Meredith sighed as she rested her head in her hands, wondering why she had chosen a career that seemed to come with a constant migraine. First graders were a lot of fun, and she usually loved working with them, but today was just a bad day. She'd woken with a major headache, which had only worsened throughout the day as her students approached her with questions about every little thing under the sun and parents called and demanded to know why their children weren't already performing multi variable calculus. Now it was almost time for dismissal, and she couldn't wait to go home and take a long hot bath before collapsing into bed. She knew it was lame, but she just wanted to feel like a normal person again. And soon as she got rid of this stupid migraine, she might feel slightly normal again.
"Miss Grey! Miss Grey!" Meg cried as she ran to her desk. "I colored you a new picture!"
"Inside voice, Meg," Meredith sighed, pulling her head out of her hands as she took the piece of paper from the hands of one of her brightest students. "Wow, this is beautiful. But you're supposed to be working on your counting review from kindergarten."
"I finished already," Meg shrugged. "And my uncle says that if I'm all done with my work, then I can color."
Meredith smiled softly as she pinned Meg's drawing to her bulletin board. "Well, you're uncle sounds very nice," she nodded. "But now why don't you go spend some time in the reading corner?"
"Okay!" Meg exclaimed, hugging Meredith around the waist before she ran to the corner of the room that was surrounded by short bookshelves and boasted a few beanbags.
Meredith sighed as she rested her head against the cool surface of her desk. This was only her second year of teaching, but she could already feel that she was going to have a fun class. Meg was one of the brightest in the class, but for the two weeks that she'd been teaching these students she could already tell that they were all very eager to learn. She'd enjoyed teaching them so far, and she knew that each of her students showed a completely unique promise of becoming amazing individuals.
But right now, all she wanted was a head that didn't throb with every tick of the clock as the time crept closer and closer to three o'clock.
"Alright," she announced as she pushed herself off of her seat and made her way to the front of the classroom. "How many people are still working on their kindergarten review?"
A few students raised there hands, and Meredith nodded. "Alright, good job to those of you who did," she said. "And it's okay if you didn't. I want you to take out your homework folders and put the worksheet in the take home side. And remember to bring it to your parents and bring it back to school on Monday. When you've put your homework away, I want you to make sure your desk is clear so we can clean them before we pack up for dismissal."
To her surprise, a majority of the students cleared their desks with minimal distractions. There was a great deal of noise as they did so, but she couldn't complain when they were at least doing what she asked. Beggars couldn't be choosers.
"Alright," she announced, trying not to jump up and down as the clock hit two forty five. "Walkers are heading to Mrs. Pryor's class, bussers to Miss Myer's, and if your parents are picking you up, you'll be staying here. And I know a lot of you are starting your soccer season this weekend, so have fun with that! I'll see you on Monday."
There was a flurry of activity as her students made their way to the door, leaving two students in the classroom. Mike's mother came a few minutes later and Meredith chatted with her quickly for a few moments before they hurried to soccer practice. Meredith turned back to her classroom, smiling at Meg Scott as she sat quietly at her desk, humming as she colored quietly.
"And you, Miss Meg," she sighed. "Where is your mommy?"
"My mommy's not picking me up," Meg reported. "She's a resdent now. My uncle's picking me up, cause he's still in doctor school."
Meredith sighed. Nothing was worse than someone picking up one of her students who didn't know that the three o clock pick up time was strictly enforced.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for a little princess," a male voice said from the doorway. "Has there been a princess here anywhere?"
"Uncle Derek!" Meg shouted, jumping out of her desk and running to the man in the doorway. "You're here!"
"I'm here," he laughed, pulling her onto his hip. "How's my favorite niece?"
Meg giggled. "Uncle Derek, I'm your only niece," she said.
"Doesn't mean you're not my favorite," Derek shrugged. "You got some love for your favorite uncle?"
Meg leaned forward and kissed his cheek gently, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Thank you," Derek laughed. "Where's your backpack?"
"In my cubby."
"Well, go ahead and get it, and then we'll go get some ice cream," Derek said as he set her on the ground.
"Really?" Meg asked, her eyes wide.
"As long as you tell your mom we went to mini golf," Derek nodded.
"Yay!" Meg yelled, running towards the cubbies, stopping when Meredith grabbed her shoulder.
"Meg Scott, is that how we behave in school?" she asked.
