Three weeks Later...

The alarm clock went off at five in the morning; today will be both Derek's and Meredith's first day back at the hospital since Ellis was born

"Turn it off!" Derek groaned, hiding his face under his pillow. "Turn it off!"

Meredith reached over and pressed the snooze button. She sighed when she heard the baby begin to cry. So far the start of her day is just going amazing.

Meredith got out of bed and walked down the hall to the nursery. She picked Ellis up out of the crib. "Your dad woke you up, didn't he?"

Meredith sat down in the rocking chair and fed her daughter. When finished, she changed her diaper and got her dress. Meredith handed the baby off to Derek, who was now up and dressed, so she could get ready herself. When she was finally dress and ready, she joined Derek down in the kitchen.

"Did you make coffee? I need coffee." Derek didn't take his eyes off the newspaper and pointed to the coffeemaker. Once Meredith had a cup in hand, she sat down and sighed. "I don't know how I'm going to get through the day."

"It'll get easier, hopefully." He said.

"Hopefully." Meredith agreed.

Meredith and Derek were out of the house by seven. She made sure her diaper bag had everything in it; extra bottles, clothes, diapers, wipes. First thing they did when they got to the hospital was go up to the surgical floor to check out the surgical board.

"Derek, Meredith." Richard approached them. "Welcome back."

"Hey, Richard." Derek said.

"I'm gonna go take Ellis down to daycare." Meredith said.

"Oh, mom, this is Meredith." Derek said.

Mom? Crap, Meredith thought.

"Meredith! Finally." Derek's mother hugged her, which took Meredith off guard.

"Uh, hi." Meredith forced a smile on her face, though she was also giving Derek the, why is your mother here, look.

"My son's been acting like a dog with his favorite bone, hiding you. I hope you're free for lunch. I can't wait to dive right in and find out all about you."

"So this cruise, you said you happened to have a layover in Seattle?" Derek shook his head in disbelief. "There was no other reason why you came unannounced?"

"I've always wanted to check out the Space Needle. I understand you can see Mt. Rainier from the top. But this is just a bonus now." She smiled. "I get to see my only son and meet Meredith and my newest grandchild."

"Mom, this is my first day back, and I have back to back surgeries." Derek said. "You have to give me notice."

"I gave birth to five doctors; I know the drill. I'll wait." She said.

"Uh, I have post-ops to check." Meredith pointed in the direction she's heading in. Meredith found Christina checking on one of their patients they're working on together. "Derek's mom is here."

"Mama Shepherd is here?" Christina laughed. "Oh, I feel bad for you. Your first day back, and you get to spend it with Mama."

"Moms hate me. What am I suppose to do? She wants to have lunch and get to know me."

"You're going to just suck it up. And maybe I'll be nice and page you a fake 911."

"Oh my gosh, yes. Thank you."

When lunch came around, Meredith met Derek and his mother, Carolyn in the cafeteria. She forced a happy smile on her face, though once she saw Derek had taken Ellis out of daycare, the smile became natural.

"Hey, you took Ellis out of daycare." Meredith reached her from Derek. "Hi, baby." She kissed Ellis and sat down beside Derek.

"Figured she missed her parents." Derek smiled.

"So Derek tells me you grew up here in Seattle." Carolyn said. "Are your parents-"

"Dead."

"Meredith's mother died about seven months ago." Derek said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What about your father?"

"Uh..." Meredith looked down at the baby not sure what to say. "He's, well..."

"You know her mother Ellis Grey is considered one of the best surgeons in the world?" Derek said, trying to avoid the dad topic. "How many Harper Avery's did she win?"

"Oh, so you named the baby after her."

"We did." Meredith smiled.

After fifteen minutes of talking, Meredith's pager went off, which was her get away from the help from Christina.

"911 on my patient." Meredith handed the baby back to Derek. "It was nice meeting and talking to you, Carolyn. I'll see you later, Derek."

"She seems nice." Carolyn said when Meredith was gone.

"Family isn't her favorite topic." Derek said. "She's had a rough time of it."

"I didn't say a word."

"But you were thinking it."

Meredith got home before Derek because he had an emergency surgery. When he did get home, he set his briefcase down on the coffee table and kissed Meredith.

"You're very happy."

"Oh I am happy; happy to see you." He kissed her some more. "You're not happy."

"No, I'm just tired, and I just finally was able to get the baby to sleep."

"How is she?"

"Great."

"Oh by the way, mom likes you; thinks you're good for me." Derek laughed. "Can you believe that?"

Meredith shook her head and smiled. "Hardly."

Hey guys! So this chapter was actually difficult for me to write. I wasn't sure if I should skip to when they're back in the hospital or show the first week with the baby home. So obviously I chose to skip over. But one thing I knew I wanted to do in this chapter or in a very near future chapter was for Meredith to meet Derek's mom. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter!

*** Also, I wasn't sure how I could get this into this chapter, but Addison left Seattle-Grace when Meredith and Derek were out on maternity and paternity leave. She didn't want to stay and watch Meredith have basically the life she ever wanted with Derek. So everyone, besides Addison, are still at the hospital.

**One more thing. I saw someone mention they wanted me to describe what Ellis looks like. I forgot to do that because I wrote that chapter really late and then I reread it and made edits the next day, but basically she looks like what she looks like in the show; blonde hair, blue eyes, resembles Meredith more than Derek.