A couple of weeks had passed since Sadie's arrival. She was 24 weeks now and found herself not sleeping because of the possible solo surgery. She was on call 24/7 just for the first solo surgery. This night she was having a restless night from the baby being active and she decided that she would sit in the spare bathroom and read to not disturb Derek. Sadie had moved out deciding that Meredith wasn't a single doctor anymore. She was a married doctor with two children and another on the way. She wasn't how she had pictured, the partying woman anymore and she left to live with one of the other interns.

"What are you doing up dressed at three in the morning?" Derek asks walking into the bathroom. "I woke and you weren't there."

"Possible solo surgery." He says. "And the baby is really active and I just couldn't close my eyes and relax and sleep."

"That bad tonight?" He asks sitting down beside her.

"Yep." She says.

He rubs his eyes and then places his hands on her stomach and feels the active movements from the baby. The kicking and the moving.

"They're not happy tonight are they?" He says smiling and then notices her reading. "Do you usually read on the bathroom floor?"

"I didn't want to wake you and wanted to read my mother's journals some more."

"What adventures is she getting up to?"

"She's just left my father and Richard has just moved in."

"Do you enjoy reading these?"

"I do. I mean, she was so absent when I was growing up, she would never sit around and tell me stories about her growing ups and stuff. I mean I hated the woman nearly every day of my life for what she did but as I think of it now, if I wasn't her child, I would have liked her. She was funny. And intense. A lot like Cristina. I've only just put that together."

"Yeah. That's true. From what I've known about her." He says. "All about the work and work driven nature. Very much like Cristina. But I never saw your mother laugh or share an emotion rather than being angry at you."

Meredith just smiles at him. "Yeah she rarely laughed. The only memory I have of her laughing was just after Charlie was born and Richard was changing her diaper and Charlie peed in his mouth. Mom thought it was hilarious and we all stood around laughing at Charlie."

"That seems like a great time."

"It was."

"I actually do remember her laughing." Derek says. "When we went and visited them at Boston. Kaylee was just a little over 7 months old and had gotten the hang of crawling and babbling. Ellis had woken up early that morning lucid and Kaylee had woken as well. I woke up and headed downstairs and in Ellis' arms Kaylee was touching Ellis' face and blowing raspberries on Ellis' cheek and she was giggling at her granddaughter. I mean we were so accustomed to Kaylee's babbling and blowing raspberries that to her it was so new and funny. That's the only time I remember your mother laughing."

"I still wish she was around now and she wasn't sick. She died young Derek. She was only 47 years old when she died. She missed out on her grandchildren, winning another Harper Avery, eventually retiring and waiting for her time to come. I just wish she got to spend more time with all of us and actually see Charlie and Jackson graduate and go off to college and med school. She missed all this time with them."

"I know she did. My dad was the same age as well Mer and he left behind young children and missed out by seeing his grandson born by a day. Life is unfair but it always makes me better just thinking that they are watching over us and they are still experiencing their family life but from somewhere else. And besides we wouldn't have Kaylee and Cooper if they didn't pass."

"That's true. Our beautiful children."

"Come on let's go to bed." He says.

"What to sleep or to actually not sleep at all?" She says just as her pager sounds. "It's Cristina. There's a possible Appy."

"Mer…" He says. "What have I said?"

"I know, I know." She says standing up. "Just after the first solo and I'll be resting for this one."

The two of them leave the bathroom and Derek heads into the bedroom and Meredith down the hall but stops when she hears Cooper.

"Mummy! Daddy!" He screams.

She runs into his room and sees he is still asleep.

"Coopie. Hey it's Mummy." She says rubbing her hand down his back. His body was tossing from side to side. "Coopie wake up baby boy."

Derek comes running into the room. "Coopie, baby boy wake up."

Cooper stops thrashing around and soon wakes up with tears falling down his cheeks.

"It's alright Baby boy." Meredith says.

"Dada." He says crying.

"Go to Dada if you want." She says passing him to Derek. "I have to go Derek."

"You need to start resting Mer. You'll go into preterm labour."

"I will. Just after solo surgery is awarded."

He shakes his head.

"Bye." She says kissing his cheek.

"No more being on call." He says kissing her lips.

"No more." She says kissing him back.

He nurses Cooper and settles him.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yes Dada."

"Well it's alright. How about we go and lie down in my room. I'll keep you safe?"

Cooper nods his head sleepily against Derek's chest.

