Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's, although I wish I did, but I have to admit Shonda is doing a great job with S7 so far... much better than S6 (: Okay, minus the finale. THAT was worth the entire season. But season 7 is good (:
It had been almost a week since the last time Derek walked through the doors at Seattle Grace. It had been a long time since he had been away from this place for such a long period of time, but he hadn't had enough time in the last week to miss it. It was still buzzing with the same energy, and a lot of people congratulated him and Meredith as they walked through the very familiar halls, passing mostly familiar faces.
"It looks like you two are well known around here," Carolyn commented as she followed them.
Meredith giggled. "You have no idea."
Carolyn tilted her head to the side, sort of in the same way a dog does when you make funny noises or do something they don't recognize.
"Mom, things that have happened here, in this hospital, in Seattle, aren't all things you want to hear about," Derek said, not wanting to explain why they were so popular.
"Oh shush Derek," she said. "I know how you and Meredith met and what happened after that." Meredith blushed. "But not in detail," she reassured her. "But from what I've heard and witnessed, this hospital is known for its drama and relationship's. Why does yours stand out?"
Derek laughed. "Because we were the trend starters."
"Derek!" Meredith exclaimed as she slapped him.
"I've told you, no physical abuse, Dr Grey," they heard Miranda's very familiar voice.
They all laughed. "Sorry Dr Bailey," she answered. "It looks like I'll need to sit in a timeout."
Miranda gave her a look and Meredith remembered being on a timeout several years before.
"I've already given you one too many timeouts in your life," she answered, as if knowing that that was what Meredith was thinking about.
She smiled and continued her way down the hallway.
It was only when Miranda was out of sight that Meredith realized what she had called her. She was no longer Dr Grey.
"This may get confusing," she thought out loud.
"What may get confusing?" Derek asked, catching Meredith by surprise. She hadn't realized she had said it out loud.
"Dr Grey, Dr Shepherd." Derek nodded, understanding what she meant. "I hope I get to see the expression on Miranda's face when she finds out."
Derek laughed. "I wish I could be there too."
They made their way down to Derek's office, showing Carolyn everything from the nurse's station to empty patient rooms. When they finally reached the catwalk, they were stopped by one of their many Seattle Grace friends.
"Meredith! You're back! And Carolyn, good to see you again," Addison greeted them. She gave both of the women hugs. Meredith felt weird, not because of the hug, but because it didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable.
"Hey, what about your new best friend?" Derek asked, with a fake pout.
Addie laughed. "Mark and I have decided that rather than fighting over who gets to be your best friend, we'd be each other's best friends." When Addison noticed the worried look on Carolyn's face, she added; "And nothing more. Don't worry, we won't make the same mistake again." She smiled and Carolyn relaxed.
"Meredith, will you be my best friend then?" Derek asked, still pretending to be heartbroken.
"Sorry, that's Cristina's job." Meredith giggled as Derek shook his head with a mocking smile on his face.
"I'll just have to find a better best friend. Someone who's better than all of you."
"Good luck," Meredith and Addison answered together. Derek huffed and started heading back towards his office, leaving the girls behind.
"I like seeing this," Carolyn said with a smile. "All of you are such good friends. It's amazing for me to see you and Derek this happy around each other. It's been a very, very long time."
"Since before we were married," Addie answered with a smile. "And now that I have stolen Mark from Derek, you're the next thing I've got to steal from Derek," she said with a laugh as she pointed to Meredith.
"Oh don't worry," Meredith assured her. "The sisters didn't have much trouble. I'm sure you won't either."
The three woman laughed and Addison continued her way towards her patient's room after saying goodbye. Meredith and Carolyn caught up to Derek who was waiting for them outside his office.
"Are you guys all done stealing my dignity?" he asked with a laugh.
"Yeah," Meredith answered. "For today."
Carolyn laughed as Meredith gave Derek a kiss to make things all better. He proceeded by knocking on his office door before entering.
"Ah, Derek," Richard said as he entered, followed by Meredith and Carolyn. "Hi Meredith, Carolyn."
"Good morning Richard," Meredith said with a smile. "How has it been, being chief again and all?"
"Not as good as I remember it. I've realized that I definitely don't want it back."
Derek laughed. "What happens the next time I take a few days off?"
