A/N: Two updates in one day! How organized am I?! If only I could be that organized in everyday life. I also forgot to mention that the song title bears absolutely no resemblance to the fic, I just thought it was a good title choice. But it's a great song, if you have the time you should check it out! And as always, enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Grey's Anatomy. Not the characters. Not the plot. Not anything. Nor do I own anything to do with the NHL. At all. But it would be pretty cool if I did.

It was Sunday, that meant that Derek was on his way to his childhood home in Seattle for his family's weekly dinner. Normally, Mark and himself couldn't make it, as they were usually playing somewhere miles away. But this week, he had been in San Jose, which, really, was as close as he was going to get.

He drew up to the house and saw that everybody else was already here. Kathleen and Noah were always first, he wasn't sure how she could always be so organised with three kids, but he guessed she had perfected it by now.

He walked through the front door and was welcomed by his mom who drew him into a hug almost immediately. Carolyn Shepherd was a mom, she always had been, and after raising five kids plus Mark, she had developed some internal skill that made her the best mother on the planet.

"Ma," he greeted with a smile.

"Derek, how are you? You look well. I haven't seen you for so long," she smiled.

"I know," he sighed, "but I'm here now, and I'm moving here pretty soon, you know that."

"I know," she said as she hugged him, "but a mom can still miss her son."

He smiled back at her, having to agree that he still missed her sometimes.

"Derbear," Amy announced.

Technically her name was Amelia, but he was the only one allowed to call her Amy, and he took full advantage of it.

"Amy! How's little Kate doing?"

"She's still not kicking. And I know she shouldn't be yet, but I really want her to," she sighed, rubbing circles on her more swollen stomach.

"It'll come," he smiled, mimicking the gesture.

"Where's that idiot husband of yours?"

"He's out the back with the rest of the brothers-in-law, they're scraping together the leaves for the kids to jump in."

"The twins' idea?" he asked.

"Who else's?" she laughed.

He walked into the living room finding Kathleen, Nancy and Liz already in there. Ashley was sat more to the side with Ella and Hailey, Logan, Andrew and Liam were probably playing Xbox somewhere. Ashley was Kathleen's oldest at 16, the oldest of them all. The three aforementioned boys were Kathleen's and Nancy's, they were sport obsessed and loved that two of their uncles played such a brutal sport. Although Logan, Kathleen's son, seemed more into baseball. Ella was Logan and Ashley's younger sister and got on with Liz's youngest Hailey as they were practically the same age. Nat was being cradled by Amelia, now in the armchair, she was only one, and his little sister was pregnant with another princess. His family was ever growing and now he couldn't help but see Meredith here with Aiden. He shook his head slightly, he really needed to stop this.

He greeted them quickly and went out to the back where Liz's twins were arguing who should go first. Jack, Liz's husband, was unsuccessfully trying to settle it. Derek stole a glance at Link who was clearly thinking the same thing. Link was a jock along with Mark and himself, playing in the MLB for the Seattle Mariners. They both took off running and jumped into the pile of leaves before the twins could.

They high fived and laughed as the twins jumped on them anyway.

"Ah, Elliot," Link laughed.

Derek rolled over and started tickling Lucas mercilessly as the boy laughed.

"No, Uncle Derek, stop," the little boy giggled.

"What? I can't hear you," Derek teased. Link did the same to Elliot and both of the boys rolled in the leaves in desperation at the mercy of their athletic uncles.

"Damn it Shep," John sighed, "I had just finished that, you and Link have completely ruined it."

"Sorry John, it just had to be done. The boys just couldn't decide who should go first, so we did," Derek reasoned.

"Clearly," John rolled his eyes.

Link and Derek just laughed. Link was Amy's husband and was to blame for Logan's favouritism towards baseball, rather than ice hockey. And it was starting to look like Hailey could be converted to baseball as well. Mark and Derek knew that Nat would soon be under the influence too. Link, Derek and Mark had an unofficial competition trying to get as many supporters of their own sport as they could. Amy wasn't a traitor and still preferred ice hockey, but only the kids were taken into consideration. So far, it was still 2-1. The two being Andrew and Liam, the one being Logan. Lucas and Elliot were still playing every sport under the sun and hadn't decided on one yet, but they hoped that they would lean towards hockey, they both knew how to skate anyway. Hailey was also looking like she would pick baseball and Nat was just a given, she was Link's kid after all. Ashley and Ella weren't really as interested and Ashley played basketball anyway, which was just wrong as far as he was concerned, hockey was definitely better. But that could just be him being bitter because he hadn't been the tallest kid in school. Derek knew that if Aiden was here, it would make it 3-1.

