A/N Hi, everyone! Firstly, I'd like to thank you for your awesome reaction to the previous chapter. It exceeded all my expectations! It feels wonderful to see that the fic remains interesting for you after all these months and I hope it'll continue to do so! Enjoy!

Note: I may have written something else in the beginning chapters of the story, though I don't think anyone remembers… Anyway, my conception changed slightly while writing so the seasons 1,2,3 and a part of 4 ,of course, did happen before Meredith's flight from Seattle with some exceptions that I made clear of in Author's Notes. In short, Addison did happen. Not that she's coming to SGH, she's just mentioned.

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"Cristina, I'm fine!" huffed Meredith as they slowly made their way through the overpass, nibbling on their snacks.

"A few days ago you were a trembling mass of deregulated hormones and now you're fine?"

"I am. I sleep through the night, I got my period back," shrugged Meredith. "Anger is a cleansing feeling."

"So you feel anger?" asked Cristina propping her chin with her palm.

"Yeah," replied quickly Meredith.

"And… that's why he's still a welcome guest at your house?"

"What would you want me to do, Cristina? Separate him from Bessie? I won't do that. She needs him, she needs her father regardless how much I hate him right now."

"She got used to him," shrugged Cristina. "So it's normal she wants to see him and she's happy when he's around. But that doesn't mean it's good for her in the long run."

"I don't follow," Meredith shook her head.

"You're existing in a freaking world of silence, Mer."

"And you're the one to reproach me that! You didn't talk to Burke for weeks and you two lived together."

"That's how I know how hard it is," said Cristina. "And I also know you're lying. I see the way you're looking at him-"

"Yeah, I know, I'm pathetic," Meredith cut her across. "Do you honestly expect me to say something else than that I'm angry at him or that I hate him? That all I think about when I look at him is his tongue in my mouth? That I'm pining for the smallest sign that I mean something to him? No, I can't say all these things because I'm trying to hate him and I really suck at trying to hate him!"

"Has he at least told he's sorry?" sighed Cristina.

"No, he… sometimes he just… stares."

"Stares? Like at your butt or something? He probably wants to get some, abusive McBastard."

"No," Meredith rolled her eyes. "There's no ogling, at least that I know of. He… he stares."

"In other words, he's not doing anything, which doesn't really surprise me. You can't drag this again, Meredith. It's make or break."

"What?" stuttered Meredith.

"I might not be the best person to give advice; actually, I know I'm not. But even I understand and you do too, that you can't live in limbo for long-"

"We're not in limbo. We're there for Bess. She has both of us-"

"Don't fool yourself, Mer," Cristina stood in front of her looking at her intently. "You and Derek can never become friends-"

"We can be-"

"You can't be just friends, you know that, Mer. It's time to deal with it. It's all or nothing, it can't be something."

"I don't know what he wants," said Meredith quietly.

"As much as I despise him right now and how hard these words are going through my mouth, you have to talk to him. No fucking, no yelling, just talking, Mer."

"Talking, we were never good at that. All the other things you mentioned, no problem. But talking…" sighed Meredith. "I just hope there will be no more surprises; I don't know if we're able to survive another shock."

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Surprises, an elderly but energetic woman who just reached the surgical floor was mentally preparing herself to face quite a few of them. For several reasons, she didn't expect them to be nice.

Her eyes were taking in the surroundings with curiosity, the people bustling around and the interior of the place. Tugging a small suitcase behind her, she walked up to the nurses' station. She looked with a smile at the woman behind the counter. She worked in the profession for many years and she could tell that Nurse..... Margaret belonged to the gossiping kind. That was even fortunate. She'd probably quickly point the place where her son could be.

"Good afternoon. ''

"Hello," the nurse airily acknowledged her presence. "How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Dr. Shepherd."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes," the woman answered without hesitation. Lying was bad but it certainly had its advantages."I spoke directly with Dr. Shepherd."

