Since she was taking the news so well, he figured he could approach the second part of the subject...the one in which he was sure she would be more angry about. "Well, there is more...now don't freak out, but my family knows about us." Meredith looked at him with sudden fear in her eyes. Her whole posture changed and she looked like a nervous child. "I didn't want to tell them, but they hounded me the whole time and then Ava told them I was sleeping at the trailer...so I ended up having to tell my mom.."

Derek could see her internally freaking out and switched chairs so he could be close to her. "Are you alright?" He asked after a few minutes of painful silence. "I'm trying not to freak out here Derek." He smiled understanding, and sat back to give her time to think. "No, no this is not ok." His family already judged her from day one and she could only imagine what they thought of her now. Instead of the dirty mistress she was the girl who kicked her husband out to a cold hot, roasting trailer. He took her hand in his instantly feeling his heart flutter at the feeling of her tiny hand in his. "Hey, it's ok. I talked to my mother, she understands and is being really supportive..but it's Ava I'm more worried about.." Meredith looked at him concerned and pulled her hand out of his to gather the plates from the table.

"The older kids, they seemed to have told her all about divorce and now she thinks it's a fun thing...with two Christmas's and birthdays...she...um...she thinks we're getting a divorce." Meredith sat the plates down and just stared at Derek and then sat down in the nearest chair. She was freaking out again, lost in her own thoughts. "She thinks...we're getting divorced?" Her heart broke to even say the word in relation to their marriage. Loosing Derek was her biggest fear and she had tried hard not to pass that fear onto her bright and shiny daughter.

Her mind was filled with worry once again as all her happy thoughts about the baby, their baby were quickly fleeting. She would have to tell him soon. Suddenly, she wasn't ready...they weren't ready...she got up again pacing around the room until his strong arms stopped her. She hadn't even heard him approach.

"Stop." He whispered into her ear as he stilled her movements and brought his arms around her. She didn't return the hug at first, but after a few minutes she gave in and sank into his waiting arms. "I told her not to worry...we're not getting a divorce. Not now, not ever." She nodded and pulled out of his arms and offered a fake smile.

He knew she was still freaking out and he got the feeling there was much more to it than she was telling him, but he didn't want to freak her out and force it out of her. Things were going so well lately, he didn't want to ruin that. The sound of his pager clipped to his belt went off echoing through the kitchen and he cringed wishing he could stay to talk to her. "I'm sorry, I'm on call...so I have to go.."

She gave him a sad smile and walked over to the sink. "It's ok, thanks for taking Ava" A sudden sad feeling came over her and she was annoyed with herself. She was a surgeon, she knew what it was like, but she wished he would stay and force her to talk...force her to stop avoiding the fact that she was having a baby. He stood there watching her not sure what to do until another page came and he sighed knowing he really had to go. The shrill noise was a firm reminder of why they were separated
in the first place and suddenly it seemed like they were miles apart.

He said his goodbyes and left the house not understanding her compete mood change. She heard him leave and slid down against the kitchen cabinets banging her head against the counter as she went. All she could think about was the baby. "The timing's off, the timing's off...the timings off.." She whispered to the empty kitchen.

The next night, Derek stood on the deck screaming for Ava and Tyler to come inside. In the kitchen, Mark was getting frustrated as a cranky Peyton spit her baby food out at him. The girls had taken Izzie out for her bachlorette party and Derek, trying to get back into Meredith's good grace's as much as possible offered to watch all the kids. Addison and Meredith seemed against the idea, not sure Derek and Mark could handle babysitting duties but Derek shrugged it off. After all, how hard could three kids be?

Derek walked in to find Mark force feeding Peyton and the baby was screaming her head off in protest. "Um...Mark, I don't think she's hungry.." Derek advised just as Peyton spit the last bit of baby food out of her mouth and onto Mark's white polo. "Derek, she's been screaming for the past hour, she has to be hungry. I think I know my own kid!" He remarked, getting frustrated with the fact that he secretly had no idea how to calm his daughter.

