A/N: I tried to make this chapter nice and long, in an attempt to make up for my lack of updates and to try and move this story along. I don't really want to rush things, though I am sure many of you are anticipating Meredith and Derek to get together soon. And they will, I promise! Hopefully though, you'll enjoy this chapter as it is a pivotal point in this story and it's nice and happy, unlike a certain season final :| Oh and, you will be finding out more details regarding Derek's past in the chapters to come. As always, reviews are very much appreciated.

The following day, Meredith had the morning off. It was Saturday and Meredith was happy to be spending her morning with Katie. Though, she had to be at the hospital in the afternoon, she was pleased with her work hours this weekend. She would be working tonight, and making her way back home early tomorrow morning. Despite, the sure tiredness that was bound to overwhelm her, she'd avoid sleep in order to do something with her daughter. She generally tried to get weekends off, but a lot of the time she would end up being paged in. This weekend she was going to take advantage of the spare time she had.

Meredith stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter as she worked her way through a bowl of cereal. Katie sat at the kitchen table, coloring in her favourite book.

"Mommy, do you know where the brown one is?" she said after searching through the crayon box thoroughly.

"If it isn't there, you'll have to check if it's in your room. Maybe it's in your school backpack?" Meredith suggested.

A light went off in Katie's head and she quickly jumped off her chair and ran out of the room. Meredith assumed something she'd said must have rung a bell. Meredith picked up Katie's empty bowl and put it in the dishwasher.

Meredith had been up late last night, thinking about the events of the previous day. She couldn't believe it, really. What were the chances? Derek starting work at Seattle Grace, him wanting to spend time with Katie. It didn't feel real.

Katie quickly rushed back into the room, clutching the missing brown crayon and a blue one that she must have found.

"Found it," Katie said aloud as she put her head back down and continued with her coloring.

"Katie, I was meaning to ask you something," Meredith began after a few moments, sitting down opposite her daughter.

"Kay," Katie mumbled without raising her head from her book, an intense look of concentration marking her face.

"Well, you know I am not working tomorrow, I was thinking we could do something special?"

Katie looked up, "like what?"

"That's up to you, what do you feel like?"

Katie thought about it for a moment, before a smile turned up her lips.

"Please mommy, ice skating. Can we, please?" Katie begged, stretching her 'pleases.'

Meredith almost cringed, she didn't like ice skating. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been on ice and there was a reason for that. But she held that back, Katie had been asking for a while now.

"Well, alright. If you're sure that's want you want?"

"I'm sure. I'm sure. I'm sure. I'm sure," Katie sang in a pleased voice. "Thanks Mommy," she grinned and once again she was quiet, her eyes glued to her colorful work.

"Good afternoon," Derek approached her as she stood hunched over the nurse's station, updating some charts.

"Hi," Meredith answered, turning around.

Derek looked extremely happy today, his lips turning into a smile.

"How are you?" he asked casually.

"I'm fine," Meredith answered, her cheeks tugging at a smile. "Great, actually."

She was in a good mood, too. She had spent her day with Katie, and she'd finally convinced herself that no matter what happened everything would be OK. Derek was a good guy, right? This would be fine. It might be a little weird at first, but nothing that she couldn't get used to.

"That's good. Are you busy tomorrow?" he asked forwardly.

"Uh, I am. Sor-" she stopped herself midway. She entertained the idea for a moment, before continuing. "Katie wants to go ice skating, so I'm taking her. You can come if you like," Meredith said as she put her head down to focus on the charts once more, trying to sound as nonchalant as she could, despite feeling increasingly nervous.

She couldn't see the smile that spread over Derek's features, as she fake concentrated on the charts but when he answered, she felt a surge of relief.

"I would love to," Derek answered genuinely. He hadn't expected Meredith to act on what he had asked so soon. This was completely unexpected. She had spent her time attempting to avoid him since he had started at Seattle Grace and now, here she was inviting him to go out with her and Katie. This was definitely a good sign.

"Well, okay great," Meredith said sounding surprised, even though he had been the one to initially say he wanted to get to know Katie.

