A/N: OK, well here's part five. Sorry it took a bit longer to post. Reviews are appreciated. Hope you enjoy!

Smash!

All heads turned towards Derek's nephew who was standing on a chair next to the island.

"Oops!" the little boy laughed. "Sorry Uncle Derek," he said as hopped off the chair.

Derek quickly wrapped his arm around his nephew and pulled him away from the mess. "It's alright, Matthew. Matthew!" Derek chuckled as the kid tried to wiggle free to clean it up.

Matthew stopped fighting as Derek lifted him and stood him back on the chair.

"You keep mixing, I got it," he said as he garbed a paper towel from the counter and bent down to wipe up the eggs Matthew had knocked onto the floor.

Meredith sat across from them, her chin resting in the palm of her hand as she watched the boy start to stir the pancake mix again. She noticed in all the commotion that his cowboy hat had fallen from his head and now dangled around his neck. But he didn't care. He didn't try to fix it, or take it off. He was more interested in completing the task Derek had left him with. And he was having fun. He would start out real slow, getting all the batter around the edge, then speed up as he moved towards the center.

"How's it looking?" Derek asked as he peered over his shoulder.

Matthew shrugged in return. "I think it's done."

Meredith studied the boy, trying to take in his features as well as his mannerisms.

Matthew. Okay… that one is Matthew, she thought.

"I need the brown crayon!"

Meredith turned her direction to the other children sitting at the table behind her.

Coloring books and sheets of paper now covered the table end to end. Meredith monitored the other twin as he reached across the table to his older sister with his hand sprawled. Beth obliged to his request and handed him the brown crayon, which he willingly accepted and returned to his work, coloring away at his page.

Leah sat in her booster seat, peacefully, with a bottle in hand as she keep an eye on her older siblings who continued to color the pages in front of them. With her free hand, she grabbed the closest crayon and started to run it back and forth across a sheet of paper, mimicking the motion her brother was doing.

Which means, that one is Robbie.

Meredith continued to watch Robbie a few moments more until the sizzling noise from the frying pan brought her attention back around towards his uncle and brother. Meredith eye's darted to the pan just in time to see the pancakes being flipped over. Her gaze shifted upwards, only to be met with Derek's staring back; a smirk on his face.

Busted.

Or so he thought.

Meredith knew what his smirk meant. He thought she was really getting into the kid thing. Watching them make breakfast, and color, and be all happy in their kid world. Debating about whether or not to grab a crayon and dive right in, too.

The look on his face showed hope.

She didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise. That she wasn't really paying much attention to them, in the aspect of wanting to participate in what they were doing, but rather paying attention to how they did things. Trying to observe them and find a way to decipher between the two boys and tell them apart. How did Derek do it anyhow? They looked exactly the same.

"What?" Meredith asked him.

Derek closed his mouth, but the smile was still evident. "Nothing," he said shaking his head.

Yep. He was definitely thinking that.

Meredith felt a pinch of guilt rush over her. Why was it so hard to be around kids? They were just… Kids. Innocent. Carefree. Harmless. She should be happy to have this chance to spend the day with them, not dreading it.

Derek, on the other hand, fit perfectly in the world of children. He knew how to handle them. How to talk with them. How to be a superior as well as a friend. And he did it all with ease.

Compared to Meredith, he did have the upper hand. His first niece was born while he was still in high school so there have always been children around. He came from a large family. Lots of kids. Meredith was an only child. The little time she spent with his kin thus far was probably the most she had ever been around children all together.

"I'm pathetic," Meredith said under her breath.

Derek's smile dropped a little. "Meredith," he sighed. "Don't rush yourself into anything. Give it time."

After a moment, she gave him a weak smile and sat in silence as he continued on making the pancakes. The children went on and on, talking to one another about the most random things. They would debate about superheroes and cartoons, making sure to get Derek's opinion on each topic before they moved on. He tried to include Meredith in their discussions, but when he would ask for her input, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She would stutter on her words, stop, and just agree with whatever Derek said. She really wasn't an expert in the kid area of conversation, either.

Matthew tugged on Derek's shirt, removing himself from the discussion. "Uncle Derek, are they done yet?"

"Um… Yeah," he replied as he lifted some more pancakes onto an empty plate. "Just give me one second."

