Meredith is now 6 months pregnant and glowing. It is the night of the Grey Sloan Memorial Gala Fundraiser and Meredith and Derek are getting ready in their bathroom. Derek is wearing a tux with a bow tie and Meredith is wearing a black gown with straps that go out along the edges of her shoulders and meet a low in the front.
"I don't know I feel like this dress is too much cleavage for a pregnant lady" Meredith says to Derek as she turns back and forth in front of their floor length mirror. "Stop worrying" he says. "You look absolutely stunning" he adds before pulling her in for a kiss. She playfully swats him away before going back to look at her reflection. She runs her hand down the front of her dress and holds her hand at the bottom of her bump. In the past few weeks she has gotten much bigger, and the dress fully accentuates her belly. 'I haven't been this nervous since our first date" Meredith says turning to look at Derek. He spits his toothpaste into the sink before turning to look at her. "First date?" he asks. "You know, the first time I agreed to meet you outside the hospital and we had lunch at that little café with the fountain." Derek smiles as he remembers how excited he had felt when she had finally agreed to start dating him. "I had no idea what to wear because we had never met outside the hospital so I just ended up wearing a jean jacket" she adds. "You looked adorable in that jacket" Derek says smiling. "But you look even more beautiful tonight."
Meredith and Derek walk up the red carpet into the hall where the gala is being held. Derek kisses her on the cheek before going over to talk to Owen and Richard. Meredith walks over to where April and Arizona are standing by the bar. "So April how was your first week? Are you missing the desert yet?" Meredith asks. "It was good. I think Jackson is still a little mad at me for leaving but it was something I really needed to do" she answers. "Well I'm sure you to will be back to normal in a few days" Arizona says. "Gone on any carnival rides yet?" Meredith asks April with a smirk. April just stares at Meredith with her mouth gaping open for a minute before she stammers "no…, I, uhhh, no we, we haven't gone to the, to there yet." Meredith raises one eyebrow at April before laughing a little. "Why are you even thinking about that right now you're 6 months pregnant!" April says, motioning vigorously to Meredith's belly. "Derek loves going to the carnival with me, the pregnancy hormones make it even more fun" she replies with a smirk. "Ugh" April says in surprise and slight disgust, before blushing and crossing her arms. Alex walks up to them right as Meredith starts laughing. "What's wrong with Kepner?" he asks. "I started talking about going to the carnival" Meredith says, giving Alex a look. "Aww Avery's tilt-a-whirl too much for you" Alex says with a laugh. April's mouth drops open and she looks very upset before walking away angrily. Meredith and Alex start cracking up, while Arizona sips her drink sadly. "I miss going to the carnival" she says before walking away. "What's up with her?" Alex asks. "She hasn't met anyone since she and Callie broke up" Meredith answers. Alex just nods in understanding before turning to the bar and ordering a drink. "Damn it" Meredith says suddenly. 'What" Alex asks looking concerned. "Derek is already talking to investors! I refuse to let him win this year." Meredith quickly walks away and heads over to a group of women and tries to impress them with her baby belly and with pictures of Zola and Bailey.
"What are you doing" Derek asks Meredith pulling her aside. "The same thing you're doing" Meredith says. "You can't use the belly to get ahead of me it's not fair" he adds. "Afraid I'm going to beat you?" she says with a smile. Amelia walks up and grabs Derek's arm, pulling him away from Meredith. "Come on big brother we've got work to do!" "This isn't over" Derek says to Meredith over his shoulder. Jackson walks up to Meredith with a glass of water for her. "Hey how are you feeling?" "I'm fine why?" "I just want everyone to be ready for their surgeries tonight. You sure you and Karev are going to impress the donors?" 'Of course I'm sure" Meredith says. "We're removing a 5 year olds pancreatic tumor. That's kids and cancer" she says in a 'take-that' voice. "Alright, start heading over there, we're going to send the guests over in 45 minutes."
That night Meredith and Derek are lying in their bed. Derek is rubbing Meredith's feet while she eats ice cream out of the container.
