I had a boring day today, so I thought I'd give you guys an extra update :) I hope you still like it, please let me know! Oh, and um...Derek has a ring!!!!!

Meredith sighed as she closed the door to the bathroom, sinking down to the floor and burying her face in her hands. For the past two weeks, Derek had been following her everywhere she went, and she had quickly learned that locking herself in the bathroom was the only way she was able to get any time to herself.

She knew he was worried about losing her, and he told her repeatedly how often he needed her, that he couldn't do it without her. She had wanted to be there for him, to help him through his father's death, but now she wasn't so sure she could do this. He was driving her crazy, but she couldn't very well tell him to stop worrying about her or to get over his father's death. She just had to get through this and hope that he would return to himself soon.

"Mer?" he knocked on the door and she closed her eyes tightly, hating herself for wishing that she was anywhere besides there. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said after taking a moment to get herself under control. "I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay," Derek said.

She waited to hear him at least retreat to the living room or kitchen, but there were no footsteps, and she sighed, knowing he was waiting outside the door for her.

When his depression had lifted, she had thought they were finally going to get back to normal. His grades were getting back on track, he was even smiling and laughing more. He still talked to his mom on the phone everyday, but his visits home had decreased dramatically. To everyone else, Derek was getting his life back on track.

But he was always there.

She loved him, she really did, and she was pretty sure that was why she had been able to put up with this for so long. But she wasn't sure how much longer she could take this without snapping. She wanted to be able to go out with Addison and her other girlfriends without Derek tagging along, she wanted to go to class and come home to find him waiting for her, she wanted to be able to talk to him. Since he spent every second of every day attached to her side, she didn't even have anything to talk to him about since he experienced everything with her.

With a deep breath, she stood and leaned over to flush the toilet and run some water, trying to make it seem like she wasn't hiding from him. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply before she opened the door and saw Derek standing in front of her, a smile on his face.

"Hey," he said, following her into the kitchen. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Well, Addison is going out with the girls," Meredith said. "I was thinking I might go with them. Maybe you and Mark could go shoot some pool or whatever you guys do."

Derek frowned. "I don't want to go out with Mark," he said. "I want to stay with you."

Meredith sighed. It had been worth a try. "I know," she said. "It's just…it's a girl thing, Derek. You went last time and you were bored."

Derek smiled slyly as he pulled her closer to him. "Well, we could always stay in and have some fun of our own," he said, leaning down to kiss her neck.

Meredith closed her eyes as she moved her head to the side, trying to let his actions effect her in the way they usually did. Her attempts were futile, however, and she didn't feel any of the tingling sensation she usually felt when he kissed her.

"No," she said, pushing his hands off of her hips and stepping away from him.

"No?" Derek frowned.

"No," she repeated. "I want to go out. I don't want to stay in."

"Okay," Derek shrugged. "We can go out…"

"No," Meredith practically shouted. "I don't want us to go out. I want to go out. With my friends."

"Mer, what's going on?" Derek asked.

"You," she sighed, collapsing into a chair. "I just…you're always around."

"I just want to spend time with you," Derek whispered. "I couldn't bear it if I lost you, and I don't want to be apart from you. I know you're safe when you're with me."

"Derek, I love you for protecting me," she said. "I get it, I really do. I don't want to lose you either. But spending every second of every day together…that's not going to fix anything. If anything, it will just make it worse."

"We don't spend every second of every day together," Derek scoffed.

"Oh, really?" Meredith asked. "When was the last time we were apart for more than an hour?"

"I…" Derek started to answer, then frowned as he thought back on the last couple weeks. "Mer, I just want to spend time with you. I need you to get through this."

"I know," she groaned. "You tell me that about twenty times a day. And I meant it when I said I wanted to help you. But I just…you're driving me crazy."

Derek blinked, obviously not having expected her words. She could see the pain etched on his face, and she immediately hated herself. "Derek…"

"I drive you crazy?" he asked. "Well, what about you? Sometimes the rambling isn't so cute. And don't even get me started on your need to constantly be assured how amazing you are!"

Meredith stared at him for a moment. She had not been expecting this to turn into a fight. "No one asked you to stay around me all the time!" she shouted back, jumping out of her chair. "And never have I once asked you to tell me anything about myself. You're the one who is constantly telling me how amazing I am and how you can't live without me or whatever it is you say all the time!"

"I'm glad to know my words mean so much to you," Derek snapped. "I can't…Mer, I'm trying to hold on here, but I can't do this."

"Then don't," she snapped, dropping back into her chair. "Look, I don't want to fight with you. I just…why don't we just take a break?"

"A break?" Derek breathed, reaching for the wall. "You want to break up?"

