A/N: Chapter 10 is up. Thank you so much for all the reviews.
I don't own Grey's Anatomy, or its characters. Please review.
"Good morning." Mark kissed Meredith as he saw her stir.
"Good morning." She smiled at her boyfriend.
"So, tenth patient today... You nervous?" He asked her.
"Yes, a lot. Last surgery gave me a lot of insight, which will hopefully make me succeed today." He and Meredith had had a long talk about her fears and he had done his best to make her confident in her skills as a surgeon. Her friends' confidence in her had also immensely helped matters.
"You will. I'm confident." Mark rubbed her shoulders. "I need to tell you something, and I need you to not freak out."
"What is it?" Meredith asked nervously.
"Mrs. Shepherd is coming to town." Mark started. Derek had just informed him of the news the previous day and he was wondering how to break it to his girlfriend. The weird relationship the four surgeons shared was confusing to many people. Hell, sometimes he himself wondered how Derek, Addison, Mer and him came to the point they were at.
"Okay... But Derek and I are no longer-" Meredith wasn't comprehending Mark
"She practically raised me, remember my 'pseudo-family'? I slept with her daughter-in-law, you slept with her married son. Now we are dating, Derek and Addie are back together and somehow the four us are 'friends'." Mark explained.
"She raised you?" Meredith questioned. Mark could see the panic set in.
"Yes."
"So I'm meeting your kind-of mother. Your family." She was on the verge of freak out.
"Yes."
"Mark! You know I have that surgery today, could you have given me a shorted notice about meeting your family?" Meredith asked sarcastically. She was livid. Meeting his family?!
"I met your mom." Mark gave a lame excuse.
"My mom has Alzheimer's. And her opinion doesn't matter. You love Mrs. Shepherd, what she thinks of me matters to you." Meredith shouted, getting out of bed.
"She will love you." Mark tried to calm her down.
"No she won't. Mothers dont love me. And, I'm the slutty intern who slept with her son and then got into a relationship with her second son. How, how will she love me, Mark?" Saying this, she stormed into the washroom, locking Mark out. Mark sighed and thought it was best for Mer to cool down before he approached her again.
"This is Beth Monroe. She is seventeen years old and is the tenth patient in our clinical trial for the shrinking of malignant gliomas." Meredith began as she and Derek entered the room of the young lady.
"Hello, Beth. You ready for this?" He asked her, giving her a smile.
"Like you wouldn't believe." Beth smiled back.
"Great, we will see you soon." Meredith said, as she and Derek glanced over her vitals once again and left the room.
"So, I hear your mom is coming into town." Meredith addressed Derek.
"She is." Derek grinned.
"Does she know, about us?" Meredith asked nervously, hoping for a negative answer.
"Yes, she does." Derek told her, not knowing her freak out that morning.
"There is my son. And you, must be Meredith?" A lady who kind of looked like Derek approached them.
Meredith inwardly groaned. She did not want to be there and meet Derek's mother. She had planned on rushing out of the hospital as soon as the surgery was over. But, now her plans seemed have gone down the drain.
"Ma! What are you doing here? I just saw a message from the driver saying that you weren't there." He had seen the message just as he and Meredith were entering the patient's room and had quickly instructed him to stay put for some more time.
"I don't need a fancy car, Derek. I hopped on the bus, which brought me here. Now, I have wanted to meet you for teh longest time." She turned towards Meredith. "Don't tell my boys, but you're the one I'm here to meet." She fake whispered to Meredith.
Hearing this, Meredith wanted to be swallowed by the ground. "Mrs. Shepherd I assure you that I didn't know about Addison until she came to Seattle Grace. I would never..."
"Yes, about that." She interrupted Meredith and went on to pull Derek's ears in the middle of the hallway. "I thought I taught you better."
"Ouch Ma that hurts. I..I am sorry. I've apologised to Meredith." Derek pleaded. Meredith was confused at the scene in front of her but a slight chuckle came to her lips nevertheless.
"Ma!" Came Mark's booming voice from across the corridor as he ran towards them. "Why are you pulling Derek's ears?"
"For not telling Mer about Addison." Derek told him, rubbing his ears.
"Don't you worry, I've punched him for it." Mark boasted like a teenager.
"What about Mark sleeping with Addison?" Derek demanded.
"Even he has had his ears pulled." Mrs. Shepherd replied to her son. "And as it is. I'm proud of my boy, for finally finding himself the perfect woman for him."
"See Shep, the thing that made you better than me in their eyes. Ma, you met Meredith?" He asked, wanting the two special women in his life to finally meet. "Where did she disappear?" he looked around.
"She was just here." Derek agreed.
"The both of you scared off that poor girl." Mrs. Shepherd admonished.
