"Derek, just go." Meredith said with a huff.

"What?" Derek said as he glanced up at her.

"You want to go to the office. You have been going crazy in the house. There's no reason for us to both go insane. Just go." She muttered as she sat down at the kitchen table with him.

"No. I'm off. And I'm here with you." He said with a smile as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"I won't be upset. I know how you're feeling. You have been stalking around this house, moving things around. Meddling. It's okay. I can handle it. The twins eat and sleep." She said with a nod.

"I told you I'd be here. I want to be here. You want to be there, Beside, they aren't providing much entertainment at this point. And Anna is in school. I think I can handle two sleeping babies.

"One hour." He said as he looked up with a faint smile.

"Two. You know you'll be gone longer than one." She said frankly. "Besides, I'm sure the place is falling down without you."

"You're probably right. Although, I have to admit that Jack is the perfect partner. No life." Derek said with a chuckle.

"Do you wish you had no life?" Meredith asked as she took a sip of her juice.

"No. I am very happy in this perfect chaos." He said with a laugh. The both looked up when they heard the doorbell ring.

"I wonder who that is?" Meredith said as she looked at the clock. "Everyone we know is working..." Meredith started to stand.

"I'll get it." Derek said with a nod as he rose to his feet. He glanced out the window seeing a black Mercedes. His face dropped when he neared the door. "What do you want?" Derek said coldly as he opened the door. Meredith heard a somewhat familiar female's voice. She quickly jumped up and walked to the door.

"I just wanted to say congratulations." Holly said with a big grin as she held out a gigantic gift basket.

"You're not welcome here." Derek said as he looked at her and then at Meredith.

"Oh please... I think it's time we call a truce. We have all been acting completely absurd." She said with a big smile. "Please, take the basket." She said as she handed it to Meredith. Meredith looked down at it and took it, carrying it to the table.

"Really, Holly. You should go." He told her frankly.

"The house is lovely." She said as she pushed her way in. "Much better than that trailer. Meredith, I assume you had a big part in it's design?"

"Um..." Meredith said hesitantly as she looked at Derek. "Yeah, I did."

"It is absolutely breathtaking." She said as she looked around.

"Alright, Holly... Cut the crap. What do you want?" Derek spat as he followed her to the kitchen.

"I just wanted to say congratulations." She said with and innocent smile. "Meredith, you look fabulous." She said as he looked at her. Meredith frowned when she heard the twins start to cry. Meredith walked into the living room where they were sleeping.

"Oh, Lila." She said as she scooped her daughter up and began rocking her gently. "It's okay..." Meredith could hear the clicking of Holly's heels on her hardwood floor.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed as she looked at Delilah's bright blue eyes. "She is beautiful!"

Holly went to raise her hand to rub her head. Meredith winced as she saw her perfectly manicured hand rise to touch her daughter's innocent hand. She didn't want that. She didn't want her to touch her with her evil.

"Don't!" Derek said as he grabbed her hand. "Don't you dare. I don't want you to touch my children. Don't look at them. Don't glance. I want you out of my house, and I want you out now." He said as he grabbed her arm and began walking her out.

"Derek! I just-- You are being completely ridiculous!" She squealed as he pushed her out the door.

"Don't come back. You are not welcome in my home. On my land. Stay the hell away. I want my children to stay as innocent as possible. And you breathing their air is too much." He said as he slammed the door in her face.

"That was odd." Meredith said with a little fear in her voice. She sat softly in the sofa and began nursing Delilah. "What are you doing?" She asked as she watched him march over to the table and grab the basket.

"Throwing this away." He said as he headed to the front door.

"Derek..." Meredith said as she watched him.

"No. I don't trust her. Not one bit." Derek muttered as he walked out the door and outside.

"She's scary, isn't she?" Meredith asked as she looked down at her little girl. "And she almost touched you. Daddy saved you." Meredith said as she stroked her head. "What do you think that was about?" Meredith asked as she looked up at him. He walked over and kissed Delilah's head.

"I don't know. But I don't think it was good. And I definitely don't believe that truce bullshit." He said as he sat next to her. "The nerve. She just walked in our home, Mer. Our home."

"Maybe she really is being nice." Meredith said with a shrug.

"And maybe you are being too trusting." Derek said as he looked into her green eyes. "That's good. But we don't need to get hurt."

"I'm sure everything is okay." She told him.

"Well, the basket needed to go. For all we know she poisoned the muffins and put itching powder in the onsies." He said with raised eyebrows.

"She's a rotten person, but I don't think she would hurt the babies." Meredith said as she stroked Delilah's cheek.

"I'd like to think she wouldn't. But I don't know. I don't know people anymore. I'm beginning to think that we need to put a concrete wall around the house and never leave." He said with a sigh.

