You're Like Coming Home

77.

"You're seriously not going to come?" Meredith asked, standing at the foot of their bed with her hands on her hips. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"My sister's pregnant and getting married to a guy she barely knows at city hall," Derek snapped. "I don't think you should be asking what's wrong with me."

"You're unbelievable," Meredith rolled her eyes. "I can't believe that you're still mad about this."

"How can I not be mad?" Derek asked.

"What if it had been us?" Meredith asked, turning from her place in front of her dresser to stare at him. "What if I'd gotten pregnant during college and we'd had to have a shot gun wedding?"

"That's...different," Derek argued lamely.

"Really?" Meredith demanded, stepping closer to the bed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're going to have to point out the differences to me, because I see absolutely none."

"It's you and me."

"Okay, there's one," Meredith rolled her eyes. "And you know why you can't think of any differences, Derek? Because there are none! And I'm pretty sure if that had been us, Liz would have been there in a second."

"She barely knows him."

"No, you barely know him," Meredith rolled her eyes. "What makes you think he's so bad?"

"He got my sister pregnant."

"Are you even listening to yourself? So he got her pregnant. You go out for beers with Matt and Chris all the time, and they both got your sisters pregnant."

"After they were married," Derek protested.

"Oh my God," Meredith rolled her eyes. "I can't even believe what I'm hearing. Derek, she asked you to give her away."

"There's no aisle at the courthouse."

"That doesn't matter," Meredith rolled her eyes. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe she's absolutely terrified? You're scared about the idea of me being pregnant, at the thought that you might be a father soon. Liz knows that she's going to have a baby. Everything she's ever known has completely been turned upside down, and she isn't sure of anything anymore. And all she wanted was her big brother there to support her."

"I can't," Derek insisted, reaching for a textbook. "I have a test on Monday."

"Seriously? Seriously," Meredith grabbed the textbook out of his hands and threw it on the floor at the bottom of the bed. "Your entire family is going to be there, Derek. And it's not like none of your sisters never had sex before they were married. Caitlin's even..."

"Don't finish that sentence," Derek snapped. "She's my baby sister."

"She's eighteen," Meredith rolled her eyes. "That's how old I was when we were together for the first time. And don't even think about saying it's different, because it's not."

"It is," Derek insisted. "It wasn't some fling, we weren't just sleeping around. We knew we were...us."

"I didn't know that," Meredith shook her head. "It took everything I had to give that to you, Derek, and I had no idea that you were going to be the only guy I'd ever be with, or that I'd marry you. It was all I could do to trust you."

"That's not what this is about," Derek groaned. "I just...I can't go."

"Why not?" Meredith asked, her voice softening as she sat down on the edge of the bed, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Because Dad would have wanted me to protect her," Derek whispered. "He would have wanted me to stop this. And I can't...I can't support something that I know he would have been angry about."