Cristina had the day off and the only time Meredith had seen her before leaving for work was in the kitchen with the rest of the clan. She hadn't thrown up yet that morning and was hoping she wouldn't at all, but that still didn't help with the fact that she needed to tell her person. She didn't mind that Derek was going to be able to tell Mark first, as long as she was that one Cristina heard it from. She decided she'd wait until that night.

She was still exhausted and overwhelmed by everything that had happened the day before, but she knew she needed to work. She couldn't take time off right now. She still needed to take time off when it came to maternity leave, so she'd need to try and be at work as much as possible now even when she felt crappy. Besides, she needed to cut.

Unluckily, she couldn't convince her boss that she was fine. He wouldn't let her convince him that she needed to work. That she needed to stay on top of things so that she wouldn't forget.

"You should just go and relax for a little bit," he told her when she came out of the bathroom after just having run in. Her morning sickness definitely was going to get the best of her.

"No I'm fine," she said unconvincingly.

Disadvantage of being married to the chief; he had complete control over when you worked.

"I want my baby and it's mommy to be fully in shape and not stressed out. Meredith, take it easy, everything is going to be fine." He kissed her quickly in front of many starring eyes, but no one had caught on to their little discussion. He never usually was one for public displays of affection, but he felt so good today that he really didn't care. He told himself he would kiss her and hold her hand every time he saw her today. He smiled even more at the thought of spending the day chasing her down.

Derek headed to his office, taking the elevator to do so. He remembered his proposal in the elevator just a year before. It hadn't quite been perfect, but it had been the beginning to a new life so, it had all been worth it. Nothing could burst the bubble he was in. At least, that's what he thought.

When the elevator made its way to the floor he was on, he could hear Richard's voice long before he saw him. He was yelling.

"You better leave them the hell alone!" he screamed at whoever was in the elevator. Derek just stood there in shock when he saw his victim get off the elevator.

Rose ran off in the other direction, without even noticing Derek who was standing right there.

Derek walked onto the elevator robotically, knowing that he would be alone with Richard. He dreaded to find out what he was threatening his mistake of an ex-girlfriend with, but he had a feeling he would need to know. He needed to protect Meredith and he was afraid Rose was her biggest threat.

When Richard noticed the new comer, he immediately apologized for what he might have heard. Derek just walked to the back of the elevator and sat against the wall. He put his head between his knees and sighed deeply before Richard pulled the stop button and sat down beside him.

"I'm worried for Meredith," Richard said, as if an explanation for his earlier outburst.

"Me too. What was Rose doing that got you so mad?"

"She's been hinting for days now that she's still not over you and that she doesn't want you with Meredith. Most of the time, she dishes everything out when I'm around and I always end up standing up for you and Meredith. Today was the last straw. She was telling one of her friends her plan to break you guys up without realizing I was behind her on the elevator. When her friend got off, I needed to tell her that she was an idiot thinking that she'd be able to break up a happily married couple, that she would never succeed. I hope I scared her off for good this time," Richard finished with a smile.

"You didn't say anything about the baby, did you?"

"No, I knew better then to. I was tempted, just so she would shut up, but I knew that you guys wanted to keep it a secret, so I didn't say anything."

"Okay good," Derek let out a breath, in relief that their secret was still safe. He was afraid about what would happen to Meredith if Rose found out, but he didn't want to think about that. Rose had been a mistake that he was still paying for. He never wanted it to end up like this, but he was afraid that he would have to keep Rose as far away from Meredith as possible.

But he didn't have super powers. He couldn't do everything.

-

Bailey had the day off, so she wasn't sure how to make the time go by faster. She had dropped Addison off at the airport that morning and hadn't done much since. Tuck was at his fathers, and she already missed him, even though she had seen him the day before. She knew Callie had the day off, so she decided to call her and see what her plans were for the day.

"Miranda! What a surprise hearing from you!"

"Yeah, well I didn't know what to do with my day off, so I thought I'd call you to find out if you had plans."

