Derek smiled as he stood at the sink in the trailer, looking out beyond the trees to his house. The roof was up now, and the siding was going on next. The day before, he and Meredith had walked through the entire thing, seen every room and she had immediately dragged him into town to pick up more samples of paint, wallpaper, and tiles than he'd imagined possible. She'd also piled in lighting and plumbing fixtures, then dragged him to the furniture store across the street to grab piles of magazines to furnish every room in the house. She was now lying on the bed, dressed in only a pair of his boxers and one of her new bras, her hand resting on the swell of her belly as she flipped through paint samples. He bent down to stick the lasagna into the oven before he turned to join her on the bed.

"How's it coming?" he asked.

"Good," she smiled. "We decided on white walls for the office, right? And the dining room?"

"We did," he smiled. "And blue for our room."

"Mint green for the nursery."

"What are you thinking now?"

"The guest room," she sighed. "Your mom will probably be the one who stays there the most, what color would she want it?"

"You know my mom, Mer, she wouldn't dream of telling us what color to paint our house," he said, taking her hand. "Although she'd be thrilled to know that you're willing to give her a room in the house."

"Hmm," Meredith nodded. "I'm thinking tan."

"Tan works."

"And the floors," she sighed. "We decided on hardwood, right? For the hall and the kitchen and the dining room. But the bedrooms and the living room and the playroom still need to be decided."

"Mer," he frowned, reaching out to take the pile of carpet samples from her hands. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she nodded, reaching for the samples again. "Really fine, not Meredith fine. I promise."

"You're obsessing," Derek observed.

"No I'm not," she shook her head as she reached for her notebook. "Tan carpet in the guest bedroom."

Derek looked at her closely for a moment. She'd been doing amazing over the past few months, being the happy woman he had spent the last year with again. She'd been thrilled to hear the baby's heartbeat, and now that she was well into her second trimester, she was feeling better and completely throwing herself into the house. He'd thought at first that she was just excited about how quickly the house was coming along, but now he was wondering if there was something else that was bothering her that was making her distract herself with the house.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"I'm sure," she nodded as she held up another piece of off white carpet. "For the living room?"

"White's probably not the best idea with kids," he murmured. "They track dirt through the house."

"Right," she nodded. "Okay, how about we put tan in there as well? And blue in the playroom?"

"Sounds good," Derek nodded. "Mer…"

"Derek, I'm fine," she snapped, and he winced, knowing that he had pushed her too far and the hormones were about to snap. "I'm trying to make sure we have everything in our house planned so that we can meet all the deadlines and move in as soon as possible. I'm trying to do this for you because you're the head of neurosurgery and you're completely busy and don't have time to deal with this. So I'm dealing with it, and you have to stop asking me if I'm fine, otherwise I might kill you. So please just leave me alone."

"Okay," Derek sighed. "You're right."

"Now you're humoring me," she rolled her eyes as she threw the carpet samples onto the floor.

"I'm not humoring you," Derek shook his head. "Thank you, Mer. I'm glad you're doing this for me."

"Fine," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So…what color carpet do you want in our room?" Derek asked, hoping that she would accept his peace offering.

"I don't care," she murmured, not looking at him.

"Mer…" Derek sighed. "Don't do this."

"I don't want to seem obsessive," Meredith rolled her eyes. "I guess our house won't be carpeted or have any toilets or painted walls."

"I didn't mean it like that," Derek sighed.

"You know what, maybe you should just stop talking," she snapped. "I don't want to listen to this right now."

Derek sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Fine," he said. Maybe he could dig himself out of this hole if he stopped now.

"And sleep on the couch tonight."

"We don't actually have a couch," Derek frowned. "Not one that's big enough for me to sleep on."

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you called me obsessive," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Don't cry," Derek whispered, reaching out to wipe the moisture from her cheeks, frowning when she pushed him away.

"Don't touch me," she said. "Just…go somewhere. I can't even look at you right now, just go."

