Sorry for the wait. Again. School is awful and exhausting and I hate it. But hopefully this chapter will make up for the wait. It's basically just pure MerDer/McBaby fluff. Couldn't help myself. Enjoy!

At 6:12, Derek sat down in the chair beside Anna's bed. At 6:15, he picked up her hand and held it. At 7:03, Meredith went and got food from the cafeteria that neither of them ate. At 7:46, Derek fell asleep, his head resting on the mattress beside Anna's shoulder. At 8:07, Meredith glanced at Anna's chart. Car crash, it said in that messy doctor's scrawl that was so familiar to her. Blunt force trauma to the head. At 8:30, torn between worry and exhaustion, Meredith fell into a fitful sleep and dreamt that Derek was the one in the coma and she sat beside his bed, holding his hand, waiting for him to wake up. She waited for years and years until her hair turned gray and her bones were so riddled with arthritis that she couldn't get up, even if she wanted to. At 9:52, Derek woke up.

He looked over to where Meredith slept, curled up in a chair. He stood and walked across the room, crouching down in front of her. His lips turned up in a soft smile as he took in her sleeping face. He reached up and brushed the hair out of her eyes with one hand and rested the other on her stomach. She began to stir under his touch and he leaned towards her, brushing his lips against her forehead. As she opened her eyes she smiled sleepily at him and suddenly his breath was catching in his throat because she was looking at him the way she used to. Her gaze was so bright and beautiful and open. "Hey," she mumbled. She automatically lifted her hand to her stomach, but when she felt his hand already resting there she paused. For a moment he was scared that that fleeting openness would leave her eyes, but instead she simply laid her hand on top of his and lifted her gaze to his face.

He smiled. "Hey," he whispered back.

They both lapsed into silence after that, their gazes fixed on each other's faces, their hands resting gently on her stomach. He wanted to remember this look on her face. It had been so long since he'd seen it last. But then, suddenly, she wasn't looking at him anymore. She dropped her gaze to the floor and lifted her hand from her stomach and he was so disappointed that it took him a second to realize why. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Oh.

Derek stood up abruptly and turned towards his mother who was hovering in the doorway, looking decidedly uncomfortable. "Mom," he said awkwardly. "Is everything…okay?"

"I couldn't sleep," she said, moving further into the room.

"Oh," he said. He glanced at Meredith who was practically hiding behind him, her expression a mixture of guilt and embarrassment.

"You two should go home and get some rest," his mother said. She walked over to the bed and reached out, brushing the hair out of Anna's eyes. "I'll stay with her."

Derek didn't really want to leave. But he was also tired and liked the idea of getting Meredith into a real bed where she could get some decent sleep. Even so, he hesitated. "Are you sure? We could stay…"

"No," she said quietly, firmly. "It's okay. You go."

xxx

Derek's mom insisted that they take her car and minutes into the drive home Meredith was asleep. She woke up to feeling of floating on air and realized that Derek was carrying her. She felt weightless in his arms and let herself drift off again as he pushed open the front door of a big white house and made his way up a flight of stairs. When she opened her eyes again, she was sitting on the edge of a bed. Derek was kneeling in front of her, pulling off her shoes. "Where are we?" she mumbled, leaning into him.

"Home," he replied.

Meredith smiled and chose not to overanalyze the warm feeling that spread through her body at his response. Instead she simply lay back against the pillows and let her eyes drift shut into sleep.

xxx

In the middle of the night, Meredith woke up and promptly realized that the other side of the bed was empty. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, wondered for a minute where Derek was, then got up to go to the bathroom. She stepped into the hallway and that's when she heard the music. It was soft, the rise and fall of a woman's voice drifting up the staircase and for some reason, Meredith immediately knew she would find Derek downstairs, listening.

She made her way down the staircase, walked down a long hallway, her socked feet almost silent against the hardwood floor, and rounded a corner, entering a spacious room where she found him.

He was sitting alone, slumped against the cushions of a big red couch, looking decidedly disheveled and sad. She noted with concern the half empty bottle of scotch sitting on the table beside him and the glass he held loosely in his hand. She paused in the doorway and he didn't seem to notice her presence. He remained almost eerily still, his gaze fixed on the CD player across the room. A few minutes passed before she stepped into the room, announcing her presence during a lull in the music.

"Hey," she said softly, coming to stand in front of him.

"Hey," he whispered, tilting his head up at her. His face was pale, his eyes glassy. The usually trim scruff along his jaw was longer and his hair was unkempt and messy.

She frowned slightly and lifted a hand to his face. He closed his eyes for a moment. Leaned into her touch. Took a deep breath. When he looked up at her again, some of emptiness was gone from his expression. "You should be asleep," he told her.

She smiled. "You should be too."

He only sighed at that and put down his glass before sitting up and reaching for her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her closer, pressing his face into the warmth of her stomach. Smiling sadly down at the top of his head, she reached up and ran her fingers through his messy curls. She didn't say anything or ask anything for a long time and he was grateful. "How are you holding up?" he finally asked, his voice muffled in her shirt.

Meredith sighed, shaking her head as if he was hopeless. "That's supposed to be my line," she said.

"You're pregnant," he said, pressing a brief kiss to her stomach. "With my baby. I have a right to now if you're okay."

