Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy
Chapter Eight:
"Meredith!" Derek moaned pitifully from the couch. Meredith walked into the room and looked at him.
"What?' she asked.
"Can you make me some soup?" He coughed pathetically. "Please?"
Meredith raised her eyebrow, "You want me to make you soup? You must be sick," she joked.
Derek pulled the quilt over him more. "Dump the soup in a pot, add a can of water and heat it on low," he instructed her.
"Got it, anything else you need?" she asked him, tucking the quilt around his feet.
"The clicker," he pointed to the chair where the television remote was. Meredith grabbed the remote and handed it to him. "Oh, and some tissues, my nose is running."
"Well maybe you should catch it," she laughed at her joke, but quickly stopped when she saw that Derek wasn't laughing. "Derek, I am waiting on you hand and foot, the least you could do is laugh at my pathetic jokes."
Derek created a fake, overdramatic laugh, causing him to explode into a massive coughing spell. Meredith looked at him in amusement. "Are you going to live?" she asked him.
Derek vigorously shook his head back and forth. "I feel like death. Why couldn't Noah keep his germs to himself?" he whined.
"Um, because you were the one hugging and kissing him when he had the one hundred and two degree fever. You asked for it."
"I couldn't resist the cutest kid ever created. Not after being away from him for five whole days." Derek turned on the television and began searching through channels. "I think I got some virus from the Bahamas ."
Meredith sighed, half believing that her husbands statement was true. She had an upset stomach since they arrived back in Seattle three days ago.
"I'll get your soup," Meredith said. "If you smell something burning, it's not my fault because you asked me to cook for you." She turned and walked out of the kitchen.
"You're not cooking, you're heating up," he called after her.
Noah walked into the living room and offered Derek the cup he was carrying. "He ya go, Da-yee," he said as he offered him the cup, which was full of water. Derek took the cup from him and took a sip.
"Thanks, Buddy, Daddy was thirsty." He quickly drank the rest of the water and handed Noah back the cup.
Noah giggled. "More?" he asked.
Derek nodded, "I would love more water, Noah." Noah turned and ran out of the room. He soon came back with another full cup. "Drink?" He handed the cup to Derek.
Derek took a sip and sighed. "That water hit the spot."
Meredith walked into the room, carrying a tray with a bowl of soup on it. "Here is your soup, Der. I think it's cooked or heated up, or whatever."
She looked at Noah and then at her husband, who was drinking from one of Noah's plastic cups from his tea set. "What are you drinking?" she asked him.
"My man, Noah, got his Daddy some water because he knew he was thirsty." He raised his eyebrows at Meredith as he took another sip.
Meredith's eyes got wide. "Uh…Der…Noah is too short to reach the sink. He can turn the bathtub faucet on, but the bathtub is upstairs. The only access that Noah has to water downstairs is the toilet." She giggled as Derek gingerly set the cup on the stand.
"Point taken," he groaned.
"Feebo?" Noah asked Meredith from his seat in the car. Meredith turned to look at him and smiled.
"Yep, we are getting on the ferry boat. Mommy needs to pick up a few things at the store for Daddy because he is feeling yucky." She pulled into the traffic that was waiting for the ferry. Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. It was a text message from Derek. He wrote: I need more Vicks, we're all out. Meredith chuckled to herself. Her husband was a world class neurosurgeon. People admired him for his knowledge and skill. But when her husband was sick, he turned into the biggest baby that anyone would ever meet. Meredith groaned inwardly making a mental note to pick up some Pepto Bismol and Tums when she got to the store because her heart burn and stomach ache were not going away.
Meredith followed the traffic onto the ferryboat and stopped her car.
Meredith turned to look at Noah in the back seat. He smiled at her, "out," he motioned for Meredith to get him out of his car seat. Meredith sighed and got out of the car. She opened up Noah's door and unhooked him and they walked up to the deck to look out over the bay. Noah pointed at the other boats that were floating in the bay with a huge smile on his face. Meredith looked down into the water, suddenly feeling a wave of nausea hit her. She grabbed onto Noah's hand and pulled him closer to her. She managed to get to the nearest bench to sit down and closed her eyes. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her stomach. Please don't puke, please don't puke, she thought to herself just as she stood quickly and threw up over the side of the boat. She sat back down and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
Noah peered over the side of the boat and turned to look at her unhappily. "Tat dross, Mama," he said.
"Okay, first I want to say that if there is anything wrong with this room, it's Mark's fault," Derek warned her as they stood in front of the closed nursery door. The nursery was finished and Derek was ready to present it to Meredith.
Meredith giggled. "I'm sure that I will love the room, Derek. No need to blame Mark for anything." She rubbed her very swollen belly, "I'm sure Tater will love it, too."
Derek inhaled, his hand on the door knob. "Okay, think Mother Goose," he opened the door and motioned for Meredith to walk in.
Meredith gasped as she looked at the nursery. The room was beautiful with the mural of Humpty Dumpty that went the entire length of the wall. The wall border had cows jumping over moons and cats playing fiddles. The furniture that they had ordered for the nursery was completely assembled and put in the appropriate places. The rocking chair that Derek's mother had bought for them was placed alongside the window. The room was simply perfect for a baby.
