A/N: This chapter is still in third person, just in Meredith's POV.

Chapter Four

It was bright. Too bright. Meredith looked through narrowed eyes at her surroundings. She definitely wasn't at home.

"Hey," a familiar voice said, "do you want some coffee?"

Braving a searing headache, Meredith opened her eyes to find Derek standing in the doorway. She was in his trailer, in his bed. She groaned. "What the hell happened last night?"

"You're a fun drunk, Mer," Derek teased. "Coffee?"

"Please."

Meredith closed her eyes and tried to think about last night. She had been in Joe's, ranting to an irritated Cristina and an amused Izzie when Derek had called her. She didn't remember much past that.

"What happened," she asked as she felt the bed dip beside her as Derek sat down. She sat up and he pressed a coffee mug into her hand. Yum, made just the way she liked it. "You remembered," she said, half in awe.

"Of course I did," he said, "how could I forget?"

"Tell me what happened," she requested.

"Not much of anything," Derek confessed, deciding not to tease her. "You were out of it. We talked, but I don't think any of it sunk in. Oh, and you told my sister everything."

"What?"

"My sister, Emma, called to check in on me," he explained, "you took the phone and told her what a horrible person I am." He smirked. "And then you complained that you still loved be despite my being horrible."

Meredith groaned, leaning back against the pillows. The night was coming back in pieces and the pieces weren't in order. "Alright, so we talk now." At least they were both still dressed, she thought.

"The kissing rule," she said, suddenly as another piece of last night floated into recent memory. Derek just smiled. "Oh, no," Meredith said, pressing her left palm into her forehead, her right hand still clutching the coffee cup. "She said something about six seconds. Hold on, I'll remember." Derek waited patiently, amused at how adorable she looked, hung-over in the morning. "Something about when two people are fighting . . . oh, I give up." She sipped the coffee. "Alright, I remember agreeing to talk to you and you calling me, but I don't remembering anything else between that and the conversation with . . ."

"Emma."

"Emma," Meredith repeated. "I should go back to sleep."

"You can, if you want," Derek said, "it's still fairly early and I thought I might fish for a while." Meredith nodded so Derek took her coffee mug and set it on the nightstand before leaning over and kissing her forehead. Meredith smiled as she drifted off to sleep.

GAGAGAGA

"You and Rose broke up," Meredith said, dressed in her clothes from the night before and one of Derek's sweatshirts. She had walked to the lake to find Derek sitting on the bank, his fishing pole beside him, not in use. He nodded. She sat beside him. "Tell me," she requested.

She was proud of herself. She felt as if she was handling this really well. Dr. Wyatt had been helping her with a lot of Derek related issues, although she hadn't talk to her yet about any of her other ones. They had not, however, discovered if Meredith had enough trust in the relationship for it to work. She trusted Derek, she was sure of it, even when he did things that should make her not want to, she did.

"I met with Rose last night to end it," he said, "but she beat me to the punch. She told me I was still in love with you and that I didn't see a future for her and I." He glanced over to see Meredith quietly contemplating what he was saying. "She's right, you know," he said, "and it's not fair. Not fair to you, or her, or me." Meredith nodded. "Do you have anything to say?"

"I . . . I don't know."

Derek nodded and went back to staring at the lake.

"I have an appointment at the hospital this afternoon," she said after a while.

"Is everything okay?"

She nodded, deciding to test the trust Dr. Wyatt was always talking about. Turning to gauge his reaction, she told him, "I've been seeing Dr. Wyatt for the last few weeks or so."

"Good, that's good," Derek said after a few moments, figuring out who she was talking about. "How's that going?"

"Good."

Derek chuckled.

"What?"

"So, it's 'good' instead of 'fine' now? That's a change."

Meredith smiled in spite of herself. He definitely had a point. "Do you want to go," she found herself asking.

"To your appointment? Yeah, I . . . yeah, that would be great. Thanks." He stood up and then reached down to pull her up. "I have to call my Mom before we go."

"I promise I won't take the phone from you," Meredith smiled. Derek shook his head and they walked back to the trailer. "You didn't catch any fish," Meredith observed.

"No, I caught something better," Derek smiled before standing up and pulling her up with him. They walked back to the trailer hand-in-hand. Derek sighed. It was time to call his mom and bite the bullet.

GAGAGA

Meredith had called to see if she could get an extra session. One just for her and then one with her and Derek. Dr. Wyatt had been happy to accommodate them and happened to have the hour after Meredith's scheduled appoint available. So, Derek decided to call his mother while Meredith was having her alone session.

"So, you and Derek are talking," Dr. Wyatt asked.

"Yes."

"And how's that going?"

"I don't know," Meredith said, leaning back in her chair as Dr. Wyatt starting writing in her notebook.

"You don't know? Well, is it going well or isn't it?"

"As far as I can tell it's going well. Apparently, I talked to one of his sisters last night," Meredith said, sighing. It was so embarrassing to think about. What if his sister told his other sisters and his . . . mother! Oh, god. They probably thought she was trashy and pathetic.

"How many sisters does Derek have?"

"Four," Meredith answered. "We talked a little bit about them last night: Kathleen, Nancy, whom I've met, Tessa, and Emma. I talked to Emma."

"What did you two talk about?"

It was moments like this that Dr. Wyatt really got on Meredith's nerves. Didn't she want to talk about the fact that she had gotten drunk and let Derek take her back to his place? Didn't she want to talk about the fact that they hadn't had sex even though Meredith had been thinking about it, specifically Derek's talented tongue, for weeks now?

"Derek," Meredith sighed. "Apparently I told her that her brother was horrible but despite all of his horribleness that I loved him anyway."

Dr. Wyatt nodded as she continued to take notes. "Well, that's nothing new," Dr. Wyatt smiled, "we've already established that you love him."

"Yes, but now we've established that with Derek's sister," Meredith exasperated. Could she not see what a problem this was?

"You mentioned you met his sister – Nancy. When did that happen?"

"What after Derek and Addison's divorce."

"And this didn't go over well," Dr. Wyatt asked.

Meredith shook her head, on the verge of laughing. "I went to Derek's to talk to him. He was just coming out of the shower and Nancy was lying on his bed. I assumed the worst. And Nancy, well, Nancy just didn't like me. I think she and Addison are close or were close, I'm not sure if they're still talking."

"Oh," Dr. Wyatt said.

Meredith just looked at her. "Listen, can we talk about last night before Derek gets in here?"

"What about last night?"

"I got drunk," Meredith stated. Dr. Wyatt nodded, so she continued. "I let Derek take me back to his place and we didn't have sex."

"That's good. You two are growing, I would think. How much talking was there if you were . . . intoxicated."

"Lots of talking," Meredith said, standing up, "too much talking! I don't remember everything but there were a lot of spoken words." She started pacing across the small office.

Dr. Wyatt looked up from her notebook, amused. This was the first time that Meredith had paced in her office. "Communication is a good thing. A healthy thing, even. Is all the talking bad?"

"I can't remember," Meredith mumbled, still pacing. "I'm strong. I'm independent. I've never needed anyone before. I mean, yeah, I have Cristina, and Izzie, and George, and Alex, but I've never needed anyone so much in my life and . . ."

"And it scares you," Dr. Wyatt supplied.

Meredith nodded. "I don't think I'd survive him leaving again. I don't . . . I can't. . ." Meredith sat down abruptly.

"Maybe it's time to bring Derek in, now, hmm?"

Author's Note: The six second rule was derived from this: today.msnbc./id/24582786/

Next Chapter: Derek's conversation with his mother; Derek and Meredith talk to Dr. Wyatt. (So far anyway, I suppose it's subject to change)/