"What are you all doing here?" Bailey asks as she sees her ex-interns standing around.

"He's mine."

"And she's sharing him with me."

"His mine. I'm on call." George says.

"Good morning Dr Bailey, you look nice."

"Brownnoser. I got here first. And the chief said I'm the one to watch."

"Oh, I get it. It's solo surgery time and you heard the past two years the Chief assigned an appendectomy. So you little mini-surgeons dragged your butts out of bed to pick up some final tips from the master. That's kind of cute. I can use two of you."

"But I'm on call!"

"I filled Meredith in."

"Jason Kron, 47, tenderness over McBurney's point."

"Karev, what do you know about Mr Kron?"

"I know he's a lucky man to have you as a surgeon."

"Arthur Soltanoff, 45, fell from the second-storey window. Stable vitals, fractures and lacerations with head trauma."

"Trauma one. Dr Bailey, I'm going to need one of your residents."

"Me! Mine. I'm in call!" George says.

"It's yours."

"Dr Bailey, we have a patient with severe abdominal pain. Can you spare a resident?"

"Grey and Yang, prep Mr Kron for surgery. Karev you never know, abdominal pain could become an appendectomy." Meredith and Cristina turn and head down to the patients room.

"Do we have to run?" Meredith asks.

"Well no but I want to prep the patient."

"Yeah but you aren't 24 weeks pregnant. I have something growing inside of me. A human life. And not running is something I don't need."

"Fine." She says. "You're soft."

"You say that all the time. I'm not soft I'm just tired I've barely slept in the past 3 weeks."

"Why?"

"Solo surgeries Cristina. Lots and lots of talk about solos."

"Well you can skip this one." She suggests.

"No way. I'm here now. I just need to wait until the first person is awarded and I can go back to sleeping and preparing for my child."

"Yeah that reminds me. When do you want a baby shower planned?"

"You're planning me a baby shower?"

"Well, no. Izzie is. I just have to get information from her."

"Whenever. Can we talk about this later?"

"Of course."

…

"Are you looking for something?" Meredith asks Sadie, Ryan and Danny.

"We were giving Sadie the tour. This is the OR board. And this is a patient. You're in good hands. Dr Grey is an excellent doctor."

"What's next on the tour?"

"Back to the skills lab?"

"Skills lab, great idea."

"I've got to stick with my allies." Sadie says following Danny.

…

"Dr Bailey, do you have to visualise the peritoneum?" Cristina asks.

"Depends. I've seen so many, usually just feel it."

"Did you split the muscle this was or that way?"

"This way. No, that… Hold it. That way. It's the kind of thing that becomes so natural, you don't even think about it after a while." She says then looks at Meredith and Cristina. "The two of you are thinking so hard, it makes me tired just looking at you."

"Yeah and I want to kind of throw up." Meredith says pursing her lips together to try and rid the nauseating feeling.

"You've gone soft." Cristina says.

"I haven't gone soft. My baby seems to not be enjoying the smell as much."

"You've gone soft."

"Yang, leave Grey alone." She says. "We all can't be perfect like you now can we?"

….

"None of my interns are answering pages. Did they go home….?"

"Hey, you! Where at the other morons?"

"I don't know. I was just getting candy and… I don't know."

"Clearly."

"I don't know. I don't know anything." She says walking passed them.

"Hey!" Cristina says. "Give me your chocolate. All of it. Give me that, too."

"Where are the stooges?" Alex asks.

"That moron is a moron, and the other morons are AWOL."

"I need an intern to page me if my guy agrees to crap."

"I wonder if they're in skills lab. Sadie said something about it."

"She's in the hospital?"

"Time in the skills lab is actually paying off for them my interns are still idiots but they're idiots that can put in an IV."

"No, they are just idiots." Cristina says walking away.

"So what's going on with Izzie?"

"I don't know what's wrong. I'm sick of people not talking to each other. I'm gonna go get my crap-chick some crap." Alex says walking away.

Meredith scrunches her nose and takes her pager and looks at it as it sounds.

"Meredith." Danny says. "Do you have a sec?"

Meredith follows Danny to outpatient.

"I think she's dying." Ryan says just as Cristina comes to the room.

"Her BP is dangerously low."

"We need to push two litres of LR."

"Should we call a code?"

"There is no code team in outpatient surgery in the middle of the night because this would be done by a surgeon in a regular OR."

"Page the Chief, get Bailey. Tell her there's an emergency. You're not to say anything else. Take that crazy look off you face." She says to Danny.

