Chapter 7

"Meredith, don't you look nice." Meredith turned around towards the voice. An older man, maybe in his fifties, was standing in front of her. She recognized him immediately, giving him a warm smile.

"Thank you Dr. Cooper," she replied. "How are you? I guess you're still at Mass Gen."

"I'm very well Meredith. Yes I'm still at the hospital. I love working with your mother, it's quite the experience."

Sure it is, Meredith sneered in her head. "I bet it is," she said aloud.

"How have you been Meredith? I can still remember you roaming the halls as a child."

Meredith laughed slightly and smiled at the memories. Dr. Cooper had always been nice to her when she was stuck at the hospital with her mother; he would bring her candy or old charts to color on, and would let her sit in the OR Gallery with him to watch her mother work.

"I remember," she replied. "I just graduated from NYU, and I'll be attending Columbia in the fall for med school."

"Wow," Dr. Cooper said, smiling at her and seemingly proud. "That's great. Following in your mother's footsteps I guess."

Meredith smiled, looking to her left at her mother. Her mother dragged her to the event to watch her win another Harper Avery, and, despite the way her mother raised her, she couldn't help but be proud of Ellis. She had worked incredibly hard, and even though she sucked as a parent, she was an amazing surgeon. "Maybe," Meredith answered Dr. Cooper.

"Are any of your friends staying in New York for med school with you?"

Meredith shook her head. "No, but my boyfriend lives there, so I won't be lonely."

"That's good," Dr. Cooper responded. "I'm sure your mother is very proud of you.'

Yeah right, Meredith thought. "I hope so," she answered honestly. Just then, she felt her clutch vibrate as her phone rang, and Meredith had an idea of who it was. "If you'll excuse me Dr. Cooper, I have to take this," she said, signaling to her phone.

"Of course Meredith. It was nice talking with you."

Meredith left the ballroom, answering her phone as she entered the hallway. "Hey," she said softly.

"How's it going?" Derek's voice filled her ear, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Ugh," Meredith groaned. "I am the youngest person here. Everyone else came with their spouses, so I'm the only child here. I think their giving my mom the Harper Avery in like fifteen minutes, and then we have to take pictures and stuff, and then I think I can go home."

"Sounds like fun," Derek laughed. "Are you excited about tomorrow?"

"Hmmm," Meredith hummed. "I can't wait to see you."

"Me neither. What time do you want me to come up?"

"Um, do you want to come up around twelve or one? I haven't really packed yet."

"I figured you wouldn't," Derek said. "Which is why I volunteered to come up for two days."

"Oh, and here I thought it was because you wanted to see me," Meredith joked.

"You should know better by now," Derek shot back.

"Mean," Meredith replied.

"You love me."

"Well," Meredith began before her mother left the ballroom.

"Meredith!" Ellis called to her. "They're presenting the award now. Get off the phone and come in here now." Ellis stalked back inside.

"In a minute," Meredith said to her mother before turning her attention back to Derek.

"I gotta go Derek. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll be there at noon. Love you Mer," Derek replied.

"Love you too," Meredith said. "Bye Derek."

"Bye," she heard Derek said before she hung up. Standing slowly, Meredith took a deep breath; heading towards the ballroom, hoping tomorrow would come faster.

XXXXXX

"Derek, did you bring my box of shoes downstairs yet?" Meredith called from her bedroom. Derek had gotten to Boston yesterday, and they had been making progress with packing up here room, albeit slowly.

"They're in my hands right now" Derek called up to her.

"Can you check to see if my black boots are in there? The suede ones, not the leather ones."

"Ugh," she heard Derek groan, followed by incoherent grumbling.

"What was that?" Meredith snapped.

"I love you," Derek yelled back.

"That better be what you said," Meredith joked before moving to stand in the doorway. Facing her room, she couldn't believe how different it looked. The light green walls were now void of posters and pictures. Her closet door was open, revealing the fact that the contents had been emptied. There were about ten cardboard boxes scattered across the floor, eight of them filled and taped up. Her bed was still there, still made because, as Derek said, she wouldn't need them at his place. Her dresser and night table were still along the wall, serving as the only reminder that the room was once occupied. It felt weird to be leaving for good, not sad necessarily, but definitely weird. She didn't know the next time she would be home. Probably never, Meredith thought. Her mother would be too busy with work, and she would have school, and work, and Derek. Derek, she would be living with Derek. The thought made her feel all warm and tingly inside; they would be together all the time. They would wake up together and go to sleep together, and everything in between, and though that thought may have scared her at first, she couldn't think of anything more perfect.

She felt his arms around her waist, and Meredith instinctually leaned into him. "Your boots were in the box," he said, his lips pressed against her neck.

"Hmm, good," Meredith breathed as she stepped away from him. "Come on; let's get the rest of them into your car."

Derek nodded, wordlessly following Meredith's direction. They brought six boxes to his car, and Meredith couldn't help but notice that Derek was being weird again. He seemed nervous around her, and didn't laugh at her attempts to joke around with him; he just tensed up. And he kept checking his phone every five minutes, and wouldn't tell her why. Now, Meredith prided herself in not being a jealous person, well, at least not in a while, but she was getting suspicious. She thought back to what Cristina said when she first brought up Derek's weirdness: maybe he's cheating on you. Meredith had thought it was ridiculous, but now she wasn't so sure.

They entered her room to grab the last box, and once again, Derek was checking his phone.

