Chapter 2: Second Chances and More Dances

Derek and I started to drive back home when I got a call. I checked the calerl ID and it read Thatcher. 'Wait what? Why is he calling me?' I thought to myself. I shrugged off that thought and picked up the phone.

"Hi Dad…" I said into the phone. Derek whipped his head and turned to me with questioning eyes.

"Meredith? Meredith? I need your help!" Thatcher panicked into the phone.

"Dad? What's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked starting to get concerned. Derek kept glancing over between me and the road.

"Meredith can you please come over?" Dad asked.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"You're gonna hate me when I say this but… I came so close Mer. And—And I'm sorry that I took your kidney and I almost drank again but Meredith, I need you. I need you to help me. My body if screaming at me to have one drink. Just one. I need your help."

"Derek and I will be right over Dad. Everything will be okay I promise. Whatever you do just don't drink. Have some water or something."

"Meredith…" Thatcher started to say.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I love you Small Fry."

"I love you too Dad. Derek and I are already driving so we'll be there in fifteen minutes. Just relax" I assured him.

"Okay. I'll see you soon." He said as I hung up the phone. Derek turned to me while stopped at a stop light.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

I sighed. "He is having a craving… He said that he came very close. He needs us to go over and to help him out. I know that I should hate him right now but… I dunno, I just can't abandon him. Just not right now at least." I explained to Derek who took my hands and intertwined them with his.

"He's your family. Of course you don't want to abandon him. I know that you're still angry at your Dad for your crappy childhood, but he's your father. Of course you love him." Derek replied.

I didn't want to show any tears at all. Thatcher gave me the crappiest childhood along with Ellis. Those two never wanted me. I was always jealous of Molly and Lexie since they had that nice childhood. They had the childhood that I never had. I let a single tear roll down the side of my cheek. I was hoping that Derek wouldn't notice the tear, but he did.

"Mer, don't cry. It's going to be okay. I promise." Derek said.

"Derek, I wasn't crying, I simply got something in my eye." I denied, knowing that it wouldn't do any good. It was true. I had that lump in my throat. I finally felt like I was his daughter. How he came to me and not to Lexie this time.

"You know its okay to show some emotion sometimes." Derek said.

"Derek Shepherd, are you seriously implying that I am in a dark and twisty place?" I asked eyeing him playfully.

"You? Meredith? Of course not! You are so bright and shiny!" He replied playfully.

As Derek and I approached Thatcher's house I tried to hold the lump in my throat in. Derek noticed and squeezed my hand tighter. I faked a smile but he could probably see through that. I don't understand why I would feel so sad for my dad. Thatcher made my life horrible. He left me with my horrible mother who never wanted me. Thatcher could have taken me with him. My life would have been more bright and shiny if he did. As Derek pulled the car into the driveway he turned to me.

"It's okay Meredith." He got out of the car and went around the car and opened my car door. He saw all of the pain in my eyes as he pulled me into a hug. After about 30 seconds into the hug I pulled away and made my way up to Thatcher's front door. Derek was close behind. I inhaled deeply and knocked on the door. After about ten seconds Thatcher opens the door. He looked frazzled.

"Meredith, Derek, thank you so much for coming." Thatcher said.

"Dad, you are coming home with Derek and me." I announced.

"No I could never ask you of that." Thatcher declined.

"Please Thatcher. I would make Meredith and I feel so much better. We would love for you to come home with us." Derek was always so good at persuading people.

Thatcher looked at me.

"Please Dad. Lexie would love to see you." I said to Thatcher.

"But Meredith I would hate to impose…"

"Please Thatcher. Come home with us." Derek said.

Finally Thatcher agreed and went home with us. Then a huge question popped into my head.

"Hey Dad why didn't you call Lexie to come and take care of you?" I asked.

"Because I wanted to see you Meredith." Thatcher said.

I smiled a little. We drove the rest of the way home with little talk. Most of the car ride was filled with comfortable silence. Once we got home everyone was already asleep. It was getting late.

"Okay Dad you can take the couch. Pillows and blankets are where they always are. And if you need anything Derek and I will be in you and Mom's old room." I said. He nodded.