They countdown the moments until Bailey gets there. Feeling like forever.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Bailey asks.

"We were trying to take out her appendix."

"Whose foolish idea was that?"

"Mine."

"Where are we?"

"Found the artery in the meso-appendix. Apparently the stitches the interns did came off."

"Hand e a 3-0 silk. I need some more suction. How's her pressure?"

"74 systolic."

"She's really bleeding. I can't see."

"The stump isn't closed. She needs a cecectomy."

"I can't get to the appendiceal artery."

"You can. You almost had it."

"Here."

"Is your visualisation better?"

"I can't see anything!"

"Don't panic. Put that down. Feel down for the meso-appendix. Find the pulsation. Now follow it to the end."

"It feels…. I think I've got it."

"Good. Now, place your clamp."

"OK. That's right. Grey, tie if off while Yang holds the clamp in place."

"Stick-tie or ligature suture?"

"Whatever works. You have to do whatever feels right to you."

"Ligature suture."

…

Closing Sadie up she was taken to the ICU to recover. Cristina and Meredith went down to greet the Chief.

"This is nearly as worse as the LVAD wire." Cristina says.

"I know."

They waited and when they saw Richard approach they saw the pissed off look on his face. They walked towards him.

"Follow me." He says leading them to the conference room.

They stand before him waiting.

"I was sleeping. And sleep isn't easy for me to come by, but I was finally sleeping. Then I get a call."

"I can't believe it. I still can't believe it."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. I've seen a lot of maturity in you though, through this whole mess. You handled the crisis, you handled the surgery. You saved that girls life. And you called for help right away. There was a time you would have reached it at a different conclusion. You could have stuck to the code and saved your own. Tried to hide the mess. Sometimes protecting colleagues is solidarity, and sometimes it's just hubris. I'm glad to see you know the differences." He says.

"Chief… I can't let you two get into trouble for this." Danny says entering the room.

"Danny…"

"It's not right. People tried to stop me. Dr Yang told me to shut it down, but I didn't listen."

"You knew about this yesterday?" He asks Cristina before turning to Meredith. "Did you know?"

"No." She says.

"You knew."

"No!"

"You knew they were gonna cut her open? Danny just said that you knew!"

"Sutures. I knew they were doing sutures. I didn't think we need to say anything because I had shut it down."

"Apparently, you didn't. Cause it almost cost Danny her job, not to mention Sadie almost died!"

"You know what; Sadie did that to herself, and let's not pretend you have a relationship with the Chief. Let's not pretend you care."

"I care about my job! And I care about doing things right!"

"Who are you t lecture me on doing the right thing? Are you kidding me? You're not an attending or a 4th year resident. You may be married to one but it doesn't count."

"Is that what this is about? Derek. It's always gonna be about Derek?"

"Fine, it's not about Derek, it's about you and me and the fact that you didn't have my back in there."

"What would you have wanted me to say?"

"Anything. You should have said anything! You have a relationship with the Chief, you have his ear, you didn't say anything to defend me. Because this isn't just on me. I mean you stood there and watched him take me out of the running for solo surgery. You let me take the blame. We all had interns in that room. We all failed to supervise them. And if your friend died in there, if you and I hadn't saved her life, that would have been on all of us too. You should have said that." Cristina says walking away.

Meredith was stunned and shocked. Her best friend had just yelled at her. She placed her hands on her stomach and took a deep breath in and the exhaled.

"It's going to be ok."

She went off to find the others and they sat and waited for some guidance from Bailey.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"We were wondering…"

"The interns…"

"What are you going to say to them?"

"No. No. I am tired. I'm not saying anything to the interns. I raised my babies. You were my babies. Now you all are grown folks. This is on you. You raise you own babies."

"So we have to talk to them?"

"Your babies."

"What do we say?"

"Do you really need a speech from me? At this point? After time? If you do, you shouldn't be here. If you do, I haven't raised you right. And I know I raised you right. No. You don't get a speech from me. It's time to make your own speeches."

The four looked at one another and went and found their interns. Gathering them and taking them down to Sadie's room."

"Dr Grey, present."

"Sadie Harris, 25, three hours post appendectomy complicated by severe haemorrhaging."

"Death, what is this?"

"Dr Spalding."

"Vitals stable, antibiotic coverage. She should fully recovery within two weeks."

"And?"