"I'll give you my number," he said leaning over the nurse's station and taking a piece of spare paper. Tearing off a thin line at the end, he wrote his number and handed it to Meredith, who quickly put it in her pocket. "Call me tomorrow."

"Ok, thanks. I will," she suddenly felt nervous again.

Derek smiled, his eyes meeting Meredith's and he thought for a moment that he could see her blushing.

"I have to go, I've got patients to check on," Meredith explained quickly.

"Ok," Derek answered simply. "I'll talk to you later." And with that he walked away, leaving Meredith feeling... She wasn't quite sure how she felt, actually. Nervous... Excited, maybe?

Meredith crept into her house, it was just after six am and Katie and Sara, the nanny, would still be asleep. Meredith made her way up the stairs, checking quietly on Katie before heading to her own bedroom. She slid off her jeans and threw on some more comfortable leggings, before curling up into bed.

She managed to get almost four hours of sleep before Katie rushed into her room, waking her.

"Mommy!" she said excitedly. "Wake up."

Meredith sat up, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the uncomfortably bright room.

"Good morning," Meredith smiled, silently acknowledging how hard it would have been for Sara to keep Katie out of her room for so long.

"Ice skating today!" Katie basically screamed.

Meredith laughed quietly, she was now officially awake.

"Look Mommy, I practiced!" she exclaimed before backing away from the bed and kicking her leg back in the air.

"That's great, Katie."

Meredith continued to watch her daughter as she spun around on one foot.

"Can I ask you something, Princess?" Meredith said once Katie had finished showing her what she had practiced and had jumped up next to her on her bed.

"Okay," Katie said tilting her head to one side, with a smile.

"Is it okay with you if someone comes ice skating with us?" Meredith asked. She didn't want Katie to be upset with Derek if he came, and she certainly didn't want him coming without telling Katie first.

"Sara?" Katie asked.

"No, not Sara. One of mommy's friends, you met him before. Remember Derek, my friend from the hospital?" Meredith asked.

"Doctor Derek!" Katie immediately exclaimed.

"Is it okay if he comes?"

Katie nodded, "yep."

"Okay, good. I'm going to have a shower and get dressed and I will meet you downstairs, okay?"

Katie nodded again and jumped off the bed, before skipping out of the room.

Meredith smiled to herself. This would be a good day, she told herself.

Getting out of bed she found the jeans she had left on the floor and picked them up, taking out the scrunched slip of paper Derek had given her the previous day.

She looked at the number for a moment, feeling the butterflies return that she had felt when he had given it to her. She felt stupid for feeling like this, she really did. It wasn't a date or anything, he just wanted to meet Katie properly.

Meredith picked up the phone from it's holder beside her bed and dialled the numbers. She paced the room as she listened to the rings, waiting for him to answer.

"Hi, you've reached Derek Shepherd. I'm not here to take your call, but please leave your name and number and I will make sure to call you back as soon as I can," his recorded voice played out through the receiver.

Beep.

"Uh, hi. Derek. This is Meredith. Grey. Meredith Grey," she began awkwardly. She had never been awkward with men. Never. And now she felt completely stupid.

She continued with her message, telling Derek when and where they were going.

"You can just meet us there if you want. Or not. But if you do still want to, then that's where we'll be. Call me and let me know. Okay, bye," she concluded quickly hanging up the phone, before she had realized she hadn't given him her number.

Shit, she silently swore to herself. If he wanted to come, he could just meet them there.

Derek opened the door to his trailer and walked in. He'd been waiting anxiously for Meredith's call all morning, till the point where he needed to do something to distract himself. Having put on some shoes and a jacket, he had decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather today and go for a walk around his property. His attempt to preoccupy himself had proved successful and he had ended up losing track of time and spending even more of his time out there then he had initially planned on.

He checked his phone and sighed, seeing that there was a missed call from a private number. He assumed that would be Meredith and dialled the number to his voicemail.

Uh, hi. Derek. This is Meredith. Grey. Meredith Grey, she sounded incredibly nervous, and as she continued Derek got the impression that she felt like he wanted to go back on what he had said yesterday. When Meredith didn't leave him a number to call her back on, he realized he would just have to meet the two there. They were planning on getting there in about an hour and a half, which meant Derek would have to leave pretty soon if he wanted to arrive there on time.