''Okay,'' said Nurse Maggie. "It's lunchtime, Ma'am... so unless he was rushed to the OR," she browsed through a row of charts. "Debbs!" she yelled to her colleague who was approaching the counter. "Where's McDreamy?"

McDreamy, the woman chuckled inwardly. She heard about the nickname all the way down in New York.

"The usual, Mags!" came the cryptic answer. "Just saw them going out of the cafeteria."

"As I thought, Ma'am," Nurse Maggie turned back to the woman. "You might want to have a seat here or wait for him in his offfice. He went for a walk with his daughter and he'll probably take his time."

"l'm sorry..." hesitated the woman. "There must have been a mistake... I'm looking for Dr. Derek Shepherd, the neurosurgeon."

''Yeah," nodded Nurse Maggie. "That's the one."

"He went for a walk... with his daughter, you said?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, do you want me to give you directions to his office? You need to go straight..."

Carolyn Shephard took off with a frown on her face, wondering what kind of trouble her son got himself into this time. He was surely in for some profuse explaining. For the last few days, Carolyn was driving herself sick with worry that her only son was developing a drinking problem. His inebriated voice kept shouting in her head, kept shouting at some woman to leave him alone. A woman called Meredith. Carolyn suspected to whom Derek's words were addressed. The so-called "sutty intern", the woman with whom Derek had an affair a few years ago…

But hadn't she left Seattle? Derek was broken after she disappeared and Carolyn knew he never healed entirely. She couldn't wrap her mind around why Derek was thinking he was talkng to her. She called Mark but his lips were sealed. Everything was fine, she should talk to Derek and so on and so on. So, she decided to act on this piece of advice. As her son didn't bother to call her, she was

ready to take matters in her own hands.

She had expected to learn that Derek went crazy with the unrequited love or that maybe that woman

was back. What she certainly didn't expect was hearing that he was a father. How was that possible?

She called him regularly and somehow during the last nine months the news that she was getting a new grandchild never appeared in conversation.

With a sigh, she entered Derek's office. This was where he he worked everyday since the beginning of his exile. Carolyn looked around the office smiling at the letters sent by the patients saved by her son, greeting cards from all over the world, family photos. But in the most prominent places, as though on exhibition, were colorful pictures drawn without a doubt by a hand of a small child. She inspected one of them closely. It depicted three persons; a tall figure with a mope of dark hair must have been Derek. He held a small girl by the hand. On the other side of her was a woman, probably the girl's mom. With a sigh, Carolyn placed her suitcase in the corner of the room and walked out determined to seek some answers. Her eyes wandered to the office directly across her son's. M.D. Meredith Grey, Neurology. Meredith again… There were just too many coincidences.

She never really gave up hope that one day her Derbear would return she saw that it was probably never going to happen. He was settled here. Seattle was the place where he met the love of his life. Carolyn had no doubts that there hadn't been and wouldn't be another woman he'd love with equal strength. She understood perfectly why he wasn't going to leave this city. It held too many precious memories. She couldn't imagine ever leaving New York, the house where she spent the happy but so limited time with her husband. And now everything indicated that Derek had a family of his own here.

Carolyn set off from his office with clear purpose. She was going to find her wayward ungrateful son even if she had to comb this hospital inch by inch with a magnifying glass. Twenty hours of labour and what she got in return? All her four girls put together didn't contribute to the amount of wrinkles on her face as much as he did. She knew he was going to be trouble since her waters broke down completely unexpectedly when she was shopping in the supermarket. Then there was that bike from hell that nearly got him killed and the bitchy wife that ended up breaking his heart. He ran across the continent, didn't bother to show himself on her doorstep, even for Christmas, and now he had a lovechild, that was of course if he hadn't got married without telling her. Carolyn was now in the right state to suspect everything, including the possibility of Derek's getting hitched in a drunken binge in Las Vegas. Hell, she didn't know anything about her son anymore.

Her ears registered a light feminine giggle coming from one of the offices, followed by a deeper masculine laughter, laughter she recognized without difficulty. She opened the door wide and stated, "Mark Sloan!"

