Alright, since it's exam time, I figured the schedule can be forgotten for a little while and I decided to randomly post instead. I also saw the sneak peek for tonight's episode and I'm already on a Grey's high. So, here it is.

It's a cute chapter, especially the first part!

Enjoy!

Chapter 21

Meredith stumbled on the couch as soon as she put Zola on the floor, her face splitting in a tired grin as she watched her baby girl entertain herself with the herd of colorful toys scattered around her on the mat. She placed a hand on her stomach and sighed loudly.

Sleep sounded really appealing after six hours in the OR. Really freaking appealing. But Derek was still on his way home from his shift and she had promised to wait up. Even if it wasn't even eight in the evening she was ready to collapse. Growing another human being was having a toll on her.

"Mama" Zola looked at her with tired eyes, crawling towards her with a sleepy pace, then she stood up and rested her head on her thigh, spent. Apparently, it had been a long day for her as well.

"Are you tired too ZoZo?" she asked with a smile, caressing the baby's curls. Under her hand, Zola nodded faintly "Come here, we'll wait for Daddy all snuggled together" she smiled simply and Zola dragged her tired little feet closer to her.

Meredith sat up a little straighter, stretching her feet on the chaise, and pulled Zola up, sitting her on her lap. Zola leaned heavily against her and her body collided with the new-found baby bump, making her frown.

Meredith smiled down sweetly at her, watching as her tiny dimpled hand ran on the curve of her stomach, studying it cautiously.

"It wasn't there last time you sat in my lap, wasn't it?" Meredith spoke softly, catching Zola's questioning gaze and reassuring her with a smile while she fought the tiny tears filling her eyes at the sight.

"Mama?" her small voice was curious, doubtful and tired.

"There's your little sibling growing in there. You are going to be a big sister soon, Zola" Meredith's voice caught a little, overwhelmed by the emotions.

"Sis?" she repeated, frowning.

"Yep, you will be a big sister. Mama has a baby in her tummy" she explained, biting her lip to keep the tears from spilling.

Zola's gaze turned from curious to worried "Zo baby" she claimed, her questioning eyes filling with a set of completely different tears than Meredith's.

"Of course you are my baby Zola. You are the most perfect baby" Meredith reassured quickly, kissing the top of her head, her heart breaking a little at her scared expression "But there's going to be another little baby to play with soon"

"Fia play"

"Of course you can play with Sofia, but this baby will stay with you every day and you can have a lot of fun together as soon as she or he is big enough"

"Oh" Zola frowned, still not convinced, her attention shifting back to Meredith's stomach, her little hands patting it again.

Meredith's tired brain drew a blank at that. She had absolutely no idea how to explain this huge change to an almost two-year-older, especially after such a long day. Her neurons were rebelling.

"Hey" came a voice from the doorframe and Meredith turned towards Derek with a smile, sighing in relief at the distraction. Zola mimicked her tired grin.

"You're home" she mumbled quietly, then added "I missed you" watching as he lifted himself from the leaning position and came to sit on the chaise, in the space next to her feet.

"We saw each other for lunch" he smiled softly, tired as well.

"I just missed you" she confessed, sighing deeply "I didn't even hear you come in. How was your shift?"

"Nothing special, Mere. Just work without a OR involved" he sighed and she knew it was bothering him, not being able to operate yet.

She decided to change the subject "How much did you hear?"

"Most of it" he grinned, tickling Zola and forcing her to turn towards him and wriggle in Meredith's hold.

"Dada!" she shrieked in protest, but still giggled tiredly, her back leaning heavily on Meredith as she wriggled to avoid his playful fingers.

"Oh Zo, what is Daddy doing to you?" Meredith grinned amused, trying to shield her from the tickle attack. When Zola half laughed, half yawned, Derek realized it was time to stop.

Zola yawned again then patted Meredith's bump again stating "Baby" as she looked up to meet Derek's twinkling eyes.

"Yeah Zo, there's a baby in there" Derek smiled widely, amazed at the sight of his whole family together like this. "Your baby sibling"

Not baffled by the thought of someone else sharing her Mama's body anymore, Zola leaned her head on Meredith's stomach and closed her eyes with a wide yawn. Meredith's eyes widened a little as she looked up to an amused Derek. She rubbed Zola's back evenly as the two of them kept looking at each other, words failing them.

In a moment Zola was a dead weight on top of Meredith, sleeping soundly.

