About Derek Shepard "Dr. McDreamy"

Derek Shepard

The top of his game in neuro- surgery, always cool-headed in a pinch, and an all-around-hotty to boot. He's our "McDreamy." Derek comes to us after leaving Manhattan for personal reasons-his best friend, Mark Sloan, slept with his wife, Addison. While eluding this situation he met Meredith Grey, "the girl from the bar." Meredith and Derek have had a rocky on-again-off-again relationship. Things started off good, then Addison appeared. Trying to do the right thing, Derek tried to make it work with Addison (his wife). It eventually fails and he and Meredith were on again. Things were good again, but Derek wanted to move to the next level while Meredith wasn't quite ready-Meredith was dealing with several tragedies of her own (including her mother's death and almost drowning). Derek was patient, for a while, and understood that she needed time, but can only wait so long. Meredith broke it off, but unable to keep their hands off each other, the couple decided to "just have sex" while broken up. Realizing this didn't really work either, the two decided to see other people. At first, Derek's dating was merely casual, then he meets a nurse. Though he's never really "seen" her before, Rose is an attractive, intelligent woman. Soon, Meredith realized that she really did want him and told him she's trying to be ready. When Derek asks her for more again, she is again unable to commit to more. Derek tells her he's already moved on. Derek and Rose continue to date, but he can't ignore the fact that he has to see Meredith every day. He and Meredith have even started a clinical trial together. She stumbled upon a possible way to shrink brain tumors with viruses and considering he's the best brain surgeon at Seattle Grace, she has no where else to turn to run her clinical trial. Derek finally slept with Rose, but admits to Mark Sloan that he thought about Meredith the whole time. The clinical trials turn out to be anything but successful and Derek is starting to lose hope in their efforts. Meredith, who is in therapy, is starting to have a new outlook on life and believes in thier efforts. After coercing Derek to continue with the trials, they are finally successful. Derek can't wait to celebrate their success. Derek finally finds Meredith outside his trailer standing on his property. She has lit candles in the outline of their future house together and she tells him she wants him back. Derek leaves to break things off with Rose so he can "kiss her the way he wants to kiss her"with a clear conscience.

The two appear in Season 5 happy and ready to take the relationship to the next level, but obviously Rose isn't happy about it. Meredith even gets the courage to ask Derek to move in with her. Everything isn't perfect, but they're working out the kinks. With all of the gains that they are making together, Derek is starting to get annoyed with Cristina Yang stealing his girlfriend away all of the time. He makes some feeble attempts to get her involved with Mark Sloan to get her attention elsewhere, but she's not interested. Just when he thought Cristina was his only competition, however, Meredith's old college buddy, Sadie, shows up. How much of this can he take?

Derek gets uncharacteristically upset when he is forced to help a patient who happens to be a convict on death row. After a day of being extremely on edge, he admits to Meredith that his father was killed, shot by two men who wanted his watch. He knows that he is supposed to treat everyone the same, but all people are not the same. At the same time, Meredith and Cristina's friendship has come to a screeching halt. The fight has left Meredith unhappy and Derek is trying to be there the best he knows how. He even tries to dance it out with her - being the Cristina she doesn't have right now.

Derek's mother soon drops in to Seattle "on her way" to her cruise. She helps him through the difficult situation with his prisoner patient, being that it has brought up old wounds about his father's death. She also meets Meredith for the first time. Meredith is nervous and has trouble making a good impression at first, but then she decides to be honest and be herself. Derek's mother is quiet to Meredith, but tells Derek that she's the one. She tells him that he sees in black nad white and Meredith doesn't - he can use a little of that in his life. She gives him the ring his father always intended for his bride. Derek intends to propose to Meredith with it.

Season 5:

Prisoner-Death Row (episode 11)

Who Gets the Solo Surgery (episode 10)

Intern's Surgery (episode 9)

The Intern's Secret Society (episode 8)

Hahn is Gone (episode 8)

The Holy Grail of Marriage (episode 7)

Anatomy Jane (episode 6)

The Shepard Method (episode 5)

Finding Somewhere to Relax (episode 4)

Derek Moves in Roommates Move Out (episode 3)

Meredith's Cold Feet (episode 1 & 2)