Chapter 64:

May 8, 2026- Seattle, Washington

A few minutes later Meredith walked into Cristina's house and saw Izzie and George sitting on the couch. George's face was in his hands and Izzie looked tired. Meredith began to get a little worried as Cristina forced her into the living room and made her take a seat.

"Meredith, there is something we need to tell you," Cristina began, "Well, more, they need to tell you."

"What? What's going on? Have you all heard from Aimee? Is she alright? Is my baby alright?" Meredith said, getting faster and louder with each word as her body began to tense up.

"Mer, this isn't about Aimee," Cristina said calmly as George's face lifted from his hands. He looked at Meredith and all she could see was guilt.

"Mer," George began.

"What? What George? What don't I know?" Meredith said as she stood up.

"Meredith, sit down," Cristina said calmly as she pulled Meredith back down on the couch.

"Mer, when you, when you came back, from New York, there was something, something that I was supposed to do. Something I was supposed to tell you," George said.

"That was twenty years ago. What are you talking about?" Meredith asked in a desperate voice.

"I don't know, I just, I just forgot. I thought about it, but, we, well, we weren't speaking, and then well, you left with Derek, and when you came back, you were engaged and pregnant, and things, things just happened, happened so fast, I just forgot, and I'm," George stuttered through every word, "I'm so sorry," after he finished his head collapsed back in his hands as tears rolled down his face.

"George, what the hell are you talking about?" Meredith screamed and tried to stand up again, but Cristina grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"It's, it's my fault," Izzie said quietly, making everyone realize she was there, "George wanted to tell you. I just blew it off. I didn't care. I was selfish. I was just so mad, not really at you, but I took it out on you. It's not George's fault. Don't be mad at him. Be mad at me. I deserve it." Her voice never reached above a whisper as she stared at the wall through every word.

Meredith's face was red and her eyes were full with tears. Her frail body looked weaker then ever and her heart was racing. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew for a fact that it was bad. Her friends wouldn't be acting like this if it weren't bad. Especially Cristina. Cristina wouldn't be rubbing her arm, trying to soothe her if it wasn't bad. Meredith's breathing continued to get faster as she waited for someone to explain this. She wanted an explanation.

Alex rolled over and got himself out of bed. He looked at his wife Shannon still lying in the bed, "Who is it?"

"I don't know," Alex said before he pulled on a shirt as the door bell continued to ring.

"It's going to wake up the kids," she mumbled into her pillow.

"Good, they shouldn't sleep in till noon anyways," Alex said before walking downstairs. When he reached the door, he was surprised by what he saw.

"Mer, a few days after you left, your father came to see you," George mumbled.

"What? What does my father have to do with anything? Why are you talking about him? I haven't spoke to him in twenty years," Meredith said in a confused and panicked voice.

"He, he wanted to talk to you, but you already had left," George said quietly.

"This isn't making any sense. Why are you all freaking out? This is making any sense!"

"Mer, calm down," Cristina said.

"No, I'm not going to calm down until someone tells me what the hell is going on!" Meredith yelled as she pulled her arm away from Cristina's soothing grasp.

"And when you were on your honeymoon, he came back again, Mer. He said he wanted to make things right. He said he was sorry that he left and that he wanted to talk to you, to know you. He wanted to know his daughter," George continued in a muffled voice, unable to look directly at Meredith.

"Why are you all freaking out if this happened twenty years ago?" Meredith asked, this time not yelling, but equally desperate.

"Mer, we were on call last night," Izzie said, "All of us."

"We got paged down to the ER, it, it was your father," George said.

Meredith's eyes flashed from Izzie to George and back again, waiting for an explanation. She didn't understand why they'd be freaking out so much. It didn't make any sense.

"He, he was in a car accident, Mer," George began. Meredith knew there was much more to this story.

"Aimee?" Alex said as the sixteen year old wrapped her arms around the man she knew as her Uncle. "What are you doing here? Where have you been?"

Alex led Aimee over to the couch in the living room, where they sat down, "I know, I should go home, but I can't. I don't want to face them, but I can't stay where I was."

Alex looked over Aimee's thinning body, "Aimee, what happened to you?"

"It's, I, I was just so scared," Aimee mumbled as she buried her head in her Uncle's chest and broke down. Alex was completely overwhelmed. He had no idea how to deal with this, so he just held her and let her cry.