Meredith smiled brightly at Derek and waddled over to the rocking chair. She sat down and rocked back and forth. "This room is perfect, Derek. I love it!" she exclaimed.
Derek smiled and nodded."I figured that you'd want the chair there so you could have a view of Seattle while you fed the baby," Derek said softly, coming up behind her and looking out the window. Meredith could feel tears forming in her eyes. She was truly the luckiest woman in the world.
"Oh, and one more thing," Derek said excitedly. He closed the blinds and walked over to turn off the light switch. Meredith's mouth dropped open as she looked around the room. Glowing stars and a moon covered the ceiling, making it look exactly like a clear, starry night.
"How did you do that?" she breathed. She stood up and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"It's glow in the dark paint. Mark and I found it at Home Depot. We thought it was neat." Meredith giggled.
"Boys will be boys," Meredith replied, squeezing him tightly.
Derek kissed the top of her head. "You're just lucky we ran out of paint when we did because we were going to put stars on our bedroom ceiling, too."
Meredith carried a sleeping Noah upstairs to his bed. He had fallen asleep on the way home from running errands. The house was quiet when they arrived home, so Meredith thought that Derek had fallen asleep. Wrong.
"Meredith!" Derek called from their bedroom. Meredith rolled her eyes at her husband's patheticness and grabbed the bag that was sitting in the hallway. She walked into their bedroom and smirked at her husband who was lying in bed with the covers up to his neck. "Did you get me more Vicks?" he asked.
She nodded, grabbed it out of the bag and handed it to him. "Would you like me to rub it on your chest, honey?" she asked him sarcastically. Derek must not have noticed her sarcasm because he nodded his head. She sighed and picked up the jar as he pushed the covers off his chest and pulled his shirt up.
"Just last week I was putting lotion on you as we were lying in the sun. Now this week I'm rubbing vapor rub on you. Next week, it will be Ben Gay," she joked.
Derek looked at her with an annoyed expression. "I am sick," he informed her. "Now is not the time for your old man jokes."
Meredith sighed and helped him pull his t-shirt back down over his chest. She stood up, "Is there anything you need right now?"
Derek nodded. "The blanket from the closet. I'm cold."
Meredith walked out of the room and to the linen closet. She grabbed a blanket and walked back to the bedroom. She proceeded to cover him with it. Derek looked at the blanket in alarm, "No! Not that blanket! I want the fluffy blue one. That one is rough. I can't sleep with a rough blanket."
Meredith counted to five and refolded the rough blanket. She walked back to the linen closet, got the blue fluffy one, and took it back to Derek. She sighed when she walked back into the room and he was sound asleep. He was adorable under the blanket. He reminded her of Noah when he slept. She quietly covered her middle aged baby with his blue fluffy blanket and kissed his forehead.
Derek walked up the stairs, down the hall and into his bedroom. He had just worked a twenty four hour shift and he was exhausted. He stopped when he saw the sight in his bedroom. Meredith's closet door was wide open. Her clothes were strewn all over the bed and floor. It looked as though her closet had thrown up.
"Mer?" he called, cautiously stepping around her fallen wardrobe. He heard sniffles coming from the bathroom. He stopped at the doorway, seeing his slightly pregnant wife perched on the edge of the bathtub. She was dressed in her underwear and a bra that flattered her newly enhanced breasts.
"Mer?" he asked again. "What's wrong?"
Meredith looked up at him with her tear soaked face. "I am the fattest woman in the history of fat women," she sobbed.
"No your not," Derek argued, walking into the bathroom and kneeling in front of her. He looked at her lovingly, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face.
"Yes, I am," she wailed. "None of my clothes fit me anymore, Derek. What am I going to do?" Derek quickly wiped the tears that was falling from her eyes.
"You know what we're going to do?" He tilted her chin so she looked at him. "We are going shopping."
"Shopping? Derek, I'm not in the mood to shop. What did you want to shop for?" she sniffed.
"I don't want to shop for me. I want to shop for you. It's time we bought you clothes to accommodate our baby." Derek waited for her reaction.
Meredith gave him a skeptical look. "You want to take me shopping for maternity clothes?"
Derek nodded. "Absolutely, you can try them on and model them for me. Ooh, then we can buy maternity lingerie and you can model it for me at home." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
Meredith giggled. "You really want to see a fat, pregnant chick in lingerie? Seriously?"
Derek looked at her for a moment, "You are beautiful, Meredith. I know you might not think you are, but you are. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on. You are not fat, you're pregnant." He put his hand over her slightly bulging abdomen. "I am honored that you're carrying my baby."
Meredith smiled at him through her tears. "You keep up with the sweet talk, Dr. Shepherd, and you may get lucky tonight."
Derek leaned up to kiss her. "If I'm not mistaken, isn't that how we got in this predicament to begin with?" he joked.
"Are you about finished here?" Derek asked as he walked up to her where she was standing at the nurses station.
Meredith sighed, "I'll be done in about fifteen minutes." Meredith rubbed her temples as the dull headache she had all day started throbbing.
