Disclaimer- I don't own it!
Meredith cleaned up the evidence of their sexcapade in the kitchen, ignoring Derek's attempts to get her to have sex in every room of the house. She walked through the rooms, ensuring that everything was perfect ready for Carolyn's arrival. The flight was getting in at seven, so there was little time in the morning to finish making sure that things were looking good. After a while, she was finally satisfied that everything was to the ridiculously high standard she believed Carolyn would expect, Derek having ensured her that the vegetables in the fridge did not need to be in any kind of alphabetical or colour order. Izzie had come down when she was checking the end table drawers, armed with a copy of The Lion King, again pointing out her disgust at the fact that Meredith had had sex in every room, but not seen such an iconic film.
Derek set the DVD player up and the familiar film began to play on the screen. Meredith was as transfixed as any child seeing the movie for the first time, snuggling into him when the 'scary' parts came on and smiling when the characters performed the elaborate routines that were as much part of Derek's childhood as surgery tapes were to Meredith's. A skinny meerkat appeared on the screen and Meredith's brow furrowed.
"What's wrong?" Derek asked her, wondering how the comedy stylings of Timon and Pumbaa could elicit anything other than laughter.
"That's Timon?" Derek nodded. "That's who Izzie and Mia said I looked like?" She continued to frown at the screen, Derek trying his hardest not to laugh, bursting when she turned to look at him, slightly offended by the comparison. Eventually she began to grin, laughing along with Derek until they both had tears streaming down their faces. It was rare in their profession to find something to just laugh at, and Derek had fallen in love with that laugh the moment he'd met her, and couldn't stop himself from kissing her hard, looking deep into her green eyes trying to fathom how he could love her as much as he did. They stayed on the sofa curled in each others embrace until the credits rolled and Meredith began to yawn. Derek sent Meredith up to bed while he locked the doors and put the DVD away. He couldn't wait to see his mother again. He knew it had been difficult for her to have him leave so suddenly, and not come back. It was hard for her to see him hurting, but she'd get to see his Meredith, he got to see why it was easy to stay, why it was such a good thing that he moved away. He loved Meredith, and he knew that the second she laid eyes on her, Carolyn would love Meredith too.
Derek climbed quietly into bed, and Meredith crawled into his arms, not moving until he kissed her a little after five so that she'd get up and ready to pick up his mother. She stretched and pulled him in for a kiss before leading him into the shower for a quickie before their weekend of enforced abstinence, Meredith not wanting Carolyn Shepherd to think that she was really the klutzy person that she became after a few good orgasms. The idea of his mother hearing the pair of them was enough to make Derek reluctantly agree with his girlfriend.
They got to the airport with time to spare, Meredith having to go to the bathroom twice before the flight landed, her nervousness at meeting his mother amusing Derek greatly. When she came back a third time, after checking her hair and make-up were totally pristine and perfect, he put his arm around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her softly in the hope of calming her down. They were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
"There's a time and a place young man." A middle aged woman of average height, with short grey hair and the piercing blue eyes that adorned Derek's face scolded him, reaching her arms out for a hug with her son, "and you must be Meredith." She said reaching out and pulling her in for a hug. "You were right Derek, she's gorgeous, and she's obviously clever too. You're going to make beautiful babies, more little shepherd geniuses." Meredith smiled, raising her eyebrows at Derek in alarm. Carolyn picked up on Meredith's expression. "Not for a few more years dear, when you aren't forced to work so hard. My grandchildren are my world, but they're all growing up. Lizzie's youngest will be a year old in November." She reminded her son, picking some lint from his coat.
"Mom, we've been together for less than a year. It'll happen when it happens. When Meredith and I are ready, you'll be the first to know." He grasped Meredith's hand and squeezed it reassuringly as they went to baggage claim. When Carolyn was certain she had everything, they got into the car and started to drive home. The ride was filled with news of Derek's nieces and nephews and the achievements of his sisters and their partners. Meredith sat in the back and let them talk. It'd been a while since they'd seen each other and it felt right to let them catch up on what they missed since he'd been in Seattle.
When they arrived back at Meredith's house, Derek opened the front door and led his mother inside, while Meredith opened up the boot and began collecting Carolyn's things ready to go inside. She lingered slightly until Derek came back out to help her. "See she already loves you." He assured her before catching the expression on her face. "She's a little full on with all of my sister's partners, she just knows how crazy I am about you, so she's making even more of an effort. She was an navy nurse for years, she's used to being blunt with people, she just forgets who she's with a lot of the time. She'll calm down, I promise." He kissed her on the forehead as they brought the bags inside, Meredith smiling at his words. They set them down in the guest room and joined Carolyn in the living area.