"Now that is a little over the top." She said with a chuckle.

"No. I don't think it is. I-- You guys mean the world to me. This is my life. My whole life is under this roof. You, Anna the twins. I can't lose any of you, and I'll be damned if I'm going to stand here and let anything happen." Derek said as he ran his hand along her cheek.

"We'll be fine." Meredith said softly. He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Maybe we should go through with the security system." Derek said with wide eyes.

"I really don't think we need it. And with Anna and Jane going in and out. It would just be a hassle." Meredith muttered as she looked up.

"You are far to trusting." He said as he looked at Devlin.

"And you are far too paranoid. You make it sound like we are celebrities. Like we have stalkers that are after our children. No one cares about us. No one cares about our kids." Meredith told him quickly.

Derek sat there. She had a point. They were average Joe's living regular lives. They had no threats. Nothing had happened. Holly was a thorn in their side, but she was fairly harmless. She liked to meddle. She liked to dabble in her own little evil schemes. But she was harmless. Things had been quiet. Life had been quiet. But he couldn't shake as sinking feeling that something was wrong.

"Well, you should go." Meredith said as she pulled Delilah to her chest and cradled her. She listened to the baby make sounds of contentment.

"Go where?" He asked as he took the baby from her. "Was that a good lunch?" He asked softly. "I envy you baby, I really do."

"Derek." Meredith chuckled.

"What? She gets the boob. I want the boob." Derek said with a dirty grin.

"I knew this was coming..." Meredith said with a giggle. "You want sex."

"I always want sex." He said with a smile. "And I have been waiting so long."

"And you have so much longer." She said with an evil smile.

"Not nice." Derek said as he turned away. Meredith grabbed a whining Devlin.

"Now, mommy's big man is hungry." She cooed as she picked him up.

"I'm mommy's big man." Derek putted as he held Delilah.

"Correction, you are mommy's bad boy." She said with a giggle.

"A bad boy in need of a spanking." Derek said with a nod.

"That may be..." Meredith agreed as she rubbed Devlin's head.

"See... That's not right." He said as he watched Devlin nurse.

"He's a baby." Meredith said rolling her eyes. "And his mouth is on my boob for an entirely different reason..."

"True, very true. But I think you enjoy my reason more." Derek told her.

"Could be." Meredith agreed.

"Look at her nose. It's cute, just like yours" Derek said as he touched it.

"I don't have a cute nose." She said as she touched her own.

"You have an adorable nose." Derek said as he leaned over an kissed it.

"You do realize her nose will change." Meredith said frankly.

"Yes, I know." He said with a smile.

"As long as she doesn't have yours she will be fine." Meredith said with a chuckle.

"What's wrong with my nose?" He said defensively.

"Nothing, dear. It's perfect." She said as she leaned over and kissed him. "Their eyes will probably change too."

"Nope. They will have my eyes." He said confidently. "But if they don't, that's fine. Because their mother's eyes are gorgeous too."

"Seriously, Derek... You should go. That was you can get back before dinner. Anna will be really mad if she finds out you spent the whole day with the twins and then left before she got home." Meredith warned as she pulled Devlin up so that he was resting on her shoulder.

"I'm not going to go." Derek told her.

"Go." She muttered.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Derek asked with a smirk.

"Yep. You are worse than a little kid. You're driving me crazy." She said quickly.

"You'll be fine?" Derek asked. "No, okay. Will you be okay?"

"I will be wonderful. And I can call if I have a problem." Meredith said with a nod. "You got to see them awake. Now they're back asleep. If I were you, I'd take advantage of this offer."

"Alright. One hour. Two at the most. And you have to promise to call me." Derek warned.

"I will." Meredith said as she leaned over and kissed him.

"Okay." He said as he kissed his children and made his way out the door.

She didn't want him to go. She didn't want him to leave her and the twins. She was perfectly content sitting on the sofa, next to her husband. But she knew him. She knew how much he loved his job. How much he had been wanting to get some air and see someone other than his wife and crying babies. He needed to get away from the smell of baby poop and spit-up. He needed time to himself.

Meredith laid the babies back down together. They immediately clung to each other. It was so sweet. She had to chuckle. She knew it wouldn't be that way for long. She jumped when she heard the doorbell ring. She rushed over with a smile on her face.

"What did you forget?" She said as she opened the door. "Oh." She said as she put her hand on the door.

"Mer! Please, don't-- Don't shut the door." Nate said as he stared into her eyes.

"What, Nate? What do you want?" She snapped as she stood there.

"I just-- I just want to talk. I want to-- I need to explain." He said softly.

He reached for her arm. His touch. It took her breath away. She closed her eyes. For a moment, just a moment, she let herself go back. She let herself fall. She let herself succumb to the feeling of complete peace. The peace that he had always given her.