Derek rubbed her back softly. "You okay," he murmured.
Meredith nodded. "I've just had a headache all day and I can't seem to get rid of this heartburn. I'm out of Tums."
Derek smiled. "I'll tell you what, I'll swing by the gift shop on my way to get Noah and get you a pack of Tums."
Meredith nodded. "That would be fabulous. Thanks, honey." She grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her to kiss him. "Love you," she said softly.
Derek kissed her neck quickly, "Mmm, love you, too."
Meredith felt like crap. Her stomach had been unsettled for the past few days and the ferryboat, which she usually loved to ride on, made her ill. She also had consistent heartburn and was popping Tums like candy. Meredith looked at her watch after what seemed like an eternity since Derek went to get Noah. Suddenly, Meredith felt two little arms wrap around her neck. She turned around into the blue eyes of her son, who was being carried by his father. "He ya go, Mama," Noah said, handing her the container of Tums.
"Hey! Thank you! What took you so long?" she asked them as Derek leaned in to kiss her gently.
Derek looked at Meredith with amused eyes. "It appears that our son has a girlfriend by the name of Madison at daycare," he informed her.
"A girlfriend?" Meredith asked. "How do you know that?"
"Because I watched our son get her coat out of her cubby for her. I watched our son hug and kiss her goodbye, and he made me wait until Madison's mother came to get her because Noah refused to leave. They sat together quietly at the table while they waited, putting a puzzle together. They were deep in conversation."
"Conversation? Really?" Meredith giggled.
"Okay, I don't know if there was conversation, but there was intense gazes between the two of them over the puzzle," Derek said.
Meredith gave him an amused look. "It looks like our son is a smitten kitten," she said, running her fingers through Noah's dark, curly hair. "And he's such a gentleman with the ladies. Must get it from his daddy," she winked at Derek.
"I told you the day he was born that he'd have women lined up. A Shepherd man knows how to treat the ladies. He got it honest." Derek gave her a cocky smile.
Meredith took a deep breath as she waited for her answer. She stood quietly looking down at the gadget in her hands…her shaking hands. In the next two minutes, her life could change forever. It was uncanny the way a little gadget could carry so much power in it depending what answer it gave.
Meredith paced the bathroom, covering up the display window with her palm. She couldn't look at it, her stomach was overcome with butterflies. Okay, on the count of three I will flip it over and look at it, she thought to herself. One…Two…Two and a half…Two and three quarters…Three!
She flipped it over and stared at it. The answer stared back at her, clear as day.
Meredith looked at herself in the mirror as she got ready for dinner that night. She and Derek were going to their favorite restaurant, Le Jeune Chef, per Meredith's request. She planned to tell her husband that he was going to be a father tonight. They were going to be parents. They were going to be solely responsible for another human being. One that was half her and half him.
She eyed up her stomach wondering about the little life inside her. She knew that in the early weeks of pregnancy, the baby was doing the majority of it's development. Right now, the baby's limbs and brain were forming. At this point, it even had a heart beat. Meredith became excited at the thought of a baby. She wanted this…she really wanted this. She was married to the most wonderful man in the world. A man that she wanted nothing more than to give him a family. He would be ecstatic, positively thrilled. She placed her palm against her flat stomach and closed her eyes. She envisioned her husband's reaction to her news. The thought made her smile.
"Mer, reservations are at seven!" Derek called up the steps. "We gotta move it!"
"I'll be right down," she called to him. She grabbed her sweater and left the room. She walked down the hall, passing four doors, two on either side of the hallway. Doors that led to empty rooms now, but would eventually be filled with their children.
Meredith squatted to Noah's level and motioned for him to come to her. He giggled and ran over to her, hugging her around the neck. She kissed him on the cheek and pulled back to look at him.
"I have a job for you, Noah," she whispered, tickling him in the side. Noah giggled. "Do you want to play Letter Carrier Kelly like on Elmo's World?" She asked him.
Noah's eyes lit up at the mention of Elmo. He clapped his hands excitedly and shook his head yes. Meredith smiled at him. "I want you to take this box to Daddy. He's in his office."
"O-tay," Noah took the box and ran out of the room. Meredith followed and watched Noah walk with the package into Derek's office. She stared at Derek's open office door, waiting nervously for Noah to return.
She watched as Derek appeared in the doorway. He was holding Noah and something in his free hand. He had a shocked expression on his face, but when he saw her facial expression the shock turned to delight. He gently put Noah on his feet, who toddled over to his toy box to search through his toys. Derek quickly walked over to her, picked her up in his arms and spun her around. He placed her back on the floor and looked deeply to her eyes, his blue eyes sparkling. "We're having a baby?" he asked incredulously.
Meredith nodded. "We're having a baby," she repeated. "Stock up on the potato chips and ice cream now, Der, you're in for another long ride."
Derek chuckled. "I loved every minute of you being pregnant and I am excited to do it again." He pulled her face to his and kissed her passionately.
Meredith pulled away breathlessly, "I'm holding you to your word, Daddy."
Pure Fluff. Hope you enjoyed. Leave me love!!
