Patsy: Just saw your latest review and realized that I completely forgot about making this a multi-chap!
I am super sorry for the long wait on all of my stories, life has been quite hectic for me these last two years between family issues/emergencies and focusing on school work. But, alas, Patsy has reminded me of this story and I am currently working on chapters for When You're Gone, Blindsided, and my most recent story Ties That Bind.
The hours following Bailey's birth were those of greetings and well-wishes. A majority of their friends had come to meet the newest Shepherd, but there was one person Meredith wanted to see the most. She was holding her son while Derek returned Zola to daycare when she walked in.
Miranda Bailey watched her intern cradle her son. Meredith Grey had certainly given her quite a few gray hairs in the six years she had known her. The sight before her made her smile as she knocked on the door. Meredith looked up and smiled at her mentor.
"I hear we have another Derek Shepherd in the world," Bailey claimed as she walked into the room. Everyone that had met the baby had yet to know his middle name, for the fact that Meredith wanted Bailey to find out from herself rather than hospital gossip.
Meredith smiled as she offered the newborn to the woman standing at her bedside. "Actually, we're going to call him by his middle name…Bailey."
The shorter woman looked up at Meredith thinking she wanted to say something to her. "What is it, Grey?"
Meredith chuckled before answering. "His middle name; it's Bailey. If it weren't for you, I would have died back in my intern year. And this today you saved my ass again. It's only right for him to be named after the person who had such an impact on his parents' lives. Not only did you save my life, but you mentored me and helped me be a better surgeon; you helped me become a mother; helped Derek do Zola's hair when we first got her; you were the second person to feel him kick—right before you informed me that I wasn't losing him," Meredith said with a smile.
Uncharacteristically, Miranda Bailey had tears in her eyes. The last time she had been this emotional was when she heard about the plane crash, and Adele's death a few months back. "Meredith Grey, you surprise me more and more everyday." Miranda Bailey had a smile on her face when she looked down at the infant in her arms. Even being just a few hours old, he resembled his mother so much more than his father. "Thank God he doesn't have that McDreamy hair," she added to lighten the emotional mood in the room.
"I know, it's bad enough that Zola picked up on his charm. One flash of the right smile and she gets what she wants," as Meredith finished saying that, Derek returned to the room and smiled at Miranda holding his son. He made his way over to his wife and placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling down at her.
"Did you tell her everything?"
Meredith shook her head. "I wanted to wait for you. I told her why he was named after her, but not the other thing. You tell her."
Derek turned his attention to Miranda. "Doctor Bailey…" he tried to get his attention but she was too focused on the baby, at least he thought.
"Shh…we're having some Bailey time."
"But we wanted to ask you something. We think you'll like it…" Derek tried enticing her.
Finally, she looked up and saw the glimmer on both of their faces. Parenthood looked good on them, especially Meredith, she had never seen that girl light up so much since the day she met her. "Well, what is it?"
"If you accept, we would like you to be his godmother. Zola has Cristina and she had Mark. We want Bailey to have you and Alex."
Miranda smiled for the umpteenth time that day. "You Shepherd's really know how to make a woman cry," she said as her eyes began watering. Just then, her pager went off. She passed her namesake to his father before wishing the two new parents a good luck with the promise of seeing them later.
Later that night, Derek had went to check on Zola and Cristina was in Derek's place. "So you named your son after her and asked her to be his godmother. What am I? Chopped liver?"
"Cristina, you don't even like kids," Meredith said was a small laugh. "I had to beg you to be Zola's godmother. Besides, doesn't it only seem right considering everything Bailey has done for both me and Derek?"
"Okay, but isn't it going to get confusing? What if you say, oh I don't know…'Bailey needs a diaper change?' when both of them are in the same room."
Meredith stared at her person before answering. "I'm pretty sure everyone will know I'm talking about the baby. Last time I checked, Doctor Bailey was potty trained."
Cristina rolled her eyes but gave a small chuckle. "Fine, fine, you and McDreamy win." She looked at her person who was smiling. "I miss tequila Meredith. Mommy Meredith is weird."
"Cristina!" Meredith said in a mock-scolding way. Cristina shrugged as she laugh with Meredith. Changing the subject, Meredith asked, "so, how is everything going out there?"
"You know, the usual superstorm activity. Avery jumped in a bus that was about to explode—we thought he was a goner for a minute; Webber found the maintenance man electrocuted in the basement…Webber is fine, but the other guy not so much. Robbins and evil spawn are setting parents up with manual ventilators for when the batteries run on their baby's vent. And when Derek isn't with Zola, Torres is keeping both her and Sofia occupied."
"Interesting events out there," Meredith commented. "How is Shane? Last I saw of him was when he was trying to close my uterus up."
"You scared the hell out of him, so he's been sitting making paper charts for patients." As she finished, Derek returned with Zola in his arms. "Hi Zozo!" Cristina said to the girl.
"Bay!" Zola said as she pointed to the portable crib her brother was sleeping in. Cristina nodded her head before talking more with the child. She bid farewell to the Shepherds leaving the family of four alone.
Zola was placed on the bed with Meredith, given the warning to be gentle with her mother while Derek handed Meredith the baby. He took out his phone and took a picture of the three people he loved the most, aside from his mother and sisters. He thought back to the nightmare Meredith had told him about and slightly shuddered. He couldn't imagine ever leaving his family for a job.