"Sorry Miss Grey," Meg said, walking towards the cubbies at a much slower pace.
Meredith sighed as she turned to look at Meg's uncle. Her very...attractive uncle.
"So you're Miss Grey, huh?" Derek asked, leaning against the doorframe. "I've heard a lot about you from Meg. I'm Derek Shepherd."
"Mr. Shepherd," Meredith nodded, walking behind her desk as she slid some papers into her bag.
"Meg says that you're the best teacher she's ever had," Derek persisted, pushing himself off the door to stand in front of her desk.
"I'm her second teacher," Meredith stated.
Derek laughed as he glanced over his shoulder at his niece as she placed her chair upside down on top of her desk. "She's very smart you know."
Meredith stared at him for a moment, wondering where the hell this guy thought he could just try to carry on a conversation with her. This was making a bad day already worse, and her migraine had just doubled in intensity. "I know."
"Are you ignoring me?" Derek frowned as she turned to slide her laptop into her bag.
"Trying to," she replied, her hair falling into her face.
Derek frowned, resisting the urge to push her hair back from her face. "You really shouldn't do that."
"Why not?" Meredith asked, her head snapping up to meet him, breathing in deeply as she realized just how blue this man's eyes were.
Derek glanced at his niece again before he leaned over the desk to whisper in her ear, "I'm someone you need to get to know to love."
Meredith swallowed hard, watching as he pulled back, reaching for his niece. "Ready to go, Meg?" he asked, smiling widely at Meredith.
"Ready Uncle Derek!" Meg cried. "Bye Miss Grey!"
"Bye Meg," Meredith sighed, ignoring Derek. With any luck, he would never meet this man ever again.
"Good bye...Miss Grey," Derek said with an edge to his voice that made her spine tingle in a way that she'd never felt before.
"Mr. Shepherd," she whispered, watching as he walked out of the classroom. The man was pushy, and it was completely obvious that he'd wanted to go out with her, but she had to admit...he had a great ass.
XXXXX
"This is really good ice cream, Uncle Derek," Meg giggled as she shoved another spoonful of strawberry ice cream into her mouth.
"I'm glad you like it," Derek laughed as he ran a hand over her hair. "I'm still surprised that you ordered strawberry though. Usually you order chocolate chocolate chip."
"Miss Grey says that strawberry is her favorite ice cream," Meg reported. "We were playing a getting to know you game at the beginning of school and she said strawberry's her favorite. And I really like Miss Grey, so I want to like strawberry ice cream too."
Derek nodded as Meg scooped more ice cream into her mouth. This was his perfect chance.
"So you like Miss Grey a lot, don't you?" he asked casually.
"She's real nice," Meg nodded. "And she always makes sure that I have something to do when I finish all my work before the rest of the class. All the pictures I draw for her are on the board next to her desk."
"That is really nice," Derek nodded. "What else does Miss Grey say she likes?"
"She likes chocolate cake," Meg nodded. "And her favorite movie is the Little Mermaid, just like me."
"Good to know," Derek nodded. He watched as Meg finished the last of her ice cream, wondering how to ask his six year old niece whether her teacher had a boyfriend or not.
"And she said that her boyfriend used to tell her she ate too much," Meg continued. "But she broke up with him cause he was seeing her and another girl at the same time."
Derek raised his eyebrows. "She told your class this?" he asked doubtfully.
"Mayyyyyyyyybe," Meg said, looking down at her hands, fidgeting slightly.
"Margaret Ann Scott," Derek warned, looking at her carefully. "Are you lying to your Uncle Derek?"
"Of course not," Meg said, looking up at him before she sighed. "Maybe."
Derek sighed as he leaned forward, tilting her chin to look into his eyes. "You know what adults say about lying," he said.
"I'm sorry," she sighed.
"It's okay," Derek nodded. "Just don't do it anymore, okay? Otherwise I'll have to tell your mom, and I don't want to get you in trouble."
"Fine," Meg sighed. "I might have snuck into the teacher's room one day and heard Miss Grey talking to Miss Myer."
"Ahh," Derek nodded. "I have a feeling that you're not supposed to do that either."
"Not really," Meg whispered. "But they were supposed to have cookies."
"Alright, that's not my rule, so I won't get you in trouble," Derek laughed. "But...feel free to tell me anything else you know about Miss Grey."
"She's my favoritest teacher ever," Meg sighed. "And I'm only her second class."