Richard smiled. "Okay, a few days here and there aren't too bad."
Derek nodded. "Good then, because I don't know if I can trust Mark with being in charge of the entire surgical wing."
"There's always Addie," Richard answered. "And by the looks of it, Preston too. The four who had competed for the position in the first place." Derek smiled at the memory. "But of course, the one I chose was the one who ended up with the position."
Meredith shrugged her eye brows. "What do you mean, the one you chose?" She didn't understand.
Derek looked back and forth between Meredith and Richard. Finally, he decided he should just tell her then and there.
"Richard offered me the position, before Preston ran off, before we broke up, before Addie left. I turned it down."
Meredith just stood in shock.
"But it doesn't matter anymore. He has it now, and that's all that matters. And this is your first day back as an officially married couple. And as a Shepherd, Meredith. Good luck with all the confusion." Meredith forgot about the whole chief topic and laughed at Richard's comment. She then noticed that her new lab coat and ID were still sitting on Derek's desk. She went over and picked them up and turned towards her husband and her mother.
"This is going to be quite the day."
Derek and Carolyn laughed.
"Good luck," Carolyn said.
"I'll need it." She put her stuff back on the desk as she wasn't due to start work for another hour. They decided they'd finish Carolyn's tour.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Jackson and Cristina were in the underground tunnels of the hospital when they heard voices. It didn't happen very often, but people did pass through the very secluded area of the hospital. Cristina was however surprised when she recognized her person walking through the doors.
"Mer!" she exclaimed as she waved her over.
Meredith walked over to her person and her brother and smirked. "Working hard, or hardly working?"
Cristina snorted. "Charts."
Meredith laughed. "Well at least you haven't been piled with them for entire days," she glanced at Derek who just pulled her by the waist and kissed the top of her head.
"Patient safety," was all he said as a response.
"We're just giving Carolyn a tour of the hospital," Meredith explained.
"And you came to the basement…?" Cristina asked.
"Ran out of places to show her," Derek explained. "Although it is a big hospital, a lot of it is off limits to visitors."
Cristina scoffed. "Yeah and I'm sure the chief of surgery would have such a hard time getting his mother into the employee only parts of the hospital."
"Hey, I never said I didn't show her those places."
"I loved the view of the OR from the gallery," Carolyn said with a laugh. "But actually being in an empty OR scared me. I'd rather stick to the gallery, or even the waiting room."
"Mom, that was our little secret," Derek said with a chuckle.
"Don't worry, we won't tell anybody," Jackson assured them.
After saying goodbye, the three Shepherd's continued their way and Jackson pulled Cristina back into his arms.
"Meredith seems to be having a good time with her new mom," Jackson said once they were alone again.
"Yeah, it looks like we've both changed since the beginning of our Seattle Grace life," Cristina answered as she cuddled into her boyfriend's arms. But then she pulled back out. "That doesn't mean I want to meet your parents anytime soon."
Jackson laughed and pulled her back down into her position. "Don't worry. My mom's dead. And you already know my dad, quite well actually."
Cristina turned around in his arms. "Does it bother you that you didn't get to meet your birth mom before she died?"
Jackson thought about it for a very short time, then shook his head. "From what I've heard, she's wasn't much of a mom anyway, so I haven't missed out on much. Sometimes I wish Meredith had been put up for adoption too, that way she wouldn't have had such a terrible childhood."
"But she's found her real family now."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
After finishing their tour of the hospital, Meredith, Derek and Carolyn ended back up in Derek's office.
"And that concludes today's tour folks," Derek imitated a tour guide. "Come again."
Both women just rolled their eyes.
"Sometimes I ask myself what I see in him," Meredith whispered just loud enough so Carolyn could hear her.
"I've heard from many people it's the hair and the smile, but other than that…"
Meredith laughed. "His heart is enormous and his bubbly yet arrogant attitude melts your heart you just don't know how you can live without him."
Carolyn smiled. "That's my son."
"Are you guys talking about me?" Derek asked from behind his desk.
"No of course not hunny," Carolyn said with a smile.
Derek just rolled his eyes. "Women."
"You do realize one of the women in this room is pregnant with your baby and very hormonal," Carolyn said as she glared at Derek, trying to hide her smile.
