This chapter is in two parts. The first is what I like to call just desserts and the second is that Momma Shep wanted some time alone with Meredith. I like the juxtaposition of momma Shep and Mer's mom. I wanted to give Mer another frame of reference to help her realize just how messed up things are with her family. That things don't have to be that way. So enjoy!

Meanwhile, back in Hanover...

Christina had decided after the entire too-depressed-to-get-dressed and then boy-toy-replacement-fiasco for the married-man-that-never-got-married drama, that she was going to google any man that she found even remotely interesting. And boy was she glad that she had! Interesting is what she would call a man that continuously found himself at the same bar as her on the same nights of the week and at the same times that she was. He hadn't approached her since the time she totally ignored him, but she knew he was there and that he was looking at her.

She knew he wanted to sleep with her, but that there was just something more to it than that. I mean, what guy returns night after night in search of the same broad and then doesn't even approach her? Maybe she had bruised his ego or something. More like popped the inflated balloon. But he didn't look deflated. In fact, he looked even more smug and sure of himself than usual. Normal guys got turned down and went on to the next broad. They didn't sit in the same vacant booth with their bottle of beer and pretend not to look at you. There was just something a little too fishy about that.

So she had looked him up. The dumb twit had been inflated enough to use his own name when he had introduced himself. Rule number one for if she ever decided to become a big-name tabloid reporter: don't give out your real name. Or the name you write your stories with, that is. Google had returned an entire host of stories with the glaring byline of one Alex Karev. One Alex Karev that was nursing a beer in his usual corner of the bar. One Alex Karev that had tried to pick her up not a couple of weeks ago and just happened to be at the bar every time she was. Something stank, and she thinks it's one hot-shot tabloid reporter cowering in the corner.

She takes a last swig from her beer and slams it down on the bar. She straightens her black leather jacket around her shoulders, pulling it straight and flipping up the collar. She grabs her bag and plops herself down in the chair directly opposite of him.

He lifts a single eyebrow in an inquiring manner.

"My roommate is gone for the weekend." She insinuates. She doesn't have to explain. He knows exactly what that means. She'll give him that: he wasn't stupid.

An interesting moment of panic crosses his face, but then he quickly relaxes. That was interesting.

"Is that so?" He replies in an interested but-trying-not-to-be-too-interested manner.

She gets up from her seat and stands to give him a look. "Are you coming or not?" She inquires impatiently.

He hesitates, so she walks out. But not before she hears him snatch up his jacket and keys and follow her out the door. Just like she thought he would. Stupid ass.

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Christina sits on the floor of her bedroom, half-clothed and half-drunk. Well, Alex was pretty drunk, while Christina was not. Thanks to pre-poured shots of vodka that were full strength for him and half-strength for her. And also thanks to her having won seven out of the last ten hands of strip poker. For her three losses, she had strategically removed her belt (had to get comfortable), her jacket (she didn't want to be hot), and her shirt (so that he would be distracted). He had more haphazardly lost both shoes, both socks, his belt, his jacket and his overshirt. At this moment he had only his under-shirt, pants, and underwear to lose, while she still had both shoes and socks, her pants, bra, and underwear. Man, this was fun.

"When I said I wanted to get naked, I meant both of us at the same time." He kind of slurs as he stairs at his cards a little uncertainly, like he has to squint to make out just what he has.

"What does it matter how we get there, as long as we do?" Christina asks as she stairs down at her pair of pairs. One more hand should about do it.

"I guess so." He mumbles uncertainly. "Well, show me what you got." He says as he places his cards down on the floor.

A pair of queens. Very nice. But not nice enough to beat her two pairs. "No, you show me what you've got." She calls out triumphantly as she places her cards down in front of her with a little snap against the floor.

"Ah!" He cries out at another game lost. He starts to lift his under-shirt over his head, but it gets stuck somewhere around his head. "If we weren't using my cards, I'd think you were cheating or something." He mumbles through his shirt.

"Don't forget to take your shot." She says triumphantly as she watches him fumble around with his shirt. Somehow, he has gotten one arm looped back through the arm hole.

He finally does figure it out though, and she's rewarded with a well-sculpted chest. "Very nice." She calls out appreciatively as she takes a few nibbles out of a peanuts snack she brought up.

"Why thank you, I try." He answers smugly as he takes another shot of vodka and then winces at the potent liquor burning down his throat.