Second class. That meant she was probably twenty three or four. Which was good. He was only twenty five, and he could definitely date his niece's teacher. Or...he could if he didn't have a girlfriend.
"Uncle Derek?" Meg asked, looking up at him.
"Yeah?" Derek asked, turning his attention back to his niece.
"Why are you asking all about Miss Grey?" Meg sighed.
"I..." Derek trailed off, wondering what to tell her. Before he could think of anything to say, his eyes were immediately drawn to the door as it opened, his heart dropping when he saw his girlfriend walk in. Damn.
"Hi Derek," Rose grinned, moving to sit beside him in the booth, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him quickly. "Hi Meg."
"Hi Miss Rose," Meg said politely, suddenly shy.
"What are you doing here?" Derek asked, pulling back as he looked at Rose carefully. He hoped he didn't sound mean, but he couldn't get that tiny blonde out of his head. And the last thing he wanted was to have his niece tell his girlfriend that he'd just been pumping her for information about her very young, very attractive teacher.
"I just wanted to say hi," Rose frowned, pulling back. "Is that okay?"
Derek shrugged as he glanced at his normally happy niece, watching as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at them. Apparently Kathleen hadn't been exactly discreet about her feelings towards Rose. He had to remember to thank his older sister for that.
"It's fine," he shrugged. "I was just on a hot date with Princess Meg though. I'm not sure how she feels about another girl being here."
Rose smiled as she let go of him to lean towards Meg. "Well, I'd never stand in the way of true love," she said. "What do you think, Meg? Can Aunt Rose crash your date with Uncle Derek."
"You're not my aunt," Meg pointed out, reciting exactly what Derek was thinking, and causing Rose to frown.
"Well...not yet," Rose said, causing Derek to choke on his water. If she was expecting a proposal...she had another thing coming.
"Uncle Derek, can we go home?" Meg asked, ignoring Rose's comment. "My tummy hurts real bad."
"Must have been the second scoop," he sighed, standing and pulling her into his arms. "I've got to get her home," he said to Rose.
"Okay," Rose nodded. "I'll go with you."
"No, that's okay," Derek shrugged. "Kath will probably rope me into staying for dinner. And I have a test on Thursday, so I'll just study for the rest of the night."
"Derek..." Rose sighed, staring up at him with a frown.
"It's fine," Derek shrugged, leaning down to kiss her cheek, more out of obligation than out of desire. "I'll call you."
Rose frowned as she watched Derek walk out of the ice cream parlor, holding his niece on his hip as he tickled her stomach. There was something going on with her boyfriend, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was.
XXXXX
"Derek, seriously, I don't know how many times I've told you not to give her ice cream after school," Kathleen sighed as she sank onto the couch. "It's going to take forever for Chris to get her down."
Derek sighed as he took another pull of his beer. "It's Friday, Kath," he sighed. "Kids deserve a special treat on Fridays."
"Well, kids who have two parents as doctors with 6 am shifts on Saturday morning don't need to be on sugar highs until midnight," Kathleen replied, shifting to rest her head on his shoulder. "So guess where she'll be dropped off at five thirty tomorrow morning."
Derek rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said. "I'll just read to her about ortho. I've got a test next week."
Kathleen winced. "Ortho's the worst," she said. "I still think you should go psych."
"Neuro, all the way," Derek shook his head. "It's not like I can even declare. Or you can declare, for that matter."
Kathleen shrugged, but before she could answer, Chris ran down the stairs, running a hand through his hair. "I've done everything I can Kath," he sighed. "But thanks to your brother your daughter thinks it's a good idea to perform gymnastics in the middle the hallway."
"Derek, I'm so going to kill you," Kathleen groaned as she pushed herself off the couch, moving towards the stairs.
Chris rolled his eyes as he sat down in the chair across from Derek. "You spoil my daughter, Shep," he said.
"Every kid needs a fun uncle," Derek shrugged. "It's not a big deal."
"Well, Kathleen thinks it is," Chris said. "You may not want to be here when she comes back down. Chances are she'll be in the mood to kill someone. She can't kill me, she needs me for more babies."
Derek sighed as he finished his beer, then stood and grabbed his coat. "I'll see you soon," he said to his brother in law.
"Definitely," Chris nodded as he closed the door gently behind him.
Derek sighed as he got into his car and started the drive back to his home, wondering why he couldn't get his niece's enchanting blonde teacher out of his head.