He was feeling nervous. He'd been feeling like this ever since Meredith had invited him. Although, he had met Katie for a brief moment at the supermarket, he didn't know anything much about her. He hadn't even had a chance to talk to her, before Meredith had whisked her away and left him in a state of complete astonishment. This was a day that could change his life, he wanted it to change his life. And, if things went his way it would be a day that he would remember forever.

"Where's Derek?" Katie asked wondering as they walked into the ice rink, Meredith holding her hand.

She had made sure Katie had dressed warmly, despite Katie wanting to wear an outfit like the 'real' ice skaters wore. After calmly explaining to Katie that it would be cold and she didn't have one of those outfits, Katie had finally settled on her favourite pair of pants and a rainbow striped sweater.

"I don't know. I'm not actually sure if he'll be able to make it. We'll have to wait and see," Meredith explained, she herself wondering if he would show up.

"Oh, okay..." Was that disappointment Meredith could hear in her daughter's voice? She had no idea that she really was looking forward to Derek coming. Why would she, really? They had only met for a few minutes; he couldn't of left that much of an impression on her.

After having paid for their admission, they went to hire some skates. Meredith now feeling extremely unsettled by the idea of having to go out onto the ice, she really didn't like ice skating. But Katie looked more excited than she had seen her in a while, which said a lot as she always seemed to get excited over the littlest of things.

"Meredith!"

Both Meredith and Katie turned to find Derek, walking through the doors of the complex.

"There's our friend, Mommy," Katie exclaimed looking up at her mother. Since when had Derek become Katie's friend, she didn't know. It didn't matter though, it was definitely a good thing.

Derek walked over to them, and smiled.

"Hi Derek," Meredith smiled as he approached them. She felt Katie move behind her legs and she wondered why she was so shy around him, having seemed so excited to see him only moments earlier.

"Hi Meredith," he returned her smile. "Hi Katie," he said when she stuck her head to the side of Meredith legs to look at him.

"Hi Doctor Derek," and with that she took a step to Meredith's side and took a hold of her hand.

"How are you both?" Derek asked, feeling a little uncertain as to what he was supposed to say.

"We're good, aren't we, Katie?" Meredith answered for the two of them after Katie decided she was going to be uncharacteristically shy.

"Mhmm," Katie nodded. "I'm good, cause we're going ice skating."

"Have you been ice skating before?" Derek asked.

"Nope. But I'm going to be a profesh... profesinal skater when I'm bigger," announced Katie with a smile.

Derek laughed, "A professional? Wow, you must be really good then!"

"I am. I practiced this morning at my house," Katie explained as she let go of Meredith's hand.

Meredith smiled at the two of them, Katie seemed to be warming up to him already and he looked genuinely pleased that he had come.

"How about we go and get some skates?" Meredith asked.

They all walked over to the counter, where Meredith got a pair of hire skates for herself and Katie.

"Derek?" Meredith asked, "You're not getting any?"

"I brought my own."

"You have you're own skates?" If he had his own skates, it meant he was probably good. Well, better than her at least.

He answered her and they went and sat down on a bench, where they put on their skates.

"Just warning you, I'm not as confident in my ability as Katie seems to be," explained Meredith as they stepped onto the ice.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Derek assured her, watching Meredith as she stood on wobbly legs.

Holding on to the side, Meredith slowly stepped along, Katie gripping her free hand tightly as she was pulled along by her mom.

Derek watched them for a moment, letting them gain some distance away from him before he skated up next to them. Turning so that he was facing them, he slowly skated backwards, his hands in his pockets.

"Mommy, can we go backwards?" Katie asked looking up.

"How about we just try and work on going forwards first?" Meredith said, shaking.

Derek watched the two with a smile as Meredith inched her way across the ice, pulling Katie with her.

"Try not to lift you're feet off the ice so much, Mere," Derek advised her.

Meredith looked at him and smiled, before looking at her own feet and following his advice. That little tip Derek had given her immediately helped in her mission at making a full circle.

