"Kathleen Carlyle."

Meredith looked down at the extended hand in front of her and took it into her own. Kathy's hand was cold, but soft. She had long boney fingers that wrapped awkwardly around Meredith's. But, still… It fit.

"Hi," Meredith said every so weakly.

"So. You're the reason my brother has decided to never come home," she stated cattily.

Here it comes. Meredith thought.

Derek staying in Seattle, her fault. Derek leaving his wife. Her fault. Derek actually being happy- not possible, right? He came out here to get away. Away from New York. Away from Addison. Away from it all. He couldn't possibly come to a place off a whim and find something to hold on to. Find a reason to stay. Find a way to start over, start a new life. Find love again.

Of course it was Meredith's fault. It had to be. Because Derek wasn't a grown man. He couldn't be held responsible for his actions. It's not like he was the head of neurosurgery who earned two million a year at a prestigious hospital or anything. Oh wait…

She let out a breath, hoping Derek would jump in and save her before Kathy started blaming her for everything that was even remotely wrong in his life. It was the least he could do. However, when she shifted her eyes in his direction, she was almost blinded by the grin that spread across his face.

He was enjoying this.

Ass.

She looked away from him and fixed her gaze past Kathy. If she looked her in the eyes, she was afraid she might cry. Or bite her head off. Neither of which she really wanted to do. She blinked hard and prepared herself for what was to come, no thanks to Derek. "Yeah," she answered just as weakly as before.

"It's great to finally meet you." Kathy replied rather benevolent. She cupped her other hand around Meredith's and gave it a little squeeze before letting go.

What.

Meredith let her arm drop to her side as she stared awestruck at Kathy. Speechless. Kathy was being… nice? To her? She must have misheard her. She had to have. Kathy wasn't supposed to friendly, she was supposed to be like Nancy. Judgmental. Rude. Snide. No matter what Derek had said, Kathy just couldn't be nice. It couldn't be that easy. Meredith had to be missing something.

"Officially. I mean." Kathy said, shaking her head. "Compared to before."

There it was. Pants. Or lack there of. Meredith was right. She knew Kathy would say something about it and it didn't take her long. The whole situation was something so minor that it simply should not have happened at all. Brut it did.

Meredith suddenly found herself silently cursing her blow-dryer, as she realized it was the culprit responsible for her not hearing the doorbell ring. She couldn't change what had happened. It was stupid. And embarrassing. But she decided she wasn't going to let it control the outcome of her current conversation either. It happened. And all she wanted to do was get past it and forget about it. As quickly as she could. Rip off the band-aid. No anesthesia.

Apologize. Just… apologize, and get it over with, she thought.

"Yeah, um…" she trailed off her sentence. "Sorry. About. Earlier and all. I, a… didn't know. Derek. He, um, did my laundry. So…"

She was rambling again.

"Don't worry about it," Kathy interrupted. "It's not a big deal."

What.

Meredith dropped her shoulders.

What?

She couldn't be serious…. Could she? No… Yelling? Or mocking? Or laughing at? Nothing? It was hard to believe she was just going to let it go, considering that's exactly what Meredith wanted. What she needed.

"O… kay." Meredith stammered as Kathy's response came as a complete and absolute shock to her.

WHAT?

Meredith turned to face Derek, who was now trying to keep his smirk hidden. When she fixed her eyes with his, all he did was wink. He knew it wasn't a big deal. He knew Kathy wouldn't care. However, he could have filled Meredith in on that tiny detail.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

As if he read her mind, Derek's smile broke through and he changed the subject. "Kathy, where did you say your convention was at?"

She was off the hook. Free. Just like that, the diversion of a new topic left the previous one of her pants settling in the dust. Meredith turned back to Kathy, who was in mid-conversation with Derek. She told him where the convention was to be held. He asked something else. She answered.

Kathy was totally going along with it, like she didn't care one bit about it.

It was as if the whole thing had never had happened. Perfectly forgotten about. Completely moved on from. Meredith laughed to herself. It was unreal. Her whole morning was nothing but ups and downs. Getting thrown into babysitting, then debating about going through with it. Trying to stay in good spirits for Derek, because he wanted her there with his family, and she knew it. Then having the revelation of meeting Kathy for the first time wearing nothing but her underwear. It was supposed to be her day off and the only thing she had to show for it was a new level of stress. And the day had barely begun. She was eternally grateful at how quickly the whole pants thing diminished. Having something actually go her way, well, that was just the icing on the cake. Hell, it was eating the damn thing.

