Chapter 1; Life Changes in a Heartbeat

Okay, so, this is my first story I'm uploading. It takes place when the Season 6 finale is and has some scenes/lines from the episode (which of course i don't own) but I felt I had to use some because they were just too good to leave out. I put my own twist on everything and decided to have the shooting not happen when it did. I know, it's been done before, but I wanted to do my own version. Rated M for some sexual content, possible future language, and some violence. I'm not sure how long it will be, but I wanted to test the waters and see how everyone liked it. Mainly MerDer, some other characters included. Please tell me what you think, your honesty is very much appreciated. Without further ado, Enjoy! =)

It was a beautiful spring day in Seattle, somewhat of a rarity for the area, normally engulfed in rain clouds. Meredith Grey is exiting the resident locker room, a smile beaming across her face. She just saw the results of her pregnancy test. It was positive. Pregnant. The word just wouldn't leave her mind. She couldn't believe it, she was having a baby. Having a baby with Derek, the man of her dreams. She had to find Cristina. She had to tell her person the news before anyone, although in most cases, you would figure she would tell Derek first, since it is his child, but she had to tell Cristina first for some reason she didn't understand. Looking around the hospital, she finally finds her, and pulls her into the back hallway, the one no one ever seemed to enter.

"Hey, what's up?" Cristina asks, intrigue filling her expression.

Meredith struggles for words, not knowing how to speak at this moment. "I'm…I'm…."

"Well, spit it out."

"I'm… pregnant", she finally admits to her person. All Cristina can do at this point was stare, jaw wide open, about to hit the floor. She tried to find words. The right words.

"Oh, my, uhhh, did you tell Derek?" It was all she could think of, not sure what the right response to this news was. Except stuttering and struggling for words seeming like the only thing she could muster up.

"No, not yet. I want to find the right way or the right time or whatever. I know he will be excited, overjoyed actually, but I want this to be a special moment for him, you know? But I feel like I'm going to explode if I don't tell him. He wants it so bad, to be a father. What should I do?" She ended her endless rambling with a simple question, trying to put herself back into perspective. Cristina just starred at her with a look that said I have no freaking clue, why are you asking me, and then she realized that it was such a stupid question. How could she possibly know? But she really didn't know what to do. She racked her brain for answers but nothing came, nothing registered. They both stood there, an awkward silence fell between them until their pagers simultaneously went off. Cristina's read 911, ER. Meredith's read Derek. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. This should be so easy and yet, she was more nervous than before she received the page.

It was Cristina who finally spoke up, "Ok, so, I gotta go to the ER and be around Teddy or Owen or both, which I would otherwise not prefer. Are you gonna tell him?"

"I'm not sure. I will figure it out or something. You go and hopefully this thing or whatever between Owen and Teddy will subside. How is that going, by the way?"

"It's… nothing to worry about right now. This is very big, Mer, I'm very proud of you," Cristina responded, trying to not down her friends life-altering news with what seemed to her as a miniscule problem and nothing to be concerned with at this very moment.

"I'm… proud of me too", Meredith awkwardly responded with a weird grin on her face. As they walked in opposite directions, Cristina yelled back, "I hope it has his hair!" As a last laugh broke between the two, Meredith responded with a hopeful, "Me too!"

Silence rang throughout Derek's office, with the sound of a pen scribbling on paperwork as the only noise heard. He checked his watch. He had only paged Meredith a few minutes ago, but he really wanted to see her. It had been almost 48 hours, she never came home the night before and the night before that he was stuck with a mountain of paperwork, much like he is now and much to his disappointment. To this very second, he still wondered why he wanted this job so freaking much. It was more paperwork and politics than actually performing surgeries or running a hospital. He now admits that he had underestimated this job, seeing it more as a rise of power, authority, and respect than anything else. Some days, and those days were becoming more frequent, he regretted his decision. As Meredith opened the door to his semi-large office, he smiled, sighing with relief. Excellent, a distraction. Meredith was the one who finally broke the silence, "Hey, you paged?"

