A/N: Hello, my faithfuls! I've been horrible at updating, but life has a knack for getting in the way of writing more and more as I grow old. It's kind of a short chapter, again, but better than nothing!

Enjoy!

Chapter 24

Meredith's life settles into a rhythm that is so well-oiled and easy that she knows something bad is looming on the horizon.

Life cannot go too easy on her.

Especially when she gets a patient with the hiccups. Hiccups is beyond easy, something bad is coming.

She regrets not scheduling two surgery days in a row as soon as she sees the chart. And why they're paging Neuro here is an even bigger mystery for her.

When she reads the chart and notices that Derek is the resident on the case she knows why: the guy is teasing her.

Sometimes Derek pages her for crazy ER cases just for her to unwind for a second during her paperwork-filled days and she loves how much something this simple helps her.

She sees him draw a privacy curtain and move closer to her with a smile on his face.

"So, this lady came in yesterday with the hiccups, they gave her chlorpromazine and she seemed fine. Then she shows up again this morning, still hiccuping, claiming that the drug doesn't really work," he says, sure of himself.

"Have you tried an endoscopic gastroplication?" Meredith says, watching his amused smile again.

"Suggested it. I was just paging you because she said yes and I still need attending supervision for this kind of procedures."

Meredith laughs at the childlike smile on his face, what she dubbed his David smile. That man. "Fine, let's go meet the patient."

They enter the room and before Derek can say anything, she already recognizes the woman. And specifically, her husband next to her.

So much for easy days.

Derek is so excited to work alongside Meredith in one of what he calls "make your workday better" cases. He likes to surprise her with easy cases that still require attending's supervision, so they can spend some time together and she can take a break from the hard patients.

He's sure Meredith is gonna love meeting Susan.

"Thatcher?" Meredith says, when she spots the couple, the lightness and smile gone from her demeanor.

"M...Meredith," the older man stutters, his eyes wide. Even the persistent hiccuping from Susan seems to fade in the background as the tension mounts.

"What are you doing here?" Meredith says, surprise and maybe a hint of distress filling her tone. Derek is very confused by the behavior.

"Susan...We live nearby," the older man manages to get out clumsily, and it sounds like a big, fat excuse. "This is the best hospital in Seattle."

"Of course I know that." Meredith snaps, and she never snaps at patients, no matter how trying they end up being. Something is not adding up.

"I told you we should have gone to Mercy West," Susan says, which puzzles Derek even more. "Meredith, I'm sorry...hic...I didn't think you would be called to consult. Is there something...hic...neurological I should be concerned about?"

Meredith sighs. "No, not yet. It's just Der...Dr. Shepherd here likes to page me when we find an unusual or rare case to supervise him, so here I am. I will find another attending for you."

Derek really has no idea what to make of this. He can't understand what's going on at the moment, and everybody is acting like this is common knowledge. He hates feeling out of the loop.

Before Meredith can even exit the curtain, though, something even more unexpected happens. Chief Grey slides open the curtain of the trauma cubicle, peeking her head in.

"Dr. Grey, when you're done here I need a consult for my patient in…" And before she can finish the sentence, her eyes widen too. Her professional glance turns stony. "Thatcher. What the hell are you doing here?"

Derek is thoroughly confused now. "Mer, what's going on?" he whispers, as he watches Ellis Grey glare at the older man with fierceness. He has never seen her look that angry, not even when the interns decided to perform surgeries on themselves a couple of weeks ago.

Meredith grabs his arm and drags him outside, wandering for a moment as she trails him along. She finally hides in a small, cramped supply closet, shutting the door behind their backs.

She's breathing heavily and her eyes are wide and full of tears.

"Mere…"

"That man is my dad. My biological dad. My parents divorced when I was five. He cheated with Susan, my mom cheated with Richard. They divorced and I never saw him again. One day he was supposed to take me to the park, the next he had vanished into thin air."

"What?"

"I...My mom moved us to Boston and he never showed up. He got another family, other daughters, and we were left to fend for ourselves. And then we moved back because my mom was pregnant and all of a sudden, Thatcher had a new family, Mom and Richard were a family and I was in between. Nobody's child."

Before she can say anything more, Derek grabs her in his arms and holds her tightly. She squeezes him just as fiercely, and he can feel tears on his scrubs.

"I am so sorry. I wish I knew…"

"It's not your fault. You just wanted to make my day better." Her voice is broken, her whole body slumps against him.

Derek holds her, not sure how to comfort her after the revelation.

"I mean, Richard was wonderful to me, and I never told him or Mom what I felt about them. I kind of rebelled from age thirteen and went out of the house as soon as possible."

"I'm sorry you had such a hard time, I really am. I had no idea this case would drag up so many memories."

"We managed to patch things up, as you can see, so we're good. We're okay. It hasn't been easy, but we're here. It's just...everytime I see Thatcher I'm reminded of all that baggage and I'm not the nicest person to be around of."

"I'm still here, Mere," he smiles into her hair, as she buries herself deeper into his embrace.

The hum of the hospital fills their silence as they hug in the dim closet, their breathing in sync as their worries fade away.

When the next day comes, Meredith dreads going to work for the first time in ages.

Susan is still in the hospital after the endoscopic gastroplication. Complications arose, of course, and she's still in the General ward, fighting an infection. Ellis is on the warpath, even though Richard is trying to keep her calm and restore balance.

All of Meredith's problems came biting her in the ass in just a single day. On top of everything, she's trying to avoid Derek, because even though he's been amazing through all this, he's still her nosy boyfriend who wants to know more, and she's not ready to dig back into more memories just yet.