After several rounds of jumping in and scraping the leaves, they were called inside for dinner, just as Mark arrived.

"This looks great Mom," Derek said, admiring the meal set in front of him.

"Thank you dear, you always say that."

"Only because it's true," he laughed.

They all sat down and ate amicably just as they always did, until the inevitable interrogation came up.

"So, Derek, are you seeing anyone?" Kathleen asked.

"Well he does have Mer-" Mark started.

"Shut up Mark," Derek warned.

"Oh so there is someone," Amy laughed.

"Not really," he said lamely, eyeing Mark who snickered.

"Oh, come on Derek, you know you can't resist telling us, if you really like her, you're going to bring her here at some point anyway."

"Fine," Derek said, allowing a small smile onto his face.

"She's called Meredith Grey, she's a neurosurgeon at Seattle Grace, well, a neuro resident, she loves it. She's hardly watched ice hockey in her life and didn't know who I was when we met. She's gorgeous, kind, selfless, loving. She loves her beautiful, crazy son, Aiden. Who did know who I was and loves ice hockey. He watches all of the Flyers game and is so fun and quirky, he's like a ball of energy. They're both… amazing."

By now the small smile was a full-fledged grin, he couldn't help it. His sisters stared at him after his verbal torrent, all of them smiling.

"That's great Derek. Are you going out with her?" Mom asked.

"No, but I want to," he breathed, "She's more hesitant because of Aiden, she wants someone that isn't going to just leave and break Aiden's heart, but I could never do that. So, I'm trying to show her that I can be that guy," he said sincerely.

"She and Aiden sound amazing, how old are they?"

"Mer is 26, so only a year younger than me. Aiden's five now, he came to the game on his birthday and I took them both out afterwards," he smiled.

His sisters shared knowing glances and hoped that someday they could meet this mysterious Meredith who made their brother smile in a way that they had never seen before.

xxxxx

The Stanley Cup Playoffs had officially started, and Derek was looking forward to it. All of the games were being held in Calgary, and most importantly, Seattle. The team had been here for three weeks and he was fairly sure the majority of those days he had talked to Meredith at least once. The Flyers' first game was at the new arena and they were playing a round robin first. At least they couldn't get knocked out of this straight off the bat. Rather than try to train at the arena for the first round, they had to settle for the local one used for minor league games. The Bruins had got there first; they would get it later but for now they were at this one. It was certainly smaller but the rink was good. They had rented it out for the afternoon until late afternoon, when the younger teams got to play.

They went through all of their normal drills before they went into a full game. He saw, in the corner of his eye, a few people trickling in in skates, assumedly the little league. He loved that he could help these kids see what they could become when they grew up. They could be the next generation of good ice hockey.

There were a few minutes left of their session when he spotted those daring green eyes again. He couldn't believe it, she was here. But it made sense, Aiden was probably lacing up to get on and play. His wonderings were secured when he heard "Go Derek!" from the stands. He smiled gratefully at him and continued the training game until the time was up.

"Well done boys, good session today. I'll see you all at the meeting at the hotel this evening," the coach said before dismissing them.

Before he escaped back to the changing rooms, he walked over to the two people that had had his attention since they had walked in.

"Hello, fancy seeing you here," he grinned.

"Hi Derek, were you training for your game tomorrow?" Aiden asked.

"Yeah, are you here to train too?"

"Yeah, it's my first proper ice hockey session. I've had ice skating lessons before, I'm real good, but never hockey. I got my own stick for my birthday, Mom said I could start when I was five."

"That's great bud! Do you mind if I watch too? Maybe while I'm here I can give you pointers and training from the most experienced person here, no offence Mer," he chuckled.

"None taken," she giggled.

"It would be so cool if you watched, then I can be like you. And people will be jealous that I know Derek Shepherd," he grinned.