"And we, your surgeons, made mistakes that compromised your care. Mistakes that reflect poorly on this hospital and that won't happen again."

"Effective immediately, every intern here is on probation. So much as sneeze, and you're done." Meredith says.

"None of you will see the inside of an OR until further notice."

"You've lost the Chief's respect, which believe me, is not an easy thing to get back."

"And speaking for myself, you've lost, my respect and you won't get that back."

"But he still respects Izzie Stevens."

"What did you say?"

"You seem to still respect Izzie Stevens and she killed a patient."

"She was trying to save a man's life. You almost killed for fun. It's different." He says. The interns attentions turns to the door and Alex follows, seeing Izzie there.

"You are all dismissed."

…

Meredith walked into Sadie's room later on.

"Ok, fine. The surgery was a bad idea."

"No, it was a terrible idea. Speaking as your boss, it was irresponsible and reckless idea that makes me question if you have what it takes to be a good doctor." She says taking off her lab coat.

"Death…"

"And as your friend…. What the hell is going on with you?" She asks sitting down beside her.

"I don't know."

"Sadie, you are one of my closest friends. Today, I don't even want to think what could have happened if we did not get there in time. I don't want to imagine what could have happened." She says. "I could have lost my best friend today. You didn't even consider what you did. You could have ruined your career Sadie."

She looks away from Meredith with tears running down her face.

"I'm going home. I'll be back later to check on you." She says. "Get some rest."

Meredith leaves Sadie's room. She had so many emotions running through her body she did not know how to feel. She changed and headed home. It was just after 6 in the morning and the city was starting to wake. She walked through the front door and headed upstairs to the bedroom. She opened the door and collapsed onto the bed beside Derek. Derek looked at her and then at Cooper, to not disturb him. Cooper was asleep in Meredith's side.

"You're home? How was work?" He asks. She looks at him and breaks down. "No please don't cry." He says placing a hand on her cheek. "Please don't cry Mer."

She continues to cry and he pulls her into his arms and holds her. Just comforting her. He had no idea what had happened to make her upset. He just wanted her to be alright.

Her body shook uncontrollably against him as her sobs took over her body. She was ten times more hormonal as well so she was unable to stop. He rubbed her back and held her until she was okay to talk again.

Nearly ten minutes passed and she was able to speak again.

"Ok, tell me what happened?" He says.

"Sadie nearly died."

"What?" He asks shocked.

"The interns were doing this secret suture thing. Something that has been going on for a while now. They had been sutured each other and doing central lines and giving each other epidurals. Sadie suggested they take out each other's appendix. So Sadie volunteered to have hers taken out. They went behind our backs. Went to outpatient surgery and performed the surgery. Her appendix was inflamed and that's when complications arose. She nearly bled out and died. They nearly killed each other for fun."

"Oh, god. What happened after that?"

"Well Bailey came and helped us after we were asked for help. Then Richard came, unimpressed that he was woken up and he congratulated us for getting help but then Danny came in and she blurted that Cristina knew."

"Oh…"

"She is out of the running for the first solo surgery. Our interns are on probation for probably the rest of their careers. Sadie is lying in a hospital bed and Cristina isn't talking to me anymore."

"She isn't? Why?"

"I didn't have her back in the room. I didn't know, so why should I?"

"Cristina is Cristina." He says. "I don't know. You must be tired Mer, you've been on call for the past month. You haven't been sleeping. You just came off a 14 hour shift and you went back again for nearly five hours. You need your rest."

"Derek I am fine." She says yawning.

"Mer, please? You are 24 weeks pregnant. I want you to slow down and sleep. You need rest and so does the baby. If you keep going you'll find yourself with preeclampsia and you may go into preterm labour. I don't want to see my baby in the NICU. I want to be able to take him or her home a few days after you have it. I don't want the baby to be born 6 weeks early and struggling to stay alive." He says. "It would cause more stress to you."

"I know."

"We have the 24th week scan today. You have the day off. You are going to lie in this bed and not move until we have to leave for the scan. You'll close your eyes and rest."

"Derek!"

"Meredith, I am being serious. If you move from this bed I will hurt you. And I am being serious."

"Fine." She says.

Derek climbed out from the bed and Meredith moved under the blankets. Derek sat beside her.

"Do you want anything?"

"Water please."

"Coming right up."

He came back into the room after fetching her water and she was fast asleep.

…

"24 weeks." Dr French, Meredith's OB says as Meredith sits up on to the exam table. "16 more to go. Time has seemed too flown."

