Obligatory disclaimer: sadly, Grey's Anatomy is property of Shonda Rhimes and ABC, not me.

A/N: Some of you may think this is fast but I didn't really agree with how quickly Meredith went back to work after the accident or how little she stood up for herself. Plus if I was completely following the show, I'm pretty sure Addison wouldn't be friends with her. Anyways- this chapter features ballsy!Meredith.

Around dinnertime, Meredith looked up from her email to see that Derek was standing at the living room door. It had been two and a half weeks since the accident. She had been released a week ago and would be returning to work in about 4 days. Actually, she still had to make plans with Addison.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, are you coming in or not? My mother always said that people who stand in doorways never succeeded. Said it to me quite a lot, actually. That's why I remember it. Which is a pretty crappy thing to remember because I'd rather remember the knight one, or the one with the water. Still, it's pretty amazing. I can't remember idioms very well!" She blushed when she realized that she had been rambling again.

Derek had visibly flinched when she mentioned water, but sighed and sat down next to her. "Sorry Mer, I've been busy. Surgery, you know…"

Meredith looked at him coldly. "I know all about surgery and how it preoccupies time, Derek Shepherd, or have you forgotten that my mother was Ellis Grey? That's not an excuse. I almost died, Derek, and you can't even be bothered to come and see me during the day, to come by the house other than late at night? You should be ashamed of yourself! You pulled me out of the damn water, you breathed for me, you hovered for hours until I was released and now that's it? That's all I get? At least at the hospital I had Izzie, Cristina, George, Alex, Richard, Adele, Addison and even Thatcher and Susan spending time with me! But now they're working or unavailable and can't stop by as much so I'm all by myself in this huge house. And where are you? With them. Working! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Derek's face turned alarmingly red as he yelled. "How dare you compare me to that bitch! She didn't give a damn about you and I'm here now, aren't I? Was she ever there when you needed her? No! So I'm sorry that there are patients that need to be saved, Meredith, but you don't need to be so damn selfish! Yeah, I hovered to make sure you were still breathing because I was fucking terrified when that little girl told me you were in the water! Pulling you out of the water, breathing for you, do you think I wanted to do that? Do you think I enjoyed sitting in the hallway for hours wondering why you went in that water, thinking that you had done it on purpose?"

Meredith gasped and flinched when he said that. "How dare you!"

"How dare I what, Meredith? While I was sitting there, being comforted by Mark and Addison of all people, you were in some happy place because you were dead, Meredith! That's what happens when you don't swim hard enough! You can swim, Meredith, you're a grown woman! You were ten feet from the fucking dock! You could have made it, you could have swum! You won't talk to anyone about what happened and you're shutting me out! If this is how you're going to be, Meredith, then set me free and end my misery. I can't fucking breathe for you anymore. I can't do it."

Meredith stood angrily and put her hands on her hips. "Derek Christopher Shepherd, what makes you automatically think I can swim? My mother was Ellis fucking Grey; all she cared about was become a world-renowned surgeon! Do you think she had time to ferry me back and forth to swim class? Maybe Thatcher took me to a class or two before he left but you can't fucking assume that I can swim! I fell 12 ft into that water Derek; I had the welts on my back to prove it! The patient knocked me in and hitting that water winded me! Then the water was so cold, and I fought, dammit, I did! Do you think I wanted to drown? And then for just a second, just one, I thought about how my mother hated me, my father abandoned me, how you chose Addison over me, and for one second, I thought, what's the point? No one really loves me. So I stopped swimming."

Meredith had tears running down her face and took a deep breath before continuing. "Then I realized that I didn't want to die, but the water was so cold, I couldn't fight it! But then when I was in limbo or whatever and Denny said that my dying would change you and Cristina and George, and that all I would get of you and my friends was a whiff and that wasn't enough for me! So I fought. I came back for you! So don't you fucking accuse me of giving up when I came back! I haven't talked about this because it fucking sucked, okay? You accuse me of being selfish- I had a near death whatever and you taking time to talk to me would be nice! You're the one locked up in the hospital, cutting endlessly and looking for excuses to avoid coming to stay with me. Do I need to remind you that your marriage with Addison was falling apart because you were absent, Derek? You started staying at the hospital more and more! You don't want to breathe for me? Fine. I don't want you to have to breathe for me because I am a strong woman! I don't need you. You want to be freed, to not have to breathe for me anymore? Fine then Derek. We are over. We are so over it isn't even funny. I can't believe I didn't see this side of you before! You are a free man, Derek Shepherd. Get out."

Derek's face blanched as he realized what she had said and he tried to walk closer to her. "Meredith, I didn't mean- "

"Yes you did, Derek. Now get away from me and out of my house."

"But Mer- "

"Don't you 'Mer' me! Now get out of my fucking house!"

Seeing that she was livid and not backing down, he left the house defeated. Never had he thought that Meredith, his Meredith, would actually break up with him. He decided that he would get her back but would give her some space for now. When he got back to the trailer, he called Richard and requested some time off to go visit his family and figure out what to do to get her back because she belonged with him.

Five minutes after Derek left Meredith got up and locked the door before collapsing onto the couch and sobbing. She couldn't believe that she had missed how much of an ass he was. Pulling out her cell phone, she tried to figure out who she could call.

'Cristina is out,' she though wryly, 'she would find him and beat the shit out of him, which is something that can be done after when we have a plan. Plus she'd bring tequila and I can't drink so that would be depressing.'

'Izzie and George are out since they're both on-call tonight. Besides,' she mused, smirking, 'I don't feel like baking and watching chick flicks with Izzie and George has Callie. Alex has enough stuff to deal with.'

After staring at her phone for a good twenty minutes, she chose a number and hit call, waiting nervously for the person to pick up.

"Hello?"

A/N: I've always wanted Meredith to yell at him like that- she has it in her too, we all saw that with her reaction to him calling her a whore! Plus I don't believe Ellis would have taken her to any sort of lessons. Anyway, yes, it's a cliffhanger, but I'm sure you can guess. Also- I would really, really appreciate reviews guys (and girls.) They make me more motivated to write because really, I like to know that people are actually reading! Next chapter will hopefully be up in a few days.

Posted July 27th, 2009