Hey guys, here is Chapter seven for you; please review it! I've been doing my exams, but have found a little time to watch Grey's and push out another chap.

Love Kim

Disclaimer: Somebody told me I didn't own anything. So I cried. I realised it was true. But I kept crying.

Chapter 7: "Did I Make Me Up?"

"Derek?" said Meredith, nudging him. "Are you okay?" Derek was not okay. His eyes scanned the crowd, trying to find Addison.

"I'm fine," he said. "Did they just say Montgomery-Shepherd?" he asked. Meredith forced herself to nod.

"Yes," she said. "Do you know why?" she whispered, as the first contestant, Miss Catherine Daley came onto the stage, ready to spell.

"Only what logic says. I had no idea Addison was pregnant." Meredith nodded, and took Derek's hand in hers.

She kissed his temple, and whispered, "It's okay," into his ear. She thought it felt odd being the comforter, and not the comforted, for a change.

- - -

The competition was over. Finished. Done. Cassy had finished second, Emerson third. Meredith was proud, and so was Derek, but they robotically retrieved Cassy from the waiting room, to take her home. They were supposed to fly back to Seattle the next day.

"Wait," said Meredith. "Derek do you want to take Cass back to the hotel? I'll meet you there." Derek looked quizzically at Meredith.

"Oh. No, Mer, please. Leave it. C'mon. Let's go. Back to life." He looked pleadingly at Meredith, and wanted only to pick her up and whisk her and Cassy to a place where the Addison's of the world couldn't find them.

"Derek, you have a nasty habit of letting things get out of control. Just when you think things are going to disappear, they come back and bite you on the ass. So please, let me. Okay?"

"Last time things came back at me I lost you," said Derek. "Please, Mer, come with us now. We're your family."

"I know," she said, kissing his cheek. "That is not going to change." She mustered up courage enough to smile at Derek and pat Cassy's head. Then she turned around, so they wouldn't see the pearly tear that slid down her face and sliced her cheek in half.

"Wait!" said Derek. "Meredith. You're my family. I love you."

"I love you too," she smiled. "I'll be back soon. Go."

"Marry me." Derek looked at Meredith's back, because she wouldn't reveal her face. She said nothing; she walked towards the waiting room.

- - -

"Hey-lo! You're Cassandra's mom aren't you?" a voice rang from the room, as Meredith walked in, and a big-breasted woman grabbed Meredith's hands. "Congratulations, you must be so proud."

"Oh. Err…thankyou," Meredith smiled awkwardly and tried to free her hands. "Umm you haven't seen the New York contestant have you? Emerson Montgomery-Shep…Shepherd, have you?"

"Actually I think they're in the changing rooms," said the woman. "Fiery red hair? Mother the same?"

"Unfortunately yes," sighed Meredith. "Thankyou." And she walked into the change rooms and sat outside the row of closed doors, waiting for fate to open one.

A door opened, and Meredith squeezed her eyes shut, realising just how much she didn't want to come face to face with Addison. Not now her life was seemingly on track.

"You look mighty ridiculous," said a husky voice, which was so close to her face she felt the wisps of warm breath of her cheeks. Meredith opened her eyes. It was Emerson.

"Oh right; it's the light's they're so…congratulations. Third! Well done." Emerson was studying Meredith's face intently, as though trying to place her contours with the thousands of faces she'd seen over her rather short life.

"Thankyou," she said. "You're Cassy's mom, right? Seattle?" Meredith nodded, and a lump formed in her throat. "Emerson. Where's your mom?" Emerson shrugged. Just as she did so, Addison came around the corner.

"Em, for God's sake. Please, we've got to get to the airport. We're going to Seattle tomorrow." Addison looked sad, as though she'd been crying. Her face was slightly red and her eyes were puffy. She grabbed Emerson's hand, and Emerson sighed, and waved good-bye to Meredith.

- - -

Meredith leant back in her seat for a moment, and sighed. She didn't have strength to face Addison. Seattle though? Addison was coming to Seattle? With Emerson? Derek's daughter? Meredith didn't want to think it. Derek's daughter? She hoped not. His Other daughter. But was that enough?

All she wanted was to go to her hotel and hug Derek. She wanted to kiss Cassy's forehead, run her fingers through Derek's thinning hair, hear him say 'I love you'; she wanted to say 'yes'. How she wanted to say 'yes.' But she didn't have the strength. Instead, she lay down across the hard, wooden chairs, curled up in the foetal position, and let herself release exhausted sobs.

"Meredith? Meredith!" she woke, startled, to George's voice. He was shaking her, gently. She sat up, stiff, from lying across a row of chairs in the waiting room at Seattle Grace. "Are you okay? You must be exhausted, if you can sleep through contractions."

"I am tired," she agreed, looking around the waiting room. "What time is…owww!" She winced in deep pain for thirty seconds or so. "Contraction."

"Okay, let's get you up to the labour ward," George said smiling, helping Meredith stand up, her pregnant belly protruding so far from her slight frame. She took his hand as another contraction hit, and Meredith, sleep no longer acting as pain reliever, succumbed to the full extent of her contractions. She wailed in pain, and clamped George's hand firmly in hers. His fingertips went white.

"So, any more names planned?" he asked, trying to distract her from the pain. "What about Sam? Samantha for a girl, Sam for a boy?" Meredith shook her head. Samantha Shepherd. No. "Double S."

"Huh? Mer? No double S's in Samantha Grey." Meredith sighed. What was she thinking? Her baby's last name would be Grey. Of course. It was only in her dreams its name was Shepherd.

"Daniel if it's a boy," she said. "And I still like Cassandra for a girl. Cassy. I think it's cute."

- - -

"It's a girl, Dr. Grey. You have a beautiful baby girl." The midwife handed Meredith the tiny bundle, and Meredith gathered strength to look at it. She was very red, and covered in muck. But she opened her eyes, and Meredith could only see one person. She handed the baby back to the midwife, and shut her own eyes.

"Has she got a name?" asked the midwife.

"Cassandra, I suppose," said Meredith, tired. "Cassandra Ellis Grey." She closed her eyes, and let her thoughts put her to sleep. 'Cassandra Ellis Shepherd.' 'Cassy Shepherd.' She woke up. 'Cassy Grey.'