A/N Italtics are flashbacks; they will appear throughout the story. Enjoy!

Meredith woke up at 9 am the next day, it was a Sunday, but Russell had gone into the office, he had an important trial coming up, so he went back to New York early, she knew that she wasn't see him for a week now, but it gave her some time to think. She went down to the kitchen, to find Amy, the nanny, sat down with Adam; Adam looked up at his mother,

"Mommy",

Meredith walked over to him, gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"How's mommy little boy today",

"He been fine Meredith, he missed you last night" Amy said. Meredith walked over to the coffee machine, poured herself a cup of coffee, before sitting down at the table with them.

"Amy, Russell is going to be gone all week, and I'm not working so you can have the week off. I would love to spend some time with my son" Meredith said to her

"Are you sure, Meredith" Amy asked, making sure that it was okay.

"Yes, I am. You have till Friday off, make the most of it" Meredith said, giving her a smile.

"Thank you, I think I'll go back to New York and see my family" Amy said.

About 12 pm, the door bell went, Meredith wandered who it was, she was not expecting anyone today, and it was Kathleen.

"Kath, what are you doing here?" Mer said surprised to see her.

"You going to let me in, Meredith" Kath asked

"Of course" she said, letting Kathleen in. Kathleen goes into the living room,

"Hello Adam" she says,

"Kat" he says, going over to give her a hug.

"Adam, mommy going into the kitchen, you stay here and play" Meredith tells him,

"Yes mommy" Adam says going back to play with his Lego. Kathleen follows Meredith into the kitchen,

"Is everything okay, Kath" Mer asks, wandering if she should ask about Derek, but decided not too.

"Yeah, I was just making sure you were okay, Derek told me what happened" Kathleen says gently.

"Oh" Meredith said, hearing his name, makes her heart race.

"If you want to talk Meredith, I'm here. He might be my brother, but that doesn't mean I like what he did" Kathleen says.

"I just want to get on with life, try and move on; I can't live in the past. It's not going to be easy, having him here, but I'll adapt. I don't really have much choice" Meredith says, putting a mug of coffee in front of Kathleen. Kath just nods her head, knowing what Mer just said made sense.

"Are you still coming to the barbeque tonight Mer?" Kathleen asks.

"Me and Adam wouldn't miss it. Does Derek know that I have a son? Meredith asked, needing to know.

"I haven't mentioned Adam, and he hasn't said anything to me" Kathleen says, she wants to ask Meredith the question that she had been dying her to ask since Derek told her about the affair the previous year, Kathleen decided to take the plunge.

"Meredith, I need to ask you something. Is Derek Adam's father? She asked, watching Meredith closely. Meredith wasn't completely surprised that Kathleen had asked that, she had been waiting for it.

"No, he not Kathleen" Meredith says to her, silently hoping that she doesn't dig any deeper.

"Okay" Kath says, not believing her but she isn't about to push her.

"I'm going to have to go; I'll see you at 7"

"Okay" Meredith says walking her out,

"Bye, Kath" Meredith closes the door; she just prays that she believes her. She can't afford for that secret to get out. She walks into the living area, Adam is still playing. She watches him; he is in many ways so like his father. Her mind wanders back to the day, she met him.

She was 18 years old, it was the first trip to the Hampton's, with her best friend Angela's family, and she had never been away before, she was happy to get away from her mom. Meredith had been looking forward to this summer. She was starting college in the autumn, studying pre-med. She intended on this summer being the summer of fun, before she went and studied. She decided to go down to the beach, and have a swim, she loved Angela and her family but she needed to get away, spend some time on her own. She was lying on the beach, listening to CD player, went she felt a ball hit her. She was pissed off; she sat up, and took off her Gucci sunglasses. It was then that she first saw him, he ran over to her.

"I am so sorry, my brother over there thought he was being clever" he said, flashing his dreamy smile.

"That's okay, just tell him to stop being such an idiot" she said to him.

"Come on Shep, stop flirting" Mark shouted.

"Take no notice of him, like you said, he an idiot" Derek told her.

She smiled and laughs.

"I'm Derek",

"Meredith" she says.

"Meredith it was nice to meet you, hopefully see you around" with that he ran back over to his brother.

"Mommy, mommy" Adam says bring Meredith back to reality.

"I'm sorry, baby. Let's have a lie down, you tired" Meredith asks.

"No nap, mommy" Adam says.

"Mommy wants nap, so you lie down with me" Meredith says to her son, has she picks him up and carries him upstairs.

She lies him down on the bed, while she pulls over the curtains, as she looks out of the window, she sees him on the beach. A part of her, wants to go out and join him, but her head is telling her not too. She closes the curtain, just has he looks up, he catch the sight of her briefly. She lay down next to Adam pulling him close to her. Adam is already asleep, she is grateful. She lets the tears fall, she misses him so damn much, she doesn't know how she is going to manage the summer here, knowing that he is here, and with his wife. She finally managed to fall asleep, the events of the past few days catching up with her.

Derek spent his morning, hiding at Kathleen's away from Addison; she was driving him nuts, going on about Meredith. It wasn't like she didn't know that Meredith lived in the Hampton's, hell she was the one who told him that. He told her to stay away from her that she got what she wanted, so leave her alone. He felt even more alone here, at least in New York, he had other people he could talk too, here in the Hampton's he only had Kathleen who he could talk to about Meredith. All he wanted was to hold her again, seeing her with her husband last night, made him jealous, not that he would ever admit that to her. He knew that she didn't mean any of what she said to him last night, that it was said in the heat of the moment but it hurt more than anything. He hated Addison for what she did to them, he hated himself more for letting her go in the place, all those years ago. He should have tried to find her; he should have fought for them. He had for the past 6 years wanted to know why she left him, but he couldn't bring himself to ask. He was scared of the answer she would give him.

While Kathleen went over to Meredith's, he decided to take a walk down the beach. The beach was one of the things that he missed about the Hampton's, he always liked coming down here to think, all he could think of was her. He sat down, looking out at the water; it wasn't far from this spot that he first met her. She looked so beautiful in her white bikini, and Gucci sunglasses, she took his breath away. He could feel her eyes on him, he turned his head looked at the house behind him, he saw her in an upstairs window, only briefly has she pulled the curtain across. He looked back over the water, feeling the tears running down his face. Derek did not see in the distance, Addison watching him.

Please Read and Review