Yet, she's morbidly drawn to the room where Susan is.

Subtly, Meredith checks at the nurses' station if she can find her chart, see how her bacterial endocarditis is reacting to the antibiotics. She could ask Derek, who she thinks is still on Susan's case, but that would mean a much longer conversation than she can handle this morning.

Today, Meredith wants to hide in an OR and never get out until the end of her shift.

Again, the world has other plans.

Her breath hitches in her throat when, just around the corner and right in front of the nurses' desk, she sees Thatcher and his brand new daughters.

Meredith remembers meeting Molly during her first year of residency, when she came in to deliver her daughter and almost died. She had never met Lexie before, though, since at the time she was still studying at Harvard. Medical school, on top of it.

Lexie is now ready to graduate and enter the internship mill, and Meredith can bet she'll have to bear with her next year. She can't imagine how awkward it will be to have Maggie and Lexie in the same class.

"Meredith!" Lexie herself calls out, clearly eager for some news.

"Lexie, hey," Meredith mumbles, her lack of enthusiasm in the reply not a deterrent for the oldest of the Grey sisters to smile back.

"Do you know anything about Mom?" Lexie asks, and Molly and Thatcher seem to hide behind her.

"I was just about to find her chart," Meredith says, knowing it's not a complete lie. "I will be stuck in surgery all day most likely, so I wanted to check on her early on." Meredith is surprised by how easily she can lie to their faces. They believe her in earnest.

Meredith reads through Susan's chart, noticing that while her night has been tumultuous, the antibiotics seem to be working their magic. She had a relapse around three in the morning when they considered surgery, but the situation seems to have stabilized.

"From what I can see, she seems to be doing better," Meredith says, a sigh of relief coming from both Molly and Thatcher.

"What about the bacterial endocarditis. She was barely breathing during the night," Lexie points out.

"They increased the antibiotics, and she's responding better. It's still touch-and-go, but I'd relax if I were you."

She can see the hostility in Lexie's gaze that means she will never understand and part of her is sure she might never understand indeed. Meredith lets out a loud sigh before she politely excuses herself to hide in her OR.

Surgery, as usual, will save her life.

Meredith rubs the bridge of her nose, sitting in her office, wishing she could close the door and leave every problem behind. Even if the door is closed, all the problems followed her in here, and she cannot escape. She feels like she can barely breathe, as overwhelmed as she is.

Susan is almost okay now, even though she's still in the hospital, which is fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. Susan in the hospital means Thatcher and the daughters are there too, and she cannot deal with them any longer.

Meredith needs quiet and silence and alone time.

When her door flings open, she knows more doom is coming and she's relieved when she sees it's anything but doom.

"Hi, Meri!" David Shepherd is standing right in front of her, a smile on his lips, his dinosaur shirt already turning her day around.

"Hey, David, how are you? It feels like I haven't seen you in forever."

"It's been forever," he mumbles, coming closer.

She really, really wants to hug the little boy, but she knows she shouldn't. She didn't want to bother Derek for too long, even though he has always been supportive, but now she really, really needs some human contact to pretend she still has faith in people. To pretend that not all children will end up as screwed up as she is if they don't have a parent.

Meredith has not seen David in almost a week. She can't believe it's been that long, while usually she can catch a sight of the little boy almost every day. Yet, this week has been a pretty crappy one, especially toward the end, with Susan and Thatcher, Lexie and Molly, and even Ellis and Richard. She can now totally understand what it means for David to be overwhelmed.

"What were you up to this week? What fun stuff did I miss?" she asks, hoping to clear her mind from some of the craziness.

"Tons! You like ice cream, right?"

"I love it. Remember one of our first meetings?" David giggles when she recalls their very first ice cream date after she stitched up his forehead.

"We ate tubs and tubs of it. Well, I did. Daddy got me ice cream, then Nana also got me ice cream the day after and with Uncle Mark I had banana splits."

"Oh, jeez, I haven't had a banana split in years!" Meredith smiles. She wishes she could go back to a time when a banana split was the highlight of her day.

"Extra chocolate sauce and whipped cream! Uncle Mark even had a cherry on it. Auntie Addie keeps teasing him for that."

Meredith laughs, imagining Mark and Addison babysitting – probably the night when Derek stayed by her side – and bickering like an old married couple.

When David laughs with her, some of the heaviness of her day can be easily set aside, and she's so glad David is here. She never imagined he would be the perfect therapy for her crappy day, but he is. He strangely is.

"Thank you, David, for making me laugh. I'm sorry I missed all these days. I promise we'll get to spend some time together, just us. Or us and your dad, if he wants to come along. How about that?"

"Yay! That's the coolest thing ever!"

David runs towards her and jumps in her arms and she squeezes him tightly, holding him as he giggles.

"Not too tight?" she asks quickly.

"Never!" he replies. "Do you need some burrito time, Meri?"

"Yeah. My day has been quite something so I do need some burrito time with you."

David's reply is only to tighten his little arms around her neck, and it helps. Burrito hugs do help. Even if her life is still shitty, hugging David makes it slightly less shitty.

"Burritos make everything better, Meri, don't you know?"

She does know. Sometimes she wishes she would have known earlier, even when the timing was horrible and she was in a bad place. But she'll take it right now.

A/N: David is cute and I *so* missed him. There was probably other stuff that was supposed to go in this chapter, but it's been so ridiculously long that I had to update. I hope you enjoyed anyway! Thank you for sticking around, you are the best readers.