what he was seeing. There was Derek, standing in the middle of his kitchen, with Taylor in his arms no less. Like Meredith before him, he found himself unable to move.

"Uncle George," Taylor said excitedly, a smile lighting up her face.

With a shake of his head, George gave her a toothy grin back and moved from his spot, walking to the island and pouring himself a bowl of cereal. Looking back up to Derek with a confused look on his face, he shoved a spoonful of Corn Pops into his mouth and said simply, "So I guess she told you."

Derek looked at George, eyebrows knitted together and eyes burning. "Told me what?"

George stared back at him, mouth agape, cereal spilling over his chin. He wiped it stubbornly away and stared back at Derek and Taylor, wondering how to undo the mess he just made.