Title: Loud And Clear
Authors: Sara And Lizzie
Rating: T for language, mild sex
Disclaimer: we don't own grey's anatomy, or any anatomies but our own at that.
Summary: Sequel to One Hell Of a Racket. Babies, weddings, and rain. Seattle at it's finest. Babysitting for the ex wife, meeting the family, planning the wedding and fending off the intern. All in a day's work.
Author's Note: The final story in our trilogy. We're staring two days from where 'Racket' left off. Also, we made up all the names and details of Derek's family, save for Nancy, who we adore, by the way.
Okay. So you're all mad at Derek. So are we. But now that we've gotten into this story, we realize that our Derek cant be all…dreamy. The Derek in this story is haunted by all the times he's let Meredith down, and he's not McDreamy right now. So just stick with us, cause we do promise a happy ending.
REVIEW.
"So what's her name?" Callie asked as they gathered in neonatal, where Mark and Addison's daughter was being discharged. Addison's jaw dropped.
"Oh my God." She said, her jaw gaping. "We're already the worst parents ever. She's been in the hospital for four days, and we haven't even named her. This is a bad sign."
Mark suppressed a smile and took one of her hands in his. "It's not a bad. And we're not the worst parents ever. We can name her right now."
"We have to!" Addison practically shouted, panicking. "We can't just not name our own baby!" Mark smiled and picked her up gently, cradling her in his arms. Derek arched an eyebrow at his friend.
"What?" Mark demanded, turning slightly so the baby could see Addison.
Derek chuckled. "Who would have ever thought you would have taken so well to fatherhood?" He asked, looping an arm around Meredith's waist. Mark made a face at him, as if to say he'd never lost his edge, but his face softened as he looked down at his daughter.
"What about Sloan?" Callie suggested. "Sloan Montgomery. And then she'd have both of your names." Addison looked down at her friend who was sharing a chair with George.
"I like it." Addison said, nodding her approval. She turned to Mark. "What do you think?"
Mark shook his head. "That's ridiculous. She'd have my name twice."
"She's taking your name?" Derek asked before he could stop himself. Mark shrugged.
"Of course she is. I was kind of hoping her mom would too eventually. I mean, I have to buy a ring bigger than your last one and propose to you in some ridiculously romantic location, but I mean, I assumed, eventually…"
The eyes of Mark, Callie, George, Derek and Meredith were fixed on Addison, whose face was turned towards the ground. When she looked up, there were tears glistening in the corner of her eyes. "Ashlyn." She said. "Ashlyn Marie Sloan."
Mark grinned at her and placed a kiss on Addison's temple. "Ashlyn Marie Sloan." He repeated slowly. "It's perfect." Addison intertwined her hand in his and looked around.
"Where the hell is Stevens?" she demanded. "I'm asking her to be the godmother." She smiled at Callie and Meredith. "You two can fight over the next one."
Meredith suppressed a smile. As much as she loved Addison and Mark, she was far more likely to take Ashlyn to a bar while she was severely underage than to be a godmother. She remembered Addison's inquiry about Izzie. "Izzie…" she mused. "I haven't seen her since lunch. Or Alex…" she trailed off. "Check the linen closets." She suggested with a nonchalant shrug.
Addison wrinkled her nose and said something to Callie. Derek slid his arms around Meredith's waist. "You ready to go?" he whispered in her ear. She rolled her eyes and nodded; knowing Derek had been looking forward to this all day. They bid their goodbyes, rode the elevator down to the lobby and strode hand in hand out of Seattle Grace.
"I can't believe they have a baby." Meredith said. "A real, living, crying baby."
Derek laughed at her as they slid into his car. "We'll have one someday." He said lightly. Meredith's head shot up from her seat belt and she stared at him wide eyed.
"Like a baby?" She asked, incredulous. She had never factored that into her life. Derek smiled and put the car in drive, pulling out of his parking space, and heading for the parking exit that would take them to Joe's.
"Yeah, like a baby." He gently mocked her. "They grow into kids, you know. God, can you imagine having kids? Teaching them how to fish. Sneaking them into the gallery to see surgeries…"
Meredith looked at his grinning profile and smiled. "You want this." She said.
"Do you? Want this?" Derek asked tentatively.
Meredith shrugged. "I never really thought about it. I never thought it would be, you know, in the cards. But when I'm done with the residency, I mean, I think maybe I kind of do…" she trailed off as Derek maneuvered the car into a space at Joe's.
"We have plenty of time to have kids." He murmured in her ear as they strolled inside. She looked up at him with wide, trusting eyes and Derek felt the familiar fear that he would never be able to be everything she deserved.