"You know, she snores like her Mama" Derek grinned widely and Meredith kicked him lightly on his side, making him wince as he suppressed his laugh. Meredith had to bit back a giggle when Zola indeed started emitting tiny rumbling snores and shifted in her lap, basically straddling her.

Meredith picked her up and held her a little higher, Zola's cheek now resting in the crook of her neck as her hand grabbed a fistful of Meredith's top.

"We should buy a book with a story of a big sister or something and read it together. I still have no idea how to properly explain to her what is going on, and honestly, birds and bees seem quite overrated, especially with two surgeons as parents" Meredith sighed, suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed.

"We could find a book" Derek smiled softly, sitting at the edge of the chaise while picking up Meredith's feet and placing them on his lap. "Looks like the three of you had a busy day" he added, rubbing the sole of Meredith's left foot with his thumb.

"Looks like it. I'm sure that livers were mocking me today"

"Were they?" he grinned, his movements turning into a proper foot rub as soon as he noticed the relaxed expression on Meredith's face. "Close your eyes"

"Your wrist feels good enough to do this?"

He hummed in agreement, shifting his attention to the tendons in her ankles. "Despite all the charting I did today"

"Good. Hmm, keep going" she smiled in bliss, ignoring his complaints but making him grin back nonetheless. "This feels really good"

"Is this okay?" he asked, moving to the sole and digging his thumbs in her flesh, a little amused at how out of it she already was.

"That's the spot" she moaned when he touched exactly the inch that had been bothering her since her last surgery and she squirmed a little.

"Up or down or in circles?" he asked, moving her foot on his lap

"Harder, just harder" she moaned again and felt him stir up under her heel; she blushed, mumbling an apologetic "Sorry"

"Relax, it's fine"

"You don't feel very relaxed" she smirked, her eyes still closed.

"Go with it" he smiled, shifting her feet again then paying attention to both her soles.

"Oh God, right there" she whined, biting her lip as her muscles and tendons relaxed under his magic hands "Please don't stop"

"What are you doing? There's a baby in the room!"

The horrified yelp came from Cristina who had, as usual, burst in the house without even announcing herself.

"We should revoke her key privileges" Derek mumbled between himself and Meredith smiled at that, only to moan a second later.

"Foot rub Cristina" she added when he slowed the massage to gentle strokes and she found her coherency again. "There's indeed a baby in the room" but Zola kept sleeping peacefully, despite the commotion, while Meredith reopened her eyes instead.

Cristina looked at her for a moment then sighed, plopping on the couch next to Meredith, but as far as she could, glaring at Derek.

"I'm going to bring said baby to bed" Derek added, knowing that Cristina needed some girl time, despite being the antithesis to girly personified. Meredith looked suddenly disappointed and he whispered in her ear "I'll continue this later, I promise. Zola needs her bed and Cristina needs you" then he kissed her cheek sweetly.

Meredith sighed loudly, clearly her nightly plans didn't involve talking to Cristina at this point, but Derek watched as she smiled, kissing Zola's head "Night ZoZo, sweet dreams"

Derek stood up and gathered Zola in his arms, dropping another fleeting kiss on top of Meredith's hair when he was about to leave and she sighed, sated.

"Thanks for the foot rub" she called out as he walked away and she heard him chuckle in their foyer.

"Foot rub my ass, he had a tent in his slacks" Cristina mumbled.

"Okay, you think we'd have sex with Zola in my arms?" Meredith spat, glaring at her supposedly best friend "Hormones might make me horny as a teenager, but seriously?"

"No, I... No" Cristina swallowed, clearly not meaning to be so harsh.

"Why are you here?" Meredith asked bluntly. She knew there must have been a very good reason why her person had barged in her house in the middle of nowhere at nine thirty in the evening and surely it was not to interrupt a heavenly foot rub.

"I talked to Owen" she whispered "Like you said at the party. But we were at work and my pager beeped and..."

"You haven't seen him since and you're scared of going home" Meredith completed, knowingly, plainly.

"Look, I'm sorry I interrupted whatever the two of you were doing" Cristina strangely noticed her inappropriate timing and Meredith took a long breath, her way to accept the apology.

"As much as I love you Cristina, you can't just barge in here. This is our house. We moved out of my mother's house because there were always people barging in" Meredith sighed "If we wanted to have sex on the couch tonight that was our business only and here we can have that"

"I just needed..."

"A place to crash. I know that. That's why I had a key made for you, because I knew you'd need it as some point or I would need you to come here and talk me out of killing Derek, but this doesn't mean that you spend more time here, hiding from Owen, than at your house"

"I can't go back there"

"Of course you can. His reaction might just surprise you" she encouraged with a smile and Cristina looked at her strangely. "What?"

