Derek stared at George, Taylor still tight in his grasp. He watched as a line of milk ran it's way down George's chin and he brushed it away impatiently as another drool of milk came spilling out. Giving up, George swallowed the remaining food in his mouth and put his spoon back down in the bowl, trying to make his heart stop beating a million miles per minute and raking his brain for a good lie.
"Tell me what George?" Derek questioned, repositioning Taylor on his hip and taking a step towards him as he gulped nervously.
"Noth … noth … nothing," he stumbled, tripping over his words.
"George," Derek said, his voice holding a warning tone.
"What's going on here guys," a perking voice rang out from the hall before a bang as the Izzie pushed open the swinging door, closely followed by Meredith.
Derek kept his eyes glued to George for a moment longer before turning his attention to Meredith and Izzie who were watching with intent. "George was just about to tell me something that he supposed you told me," Derek said with a raise of his eyebrows.
Izzie looked to Meredith with a confused look on her face, silently asking her if she had understood a word of Derek's statement. Meredith looked back at Izzie, an identical look on her face.
"Let me rephrase that," Derek said, noting the looks on the girl's faces. "And I quote, 'so I guess she told you'." There was a pregnant pause in the air before Derek continued. "Now what exactly did he suppose you told me Meredith?" Derek asked, his voice holding a slight accusation.
Meredith turned angry eyes to George who looked on helplessly. "I don't know," she replied smoothly. "You'd have to ask George," she said, a coy grin placed on her face. Meredith knew that she was riding her whole secret on George at that moment, but she knew that he would never, ever tell Derek anything.
He looked back at her, a helpless look on his face with pleading eyes. Meredith just gave him an encouraging smile behind Derek's back and mouthed the word 'improvise'.
"Umm …" George started. "Well …"
Derek looked at him with piercing eyes, silently begging him to answer the question.
"What I supposed Meredith told you was that she had a daughter," George said, his face lighting up as he finished the statement, clearly proud of himself for his lying skills. "Yup. Yep. That would be it," he said with a jubilant smile.
Derek swivelled back around to Meredith, a disbelieving look on his face. Meredith, sensing that he was going to start asking a lot more questions, quickly leapt into action and walked towards him, extending her arms towards Taylor and saying, "Come here babe," and attempting to extract the little girl from Derek's arms.
But her efforts were rewarded with a "No. But I wanna stay with Daddy," from Taylor.
Meredith paused, dropping her arms to side and staring wide-eyed at her daughter. Derek also had his eyes glued to Taylor, then swiftly moved them to Meredith, waiting for her response.
"Sweetie," Meredith replied, eyes darting back and forth between George and Izzie for help. "We talked about this remember?" Meredith asked, reaching out and grabbing her reluctant child from the doctor's arms. "You're daddy doesn't live here," she cooed, noting the tears starting to build inside Taylor's massive green-grey eyes, providing a reflective surface that Meredith could see herself in.
"But I want Derek to be my daddy," Taylor said, sniffling back her tears.
Meredith looked to Derek, her face displaying an apologetic smile. He gave her a quick half smile back.
"Babe," Meredith said, at a loss for words. "You have a daddy already," Meredith stated simply. "Now why doesn't auntie Izzie take you upstairs and get you some clothes," Meredith said, walking over to Izzie and handing Taylor over to her.
Izzie took her gratefully in her arms and motioned George to follow. Meredith and Derek listened as the sound of Izzie singing 'All Aboard The Choo Choo Train' as they proceeded up the stairs and they laughed.
"She's adorable Meredith," Derek said shyly, knowing that he was stepping into unknown territory.
"Thanks," she replied modestly.
"So where is her dad?" Derek asked, already wincing inside and preparing for a blow from one of her tiny ineffectual fists.
But surprisingly, Meredith maintained her calm and simply tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear before answering. "Not around," she stated simply.
Derek nodded, sensing that she didn't want to talk about it anymore but pressing the issue anyways. "Who would give up a kid like that?" he asked with a slight smile.
'One who doesn't know about her,' Meredith thought to herself. "It doesn't matter," she said, showing him for certain this time that the issue was to be laid to rest.
He nodded understandingly.
"You should probably get going," Meredith said, taking a slight step to the side to allow him room to pass.