"This house is gorgeous Meredith." She said looking out of the window at the view "did you grow up here?"
"I spent some of my childhood here," she told her, "we moved to Boston when I was still quite young, and I moved back here just before I started my internship. My mother couldn't look after it anymore, so she signed it over to me, and I live here with a few of the other residents, and Derek's in the process of moving his stuff in."
"Oh, the great Ellis grey, there are few who haven't heard of her. Is she still in Boston?" Meredith looked at Derek, her hands shaking a tiny bit at the mention of her mother's condition. "Um, no she had early onset Alzheimer's, she was staying at the rose ridge nursing home, but she died last year." Derek pulled her close and kissed her forehead, wishing she didn't have to be brave in front of his mother, opening his mouth to change the subject before Carolyn cut in.
"Oh sweetheart," she gasped "I had no idea, I'm so sorry I pried, I didn't mean to bring it all up for you." She took Meredith from Derek, pulling her in close to her chest the way a mother would to a young child. Meredith was shocked at the gesture. Having never been mothered, she was surprised when the tears came springing to the surface threatening to escape. "It gets easier." Carolyn assured her "Derek will tell you. It'll always hurt, but you learn to live with it. It hurts just a little bit less as the years go by and new joys come into your life, and when you think of her, you won't remember the awful times when she was ill, you'll think of the little happy things. She might have spent a lot of her time at work away from you, but every mother loves her little girl, that's what you'll remember in ten or twenty years' time when you have your own running around. You'll remember how she loved you, always." Meredith smiled through her tears, comforted by her words. She felt Derek's arm on her back and she turned and kissed him as Carolyn let go of her. "Tea," Carolyn exclaimed, "that's what we need, where'd you keep your supplies?" the pair laughed as Derek followed his mother to the kitchen to help her find things. Meredith watched the two interact, a mother and son, so close, so many unspoken words between them. She was really beginning to like Carolyn shepherd, maybe it wouldn't be such a scary weekend after all.
The three of them decided to take it easy for the rest of the day after Carolyn's flight, and the time difference playing havoc with her, so they decided to take her to the land so she could see where the house was going to be built, and so that she could tease Derek about living in his trailer for so long.
"That is breathtaking." She exclaimed when they pointed out the view from the front of the house. "just imagine seeing all of that whilst youre eating your breakfast or watching the sunset from your yard. And its all yours Derek?"
"Everywhere the light touches" he joked earning him a smile from Meredith and an eye roll from his mother.
"you can do so much with the space, you just could never get bored with a place like this. You could have another treehouse like yours and mark's, and there's room for all kinds of toys, and you would be great if we wanted to get all the family together, all the kids could play out here, and the rest of us. You could have food and music, it's amazing Derek." She gazed around some more before turning to her son "You know when nancy came and told me you were out here living in the woods in the trailer like an overgrown boy scout, I thought you were going through some kind of mid life crisis or something but now I can see why you brought it and camped out here, its stunning."
"When Derek told me that he wanted to move out here, away from my house I thought he was crazy, I had no intention of leaving it behind, but you see those blueprints, and it makes you want to move out here tomorrow. He's thought of everything." Meredith gushed, forgetting her vow to act like a dignified young lady
"And Meredith has put her spin on it, my ears are still sore after she told me off for the size of the kids bedrooms." Meredith hit him with one of her tiny ineffectual fists
"They were tiny, and he expected the kids to share a bathroom with our guests. He wanted seven rooms to share a bathroom." Meredith informed her.
"Seven?" Carolyn questioned, intrigued as to why the pair needed so many bedrooms.
"We thought we'd both have studies so that we can keep our research in our own space away from the movement of the rest of the house, then there's the nursery and the spare rooms for the kids when theyre older and guests and probably an upstairs playroom too." Derek told her, a glint in his eye that told his mother he probably had plans for far more than just one or two children, but hadn't got the idea past Meredith yet.
"You'd best show me then darlings," she instructed them, taking one of their hands in each of theirs leading them back to the car like two of her young grandchildren. It made Meredith smile to see how Derek had been brought up, she had no doubts about his ability as a father, he'd had a wonderful role model. Family may not have been Meredith's thing, but she was definitely coming around to the idea. If she had to be part of any family she was really glad it was the Shepherd's.