"Mer, when he came in, he was almost gone," George mumbled, "He could talk, but that was about it. He said he was coming to see you, to give you something. He said he understood why you never forgave him and that it was his fault that he never got to know you."

"He, he came back for me? Three times?" Meredith asked quietly.

"He needed surgery," George continued, ignoring Meredith's question, "I tried, but I'd already been there for twenty-four hours and I was exhausted. It's not an excuse, I should have had someone else do the surgery and I don't know what happened, but something, something went wrong. I did something wrong."

"Aimee, we need to get you home," Alex said, trying to get Aimee to sit up.

"No, I can't go back there. My parent's would never understand. My Dad's going to kick me out and my Mom will hate me. I can't go back there," Aimee said in between tears.

"There's a lot you don't know about your parents. They might not react that way," Alex said, trying to comfort her, "Look, I've known your parents for twenty some years and neither one of them are perfect. They'll forgive you for whatever happened."

"You don't know, do you?" Aimee said calming down and looking up at Alex.

"No, what are you talking about?"

"Uncle Alex, I'm…. I'm pregnant."

Derek woke up after hearing the front door slam shut. He opened his eyes and made himself get out of bed. Before he took two steps away from the bed, Meredith came shuffling into the room. She threw the things she was holding down and wrapped her arms around an unexpected Derek.

As soon as her wet face pressed against his chest, he got worried, "Mer, what's wrong?" he asked as he pulled her closer to him.

"Just make it go away."

Derek sat down on the bed, pulling her on to his lap, "Make what go away, baby?"

"Everything," Meredith said catching her breath, "Just all the pain."

Derek had no idea what she was talking about, so he just held her while she cried.

Derek lay in his bed an hour later, holding Meredith who had finally drifted off to sleep. She was lying on his chest, her hair spread out against his body. He hadn't been able to sleep at all. He was worried about Aimee and now he was worried about Meredith. She didn't break down like this that much, but he knew that the last few months had been incredibly hard on her.

Derek held tightly on to Meredith's hand as she leaned against him, with her head resting on his shoulder. They walked across the empty sandy beach with the waves slowly coming in and out, barely brushing against their feet.

"See, I told you you'd like the beach," Derek said smiling.

"It's February, it's freezing out here."

"That's what I'm for," Derek said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, "Besides, you can't come to Virginia Beach and not go to the beach. It's an unspoken law of nature."

"Well, I do have to admit, it's beautiful."

"Just wait till the summer. The entire atmosphere is amazing. There's different kinds of music everywhere, people all over the boardwalk, tons of different stores, it's great," Derek said smiling as he took her left hand in his and slid his finger across her new diamond.

Meredith looked down at the diamond on her hand as Derek ran his finger across it a few times. She couldn't believe that they were engaged already, "Derek? Can you promise me something?"

"Anything," Derek said.

Meredith stopped and turned around to face Derek. The seriousness in her eyes almost worried him, "Promise me that you won't let me fall apart like that again. I don't want to be miserable and I don't want to make you miserable. Just don't let me."

Derek's eyes softened after hearing her words. He gently kissed her on the lips and then looked in her eyes, "I promise."

Derek smiled at the memory, but then looked at his very vulnerable wife. Last time she'd fallen apart it was from a series of stressful, traumatic events and that was happening again. This time, she was depending on him to fix it all, but he had no idea how.

As Derek continue to run his fingers through her hair, trying to figure out how to comfort her, the phone rang. He gently lifted Meredith's head up and placed it on the bed so that he could get up. He walked across the room to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Shepherd?"

"Yes, this is him."

"Hi, I'm sorry to disturb you, but this is Ms. Hanks from the clinic. I just wanted to tell you that your daughter's appointment was canceled. The police can still get her contact information, but I just thought I should inform you."

Derek sighed, "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, but I still hope you find her."

"Thank you for telling me," Derek said before hanging up the phone. He leaned against his dresser and ran his hands through his hair and looked at Meredith. He thought he at least had Aimee figured out, but now he didn't have a solution to any of the problems.

"Do your parents know?" Alex asked.

"No, I never told them. I didn't tell anyone," Aimee said as she began to cry again.

"How far a long?"

"A month."

Alex sighed, "We need to get you checked out and home. You need your family with you through this."

"I'm not going to the hospital," Aimee said forcefully, "Someone there will tell my parents. I'm not going, I can't."