Derek cracked a few eggs onto the frying pan then picked up two plates of pancakes.

"I don't like eggs!" the little boy cried out.

"They're not for you, they're for Leah," Derek said, holding back laughter. "Here." He gave his nephew the plates of pancakes he was holding. "Give one to Beth and one to Robbie, then come back for your plate."

Matthew nodded and followed his orders. The children all pushed their crayons and drawings to the center of the table as Matthew passing out the plates to his siblings. Derek quickly scrambled up the eggs and added them to a plate, just as Matthew returned for his own. Derek grabbed the syrup bottle in his free hand and tagged along with his nephew back over to the table.

He sat down next to Leah to help her get started on the eggs.

As the smell of breakfast filled the air, Meredith's stomach rumbled, reminding her that she was hungry as well. She got up from her seat and moved to the other side of the island in search of her own food. However, when she opened the refrigerator door, hoping to find something edible, she was a bit surprised to find that it was almost bare.

To maintain food in the home, one must shop for it. Meredith did not do this. She wasn't a big fan of the grocery store thing. It was a hassle. A waste of time. Much easier to flip open the phonebook and order something, or pick up take out on the way home from the hospital.

But she did go shopping. Sometimes. Reluctantly. Whenever the roommate rotation of shopping roulette landed on her, she would go. Or Derek. More often than not, she would try to pawn it off on him. And he would go. He even volunteered at times making her feel penitent and she would end up caving in and go along with him for company.

She assumed that's why the fridge was empty now. It must have been her turn to go and she blocked it out at some point. Derek was at the hospital all week, they both were really, and so neither of them would have had a chance to get out and restock the fridge.

Meredith reached her arm to the back of the refrigerator and pulled out a Tupperware container. She opened it, sniffed it, and quickly replaced it, never wanting to ever smell the thing again.

The only other contents consisted of diet soda, cold cuts, cheese, expired yogurt, week old pizza wrapped in tinfoil and Chinese food still in its original containers.

She sighed in disgust. "I hate Chinese food."

She knew Derek would make fun of her if she tried to eat the pizza. Nothing seemed appealing. Maybe she wasn't hungry after all.

Her stomach begged to differ as it rumbled again.

Meredith closed the refrigerator door and moved to overhead cabinet to check out the cereal. She pulled out a large box of Super Bran and silently decided that it would do. At least it was the safest option.

Through the clamor of children talking, she heard Derek laugh so she turned in his direction.

He was watching Leah as she attempted to hold her fork properly. She scrunched up her nose, examined the egg that hung off the end of it, before plopping it in her mouth. After analyzing the taste, she decided it was to her liking and continued on with another bite.

Derek thought she was adorable. The way he looked at her, Meredith could tell he simply found her fascinating. He seemed truly happy to be spending time with the kids, and he was a natural at it, too. He made it look so easy.

Derek felt her stare in their direction, so turned his attention to Meredith. She quickly looked away before their eyes could make contact, and moved back to her post at the island.

Busted. Again.

He was going to assume the same thing as before. That she wanted to participate, too. But really, right now, all she wanted was food.

She sat back down and reached into the box, pulling out a handful of its contents, and willingly devoured it dry.

Derek kissed Leah's forehead and looked at the other kids, who were thoroughly enjoying their pancakes. Seeing of how everything was going well, he removed himself from the table and walked back over to the stovetop.

Meredith watched from the corner of her eye as he relit the burner and turned to the fridge. Upon opening the door, he was hit with the starkness it held. "Now this is just sad."

"Tell me about it," Meredith muttered as she scooped out another handful of cereal.

After removing what he could use from the fridge, Derek repositioned himself in front of the stove. He cracked two eggs on the frying pan and began to work away at them.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

His eyes darted away from his task and followed the direction of the sound to Meredith, just as she was pulling her hand out of the box.

"What?" she asked as she refilled her mouth with more cereal.

Derek just shook his head. He was about to say something to her when the kids distracted him. Robbie had knocked over the syrup bottle into the food on Matthew's plate. It created a soft splat noise when it landed, and they all found it hilarious. Even Derek laughed as he hurried over to stop things before they worsened.

Meredith breathed a sigh of relief, thankful of the kids for creating a distraction and removing Derek's attention from her and replacing it on to them.

She turned her head to read the clock on the microwave.