Meredith sighed in relief. She couldn't help but smile as she heard Derek and Kathy talk about things. Things other than her. She was so pleased about her mishap finally being over with, she wouldn't dare add to the conversation and bring the attention back to herself. So she just stared on, happy to do so. At one point she actually stopped paying attention to what they were saying. Her focus was directed more on the mounds of new objects and parcels that lined the hall where they currently stood.

Derek was right. Kids had a lot of things.

The room was practically overflowing with everything they had brought with them. How had she not noticed it before? Even with her mind fully freaking out, it was still pretty hard to miss. Stuff was everywhere. As a matter of fact, she was surprised she didn't end up tripping over anything. At the bottom of the stairs, a pink suitcase rested against the wall next to a small princess backpack and a stuffed teddy bear. If Derek had moved to his left any further from where he was standing, Meredith was sure he would have been attacked by them. If that didn't do it, then the stroller parked just behind him would have.

The place looked like a tornado had struck it.

Bags, suitcases, gear and gadgets outlined the walls. Almost every inch was covered. She spotted a rather large rectangular box--type-thing that was lying just beyond the stroller. Meredith had no idea what it was, but the side of it read "Pack 'N Play". She shrugged it off thinking it was just another carrying case for toys or something. Kids had toys. And she suspected from all the luggage that these kids had plenty.

She had a lot of toys as a kid. Her mother spoiled her, attempting to make up for never being around. She bought Meredith every toy a kid would want. She probably had ten times the amount of toys than all the other kids she knew, but she never bothered with them. She spent most of her time sitting around at her mother's hospital or being looked after by nannies. She kept to herself. Mostly reading. Or trying to sneak into the gallery to watch surgeries. She was a smart kid. She wanted to learn.

Today. Today kids have to have everything. If there faces weren't glued to a video game, it would be the end of the world.

Meredith sighed, hoping Kathy wasn't the kind of mother who threw things at her kids so she wouldn't have to spend time with them. From the looks of things, Kathy didn't appear to be that way. She handled Leah well and truly looked happy doing the mother thing. She did bring her kids with her to Seattle, granted she had to leave them with sitters, but still… the effort was there.

So were the toys.

Meredith noticed more bags on the opposite wall. Toys spewed everywhere, plunging from case after case. They even sat on top of a small booster seat that sat against the wall. She spotted two more suitcases, a white and pink stripped diaper bag, and a few other odds and ends that, with no doubt in her mind, were all stuffed to the rim with toys. In addition to the massive amount of luggage taking up all the room, numerous amounts princess attire coated the front of everything, making the small room feel even more jam packed and gave off a screaming label to the presence of little girls.

Everything was frilly. And Pink. Lots of pink.

Everywhere.

Except some things were blue.

Dark blue.

Meredith felt a light touch press against her leg. Breaking her wandering gaze from around the room, she looked down to see Leah rubbing her little hand against her jeans, as if she were feeling the material for the first time. When had Derek put her down anyway? How did she not notice? Her whole morning was beginning to feel like a daze. As if she were floating above, just looking in. Catching little things here and there. She heard Derek ask if the kids had eaten yet. She heard Kathy say no, followed by a whole explanation of why she asked him last minute to babysit.

The movement of Leah's hand brought Meredith's attention back to the young child, once again tuning out of Derek and Kathy's discussion. Leah began patting Meredith, then stopped completely and rested her hand against the fabric. Meredith smiled down at the child. Leah mimicked her stare. Once she realized she had met Meredith before and already knew her, she raised her arms in the air to be picked up.

Meredith was slightly taken aback by the little girl's forwardness. She wanted to be held. By Meredith. Was she crazy? She couldn't hold her…. Could she? Unsure of what to do exactly, Meredith settled on squatting on the floor to make herself the same height as Leah.

"I'm not very good at this," Meredith whispered her confession to the tot.

Leah looked her in the eyes and gave a slight nod. There was no way she could have possibly understood what Meredith had said, but the tiny motion of bobbing her head in a venture to do so made her feel a little better. Like it was all right that she didn't know what to do. Leah had given her the OK to be a bit behind in the Mommy 101 course.

Meredith fixed her eyes on the ground and exhaled deeply. She really wasn't the best person to be around kids. She had no idea what she was supposed to do really.

Before another thought could enter her mind, a small finger from that tiny hand of Leah's poked at a freckle on her face.

Meredith picked her head up and let out a slight chuckle. Apparently Leah didn't care too much about her lack of babysitting skills. She just wanted someone to play with.