Tyler bounded into the house moments later tracking mud everywhere and Ava followed closed behind. She looked like she had been mud wrestling and her feet prints were imprinted on the carpet as she followed Tyler to her bedroom. Derek was glad those two had each other to play with and picked up Peyton to try and calm the girl down. The girls had only been gone an hour...but already the boys were feeling overwhelmed. Though, neither would ever admit that.

Derek made a face and leaned down to sniff the babies diaper. He scrunched his nose and held the child out to Mark. "No wonder she's screaming...she definetly needs her diaper changed." Mark shook his head and gently nudged Derek's arms away. "Oh no. You found it, you change it!" Mark told him serious like. " Derek laughed, but handed the child to Mark more insistently. "No way, she's your kid, I'm done with that stage...mine's been potty trained for two years."

Mark looked at his daughter defeated. "Derek, come on. I love her. I do, but this whole baby stage...it just isn't my thing. Addison usually handles the diaper department." Derek looked at him skeptically. "Wait..you mean to tell me you've never changed a diaper before?"

Mark nodded yes and tried to hand her back to Derek. "No! You've been alone with her...what do you do when she needs changed?" Derek was almost afraid to ask as he watched Mark look over at the sink. Realization dawned on him and he couldn't help but laugh. "Seriously, you hose your baby down in the sink...like a dog??" Derek was shocked, but not surprised at Mark's inability to take care of his own child. Mark acted offended, but Derek wasn't about to give in. "Get her diapers and I'll teach you how to do it...but I refuse to do it for you. I'm surprised Addison hasn't killed you by now."

After Derek attempted to show Mark how to change Peyton, he realized that he hadn't done it in awhile and it seemed a lot easier with Ava. He didn't remember the squirming, screaming, and twisting part. Needless to say Mark gave him his best 'I told you so' speech.

Once the job was finished, and Peyton was calm laying in the play pen Mark flipped on the baseball game and Derek went to get two beers, but then remembered the kids were upstairs. "It's quiet...too quiet. I should go check on them, I'll be back." Mark laughed, at Derek. "It's supposed to be quiet. They're kids, let them play. Don't be that guy who checks on his daughter every ten minutes. The Yankees are on!" Derek gave in, not wanting to seem like an over protective father, but the silence was still nagging at him.

Two innings into the game a loud crash was heard up stairs shaking the ceiling above them. More thumps echoed above their heads and Peyton began to cry. Mark went to comfort her as Derek fled up the stairs taking them two at a time. He was panicked, thinking the worst, but glad he hadn't heard any screams.

Mark followed closely behind and they both stopped abruptly in Ava's doorway shocked at the site before them. The room was a disaster of toys and clothes. The 5 layer book shelf that stood against Ava's wall was laying in the middle of the floor along with all the dolls, books, and picture frames that were on it. Crayons and markers littered the debris making the room look like a tornado had come through.

"Ava Grace Shepherd!" Derek said in his most stern voice, his heart still racing from the fear of either of them being hurt. He struggled not to yell, but his tone was loud and both children could tell instantly he was not happy. "How did this happen?" Both children looked down at the ground refusing to meet his eyes. "Tyler, tell us how this happened?" Mark asked, not as stern as Derek and the boy looked up at him, but still refused to look at Derek.

"We...we were playing spider man...and climbed up it and it just fell over..sorry Uncle Derek.." Tyler was looking at him now, afraid to move from his spot in the middle of the room. Derek walked over to the shelf surveying the damage and making sure the kids weren't hurt. "You two know better than to climb on furniture like that. If your mom saw this Tyler you would be in big trouble." Tyler's eyes grew wide "Please don't tell her, I'll clean it up, I promise..." He begged and Mark laughed, knowing Cristina was definitely the enforcer in that family.

