A/N: Well, it's finally time to meet the Shepherds! The next few chapters should get written fairly quickly, despite my warnings about possible delays, because a lot of the material for them is stuff that I wrote while this story was still in the planning stages - some of the stuff I've been most eager to post will show up in the next chapter or two, so I'm really excited to get those scenes posted! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Meredith and Derek's arrival at the Shepherd home!
"Well, here we are," Derek said as they pulled up in front of a large white colonial house.
"Good Lord, Derek, it's huge," Meredith commented as she got her first look at the expansive home Maggie Shepherd lived in. "Does your mom really live here all by herself?"
"Well, there were five kids living here at one point," Derek pointed out. "Six, if you include how often Mark was over, not to mention the fact that my sisters always had friends over, day and night. The house was always full of people. The size still comes in handy now, because all the grandkids can congregate in one house, and no one ever needs a hotel. Plus, my mother is extremely social, so she's always got people dropping in from all over to stay for a few days."
Meredith smiled as Derek parked the car. The house certainly was beautiful, and she could now see exactly where Derek got the inspiration for the house he'd built on his land.
As soon as Derek cut the engine, the front door of the house flew open and people began pouring out to greet them. Derek didn't make it more than two steps toward the passenger side to help Meredith before he was practically ambushed by his sisters and nieces.
Meredith sighed as she pushed open her door, only to realize that while Derek was trapped by his sisters, she couldn't move her leg. Slowly lifting it out of the car and turning her body, she sat with her legs dangling off the edge of the seat, wondering just how she was going to manage to get out of the car on her own.
As quickly as the thoughts ran through her mind, a strong arm wrapped itself around her waist and gently lifted her to her feet, holding her steady as she found her balance and regained the feeling in her leg.
"I'm Matt," the man said, smiling as she awkwardly leaned against the car.
"Hi," Meredith said sheepishly. "I guess I should have made Derek take that last stop after all, huh?"
"It's happened to almost all of my patients," Matt assured her. "It seems to be a fairly common side effect of the surgery."
"Hey, I'll take it over never walking again," Meredith said.
"You alright now?" Matt asked as he tentatively withdrew his arm from her waist. "I don't want Derek to turn around and clock me one or something if he gets the wrong idea."
"I think he saves that kind of aggression for Mark," Meredith laughed.
"Nevertheless, can't be too careful, or so they say," Matt smiled. "Come on, the girls will be all over him for a while, happens every time. Why don't you come inside? I'll introduce you to the rest of the in-laws."
Meredith couldn't help but smile as she and Matt walked into the living room to find a small crowd huddled around the television set, watching what she recognized as the previous Thanksgiving's Dallas Cowboys' football game.
"Studying?" Meredith asked curiously as they approached the group.
Matt laughed. "They do this every year, you should be warned," he said, shaking his head. "They think it's going to help them with their bets for this year's games."
"It won't," Meredith said, smiling knowingly. "Dallas is a completely different team this year, which you'd know if you caught the way they dropped the ball in the draft, not mention their idiotic trades. Last year's lineup may have been able to cream the Jets, but they're going to get their butts handed to them by the Seahawks, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Seattle girl."
"I like her, Uncle Matt," a teenage boy said. "Who is she?"
"Oh, right," Matt said apologetically. "Where are my manners?"
"You have manners?" a younger boy asked. "That's news."
"Very funny," Matt said. "Guys, this is Derek's girlfriend, Meredith."
"Hi," Meredith said, smiling nervously as she shook the teenagers hand.
"Meredith, this is Karl, Nancy's oldest son," Matt introduced, motioning to the older of the two teenagers. "And that's Brian, Nancy's other son. Then this is Tom, Kathy's husband, and Sean, Beth's husband."
Matt paused for a moment before pointing to the one remaining man, a tall brown-haired man, slightly graying at the roots, who hung back from the rest of the group. "That's Nick," Matt said dismissively.
