N/A: I've never tried borrowing characters from other shows, but I decided to take a risk and bring 'vampire' Damon from The Vampire Diaries (of course, not vampire in this story). He's not a major character in here so I can make him forgotten easily if it doesn't work out.
And please, feel free to stop reading and commenting if you don't like the story. This is a work of fiction, after all, where we unleash our imagination.
---
Chapter 3 – No hard feelings
The airplane shook a little as the wheels reached the ground. Daniel whimpered silently, but looked brave on the seat next to Derek. He looked out the window and made a sound of relief and excitement to see the speed the airplane was rolling with.
Derek took Daniel's hand. "Are you scared?"
Daniel looked at him and shook his head.
"Have you flown before?" he asked and Daniel answered with a nod. "Were you on vacation with mommy?"
"Yes. And with Damon too," Daniel answered. "We went to see Damon's mommy."
"Really? Is Damon one of your friends?"
"Uh-huh," Daniel nodded. He rubbed his nose with his palm and said as he paid attention outside as well, "He's my best friend."
"I thought Tuck was your best friend."
Daniel glanced at him with one of his usual shrugs. "Damon too."
"I see," Derek nodded. "Does he live with his daddy?" he asked then, trying to distract Daniel from what he believed it was a scary landing.
"With his mommy and daddy."
"But you just said you were in visit to Damon's mom," Derek said, confused now.
Daniel turned to him with a frown and looking more confused than Derek. "Tuck lives with his mommy and daddy."
"And Damon lives with his daddy, right?"
"No!" Daniel held his head and shook it, probably terrified with how slow his father was. "Damon doesn't have a daddy!" he explained, loud and clear, hoping he would understand once for all.
Derek looked around and smiled at the heads turned to their seats. It was pure curiosity and he wanted to find out who Damon was living with, but he didn't know how to form the question so Daniel would answer without confusion.
Daniel was very helpful and gave him the answer before he could ask. "Damon lives with me and mommy."
"He does?" that was a surprise indeed. Nancy hadn't mentioned anything about another boy living with Meredith and Daniel. "Why doesn't he live with his mommy?"
Daniel shrugged. "He likes with us."
Derek nodded and decided not to stress Daniel more with his question. Probably Meredith would explain him Damon's story. He was impressed though with Meredith's courage of taking care of two little boys, all by herself.
"It stopped," Daniel noticed.
"It stopped. Now let's go take our luggage and find mommy."
---
"Do you see mommy anywhere?" Derek asked Daniel, his eyes scanning the crowd.
"No," Daniel became restless in Derek's arms as he tried to recognize his mother out of all those people. He pushed the hat back for a better view and frowned as he tried to see better but his mother was still nowhere to be seen. "Do you see her?"
"No. I don't," Derek sighed. His heart started drumming against his chest, thinking just how close he was to see Meredith. He had no idea how much she had changed, what he would say to her or how she would receive his visit, but he knew he was nervous.
Suddenly, Daniel stirred and pointed to someone. "Damon! There's Damon!" he squealed.
Derek tried to spot the boy Daniel was pointing at, but as far as he could see, there was no little boy waiting for them. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. There's Damon!" he laughed. "Down, down!" he shook his legs so Derek would put him down.
"Ok," Derek agreed and knelt so he could let Daniel down. "But don't run," he asked, useless as Daniel was already trying to run to his friend. "Is he far?" he continued to struggle in seeing Damon or Meredith.
"No. He's there," Daniel giggled.
"Danny!" Derek heard then, a man's voice, without a doubt calling Daniel.
"Damon!" Daniel shouted and ran towards him as Derek let go of his hand.
Derek stayed behind and watched how a man scooped Daniel on his arms and hugged him. That's why Damon wasn't living with his mommy anymore; Derek finally understood. It would have been nice of Nancy to mention Damon, but she hadn't so Derek had to face this guy; because he didn't look older than 30, older than Meredith.
Derek sighed and trailed the luggage after him to go and meet Damon.
"How are you, buddy?" Damon asked Daniel, readjusting his hat. "I saw you up there on the sky."
"You did?" Daniel gasped.
"I did," Damon nodded. "You were in a plane."
"I was," Daniel giggled.
"A bird waved at your window. Didn't you see it?"
Daniel looked surprised. "No."
"Aww. Too bad, but I will send another one next time you fly, ok?"
"Ok," Daniel smiled.