She watched with amusement as his shoulders got rigid and he sprang away from the young woman he was kissing. "I'm glad to see that at least one thing stays the same."

"Mrs. Shepherd," he breathed out disbelievingly as though he was seeing a ghost. "What are you doing in Seattle?"

"Not going to give me a hug?" she grinned at his guilty face.

He smiled and closed the distance between them, "It's good to see you, Mrs. Shepherd."

"I'll… I'll go…" muttered quietly the brunette trying to make herself scarce.

"Lexie," Mark called her back reaching for her hand, "come here."

"Mrs. Shepherd," he exhaled deeply. He was actually nervous of his surrogate mother's reaction to a relationship with a woman so younger than him, but at the same time, he felt strangely excited. "I'd like you to meet Lexie, she's… we're kind of together."

Carolyn raised her eyebrows at Mark. What was with this day, what was this place that left her in shock at every step? Apparently, Mark Sloan did change as well. Apparently, he finally grew up. It never happened in the history of the world yet for Mark Sloan to introduce someone as his girlfriend. The slender brunette looked quite young but if she was turning the eternal boy into a man, Carolyn had nothing against it.

"Lexie, it's Mrs. Carolyn Shepherd, Derek's mom. The woman who practically raised me, taught me right from wrong."

"And what poor a job I did," chuckled Carolyn. "You seem to be doing it better, Lexie," she said and pulled her into a warm hug.

"Thank you, Mrs. Shepherd," Lexie whispered out of breath.

"It's Carolyn. Only Mark insists on calling me Mrs. Shepherd after all these years," she waved her hand absentmindedly. "Now that I know that one of my son's safe and sound and happy I want to know where's the other one, what's been going on in his life and if I should sit down before hearing all the answers."

"You know," frowned Lexie. "I… I've got… this thing to do…" she blurted and quickly slipped from the office.

"I'll take it as a yes," said heavily Carolyn.

"Derek's good," assured her unconvincingly Mark.

"Oh, is he?" Carolyn sat on the couch. "Imagine my surprise when I asked about him at the nurses' station and I was told that he was on a walk with his daughter. I naturally thought that it was a mistake, so I rephrased my question, I said that I meant Derek Shepherd and the nurse's answer was still the same."

"Oh, well…" trailed off Mark.

"Well? I'm waiting for explanations," squinted at him Carolyn.

"I… Derek should be the one to give them," sighed Mark, sitting on his desk. "I've been telling him for ages to give you a call but he wouldn't listen."

"Should I be worried?" she asked seriously.

"I honestly don't know," shrugged Mark. "But I can tell you there's something pretty awesome in this crazy story."

"How old is this something?" she inquired softly.

"A little over two years," he answered and showed her a piece of paper. "It's a masterpiece by her hand."

"How don't I know about her?" gasped Carolyn.

"Don't be too harsh on Derek, Mrs. Shep. Talk to him first. There's pretty much going on in his life right now."

"In yours as well, I see," she smiled indulgently.

"I don't know…" he shrugged his shoulders.

"I think you do," she disagreed. "She's a lovely girl."

"A lovely girl," he muttered. "Who's off the limits."

"Baloney, she isn't the problem, you are. You have very low expectations for yourself, Mark Sloan. Since you were a little boy, you always have and it's time to raise them."

"She's twenty-four," sighed Mark.

"You have the emotional maturity of a horny fifteen-year-old," grinned Carolyn making him chuckle. "You need young."

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"Grey, where the hell have you been?" growled Cristina spotting Lexie approaching the nurses' station. "Do you think lab results have legs and deliver themselves? And why are you looking as though you'd killed somebody. Wait! You haven't killed anybody, have you?"

"No! I'm… I'm sorry," stuttered Lexie. She was still shaken from her second encounter with Mrs. Shepherd who cornered her and grilled with questions going as far as criminal record and the number of sexual partners. "It's just… er, uhm I've met Mrs. Shepherd-"

"Who?" Cristina whipped her head to look at her. "You met whom?" The last thing Meredith needed was McAss's ex-wife appearing on their doorstep again.