"You sound like a mother" Cristina smirked, making her friend cast her gaze low, then added "Or Bailey" and Meredith laughed at that.

"Zola noticed my ever-expanding stomach tonight" Meredith sighed, her hand lingering on the swell called up in the conversation as her grin dissolved slowly.

"And?"

"Now she knows the words 'baby' and 'sis'. It's weird and scary and I'm too tired to even think about the implications of the revelation"

Cristina took in her friend's appearance and she wondered for a split second where was the girl who drank tequila like water and took her boss home from a bar. And her answer was indeed 'Right there', and it was even scarier than the thought itself.

"You think I should go home, then?" Cristina revolved the conversation back.

"Yeah. Tell him you wanted to see if I made it home safely because Derek's shift dragged a little longer or something, we'll cover up for you"

"Okay" she sighed, standing up "Thank you Mer"

"You're welcome. Just...never interrupt foot rubs again until I pop this baby out, okay?" Meredith smiled softly at her friend, watching as Cristina's features relaxed.

"Tell McDreamy he's whipped, by the way" Cristina smirked, finally a little spark back in her eyes.

"He knows that already and he freaks out every time I tell him how worse it could be if we're having another girl"

Meredith watched her best friend laugh all the way to the front door and sighed deeply when she heard it click shut. She climbed upstairs and joined Derek in their bedroom.

He was sitting propped up against the headboard flipping through the Journal of Medicine, but he immediately looked up when she entered the room.

"Owen issues?" he asked, tilting his head as he put away the magazine

"Yeah. I asked her not to barge in anymore"

"It was hilarious this time, though" he grinned, welcoming her in his arms as she snuggled under the covers.

"It really was" she giggled when he kissed her lips quickly. "So, that foot rub..." she trailed off, before he could turn her flat on her back and kiss her heatedly, pinning her under his body.

"So unfinished" he grinned, their eyes locking before they joined lips

"I have to agree" she moaned, this time in need, when his hand sneaked under her t-shirt.

"We can't leave things unfinished, can we?" he replied seriously but playfully, continuing the assault with his mouth and she let him sweep her away in bliss.

When they laid side by side in a close embrace, naked, panting and sweaty, she giggled, hiding in his chest.

"Best foot rub ever"

"More foot rubs I say" he chuckled as well, kissing the top of her head lovingly.

Her phone rang on her nightstand and she blindly answered it, her sigh loud and annoyed, wishing that the hospital left alone a pregnant woman for once.

"He surprised me" Cristina's whisper reached her ear, mingling with another undistinguished buzz before she could even process a greeting.

"I told you" Meredith smiled, suddenly the call a little less annoying, feeling Derek spoon her from behind and pecking at her neck soft, wet kisses. She shifted and wriggled in his hold, trying to maintain her coherency, but not being able to keep herself from letting out a teeny tiny yelp when he found her earlobe and bit on it.

"Is McDreamy feeling you up?" Cristina's voice finally reached her brain

"Maybe" she giggled, repressing a moan when he hit another particularly sensitive spot on the back of her neck.

"I'll leave you two to it, I have a third round to get to"

"Apparently your husband is not awake as mine is" she smiled again, feeling Derek groan behind her as she wriggled against him

"Oh, he'll wake up" Cristina grinned "Thanks for the bad image, though"

"You're welcome" Meredith grinned "Derek, stop!" she giggled when he placed an open-mouthed kiss on her collarbone.

"Better hang up now" Cristina replied quickly, before the phone clicked shut.

Meredith threw it back on the nightstand and rolled towards Derek.

"Where were we?" she whispered, running her foot on his calf and he grinned, his eyes dark and sparkling all at the same time.

"Definitely not finished with this round of foot rub"

So, Zola knows now. And she's apparently unfazed by the news or too tired to process it. I think that at her age it wouldn't really matter though, not until she sees the actual baby anyway. Writing it had me melting in cuteness and I really hope at some point we'll get to see Zola rub Meredith's belly. I'm not too selfish to ask for that, right?

Anyways, inappropriate Cristina made an appearance and she's so much fun to write in this. It took me a while to figure out her character, but I love the friendship she has with Meredith.

I really hope you enjoyed this and happy Grey's night to all of you who live in the USA! Us poor fellows with inglorious time zones for live air hours will enjoy it on Friday so please, no spoilers if you happen to review before Friday ;)

Expect random updates from now on and hopefully another one on 29 Years!