Damon looked at Derek for the first time and was surprised to see him. "Hi," he smiled, a little confused. He looked around Derek, "We were expecting Nancy."
"Yes, but I decided to come," Derek answered.
"Derek, right?" Damon held his hand out.
"Derek Shepherd," he shook his hand.
"Damon Salvatore. Did you have a good flight?"
"Yes," Derek just nodded. "Where's Meredith?"
"Oh. Meredith couldn't come. She covers the ER today, so she got stuck at the hospital," Damon explained.
"I see."
"But she said she would come home as early as possible," Damon added. "Did he behave nice?" he asked about Daniel.
"Of course," Derek nodded. As excited as he had felt earlier, he was extremely disappointed now. He started to feel like a fool. Nothing in Seattle seemed to belong to him anymore. Damon got everything, Derek felt as he watched Damon walking ahead, with Daniel in his arms.
---
Meredith tapped the steering wheel for a while, nervous about going inside. Nancy's visit had been surprising enough and nowhere in her thoughts had she imagined that Derek would finally visit their son. She needed a little courage to see him after all this time. Her thoughts were messed because of the thousand questions.
She took a deep breath and entered the house. Her first action was to look around, following the steps and expecting to see him. But small footsteps ran towards her and a pair of tiny arms wrapped around her legs.
"Hey, Danny," Meredith knelt to give her son a hug, for a moment forgetting about the visitor. "Let me look at you," she leaned back to look better at him. "You're back."
Daniel nodded, smiling happily. "I was with the airplane and I saw grandma. And I made friends."
"So you had a good time there," Meredith giggled.
"Yes!" Daniel nodded. Then his eyes saddened a little. "I was sick," he said quietly.
"I heard," Meredith nodded sadly. "I am sorry you were sick."
"Me too," Daniel sighed.
"But you're better now, aren't you?"
"Yes, mommy," Daniel answered and his smile reappeared on his face as he threw his arms around her neck.
"You finally found some courage to come in," Damon appeared in the doorway. He chuckled and came to them, helping Meredith take her coat off.
"I don't need courage," Meredith frowned.
Damon chuckled knowingly as he hung her coat in the closet. "You parked right in front of the house, Mer," he pointed out.
"Come and play with me, Mommy," Daniel ran into the living. "I have a lot of cars!"
"You have?" Meredith asked him and looked questioningly at Damon. Damon just smiled and shrugged.
Daniel was in the middle of the room, where he had built a parking lot. Meredith didn't recognize all those toy cars. "Who gave you the cars, Danny?"
"Derek," he answered as he wheeled a car under the coffee table, the garage probably.
"Derek?" Meredith looked at Damon again, for explanations. Daniel was calling his father 'Derek' instead of 'daddy'.
Damon shrugged. "I don't know what the deal is. He's still upstairs," he added with a grumble. "He's not very sociable. Are you sure he is his?"
Meredith slapped his arm, furious. "What is he doing here?"
Damon shrugged again.
"Are you working muscles now? What's with the shrugging?" Meredith annoyed with his lack of collaboration.
Damon smiled sarcastically. "Maybe he is here because he decided to have a girl, too. Or twins." He snickered at Meredith's frown. "Innocent joke. I swear." Meredith rolled her eyes. "Obviously he wasn't going to confess to me." Damon continued. "I assume he wants to talk to you and by the … hesitation he has shown since I met them at the airport, I would say he's very nervous about this meeting, too."
Meredith paid attention to his words. There was something in Damon's spirit that put things into a better light; more positive. "Tell me again, why didn't you become a psychiatrist instead of a lawyer?" she asked.
And together they gave the known answer: "Because, instead of a regular psychiatrist I can be an excellent lawyer."
"Mommy," Daniel cut in with pleading voice, holding up to her a motorcycle.
Meredith took a seat on the floor and looked at Daniel's toy. "What's with it?"
"The wheel," he whimpered.
"It doesn't spin?"
Daniel shook his head, sad.
"Damon?" Meredith looked hopeful at him for some help.
But Damon glanced over his shoulder and smiled. "I spent an hour on the road because a tire blew. Remember? I'd better go see what's for dinner."
Just as Damon was going out, Derek came in. Right before he turned around the corner, Damon stopped and smirked at Meredith.
Meredith hadn't noticed anything going on around her, anymore. Her eyes locked on Derek and her breath caught in her throat. He hadn't changed much; his hair looked shorter, but time had been generous with him.