"Wasn't us." Mark said sheepishly. "She is scared of you."
"Why?" Derek and Mark shared a look then gave her the brief story about Meredith.
As Mark and Mr.s Shepherd embraced, Meredith saw the perfect opportunity to run. She took the stairs to the OR floor hoping to find Cristina or Alex to distract her. She found Cristina at the nurse's station and rushed to her.
"Oh, thank god you're here. I need you to stay with me for about two hours."
"Can't. Valve replacement with Burke in fifteen minutes. What's got your panties in a twist?" Cristina asked Meredith amused.
"Derek's mom is here."
"So? You're shacking up with Shepherd anymore. Are you?"
"No. Obviously not. But I am 'shacking up' with another man whom she considers her son." Meredith explained.
"Does she know about everything that has happened between the four of you?" Cristina asked, smirking.
"Yes. She does. Now please, have lunch with me." Meredith pleaded.
"Sorry Mer. Surgery trumps everything." Cristina waved before leavign her in her misery.
Meredith looked around to find someone to talk to. She saw Izzie pleading a Neuro surgeon to take her on his service but was being turned down. She thought that talking to Mrs. Shepherd would be better, so let her pass by.
"There you are." Came her boyfriend's voice as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Hey! What are you doing here?" She asked nervously seeing Mark with Derek and his mom.
"We're giving mom the tour of the place. And she still wanted to meet you as well." Mark explained. He knew that once Meredith actually spent some time with Carolyn, all of Meredith's fears in that regard would vanish.
"Oh, I... Um... i was actually going to the lab to check on the vial for surgery today. And... and then I'd like to study, for the surgery." Meredith tried to come up with excuses to leave.
"The vial will be ready when it will, Meredith. And the surgery is your trial, what do you need to study? You've done nine before this." Derek called her on her bluff.
"Actually Dr. Shepherd..." Meredith started to which Mark and Derek began chuckling.
"You were right Mark. She looks flushed." Derek said giggling.
"Boys. Stop laughing at this young woman." She glared towards the senior surgeons. "Now, Meredith, come have lunch with me." After a glance she asked, "Should we allow them to accompany us?"
"Uh.. Lunch...yeah... sure." Meredith mumbled, further amusing Derek and Mark, who followed them towards the cafeteria.
"So, Meredith, Mark told me that you initiated your own clinical trial in neurosurgery under Derek?" Carolyn asked, wanting to start getting to know her with a topic she was comfortable with. Derek and Mark had brought over their lunch while the two ladies had sat in silence.
"Uh, yes. I.. I had this idea when a patient with this particular type of tumour was brought into the ER. I assure you the idea was totally mine; I did not steal it from anyone nor is Derek, I mean Dr. Shepherd helping me beyond the allowed scope. I mean, Its not his idea that I am passing as mine. Not that he can't have such ideas... he is the Head of Neurosurgery here... I mean..." Meredith rambled and stuttered.
"She rambles Mark. A lot." Carolyn told him. Derek and Mark told had their eyes wide after Meredith's rant, half-wondering where she got most of her thoughts. "Meredith, I know that idea was yours. Both of my sons can't stop talking about your surgical abilities. Why would I think anything less of you?"
"You don't hate me?" Meredith asked in a small voice which softened the eyes of the other three members of the table.
"Why will I hate you?" Carolyn asked smiling.
"I... I slept with Derek."
"Meredith..." Derek started to be interrupted by his mom.
"You didn't know he was married. It is him whom I blame for putting you in that position. Next?"
"I am with Mark, now."
"That's not gonna make me hate you dear, in fact, it makes me love you even more. You got Mark Sloan to settle down. My hair turned grey wondering if that was ever going to happen." She joked, wanting to lighted the mood.
"Ma!" Mark said pretending to be hurt.
"You really don't care that I've..."
"You haven't done anything wrong, Meredith. God knows these two have slept with their share of women. Especially Mark here. And you're not the only women who has slept with both of them, either. What I mean is, if I can forgive Addison, I have no reason to hate you at all. Understand young lady?" She asked semi-strictly.
"Yes, Mrs. Shepherd." Meredith finally smiled.
"It's Carolyn or mom. Now let's eat." She addressed the table. "By the way, where is my daughter-in-law?" She asked Derek.
"She had surgery scheduled for 11 this morning, put it was pushed to 12 as there was an emergency surgery that she was pulled into." Derek explained. "She will come see you as soon as she is free."
"It's no hurry. I have six kids who are doctors. I know the protocol." Carolyn reassured Derek.
It was finally time for her surgery. They had excused themselves for Carolyn, as Meredith lost track of time talking to her and listening to embarrassing childhood stories about Mark and Derek.