She took Leah's hand and held it into her own. It was so small. So fragile. She was a little person. Waiting. Waiting for her world to be shaped by the endeavor of others. Everything anyone would ever do in her life would have an effect on who she would become. What kind of person she would be become.

And that thought frightened Meredith to no end.

Knowing that every day, what you do, could have a huge impact on the ones you care for. That was terrifying.

How do people do this? she thought. How am I going to do this?

Sure it was only for the day, but still… Being responsible for someone other than yourself, knowing that a child's life is in your hands… Making sure that at the end of the day they still have ten fingers and ten toes. Well, that was all something entirely new to her.

And she just didn't want to screw it up.

Meredith looked into the little girl's eyes and felt curiosity staring back at her. Leah didn't understand anything about this. About who to look up to in life. About role models. About good and bad. Right from wrong. She just wanted to learn… Everything.

"Meredith?"

Here thoughts were ceased in an instant. She broke her gaze from Leah and looked up to another set of eyes peering down at her.

"Mer," Derek said when she didn't answer Kathy.

Meredith turned to face him. "Yeah," she said as she quickly got to her feet. "Sorry. I didn't hear you."

She was so engaged by Leah, she didn't even hear their conversation turn to her.

"Sorry," she apologized again. "What were you saying?"

"Derek was just telling me that you don't do this often."

Meredith, unsure of what she was referring to, just stared on mindlessly.

"Babysit." Kathy added, clearing up her statement.

"Oh." Meredith jarred her head. "Right. Yeah. No, I don't do this often." She paused. "Or, ever. Actually."

"Well, don't worry," Kathy tried to reinsure her. "It's only for the day, and Der has been around kids… forever."

"Right," she responded nodding her head.

"We shouldn't have any problems. They're good kids," Derek chimed in. "And they come around quick, They will love you, Mer."

"It looks as if she's already infatuated with you," Kathy laughed, alluding to Leah who was still staring intensely at Meredith.

Derek studied his niece as he shook his head smiling. "It's not hard to do."

Meredith rolled her eyes at him. He was such a sap sometimes.

Leah reached her arms up yet again to Meredith. But instead of indicating to be held, she put her hands into Meredith's and began tugging her arms and swaying back and forth. Just as he sister had done earlier with Derek. It was then that she realized the other child was missing.

"Where. Where's the other one?" Meredith stuttered as Leah continued to play with her hands.

"Other one what?" Kathy countered.

Seriously…?

"Um. Kid." Meredith responded.

Kathy let out a small chuckle. "Oh!" she started. "They wanted to play outside for a while. After being stuck in a plane, hotel, and car for the last two days, I can understand."

Wait…

"They?" Meredith mumbled.

Kathy glanced down at her watch. "I should probably get going anyway. I'll tell them to come in so you can actually meet them before I take off."

THEM?

Panic flared across Meredith's face. "As in… Plural?" she said under her breath. She turned again towards Derek. "More than one?" she said a bit louder to him.

Derek wrinkled his brow and shook his head. He didn't grasp what she was getting at.

"Beth! Boys! Come inside now!" she yelled from the open storm door.

"Boys?!" she repeated behind Kathy.

Blue…

She suddenly became much more aware of all the blue luggage that was jumbled in with the pink.

Meredith raised her palm to her forehead in an aim to lessen the blow. She couldn't handle this. Two girls and more than one boy? That was a minimum of four kids. Four kids. She was afraid when she thought it was just the two. How was she supposed to handle four?

I can't do this. Meredith thought.

She moved towards Derek with the words on her lips.

I can't do this.

He saw the fear in her face. Then it all made sense to him. She didn't know how many kids they were suppose to watch. He forgot to tell her.

Derek grabbed hold of Meredith once she was in arms length and looked into her eyes, regret in his own.

I can't do this!

The words were right there, but she couldn't get them out. She was so overwhelmed and exasperated from the morning she could barely comprehend what was actually happening.

"Meredith," Derek whispered as his own nerves moderately started to break through.

This was it. The words would come this time, she was sure of it. As she went to speak, the words rested on the tip of her tongue.

But they didn't stay there.

As a herd of tiny feet filled the room, Meredith's mind had a relapse and she stood silent once more.

Derek released his hold on her and moved his hand to the small of her back in an effect to comfort her. In return, Meredith shifted to face her new occupants.

The young girl, Meredith assumed was Beth, had entered first and went straight to her mother. Behind her came two little boys, dressed in matching cowboy costumes, with uniform cowboy hats.

