Chapter 61: Nervous

Today was the day. The day that Meredith, the love of Derek's life, was going to meet his family. Well, the rest of his family. His four sisters, and their husbands and their tons of kids. She was nervous, but he was pretty sure he relaxed her some the night before. When he woke up, she wasn't in bed and he figured she was in the bathroom getting ready, wanting to make the best impression that she could.

"Mer...You in there?" Derek knocked on the bathroom door.

"I'm busy."

"I have to pee."

"Pee somewhere else!"

"Where? Outside?" Derek groaned.

"Oh God..." She gagged.

"Meredith..."

"Go away."

"Can I just come in and pee and then I'll leave you alone?"

"Oh..." She gasped on the other side of the wooden door, before getting sick.

"Meredith." Derek frowned, hearing her gag.

"I'm fine!"

"Let me in."

"It's not locked!"

"Can I come in?" Derek groaned.

"I don't care."

"Fine..." Derek sighed, opening the door, surprised to see her sitting on the bathroom floor, pale as a ghost.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"Mer..." He breathed, kneeling down in front of her, putting a hand on her forehead.

"I'm not sure...but I think I'm nervous." She said quietly, her eyes getting a little bit wet. "I just...I don't usually get like this but I couldn't sleep last night and now I keep feeling sick and I...Dawsyn asked me what I was wearing and I don't know what to wear."

"Seriously?"

"I shouldn't have woken Dawsyn up, but I..."

"You woke her up...but you didn't wake me up?"

"They're your sisters and I thought Daws could help."

"I just..." Derek took a deep breath, sitting down next to her. "I need you to talk to me about these things."

"No."

"No?"

"I can't...because you...you know things about your sisters and you can say it's going to be fine but you don't know that."

"You can tell me what you're afraid of."

"Because I'm freaking out." She admitted, looking at him as he sat next to her. "I don't get this freaked out or nervous that often...I haven't even made myself sick since the time I threw up on my Kindergarten teacher on the first day."

"Meredith..." Derek chuckled, a small smile on his lips.

"It was just on her shoes."

"Listen to me...I'm not just going to tell you that it's going to be okay."

"ADawsyn threw up on her first day of preschool in front of her whole class...it's a Grey thing which is weird and bad but...maybe you don't want to be with me. I freak out at random times and apparently make myself sick..."

"And it makes me love you even more."

"You could get stuck with all little girls who throw up and..."

"And I'd love them too."

"I have nothing to wear. I have clothes but none of them are anything that your ex-wife used to wear and I just...I feel like maybe I should be fancier here."

"Okay...Mer..." Derek whispered, moving to sit in front of her. "Are you listening to me?"

"What?"

"I love you. I don't love my ex-wife. I love you and who you are...and the clothes you wear. The fact that you are so nervous about this...shows me that you love me enough to care what my family thinks about you. You don't have to be fancy or anything else...Just be...Meredith. Be the woman that I fell in love with."

"I know I shouldn't worry but when I think about how fast...it's all really fast and I know we're good at fast right now but I just...other people might not get that."

"They might not...But that's not going to change this. I know that you're worried about what they're going to say and think about you...but you shouldn't...because it doesn't matter to me and it's not going to change how I feel about you."

"They won't freak out about it?"

"They won't freak out about it."

"My stomach hurts." Dawsyn frowned, opening the door wider.

"Come here..." Derek laughed, holding out his hand.

"What's wrong Dawsyn?" Meredith frowned, putting a hand on Dawsyn's head. "You don't have a fever."

"My stomach hurts...I think I'm nervous." The little girl sighed, sitting in Derek's lap.

"Runs in the family." Derek laughed, rubbing Dawsyn's back.

"It's Mommy's fault." Dawsyn sighed.

"What?" Meredith frowned.

"You girls...I love you two." Derek smiled.

"It is her fault...she came and woke me up when it was really dark still...asking me what we should wear and if Nancy was going to hate her and then she said that..."

"Dawsyn..." Meredith groaned.

"What did she say?" Derek smirked.

"That I had to be careful what I said because your sisters and my new cousins would think I was weird and that she needed to stop rambling and a bunch of other stuff." Dawsyn yawned.

"Can I tell you both a secret Daws?" Derek whispered.

"What?" The little girl asked.

"Your mommy...She's crazy. But I love her."

"She's super crazy."

"Hey..." Meredith frowned.

"You know what I think you both need?"

"What?" Meredith rolled her eyes.

"Go back to sleep...get a little bit more rest. Try to relax...And everything...I know I shouldn't say this...Everything's going to be fine." Derek smiled.

"Derek..." Dawsyn sighed.

"Yes?"

"I threw up on my first day of preschool."

"I heard." Derek chuckled. "I promise this isn't as scary as that."

"Preschool was Mommy's fault too."

"Here we go..." Meredith groaned.

"It really was."

"Daws..." Derek laughed. "Why don't you go get back into bed and I'll be in there in a few minutes okay?"

"And then we can all go to bed?"

"Yeah...We can."

"Okay." Dawsyn sighed, holding a hand over her stomach, getting up.

"Don't worry." Derek said, patting her on the back as she slowly walked out of the bathroom.

"Try telling that to Mommy." Dawsyn yawned, as Derek closed the door.

"Don't worry." He repeated, looking at Meredith.

"I...okay she gets that one hundred percent from me."

"I know she does." He laughed.

"And preschool...my fault."

"Come here..." Derek stood up, holding out his hand.

"More then you bargained for?" She sighed, yawning a little as he helped her up.

"No...I think...you wouldn't be you if you weren't nervous about this."

"I'm slightly neurotic according to Christina."

"It's very adorable."

"You say that now."

"Now...tomorrow...ten years from now...when we're one hundred and ten."

"You will be a very old dead man, Derek Shepherd." She sighed.

"Not nice."

"Sorry." She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You can do this." He whispered.

"I can do this." She repeated quietly.

"You can."

"And if I can't...I'll try not to freak Dawsyn out too."

"Okay." Derek laughed. "Deal."

"Deal."

"Bed."

"I thought you had to go..."

"Go where?"

"You said you had to pee."

"Oh...right." Derek laughed.

"I'll be in bed." She yawned slightly, pulling out of his arms, turning down the hall as he watched her.

"Be there soon." Derek smiled, shutting the bathroom door. She could do this. He knew that. But he understood why she was nervous, and he was just hoping that his sisters didn't make her feel worse.