8th World Wonder

46.

"You're....a doctor with brains and you cut brains...you're....ah yes...a brain surgeon." Thatcher slurred as he took a drunk from the bottle of scotch and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his flannel button up. "You're smart...and you want a Grey."

"I'm in love with Meredith." Derek said quietly.

"Why?" Thatcher sneered, knocking over a television tray. "She's Ellis....she's Meredith she's....pathetic."

"You have no idea how amazing you're daughter is." Derek raised his voice.

"Amazzzzing?" Thatcher scoffed.

"Amazing."

"I was marrried to a Grey and....pathetic...hateful women." Thatcher stumbled. "You're a brain doctor and you should know better...marry a girl who amounts to something."

"Meredith is going to amount to more than you'll ever know. It's your loss that you never got to know her. She's nothing like her mother." Derek argued.

"You're an idiot."

"Maybe. But I love Meredith and that's all I need. If you don't want to be a part of her life, that's your loss. She's an amazing strong woman, no thanks to you."

"You say that now....but I warned you doctor...a mistake. She was a mistake...and she'll be yours mistakes too." Thatcher slurred.

"Having you as a father as the biggest mistake that she ever made." Derek said, slamming the door to the house.

Everything suddenly made sense to him. Meredith's reluctance to trust anybody and to be in a relationship. He had met Thatcher before, but this gave him a new perspective. No person deserved to be treated or thought of the way Thatcher did to Meredith and Derek would be damned if he ever let him hurt her again. Lexie had been right in warning him about going there. But he felt as if it was something that he had to do. And now that he had done it, he knew for sure that Meredith was the woman for him and that he would take care of her and be with her and never treat her the way that she had been treated in the past.

"Hey." Meredith opened the door to the car, sliding in and giving him a quick kiss. "Thanks for picking me up...I can't believe my car screwed up this morning."

"No problem." Derek sighed. "The mechanic should have called the house and let us know what was wrong."

"He called me today and I honestly have no idea what he meant...but I just told him to fix it." Meredith giggled, putting her purse in the back seat. "So, I looked at the movie times and..."

"There's nothing good playing." Derek said.

"You said you wanted to see the one about the guy in the war...."

"Mark told me it sucked."

"Well what about that one with the guy from that TV show?" Meredith asked. "It looks funny."

"I'm not really in the mood for a movie." Derek breathed.

"Oh well what about dinner or ice cream...we could even go shopping for the house....or look at tile samples."

"If you really want to."

"You sound excited." Meredith replied sarcastically. "We can go home..."

"Can we?" Derek asked.

"Yeah." Meredith frowned, biting her lip a little.

"Okay...I'm not up for being out tonight." Derek sighed.