"Actually, I'm going out for lunch with Cristina and Izzie to discuss wedding planning. Everyone has been so wrapped up in it, I'm surprised Meredith and Derek haven't caught on."

They're thinking about other things, Miranda thought. She wasn't going to say anything, she couldn't. As a doctor, she wasn't legally allowed to tell anyone. Even if the patient was a very close friend.

"Yeah, well it seems that everyone else in Seattle knows." Miranda remembered getting home and being home alone until close to midnight before Addie had arrived.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I was over at Mark's, I lost track of time."

"Addie, you do know Mark is back in a serious relationship with Lexie, don't you?"

"You thought Mark and I were…? Miranda, we've gotten over that. We're back to being just friends, nothing more."

Miranda looked at her with questioning eyes, wondering what else she could have been doing at Mark's.

"I was helping organizing the wedding!" she said when she felt Miranda's eyes burning holes in her head.

Miranda coughed.

"You're helping with your ex-husbands wedding?"

Addie shrugged.

"I know, it's weird, but I really am over it and I've moved on. I feel like I fit in now that I'm helping with the wedding. I even had a heart to heart conversation with Izzie."

Miranda had heard that Dr. Stevens was back, but hadn't realized that Addie was getting closer to the group of people who once had probably driven her crazy, the fact being that back when she had gotten to know them, she hated Meredith because she was stealing her husband and they were Meredith's people. This showed that Addie was really over everything.

"So how's the planning coming along?"

Miranda asked the same question when she got to lunch with Callie, Izzie and Cristina. They had been discussing menu ideas when she walked in and seemed to be completely lost in their own little world until they heard Miranda's voice.

"Dr. Bailey," Izzie got up to great her. She always had a profound respect for her resident even when she had started off and everyone else hated her. She felt lucky to have someone like Bailey rather than Cristina.

"Dr Stevens, long time no see." She sat down beside Callie and across from Cristina who seemed lost in another world.

"Dr Yang? You in there?" Bailey said while snapping her fingers. She didn't know if Meredith had told her about her pregnancy, but she knew that would have been enough to distract such a focused surgeon.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"So what do you need me to help with?" Bailey asked after the waitress brought her her coffee. She took a sip and nearly spit it out when Callie showed her the list of things left to do. The list was almost empty.

"And you guys only started organizing Monday night? It's hasn't even been 48 hours!"

"That's what I said!" Callie exclaimed. "But it looks like most things are taken care of.

All there was left on the list was picking up the flowers, thinking of decoration and getting them, hiring a makeup and hair person and finding a tux for Tuck.

"It's not a very fancy wedding, so we don't need to go head over heels in details. We have a location for the wedding reception and to keep Shepherd's family while they are here to visit, we have already told all the guests, we have a DJ and clothes for the entire wedding party except for Tuck and a chef whom Izzie will be meeting tomorrow."

Miranda was as taken away by all of this as much as everyone else had been when they heard the list of things that had already been done.

"Well, I can pick up the tux next time I have time with Tuck and I'm sure I would be able to help with decorations. What about getting time off for all of the Seattle crew?"

"Already taken care of. The board has a way to change who has what day off and Richard, with his connections, was more than glad to be able to help with getting everybody off for the 27th, the day of the wedding, without Derek knowing. If you have checked your schedule today, you'll notice that it's not the same as it was yesterday." Cristina had finally gotten into the conversation.

"Impressive," Bailey had to add. It was amazing what a group of close friends could get done.

"Oh and you also have a free night in the Inn we're staying in if you'd like. We're trying to fit everybody in the amount of rooms we have, so you might end up in a community room, but you don't need to stay either if you don't want to."

"Community room?"

"You may need to share a room with someone else. But we won't put you in a room with people you don't get along with." Callie glanced at Izzie and Cristina. "Or your former interns. Unless you want to…"

"No, that's alright. I wouldn't mind maybe staying with Addie. I mean I'm with her until she finds an apartment anyway. And Tuck obviously."