"Thank you. Good night." Thatcher said. Derek and I left to go into our bedroom. That was when a huge mistake went into my head.

"Derek there is Tequila and alcohol in the kitchen!" I whisper-shouted.

"Oh crap… Well where do you want me to put it?" He asked as he walked toward the door.

"Umm, bring it up here and stick it under the bed." I said. He nodded as he walked downstairs to get the booze.

How did I get so lucky? Married to McDreamy, the love of my life. I love him so much that I don't care that we are only 'Post-It' married. A few minutes later Derek came through the door with his hands full of glass bottles. I was gazing at him accidentally.

"What?" He asked.

I blushed as I knew what I was doing. "Nothing." I said.

"Staring I see…" Derek said smiling.

"Staring? At what? You?"

"Yeah at me!" Derek said.

"And why would I want to?"

"I mean, have you seen me? Have you seen my hair and my eyes and my smile? I mean they don't call me McDreamy for nothing."

"Okay McArrogant…" I said smiling. He sat down next to me on the bed and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"I'm really happy that you went to your father in his time of need."

"Yeah… I am too," I said. "I really am."

Both of us went to bed shortly after that. Our alarm clock was set for 5:30.

I hated mornings. As much as I love my job, I hated the mornings more than anything else in the world. It was such a struggle to get up. At 5:30 the alarm went off. I rolled over and put my head underneath my pillow.

"Come on Mer, you might wanna get up before there's no hot water left." Derek urged. Derek and I had our own bathroom but there would be many times when someone else would steal it. It was hard living in a house with only two showers with six people.

"Why can't I take a later shift?" I asked him.

"Because if you do then you won't me home at night and I get lonely." Derek replied. I couldn't wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow was Christina and I's day off. Although Christina hated her days off, they were required to get some extra rest.

"Meredith if you don't get up I will take the longest shower in history and you'll have to take a freezing cold one." Derek said trying to wake her up.

"Fine, great go ahead." I said flatly.

Derek pulled the covers off the bed exposing me to a freezing cold room. "Derek! I so hate you right now!" I yelled.

"I know Mer, I love you too." Derek said back to me giving me that McDreamy smile.

Feeling defeat I got up off of the bed. I grabbed my clothes and headed into the bathroom. I hated the mornings. After my shower I dried my hair and went down stairs. Lexie was talking to Dad. I said good morning to them and made my way into the kitchen. I heard an unfamiliar voice. No, I have heard that voice before. As I walked into the kitchen the voice matched the person. It was Addison. The red hair beauty was talking to Derek and Alex.

"Addison, hi! I uhh didn't know that you were going to be in Seattle." I said obviously nervous.

"Meredith you look great! Oh and well your husband err something like that just re-hired me at Seattle Grace. LA was just not my scene." Addison explained. I was a little weirded out that Derek would hire his ex-wife back on staff at Seattle Grace. He was indeed on good terms with her since they both cheated, but I found it a little strange after all of the fighting they previously did there.

"Oh how amazing! You are the best OB/GYN on the west coast after all." I said while grabbing one of Izzie's homemade muffins.

"Hey Mer I need some of your help upstairs." Derek said. I nodded and followed him into our bedroom. Once the door was safely shut he turned to me. "Are you okay with all of this?" He asked.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" I asked him.

He looked at me into my eyes.

"Fine, so it's a little weird in all. I mean your ex-wife shows up one morning and all of a sudden wants her old job back… I mean don't you find that strange?" I asked Derek.

"Truthfully… Addison was let go from LA." Derek said.

"Oh…" Was all I could say.

"How long do you think your Dad will stay?" Derek asked.

"I don't know" I replied. "Why?"

"Umm…" I knew that face. Oh God Derek!

"Really? Okay now that I am uncomfortable with!" I told him.

"Oh come on! Just for about a week until she finds a new place to stay. I mean she'll take the couch and everything. Meredith she's our friend, we can't just abandon her."

"Correction Derek, she your friend and besides, you abandoned me when you chose her the first time. How does that make it any different?" I said trying not to raise my voice.

"Mer I have been pretty lenient about letting people live here. I mean really I would have liked to already have our own house and family and dog already but, I've been waiting for you to be ready for that. I'm living in a house with your friends."