Derek finally looked up from his paperwork, fully taking in her presence. "Hey. I like to say hello to my wife every 48 hours. You didn't come home last night." He pushed himself up from his desk, away from the seemingly endless paperwork but never letting go of his pen, and kissed her. Quick, like a habit. He relished in the feeling of kissing his wife, something he needed today. Wife. The way it rolled off his tongue still makes her heart skip just a little, loving the fact of being someone's wife, having a husband. She never expected this for herself, not that she had ever expected much, which was the sad, awful truth. She smiled.

Remembering what he said just seconds before her brain lost track of reality, she responded, "I told you. Every Tuesday I go trolling for cases and last night a guy came in with rebar jammed in his skull and Shadow-Shepherd let me do the extraction." He sighed. If he didn't have this painstakingly time consuming job, he could have been the one performing that surgery. No, scratch that. It would have been him in that operating room with his wife as his first-assist, not the man who had now practically taken over his department. With Derek as Chief of Surgery, there was no one better to take the job.

His eyes still focused on his paperwork, he responded, "You know what I have to look forward to today? Paperwork. Oh, and later, more paperwork. I wish I had something jammed into my brain, that way I could see the inside of an OR." Is this really what his life had come to? Wanting something jammed into his skull so he could see the inside of an OR? He couldn't believe it himself, but it was the God awful truth. Meredith sighed. Not the right time. Definitely not the right time to tell him he was going to be a father. He should be in a good mood, not drowning in paperwork to the point of self-destruction. She made a decision, she would tell him later, at home. Yes, that would be better.

"Well, are you coming home tonight? Cause we could order in and I have some stuff to tell you." She hoped he would be in a better mood when he got home, figured she could give him a great way to end his day.

"Yea, I'll be there." He never looked up from his paperwork as he spoke, still hating every minute of his current job.

"Derek, there's going to be a lot of dirty sex for you tonight. Look forward to that." And with that, she left. The door slammed behind her. He finally looked up, starring at the back of his now closed wooden door. He smiled. Yea, I could look forward to that, maybe it would help me through this day.

It wasn't 'till about 9 o'clock that Derek finally entered the house, relieved to be home. The smell of warm pizza crept under his nose. Thank God, he thought, I'm starving. Although greasy pizza wasn't his first choice, it would suffice. He walked into the kitchen, watching his wife put two plates on the table, each with a steaming hot slice of greasy, cheesy pizza on it. His stomach growled in his ears. Man, was he hungry. He kissed Meredith and sat down in the seat adjacent from hers. "How was the rest of your day?" He finally asked after taking a bite of his pizza.

"It was ok. Slow, not much happened. Just did an appendectomy with Bailey and hung around the clinic. How was your day?" Probably not much different than after I left.

"More paperwork. Oh and then before I left, more paperwork. Sometimes I'm just so sick of this job." They both sighed. She hated seeing him like this, so discontent. She knew he made an excellent chief, but she had been noticing lately that he really did hate it. He came home exhausted, his brain aching from reading and signing mountains of paperwork. Lately, he had been averaging 1, maybe 2 surgeries a week, if he was lucky. But, she hoped her news would make him feel better. She didn't want to tell him now, though, while he sulked, demolishing his pizza slices. She would wait till they got upstairs, until they were ready for bed. It would be better, more privacy and such. She finished off her slice, her stomach content for the time being. Hopefully the baby would be nice and let her keep this down for the night. As they made their way upstairs, Meredith inches behind Derek, she took his hand. I love you, his dark blue eyes seemed to speak as he looked back at her. When they entered the room, she shut the door. Nobody was home, she noticed. They would probably be trolling for cases, much like she was the previous evening. Good, this is something they should experience together.

