As the left the bar, Meredith, turned to Derek and said, "Derek, you can relieve Alex. I have some things I need to do."
"Don't worry about my mom. She can stay in a hotel."
"I'm not having her stay in a hotel, Derek. I just have to take care of some things. Don't' worry about me."

Meredith left Derek and tracked Izzie down. She was working on charts, but Meredith took her by the hand and brought her to an on-call room. "Izzie, I need to speak with you. I think I made a terrible mistake," said Meredith.

"What did you do?"

"Derek's mom is coming tomorrow, and I said she could stay at my house in my room. I thought that would be better than the trailer." S

"Your house is definitely better than a trailer," said Izzie with a smile. "It has central heating"
"And a kitchen. She says that she wants to cook for me."

"I know that feeling," said Izzie with a smile. "I love to bake for you."

Meredith smiled. "And Chrissy. She loves cooking with you."

"She's a great little chef. She takes after her Aunt Izzie when it comes to cooking." Izzie said with a big smile.

"I wouldn't want her to take after me at least when it comes to cooking," said Meredith ruefully. "Anyway, I think I need to go home and clean the house since Derek's mom is coming to stay."

"Meredith, you haven't been home since Chrissy got sick."
"I know. I thought I would go the other day when Derek was with her for three hours, but I wound up going to Joe's with Cristina." Meredith sighed as she thought of the last time she was home. "I remember dashing out of the house with her. She had been bleeding and I was terrified, worrying about her symptoms. I suspected she might have leukemia. I was so worried. And I was right to be worried. I'm sure the place is a total disaster."

"Meredith, don't worry. Alex, George, and I have done a fair amount of cleaning already. We cleaned all the blood up right away. We didn't want you to see it when you went home, and early on we didn't realize that you would be living at the hospital for more than a month. We also know that the house will need to be very clean when Chrissy comes home. "
Meredith said, "I'm glad you're so optimistic, saying when she'll come home, not if."

"There's no doubt in my mind that she's coming home. And you don't need to worry about cleaning the house. I'll call Cristina, and she'll join Alex, George, and me in thoroughly cleaning your room and the rest of the house to prepare for Derek's mom. I don't want you to waste a moment worrying about cleaning."
"Thank you so much. You're a wonderful friend." Meredith hugged Izzie. "Could you clean out a couple of drawers so she has a place to put her things?"

"Sure."

"And make sure there's room in the closet."

"Will do."
"And I have some clothes of Derek's that I kept. Could you put them in the attic?"
Izzie smiled, "You don't want Derek's mom to know that you couldn't bear parting with his clothes – that you treasure your memories of him."
"Well, I don't want her thinking about me committing adultery with her son."
"Derek was the one who was married. He was the one who took vows. And you didn't even know he was married when you fell for him."

"She might not know that."
"She should. Anyway, Chrissy is proof that you and Derek had sex, so hiding his clothes isn't going to hide the fact that you had sex with him when he was married."

"I know. She's going to hate me."

"No one who knows you can hate you."

"Really? My dad left me when I was five."
"That doesn't mean he hated you. He might have hated your mom, or maybe she hated him and wanted to keep you from him. But I'm sure he didn't hate you. You must have been an adorable child."

"I doubt it," said Meredith. "But Chrissy is adorable, and I'm sure that Derek's mom will fall in love with her."

"And she'll adore you, too, because you're a wonderful mother."

"But I destroyed Derek's marriage."

"No, you didn't. You let his marriage fall apart on its own, with them giving it a good try, without knowing about Chrissy."

"I kept him from his daughter until she was sick and I needed him."

"It was his own fault, and you know that. And what's important now is saving Chrissy's life. I'm sure his mom is coming to help you, not criticize you. And now that Derek's divorced, she may even root for the two of you."
"Izzie, don't be ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous. You should know that, as far as the hospital betting pool is concerned, you and Derek are going to be together by New Year's."

"Christina told me about the betting pool. I hate betting on me. God, no one has bet on me since Derek left for New York."
"I think there were some bets about the baby," said Izzie. "Certainly, there were bets on whether the baby was a girl or a boy."

"No one told me about that bet." She noted that Izzie was grinning. "And I don't want to know who won that bet. Anyway, I better get back to Chrissy. Tell everyone I appreciate their help."

"Will do. And I'll even bake some muffins or some pies."

"Chrissy could use a treat. She's finding it very hard to keep food down. Maybe you could make her some pudding."

"I'll do that and bring it in tomorrow."

Meredith gave Izzie a big hug.