Author's Note - Thank you very much for the lovely reviews despite my prolonged absence. I don't know how regular I'll be with the next few updates but I'll try not to be so long! This chapter starts a little differently from the norm as I wanted to do an experiment. I hope you like it. Ooh, and I have posted some links of what I think the quads look like at about 12 to 18 months old. If you don't want your imagination's picture of them ruined then just don't look! :D
Article from a local newspaper:
A Superhuman Feat by Madeline Scott
To look upon the angelic faces of the Shepherd Quadruplets is something of a privilege and I have to say its rather hard to tear my gaze away to talk to their equally beautiful parents Meredith and Derek Shepherd, or should I say Dr. Meredith and Derek Shepherd because, astonishingly, these two super-parents manage to combine careers at the famous Seattle Grace Hospital with raising these four gorgeous rays of sunshine. Derek is the Chief of Neurosurgery and has been involved in several ground-breaking trials and Meredith is an experienced resident. The two met and fell in love at the hospital.
Their beautiful offspring – and I'm not saying this merely because they are adorable babies, I assure you these kids are movie-stars in the making! – were born last year on October 2ndand have transformed their parents' lives. With a charming smile, Derek states in soft, tender tones, "I thought that meeting Meredith was the best thing that could ever happen to me but then we had the quads and they really changed my view of the world."
Playfully, Meredith bats him on the arm and asks, "Hey, are you saying I've lost the top spot then?" The smile on her pretty lips and the sparkle in her green-blue eyes show she's not at all offended.
"I'm just saying that you may have to share the top spot," Derek replies, sweetly, "Just as I have to share yours."
Meredith smirks at him. "I never said you were in my top spot. In fact, I don't think you even made the top ten."
It is at this point that I realise I'm observing marital bliss and I have to say I'm pretty damned jealous! Where's my gorgeous, funny, sweet neurosurgeon?
At nine months old, the quadruplets have begun to form their own personalities as Meredith enjoys telling me. "William is the bravest but also the most stubborn one. I've told him a million times that the he needs to stop trying to climb the bars of the playpen 'cos he's going to hurt himself but does he listen? No. He doesn't get far - I mean he can only just crawl - but he seems pretty set on being the first one to escape!" I laugh and tell her I don't envy her trying to keep control of all four of them when they find their feet. "You're telling me!" she chuckles. William is the eldest of the four – only by being the first one to be delivered by caesarean but he certainly seems the biggest. "Then there is Lucia, she has very sunny personality. Something she must have inherited from Derek 'cos she certainly didn't get it from me! And she's very mellow, not much upsets her, she's very happy just to sit in the garden all day chirping at the birds. Sometimes I worry about forgetting all about her what with the others to demanding all my attention!"
As his wife speaks, I can't help but notice Derek watching her, smiling when she gets animated about the babies and occasionally rubbing his thumb over the skin of her arm. As I said before, where's my wonderful surgeon-husband? Isn't that a question we all ask ourselves, girls, every day?
"Malachy has a cheeky streak and he likes giving very wet, sloppy kisses. He and Lucy are probably the most laid-back. Oh, and he likes to chatter a lot. Its not exactly talking, just lots of random sounds but he looks like he's trying to tell you something when he directs it at you. I've given up trying to decipher it though."
"He said 'Da' the other day," Derek chips in, glowing with pride.
"Yeah, he did. It was pretty cute. Derek was practically dancing with happiness," Meredith teases. I don't know whether the 'cute' refers to her son or her husband but I can definitely picture the scene. I think my ovaries tightened just imagining it.
And Rosalind? I ask, my gaze travelling to the baby girl with impossibly blue eyes. She is rocking on her knees, dressed in a soft yellow dress, and I just want to pick her up and steal her away.
"She wants to be an only child," Derek declares with a twinkling grin. "But unfortunately she has to put up with three very annoying siblings. She's pretty good at getting attention now though. You see that sweet little face?" He gestures to his daughter. "I mean how could anyone say no to that? I certainly can't. She spends half the time on my lap when I'm on my computer working and even though it takes twice as long I really don't have the heart to not let her sit there."
"Yeah, she's got Derek wrapped around her pinkie already. They all have," Meredith adds.
I'm not surprised. If I had a family this beautiful then I would probably have trouble ever leaving the house. We'd all starve because I just wouldn't be able to stop staring at their adorable little faces. However, Meredith does have to leave them several days a week with a nanny, which she tells me is difficult but necessary in order to continue her career.
I have to say I'm pretty in awe of this super-mom and her utterly charming family and I'm very reluctant to leave their lovely family home with its giggling babies, warm hosts and the delightfully colourful collection of children's toys covering every surface. I'd like to stay here forever. However, one of the quadruplets is climbing the playpen again and someone's pager has just gone off and I realise that it would be best for me to leave so they can get on with their superhuman feat of raising four babies whilst juggling patients and saving lives.