"Can't we go faster, Mommy," Katie begged. "Please?"

Meredith looked down at her daughter, "I don't think so, Katie. Mommy is having a hard enough time as it is staying upright."

Derek, who was very slowly skating next to them, smiled at this. "Katie, if your mum is okay with it then I will take you around a couple of times, if you'd like?" Derek offered.

Katie smiled enthusiastically and Meredith answered, "Go ahead."

Katie dropped Meredith's hand and held it out beside her for Derek to take. He did so and smiled.

"We'll be back to take you around in a moment," Derek assured Meredith.

Meredith smiled at this, "oh great," she answered sarcastically.

Meredith watched as Derek took Katie around, starting out slower but then gaining a little more speed. Meredith could see Katie's grin from the other side of the rink and this made Meredith's own smile widen. Derek seemed like he was good with kids. Great, even. It made her feel even better about everything that was happening and Katie seemed to be enjoying herself, which was the most important thing.

After about five minutes, the two skated back to Meredith. Derek had taught Katie the basics and she seemed to be doing much better than Meredith was, who was still clutching the wall.

"Need a hand," Derek offered, extending his hand to Meredith.

She did need an extra hand. So far, she was not going too well.

She took his hand and he pulled her along, with Katie on the other side of him.

Meredith collapsed onto the bench once she was off the ice.

"You okay there?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, it's just been a while since I've gone skating," Meredith explained.

"Really? I would never have guessed," he teased.

Meredith smiled, the past hour and a half had been great. She'd expected it to be awkward or weird or something. But to be honest, it hadn't been. It had been nice. Derek was great with Katie and Katie really seemed to like him. He'd even managed to make Meredith laugh a good few times out there.

"My feet hurt," announced Katie.

"Well, let's get those off you then," Meredith told her as she undid the buckles on Katie's skates.

After taking off Katie's, she took of her own, wiggling he extremely numb toes.

"So how did you get so good, Derek?" Meredith asked.

"I used to play hockey," he explained.

Meredith was surprised, she hadn't pegged him as someone who'd played hockey.

"In high school, I played for a few years."

Meredith couldn't imagine him playing hockey at all, it always got so rough. But she figured there was a whole lot she didn't know about him.

After their skates were returned, Katie asked if they could get something to eat. It was now three o'clock and both Meredith and Derek needed a coffee. Meredith explained that there was a Starbucks down the road and asked Derek if he wanted to go with them.

"That'd be great," Derek replied. So far, he'd had a really great time and was extremely glad he'd agreed to doing this. Katie was great and he admired Meredith for brining up such an amazing little girl. He had already discovered Katie's favourite color, her favourite movie and animal and he was determined to stick around and get to know her better. Get to know them both better.

Katie finished off her blueberry muffin and sat with her chin resting in her hands at the table. Both Derek and Meredith were still drinking their coffee, having spent much of the time talking. Most of what they spoke about was work related, Derek promising Meredith that she could scrub in with him on the next surgery that she wanted to. She'd spent the past weeks trying to avoid his OR but now, she couldn't wait to get in there and show him what she could do.

Katie rested her head on the table and Meredith knew Katie was getting tired. It'd been a big day and Katie looked as though she could fall asleep right in her chair.

"I think we better get going in a minute," Meredith explained looking at Katie. "You awake over there?" she asked with a smile.

When Katie didn't answer, she knew it was time to go.

Derek looked at Katie and then back to Meredith, feeling happier than he'd felt in a long time.

Meredith apologised and stood up, Katie standing up with her. The three of them walked back to the street, where both their cars were parked. After Katie had said goodbye to Derek, Meredith strapped Katie into her seat and then turned to face him.

"Thank you for coming," she said as she shut the car door and stood on the sidewalk with him.

"Thank you for inviting me," he answered. "She's great."

Meredith nodded, a smile gracing her face. "She is."

"I really am glad you invited me," Derek assured her after a moment.

"I know." She really did. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you," and with that Meredith got into her car and headed home.

Derek watched as she drove away. He'd made the right decision; to want to be in their lives. He knew it.

He just hoped Meredith was feeling the same way he was about it.