A/N: I am so sorry that this update is so long in coming. I got back from my cruise and then proceeded to get sick. :(! I am feeling better now.

A/N 2: Thank you to all who have reviewed this story. I only hope you haven't forgotten about me. This chapter rewrites a scene from "Break on Through." Grey's does not belong to me. It is ABC's and Shonda's.

Do Over: Derek

What would happen if we got one do over in life? What would we use it on? Where would we even begin?

My mother was sick for a long time before she died. It still didn't make her death any easier. I leaned against the ferry railing and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to think of a time that was a little more harried and painful.

----Flashback-----

I had visited my mother often when she was in the nursing home. Granted it was not as often as I would have liked, but I am an intern what does she expect? I would go there before I had to be at the hospital for rounds as 0ften as I could, which according to my mother was not often enough. One day when I was coming in the door I asked the nurses the perfunctory questions.

"How is my mother this morning?" I asked.

"She is having a lucid day today," The nurse replied. "We think that her visits with her gentleman friend are really helping her."

Gentlemen friend? My mother didn't have any friends. At least not ones that I was aware of. I looked into the solarium and saw a sight that I was not prepared for. Chief Webber was sitting on the couch holding my mothers hand talking about the good old days. The moment seemed almost intimate; I did not want to intrude. I spun around in a daze and stumbled toward the door, going out exactly the way that I had come in.

I sat in my car staring distractedly at the hospital. Why did my life have to be so complicated? The only true constant in my life was this hospital. Time to get to work Meredith. She thought as she got out of the car and made her way into the hospital.

She really didn't expect this day to be any different from any other day. Why should it be, it was after all her life. She made her way down the hall to the room that Dr. Bailey had assigned her. She still couldn't shake the image of Chief Webber and her mother together. She was walking down the hall when she heard a woman cry out from a room to her left. She ran in and the woman was obviously in distress. She kept calling out for someone named Len.

"Please, I need a nurse in here!" Meredith yelled down the empty hallway. Damn, they are all on strike! Meredith did the only thing she could and she intibated her patient. She sighed and stepped back from the patient when she was finished. This could be my mother one day. She thought. Meredith wondered if her mother would be like this woman and die alone. Not if I can help it. She thought, as she headed out to find the Chief, but before she could do that she was stopped by three very angry looking women.

"What have you done to Grace?" The woman in the center asked. "She is supposed to be getting end of life care, not have a bunch of tubes sticking out of her."

"I am so sorry," Meredith explained. "I had no idea that she had a DNR." I am such an idiot. I was so preoccupied with my mother that I didn't bother to read her chart and now I have to kill her because of it.

"What's going on in here Dr. Grey?" The Chief demanded.

"I didn't read the patients chart and I intibated her when she had a DNR." Meredith explained. Why do I get myself into these messes?

"If she has a DNR, you will have to extibate her Dr. Grey," The Chief stated firmly and with that he turned and strode out of the room.

Meredith hurried to catch up with him. I have to talk to him. My mother's life depends on it. She finally caught up with him and gathered up her courage to talk to him about her mother. I really have to stop avoiding things. It is not healthy for me or anyone around me.

"The nurses at my mother's nursing home tell me that you visit her three times a week." Meredith started. The chief looked startled at this and was waiting for Meredith to tell him to stop visiting her mother.

"I saw you there this morning," Meredith continued. "I stopped to visit her before rounds. My point is that I think that you should continue to visit her. My mother needs all the friends that she can get right now." Meredith turned and left the Chief to his thoughts.

I do not want to do this. Meredith thought miserably as she stood over Grace, ready to take her tube out. The goodbyes had been said and she could not help but feel that this would be her in a few years. She would be dealing with saying goodbye to her own mother. She only wished that she would be strong enough to let someone get close enough to her to help her through her own mothers death. Grace died a peaceful death two hours later, surrounded by her friends and daughter. Her loving husband waiting for her on the other side.

She stepped out of the room and grief overtook her. She could not breathe due to the force of the emotion that she was feeling. She is going to live and die alone. She is dark, twisty and damaged, why would anyone want her? She thought she quietly slipped into the supply closet unseen, but Derek had been watching her since she left Grace's room.

Derek thought it was odd that Meredith turned away from the nurse's station when she exited her patient's room so he kept his eyes trained on her. He observed every single movement she made. He was concerned when she exited the room, but he was downright worried when he saw her stagger into the nearest supply closet. He followed her passing Addison as he went.

The sight that befell him when he entered the supply closet scared the crap out of him. Meredith was sitting on a chair taking in large gulping breaths. Derek crouched down to her level and placed his fingers under chin and raised it to meet his eyes. Meredith immediately starts sobbing and speaking at the same time, while still hyperventilating.

"I don't. I can't," She sobbed out. "I don't want my mother to die alone."

Derek wanting to both comfort Meredith and stop her from hyperventilating did the only thing that he could think of. He sat down on the floor and pulled her into his arms. He placed her head on his chest so her ear was over his heart.

"Meredith," He whispered softly. "I want to you listen to me. Can you do that?" He felt her nod against his chest so he continued. "I want to you to listen to my heartbeat and breathe with my heart. Easy, gentle breathes Meredith." She did as she was asked and soon her breathing slowed and her body began to relax against his. Derek then began to relax himself and pulled her closer to him. They sat in comfortable silence.

"I don't want to end up alone Derek," Meredith whispered in the darkness of the supply closet.

"As long as I breathe Meredith, you will never be alone," Derek whispered back. In that moment both of their lives were changed forever. She leaned up and softly kissed him on the lips. The momentary shock made him hesitate before returning her kissed with equal passion. The need for air made them pull ever so slightly apart. In an instant three lives would be changed forever.

----End of Flashback----

Meredith felt Derek slide his arms around her and pull her toward him. They had been together for the last two years and they were due to get married next month. The last couple of years have been absolute peaceful bliss. Derek signed his divorce papers as soon as they left the supply closet. He and Addison parted on good terms and he was repairing his friendship with Mark. They had begun construction on their house and Meredith had sold her house to Alex and Addie. They were living in the trailer until they could move into the house after they get back from their honeymoon.

My mother didn't die alone. Meredith thought. She was surrounded by her family and friends in a hospital she loved. It didn't make her death any easier, just more bearable. I would have to say that my life right now is definitely bright and shiny and I intend to keep it that way.

A/N: There may be a slight delay on the Alerts, so I hope all of you find this story. Thank you to all who have read and reviewed! Please do so again, they make me very happy:)