"Meredith, you look great," he said, stepping towards her.

"Ryan," she said firmly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I work here," he smiled. "Why are you here?"

"That's none of your business," Meredith snapped. "I have to go."

"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, frowning as she moved to walk away from him.

"What's wrong?" Meredith asked. "What's wrong is that when we were dating my mother paid you off to leave me. And you took the money right before you got my best friend pregnant. So what's wrong is the fact that I just took time off work to have lunch with my horrible mother who stood me up and now I have to stand here talking to you, the person who completely destroyed my life."

"Meredith," Ryan sighed. "I think about you a lot."

"You have no right to think about me," Meredith snapped.

"I made a mistake," Ryan said softly. "Mer, I should never have taken that money."

"Don't call me Mer," she snapped. "And you're right, you never should have taken the money, but there's no way that you're going to get back together with me. I'm happy now."

"Meredith, can't we even just get a cup of coffee, talk about things?" he asked.

"No!" she said. "I have to get back to work."

"Meredith!" Ellis's voice sounded from down the hall. "You're late."

"Seriously?" Meredith rolled her eyes. "I've been here for half an hour waiting for you to get out of surgery."

"Well, it was useless, patient died only a few minutes in," Ellis said as she tore her scrub cap off. "I see you've reunited with Ryan."

"What?" Meredith asked.

"He's much better suited for you than that model you think you're in love with," Ellis said.

"You have got to be kidding me," Meredith said. "Mom, you paid him off to leave me."

"And now he's successful, determined, focused," Ellis replied. "You can't live off of me forever. And you'll need someone successful with that pitiful salary of yours."

"It's not pitiful," Meredith argued. "And I haven't taken money from you in years. Since you decided to pay people to make me miserable."

"Don't be dramatic," Ellis said. "And you're living in my house."

"Fine," Meredith said. "I'll get my own place."

"You think you'll move in with that boyfriend of yours?" Ellis asked.

"Mom, please just let me live my own life," Meredith said.

"Mer, you should calm down," Ryan murmured, stepping closer to her.

"And you….you don't get to talk to me," Meredith replied.

"I just don't want to see you upset," Ryan said softly.

"How's your baby?" Meredith snapped. "Think about that and try to imagine not hurting me. I have to go."

"Meredith Elizabeth Grey, you come back here right now," Ellis commanded as Meredith stormed towards the elevators.

Meredith ignored her as she moved into the stairwell, storming down the steps. She wasn't sure that she'd ever been this angry, and all she needed was to see Derek and make sure that she wasn't some kind of unlovable person who was meant to be alone for the rest of her life.

When she reached his apartment, she stormed up the stairs and pounded on the door, running past Mark as he opened the door. "Where's Derek?" she demanded.

"In his room," Mark replied. "What gives, Grey?"

Meredith ignored him and hurried towards Derek's room, throwing the door open and launching herself onto the bed where Derek was sprawled, a book in his hands. She pulled the book out of his hands and sliding on top of him, burying her face in his neck. "Derek," she whispered. "Derek."

"Meredith," he frowned, closing his arms around her as he held her tightly. "What's wrong?"

"I can't…Derek," she sobbed, tears falling onto his shirt. "Derek."

"Mer," Derek breathed. "What the hell happened with your mother?"

"She…she wants to set me up with Ryan," Meredith whispered as she pulled back to look into his eyes, wiping her tears from her eyes.

Derek decided to ignore the stab of jealousy that made its way through his heart in favor of comforting Meredith. "Who's Ryan?" he asked.

"The guy I dated in college," Meredith sighed. "Who took my mom's money and got my best friend pregnant. Apparently he's doing his residency at Seattle Grace, and now she wants to set me up with him."

"Mer," Derek breathed. "I'm sorry."

"She said that I can't support myself and I can't live off of her forever," Meredith whispered. "She says that as a teacher I don't make enough to support myself, and she wants me to move out of her house, which means that I have nowhere to live."

"Meredith," Derek breathed. "You shouldn't have had to deal with that."

"I just…she said I was pathetic for dating him," Meredith whispered. "And now, five years later, she seems to think that it's a good idea for me to date him, even though I'm happier than I've ever been with my life."

"You don't have to let her have so much control over your life," he whispered. "We're happy, and there's nothing that can change that."

"Are you sure?" Meredith whispered.

"Positive," Derek nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "And if she really does kick you out of her house, you'll just move in here."

"What?" Meredith asked, her eyes widening as she looked down at him. "You want to move in together?"

"Not if you're not ready," Derek shook his head, mentally kicking himself. "I just thought I'd offer. But if you're not ready, just forget about it."

"I can't…I've got too much to think about right now," Meredith breathed. "Not right now, but maybe…maybe we can talk about it later. Soon. Ish."

"Soonish," Derek nodded. "I won't bring it up again until you do."

"Thank you," she whispered. "I love you, Derek."

"I love you too," Derek whispered. "You'll get through this, Mer. Whatever you need me to do to help you through this, consider it done."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Are you going back to work?" he murmured.

"I should," she whispered. "But…this feels nice."

"It does," he smiled softly, pulling her close again. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I will," she nodded against his chest. "I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad you're here too," Derek whispered.

Meredith sighed as she snuggled closer into his side. "Derek?" she whispered.

"Hmmm?" he whispered, running a hand through his hair.

"You'll never take money from my mom, will you?"

"Never," Derek shook his head.

"And you'll never get Izzie pregnant?"

Derek laughed softly. "Meredith, the only person I ever want to get pregnant is you."

Meredith sighed as she moved up to meet his eyes again. "You're not good at the slow thing, are you?" she asked.