As he pulled his flannel pajama pants and his Bowdoin t-shirt out from his drawer, he finally spoke after what seemed like ages. "You told me you had some stuff to tell me earlier?" Thank God, she thought, he didn't forget.

"Yea, uhhh, give me a sec." She had to find the right words to say this. He would never forget this moment; she had to make it special. She watched him undress while he waited, not knowing how happy he would be in the coming moments. She decided now would be a good time for her to change too. Once they were sitting together in bed after going through their night time routine, she spoke.

"Look, this is good news, just so you know; I don't want to worry you. I just don't know how to say it." All he did was stare. Just say it, his eyes seemed to read, it won't matter to me how. She decided she would just come out with it. "I'm pregnant." She beamed; she waited for his reaction, his face expressing shear shock. He wasn't expecting it, she realized. All of a sudden, his face lit up.

He couldn't help but giggle with joy. "Really? You're pregnant?" He asked her, just for clarification, making sure he heard correctly. She nodded. It was all she could do to contain her joy. He kissed her, long and deep. It showed his feelings. His joy, his love. She loved the way he kissed her.

After finally pulling away, he said, clearly still shell shocked, "I love you, so much. We're gonna be…" he couldn't even finish his sentence. Parents. That's what he tried so hard to say, but he still couldn't believe it. He lay half over her. She lay flat on her back, her hand in his hair. He stroked her cheek gently. They lay there, together, starring, lost in each others eyes. Neither one of them could believe it, and silence stretched, seemingly forever. Meredith finally spoke.

"I know. It's unbelievable, isn't?" Yes, it was totally unbelievable for them both. Derek's dreams of being a father were finally coming true. Meredith had never expected something like this for herself. Never pictured herself with her dream guy and having a child with him. Life couldn't seem to get any better than this. He finally kissed her again after an eternity of silence. It was all he could think of doing in the moment. After he pulled away, he spoke. "I guess some dirty sex is in order for celebration. I have been looking forward to it all day."

They laughed, gleefully. He shut the light, putting them in darkness except for the moonlight shining through the shut blinds. Still smiling, she pulled of his shirt over his head, slow, not wanting to hide his face from herself. He proceeded to take off her tank-top, revealing her naked chest to him. Before removing each others pants, they kissed again, because it seemed so right. They finished undressing and he proceeded to kiss her clavicle, down, down, down, until he reached her lower belly. He lay there, starring at her belly. It would swell with the growth of the baby fairly soon, and he pictured his child growing inside her. He moved back up toward her, his hands on either side of her. He kissed her again before he found home inside her. They both relished in the feeling of being so close, of doing what they loved. Sex for them had become more about closeness than anything since they had gotten married and went through their "newlywed" phase. Since Derek had become chief, their time together had been limited. They missed each other, and when times like this came around, they took advantage. The closeness was something they missed. He began to move, slow at first, not wanting the moment to be over too soon.

I can take it slow; I can take it incredibly slow…

She pulled her fingers through his dark locks, something he loved. He kissed her between her cleavage, and tasted her neck. He was moving now at a faster pace, though not too fast. They looked in each others eyes and decided that the dirty sex could wait until another night. Tonight was for closeness, for the celebration of becoming parents, something that seemed like it would never happen. As he began to move faster, she moaned and her fingers tightened in his hair. His own moan followed suit and he kissed her, long and deep. They seemed to fit together perfectly, just like a puzzle. The look in her sparkling, pleasure filled eyes told him to move faster. He did. He kept moving until they climaxed together, both sharing their pleasured moans in the darkness, stuck in euphoria. As he moved off of her, she turned to face his side and was met by a deep sea of blue, a look she loved so much. They stared into each others eyes. Their hands interlocked and they lay there in silence. "I love you, so much", Derek finally spoke, breaking the eternal silence that not only filled their room, but the house as well. "I love you too," she spoke in his ear. Their foreheads touched, hands stayed interlocked, and they eventually drifted to sleep, smiles creeping on their faces.