Derek felt a small smile tug at his lips when he finished reading the article that Miranda Bailey had dropped on his desk at lunchtime. He left his office in order to find Meredith and show her.
When the local newspaper had heard their story: two surgeons raising quadruplets; they had phoned up and asked for a short interview. Both he and Meredith had been very reluctant at first but were persuaded by various friends to allow their happiness to be captured on paper. The interviewing experience had felt a little more awkward than it was portrayed on the paper and he felt weird reading about how the interviewer, Maddie, had observed his reaction to Meredith's words but he remembered, at the time, he couldn't help it. It had been absolutely amazing to see Meredith so at ease talking about her children. She was generally a reserved person and never in the past would she have told a stranger so much but, obviously, having the quads had changed her in a good way. She was obviously very proud of her children.
In fact, he was very proud of both her and his children. The quadruplets were now just over nine months old and were rapidly growing into very mobile babies. William was already cruising around the living room when he was allowed out of the playpen and Rosie was hot on his heels. Lucia was a little more reserved and had only gotten to the point of rocking back on forth on her hands and knees whereas Malachy didn't seem interested in properly crawling much at all because he'd already perfected his own method of travelling: the army-crawl. This involved Malachy looking very much like a snake that had perhaps had a little too much to eat – and drink – and never actually resulted in him going in a straight line. He would perform a wavy, twisty path to the other side of the room. However, he was very determined and always got to his destination in the end. The little grunts he made as he hauled his small body across the carpet made the whole spectacle even more adorable. At the end he would sit up straight and offer his parents a massively proud grin.
"Mr Shepherd!"
Derek looked up at the sound of the voice and caught sight of Hilda standing in the foyer of the hospital. He tensed in apprehension, before hurrying over to her when he caught sight of the stroller towering beside her.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" he asked, urgently, glancing at the quads who all seemed to be settled comfortably in their seats.
"No, nothing is wrong with the babies, Mr Shepherd," Hilda quickly assured him, "But there is something wrong with my father. He's had a heart attack."
"Oh Hilda, I'm sorry. Is he…?"
"He's alive but in a serious condition. I need to fly home in order to check on him. I'll be gone for a week. Maybe two." Her face crumpled. "I'm so sorry, Mr Shepherd. I know I shouldn't do this to you at such late notice. You can fire me if you want."
"What? No! Hilda, you're the best nanny we could have ever hoped for. You take as much time as you need. We'll be able to cope for a few weeks. You need to make sure your father's okay. I understand that." Derek placed a comforting hand on her arm.
"Oh thank you, Mr Shepherd."
"How many times have I told you to call me Derek?" he asked, smiling gently.
"Sorry….Derek," she smiled back, her eyes watery. "Thank you. I must go. My plane is leaving in half an hour."
"Okay. Well you leave the quads here. That'll be fine. Phone us when you're ready to come back. Have a safe flight."
He encased her in a quick hug and then she bid him goodbye and hurried away.
Once she was gone, Derek turned back to look at the quads. Four pairs of eyes stared solemnly up at him. He placed one hand on his hip and scratched the back of his head.
"Whoa…okay, wow….what are we going to do with you guys?"
Meredith snapped off her gloves and drew the curtain back around the patient she had been treating in the ER. He'd had a head injury that was bleeding copiously but fortunately it was superficial and didn't need surgery. One of the interns had called her for a consult and she couldn't help feel a little pissed off that they hadn't realised the injury hadn't even cracked the skull before getting her down. She wasn't in the mood for pointless, time-wasting consults. She'd had a crappy day so far and she still had another six hours left of her shift. The first patient she'd had this morning had died within minutes of entering the hospital and it had gone downhill from there. All she wanted to do was go home and hug her babies and wish the world wasn't such a horrible death-filled place.
Bone-weary and irritable, Meredith scowled viciously at a couple of interns who dared to get in her path as she made her way towards the elevator. She stabbed the button and waited impatiently for it to arrive. Her vein pulsed in her temple. She was getting a headache; she could already feel it creeping over her tired, stressed out brain.
"Oh come on!" she growled at the elevator and slammed the solid doors with the palm of her hand.
Suddenly the doors pinged open.
"Whoa! Who peed in your Cheerios?"
"Derek?"
Meredith blinked several times as she stared into the elevator, trying to comprehend what she was seeing. Derek stood right at the back of the space, leaning casually against the wall like she'd seen him do so many times before – it was a position that for some reason she found extremely hot – but this time there was a large black stroller standing between her and him (and the chance to kiss each other senseless). Several pink faces turned towards her, their eyes lighting up when they caught sight of their mommy.