"Okay then." Izzie noted it and confirmed with Callie and Cristina that they would share a suite with Arizona, Mark and Lexie. Izzie would be staying in a double room with Alex and Jackson. It's not like the rooms would be getting much use anyway. They'd probably be up all night in the ballroom partying and most of the doctors would have to be back at work early the next morning.

"It looks like we may have extra rooms in the end." Izzie scrawled a few more notes then took a sip from her coffee.

"Did you guys think of inviting Thatcher?"

"Lexie told us that it would probably be pointless, that he wouldn't be able to come even if he had wanted to. He's in a rehab facility down in LA."

"Oh I didn't know." Miranda regretted what she had said, but knew that it hadn't been her fault. Last time she had seen him he had been sobered up. It was when he was in for his liver transplant that Meredith, being Meredith had volunteered part of her liver with the reminder that this may not have been her father, but it was her sister's dad and she couldn't stand seeing her so upset.

"So is any of Meredith's family coming?" Miranda asked more cautiously this time.

"Well obviously there's Lexie and her hospital family, minus George – "Izzie took a deep breath and saw Callie look down. The mention of their friend didn't come up very often, and even though it had almost been a year, they still missed him. Izzie continued, "there's Molly and her husband Shawn and their little girl Laura."

Miranda had no idea who these people were, or at least she didn't think she knew them.

"Molly is the third Grey sister. Shawn is helping with food." Izzie noticed Bailey was confused so she thought it would be best to explain it. Miranda nodded, remembering when Laura was born and Meredith got to know her father better and her step-mother.

"So if Thatcher isn't coming, is someone going to walk Meredith down the aisle?"

The three other women nodded and smiled.

"Richard will be doing the honors. Lately he's been more of a father to her then she's ever had and according to Jackson he got teary eyed when he asked him."

Miranda was glad they had asked him. She knew that Meredith would appreciate it, especially after hearing her talking about how he would basically be her baby's grandfather.

"That's a great idea."

-

Jackson headed back to the locker room for something to snack on. The food at the cafeteria had turned him off, so he started bringing his own food. He would usually grab something from his locker and head down to sit with whoever would let him sit with them. When he had started at Seattle Grace, he didn't have very many friends. The Mercy Wester's didn't like him because he had been the new guy there, the one who knew everything. He had graduated first in his class and that, his grandfather didn't have anything to do with. When he got to Mercy West, he was a few years younger than most of the residents there. He had done his internship in England because none of the hospitals in the States would accept him because of his age. He had skipped two grades in elementary school and started college when he was sixteen. He had been mature for his age even if he was being presented with things that were meant for older people. During his sex-ed classes in the seventh grade, when all of his classmates snickered during the whole presentation, he listened and took notes, even though he was only ten. He laughed at the memory.

But now he didn't have to worry about the Mercy Wester's. They were the uncool people here anyway. He was in with a crew who liked him for who he was, the original Seattle Grace crew. He really enjoyed spending time with all of them, and they were all very friendly people, even if some of them didn't come off as the type at first, like Cristina and Alex. But they were actually really nice people. And Lexie and Izzie were people who could brighten your day no matter your mood. Same as Callie and Arizona. There was Mark, who tried to make himself look tough, but he knew that he was a sweet guy or else he wouldn't be going through all of this for his friends. He would have laughed at the idea, not helped with it. He even liked Addison, whom he had just met the night before. He knew of her, and her past experiences at Seattle Grace, but she really didn't fit everyone's descriptions. But he had a feeling that everyone else wasn't used to that Addison either.