"Good. You don't mind do you Mer?" he asked.

"Not at all," she blushed, looking up at him.

He smiled again and sat down right next to her, took off his gloves, and helmet and laid his stick down on the floor. Meredith bit her lip looking up at his hair and he ran his hair through it subconsciously, he knew he got serious helmet hair from hockey, but that wasn't why Meredith was watching it so intensely. She snapped out of her reverie and smiled at him.

"Ok, are you ready bud?" he addressed Aiden.

"Yeah, I'm ready, I can't wait!"

"Good, but before you race off, let me show you my secret handshake."

"Secret handshake?"

"Yeah, only people really important to me get to know about the secret handshake. And you have to love ice hockey," Derek explained, "And you, bud, are both of those things."

"Ok," Aiden grinned, his chest puffing at his importance to Derek, "what is it?"

Derek led him through the handshake that consisted of various moves. Fist bumps, high fives and what he called Flyer wings. Once it was finished, Aiden announced he was ready.

"Excellent. Go play hockey, but give your Mom a hug first," Derek insisted.

Aiden did so and tottered off to play his first session.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," she all but whispered.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I'm okay, I'm just tired. It was a long week. I, um, I lost two patients today," she sighed.

"Oh Mer, I'm sorry," he said, following his urge to tuck a stray hair out of her face and behind her ear. She leaned into his touch before receding again and fiddling with her watch.

"It will be okay," he encouraged.

"I know, I have a good surgery tomorrow, and Aiden was thrilled this morning to come here, this is the best part of my day."

"Good."

"What about you? Are you ready to kick the Bruins' ass?" she said as she elbowed him playfully; her mood brightened.

"Oh, so you are paying attention after all," he smirked.

"I figure I'm going to be more and more subjected to it, so, if you can't beat them join them," she smirked back.

"Well it's much better this side of the fence, you know, hockey and all," he whispered, leaning closer.

"Oh really?" she said quietly, leaning towards him.

"Hmmm," he mumbled, glancing at her lips.

"Prove it," she breathed.

His eyes scanned hers for a second and her tongue darted out of her mouth, grazing her lips and he was helpless but to put his lips to hers, his hand cupping her cheek, keeping her locked in a kiss that left them both breathless.

"Did that prove it?" he said breathlessly.

"Yeah, yeah. Definitely," she nodded slowly, still recovering.

"Good," he said in a quiet voice.

He opened his mouth to say something when the whistle went and popped them out of the bubble they had created. They watched silently as the kids skated around the rink, Aiden leading the group happily. He was still trying to come up with something to say when he felt her small hand crawl into his. He squeezed it slightly, smiling at her, she reciprocated and breathed a contented sigh. They spent the rest of the session like that, in contented silence. When Aiden walked back over to them, Meredith hastily pulled her hand out of his comforting hold and waited for Aiden to rant enthusiastically to them.

The absence of her hand in his felt like he had lost a part of him, but he figured he was just being overly dramatic and focused on Aiden instead.

"That was so cool," he beamed, stretching his rosy cheeks.

"Yeah?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah! Adam is really cool and he's probably the best, so I want to be as good as him. Will you help me Derek? Do you have time now?"

The adults laughed lightly at his enthusiasm, "I'm sorry I can't help now bud, I have to go for a meeting, but the day after we play Boston, I can train with you," Derek suggested.

"Yes! Thank you, Derek!" he said, hugging the man that had swiftly become his role model.

Meredith stood up and Derek followed suit. She stepped forward hesitantly and hugged Derek, who was still clad in all of his kit.

"Oh," he breathed, and squeezed her back, breathing in the scent of her hair, some kind of flower that he couldn't place.

"I'll see you around Der," she said softly as she pulled out of his embrace.

"Yeah, I'll see you around. See ya," he said, watching as she took Aiden's gloved hand and led him back to the changing rooms. Aiden turned around and waved, Derek smiled and waved back, before he made his way to his locker.

A/N: I thought I should show Derek's family in this one and how their family functions if you like. It was fun to write, I have to admit. And now Meredith and Derek's relationship is developing further! We'll see what happens...

Stay tuned for more updates :)