Ass. If he hadn't been such a complete ass, she might have possibly considered sleeping with him. Now all she wants to do is get some answers and kick his ass to the curb. She wouldn't let him know that though.

He shakes his head to clear his head of the new alcohol, sort of like a dog trying to dry himself off. He's a dog, alright. About halfway through the shake, he starts to tilt over and has to brace himself so that he doesn't fall over. Perfect.

She picks up the cards to deal, and asks nonchalantly, "So Alex, you really haven't told me what work it is that has you in town."

"Oh, I can't tell you phat." He tries to say all suavely, but his speech is getting thicker and the swaying a little extreme.

"Why not?" She asks coolly, shuffling the cards in her hands as she secretly tries to watch him hold his liquor. Or not, as the case may be.

"Cause you might tell your friend." He says with a hiccup.

"Meredith?" She asks in surprise, momentarily forgetting the cards in her hands. But she quickly snaps to, doling them out.

Alex holds up his index finger to his mouth and sh's her. "You can't tell anyone. It's a secret." He says seriously, but then ruins it by giggling.

"Can't tell anyone what?" She asks, trying to sound like she doesn't care one way or the other what comes out of his mouth.

Alex very painstakingly picks up his cards, and while holding them up in front of his face and squinting at them, says, "You ever hear of the double-dealing Duke?"

"Maybe."

"Well, he's a professor here at this campus." He says with an exaggerated up and down motion of his head.

"Really." She says with feigned interest as she discards.

"And you know what else?" He asks pointedly, putting down his cards on the floor to let her know that what he says next is the really important thing.

"What?" She answers, staring back just as pointedly.

"The person he double-dealed with lives in this house." He gets out, before he starts to look a little funny. His face is all flushed and his eyes just won't stay open. He tries to prop them open a couple of times, but eventually they just roll back in his head. And he finally succumbs to all of the alcohol and lands in a giant heap on the floor.

Christina immediately gets up, a little woozy, but nowhere near his state of inebriation, and pulls him off of the floor and on to the bed. She takes his pants off and throws them onto the floor. Tighty whiteys, she should have known. But she doesn't join him in bed. Oh no. She searches through his jacket for her prize, his palm pilot, and scrolls through until she has found what she is after. Who says Dukes are the only ones that can do a little double-dealing?

Meredith and Derek have been sitting outside at the Parker Meridien's terrace restaurant having breakfast with Derek's mom for the past hour. Well, I guess technically you would call it brunch because they were having breakfast food, but it was more around lunch time. They had stayed up way too late enjoying the amenities of the private pool. They had even done a little swimming too. Derek's mother had called mid-morning and invited them down for breakfast before they left. So now they found themselves at a neat little linen-covered table surrounded by whicker chairs with the sun partially deflected by ginormous cloth umbrellas.

Meredith feels under-dressed in jeans and white long-sleeved blouse, but Derek said his mom wouldn't care. He himself had worn jeans too and a zip-up dark-blue pullover. But it was his mom. He could probably come in wearing a toga and his mother would be fine with it. Her mother, on the other hand, had always made little comments about whatever she wore on the few occasions they actually went out together anywhere. It was usually just a little too short, or too slutty, than something Ellis Grey's daughter should be wearing. So she was especially conscious of her dress that morning.

Derek's mom hadn't said anything about it though. She had actually complimented her on her white espadrilles. She herself had dressed in a red patterned blouse and white pants, obviously expensive but casual at the same time. Derek's mom was actually pretty great. She had said those wonderful things to Derek last night when he had told the family about how they met and who she was. The entire family had actually been pretty great, considering what they had been told. After the initial shock, all that seemed to matter was that Derek was happy. She just couldn't fathom it. When had her mother ever cared whether she was happy or not? She had always heard about families like Derek's, large and boisterous but loving, but she had never gotten to see one up close. It was an entirely new experience for her.

Even now Momma Shep and Derek were sharing a conversation about the latest accomplishments and foibles of the Shepherd clan. Apparently, two of the she-hadn't-figured-out-how-many nieces were in a fight because they both wanted to be someone called Hermione for Halloween. She didn't even know who that was, but apparently it was very important that only one of them got to be her. And only one. She takes a sip of her coffee and just watches the ease with which Derek converses with his mom and the obvious affection that they share. It just seems so easy for them. Why couldn't things be like that between her and her mother?