And then there was Meredith and Derek. Meredith had been so kind to him since he had started at Seattle Grace and he knew that she was a loyal friend. They were less than two years of difference and he felt as if they had known each other their entire life. The way she had gratefully let him stay at her place, along with everyone else, was something that reminded him of his mom. Although he hadn't known it until just a few days ago, it was proof enough to him that his mother was someone who pulled people under her wing, otherwise she wouldn't have adopted him along with his sister. They were both adopted, and though his sister had found out a few years earlier that she had been adopted, he was really close with her. She was four years older than he was and was married to a very nice guy. He knew that someday he would find someone too, but he felt as if his sister deserved it more than he did. Just as Meredith deserved Derek. They were perfect for each other and he was thankful for the both of them.

When Jackson reached his locker, he spotted a letter sitting on top of everything else. It had the address of the hospital he was born at written on the front.

My birth certificate, he thought. The moment of truth.

He ripped the envelope open and pulled out a single sheet. Most of the things written in black on white in front of him were things he already knew. His place of birth, his birthday, his full name. But his breath hitched when he saw the name of his birth mom. A name he recognized in a heartbeat.

-

Derek had been waiting for this moment all morning. It was getting close to noon and Mark had just gotten out of a surgery. Derek would know that, since he had watched from the gallery, waiting patiently for it to be over. He needed to tell someone. Meredith was the one to tell Richard, well, with Addie's help, and Miranda and Addie had known without anyone having to tell them, so Derek had kept his mouth shut about it because he wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Except for Mark. And now was his chance. Finally.

He saw Mark nearing his office with a concerned look on his face. Derek decided it would be best and less stressful on Mark if he was sitting on the couch, giving it a less professional look. When Mark saw him through the window sitting on the couch instead of behind his desk, Derek could tell he was relieved. He had probably thought it had something to do with work, but seeing him casual washed away his fear. He knew that this had nothing to do with work.

When he walked in, Derek lit up. Just a few more minutes and he could tell Mark. But he wanted to make it casual. He didn't want to just blurt it out like he felt he was about to do.

"Mark! Sit down!" He pointed to the spot next to him. Mark was hesitant, but finally let himself fall onto the old couch.

"So, what did you want?" Mark asked, a cautious look on his face.

"Can't a guy just talk to his best friend without being questioned? I've barely seen you lately."

Mark knew why. He hadn't seen Derek much in the last few days because he was spending most of his free time organizing the surprise wedding his best friend wasn't allowed to know about.

"Yeah, things are just getting better with Lexie. We're still working on our relationship, so we've been together a lot."

Derek nodded.

"It's good to see you guys back together. How is it between you guys." Derek paused to laugh a little. "Still on a sex-ban?"

"Shut up. And yes, I am. But it's worth it because we've made progress with our relationship. She's talking about marriage and building a house."

"That's really good. Meredith and I are planning our house too," he said with a smile. This was a perfect way to lead up to the big news.

"I heard you brought her to your land the other day and built your own version of the 'house of candles.'"

"Yeah. It was to return the favor."

It was quiet for a few seconds before Mark got all excited again.

"And she's talking about even starting a family Derek. A family. I could finally be a father, the right way this time."

This was the perfect time to bring it up. It couldn't have been better set up then this.

"I'm going to be a father in less than eight months. Maybe you could practice then."

Mark's expression changed and he looked straight into Derek's eyes.

"Meredith is pregnant?!" He couldn't believe it.

Derek smiled and nodded his head.

"Looks like your one step ahead of me like always," Mark added as he got up to bring Derek into a tight embrace. "Congrats man." He patted him on the back before sitting back on the couch.

"It feels so unreal," Derek said, glad he finally had someone other than Meredith to talk about it with. It's not that he didn't want to talk about it with Meredith. He did, but he always worried about what he would say wrong and get her upset, especially with the pregnant hormones. He knew he shouldn't have to worry about that, but he didn't want to make her cry more than she already was doing without his help. He didn't know how a baby could change her so much. She never used to show her emotions and now she cried every time somebody said something touching, sad or even happy. Women confused him.

"How long have you known?" Mark asked.

"Since yesterday afternoon. And I didn't find out by her telling me like a normal couple. If it hadn't been for Owen calling Addie to come out here, I would have found out like any other father."