She had thought he had ran again. She didn't think he was coming back. She thought that he left her alone again. She didn't know how to feel. To feel relieved that he hadn't left. Or to sick that he hadn't. Sick now that he was back. Back to tear down everything she had built.

"Please?" He asked again. She felt the cold nip from the outside wind hit her face.

She looked over at her sleeping children. She looked around her house. The house she shared with Derek. With the love of her life. The man she loved more than anything. Reluctantly she motioned for him to come in.

"Thank you." He said with a nod as he followed her into the living room. She sighed as she sat softly in the chair elbows on her knees, hands on her head.

There he sat. The man that she had given her heart to. He was the reason that she fell. The reason that she couldn't trust. He was the reason for the greatest pain she had ever felt. He had always made her feel safe. She woke up in his apartment. No idea how she had gotten there. He had saved her. He saved her from being raped, being hurt. That first moment that she had saw him, she knew he was someone she could trust. And that was what hurt so bad... She couldn't.

"Why?" She asked as the tears streamed down her face. "Why are you here? After all these years, why are you back?" She said as she struggled to breathe.

"Mer..." He said softly as he looked into her eyes.

"I don't get it. I just... God it hurts." She said as she cried. Nate walked over and sat next to her. She felt his arms wrap around her.

"Meredith, I--" Nate looked at her.

Derek's words rang in his head. [i "I know about Ian. I know why you left. She doesn't know. She's fixed now. She has made peace. Peace with life. Peace with Ian. They are in a good place now. She is happy. It took a long time, and even longer to get her to trust. But she does. She trusts me. I had to work hard to get it that way. Because of you. And we are happy. And I love her. She has moved on. So I suggest that you do the same. As I look at it, there are two ways you can do this. You can either take it like a man and walk away. Or you can stay. I can't tell you what to do." [/i

He loved her. This Derek, he loved her. That was painfully obvious. But yet he was here. He was in her living room. He was unable to walk away. He couldn't do it, not again.

"Shhh..." He said as he held her.

"Why did you leave me? I waited at the bar. I waited. I went to the apartment. You were gone. You were gone. Everything was gone. Everything. Just my stuff in the middle of the room. You didn't even take my stuff. You left it. You left it like you didn't care. Like you just dropped me and forgot." Meredith cried.

"I-- I didn't have a choice, Mer. I had to leave." He told he quietly.

"You had to leave without saying goodbye? You had to walk away?" She said, shaking her head.

"Yes." He said firmly.

"Why?" Meredith said as she looked into his eyes.

"I can't-- I was forced. Physically. I had to leave. Mer, I would never leave you. Never." He said as he kissed her head.

"You left. You could have called. You could have left a note." She said as she pulled away from him.

"I feared for my life. For yours. I couldn't live if I thought that I was the reason you were harmed." He told her.

"Who? Why would anyone want to harm me? Or you?" She said, not believing a word of it.

"I can't say who. I won't say. But Mer, I thought about you every minute. I have thought about you every minute for the last three years." He said as he looked at her sad eyes.

"I went back. Finally I couldn't take it. I went to your house. I had to. I didn't care what happened to me. Alice answered. She said you were gone. And that was it. You were gone. I couldn't fix it. I figured you and Ian had left. Then I decided to look. I spent a year looking for you, and here you are. I thought you were with Ian. And-- You're not..." He said sadly.

"I don't believe you." She said frankly.

"Look at my teeth!" He said as he pointed to them. They were smashed out. I almost chocked to death on my own blood. I had to have them fixed. Three broken ribs. I was a mess." Nate told her as he rubbed her arm. She looked at him. He did look different.

"She ran her hand over his face. No! I called every hospital." She said as she pulled away.

"They dropped me two hours away. They said if I came back, I was dead." He told her. She looked into his eyes. She could tell that he was telling the truth. Her lip began to quiver. She collapsed as she sobbed.

"I'm so sorry, baby. I never would have left you. Never. You know that..." He said as he stoked her cheek. "I loved you too much. I love you too much." He told her.

"It was supposed to be you. This. You." She said as she looked around. "You."

"I have spent the last three years worrying. Wondering. I don't know how I made it." He said as he held her.

"I can't-- Derek, is-- He is the love of my life." She said a she pulled away and looked at her babies. "This is my life." She told him as she looked around.

"It was supposed to be mine..." He said as a tear dropped from his eye. "You were supposed to be mine..."

"No. Not now... It's too late." She said as she turned away.

"I will be here for a few more days." He said as he threw hotel address and phone number down on the table. "Mer..." He said, she turned and looked at him. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. It was so natural. Just as it once was. She pulled away and gasped.

"It's never too late." He said as he stood up and walked out. Meredith watched the door close, before collapsing on the sofa in tears.

This isn't as bad as it sounds...