Meredith couldn't stop thinking about the look on Derek's face. She had never seen him so upset. It wasn't just an angry look, it was sad too. Surely he didn't think she could have a baby. She was a single intern. Interns worked like 27 days a week. Besides, they weren't even really in a relationship yet. She felt devastated remembering his eyes being so unlike the eyes she loved so well. She leaned against the wall for a minute unable to overcome the tears that had been threatening to spill.

"Hey. None of that. "

Meredith looked up as she heard Mark's voice, and someone reached out and guided her into an empty patients room. Shutting the door behind them he pulled her over to the made hospital bed and sat her down.

"Meredith. You need to know. You need to know what happened with Derek and Addison, that killed them. What really drove the wedge in their marriage. I'm surprised he never told you."

Meredith looked up at him, confused.

"Did you never wonder why two prominent doctors in their early forties never had children? Especially an OB-GYN. And Derek, well his family is made for breeding lots of kids. He has about 400 nieces and nephews it seems."

"I asked him once…. If things would have been different if they had kids." She said softly afraid to hear what might be coming. Did Derek have kids somewhere?

Mark sighed, he hadn't wanted to be in the middle of Derek and Meredith, but this was something she needed to know, and he was telling her to save their relationship, if it could be. He was doing it for Derek.. and for himself. He wanted Derek and Meredith together for his own selfish reasons yes, but also because he hadn't seen his old friend this way.. well ever really, but happy for a long time.

"Derek and I, we were friends before Addie. From college. Addie came in our med school years. She was interested in Derek from the start, but he wasn't biting. He liked to date , never med students, he stuck to the fluff, him and I together, not having time to forge on relationships. But Addison, she was headstrong. She wanted Derek, and she wasn't going to leave him alone until she had him. She is a determined woman. She hung around us, he came to admire her for her brains, I think more than her looks. I think both of us realized at the same time how amazing she was, smart and drop dead gorgeous. I told him I was going to ask her out if he was sure he didn't want to, and it made him consider her again. Then they were just Derek and Addison. The perfect couple. We all remained friends. They got married, we all had our work, we were making names for ourselves, the money was coming in. It was a charmed life. Derek had joined a practice and he was getting settled, and he wanted a family. Addison kept putting him off, determined to make a giant name for herself. Until, somehow… she ended up pregnant. She was really sick, puking all day, and he said he finally asked her if she was pregnant, which made her burst into tears. He was elated, finally a baby. But Addison told him there was no way she could take time out to have a baby now. Things were starting to happen for her, and they could do it later."

Meredith gasped.

He nodded, continuing, "Derek wasn't the kind, isn't the kind of man to assert himself over what a woman wants, he told her whatever she wanted. She chose to abort. I think he stopped caring when she told him she couldn't have a baby. It killed the feelings he had for her, when she killed the baby. He started working really late, and she was alone more and more, so I tried to step in for him. She decided a few years later to try to have a baby to try to make things better, but come to find out she had adhesions on her uterus and tubes, and couldn't conceive. She tried to talk him into other means, but he didn't want to. He told her they were too busy. I don't think he ever forgave her."

Meredith was crying, realizing how much it must have hurt him to hear her say that. Mark hugged her and then he tilted her chin up and looked at her. "Grey, if you are pregnant, you need to think long and hard. Surgeons can have babies. And even Interns, they have done it, if you want to. If you don't then you have that choice to make too. But I thought you needed all the facts. Derek won't do you wrong, and he wouldn't pretend to be happy if he wasn't. I saw him after he talked to you, he's devastated. I hope you can work this out."

Meredith nodded. She needed to talk to Derek. He should have told her all of this before. If she was pregnant she would love a baby, as scared as she was, she had been more scared Derek wouldn't be really happy about it. And being a single mom was scary yes, but could she really kill a baby for her career? She knew she was afraid to be Ellis, but wouldn't her being a better mother be better than not being one?

She stood up, "thank you Mark." She smiled at him and headed to find Derek.