"I'm sorry daddy..." Ava said, her eyes meeting his and he tried not to melt at her sad face knowing he needed to stay in control. "Tyler, you know better than to climb that shelf, you are older than Ava...you need to watch out for her..and Ava...we tell you all the time to stay away from it...you could have been really hurt...no treats before bed tonight."

Tyler nodded...sadly, and began to clean up the mess and Ava just frowned at Derek. "I always get treats!!" She whined, knowing she had him wrapped around her finger. "Not tonight, you broke the rules, now get cleaning." "NO!" Ava yelled and Derek looked at the girl surprised. She had her arms crossed in front of her reminding him so much of Meredith.

Derek had never seen Ava act this way before and he wasn't sure how to handle it. He was furious she was talking back to him but couldn't help but be intrigued by the new "Meredith" side of his daughter. "Ava you don't say no to me! Now clean up!" Ava stomped her foot in response testing her limits on just how far she could go.

"Ava!" He snapped, only to be met with her stubborn glare. Realizing he was not going to get anything out of her he resorted to bribery. "Fine, Tyler if you help clean up you can pick any movie you want and Ava, you can just go to bed." Ava screamed no once again and then threw herself onto her bed. She began to throw a tantrum and he walked out of the room not able to see her like that. It killed him to watch her, but he knew he had to put his foot down or he'd never hear the end of it from Meredith.

He stood there listening for a few minutes until she finally succumbed to the bribe and began to clean up. Derek smiled and walked down the steps. "And Meredith thought we couldn't do this.." He said to Mark.

An hour later Mark's pager went off and he cursed at it earning a "You said shit, you said shit!" from Tyler. Derek glared at him, not wanting to deal with the wrath of Cristina when the boy went home saying that word. "Sorry to do this to you Derek, but you know the drill..."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" Derek assured taking Peyton from him. The second Mark was out the door Peyton started screaming. He changed her diaper again and offered her a bottle but nothing seemed to work. He spent what seemed like forever rocking her until she finally dozed off in the play pen.

He heard his cell phone ring from the kitchen an he ran to get it before it went to voice mail. "Hey Derek, how are things going?" Meredith's voice asked through the phone. It was loud on the other end and all he could hear was loud music. He wasn't surprised the girls were calling to check in. "Oh..everything's fine. Tell Addie to stop worrying. Peyton is asleep." He could hear Addison asking Meredith questions into the phone. "Mark got called in. But i'm fine with them."

"Oh gosh...you're alone? Do you need me to come back?" Meredith was joking but Derek was appalled but her lack of faith in him. "Oh no...hey, I'm surprised you're not drunk yet." He knew her, and expected her to be on her 7th Tequila shot by then.

There was silence on the other end of the line and Meredith came up with a lame excuse hoping he would not think too much of it. He heard Ava screaming from the living room and rushed off the phone to go see what was wrong.

"I want to watch Star Wars! You got to pick last time!" Tyler yelled. Ava threw a pillow at him and refused to give him the remote. "No, that's for boys. I want Cinderella!" Tyler made a face and threw it right back at her. "Eww..that's for girls!" The boy yelled infuriated. Derek stepped in right as Ava was about to throw the remote at Tyler's head.

"No one is watching anything. It's bedtime, now go get your pajamas on!" The two kids whined and huffed up the stairs in protest. A loud cry could be heard from the play pen and Derek walked over to pick up the baby who was impatient and crying louder now.

He walked her around like he had done before and tried singing like he would do with Ava but nothing seemed to work. She was crying so hard her whole body was turning red and he was beginning to panic not knowing what to do. He thought about calling the girls...but didn't want to give in just yet.

Finally he sat down on the couch giving up and flipped on the end of the Yankees game giving in to the girls screams. His head was pounding and he felt his patience running out. He commented parts of the game out of habit, used to having to do it for Ava. After ten minutes the cry was silent...and seemed content to listen to the soft sounds of Derek's voice. He smiled at the peaceful child, and laid back to watch the rest of the game.