"Sorry," Derek smiled as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'll stop talking."

"Just hold me?" Meredith whispered into his chest.

"I can do that," Derek smiled, tightening his arms around her.

Meredith sighed as she snuggled closer to him, suddenly feeling better. Her mother was still horrible, and she knew that this wasn't over. But in Derek's arms, she knew that everything would be okay. He loved her, and that was all that really mattered in this moment.

XXXXX

Derek sighed as he parked his car, looking up at the hospital in front of him. Meredith would kill him if she knew he was here, but he had to do it. In order for Meredith to really be happy, he had to make sure that her mother understood how amazing Meredith was. Maybe if she was able to see Meredith through his eyes, she would become a little more human and at least support her daughter's happiness.

With a deep breath, he got out of the car and made his way towards the hospital, hoping that Ellis wouldn't be in surgery so he could talk to her right away.

"Excuse me, could you page Dr. Grey for me?" he asked the nurse at the main reception station.

"Do you have an appointment?" the nurse asked.

"No, I'm…her son in law," Derek lied easily. "I need to speak with her."

"Certainly," the nurse nodded, reaching for a phone. Derek tapped his fingers impatiently against the counter for a moment as he waited for Ellis to appear. When he saw her make her way down the stairs, he moved quickly to meet her.

"Dr. Grey," he said, reaching his hand out to her.

"Daren," she frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"It's Derek," he said. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about Meredith."

"I don't have a lot of time," Ellis said, looking down at her watch. "Talk."

"Is there anywhere we can go that's a little more private?" Derek asked.

Ellis rolled her eyes as she reached for a chart. "We'll go to the conference room down the hall," she said as she walked quickly down the hall, reading the chart as she walked.

Derek took a deep breath as he followed her down the hall, settling into the chair across the table from her.

"Alright, what did you need to talk about?" Ellis asked, spreading her paperwork out in front of her on the table. "And make it quick."

"I just think that you should take some time to get to know Meredith," he said softly. "She's a really great person, so full of love and compassion. I know you wanted her to be a doctor, but…she's an amazing teacher. My niece is in her class right now, and she absolutely adores her. And we're happy. She makes me happier than I've ever been before."

"Meredith's dating an uncle of one of her students?" Ellis asked, raising her eyebrows as she finally met his eyes.

Derek swallowed hard, suddenly realizing that that probably hadn't been the best thing to tell her. "It's not like that," he said. "We're in love. I love her. And she's happy, so I just think you should support her. She's doing amazingly well in her life, and she's happy. So maybe you should just take some time to get to know her, without pagers or judgment."

"Look," Ellis sighed, writing something down. "I don't know what you want from me, but this should be enough to cover it."

"Cover what?" Derek asked as he took the accepted piece of paper from her. "A check?" he asked.

"For five thousand dollars," Ellis nodded. "So you can stay away from my daughter now."

"I don't want your money," Derek rolled his eyes. "Dr. Grey, I'm doing this for Meredith. She just wants you to be happy for her. She wants you to know about her life, really know it and not judge it. So please, if you love Meredith, please just give her another chance."

Before Ellis could answer, her pager beeped loudly, and she looked down at it. "I've got to take this," she said. "You should take the check."

Derek frowned as he watched her walk out of the room, unable to believe this woman was responsible for any part of Meredith's life. This cold, robot of a woman was the complete opposite of his loving, compassionate girlfriend, and he now knew that he loved her even more than he had before, knowing what she had grown up with.

He sighed as he stood and walked out of the room, looking down at his feet as he made his way down the hallway. He had to make sure that Meredith didn't completely change into the insecure, lonely woman she'd been when he first met her.

"Excuse me," he murmured as he bumped into someone at a corner.

"No problem," a young doctor, probably only a year or so older than him smiled. "Were you meeting with Dr. Grey."

"Yes," Derek frowned. "You know her?"

"She's the reason I'm here," the doctor smiled. "I met her in college, she helped me through med school back in Boston, then wrote me a recommendation for Grace, the best hospital on the west coast."

"Hmm," Derek nodded.

"She's a great woman," he nodded. "Are you a doctor?"

"I will be," Derek nodded. "Derek Shepherd."

"Ryan Roberts," he said, holding out his hand.

"Ryan," Derek repeated. "Huh."

"So how do you know Dr. Grey?"

"I'm dating her daughter," Derek said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You're dating Meredith," Ryan nodded. "She's pretty great, isn't she?"

"From what I hear, you didn't think that when you accepted Dr. Grey's money," Derek challenged.

"She told you about that?" Ryan asked.

"She tells me everything," Derek countered. "And she told me what happened yesterday. If you know what's best for you, you should stay away from her."

"Are you threatening me?" Ryan frowned.

"Just stay away from her," Derek said as he tried to move around him.

"What makes you think that it's your place to tell me whether or not I can talk to Meredith?" Ryan frowned.

"Maybe the fact that she's my girlfriend," Derek said. "That I love her more than anything in the world, and when she came home last night more upset than I have ever seen her, I told myself that I'd do everything I could to never let her hurt like that ever again."

"She's a grown woman, she can take care of herself," Ryan argued.

"She is," Derek nodded. "And she can definitely take care of herself. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to do everything I possibly can to make sure that she never hurts again."

Ryan smiled slightly as he raised his eyebrows. "Does Meredith know that you just had a little pow wow with her mother?" he asked. Derek was silent, and Ryan smirked. "I thought so. Let's see how hurt she is after she finds out that you're meeting with Ellis behind her back."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Think what you want," he said with a frown. "But Meredith and I are stable, and we don't need you causing more drama in our lives. Leave her alone. Or you'll regret it. I'll make sure of that."