Meredith smiled awkwardly as she shook his hand, shooting a confused glance at the others, who shrugged as if to say, 'ask me later'. The only Nick Meredith remembered from the family flash cards was Nancy's soon-to-be ex-husband, but she figured this couldn't possibly be the same Nick.
"Nick, why don't you go get Derek and Meredith's bags from the car?" Tom suggested. "See if you can't extract Derek from the girls while you're at it."
As Nick left the room, Meredith turned to the others. "Okay, I'm pretty confused right now."
"Aren't we all?" Sean said. "Karl, you'd better tell her."
"Nick moved out last December, right before Christmas," Karl said. "It was very sudden. Usually I can tell when Mom's relationships are going sour, but not this time. There was no warning, no fights, nothing, he just up and left one day. If Mom knows why, she's not saying."
"She hardly spoke for months after he left," Brian added. "Only left her room to go to work or the store."
"It was pretty bad," Karl agreed. "Worse than I've ever seen her, and I've seen her facing divorce twice before, not to mention the boyfriends who never made it that far. Anyway, they finally started the divorce proceedings a few months ago. Then, all of a sudden, he's back. He moved back in about two weeks ago. Again, no warning, no explanations, he's just back."
"But he's not really," Brian said. "I mean, he's back, but they hardly speak to each other, and they don't even sleep in the same room. Nick's sleeping in the guest room."
"Welcome to the Shepherds, Meredith," Tom said. "The drama never ceases."
"Good Lord, it took you long enough," Nancy laughed as she pulled Abby away from Derek so that she could hug him. "Why on earth would you choose to drive all the way from Seattle? Really, Derek, do they not pay you enough to afford a plane ticket?"
"Hey, it was a beautiful trip, Nancy," Derek said. "Just because you can't appreciate the beauty of this country doesn't meant that I can't."
"Hands off my son!" a tall gray-haired woman shouted from behind Nancy. "I haven't seen him in months, give the boy some room to come hug his mother, would you?"
"Hi, Mom," Derek smiled. "You look great, as usual."
"Of course I do," Maggie smiled. "What did you expect?"
"Nothing less, Mom, nothing less," Derek assured her.
"So, Derek, where's your little intern?" Nancy asked.
"Her name is Meredith," Kathleen corrected her sister. "But yeah, Derek, where is Meredith?"
"Um…she was here just a minute ago," Derek said, looking around in confusion as he realized that Meredith was no longer in the car.
"Less than ten minutes and she's already running for the hills?" Beth laughed. "That's got to be a new record, even for us!"
"Don't get your hopes up," Nick commented as he walked by carrying the suitcases out of the trunk of Derek's car. "The boys took her inside while you all were fawning over Derek."
"Well, we'd better go see if the boys have scared her off yet," Maggie said, turning and motioning for her son and daughters to follow her into the house.
"No way, the Giants run the best defense in the league!" Derek heard his nephew, Karl, exclaim as he and his sisters followed their mother into the house.
"I'm just saying, even if I concede that they've got the best defense - which I don't, by the way - but even if I did, that doesn't mean they can't be beaten by an appropriately run offense," Meredith replied. "There's no such thing as an unbeatable team, especially not in football. Everybody's got a weakness."
"Boys, do you talk about anything other than football?" Maggie asked as she entered the room. "I'm certain that Derek's lady friend would find almost anything else more interesting."
"Grandma, that's not true," Brian protested. "Uncle Derek's girlfriend is totally awesome – she's been to the Super Bowl, and she's met Joe Montana and Steve Young!"
"Who?" Maggie asked.
"Maggie, come on," Tom laughed. "Two of the best players of the modern age? Seriously, have you been living under a rock?"
"Don't you sass me, young man," Maggie scolded playfully. "Just because I don't pay attention to sports does not mean I'm ignorant."
"Mom, can we go to Seattle?" Karl asked.
"Why on earth would you want to go there?" Nancy asked in disgust. "It's a horrible city. Quite dreary."