7:43

Her whole morning was turned upside-down in a matter of minutes. And she felt every one of them. The clock was slowly ticking by and there was no way for her to speed up the process and get the day over with. Granted, it wasn't horrible so far. She did have a few surprises that shocked the hell out of her, but really she had the easy end of it. Derek was doing most of the work. He made them breakfast. He humored their conversations. All she had to do was sit there.

How hard was that?

"They don't bite, you know."

Meredith flinched as Derek whispered in her ear, unaware that he had moved next to her. She looked at him, dumbfounded, as he moved past her to tend the eggs.

"You don't have to sit over here alone. You can… sit with us."

Meredith sighed as she looked into his eyes. He wanted her there. He wanted her to be with his family. Be apart of his family.

But she didn't know how too.

She wanted to try. She really did. But. Right now. Right now, she was safe. The four feet she had between her seat at the island and the kids at the table was the safety net. She was grateful to have it.

And she wasn't sure if she was ready to give it up yet. Ready to leap.

Before she even had time to answer Derek's appeal, he was standing before her carrying two plates of food.

Meredith looked down at the one he thrusting towards her.

She did like the kids. So far. They seemed… Okay. In all reality, though, she was overwhelmed and on the verge of completely freaking out. Her emotions were playing haywire and wrecking havoc on her nerves every time she even thought of babysitting. She wanted to do it.

She just wasn't sure if she could.

"It's too much," Meredith said, keeping her head low.

Derek looked down at the plate in his hand. A small stack of pancakes rested next to a ham and cheese omelet. "No it's not," he countered. "I have seen you eat twice this before."

What?

"No…" She looked at the expression of mirth on his face. What? Is he…

She then realized he thought she was referring to the amount of food he was handing to her.

Derek usually read her like an open book. At least he attempted to, rather. But this…. This, he didn't see. She was on the brink of a meltdown and he didn't notice. Or he decided not to acknowledge it. Either way, he had moved on form their preceding topic.

"I meant…" she continued, but stopped herself before going any farther. She couldn't tell him. He was happy. He had the right to be happy. She didn't want to bring him down with her and leave the weight of her doubts on his shoulders. It wouldn't be fair. Alternatively, Meredith accepted the plate and went along with him. "You didn't have to."

She smiled at him, agreeing that it was best to let it go and move on.

"You have to learn what breakfast is at some point," he said, removing the box of Super Bran she was clutching in her arm.

"Cereal is breakfast!" she defended her previous choice.

Derek laughed. She was cute when she was angry. "True," he said. "But this is better."

"Yeah," she teased. I guess."

"Fine then," Derek teased back. "If you don't want it…"

He reached for her plate just as she caught a whiff of the aroma it was giving off.

"No!" she quickly stopped him. "I can work with this."

Derek chuckled softly ad he closed the box of cereal and placed it onto the counter behind him. As he started to walk away, she lightly grabbed his arm.

"Hey. Thanks."

Meredith leaned up into him and kissed him in a very non-PG way, earning a high amount of snickering from the little children seated behind her.

They both heard it.

Neither of them cared.

Meredith let her lips linger on his a moment longer before pulling away slowly.

"Well." His voice cracked as it came out slightly hoarse. "I should make you breakfast more often."

She smiled brightly as he handed her a fork, then took his own plate over to the table to sit with the kids.

Meredith took a large bite of her omelet, savoring the taste. Derek loved to cook, especially for Meredith, but the long hours at the hospital wore so strenuous he didn't get to do it often. The mornings were hectic; evenings were late. Whenever he had the chance to make her something, though, he jumped on it. She would always put up a fight, telling him not to waste his time for her. She didn't cook, so she didn't expect anyone to cook for her. But Derek would always insist. He didn't care, he just wanted to make her smile.

And he got one every time.

He was so good to her. He was a good person.

Meredith pulled away from her food as she heard Derek laugh at something the kids said. She turned her head and saw him smiling at them. He was completely infatuated. Nothing existed outside the realm he was currently in. Nothing else mattered.

Derek caught her glance for a moment and winked at her.

She smiled in return, meaning it more than ever this time. She looked back down at the food Derek had fixed for her and picked up her plate. Meredith walked over to the empty chair at the table and sat down; Derek sat across from her, watching, smiling ear to ear.