"Hello, Meredith."
His voice was just as soft as she remembered it. Her name sounded the same on his lips as it sounded years back when he came to Seattle.
"Hi," she muttered. Then she realized she was staring at him; she was staring and the staring made her look foolish. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and remembered Daniel's toy. "The wheel…" she stammered and showed Derek the motorcycle. "It's stuck."
Derek came to them and took a seat on the floor, beside them. He took the motorcycle, but Meredith couldn't tell what he had done to it when he handed it back to Daniel, in good function.
"You bought him a lot of cars," Meredith said; a poor attempt of making conversation.
Derek smiled. "Those were mine. I gave them to him."
"You had a collection?" Meredith asked, surprised. Derek answered with a nod. "And you gave them to Danny?"
Derek nodded again. "Does he break toys?"
Meredith giggled. "You're afraid for your toys, aren't you?"
"No," Derek answered, unconvinced. "Besides, they're his now."
"Yes," Meredith laughed knowingly. "Like I don't know about boys and their toys."
Derek gave her a funny look.
"I know a lot about boys and toys. Little boys," she wanted to clear out any confusion. "He takes care of his toys, because I try not to buy him more than he needs and so, he rarely breaks any."
"Good thinking," he looked impressed with her reasoning.
"Derek!" Danny hung on his mother's neck. "She's my mommy!" he said, pointing with his finger to Meredith, very close to her eye.
Derek and Meredith laughed as Meredith took Danny's hand to remove the danger.
"And Mommy, this is Derek," he told his mom. "His name is Derek."
Derek and Meredith laughed at each other.
"It isn't proper to say 'nice to meet you', is it?" Derek chuckled.
"I don't think it's necessary," she smiled.
"He likes to talk," he nodded.
"He does. Most of the time nonsense, but he can make conversations, too."
"I noticed."
"Yeah," Meredith looked away, smiling.
"He has your ramble," he stated.
"And your need of having the last word," she added.
Derek chuckled and nodded, admitting that. "Great combination."
"I guess," she laughed.
And as the amusement of the last statements died off, the silence fell awkwardly between them. Daniel was standing between them, wheeling the motorcycle and now and then glancing at the grown-ups, trying to guess their silence.
As both, Derek and Meredith, tried to look like they were paying attention to Daniel's play, the boy put the motorcycle down and leaned to his mom. "Say something," he whispered to her.
Derek chuckled, while Meredith smiled embarrassed.
"I guess I am the host so I gotta say something."
Derek was a little troubled with making conversation with Meredith, too. "Not really. I mean… we can talk… have to talk."
"We'll talk." She nodded.
"Yeah…"
"So how was the flight?" she asked.
"Good."
Then silence came again. Both of them were unprepared for this meeting and therefore, for a conversation.
"Dinner is ready!" Damon announced from the doorway.
Meredith frowned as she noticed he was wearing his jacket to go outside. She stood up and hurried to him. "Where are you going?" she whispered.
Damon narrowed his eyes at her question. "Do you want me to take part to this reunion?" he asked, joking.
"Yes," but Meredith's answer was serious.
He smiled and shook his head as 'no'. "Enjoy your dinner!" he called to the others and stroked Meredith's cheek as he headed to the door. "Dinner with McDreamy!" he squealed in whisper. "Yay!"
Damon had a funny way of mentioning Derek as 'McDreamy', which always made her giggle. McDreamy was Derek's secret nickname, which, she thought about it with a sigh; it didn't really suit him.
"He doesn't stay for dinner?" Derek started her as he showed up behind her with Daniel holding his hand.
"No. Business… or something," she stammered. She shook her head and forbidden herself to talk anymore.
"Damon cooks yummy," Daniel told Derek as he led him to the kitchen.
"Really?" Derek laughed.
"Uh-huh," Daniel nodded, very serious.
Meredith and Derek had never had trouble communicating; there were the circumstances that made it difficult, now. Daniel, instead, inherited the communication abilities from both of them. And being unaware of the type of relationship between his mommy and Derek, he had no trouble holding the whole conversation during the dinner.
"Take a break now, Danny," Meredith told him when Daniel chocked for talking with his mouth full.
"He also mentioned something about Tuck… hiding in Cristina's luggage?" Derek asked Meredith.