"Fine," Derek sighed, getting out of bed and moving towards the kitchen table, reaching for some paperwork from his bag. He wasn't sure how Meredith had gotten so mad at him just for asking if she was okay, but he wasn't going to ask now. If there was one thing he'd learned over the past few weeks, it was that his wife was either completely happy or completely angry, and he knew he should just stop talking altogether to keep himself out of trouble.

After a few minutes, Meredith appeared in front of him with a scowl on her face. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Um…working?" Derek suggested, wondering if that was the wrong answer and praying it wasn't.

"Seriously?" she asked. "Seriously." Okay, apparently that was the wrong answer. He cringed in anticipation of her yelling.

"Is there something you'd like me to do?" he asked, tilting his head to the side and offering her the fool proof McDreamy smile.

"Don't give me the McDreamy look," she snapped. Apparently it didn't have the same effect on pregnant Meredith.

"Sorry," he coughed. "What do you need me to do? Are you hungry? Thirsty? I can run to the store…"

"Here," she said, slamming a pile of carpet samples onto the table. "Since I'm so obsessive, you should be the one to pick everything out. Just make sure you don't mess it up."

"Mer, we should do it together," Derek said. "Please?"

"Just do it," she snapped. "And make sure you don't pick out anything ugly."

Derek swallowed hard as he watched her storm back into the bedroom, raising his eyes to the sky for a moment before he took a deep breath and began to flip through the samples, praying that he would pick the right ones.

As he carefully selected a light blue carpet for their bedroom and a pale yellow for the nursery, he heard Meredith gasp loudly from the bedroom. He dropped the samples and moved quickly to the bed, looking at her closely.

"Mer?" he asked. "Are you okay? Are you in pain? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No," she shook her head, smiling widely at him as tears filled her eyes. "I felt it, Derek."

"Felt what?" he asked. "Pain? Cramping?"

"No," she shook her head, laughing slightly. "The baby. I felt the baby move."

"You felt our baby move?" Derek asked, reaching a hand out to her stomach.

"Yeah," she breathed, moving his hand to the other side of her stomach. "I don't think you'll be able to feel it, it was really soft."

"What did it feel like?" he asked.

"I don't know," she breathed. "Like…it's swimming or something."

"Swimming?" Derek asked.

"Inside me," Meredith nodded. "It sounds weird I know, but I don't know how else to describe it."

"I wish I could feel it," Derek frowned, both of his hands moving to cup her slightly swollen belly.

"You will," she smiled, running a hand through his hair. "Derek?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay," Derek smiled. "You're pregnant, Mer. You're allowed to be a little cranky."

"We can pick stuff out together," she nodded. "And you're right, I was being a little obsessive."

"Okay," Derek nodded, knowing that he needed to tread carefully. "Do you know why?"

Meredith sighed as she moved into his arms. "I just want out house to be homey," she whispered.

"It will be," Derek nodded. "It's home, Mer."

"I know," Meredith sighed. "But your mom's house is so warm and happy and loving. And my house…my old house…it's musty. And George said it wasn't homey."

"George said that?" Derek frowned.

"When your mom came to visit," Meredith nodded. "And Izzie fixed it, but he was right. That house was dark and boring and old. I want our house to be perfect. That's why I need to make sure everything's right. Because I'm doing this family thing for the first time, and I want our kids to have a homey house."

"It will be," Derek nodded, kissing her softly. "We're a family, Mer. That means that our house will be homey."

"I hope so," she whispered.

"It will be," he said. "I promise."

"Did you pick anything out?" she whispered.

"I did," Derek nodded. "But we should do it together."

"Let me see," she sighed as she pushed herself off of him, moving to grab the carpet samples from the table.

"Well, I thought this light blue for our room," he said. "And yellow for the nursery."

"Hmm," Meredith nodded. "I like the blue. But maybe…white for the nursery? I know white doesn't really go with kids, but it's the baby's room, so they won't be dirty or anything, so white would work, right? It would go better with the green walls."

"You're right," Derek nodded. "White's good."

"Good," Meredith smiled. "You think we'll really be able to move in by Christmas?"

"I hope so," Derek laughed. "Mom's coming out, I'd hate to make her sleep on the hammock outside."

"Yes, that would be bad," Meredith giggled.