"Derek they are your friends too. And I never let my ex live here with me!"

"George. Remember, George lived here too."

"Really Derek? You know that it was just a one night thing! He's my friend. One of my best friends. Of course I would have let him live here! And besides he was my roommate before."

"I'm done having this discussion with you. We can't just leave Addie in the cold." Derek said while turning into the bathroom for his shower.

Once Derek and I were both ready we both drove to the hospital together. We were pretty much in an awkward silence until I asked if he had any surgeries today.

"Yeah I have to remove a tumor from the brain at ten. You want to scrub in?" He asked.

"Yeah sure. I would love to." That was the best thing about being married to the chief of surgery. You could get in on all of the great surgeries.

"Hey Mer," He said.

"Yeah?" I asked in response.

"You know I really do love you, and I don't want you to feel intimidated by Addison, but Meredith she really does need us right now." Derek said.

"Derek, fine. You know what, I don't even care anymore. If she wants to live with us then, whatever." I said obviously ticked off. You don't see me invited Finn to live with us.

"Great, now you're mad." Derek said staring straight towards the road, gripping the steering wheel.

"Well no duh I'm mad! You just let your ex-wife walk right back into your life. How would you feel if I asked to Finn to come and live with us?"

"Meredith, we share this house and I say that Addison stays with us." Derek said.

"Whatever. Fine invite her." I said flatly. That was the end of our conversation for the car ride.

When we approached the hospital we pulled right up next to Christina's car. She was getting out of the car at the same time that we were. Christina and I were talking on our way into the hospital while Derek remained silent next to me. As soon as we walked into those sliding glass doors Derek and I went our separate ways.

"What wrong with you and Der?" Christina asked.

"Where to begin… Well for starters he gave Addison her job back…" I told Christina.

"You mean like Addison Montgomery a.k.a. Satan?" Christina said. When Derek chose Addison Chris and I would call her Satan.

"But it gets so much worse!" I said. "She's starting next week."

"Wow well don't waste any time or anything." She said sarcastically.

"Oh but I'm not even finished yet! He's invited her to move in with us!" I said.

Christina's mouth dropped. "Does he know that you're mad?"

"Yes and he's still insisting that she's going to stay with us for the week. He's saying that it's non-negotiable. Where does he come off? Technically it's my mother's house and since she's dead it's mine. He is just ticking me off this morning!"

"And for God's Sake you're carrying the McBaby! I think that you should tell him that your hormones are like being all screwed up and that you don't feel comfortable with an OB in your house." Christina offered.

"That wouldn't work." I said as Christina and I walked into the locker room and put our things in our lockers. "And now he probably won't let me remove that tumor from some guy,s brain today at ten." I complained.

"Well if you want I could take your place…" Christina offered trying to get my surgery.

"Not a chance!" I said. We both laughed and started our rounds.

At around 9:30 I went looking for Derek. I went into his office where he was talking to Cullen.

"Ah Dr. Grey are you ready for the surgery?"

"Yes Chief Shepherd I am completely ready. Did someone prep the OR?" I asked Derek.

He nodded. "Dr. Cullen here will be joining us in the procedure along with Kepner."

"Great to have you on our service today Dr. Cullen. Dr. Shepherd, would it be okay if Yang scrubbed in?"

"I suppose so. Page her." I nodded. I started to walk towards the door.

"Oh and Dr. Grey, meet me in OR 2 at exactly ten. We will not wait for tardiness." He said with a bitter voice.

"Of course Doctor." I said flatly.

Normal POV:

Once Meredith left, Carlisle turned to Derek.

"Can we speak off of the record?" Carlisle asked Derek who nodded. "Don't you think that was a little harsh?"

"Not the way she's been acting this morning. She won't let an old friend of ours err well more like mine stay with us for a week." Derek said to Carlisle.

"Well what sort of friend is this we are talking about?"

"It's my ex-wife, who I left for Meredith. She's saying how she doesn't feel comfortable and crap like that. I'm starting to get tired of it all." Derek explained.

"Umm well don't you think if the situation was reversed that you would feel uncomfortable?" Carlisle asked Derek.