Bridget was seething. She was sitting at the bar at Joe's watching Derek and Meredith very carefully, and he hadn't looked at her once. And that didn't happen to Bridget Neilson. Every guy looked at her at least once. Especially one she was trying to seduce. They usually looked at her once a minute. She picked up her glass and dumped the rest of it down her throat, glaring at her resident.
Meredith's light giggle rang throughout the bar as she sat across the table from Derek, her back to Bridget. They were poring over a stack of magazines and a few notebooks. "Derek, that's hideous," she heard Meredith squeal. "It looks like a curtain."
"I thought it was nice." He said, teasing her, obviously hating it as well.
"I'm not getting married in something that looks like the upholstery on your mother's love seat." Meredith said. "Maybe I should just go to New York to do this. Your sisters know dresses."
Bridget practically gagged as she realized that they were sitting in this bar, planning their wedding. "Joe…" she whined, holding out her glass. He shook his head and mixed her a new drink.
"You want some advice. Bridget?" Joe asked. "This isn't New York, and it's not L.A. It's not your speed, I know that. Find a different way to deal with it." He said, his eyes wandering towards Meredith and Derek. Bridget rolled her eyes and lit a cigarette, struggling to keep her composure.
Meredith sighed and sipped her drink. She watched Derek evaluating how much they had to get done tonight. "Are we finished yet?" she asked.
Derek shot her a look. "Meredith Grey. We're getting married soon. Quite soon, actually, in four months. We need to plan this wedding." He made a face and wrote something else on his list. "Not that you're doing any planning."
She pouted at him. "We can plan tomorrow. We can pay Izzie to plan. Actually, she'd probably pay us to plan a wedding." Meredith mused. She put her hand on Derek's knee and slid it up his thigh. "There are so many better things we could be doing." She whispered, arching an eyebrow suggestively.
Derek looked over dramatically crestfallen. "Sex trumps wedding?" he asked. Meredith shrugged and leaned in to whisper in his ear, sliding her hand up his thigh to the crotch of his jeans as she did so.
"I like sex." She whispered.
Derek cleared his throat. "You know what, I do think you're more on task with Izzie around. We should call her. Have her come over here." Meredith giggled as he pulled out his Treo and texted Izzie.
She slid out of her chair slowly, brushing against him as she did. "I think I'm going to go to the bathroom while we wait for Izzie." She said. No sooner had she started walking, he had jumped up to follow her.
Izzie had gotten herself a drink and was sitting, with Alex at the table strewn with wedding literature when Derek and Meredith emerged from the bathroom. Izzie rolled her eyes. Meredith was glowing, and a little breathless. Her hair was a mess and her cheeks were flushed. Derek looked to be in a similar state. "Hi guys." She said, sitting down.
Derek hovered, standing, signaling to Joe that they needed more drinks. Alex made a face. "Dude, your fly is down." He announced to Derek, who blushed and turned on his heel, and made his way back into the bathroom. Alex smirked at Meredith. "Was it good?"
Izzie snorted as Meredith smoothed her hair and blushed. "Alex, quit looking at my boyfriend's fly."
"Fiancé." Derek corrected, sitting back down, bearing more drinks. "And she's got a point, Karev." Alex muttered something and rolled his eyes.
Izzie gave his knee a squeeze under the table and clapped her hands together. "So what have you guys accomplished?" she asked. Meredith looked down guiltily. "Nothing?" Izzie asked. "God, it's your wedding."
Derek jerked a thumb at Meredith. "She was distracting me." He said, grinning.
"Oh I was? It's not my fault you have no self control."
"Well, you created a little situation, Dr. Grey." He said, winking. Meredith blushed and whispered something in his ear. Izzie rolled her eyes.
"Okay! Enough. Wedding, people. Nuptials. Can you focus for one hour?" Meredith and Derek nodded like school children who had gotten into trouble, and Izzie, beaming, started babbling about flowers.
Bridget listened to them talk and bicker until she couldn't take it anymore. One more word about dresses or cakes or anything wedding related and she would have screamed. So she slid down from her barstool and laid money on the bar for Joe. Just as Izzie was babbling about a bridal shower that Meredith was vehemently opposed to, she reached their table.
"Dr. Shepherd?" she asked, smiling sweetly. "I just wanted to thank you again for letting me scrub in on your craniotomy last night. It really was a fantastic learning experience." Bridget turned on her heel and walked out the door, but she turned back in time to see the look of fury on her resident's face.
And it was priceless.