Meredith laughed, remembering that. "Cristina doesn't play with them too often, but when she does… how should I say this…" she mused. "She has a funny play with them. I mean, even she has fun. She slept over to my house once and Tuck was visiting, he and Daniel wanted to play with her, she wanted to get rid of them and so she asked them to play hide and seek and she would find them. She had a suitcase open on her bed and Tuck hid in it. She found it funny and zipped the suitcase. Not entirely, of course. And then she started to walk Tuck with the suitcase. Luckily, it wasn't such fun with that, so Danny didn't ask for a ride."
"And Cristina cried?" he asked, about another thing Daniel had told him about.
Meredith chuckled. "It's bad if the news got that far. That was her fault. She fell asleep with chewing gum in her mouth and she … has a new haircut now. Don't comment over this. If you see her."
"Yes. That sounds familiar. I know how sensitive that can be," he laughed, remembering his sister's accident.
"Yeah…" she smiled and the awkwardness of a new silence was threatening again. "How long are you going to stay?" she asked him. "And I am not asking with any rude intention."
Derek smiled. "I will leave tomorrow at noon."
"Oh," she nodded.
"Is Damon your… uh… this shouldn't be that difficult…"
Meredith looked curious at him.
"We used to be friends, Mer. I know we…" Derek stopped there, realizing how he had called Meredith. "We have a lot to talk about and I know I've been very absent lately, but… can we talk like two friends? I mean… are there any hard feelings?"
"No hard feelings," she reassured him. "And no, Damon is not my boyfriend." She giggled when Derek brushed his chin as sign of embarrassment. "He came as roommate but stayed as friend."
"As roommate?" Derek looked surprised. Suddenly his brows furrowed as if the worst suspicion crossed his mind. "You should have called me if money weren't enough."
Meredith stared at him for a moment. It wasn't the moment to get angry with him. She kept her calm and even smiled. "Please stop there because you're going on a wrong path."
Derek seemed to realize just then how far he had gone.
"I used 3 paychecks from you, only and all 3 for his birthdays. I bought him something. From you. I mean I bought something extra. The rest are in a bank account on his name."
She didn't yell or call him names, but she surely hit him hard.
"It's your right to know more about Damon. He lives with your son, after all," Meredith continued. "Damon moved here a few months ago. I think soon, it will be a year," she added, mostly to herself. "Anyway… we met at the hospital, where he came as my patient after a serious car accident. He's a good guy and there was never anything…sexual," she mouthed the word, "… between us. He works as a lawyer and because he works mostly at home, he baby sits Danny a lot. He also…"
"Mer…" Derek stopped her. "I don't need to know his whole history. Really."
"So… what brought you back?" she finally found the courage to ask.
"Daniel. Or Danny. How do you call him?"
"We call him Danny. Sometimes Daniel. You can call him however you want, he doesn't really care."
"He calls me Derek," Derek stated, disappointed.
"I noticed," she nodded and noticed the look in Derek's eyes. "Maybe he needs a little time to get used to you as dad."
"Maybe," Derek smiled as he watched Daniel.
Daniel was done with his dinner and now was listening to the grown-ups, cheerfully wriggling his legs.
"Are you done?" she asked him.
Daniel nodded. "Can I play now?"
"Yes, you can. But make sure you don't break any of those cars," Meredith warned him.
Daniel climbed off his chair and went to Derek's seat. "Are you done?"
"Not yet," Derek smiled. "But go ahead and start the engines."
"Ok," Daniel agreed happily and ran back into the living room to play with his toys.
"You had a thing for racing cars!" Meredith suddenly remembered.
Derek chuckled. "I had a toy cars collection," he nodded.
"And you gave it to Danny."
"All of them."
"I will take care of them for you," she giggled.
Derek laughed. "I knew I could count on you."
Slowly, the uncomfortable between them started to fade. They had felt comfortable with each other since day one, so it was natural not to feel like two strangers now; despite Derek's absence from the last years. Everything had gone smoothly for Meredith, so there were indeed no hard feelings.
"You're still very compassionate with your patients," Derek noted. "How's work going?"
"Work is going fine. I have 2 more years and I apply for an attending position."
"Are you planning on staying at Seattle Grace?"
"If a job will be available, yes."
"I heard that Chief Webber had launched an interesting competition for Chief Resident."
"Yes; he allowed all residents between 4th and 6th year to candidate."
"So?" Derek asked, waiting for her result.