"Mrs. Shepherd," replied Lexie. "Dr. Shepherd's mom-"

"What?" exclaimed Cristina interrupting Lexie again. Small correction, the last thing Meredith needed was McAss's mother showing on their doorstep. Cristina could already see her in her mind's eye, probably some self-righteous, traditionalist old lady who was going to give her person hell along with her evil spawn son.

"Take care of my charting," she ordered Lexie and set off in search of Meredith wondering if she heard already about Shepherd's mother visiting Seattle Grace and if yes in what shape it left her. She surely had been blissfully unaware of the family occasion this morning.

"Mer!" she saw her near her office door kneeling down in front of Bessie, buttoning her jacket.

"Cris," she groaned. "Don't tell me something's wrong with our patient. We were just about to go home."

"You'd better," Cristina replied quickly. "We've got code black."

"What?" frowned Meredith with anxiety, her hands stilling on Bessie. The last time she heard the term code black she nearly blew up because of the bomb which got stuck in a patient's body cavity.

"Not literary," Cristina waved her hand. "I meant you need to evacuate, McMama's in the hospital, have you heard?"

"Mama Burke's here? What does she want? Or is she here as a patient?" asked Meredith interestedly.

"Not Mama, McMama! Got it?"

"Uhm, no."

"McDreamy. McMama. See a connection?"

"No…" breathed out Meredith standing up slowly. "Tell me you didn't just say what I think you did…"

"Life's a bitch," shrugged Cristina.

"If only one could die," groaned Meredith. "It's bad luck! I jinxed it. I said no more surprises and of course this had to crop up!"

"Don't panic, Mer," advised Cristina. "Just run."

"What good would that do?" she whined. "She probably wants to meet Bessie. I'll have to face her sooner or later."

"Fine, stay and wait for McMama. Just remember, you don't take crap from anyone anymore. When she starts bitching-"

"Do you have to assume the worst option?"

"Okay… She's gonna love you," said impassively Cristina.

"She's gonna hate me," groaned Meredith. "Mothers love bright and bubbly and happy and… Izzie. Mothers love Izzie. They don't love Meredith, the slutty intern who break their son's marriage, got knocked up and secretly hid the kid from their father!"

"Bessie, come back here!" she said noticing her daughter going further and further away, trailing invisible patterns on the wall. Meredith caught up with her and scooped her in her arms. "We're going home, sweetie."

She stood up to realize she was under someone's careful scrutiny. A short woman with gray hair was looking at her and Bessie with unreadable expression and Meredith felt the dread of foreboding. Knowing her luck, she could only pray that Derek's mother didn't hear her biographical monologue.

"Meredith, isn't' it?" asked the woman with a kind smile. "We finally meet."

"I… I am Meredith, Meredith Grey."

"Carolyn Shepherd," she presented herself extending a hand towards Meredith. "And it must be… my granddaughter?"

Meredith gave her a long look having no idea what to say to the woman before her. She sought the tiniest sign of hostility or accusation but none came.

"Meredith?" nudged her Cristina. "Are you…?"

"I'm fine," she nodded. "We'll see each other tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," acquiesced Cristina reluctantly. She deiced not to meddle any further. Her careless mouth had cost Meredith enough already.

"Derek didn't tell me that you were coming," said uneasily Meredith.

"That's because he didn't know," replied lightly Carolyn. "It's a surprise visit, very surprise even." Her eyes swept over Bessie.

"Yeah," muttered Meredith bracing herself. "Why don't we… go to my office or… Derek's office… it's more comfortable."

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Derek flicked off droplets of waters from his hands and turned away from the sink grabbing a paper towel, just in time to catch a glimpse of two nurses trotting past him. He was sure it wasn't just his imagination when he saw them give him a furtive glance and lower their voices. Why were the damn nurses looking at him like that again? He didn't give any reasons for gossiping during the last few days, that was certain.

"You finally finished," Mark's voice boomed behind him.

