It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

14.

Mrs. Shepherd sat quietly at the table, her eyes following her son and Meredith into the building. She was hiding a smile as she shook her head and watched her children and grandchildren ice skating. She could feel someone sit beside her and looked to see her son in law, Michael sit beside her.

"How are you doing?" She asked softly as she watched the concerned look in his eyes.

"I'm doing alright... Is Derek doing better?" He asked.

"He went inside with Meredith for some hot cocoa." She replied, watching him nod.

"She seems like a nice girl." He said softly, trying to gauge his mother in law's feelings for the young girl that they had only met less than twenty four hours previous.

"She is a nice girl." She replied, watching as he smiled slightly. "She and Derek really seem to understand one another." She nodded.

"It concerns me though." Michael replied. "I don't want him to break her heart... I mean... he's been away from the dating scene for a while... and things with Addison went sour... I don't want him to make her his rebound girl or something." Michael swallowed hard, unsure of what she would say.

"Rebound?" She replied, looking him in the eyes with a confused expression. "Rebound from what? The boy was lonely when he was with that woman... and frankly, I'm glad that she is gone now... Derek needs to focus on a future."

"She's young."

"She's his friend." She replied. "Don't run off and have them married just yet, Michael. They're just exploring their connection, there is nothing wrong with that."

"I don't want Derek to be depressed again."

"None of us want that."

🎄🎄🎄

"I went through a period of depression after that... saw someone and tried to straighten things out... but tended to keep busy with work." Derek said as he sipped his hot cocoa. The conversation seemed to run so smoothly with Meredith, her eyes reflected concern, happiness, thoughtfulness.

"So you're an intern..." Meredith said nodding her head as Derek nodded.

"Well... resident..." He replied. "This is my second year... I have my own interns... we teach one another... but it is a lot of hard work, and sometimes I wonder why I even got into it." He said, smiling a little.

"Why do you stay?" She asked curiously, carefully unzipping her jacket a little as she felt herself becoming warmer.

"Its... the surgery..." He smiled sheepishly. "It is such an unbelievable rush being in that operating room... there is just a certain..."

"High." She said, giving him a sheepish smile herself.

"Yes." He said, releasing the breath he had been holding for a moment. "A certain high... that you can't get from anything else..." He smiled, his eyes sparkling as he stared into hers. "Well... maybe one other thing..." He said softly.

"Oh... let's not get ahead of ourselves..." she laughed as she watched him blush. "I'm actually in my second year of med school." She smiled softly. "Cornell, in fact." She nodded.

"Absolutely beautiful campus... and their medical school is top notch... that's a great choice." He replied.

"It's not easy..." She sighed. "As you obviously know." She smiled. "Have you picked a specialty?" She said, shaking her head. "I'm sorry... now I'm getting personal..." She laughed.

"No... no... I'm very interested in Neuro." He replied.

"Which is why you bump into my mother a lot." Meredith nodded.