Meredith sighed as she pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge. She's spent the entire morning wrapped up in her studying, with Derek at work it had been the perfect time to get ahead in her reading. But after hours of reading, she now needed a break, and she wasn't sure what to do. TV was boring, she'd already tried to see if Beth was home, and she knew Derek wouldn't be home for another couple of hours. With a glance at the clock, she realized that it was a good time to call Addison in California, and hopped onto the counter to reach for the phone. Before she could dial, however, there was a knock at the door, and she paused in her movements.

They hadn't had any trouble since Dr. Brown had been placed in jail months earlier, but she still got scared when someone knocked on the door when she was home alone. Nothing else had ever happened, but replaying flashes of that horrible period in her life were enough to make her want to run upstairs and hide under the covers.

She took a deep breath as she slowly moved towards the door, looking out the peephole and rolling her eyes when she saw Thatcher's other daughter standing in the hallway. She briefly contemplated pretending that no one was home, but she remembered Derek telling her what a good sister would do, and she took a deep breath before she opened the door.

"Hi," the girl breathed, and Meredith wondered what kind of sister she was if she couldn't even remember her name. "You're Meredith. This is awkward, I know, but...I'm Lexie."

Okay, now she at least knew her name.

"I know that you don't know me, but I came here yesterday looking for you, and your husband told me a lot about you," Lexie continued, and Meredith wondered if this girl knew that she hadn't stopped talking since she'd opened the door.

"I know our father abandoned you and you don't talk to him," Lexie continued. "But I thought...we're living in the same city now, so I thought you might like to know me. And Derek...he said that you like strawberry ice cream. Which is my favorite too. So I brought some ice cream over, and I thought that maybe we could eat ice cream and talk."

"Oh," Meredith said, making a mental note to kill her husband. He couldn't just go around strange girls with the same father as her that she like strawberry ice cream. "Um...yeah, I was just doing some studying, but come on in."

"Thanks," Lexie said with a smile as she stepped into the foyer. "Sorry to take you away from your studies. I know med school isn't easy."

Meredith smiled slightly as she walked into the kitchen, grabbing spoons and bowls. "No, it's not," she said. "But it will be worth it. I hope."

Lexie nodded as she handed Meredith the carton of ice cream. "Derek didn't tell me that much about you," she said. "I just...showed up here and I think he took pity on me but he said that he didn't want to tell me too much about you because he didn't know what you would be comfortable with."

"Yeah, he's amazing like that," Meredith smiled. Maybe she'd let him live after all."

Lexie took the bowl of ice cream Meredith was offering her and followed her to the couch. "I want you to know that I'm really sorry for what my dad did to you," she said softly. "I don't know very much, but my sister and I were looking through some old pictures over Christmas break, and we found one of you and him, so he kind of had to explain the whole thing."

"Oh," Meredith nodded, looking into her ice cream. "Um...how old are you?"

"I'm seventeen," Lexie replied. "I just started my first year at NYU."

"You're young." Six years younger than her. Thatcher obviously hadn't wasted any time in getting a new daughter.

"I skipped third grade," Lexie said. She looked closely at Meredith for a moment, smiling slightly. "This must be really weird for you."

"To be honest, I didn't even know you existed," Meredith admitted. "I've only seen your...our dad once since I was five. And that was for five minutes before I passed out and Derek's dad told him to go away."

Lexie nodded. "I don't blame you," she nodded softly. "But he...Derek's dad? He's good to you? Like a real dad?"

Meredith smiled softly. "He was," she whispered. "Or...would have been. He died only a couple months after Derek and I started dating. But before that he told me he wanted to be my dad."

"Oh," Lexie said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Meredith smiled. "I still miss him, but not as much as Derek, obviously."

Lexie nodded. "And your mom's sick," she said. "I'm really sorry, Meredith. I wish you could have grown up with Molly and I."

Meredith shrugged. "It's okay," she said. "I have Derek's mom. And my friends are amazing. And Derek's sisters...they're so much fun."

Lexie nodded. "Do you have room in your life for another sister?" she asked quietly.

"Look," Meredith sighed. "I know you're really excited to meet me and everything. And I'm not going to completely shut you out of my life. But I'm going to need some time to deal with this."

"Oh," Lexie nodded. "That's understandable. I just...I want you to know that we can be friends if you want. I know you have a family and that Dad hurt you pretty badly. But I'd also get it if you didn't want to know me. I just thought...maybe we could know each other."

Meredith felt her heart go out to the girl on the couch beside her. Her sister. "I'd like to get you know better," she said. "It's just going to take some time. So we can be friends."

Lexie nodded. "I could do that," she said.

Meredith smiled as she reached for her ice cream. "So...tell me about you."

"I want to be a doctor too," Lexie said. "I want to go to Harvard."

Meredith raised her eyebrows. "That's impressive," she said.

"Yeah, I don't know if it will happen, but I hope it will," Lexie sighed. "I love the east coast. It's so much better than Seattle."

"I love New York," Meredith agreed. "Derek and I went to college in Boston, but it's nicer to be close to Derek's family. We can go home a lot more."

"How long have you two been together?" Lexie asked.

"Almost five years," Meredith smile. "We got married last summer."

"He seems really nice," Lexie offered. "You're lucky."

"I know," Meredith nodded. "He's really great."

"Is that your wedding?" Lexie asked, standing to look at the picture on the bookshelf across the room.

"Yeah," Meredith smiled, moving to look at the picture as well. "Derek thought it would be romantic to carry me into the reception."

"You look beautiful," Lexie breathed.

"Thanks," Meredith blushed slightly. "It took me forever to find a dress. I almost killed two of Derek's sisters. They wanted me to try on the most horrible dresses ever made."