"Finally?" asked Derek incredulously. "I'd like to see you clip that aneurysm faster." He didn't leave the OR since he got back from the trip to the park with Bessie and couldn't wait to follow Bessie and Meredith to her house; even if Meredith was still angry at him and they weren't talking to each other. He wanted to apologize to her, tell her how sorry he was and also how grateful for that slap that brought him back into reality. However, the longer he looked at her, the less he knew what to say. What words could possibly make it better after what she heard from him? He probably couldn't have offended a mother in a more hideous way that he did. Finding an excuse for his unacceptable behavior, blaming it on the killing headache and hangover or the fact that she had hurt him first wouldn't bring much needed reprieve from the guilty pangs of his conscience. Only Meredith's forgiveness could.

"What?" he asked seeing Mark's nonplussed expression.

"You should go find Grey."

"What? Why?" asked Derek frowning.

"I…" Mark trailed off thinking how to break the news of his mother's visit to Seattle in a painless way. Although, Derek did deserve what he got.

"Mark, don't make that face to a father whose little daughter had to be hospitalized a few weeks ago-"

"Easy, man! The kiddo's fine… she's actually getting to know her grandmother."

"Grandmother?" repeated blankly Derek. He knew Susan and Stacy Warren were Bessie's fake grandmothers.

"Nanny from the Big Apple, I should add."

"Nanny from… No…." Derek's blood froze in his veins.

"Yep, might be ruthless of me to say that but I told you to call her," Mark. "You would have avoided a big shit."

"Bess is with my mother?" asked Derek passing a hand through his hair. "And Meredith?"

"Also, they're chatting in your office."

"Chatting? My mother and Meredith?" The world surely turned upside down. "I need to go there… don't I?" he asked halfheartedly.

"Less than eager to meet the Shepherd women en masse?" chuckled Mark. "Better get used to it."

"Trust me, I would be ecstatic if they got along together," stated Derek. "But all my mother ever heard of Meredith were the words "slutty intern."

"You should know by now that your mom isn't the one to hold prejudices."

"She hated Addison," reminded Derek.

"True, but Addison didn't mean one third to you of which Meredith does."

"True," shot Derek finally putting himself together. He quickly made it to his office where he found a view that completely stunned him, Meredith and his mother engrossed in a calm conversation.

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"So…" breathed out Meredith wrenching on her wrist watching Bessie catching her breath from all the laughing. Derek's mother's was tickling her mercilessly at her lap.

"So, I think I deserve an explanation why I learned about the existence of this beautiful child only today," she said calmly.

"Derek didn't tell you…" Meredith trailed off. Somehow, the subject of Derek's family hadn't entered their conversations.

"No, he didn't," sighed Carolyn. "I'd also like to know if it's a new habit of my son to get drunk and yell at people over the phone."

"He did…?" That was the reason behind Carolyn's visit. She must have had the misfortune of calling him the day when she gave him the scrapbook. Derek was sober since them. "He… we… had a rough day…"

"So it was a onetime event?" asked seriously Carolyn.

"He… of course! He doesn't solve his problems in alcohol," assured Meredith. Just by yelling at me.

"Mhm," acknowledged Carolyn. "You are a little Shepherd, aren't you?" she cooed kissing Bessie's forehead. "I hope you don't mind," she passed a quick look at Meredith. "She looks so much like Derek and my girls."

"I don't mind, I know she took a lot after him," said Meredith softly.

"And why didn't he boast her to the family?" pressed Carolyn. She did overhear Meredith's conversation with her friend but she needed explanations.

"He… he didn't know," admitted tiredly Meredith. "I left Seattle long before Bess was born and didn't come back until about two months ago."

"You're… you're not going to ask me why?"

"I believe I know why."

"You… you know?" stammered Meredith. "I don't know what you heard about me, not very good things probably-"

"I believe I know why you did what you did, not because of the things I might have heard," Carolyn cut her across unceremoniously. "This little girl is a sufficient proof, proof of a mother who would do anything she believes best for her child."