"Oh it surely has." Meredith says smiling and placing a hand on her stomach. "I'm excited for the end of the 16 weeks so I can hold my baby."

Derek smiles beside Meredith. He had Cooper and Kaylee with him.

"I want to see my baby sibling Dr French." Kaylee says.

"She's more excited than me." Meredith says joking.

Dr French just laughs. "That's the way it usually is." She says. "Anyway, it's just the routine ultrasound again today, just to check if Baby Shepherd is doing good. Developing well and stuff like that. We'll look at the baby's lungs and heart and intestines today. We can pick up on any abnormalities as well." She says taking a seat. "I will ask the two of you again, are we going to find out the sex of the baby today or not?"

Meredith and Derek smile at each other.

"No knowing. We want a surprise. Just like Kaylee and Cooper were. We love the not knowing part because it's a sense of being impatient and guessing and choosing names and having a unisex nursery and things like that. It's one of the fun things about expecting."

"Well the first time you and Derek came to me in this office when you were 17 you said that you and him don't want to know the sex of the baby because not knowing was one of the best parts of expecting. You were only 6 weeks but you had everything set in order before we even looked and ran tests." She says. "But I done exactly the same thing when I had my kids and I loved that decision."

Derek squeezes Meredith's hand smiling.

"So are you ready to see your baby?"

"Yes!" Kaylee says.

Dr French starts laughing along with Meredith and Derek.

"I can't believe that 7 years ago she was the little girl inside growing inside of you. The little grainy, black and white picture of your first ultrasound has turned into this bright, bubbly and beautiful 6 year old."

"I'm nearly 7, Dr French."

"See what I mean. It's just beautiful seeing her this age when I took your first ultrasound." She says squirting the gel onto Meredith's stomach. "Let's begin."

She presses the wand onto her stomach and searches for the baby.

"I think it's a little shy today." She says.

"I've been recently poking at my belly where the baby is lying and I get little kicks back. I don't think it appreciates it a lot."

"Most of them don't."

Meredith looked at Kaylee for a second and saw how engrossed she was in the screen. Meredith smiled and turned back to the screen and watched as the baby rolled over.

"Well the baby looks very healthy at this stage." She says. "I'll let you listen to the heartbeat again. I know this is the 3rd pregnancy but it will be a lot stronger than your last visit."

"I can't believe how much it has grown since last visit." Derek says.

"Well it looks very healthy." She says. "And sounds very healthy and strong."

The whoosh sound of the beating heart was like music to her ears. She had been in this position for many times and listened to the heartbeat but it was still beautiful.

"Hey Kaylee, Cooper. That's your baby brother or sister up there." Derek says.

"Whatever it is, it is beautiful." Kaylee says smiling. "I'm going to be a proud sister no matter what."

"Kaylee that is beautiful." Meredith says.

"Thank you Mummy." She says.

"What do you think Coopie?"

"Baby?" He asks.

"Yep that's the baby up there."

Cooper looks at Meredith and Derek and smiles. "My baby."

After their visit they went out for dinner before dropping home. They put the kids to bed and then went and sat on the lounge downstairs looking at the ultrasound.

"I am so proud." He says.

"You already have two kids."

"I'm just a proud father. I will have three kids before we know it."

"I know."

"And I'm so proud of you."

"I'm only carrying the baby."

"You're doing the most beautiful thing in the world. You are sacrificing your body to grow a life. I know you are going to say that this is the 3rd baby but this is your 3rd baby you are bringing to life. The 3rd baby to give a life and have a chance to walk on this earth. You are sacrificing so many things for this human life. I admire women so much for this."

"It's nothing."

"It's something." He says kissing her lips. "It's a beautiful something."

She smiles and kisses him again. The kiss deepened and their bodies move up against each other.

Her hands rest on the back of his neck and his hands roam up and down her back.

They both pulled apart quickly, smiling at each other. Derek hands grasped at her stomach. Meredith placed her hands on top of his and smiled even more as the baby kicked.

"Ok, now we have our soccer player." He says smiling.

"Well you said that about Kaylee and Cooper."

"Well it could happen, in time, it could happen."

She just giggles at him.

"Come on, let's go to bed, carry on what we almost had here." Derek says.

"Are you abusing my very crazy sex hormones?"

"No, just the chance to see your boobs again…. And to make love to you." He says grinning.

"I knew it." She says. "But I'm not complaining."