Title: The Ties That Bind

Author: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for language, and sex

Disclaimer: We don't own Grey's.

Summary: Three years ago, Derek moves to New York with Addison. He finally decides to leave her upon hearing that Meredith is getting married

Author's Note: We're slaves to your opinions, and we need reviews. We also want to know- Meredith's fiance: Finn or someone else. Review and let us know! 730 hits and 14 reviews? Come on, click the button!

"I was crying over, now I am smiling, I think of you." –Finley Quaye

Seattle

6:24 am

Derek climbed in the rented car and took off. He had spent the plane ride staring straight ahead of him, his mind spinning. He knew it was a bad idea bursting into their house, assuming Meredith still lived there, at seven am, but he would go crazy if he didn't see her.

Because when he thought about, it all came back to her. She was the reason his heart was still beating.

It all came back to Meredith Grey.

It all came spiraling back to Derek Shepherd. He was always in her head. Three fucking years later, and she couldn't get him out of her head, or her dreams, or her apartment, or the hospital, or Joe's or anywhere she'd ever been with him. He was still there.

She was supposed to be in love. She had the perfect fiance. He was charming and cute, and sensitive and funny, and they had made plans. And she intended to follow through with them.

But she couldn't get Derek Shepherd out of her head.

Downtown Seattle

7:15 am

Izzie Stevens rolled out of bed, padded to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. For once, it wasn't raining. She smiled at the sun streaming through the windows. She paused, like she did every morning and thought of Denny.

She smiled again, knowing he was watching her, and felt content. The fact this contentment had everything to do with Alex Karev did not escape her. She smiled as she heard Meredith's alarm go off. Five years at Seattle Grace and she still lived with Meredith and George.

There was a knock at their door. Alex. Had to be. No one else she knew would be here this early. No one else she knew got up this early, except for Burke, and she wasn't expecting him to show up at the door.

She opened it, and came face to face with Derek.

"You're back."

"Where is she?"

"Sleeping, as far as I know." Izzie said. She raised her eyebrows. "What exactly is your plan here, Derek? Besides charging in, white horse evident and guns a' blazing?"

He frowned. "I have no idea."

"Whoa."

"George?" Derek asked incredulously. "Aren't you guys ever going to move?"

"Like to New York with my wife? Maybe without saying goodbye?"

Derek looked at the floor. "I'm not proud of that."

"She called the hospital, you know. Asking for you. They told her you quit, and she dropped the phone because her hands were shaking."

"I'm sorry."

George's eyes flashed angrily. "I'm not the one you almost destroyed."

Guilt befell Derek Shepherd in the living room of their apartment.

"Just do better this time." George said.

Meredith woke up to voices. It was usually George, Izzie and Good Morning America, but there was something different about today.

She got out of bed in her boxers and her wife beater, what Izzie called her Gretchen Wilson pajamas, and shuffled downstairs. Izzie and George were in the kitchen, and jumped when they saw her.

"I gotta shower."

"I gotta change."

She eyed them strangely as they bolted from the kitchen. She was going about the morning like every morning, pouring French Roast from the coffee pot into her favorite mug when she heard the voice.

"Meredith."

Hollywood doesn't lie. The cliché movie moments about how time stops, the world spins and you can't breathe? All true.

She thought it was true. Time really had stopped. Maybe the city had slowed and the world stopped it's spinning just long enough for her life to be changed by those syllables. She would know that voice anywhere.

Life was all about nanoseconds she thought wildly. In the time it had taken for that voice to register, everything had changed. She turned around slowly, and there he was.

"You're in my kitchen." She choked out.

He smiled. "Yea. Yea, I am."

She stared at him. He looked good. A little tired, but good. Her heart was jumping.

He stared back. She was tan, and her hair was longer, but eyes seemed a little duller than he remembered. Derek felt an itch in his fingers, and he wanted to touch her.

"What's going on Derek?" she whispered. "What about New York and Addison?"

"I'm so sorry." He whispered back, not sure why they couldn't raise their decibles. "I never should have gone. I knew the second we got there it would never work with Addison. I should have come back right away."

"You should have told me you were leaving."

He looked at her hands. They were shaking. He stepped closer to her, and took both of her hands in his own.

Her eyes were filled with questions, and he wanted to answer them all, but technicalities would only ruin this intricate moment. So instead, he kissed her. And he was surprised when she kissed him back. Deepened it. Pulled him closer.

Derek inched his fingers under her tank top and let them play across her stomach. He pulled back slightly. "Meredith, I'm-"

Sorry. He was going to say he was sorry, but before it could come out their lips were together again. Maybe it was him who made the first move, because he was too proud to admit what he'd done to her. Or maybe it was her, because she felt that if she kissed him enough, she would be convinced this was really happening.

It was unmistakably her who pulled away. "Jesus, Derek. I'm engaged." She said breathlessly.

He nodded. "I know."

Her eyes narrowed. "So that's it? You leave without a word, and have your wife send me Christmas cards for three years, until I finally get things together, and then you just decide to cruise back in?"

"I should never have left. I was ready to leave New York and I got the call that you were getting married. And I knew where I was going."

They stared at each other. Tears welled in Meredith's eyes, but she wouldn't let them spill over. He reached for her, and pulled her to him tightly.

"God I missed you." He whispered into her hair.

"I missed you too." She admitted. She couldn't let go of him. Like letting him go would make it all a dream. Like he would just fade away if she didn't hold on tight.

He looked over her shoulder out the window, at the rising sun illuminating Seattle. He smiled, appreciating the sight. He felt something in that sun rise, and it gave him hope.

Meredith's brain turned over everything that had just happened, and then shut off. And she kissing Derek Shepherd again.