"Ma!" Malachy squealed upon seeing her, his little fists reaching towards her. His chocolate brown eyes were so warm and happy that she felt her heart melt immediately.
"Oh, god, you have no idea how freakin' glad I am to see you guys!"
Meredith's face broke into a massive grin and she stepped onto the elevator. The doors closed behind her.
"But what are they doing here?" she asked, looking up from their perfect little faces to her husband.
"Hilda had a family emergency. Her father had a heart attack," Derek replied solemnly.
"Oh no! That's awful."
"Yeah. So she had to rush off," Derek said, sadly, before brightening a little. "So now the quads are coming for a tour of Seattle Grace. You have no idea how much attention they've got so far. I can't take two steps without being stopped by a nurse. I think they're enjoying it though." He turned to the babies. "Hey, guys, this is the elevator. It's pretty special. Its where your mom and me…."
"Derek! You can't tell them that!" Meredith interrupted; horrified as to where she believed Derek was going with his guided tour.
"Got engaged," Derek finished with a cheeky grin, glancing up at Meredith, "And we've had a lot of important moments in here." He didn't elaborate further – thankfully.
Meredith smiled at him and shook her head. It was true this elevator did mean an awful lot to them but that didn't mean that their nine month old children should know about what they'd got up to in here. Some things were best kept secret. Instead of berating him for his near slipup, Meredith bent over and scooped Rosie from her seat, cuddling her against her chest. She sighed in relief.
"Bad day?" Derek asked, gently, seeing the tension dissipate from her face the moment she inhaled Rosie's soft baby scent.
"Yeah. Really, really crappy," Meredith replied, burying her nose in her daughter's downy blonde hair. "But this makes it so much better," she murmured, her eyes closed.
Derek watched her for a few moments and found himself lost in the sweet scene between mother and child. Unfortunately, they were all brought back to reality as the elevator ground to a halt and the doors slid open. They were reluctant to disembark but there were several doctors waiting to get in who were not interested in waiting for the poignant moment to properly finish. With Rosie still clutched tightly in one arm, Meredith stepped off the elevator and helped Derek manoeuvre the stroller out with her spare arm. Once they were out, they stopped off by the coffee cart so they could both have a much needed drink.
"Tha?" Rosie asked, curiously, batting at the Styrofoam cup in her mother's hand.
"Ah!" Meredith swiftly retracted the object. "No. That's hot, Rosie. No touching." Seeing her daughter's disappointment, Meredith kissed her on her forehead. "This is a coffee, Rosie, and your mom and dad need to drink lots of it to stay alive. Okay? It's coff-ee." Carefully she pronounced the syllables.
"Cuff-cuff," Rosie repeated, diligently.
Both Meredith and Derek grinned. "Yeah, cuff-cuff sounds about right."
"Shall we take them to the cafeteria? Will's grizzling a bit. I think he's hungry. Hilda's put some food in a bag somewhere on the back here…" Derek said as he rummaged around in the storage space at the bottom of the stroller. "Aha! Yeah. We have some yummy looking sweet potato and some banana. Doesn't that look good guys?"
"Cuff-cuff," Rosie chirruped, smiling widely. She bounced in Meredith's arms. "Cuff-cuff."
"You've got her addicted to the stuff already, Mer, and she's not even one."
"Well, you were the one who said they were gonna be surgeons. They'll have to start liking coffee early if they wanna succeed," Meredith replied, glibly.
They made their way to the cafeteria and made quite a scene when they gathered four highchairs together around their small table. Several visitors to the hospital shot them curious looks while the staff who already knew all about the Shepherds just shook their heads at the ludicrousness of the sight. At home, Derek had invested in a quad feeding table which was essentially a normal table with four chairs set into the table-top in a semi-circle. The person who was feeding the babies would sit on the side that all the chairs faced and it made their job so much easier to have the quads' mouths within reaching distance. It also made sure the babies were securely tucked in and that they all had equal attention. The fact that the chairs partially faced each other also meant that they could look at each other and gabber at each other when they were left alone. It was a very effective investment although it did make their kitchen look a bit odd.
Here, without the specialised feeding table, they would have to make do with normal highchairs placed two together between the two adults. Malachy and William sat next to each other on Derek's right whilst Rosie and Lucy were to his left. He smiled broadly at Meredith who sat opposite him with a small chicken salad. In the past she would have eaten chips or French fries but she wanted to set a good example for her children and not be a hypocrite when she tried to get them to eat healthily. There was no way was she adding four more to the percentage of morbidly obese children in the Western world just because she didn't look after her kids properly. Fortunately, whenever she slipped up she always had Derek, the healthy food Nazi, to make sure they all ate right.