"Oh, here we are going on and on about people you have never met. You must be bored silly." Momma Shep says to her, when she notices that Meredith hasn't said anything in a while.

She shares a happy glance with Derek, before commenting, "Actually, I think it's kind of nice."

"What's nice? Us ignoring you or boring you silly?" Momma Shep jokes with the same twinkle that Meredith admires so much in her son.

Meredith laughs and is about to say something, when Derek interjects good-naturedly, "Meredith is an only child. I don't think she's quite ever gotten to see a large family in action before."

"Oh then, we must have scared the bejeezes out of you last night. When I came in you were practically surrounded by Shepherds."

"Um...well...it was kind of..." Meredith rambles a little, not quite wanting to say that yes, she was scared of them, but wanting to tell the truth at the same time.

"She practically tore our room apart trying to get ready." Derek tells his mom, betraying her nervousness to the very woman that she is trying to impress.

"Derek!" She says with a kick to his leg under the table.

He doesn't seem recalcitrant though, only laughing and trying to get away from her as she punches him repeatedly in the shoulder.

His mother laughs too at her treatment of her son, and tells him, "I think as punishment you should be the one to check us out and bring the car around."

"Alright, I get the hint. I'll leave you two ladies to talk." He says as he throws his napkin on the table and gives his two favorite ladies a peck on the cheek.

His mother wants to talk to her alone? Oh boy. Okay, this is when the real Momma Shepherd is going to come out. She's going to warn her away from her son and tell her what she really thinks about her. She watches Derek's backside as he walks away, kind of straightening in her seat at actually being alone with his mother. She gives his mom as real a smile as she can, but it must not be enough, because Momma Shep immediately says, "It's alright Meredith, I just wanted to have a few minutes alone with you."

"A few minutes? Alone?" She asks nervously, fidgeting a little bit with the used napkin on her plate.

His mom takes a huge breath, and then looks away, before she turns her attention back to Meredith and says, "I just...I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" Meredith answers in surprised disbelief.

"Yes, well, when I saw Derek last night, it made me realize just how unhappy he's been lately." She tries to explain.

Meredith tries to inject haltingly, "Well, I mean, with his father dying and all."

"No, no, I meant longer than that." Momma Shep says with a wave of her hand. "I mean, that didn't exactly make things better, but no, it was before that. It's...you know, I couldn't tell you how long it's been."

"He did mention a few things about his father." Meredith offers, not wanting to break Derek's confidence, but wanting to connect with this woman also.

"Ah, yes. No two people could be such different people and yet the same at the same time." She says reflectively, but then turns back to Meredith. "But that's not the point. I think Derek has always struggled to live up to his father's, well our entire families, image of who we want him to be, and yet still maintain a sense of himself."

Meredith doesn't know what to say, but she doesn't have to. "I can see it in your eyes that you know what I'm talking about. And yet when he walked into that room last night, he seemed to have..." Momma Shep says as she fishes around for the words. "Found himself. He just seems so happy. So comfortable with himself. And I think that him and I both have you to thank for that."

Momma Shep places her hand over Meredith's shocked hand and gives it a few pats for emphasis. "But I...I mean, I didn't." Meredith stutters, not able to put her head around what Derek's mom is telling her. "But I thought...I thought you would hate me. I mean...with the non-wedding and all."

"Oh honey, that wedding should have never happened, and we all knew it." Momma Shep qualifies. "I was more mad at that boy for waiting until the very last second, and putting us all through that mess, than anything you did."

"But I..." Is all Meredith can get out, the shock at Momma Shep's words such a shock to her that she can't think of a single thing to say. Her mouth just hangs open, until a single laugh escapes her throat and a single tear makes its way down her cheek. She looks at Momma Shep, and she starts to laugh and cry too. Until they are both laughing so hard that they don't even hear Derek walk up.

"And just what are my two most favorite ladies talking about?" Derek asks with a little bewildered smile.

Meredith wipes the tears from her eyes, and shares a glance with Momma Shep.

"Oh, nothing you would understand." Momma Shep answers with a little wink at Meredith. No, nothing he would understand at all. For only the two women who love him the most can at the same time share a laugh over his stupidity and a few tears of relief that the other loves him just as much.