Disclaimer: If we owned Grey's, every Thursday would be a national holiday. Happy Grey's Day!

When I walk into my mom's house the next day, I feel like I'm on cloud nine. Or twenty. Because cloud nine seems like a pretty low cloud for the way I'm feeling. The night before had been amazing. Meredith had finally opened up to me, and we had sat on her couch watching TV until well after two in the morning, though we hadn't spent a lot of time watching. It was like high school, making out on the couch, with the worry of getting caught.

Meredith was amazing, without her fears and her worries the night had just ran together so smoothly. She was just her, relaxed, happy and enjoying being around me. It had been my favourite night with her, by far. The sex the night before had been wonderful, but last night had been something else. I loved her, I wanted to spend the rest of my life making out with her on her couch, her son sleeping upstairs.

She had let me spend the night and the minute we had fallen into bed, I took her into my arms. Even I heard the small sigh she breathed, as if she felt safe. I knew the feeling. With Meredith in my arms, I felt like I had come home. Even when she woke me up at six in the morning with a kiss, asking me to leave before Dillon woke up, I felt completely at home.

I walked into the kitchen whistling. Today was different than last week. Today I wasn't even the same man as I had been last week. Last week I had thought I was falling in love with Meredith, now I knew. She was my family. Her and her son were my family. I didn't know it was possible to be this happy.

"Hey, someone got laid!" Mark was the first person to hear my whistling and he clapped me on the back, hard. "Glad to hear it, Shep. You seriously needed to relax."

"Mark, it's none of your business who got laid or not," I told him, pushing him away but laughing slightly.

"You definitely got laid," Mark repeated. "I'm so proud."

I rolled my eyes at him, laughing louder now. "You're shallow, Sloan."

"Derek!" my mother came in from the dining room, a smile on her face. "You're late. And you look exhausted. I thought you were off yesterday?"

"I was," I told her, hugging her and giving her a quick kiss. "Meredith kept me busy."

"Nice," Mark grinned. "Kept you up all night. Gotta love the girls with stamina. I didn't think you had it in you, Derek."

"Do you ever think of anything but sex?" I asked him.

"Of course," he nodded. "Sex and plastics. My two favorite things."

Mark was hopeless. He was completely and utterly hopeless. I turned my attention back to my mom. "I think I'm going to ask Mer over here for dinner sometime soon, if that's okay with you."

"Of course it's okay with me, honey," my mom smiled after shooting Mark a look and heading over to the oven. "I thought your date was Friday night though, not Saturday. Did she reschedule again?"

"No actually. When she left Friday she forgot her purse at my place, so I took it to her yesterday and ended up staying for supper," I shrugged.

"I'm glad to hear it's going so well," she smiled. "So tell me, what do we know about her now? She's been such a mystery to you. And you do look much happier than you did last week."

I took a deep breath. This morning before I had left I had told Meredith that I was going to tell my mom about her son, and after some adorable freaking out she had agreed that it was okay. I just didn't know how to say it. Simple was probably best. "She has a son."

"Oh man," Mark suddenly perked up. "You've got a MILF on your hands? I definitely underestimated you Shep."

"MILF?" my mom and I asked in unison.

"Mom I'd like to fuck," Mark grinned.

Mom rolled her eyes and swatted him with the towel that I'm quite certain she carried around just for the purpose of hitting Mark. I decided just to ignore, because Meredith was a MILF but it was so much more than that. "His name's Dillon."

"How old is he?" Mom asked, but not before shooting Mark yet another look.

"He's six and completely adorable," I told my mom, smiling at the memory of Dillon wrapping his arms around my legs.

She made one of those noises that women make whenever kids are mentioned. The "awww" sound. And her eyes were sparkling. "And where is Dillon's daddy?" she asked, though I could tell she was on the verge of bursting with happiness.

"He lives here too. He takes Dillon every second weekend," I explained, leaving out the fact he sometimes flaked on that one responsiblity.

"Good," Mom nodded. "Was Meredith married to him?"

"No," I said awkwardly, not really sure how my mother would take that news. She was modern enough, she was used to pre-marital sex, she had basically raised the man whore I called my best friend after all. But it was different when her son was dating the woman. "They dated in college."

"Oh," she bit her bottom lip and then nodded. "Well, when do I get to meet my new grandson?"

"He's not your grandson," I said, a silent yes popping into my head. Talk about moving fast, Shep, I chided myself. Meredith definitely wasn't ready for any of that talk. "And I'll have to check with Mer. She's starting to open up, but still...I have to check."

"Oh, he will be," she laughed. "Which means I now have six grandsons, nine nieces. This is so exciting. Tell me more about him, Derek. What is he like? Does he go to school?"

"He's great, Mom. He likes legos, and space ships and race cars. And he's outgoing and happy. Just perfect. He's never been fishing, so I'm going to do that with him sometime soon," I explained.