Derek squeezed her hand as he reached for his ringing phone. "Speaking of the devil," he smiled as he put speaker phone on. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi sweetheart," Carolyn's voice filled the trailer. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Derek said. "You're on speaker."

"Hi Mom," Meredith said softly as she moved closer to Derek.

"Hello Meredith," Carolyn said. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good," she said.

"Hormonal," Derek added.

"Don't make fun of your wife, Derek," Carolyn said. "She's carrying your child."

"Yeah," Meredith smirked at him. "Don't make fun of your wife."

Derek rolled his eyes. "How are you, Mom?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm just fine," Carolyn said. "I was just wondering how Meredith was feeling and how the house is coming along."

"I'm great," Meredith assured her. "I just felt the baby move."

"That's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?" Carolyn asked. "I remember it as if it was yesterday."

"It's amazing," Meredith smiled as she ran a hand over her stomach. "It's moving so much."

"Well, Derek was the busiest out of all my babies," Carolyn said. "So chances are your baby will be just as busy."

"Great," Meredith sighed. "Thanks, Derek."

"Hey, you could have been busier than me," Derek frowned.

"Well, I don't know that," she shrugged. "And it would be your fault anyways."

"Of course," Derek rolled his eyes.

"And the house?" Carolyn prompted.

"It's amazing," Derek said.

"We have a roof," Meredith nodded against Derek's chest.

"Well, that's something every house needs," Carolyn laughed. "Now, I've just gotten a phone call from Mark and Lexie."

"They just told you?" Derek frowned.

"Well, yes," Carolyn said. "I assumed that you already knew."

"They got engaged over a month ago," Derek said. "I thought he would have called you right away."

"You would have thought that," Carolyn sighed. "In any case, I wanted to run something by you."

"Of course, Mom," Derek said.

"I'll be coming out for Christmas," Carolyn said. "And Lexie asked me to help her plan the wedding since her own mother is no longer here. And if the two of you would need help with the baby, I would be more than happy to stay for an extra couple months to help you with your last few months of pregnancy and adjust to life with a newborn."

"Oh," Meredith whispered.

Derek tightened his arms around Meredith. "That's a wonderful offer, Mom," he said. "I think we'll need to talk about it, but we are very excited to have you out here for Christmas. And it's great that you're going to help Lex and Mark plan the wedding."

"Of course, dear," Carolyn smiled. "Talk it over and let me know when you've made a decision. And there is no pressure, either way."

"Thanks, Mom," Derek said. "We appreciate it."

"It would be my pleasure," Carolyn said. "I'll let you go, but let me know if there's anything you need me to do."

"Thanks," Meredith said softly.

"I love you both," Carolyn said. "The girls send their love as well. Liz is trying to get some time off so she can get out there to throw you a shower."

"Oh," Meredith giggled slightly. "I'll call her soon."

"We love you too, Mom," Derek said. "Bye."

"Good bye, dear."

Meredith looked up at Derek as he hung up the phone. "What do you think?" he asked softly.

"I think…it would be nice," Meredith whispered into his chest. "But would it be weird? Having your mom living with us?"

"I'd like it," Derek nodded. "Neither one of us know how to handle a newborn, Mer. I know we'll learn quickly, but for the first couple weeks, it might be nice to have someone who knows babies to show us what to do."

"It wouldn't be like…cheating?" she asked. "To have someone telling us what to do?"

"Definitely not cheating," Derek laughed, amused at his wife's self doubt. "It's just an extra set of hands. Every new set of parents would kill for that."

"It would be nice," Meredith smiled. "And I have to help with the wedding stuff too, right? That's what the maid of honor does?"

"It is," Derek smiled as he trailed his hands along her back.

"Okay," Meredith nodded as she pressed her lips against his. "Your mom can stay with us."

"Really?" Derek asked, unable to hide his joy at the thought of spending a significant amount of time with his mom.

"Really," Meredith giggled. "Though I never pegged you as a mama's boy."

"I'm not a mama's boy," Derek frowned.

"You so are," Meredith giggled as she settled against his chest, trying to ignore the small voice of doubt in the back of her head.