"No. Not a chance." Derek said.

"Just think about it in her perspective. Listen Chief I need to go check on a patient right now. I'll see you in surgery." Carlisle said as he was leaving Derek's office.

Meredith was filling out charts at the nurse's station. Carlisle wanted to see if she was okay since he was a very compassionate person.

"Are you okay Dr. Grey? You and Chief Shepherd seemed to be a little mad at each other." He said.

"Yes Dr. Cullen I am fine." Meredith replied to him lying through her teeth.

"I'm here if you need me," He said. "I talked with your husband. He told me what was going on and everything."

"He did?" Meredith asked. "Did you happen to take his side or is he just being ridiculous?"

"Well I don't mean to get into things like this since, I just met you guys. But I can see why it might be uncomfortable with your husband's ex-wife living with you guys." He said.

"Thanks." Meredith started. "Well I got to go Dr. Cullen but I'll see you at ten."

"Yep see you there."

Meredith and Carlisle both walked their separate ways. At 10:05 Meredith realized that she was going to be late for surgery. She couldn't handle an angry Derek, so she ran to OR room 2.

"Dr. Grey you're late when I specifically told you to be here 6 minutes ago." Derek said in a firm voice.

"Oh cut the crap Derek. Don't just try to think of a lame excuse to pick a fight with me. I don't want to deal with it right now."

"Dr. Grey when a Chief tells you to come to surgery at ten he doesn't mean 10:06 he means ten! And just because you are my wife doesn't mean that I'm going to let a fight get in the way of my surgery. This is my OR and I could kick you out in a heartbeat got it?"

"Crystal clear, Chief." Meredith said in a completely sarcastic voice.

"Oh and one more thing Dr. Grey, I love you." Derek said with no expression.

"Same freaking here." Meredith replied while walking out of the scrub room and into the OR.

Derek followed her out of the scrub room. He got all geared up for surgery then said his signature line. "It's a beautiful day to save lives."

"Whenever you're ready Chief." April Kepner said in an innocent voice.

"Okay, scalpel." Kepner handed Derek a scalpel as he made an incision on the young man's head. He then cut through the skull and went into the brain.

"He's crashing." Meredith said to Derek. "Chief he's crashing now. You need to hurry up."

"Somebody bump up his oxygen and add epinephrine. That will hold him a little longer."

After many hours of trying in the OR the young man was cured. "Good work team." Derek said to everyone. He looked at Meredith and walking into the scrub room with him. "Good work in there Dr. Grey, although you were holding your suction all wrong."

"This is the way that I have always held it and nothing wrong has ever come out of it." Meredith explained to her husband.

"Well or the future you might want to consider holding it differently."

"Where do you come off Derek? Are you seriously trying to pick a fight with me. I already said that Addison could stay with us so why are you still trying to piss me off?" Meredith said almost yelling. Cullen walked into the scrub room followed by Christina and Kepner.

"See right there. I'm just trying to help and you get all defensive about it. I'm a helping person, just like how I am trying to help Addie."

"Oh don't start with the whole cutie names for her! You know that this is bugging me so why do you do it?"

"Oh so I can't call you Mer anymore?"

"We'll finish this later Chief Shepherd." Meredith hissed as she abruptly left the scrub room. Derek finished scrubbing out and left to go into his office. He knew that he was trying to pick a fight with Meredith, but he didn't know why. He was confused right now. He loved Meredith.

Meredith's shift ended at six that evening. Derek and Meredith really couldn't face going through another fight so he went for drinks with Mark, Alex and George. Lexie drove Meredith back to their house and Christina, Callie and Arizona came over. Addison was looking for apartments so she wasn't there when they all got back. They all sat down and started to talk. It wasn't until Izzie got there about a half an hour after everyone else, did they know what to do. They needed to dance it out. Izzie put in the new Alpha Rev c.d. and they started to blare the music. Whenever they had a problem, the danced it out. It really did help; it was their way of venting. They all started to dance around the living room like fools. They didn't stop until the guys came home and were staring at them through the door way.

"Dancing it out I see…" Alex pointed out.

"We're venting." Izzie said.