"Oh man," Mark shook his head. "Getting involved with the MILF's son, that's brilliant, Shep. She'll melt under you in bed if she thinks you like her kid."

I gave him a dirty look. Sometimes I questioned my intelligence in staying best friends with such an idiot. "I do like her kid, I love her kid."

"Sure you do," Mark winked. "So you still haven't done her?"

I sighed at his questioning. "Yes, I've done her. Are you happy?"

"Derek!" my mother gasped at my frankness. Mark, on the other hand was laughing. "Mark Jeremy Sloan, I suggest you stop it this minute. And Derek Michael Shepherd, there are much better ways of stating that."

I laughed gently. Nothing could annoy me, not today. Not when I was on cloud twenty. For the first time since I had met her I felt like Meredith was really and truly mine. And I couldn't wait to bring her and Dillon here. "I made love to her," I correct myself. "It was amazing. She's the one."

And while Mark made vomiting noises from his seat, my mother turned to me, tears filling her eyes. "Oh, Derek," she sighed as she hugged me. "Finally. My little boy is going to get married."

I smiled, knowing she spoke the truth. One day I was going to marry Meredith. There was no other way my life could end up, it wasn't an option. Not since last night. "Not anytime soon so stop planning it in your head," I warned her.

"Who's planning it?" she laughed as she pulled away. "I was just thinking, maybe something nice, back in New York. In the same church your father and I got married in. And Dillon can be the ring bearer, and Talulah can be the flower girl."

That did sound nice. For the future. If Meredith could hear this conversation that panicked look that had been absent last night would absolutely return. "Mom, four dates, we've been on four dates."

"Fine, fine," she sighed, waving her hand at me to stop. "I know, four dates isn't very much but----" She was cut off by a ringing cell phone. My ringing cell phone. Her eyes narrowed at me. "Derek Michael Shepherd."

"Sorry," I gulped, pulling the cell phone out of my pocket and smiling when I saw the number. "It's Meredith," I said in form of explanation. "Hello," I said, answering the phone.

"Derek?" Dillon's small voice answered me.

Dillon was calling me. A smile spread across my face. "Hey bud!"

"Hi!" he exclaimed. "Whatcha doin?"

"I'm at my mommy's," I explained, in a grave, sad voice.

"Oh," Dillon's voice fell a little. "So you aren't coming to dinner? Aunt Izzie made 'asanga. And chocolate chip cookies."

"Lasagna and chocolate chip cookies?" I asked him. I didn't want to say no. No part of me wanted to say no to this invitation. Had Meredith invited me that would be different, but this was Dillon. Dillon wanting me to be around. And I couldn't imagine letting the kid down. "Let me ask my mom if it's okay," I said to him, pulling the phone away from my face. "Mom...can I umm...skip family supper tonight?"

"What?" Mark stood. "I had to come when I had appendicitis, there's no way he's getting out of it for his MILF."

"It's not Meredith," I explained quickly, giving my mom my most charming smile. "It's Dillon."

And just as I knew it would, my mom's frown relaxed into a smile. "Well, if it's for Dillon..." she trailed and then nodded at me. "Just this once, Derek. But you ask Dillon if he'll come here next week for dinner."

"I promise to bring both of them," I said smiling. I turned back to the phone where I heard Dillon humming to himself on the other end. "Dillon...my mom said it's okay, so tell your mom I'll be there in a bit."

There was a silence for a minute and then, "It's a surprise for my mommy," he giggled. "Ssssh, don't tell her. I took her phone and I sounded out the names. My daddy says I'm a good reader."

I laughed heartily. It did seem too good to be true to believe Meredith had encouraged this. "You're a great reader. And I won't say a word, it's our secret for life or longer, okay bud?"

"Okay," he said. "For live or longer. I'll see you soon, Derek! I even setted the table for you!"

I laughed again. "Good job, bud. See you soon," I said hanging up the phone, a wide smile on my face. I had never planned on leaving Meredith, but had I her son would have changed my mind.

"I can't believe he gets to skip dinner for his MILF and her kid," Mark grumbled. "Thanks, Derek, once the Shepherd sisters get here I'll be drowning in estrogen."

"Poor Markie," I said, walking over to my mom and giving her a quick kiss. "Thanks Mom."

"No problem," she kissed me back. "Now go to Meredith and Dillon. At least promise to stop by sometime this week for a cup of coffee."

"I will, and I'll talk to Mer about supper next week," I promised. And I would. I wanted her here, amongst the craziness that was my life.

"Bye, asshole," Mark grumbled. "You owe me for this."

I just laughed and headed out the door, to see my other family. Or at least the people that I knew would one day be my family. Because my mom was right, I was going to marry Meredith one day. I knew it. And her son wanted me to come over for dinner, to the house where I belonged.