Mark wasn't following. He didn't understand. But he knew whatever it had been had brought Addison closer to the couple.

"I dragged Addie away from a patient to ask her what the hell she was doing here only to find out later that her patient had been Meredith."

"Wait," Mark stopped Derek. "Addie is Meredith's OBG?"

"Yup. Meredith didn't know until she was lying on the exam table and Addie only realized when she walked into the room. It had been a coincidence, nothing more. And then Bailey, who already knew about it, came in. So they both know and so does Richard."

"That's only three people other than me. How did you keep it secret?"

"We're trying our best, so you better not tell a soul," Derek warned.

"I promise, your secret is safe with me."

"Good, I knew I could trust you." Now that Derek had told Mark his good news, he needed to discuss something with him that could maybe be a little more difficult to discuss. He needed to tell someone about his morning and needed to find a way to solve these problems. Mark caught on to the sudden mood change.

"Having doubts?" he asked, really believing Derek was still thinking about the baby.

"No, this has nothing to do with me and fatherhood. Not yet anyway. It's Rose."

Mark's eyes widened at the mention of the name.

"What about her?"

"Richard told me she's been trying to come up with ways to ruin my relationship with Meredith. I know she won't be able to, but I'm afraid she'll hurt Meredith. I need help."

Mark thought about it then suggested.

"Get a restraining order. It always works on TV."

Derek chuckled at the idea, but went back to being serious.

"I don't want her near Meredith, especially if she finds out about the baby. Can you imagine the ways she could break Meredith? My Meredith is finally becoming bright and shiny and I don't want her going back to her dark and twisty ways. I have a feeling that will be Rose's intention's."

"Screw Rose," he replied, then regretted his word choice. "Okay, not like that. I meant forget about her. Nothing can burst the happy bubble you're in right now."

Derek's smile came back.

"I'm going to be a father," he said proudly,

"You're going to be a father," Mark echoed.

-

Meredith had followed the doctor's/chief's/husband's orders and had gone into in on-call room to relax. Though she didn't think she'd fall asleep. She woke with her hands on her belly and the sound of the door opening, the light getting stronger in the room. The door closed behind the figure and she knew it wasn't Derek. She would have recognized his figure. But it was definitely a guy.

"Whoever you are, remember the chief is my husband and can fire you in a heartbeat."

She heard a slight chuckle as the figure sat down beside her on the bed and turned on the light on the night stand.

"Sorry if I woke you. And I come in peace."

She recognized Jackson when the light had come on.

"You scared me! I didn't know who you were."

"I'm sorry. I just really needed to talk to you."

Meredith sighed.

"What did they do this time?" she asked, sitting up against the backboard of the bed.

Jackson was confused. "What did who do?"

Meredith laughed. "And I thought I didn't make any sense. You mean to tell me you're not here to complain about one of the roommates?"

Jackson shook his head. In fact, he was getting along much better with his roommates then he had expected, but for reasons Meredith wouldn't understand.

"No, they're actually pretty nice. I wanted to show you something." He pulled a piece of paper out of an envelope and passed it to Meredith.

"What is this?" she asked before reading it.

"My birth certificate."

Jackson had told Meredith that he was going to find out who his birth mother was but what she didn't understand why he was showing her. Then all of a sudden she stopped breathing as she read the same line what seemed like a thousand times.

Birth mother: Ellis Grey

So I know this is a cliff hanger, but I needed to put one in. I love cliff hangers, as long as I'm not the one who has to suffer because of it :P . I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Keep reading, keep reviewing and enjoy!

P.S. I screwed up the wedding date in the third chapter. It's actually going to be the 27th not the 28th. The Shepherd's (which I've been spelling wrong all this time and nobody told me!) will be arriving at night on the 26th and Meredith and Derek were planning on leaving on the 27th, which will no longer be happening because of the wedding. Anyway, sorry for the mistakes!