Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate your feedback, it inspires and motivates me so much to keep writing. That being said, I'm truly sorry it took so long to get this update up. Lots of schoolwork this week, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to write ahead a little this weekend and have enough to post throughout the week. I think that's all for now, so…happy reading!

Meredith had been staring at the ceiling in the on-call room for what felt like hours when she heard the door creep open and a person shuffle inside. She didn't bother to look though, whoever it was would know that she didn't want to be bothered. She hadn't moved since Derek had been called into surgery and left her laying on her back on the small bed. It was almost as though if she kept still, time would stop. And if time stopped, she wouldn't have her babies. And if she didn't have her babies, then maybe everything would go back to being okay.

"How are you doing, sweetheart?" she heard Derek ask as he sat down on the bed, pulling her to him. She wondered how long he'd been gone, but didn't have the energy to ask. They sat silently together, each lost in their thoughts, wondering how their lives could change so drastically since this morning. Just at breakfast they had been anxiously awaiting the ultrasound and counting down the months until they'd meet their baby.

"I have an idea," Derek said suddenly, pulling his wife up into a sitting position. "It's just about time for dinner. Why don't we go down to the cafeteria and maybe sit with your friends for a bit? We're not doing any good just sitting here."

Meredith opened her mouth to protest, but Derek placed his lips on hers before she had a chance to form her words. "It's settled then," he said after a quick kiss. "Trust me, honey, it's for the best."

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George sulked into the cafeteria and threw himself onto the bench next to his friends. "I want a puppy," he whined.

"Shut it, Bambi," Cristina snapped. "You're not the only one with problems."

"But I really want one," George responded, choosing to write off her comment as a classic Cristina remark. "Don't you wish you had a puppy?" he asked the Karev girls.

"No," Ella said simply, looking up from her drawings. "Puppies smell. And they get dirty. I don't want a dirty puppy in my house."

Mark laughed. "Her mother's daughter," he grinned.

Madeleine, reattached to her favorite aunt again, leaned over and whispered into his ear. "Doggies eat my doll, Uncle George."

George laughed, remembering the story Addison had told of their unfortunate visit to her father-in-law's farm. "Not all dogs are like that, Maddie. My dog will be trained not to. Maybe you can come visit sometime!"

Madeleine opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she felt Izzie's body tense up against her. George looked up to see Cristina straighten as well, then followed their gaze to where Meredith had just entered the cafeteria.

"Why is everybody tense all of a sudden?" George asked. "Did somebody fight with Meredith or something?" Izzie kicked him under the table. "Oww!" he howled as Meredith sat down next to Mark.

"Aunt Meredith!" Ella squealed, moving to Mark's other side to sit between the two. "Do you want to see the pictures I drew at school?"

"Sure, sweetie," Meredith smiled, running a hand through the girl's long hair. Derek had been right, being with other people was a good thing for her. As far as her friends knew, everything was the same as it was this morning and, even if just for another hour, she could pretend like everything was fine too. "Hi Madeleine," she said sweetly, waving to the younger girl. "Do you want to come see me, or are you stuck to Aunt Izzie like usual?" she joked, her eyes moving up to meet her friend's. "Oh," Meredith sighed, her face falling and her voice going flat. "You know. Addison told you. It's written all over your face."

"I'm your doctor too, Meredith," Izzie began, her voice drenched in sympathy.

"What is going on here?" George interrupted, looking confusedly from Izzie to Meredith.

"You too?" Meredith sighed again, looking to Cristina.

"I'm your person," was the response.

"And I'm your…your George!" he cried. "Will somebody please tell me what's going on?"

"Chill, O'Malley," Mark said. "I don't know what's happening either. It's probably some chick thing." George gave him a look, then stood immediately when Derek approached the table.

"Dr. Shepard, sir," he began. "There is something going on with your wife and nobody will tell me what it is. Can you please fill me in?"

Izzie kicked his leg again and pulled him back down to the bench, as Meredith stood up slowly and walked to the exit, breaking into a run as she turned the corner. Derek looked at her friends with complete hopelessness in his eyes, then turned to follow his wife.

"No, McDreamy," Cristina said, standing. "Let me go."

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"Meredith," Cristina called, running down the hall behind her. "Meredith, wait."

"No," Meredith snapped, turning to face her friend with tears in her eyes. "No. Because I don't need you to preach to me. I don't need anyone to tell me anything. I want to just go on pretending that this didn't happen, that everything's the way it was this morning. But I can't. Because now you know. Now everybody knows. And I can't just pretend anymore. This is real. This is very real and there's nothing you can say, Cristina. Nothing you can possibly say to fix this. I screwed up, Cristina. I guess we all should have expected it, it runs in the family. I'm exactly what I didn't want to be, Cristina, just like my mother. I screwed up bad. I screwed up my babies."

Cristina stopped moving and looked her friend straight in the eye. "Meredith," she said, her voice breaking. "I think I may be pregnant."

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