Meredith sighed again, but answered anyway. "I'm fine," she told him. "We're fine." He lifted his face and peered at her. His eyes were doubtful. "Really," she promised. He nodded, placated and she smiled down at him. "How are you?" she asked. He shook his head slightly and released her, leaning back against the cushions. She followed him down with a knowing smile, straddling his lap and resting her hands against his chest.

He shook his head again, the corners of lips turning up in a smirk. "What are you doing?" he inquired as his arms found their way around her waist.

Meredith grinned and bent close to him. "Being supportive," she replied, her voice a breath against his lips.

"I appreciate it," he mumbled, distracted by the way she felt in his arms, the heady scent of lavender that filled the air around them.

"You still haven't answered my question," she said, her breathing turning ragged as his hands found the bare skin of her back.

"What question?" he asked, kissing his way up her neck.

"How…" she trailed off, her breath hitching as he rounded his lips against her jaw. "…are you?"

"Mmmm," he hummed, his breath tickling her neck. "Much better now that you're on top of me."

"Glad I could help," she mumbled, bowing her head to kiss him.

He groaned a very quiet groan and she parted her lips. Ran her hands up his chest. Slipped them into his shirt. Felt the heat of his skin against her fingers. She raised herself up on her knees and pulled his shirt over his head. He tilted his head up at her, his eyes shining as she hovered over him. His hands found their way to the snap on her jeans and the music faded away and then it was just them and he was with her and he was alive.

xxx

Meredith got up early and made her way downstairs, leaving Derek asleep in the bedroom. After a couple of wrong turns, she found the kitchen and made a beeline for the fridge in search of something that would silence her grumbling stomach. She settled on toast, the only thing she had ever been able to cook without hurting herself and took a seat at the kitchen table with a glass of orange juice.

She took a bite and, as she ate, tried not to think about what had happened last night. But of course, the more she tried to make her thoughts shut up, the more they seemed to ramble. She honestly didn't know what she had been thinking. If she could choose the one thing she thought would never happen on this trip, it would be having sex with Derek in his mom's living room on his mom's big red couch. She had no idea what had come over her. One minute he was being unbelievably adorable, kissing her stomach and worrying about their baby and the next she had him pinned against those red cushions.

She had been able to maintain their "friendship" for the past couple of weeks by following one simple rule: do not, under any circumstances, have sex with Derek. And in the last twenty-four hours, she had broken that rule twice. She told herself it was the hormones or Derek's irresistible puppy-dog face or some combination of the two, but deep down, she knew she was just using those reasons as excuses so that as soon as her feelings got to be too much to handle, she could put up that wall again.

Before she could work herself up into too much of a frenzy, though, her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of Nancy. She barely even glanced at Meredith as she shuffled into the kitchen and went straight for the coffee machine. Silence filled the room as Nancy got out the coffee and began scooping giant spoonfuls into the filter. Meredith was just getting lost in her thoughts again when Nancy spoke two words: "Want some?"

It was barely anything, not even a complete sentence, but Meredith took it as an olive branch. "Sure," she said. "Thank you." But then, almost immediately, she realized she couldn't drink coffee and had to back peddle. "Actually, you know what, I um… I'm trying to go off caffeine, so I'll pass."

Nancy paused mid-scoop, and for a second Meredith thought she might actually press the issue, but then she simply shrugged. "Whatever," she mumbled, shuffling back out of the room as the coffee began to brew.

Meredith sighed, happy her secret her was still a secret, and stood, carrying her dishes over to the sink. She was just turning on the water to wash them off when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to find Derek standing in the doorway. He was smiling, but still seemed oddly tired even after a full night's sleep. "Morning," she greeted him, smiling back.

"Morning," he returned. He made his way towards her, but before he could get close enough for a kiss she turned back to the sink, suddenly intent on scrubbing her plate clean.

"How'd you sleep?" she asked him.

"Very well, thank you," he said and she could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

"I'm glad," she said levelly, her back still turned to him.

Behind her, Derek smiled, knowing she was trying to push him away and suddenly not caring. He took another step towards her until there was barely an inch of space between their bodies and placed his hands on either side of her on the edge of the counter. For a long time, she didn't do anything. She stopped scrubbing the plate, but didn't turn to face him. The smell of him was all around and she could feel the warmth of his body. Finally, slowly, she turned around. "Derek," she murmured, her eyes cast downward, her voice so soft and hesitant and lovely.

"Meredith, just stop. Stop trying to push me away." He reached out and placed a finger under her chin, lifting her face towards him. "I'm here," he told her, his voice low and fervent. "I want you. Forever."

Before she could say anything, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. Wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her body up against his. She hesitated, for only a moment, and then, all at once, she gave in. He felt her body relax in his arms, melting against him. Her lips were so soft and so sweet and so Meredith. He felt her hands against his chest, gripping his shirt in those tiny, ineffectual fists and he knew that he loved her. He just prayed she would let him.

Okay so that was really fluffy. Hope you guys liked it as much as you liked the angst.

But. That being said. The fluff is going to be pretty short lived. It will come back, eventually, though. Like in the epilogue. Lol. Yeah. Sorry 'bout that. Anyway…

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!