"Hey, I happen to love Seattle," Derek protested. "Don't listen to her, Karl, it's a great city. I could take you fishing if you came out."
"Um, maybe. But Meredith says she knows the head coach of the Seahawks and she thinks she could get us into the locker room after a game," Karl said excitedly.
Nancy glared at Meredith. "Well, isn't that charming?"
"To be fair, I know the head coach of the Jets, too," Meredith said. "So I could probably get you in a locker room without you having to come all the way to Seattle."
"Do you know the coach of the Giants?" Karl asked.
"Actually, yeah, I do," Meredith admitted.
"What, were you a professional athlete in a past life?" Sean asked in awe.
"No, dear, she's probably just slept with half their lineups," Beth said.
"Elizabeth!" Derek and Sean exclaimed at the same time.
"Beth, really," Derek sighed. "That was uncalled for."
"I think it was highly appropriate," Nancy said. "Look at her history, Derek. If she didn't sleep with them, how exactly does she know them?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but I met them through work," Meredith said, standing up to go stand next to Derek.
"Right, because surgical interns come into contact with so many high profile people," Nancy scoffed.
"Not that work, Nancy," Meredith replied calmly. "I worked for five years after college before I started medical school."
"And just what did you do?" Nancy asked disdainfully.
"I was a writer," Meredith said, aware that even Derek was staring at her with a bit of disbelief. She realized for the first time that they'd never really talked about that time in her life. "I did a number of different freelance jobs, but my steady gig was writing a weekly sports column for the Boston Herald. I also did all of their special events coverage, so I went to all the playoffs, the championships, things like that."
"That's how you got the World Series tickets," Kathleen said. "I wondered about that."
"Yeah, a friend of mine from the paper works in the commissioner's office now, so I called in a few favors," Meredith said.
"They hate me," Meredith commented as she and Derek walked into their room upstairs to change out of their travel clothes.
"They don't hate you," Derek assured her.
"The guys don't, sure," Meredith said. "But the guys were easy, all I had to do was mention sports and they were practically eating out of my hand. And I know Kathy likes me. But Derek, your mother wouldn't even look at me, and Nancy and Beth think I'm the biggest slut on the West Coast."
"Abby doesn't hate you," Derek offered, trying to be helpful.
"Oh good, I'm two for five," Meredith sighed. "Are they always going to hate me or is this something that fades?"
"Mom will take a few days, but she'll end up adoring you, I'm sure of it," Derek said. "She's a little harsh at first, but once she gets to know you, I think you'll both really like each other. Same goes for Beth. Nancy, well, give it time, if nothing else, she'll get used to you. Although, to be honest, she's not really all that nice to anyone."
"So I shouldn't hold out hope for her?" Meredith asked.
"Meredith, if you can get Nancy to like you in the six days we're here, I will personally write to the pope and nominate you for sainthood," Derek teased. "Sometimes, I think the only people she really lets herself like are her kids."
"She liked Addison," Meredith pointed out.
"Not at first," Derek assured her. "She would barely speak to Addison until after the wedding."
"Seriously?" Meredith asked.
"I thought they were going to hate each other forever," Derek said. "I mean, they eventually became friends, but I wouldn't say they were ever terribly close friends. I'm not sure Nancy's ever had a very close relationship with any of our sisters, let alone with Addison. She's friendly, but there's always, I don't know, sort of a wall, like she doesn't want to let anyone get close."
"Well that's comforting," Meredith said sarcastically. "Does she have a close relationship with anyone?"
"Her kids, of course," Derek said. "She and Mark were close for a while, but I don't think they've been nearly so close since, well, probably since her first divorce, actually, so it's been what, twenty years? And she always seemed pretty close to Nick, but apparently that didn't work out."
"He moved back in," Meredith said. "That's got to count for something."
"Honestly, I stopped trying to figure out what was going on in Nancy's love life after the second divorce," Derek said. "You ready to go back down?"
"Why not?" Meredith shrugged. "I've got to face the lions' den sometime, right?"