Meredith paused as she caught a glimpse of the children now present in front of her. They boys were a mirror image of each other. Same height. Same weight. Same… Everything.

Twins.

"Meredith," Kathy began as she pointed to each of her children. "This is Robbie, Matthew, and Beth. And you've already met Leah."

Kathy glanced at Meredith, looking for a sign to continue on. When Meredith did nothing, Kathy thought it best to continue anyway and finish her introduction.

"Kids, this is…" she paused, searching for the right words. "Your… Uncle Derek's… This is… This is Meredith."

For these kids entire life, they had known their Uncle Derek to come along with an Aunt Addison. Kathy didn't think now was the best time to bring up that whole ordeal and try to explain why Uncle Derek has a new girlfriend.

"Hi," one of the twins said.

Meredith didn't reply. From behind, Derek gave her a nudge, snapping her out of the traumatic moment.

"Hi," she whispered back.

Kathy glanced from her kids to Meredith and back. They were just looking at each other. Every one of them.

Derek caught notice of this as well and decided it was best to move on.

"Okay," he said as he clapped his hands together. "Who's hungry?"

He had never heard so many children all scream "Yay!" and "Me!" so many times in his life.

"Well, all right then," he laughed. "Let's tell your mom goodbye so we can go have some breakfast."

Twin number one quickly turned to his mother. "Bye, Momma," he said reaching up to give her a hug.

"See you later!" Twin number two followed suit.

"Bye, babies," Kathy said as she reached down to give Beth a hug. "Be good for your uncle."

"We will," Beth replied.

Kathy then picked up Leah, who was amusing herself with a knot that ran on the floor below them. She hugged her tightly and kissed her on the cheek as Derek pointed the other kids in the direction of the kitchen.

"You too, Leah," she said laughing to her mellow daughter and watched her other kids scurry off.

Without hesitation, Kathy forced Leah into Meredith's arms.

"Ohhh," Meredith gasped in surprise as she wrapped her arms tightly around the child who now resided in them.

"Alright," Kathy stared as she put her hand on the doorknob. "I won't be back too late."

"It's fine. Don't rush back for the sack of rushing," Derek said. "We'll be fine."

As Derek leaned in to kiss his sister on the cheek, a loud bang that sounded somewhat like metal hitting the floor echoed from the kitchen behind them, followed by a great deal of laughter.

Kathy moved from the doorway as if to tend to the situation, but Derek stopped her before she reached a foot.

"Kathy, go," he said softly to her. "Don't worry about it. I got it."

Kathy nodded in agreement. She knew her brother could handle anything. And she was already running late.

"Okay," she responded as she started to leave.

With that, Derek moved away from his sister on to his new destination. But not before stopping and giving Meredith a genital kiss on the lips.

"Are you alright?"

Meredith, who still had a tight grasp around Leah, slowly shook her head.

"Talk later?" he asked.

Meredith continued to shake her head.

Derek mimicked her movement with a smirk steadily forming on his lips. He then kissed her again and hurried on into the kitchen.

Meredith looked at the baby in her arms and, unsure of how to handle her exactly, turned around to follow Derek.

"Meredith?"

She turned back to see Kathy standing in the doorway.

Kathy started to move back into the foyer. "I just wanted to say… Thank you."

Meredith nodded and forced a half smile as she turned to leave.

"I mean," Kathy continued. "For more than just babysitting."

Meredith stopped in her tracks and turned to face her.

"Thank you. For taking care of Derek," she paused. "When the rest of us couldn't."

Kathy rubbed Leah's arm and gave her another quick kiss. "You'll do fine," she said to Meredith.

And then she was gone.

Meredith stood lost for words. Did that really just happen? This whole time, Meredith thought the worst. That Kathy would hate her. Not trust her. Judge her, just as Nancy had done. But instead… She had thanked her. Thanked her for the one thing she felt she should be shameful of.

Loving Derek.

Leah shifted in Meredith's arms, making her regain focus.

She turned on her heals and with a little more spunk in her step, moved towards the kitchen, letting a tiny smile pull at the corners of her mouth along the way.

A/N: Thanks again for the reviews, they are greatly appreciated. I hate to leave it here when things are finally happening with the kids, but more of that to come in part 5. Unfortunately, I don't know when part 5 will be posted, but hopefully soon. I'm going on vacation tomorrow for the week and my poor laptop has to stay home so I won't get much done. I know what I want to happen; it's just finding the right words. So who knows. Maybe something will get written… Part 5 will come soon though. I promise!