"Derek?" Meredith asked. "Is everything okay?"

"What?" Derek looked up, distracted. "Yes Mer, everything's fine."

"Are you sure? Because you seem a little off. If you didn't want to come up, then you didn't have to…"

"I'm fine Meredith," Derek said, somewhat harshly. "Of course I wanted to come up? Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know," Meredith mumbled. "You just seemed distracted. And tense. And I wanted to make sure you weren't mad at me, because I don't want you to be mad before we move in together, because I don't think that would go well, and-" Derek silence her with a deep kiss, leaving her breathless when they finally pulled apart.

"I'm sorry Mer," Derek apologized. "I'm just… I guess I'm worried about the party tomorrow night. I want your night to be perfect."

"It's not just my night," Meredith said, wrapping her arms around his waist. "It's our party, and our night."

Derek smiled down at her. "Yeah, it is," he said as he kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry, I'm just tense."

Meredith leaned up and kissed him. When she pulled away, she was smirking. "I think I know something we can do to make you less tense," she said as she began to pull off his t-shirt.

"Meredith," he groaned as she kissed her way down his neck. "We probably shouldn't."

"Why not?" Meredith asked, finally succeeding in getting him shirtless.

"Because we don't have the best track record of having sex in your house when your mother isn't supposed to be home."

"What do you mean?" She asked innocently as she moved to undo his belt.

"Umm, well there was the time she came home early on Christmas. Or that week in the summer two years ago. And that time I came up for Easter last year and she was supposed to be on call," Derek choked out, and Meredith knew she would win.

Meredith stepped away from his nearly naked body, smiling seductively up at him. "But I know she's in surgery until four, so we have at least an hour." She pulled her top off, and watched as Derek's expression shifted from tortured to one of lust and desire. "Please?" she whispered, stepping towards him again.

Derek kissed her hard, forcing his tongue into her mouth as he pulled her against him. Lifting her up, he walked the three steps to the bed. "We aren't having sex for a week if we get caught again," he said into her mouth.

"Hmm," Meredith chuckled. "You couldn't hold out that long."

"True," Derek murmured as he lowered them both onto the bed.

XXXXXX

Two hours later, Meredith and Derek exited her room, carrying the last two boxes down with them. After making sure that everything was packed up, they headed back inside, deciding to wait for Ellis to get home so Meredith could say goodbye.

Derek sat on the couch, flipping on the television. Meredith placed her head in his lap, and spread out along the length of the couch. She reached for one of his hands, lacing their fingers together while Derek ran his free hand through her hair. Meredith sighed contently, closing her eyes.

"Mer?" Derek said softly a few minutes later.

"Hmm?" she answered softly, her eyes still closed.

"Are you going to miss being here? Or being in Boston?"

Meredith opened her eyes, and she stared at Derek, thinking hard. "I don't think so," she answered slowly. "I mean, I love Boston and everything around here, but I don't think so. Cristina won't be here anymore, and my mother is always too busy anyway, so it's not like I have anyone up here holding me back. But I think it's where I'm moving to that's more important. I would be a lot more upset if I were moving to California like Cristina because I would be farther away from you. But I'm moving to you, so I think I'm okay with this." She offered him a small smile as he bent down to press his lips against her forehead.

"Good, I don't want you to feel homesick or anything," Derek replied.

"Nope, I won't feel homesick," she insisted.

They remained like that for a few more minutes, before they heard a car in the driveway. Getting up from his lap, Meredith couldn't help but feel butterflies. She was really leaving, she was leaving Ellis. Granted, she and her mother had never been really close, but Meredith still couldn't help but feel sad; she was no longer a kid, she was an adult.

Ellis came through the door quickly, turning in the living room to see Meredith and Derek stand up.

"Are you leaving?" Ellis asked softly, and Meredith could hear the hint of sadness.

"Yeah Mom," Meredith answered. "We want to avoid as much traffic as possible."

Ellis nodded, stepping forward to shake Derek's hand. "It was nice seeing you Derek. Good luck with the rest of your fourth year."

"You too Doctor Grey," Derek answered. "And thank you." he stepped passed Ellis, and Meredith assumed he was giving her time to say goodbye to her mother. The two women just stared at each other, neither knowing what to say

"Well," Ellis said, shifting uncomfortably. "Have a good summer. Try to come visit at some point."

"Okay Mom," Meredith said, stepping towards the door and past her mother. Meredith was surprised when, rather than let her pass; Ellis grabbed Meredith into a hug.

"Good luck with Med School Meredith," Ellis said. "Be extraordinary."

"Thanks Mom," Meredith said. She squeezed her mother tightly for a moment as the tears welled up in her eyes. Pulling away, she looked at Derek briefly, and saw him smiling sympathetically at her. "I'll see you later."

"Goodbye Meredith," Ellis said before nodding and heading further into the house. Derek walked over to Meredith, and she reached for his hand as they walked out of Meredith's home.

Once they were on the porch, Meredith let out a small gasp, and wiped her eyes furiously. Derek immediately put her arms around her, holding her and soothing her. After a minute, Meredith broke away, offering him a small smile. "I'm okay," she said softly.

"You're okay," Derek repeated, smiling back at her.

"It's just weird that this is never going to be home again. And I kind of feel bad for my mom; I think she's going to be really lonely."

Derek simply nodded, and Meredith leaned up to kiss him.

"Come on," she smiled. "Let's head home."

"Home" Derek repeated, grinning once again.