"I didn't compete. Sometimes I arrive home after Daniel is bed and the next day I leave before he wakes up, and that's hard on us, so I chose not to achieve that position."
Derek leaned back in his chair. Meredith put Daniel before her career, something he had never thought to do. He had to admire her for that, especially because as far as he could see, she didn't seem to regret anything.
"Cristina is the new Chief Resident," said Meredith.
"Did you choose the specialization you want to follow?" he asked her.
Meredith looked down at her plate and smiled. "Neurosurgeon," she muttered, then she looked up at Derek and added, "but it doesn't have anything to do with you."
Derek chuckled and nodded understandingly.
"You're still the head of neuro, right?" she asked.
Derek nodded. "I've been madly busy lately…" he realized it was longer than 'lately'. "I had to work a lot." He rectified. "I am sorry. This is not an excuse. I have no excuse."
"You just didn't have time," she said. Meredith smiled, reassuring him of her understanding. "There were times when I hated you for not being here with us. I admit it. I can't blame you either, because… I shouldn't have called you to tell you about the baby. I would have kept the baby no matter what you were going to say. I had taken a decision right before you called back. Back then, everything was going perfect for me; or almost perfect. I had a job I was good at, with promising future; I had a home, friends, for a short while I even had a sexy boyfriend," she added with a sincere smile. "A pregnancy didn't scare me. It was a new challenge. And everything has been going smoothly ever since. Of course I hated you. I hated you when Daniel was teething; you came for a few days, but I had to deal with his moods for another 2 more weeks. Or when I first took him to the daycare and he cried and refused to stay there. It would have been helpful to have you here to watch him for a while; instead I had to tip a nurse to baby sit him. And there other minor times when I could have needed your help, but we pulled it out. We're good. No hard feelings."
"So… am I too late?"
Meredith shook her head, with disapproval. "It's never too late to start being his dad. What I mean to say is that… apologies are worthless; they can't comfort me and Danny doesn't understand them."
Neither of them was eating anymore; Derek was taking Meredith's words in and Meredith was playing with the fork.
"I want to visit him more often," he stated, but Meredith's faint nod showed how little she trusted his words. "I really do," he tried to speak and look as serious as possible. "Do you have any plans for Christmas?" he asked.
"No, but we're not coming to New York," she told him from the start.
"No," Derek reassured her. "But I can come."
"Ok," Meredith agreed.
Derek looked into Meredith's eyes. "You don't believe I will come."
"I am not putting conditions or anything against you, but there's just one thing I am asking you. Do not promise anything to Daniel. At least for a while."
Derek wasn't happy to hear that and he had no words for how disappointed he was, but he knew he couldn't object as Meredith had her reasons for this condition.
"Christmas is next weekend and I will try to be here on Friday for Christmas Eve."
"Ok," she nodded. She finally stopped playing with the fork. "I'd better start cleaning."
"I will help," Derek offered quickly.
"Danny is waiting for you," she reminded him. "I am good here." Meredith smiled at him. She leaned against the table and watched him long before he was out of her sight. She needed a little time to get to know Derek once again.
---
Everything in Meredith's life was about Daniel; her life was Daniel; Derek noticed as he walked through the living room, watching the photos of the two of them.
"He's finally down," Meredith sighed with content.
Derek turned around and opened his mind to ask something, but Meredith asked before he could make a sound.
"Do you want to see his photo album?"
Derek chuckled and nodded. "I'd love to."
"Ok," she smiled. "I will be right back."
When Meredith returned Derek filled a glass with wine. "Do you mind?" he asked her.
"No, if you fill me one."
Derek gave her the glass and filled the other for himself. "That's a book," he chuckled as he saw a big yellow book in Meredith's hand.
"He had to have one," Meredith shrugged. She put the book on his lap, while she sat down next to him in the couch and took her glass.
Derek opened the book to first page. "His first pictures," he saw the first prints from Meredith's first sonograph. "And here when we saw it was a he," he laughed. He remembered those pictures very well because he was there with Meredith.
"And you decided right away to name him Daniel."
Derek smiled. "And you chose it right away."
"It's not a bad name," she smiled back.
Derek shifted in his seat, turning to Meredith and propping his head on his fist. "Do you remember how everything felt back then?"
"Everyday," she smiled.
Derek sighed, his smile fading a little. "I forgot it at some point." He sighed again and returned his attention to the book. "We were excited to have a baby."