"Well look at you all picture-perfect and puke-worthy," a patronising voice sounded from behind her and Meredith turned in her seat. Her green eyes met Cristina Yang's crisp brown ones and she smiled.
"Hey, Cristina."
"Hey yourself," Cristina retorted and grabbed a spare chair, plonking herself in it. She slapped her own plate of French fries on the plastic surface of the table.
"Hello, Cristina," Derek said. Cristina blatantly ignored him. He sighed and went back to the quads.
"Are you coming up to the gallery to watch McSteamy's face transplant?" Cristina questioned, bluntly. She stuffed a fry in her mouth.
"Oh, is that today?"
"What do you mean, 'is that today'?" Cristina's eyebrows shot into her hairlines. "God, what the hell has happened to you? You soft…mushy…baby-hugging nutcase." She stared at her friend in disgust as Meredith carefully wiped some orange goop off William's nose. "Where's the fire? The drive? The passion to be the goddamn best? I mean, you and me, we were gonna be famous! You know that, right? I had plans. Obviously I would be the most famous but you'd be there too. Grey and Yang. The dream team."
"I never had you down for being so sentimental, Yang," Derek interrupted, smartly. Once more he found himself categorically ignored.
"That's just not what I want anymore, Cristina," Meredith replied, shrugging her slender shoulders beneath her blue scrubs. "I'm happy where I am, working here, in this job."
"But….but…." Cristina stumbled, gawping at her. "You can't be serious?"
"I am, Cristina. I have the quads now and although I thought I always wanted to be a surgeon, to prove my mom wrong, to show her I could make something of myself, I've now realised the best way to…be better than her is to do something she could never achieve and that's to be a great mother. I wanna see my kids grow up. I don't wanna be stuck away from them in surgeries that I barely care about. All I can think about is them, Cristina, even when I'm in a surgery. I'm completely in love with them."
There was a pause.
"What a load of crap," Cristina declared. She scowled darkly at her friend, her brow furrowing in deep lines. "Kids aren't everything, Meredith. You can't give up the life you tried so hard to rebuild after your mom trashed it for a load of snivelling, pooping babies. You worked damned hard. It would be a pointless waste. You have talent. You'd be selfish to waste it just because you want to be a 'great mom'. Anyone can be a great mom. Not everyone can be a great surgeon."
With that, Cristina scraped back her chair and stormed off. Meredith watched her go, a little shaken by her friend's outburst. Her mind reeled with the implications of Cristina's words.
"You all right, Mer?" Derek questioned, softly, slipping his large hand over her smaller one.
"Yeah," she murmured, "I…just…what if she's right?" Her throat constricted painfully.
"Trust me, Mer, she's not." His gentle blue eyes connected with hers. "She just doesn't understand that you could have found happiness outside of surgery. In some ways you and Cristina are the same but actually you are both different in so many ways. You want different things. I also think she feels hurt that you've left her behind; that you've found something 'better' than what she believes is the best for her. It's a natural human feeling: part jealousy, part confusion because now she has to question her own core beliefs. She used to identify with you and now you're something…alien to her."
Meredith looked at him for a few long seconds and then placed her other hand over his and squeezed, tightly. "Alien? Thanks a bunch. And since when did you add psychologist to your already freakin' long list of skills?" She grinned and he grinned back.
"I've been taking night classes in-between surgeries, running my department, looking after the babies and hanging out with you. I've actually become the first human to function without sleep," he deadpanned with a perfectly straight face.
Unfortunately, he ruined it seconds later by letting a snort escape. After that he couldn't stop. His chuckle was infectious and soon the two of them were laughing quietly together. Seeing their parents laughing, the quads wanted to join in and soon both Rosie and Lucy were giggling excitedly. William clapped his hands, a recently acquired skill, and bounced up and down in his chair.
Meanwhile Malachy was up to no good – as usual.
"Hey there, mister!" Derek exclaimed, catching sight of his son leaning precariously out of his highchair to swipe a French fry from Cristina's abandoned plate. Quickly, Derek darted out of his own chair and pushed Malachy back to safety before he could topple onto the floor. "You better watch it, trouble, or you'll end up hurting yourself. Oh, no, don't eat….that…."
Derek sighed in defeat as Malachy stuffed the squidgy fry in his mouth. With partially chewed potato still in his mouth, he offered his father a massive gummy grin.
"Ha, he's already on the junk food, Derek. It's all downhill from here. Mark my words," Meredith teased, seeing her husband's crestfallen expression.
"Cristina Yang is going to singlehandedly destroy our kids' development," Derek groaned, running a hand through his hair and sitting back down. "Even when she's not even here!"
Meredith smirked at him. "Well we have got four of them. Hopefully one of them will slip through her growth-stunting, emotion-crippling net."
"I suppose those aren't bad odds."