"I can't believe you and Karev got more money than Amelia and I did" "Getting rid of an old guy's Parkinson's tremors with DBS is pretty cool, just not as cool as saving a little girl from pancreatic cancer" Meredith says proudly. Derek shakes his head at his wife. "Is that good" he asks in a mocking voice as he nods towards her ice cream. "Yeah, it is. Too bad you can't have any. This ice cream is for winners only" she says mocking him. "Oh really" he says before pulling her legs towards him and grabbing for the ice cream. They both start laughing and she kisses him lovingly before kissing him hungrily. "I've been thinking about sex all night" she says in a low voice. Derek kisses her back before whispering "how dirty Dr. Grey you were with a little girl all night." "These damn hormones make it impossible for me to think about anything else. There's a chance that girl still has her tumor" she says jokingly. Derek laughs and kisses her again before lowering her down into the bed. "Well I like these hormones, more hormones I say" he says as he kisses her neck and chest. Meredith just moans in pleasure, and they spend the next few hours fully enjoying her hormones.
It's been two weeks since the gala, and Meredith and Derek are riding the elevator into work while chatting about their day. The baby had been kicking all night and Meredith is obviously exhausted.
The elevator doors ding open and they walk out together towards the main staircase. "Is he still kicking?" "Of course she is and its absolutely ridiculous. If there was a way for me to reach in there and get him to stop moving I would." Derek laughs and kisses her on the head. Well I have a late surgery tonight so you'll have to try reading to her yourself." Meredith sighs in disappointment before leaning on his shoulder a bit. "Do you still have that liver cancer surgery today" he asks knowing that work talk would cheer her up. "Yes! And I'm going to try that new mayo technique to see if it speeds up the process." They walk into the main area and about 150 people yell congratulations as they walk through the door. Meredith looks completely surprised while Derek is just smiling and looking at everyone. Owen and Richard are standing up on the stairs and they motion for Meredith to come stand with them. She looks at them hesitantly and starts stammering "what…I don't'…what's going on…why is" before Derek starts guiding her towards the stairs. She walks up and stands next to Richard who is beaming down at her. Owen turns to face everyone and starts speaking. "As some of you may know, almost a year ago talk of a so called surgical streak was going around the hospital. This streak was something of a living legend among the residents and interns. This streak was 89 consecutive positive outcomes for Dr. Grey which ended when Dr. Grey lost patient number 90. About 4 months ago it was brought to my attention that the streak was making a comeback and that Dr. Grey was already at 30 positive outcomes." Owen looks at Meredith and smiles and then nods to Richard who continues with the speech. "I was intrigued by this so called streak and did some research. It turns out that the hospital has a record for the most consecutive positive outcomes. That record was set at 95 surgeries." Richard pauses and looks at Meredith and then out at the crowd before saying "and that record was held by Ellis Grey." Meredith looks shocked and turns to look at Derek who gives her an encouraging smile and a nod. "Yesterday, Dr. Grey broke that record when she successfully completed her 200th consecutive positive outcome." Everyone in the room starts cheering and clapping. Meredith looks around and sees Derek, Alex, Maggie, Amelia, and all her other co-workers beaming up at her and giving her a huge round of applause. Once the clapping dies down Owen turns to Meredith and says "Congratulations Dr. Grey. You are a symbol for the greatness we should all strive to achieve. Is there anything you would like to say?" Meredith looks at Owen nervously for a moment before turning to face the crowd with her confident surgery face on. "Thank you all for this. I know that if my mother were still here she would be asking me why I didn't get 201 positive outcomes." Everyone in the room laughs a little before quieting down again. "She would try to find some way to criticize my work because that's the kind of surgeon she was, always looking to improve the future. But that's not the kind of surgeon I am, which is probably why I beat her." Everyone laughs again and so does Meredith. "My advice to you is to focus on what's right in front of you and appreciate the small victories because before you know it they've become one life altering achievement." Everyone claps and Meredith slowly walks down the stairs towards Derek while Owen tells everyone to get back to work. Derek hugs her when she approaches and kisses her on the cheek saying "I'm so proud of you." "Did you know about this?" she asks. "I told them not to make a huge production out of it but I think this is Richard's version of not a big deal" he says laughing.