He sighed, knowing that at some point this was going to happen. Derek nodded and took a step around her, starting to walk down the hall when he turned back to face her. "Take care of her Meredith. She's far to precious to loose," he said with a serious face before turning and walking away.
XXXXXXXXXXXMeredith sighed as she tipped the cup of coffee to her lips and allowed the warmth of the caffeine to fill her. She dropped her eyes to the chart in her hands and sighed again. She hated Monday mornings. And the caffeine still hadn't kicked in. With a jolt, she spotted Derek standing at the window of the daycare, staring intently at something inside; something she assumed to be their daughter. Now she was awake.
With a new sense of alertness, she walked towards him, stopping beside his frame and following his gaze to the little girl who was deeply immersed in a colouring book at a little plastic table in the corner.
"She loves to colour," Meredith said, capturing his attention.
He turned to look at her, surprised, and smiled brightly. "Ya," he said simply.
In a sudden wave of unexplainable guilt, the words spilt out of her like water through a sieve; "There's something I need to tell you."
He turned to her fully now, body facing hers, a look of worry crossing his handsome face. "What is it?" he asked, his tone full of concern.
"Not here," Meredith said, turning and walking away, knowing that he would be following. She led him to nearly the other side of the hospital before stopping outside and elevator and stepping in, watching as he followed with a confused expression on his face.
After the ding of the first floor but before the ding of the second, Meredith hit the emergency stop button, turning to Derek and gathering all the courage she could muster. He stared back at her, their bodies facing each other, with a now extremely worried look on his face.
"Mer what's going on?" he asked, wanting to reach out and touch her but thinking better of it.
"It's about Taylor," she said, stalling for all the time she could get.
"What about her?" he asked, his voice panicked now. "Is she ok? She's not hurt is she?" he rambled.
"She's yours," she stumbled out.
Derek stared at her, a look of blatant shock on his face, disbelieving the two words she had just said but knowing them to be true all the same. "What did you say?" he whispered quietly.
"I intended on telling you. Really, I did. But the day I went to tell you, you had left for New York with Addison," she mumbled, biting on her lip.
"Taylor's my daughter?" he asked, closing his eyes.
"Ya," Meredith said, barely audible. "She's your daughter."
They stood there for a minute; Derek leaning against the wall of the elevator with his eyes closed before he reached out and slammed the start button. Meredith jumped with the force of the slam. As they reached the second floor and the doors slid open to reveal a group of people waiting, Derek stormed out, leaving Meredith staring wildly after him.
XXXXXXXXXXShe stood in her kitchen two days later, watching as Izzie prepared dinner. There was silence. Neither needed to say anything. To break the deafening quiet, the doorbell rang and Meredith slid herself down from the stool, walking solemnly towards the front door. She hadn't talked to Derek since her confession in the elevator, although she'd heard from the daycare lady that he had been by to visit Taylor every free moment he got.
As she swung the door open, shock ran through her at the sight of the dishevelled man before her. "Derek," she breathed out in disbelief.
"Meredith," he said curtly.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, tucking a piece of hair lightly behind her ear.
Derek took a deep sigh and dropped his head in shame before saying what he really didn't want to say. Calming his nerves, he raised his head back up and looked into her anxious face.
He knew that he should have talked to her before. He was just in such shock. After three years of being gone he comes back and finds out about a daughter that he never knew he had. And now, all he could seem to think about was Taylor. He knew that it was just as much his fault as Meredith's. If only he had wound up the nerve to just say goodbye, then she probably would have told him about the baby and they would have been raising her together. But he hadn't. And now here they were.
He raised his head to look at her expectant face, not believing he was about to do this.
With one last sigh, he opened his mouth and said the words he had been rehearsing all day, "I'm going back to New York."
He watched as her face fell and already regretted the next part of his statement.
"And I'm taking Taylor with me."
XXXXXXXXXXOk guys just keep reading. I promise it's not gonna be anything like Derek moving back to New York and taking Taylor with him. Derek would NEVER, EVER do that. And I wanna stay true to the characters so that's not what's gonna happen. Ssorry about the wait. I'm lazy. Ok well maybe not, but I've had sooooo many volleyball practices and games lately that I hardly have time for anything else!
Anyways …. Until next time.
Don't forget to review!
Oh and a thanks to Carly (my sister) on this one. Shes a great inspiration.
3Megan&Carly 3