Meredith looked at her silently, not sure if she should give in to the calming effect Carolyn's words had on her strained nerves.

"Why are you so nice to me?" she asked quietly. "I wrecked your son's marriage, you know that."

"You know," Carolyn cut her across unceremoniously. "You're the second person I'll be telling this today, you have very low expectations for yourself. Quite wrongly. And as for my son's marriage, I feel like I should thank you for making Derek open his eyes."

Meredith's jaw sagged down but Carolyn just shrugged her shoulders, "Addison was a privileged… I knew all along she wasn't right for my son."

Meredith couldn't be more confused. It seemed as Carolyn strongly disliked Addison, well, hated would be a more appropriate word; quite the contrary to Nancy, Derek's sister that came to visit him a couple of years ago.

The door opened suddenly to let a nervous looking Derek inside. "Mom."

"You finally graced us with your presence," replied Carolyn but Derek breathed out with relief that she wasn't angry,

"I was in surgery, Ma," he said as Bessie slipped from his mother's lap and lunged at him. He picked her up and went to give Carolyn a hug.

"Yeah, yeah, I gave birth to five doctors; I know the drill," she replied softly taking his face in her hands and looking at him intensely.

"So… um," he stammered at a loss for words. What could he possibly say to his mother in a situation like this? She had to fly to Seattle to find he had a daughter. His strained relationship with Meredith additionally complicated the things. "Uhm, did you come for long?" Not very wise, he realized instantaneously, it sounded as if he couldn't wait to get rid of her.

She cocked her eyebrows amusedly. "I planned to stay for a few days but now it turned out I have a granddaughter… I think I'll prolong my visit to get a chance to spoil her."

"Ma, I'm sorry," started heavily Derek.

"Not now, son," she stopped him. "I have a long flight behind me and the few hours of waiting here; I'm dreaming of a shower and going to bed. We'll have plenty of time to talk later," she assured him with a voice promising he wouldn't get away without scolding.

"You're staying at a hotel?"

"You tell me," she answered. "I booked a room because I thought you were still living a life of a homeless bum."

"I'm not homeless," groaned Derek. "I don't live under a bridge, only in a trailer."

"And were Meredith and Bessie live?" she asked sharply.

"At Meredith's house," he informed her avoiding her gaze. "So, I drive you to your hotel."

Carolyn frowned, there was so much tension in the air she could cut through it with a knife.

"Mrs. Shepherd," said quietly Meredith from her place at the couch when she was watching the scene silently.

"It's Carolyn, dear."

"Okay, Carolyn… I have… a free guest room at my house… Seems ridiculous for you to stay at a hotel…" What am I doing? she thought desperately, ignoring Derek's alarmed look.

"Wonderful," said his mother enthusiastically. "I can't wait to know all about you and Bessie."

"Ma, I'm sure Meredith has good intentions but maybe it will be better if you go to the hotel-" He could already see how uncomfortable it will be with his mother in the middle of their silent troubles.

"It's really not a problem, Mrs. She- Carolyn," assured Meredith, taking Bessie's coat from the sofa.

Carolyn shifted her regard from Derek to Meredith and back to her son. She just realized, they didn't say a word to each other since Derek arrived and now though they discussed things, they addressed only her.

"What's going on?" she demanded. "Are you fighting?"

"We're… not fighting," sighed Derek.

"We're just… not together," supplied Meredith, helping Bessie with her coat.

"You might not be together but I'm still Bessie's grandmother so I'm not going to turn down Meredith's kind offer," Carolyn said looking intently at Derek.

She let out a deep sigh, those two were a lot of work. She was already starting to develop a headache.

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A/N So, Mama Shep is gonna stay for a while in Seattle and meddle a bit in MerDer complicated relationship… :)

I must say the chapter turned a bit unexpected to me and I'm not sure about the outcome. Love it, hate it? Let me know.

Have a good Sunday,

Em

P.S. Would you honestly believe me saying there's gonna be some cheesy fluff in the next chapter?