Lexie smiled as she set the picture back down. "You're really close to them aren't you?"

"Yeah," Meredith smiled. "They're really the only family I ever had."

Lexie nodded sadly, and Meredith bit her lower lip. "You want to see the wedding album?" she asked. "We had all the pictures printed and bound into our very own book."

"Sure," Lexie smiled, watching as Meredith grabbed a book off the shelf and walked back to the couch.

XXXXX

"Hey Mer," Derek called as he walked into the apartment a couple hours later. "I didn't feel like cooking, so I got...oh."

"Hey, Der," Meredith giggled from the couch. "I was just showing Lexie our wedding book."

"Hi, Derek," Lexie said from her seat beside Meredith.

"I'm glad to see you two hitting it off," Derek smiled as he walked over to the couch and pressed a kiss to the top of Meredith head before he collapsed beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he looked at the book over her shoulder. "Where are we?"

"We're at the toasts," Meredith smiled. "See that's Mark, Derek's best friend. He's really obnoxious and self involved, and when he drank to his toast, he did so too fast, and choked on his champagne. I don't think I've ever seen Addison more angry than when he spit it back into his glass."

Lexie giggled. "Meredith told me about the cake," she said to Derek. "I can't believe you wanted to leave your wedding reception to wash the frosting out of your hair."

Derek rolled his eyes. "She promised to avoid the hair," he said.

"You promised not to smash cake in my face," Meredith shrugged as she turned the page. "That's the floral arrangement we had made for Derek's dad. He always bought his mom lilies instead of roses, so we had an arrangement made just for him. The candles have his name on it."

"That's really sweet," Lexie said.

Derek smiled sadly as he looked down at the picture. "It was nice to have a connection to him that day," he agreed.

Meredith squeezed his hand tightly, then turned to Lexie. "Do you want to stay for dinner?" she asked. "It smells like Derek brought home Italian food."

Lexie smiled as she looked down at her watch. "I'd really love to," she said. "But I promised my roommate I'd be back to go to the movies with her tonight. Thanks so much for everything though. I really enjoyed meeting you."

"Yeah, it was great," Meredith nodded as she and Derek stood to walk Lexie to the door. "I'll um...well, we can figure out another time to hang out."

"Definitely," Lexie nodded. "Thanks again, Meredith. It was good seeing you again, Derek."

"You too," Derek nodded, wrapping his arms around Meredith's waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "I'll see you around."

"Bye," Lexie smiled as she shrugged on her coat and stepped out the door, closing it firmly behind her.

"So," Derek asked, turning Meredith to face him and placing his hands on her hips. "What did you think?"

"She's nice," Meredith admitted. "I told her...I don't think I'm ready for her to be my sister yet. But I told her we could be friends. And I think one day we could be sisters."

"Good," Derek smiled. "You don't feel pressured though, do you? Because you know you have plenty of love. You don't need..."

"Derek," she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him gently. "I love you. And I love our sisters and our mother and our friends. I don't think I'll ever be ready to let Thatcher into my life, but Lexie...I think I can handle her."

"Good," Derek nodded. "And you know I'm here. For anything you need."

"I know," she nodded, grabbing his hand and leading him back to the couch. She pushed him to sit down and grabbed their wedding book, settling herself onto his lap as she flipped back to the beginning. "You remember that day?"

"I'll never forget it," Derek said softly, resting his chin on her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her firmly onto his lap. "Best day of my life."

"Mine too," Meredith whispered, smiling at the picture of Derek and Mark before the ceremony. "You looked nervous."

"I freaked out that day," Derek admitted quietly.

"What?" Meredith asked, turning to look at him. "You freaked out? You never freak out. How come you didn't tell me?"

Derek smiled as he kissed her cheek, flipping the page. "Mom gave me a letter from Dad," he said softly. "They wrote letters to us every time they updated their wills. Dad's was written just before he died, and it went on and on about you. And I just...it was weird still getting advice from him even though he was dead. So I freaked out. It had nothing to do with you."

"You could have told me," she whispered, leaning back into him. "I would have gotten it."

"I was going to," Derek nodded. "But then..." he flipped the page, smiling softly at the picture of Meredith walking down the aisle. "The most amazing thing happened to me. This beautiful angel walked down the aisle towards me and I forgot anyone else ever existed."

"Derek," Meredith rolled her eyes, even as they filled with tears. "You're corny."

"And you love it," Derek laughed, moving the book out of her hands and gently easing her onto the couch and climbing on top of her.

"I let you think that," Meredith giggled as she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

"Somehow...I think that's not true," Derek laughed. "You adore me, Meredith Shepherd."

"Sometimes I adore you," Meredith corrected. "But when you're corny...not so much."

"Hmm..." Derek nodded, leaning forward to kiss her neck. "Even when I do this?"

"Oh," Meredith gasped, arching her back as his hand slid under her shirt.

"Or this?" Derek's tongue moved to her earlobe, gently outlining it as his hands inched lower.

"Derek," she moaned.

"But if you don't adore me," Derek shrugged as he pulled back and smirked down at her. "I guess I'll just have to take care of this..." he grabbed her hand and placed it over the rapidly developing erection confined by his jeans. "By myself."

He stood and started walking towards the stairs glancing over his shoulder at Meredith as she lay panting and frowning on the couch. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"Where I'm appreciated," Derek shrugged.

"Oh, I'll show you appreciation," Meredith said, getting off the couch and following him up the stairs. "Expect a long night ahead of you, Derek Shepherd."

"I think I'm in charge tonight, Mrs. Shepherd," Derek laughed, reaching to pull her over his shoulder as he ran the rest of the way up the stairs, causing Meredith to giggle loudly as he threw her onto the bed.