Derek and she were scrubbing in when she heard him speak, "You told me you didn't regret what happened between us."
"I don't" Meredith faced him, knowing what he was talking about and why he raised the issue.
"Then earlier today..."
"She is your mom. She had every reason to hate me..." Meredith tried explaining.
"Listen to me. I have said this, my mom said this. No one, I mean no one, my mom, Addison, anyone... has any right to blame you for what happened between the two of us. Alright?" Derek told her firmly.
"Do you regret it?" Meredith asked after a minute.
"Just not telling you about being married. But both of us are exactly where we should be, so..." Derek left off.
"You're right. It all worked out in the end." Meredith sighed. "I hope this trial does too."
"It will... sooner rather than later it will." Derek told her, boosting her confidence.
"Time for surgery number 10. Let's do this." Meredith put on her 'surgery' face and entered the OR alongside Derek.
After surgery, Meredith went about her business for a while before meeting Carolyn, Mark and Addison in the lobby. They had planned on heading to Joe's after much insistence for Carolyn, who said she had heard so much about the place that she wanted to visit herself. They went and took a larger booth at the back of the restaurant and ordered their meal of choice.
They were making small talk for a while, catching Carolyn up on their life in Seattle and her talking about Derek's four sisters. Derek entered the bar with a folder in hand and stopped at bar before heading to where the group was sitting.
"What's in that folder." Addison asked.
"Work stuff." Derek dismissed, not wanting to let the secret out just yet.
After ten minutes, Joe stopped by their booth. "Here, Doc. The Champaign and the glasses."
"Thanks Joe." he smiled at the bar tender and then signalled towards where Cristina, Alex and George were sitting at the bar to join them.
"Shep, Mom coming here isn't exactly cause for Champagne, not that I'm not happy." Mark said.
"This isn't for mom. This is for her." He said pointing towards Meredith and then handing her the folder. "Look."
The entire table looked amused. Mark and Addison subtly glanced towards each other. The other two hadn't given them any reason to doubt them yet. Meredith opened the folder and took out some brain CT scans.
"Really McDreamy, head scans, that's your gift." Cristian sarcastically asked.
"Look closely will you, he asked the resident.
"Wait... their date... it's today... there are Beth Monroe's scans." Meredith took out the second scan from the folder dated the day before. "Oh my god! It's shrinking."
"Yes it is." Derek told her with a wide smile.
"What exactly is happening?" Alex asked.
"My trial is working. The tenth patient, her tumour shrunk. We operated late afternoon and it's already started shrinking!" Meredith excitedly explained. Mark snatched the scans fro her hand and looked himself. Then, all of a sudden put his hands on his girlfriend's waist and gave her the biggest kiss he had ever given anyone.
"Mark, let her breath. And keep in mind that mom is sitting in front of you." Addison laughed. At the last sentence, Meredith managed to push Mark off and instead took him in a tight embrace.
"I'm fucking proud of you." He told her, pecking her lips once more after he let go.
"Let's pop the champagne." Cristina demanded. Derek distributed the glasses and popped the bottle open. "To Meredith" They toasted. Mark had moved out to let Meredith embrace everyone, even Cristina gave her a slight hug, telling her how jealous she was and despite this, she was better than her. The two friends just laughed and celebrated. Alex and George too gave her a hug and congratulated her. Alex telling her that he was sure she would do it.
After that the three of the them left, having an early morning the next day. Meredith turned to Derek and pulled im in an embrace.
"I would not have been able to do this without your support." She told him.
"You would. You, Meredith Grey, are going to be an amazing neurosurgeon, better than anyone I have ever seen."
"Even better than you?" Addison asked, challenging his ego.
"Oh yes." he replied without hesitation.
"Derek, if I became just as good as you, I'll consider that an achievement. And I'm really glad to have you as my mentor." Meredith told him genuinely. Right now, she didn't care about their past, now did she care about what Mark, Addison or Carolyn thought. She was grateful for his support and she was going to show it. Derek just smiled in return and told her to write an article for the Medical Journal by next week.
"It's getting late guys. Let's leave." Addison said, looking at her watch. "Mom, where are staying?"
"Well, Derek doesn't have a place where I can stay when I visit him." Carolyn said, still sour about her son living in a trailer in the middle of the woods.
"You can stay with us Ma. I have a guest room." Mark told, stressing on the word guest room to make things worse for his best friend.
"After that kiss you just gave your girlfriend? I'm not going anywhere near your apartment tonight." Carolyn flat out dismissed him causing both Derek and Addison to burst into laughter while Meredith turned beet red. Mark dragged her out telling that Carolyn was correct and they did have a long night ahead of them.