"No," Meredith sighed, burying her face in her hands. "I love you, Derek, you know I do. But…I can't live like this. I can't have you constantly following me around all the time. I miss you. I miss the old you."

"My dad died, Mer," he said softly. "I'm never going to be that person again."

"I know," she nodded. "I'm not asking you to."

"You just don't think you can be with the new me," Derek stated.

Meredith simply stared up at him, tears filling her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. She didn't need to say anything for him to know what she was thinking.

"Fine," he nodded, turning and walking towards the door.

"Derek!" she yelled. "Where are you going?"

He pulled the door open and turned to look at her. "You're getting your break," he said before he slammed the door behind him.

XXXXX

"How can you not know if you broke up?" Addison asked Meredith an hour later as they sat on the couch, surrounded by tissues and cups of tea.

"I just…I told him I wanted a break," Meredith whispered.

"I don't get it, Mer," Addison shook her head. "You and Derek are better for each other than Romeo and Juliet."

"I didn't mean that," Meredith whispered. "I never wanted to break up with him, I just wanted to get a break from…him. He's been following me around for weeks, telling me how much he needs me and everything and I just needed a break. I'm tired of having to constantly be strong and put together and…I just want my Derek back. Not the crazy one who's been following me around for weeks."

"So he's gone?" Addison asked, pushing some of Meredith's hair behind her ear.

"I don't know," Meredith sobbed. "He just left. And then I heard the motorcycle and I don't know where he went. Addison, what am I supposed to do?"

"I really don't know, Mer," Addison sighed. "I never thought you and Derek would get this bad."

"Me either," Meredith whispered. As she ducked her head down, her eyes caught on something sitting in the corner of the room and she felt her heart stop as she rushed over to pick it up. "No," she whispered.

"Mer?" Addison asked, confused.

"He didn't bring his helmet."

XXXXX

"Hey Dad," Derek said, sitting down in front of his dad's grave. He had driven four hours on the motorcycle, ignoring the frigid coldness that had set in on his body. As soon as he had realized that Meredith wanted to break up with him, the only thing he'd wanted to do was talk to his dad. So here he was, sitting in a graveyard in the middle of the night, practically frozen to the core.

"So…I guess you pretty much know everything that's been going on. I can feel you sometimes, and lately I've been thinking a lot about what you would be doing if you were in my place. Because that's the kind of man I want to be. I want to be the man you were, the kind who gave his family everything they deserved. You and Mom…God, you were my age when you got married. And you still managed to provide her with everything she's ever wanted. And now she's completely broken because you're gone.

"And Mer…God, Dad, how did I manage to screw this up? You always told me that even if I made a complete mess of absolutely everything in my life, if I just held onto Mer, it would all be okay. But now…I think I just broke up with her. It was a stupid fight, Dad, I know, and I would give anything to take it back. I said some pretty horrible things and I just…I can't believe that this is how it's going to end. I need her, Dad, I really do. But my needing her has made her miserable, so I guess…I guess I can learn to live without her, if that's what it will take to make her happy. I want her to be happy, I want that so much. But I wish she could be happy with me, because without her…there's no happiness for me.

"I don't know what to do, Dad. I came here because I needed to know what you would have done. I know by now you would have kicked my ass for letting it get this bad in the first place, but I did. And now…I just need your help to fix it. Help me fix it, Dad, please."

His voice broke, and he collapsed into sobs as he rested his head against his father's gravestone, needing to feel some sort of connection to him. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but when he finally got the strength to stand, he slowly made his way back to the motorcycle, ignoring the tears that were still gathering in his eyes.

The last thing he wanted to do was drive all the way back to school, especially now that he had nowhere to live up there. He didn't want to go to his house, his mother would never stop worrying about him if he showed up at home in the middle of the night, especially on his bike.

With a sigh, he turned around and began making his way towards downtown, where the hospital was located. His father had always gone to the hospital to think, and now Derek felt the need to go there as well. Maybe he would be able to figure out a way to fix this, just by sitting in the gallery and watching doctors save lives.

It began to rain as he made his way into the city and he sped up a little, trying to get out of the cold as soon as possible. He'd never been this cold in his life, and he had a feeling it had little to do with the temperature. He was cold because he was alone. His father was dead. Meredith had left him.

He had no one.

He couldn't believe that for the past six months, he had completely changed what he wanted out of life in order to put her first and make sure that she had a place in the world. He had always told her that place was with him, but she obviously didn't care about it half as much as he had. If she had, she wouldn't have thrown everything they'd had away because of some stupid fight.

The tears were coming stronger now, mixing with the rain in his face, and he unconsciously sped up even more, not even paying attention to where he was going at this point.

He didn't even see the bend in the road until it was too late.