Meredith nodded sadly; she was sad because Derek had lost that excitement too soon.
Every year and every significant moment in Daniel's life was there; baby Daniel crawling, standing unsteady on his own feet, his mouth smudged with cake, crying, laughing. He knew some of those photos and he also remembered their story. Meredith had taken care of filling him in with the info's at the right time. It was around age 3 when Derek couldn't recognize any photo.
"Danny makes friends very easily," Meredith started to tell Derek as they found one photo of the boy with a few others, close to his age. "This is from his last birthday. As I said, he makes friends easily, but he's very selective. When we made the guest list for his birthday party, we were surprised to see that he refused to have some of those friends at his birthday."
"Is this what's-his-name daughter?" Derek asked confused about another photo in which Daniel was kissed by a girl, a little older than he.
"Alex Karev What's his name?" Meredith laughed.
"Yeah… sorry," he laughed too.
"Yes, that's her. Lily. She's 5 already."
"She looks like her dad."
"But she has Izzie's character," Meredith said. "She's sweet, but not very fond of Daniel."
Derek pulled away to look at Meredith a deep frown. "How come?"
Meredith laughed. "I don't know. They start a fight each time they meet."
"Who starts it?"
"It depends. Both of them, most of the time."
"How is he doing with the girls?"
Meredith laughed and shook her head. "I don't know. Imagine that yourself," she teased. "He's 3, he likes cars, planes and everything with wheels…"
"Hmm…" Derek looked a little disappointed.
"Oh come on!" Meredith laughed. "Don't tell me you did better at his age!"
Both of them suddenly stopped and stared at each other.
"Is it just me or this is …"
"A déjà vu?" Meredith completed his question. She also gave the answer, "I guess."
"We used to sit here by the fire, drink wine and talk about girls and boys," Derek remembered.
"Yeah," she smiled, overwhelmed by the memory of those times. "We also conceived Daniel in one of those nights."
Derek kept smiling at her as he looked into her eyes. "Yes."
Meredith shook her head, breaking his gaze. She turned the page for Derek. There were pictures from a camp.
"I wanted to see if he could possibly like fishing," Meredith explained.
Derek laughed. "Really? And does he?" he asked, excited as fishing was one of his hobbies.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "He didn't seem to get bored, but neither Damon nor I knew what to do with the fishing lines. I mean, we did, but we didn't catch anything. But Danny had fun running through the forest and falling over bushes."
"I will take him," Derek offered eagerly. "And that's not a promise," he added. "I will take him." He didn't want it to be a promise; he wanted it to be an established fact.
Meredith didn't say anything to that. They looked through the photos and she told him little stories about them.
"Where were you here?" Derek asked curious, about one of the photos, in which Meredith and Daniel seemed to be in a meadow.
"This is nearby the house I bought a few minutes away from town. I thought it was a good investment from my mom's money."
"It looks like a great place."
"It is. It's Danny's favorite place of spending his free time. We usually go there on weekends and for Holidays."
Derek made an idea of how that place looked like, from Meredith's tale and the photos with Daniel. It sounded like it could become his favorite spot too, but unfortunately, Meredith didn't say he was invited to see that place.
"The last time we talked you were engaged," Meredith said.
"Yes, I was," he smiled thoughtfully. "I mean, I still am."
"When's the big day?"
"Uh… I don't know," he answered, browsing through the book. He stopped and looked up. "I do, actually. It's in May," he added with a sigh as if the subject was boring him. "How about you? Do you have anybody?"
"No. I am single. Danny has me for himself."
Derek closed the book and put it aside, turning back to Meredith, again. He smiled as he watched her.
"What?" she asked, giggling.
Derek smiled and shrugged, confused. "I missed you."
Meredith sipped from her glass avoid the eye contact with him.
"I am not trying to make things better with you, Mer. I mean, I am, but not flirting."
Meredith drank the rest of the wine and stood up. "Under the VCR you can find a few tapes. With Danny."
Derek sunk in the couch, with the book beside him and the glass in his hands. He heard Meredith walking out of the room and then stopping. Her steps sounded to head towards him again, but stopped somewhere midway.
"Good night, Derek," she said before she turned to leave.
"Good night. Mer." He put the glass on the table and stood up to go and take the tapes. By the window, something caught his attention. It was snowing outside and it looked like Daniel would wake up with snow again. He had to take Daniel outside the next day for a little fun in the snow this time.