"Yes and I also know that both of the women in this room are women I would never want to lose and that I love both of them so much and they know it even when I say things I don't mean."
"Nice try Derek, but you never roll your eyes at your pregnant wife," Carolyn said as she looked at Meredith. "She's going to go through hell for you, so you don't get to roll your eyes. Besides, it's very immature." Carolyn looked back at her son just as Meredith stuck her tongue out at her husband.
"Mom! Did you see that? And you call me immature!"
"I don't know what you're talking about DerBear. Meredith is very mature. She wouldn't stoop down to your level." She looked over to her daughter and winked, a wink that Derek could not see.
"Mom likes me better now," Meredith said, surprising herself as she called Derek's mother mom. She looked over at Derek who now had a great big smile on his face.
"That makes five girls Derek," Carolyn said with a laugh. "It looks like you're never going to escape women."
"And that's fine by me," he answered as he walked over to the couch, picked up Meredith into his arms and kissed her passionately, not caring that his mother was standing right there. Carolyn just smiled at her son's finally discovered happiness.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Meredith was in the locker room getting changed when she noticed that her old lab coat was still in her locker. She put it in the bottom of her bag, deciding to keep it as a souvenir of the good times she had at Seattle Grace.
"Gotch'a!" she heard her favorite voice say and she felt his arms wrap around her waist.
"Derek! No more sneaking up on me!"
"Sorry," he said as he kissed her cheek. There was no one else in the locker room, so Meredith didn't mind these types of things. She even didn't mind them all that much when people were around, but she preferred it when they were alone.
Meredith turned around and kissed him on the lips as he pulled her closer. When they pulled apart, Derek backed up and Meredith didn't understand why.
"Dr Meredith Shepherd," he said with a smile. He was looking at her lab coat that she was now wearing for the first time. "I love it."
Meredith giggled just as he grabbed her hand and they headed out of the locker room.
"Where's mom?" Meredith asked. When she had left, Carolyn was still with Derek in his office. But now she wasn't with them.
"She decided she'd head out and either go back to the house or visit some of Seattle. I told her I could walk her to the door, but she insisted she could do it alone. She used the excuse that she wanted to see if she could find Mark or Lexie before heading out."
Meredith just nodded and smiled. "You were lucky to have such an amazing mother growing up."
"Well now she's yours too," Derek answered as he kissed the top of her head.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Meredith decided she'd start her shift by meeting her brother and her best friend in the tunnels. She knew that when they had charts to do, they spent most of their day down there because it could take a long time to finish all the charts they had. But when she walked in through the doors, she just laughed.
"No wonder you guys aren't done yet!" she exclaimed.
Cristina and Jackson pulled away from each other, letting go of each other's lips. They both had huge smiles.
"Break time?" Cristina suggested.
Meredith just laughed as she joined the two on the stretcher. "Don't worry about the whole lovey dovey thing. I'm probably just as bad."
Cristina nodded. "I would say worse, nauseating even, but now I know what it feels like, so I know how you feel for McDreamy."
Meredith looked at Jackson and smiled. "It looks like you're not getting rid of her anytime soon."
Jackson smiled back. "Not planning on it."
Just then, they saw Dr Montgomery come through the doors. "Dr Avery, Dr Yang, Dr Shepherd," she smiled as she looked at Meredith. "I need a resident on my surgery. Anybody interested?"
Cristina just looked at Meredith with incredulous eyes. "Did she just say Shepherd?"
Meredith smiled and looked back at Addie. "These two are stuck with charts and I haven't cut in a week. I'll take it."
"Good. My patient is being prepped right now. Meet me in OR 3 in fifteen minutes."
Meredith nodded and was about to follow Addie out to ask how she knew, when Cristina stopped her.
"Shepherd?" She looked at the name on her lab coat and was surprised that it no longer said Dr Meredith Grey. "You…?"
"Changed my name?" Meredith asked for Cristina. "Yeah, on the wedding day. I'm tired of being a Grey. I'm a new person with a new family. So I have a new name."
Cristina was still in shock, but Jackson was smiling.
"I forgive him," he said.
"What?" Meredith asked.
"For what happened, I forgive him. I hadn't completely forgiven him until the wedding, but I do now. He's a good man, and I've come to realize that he'll never hurt you like that again."
Meredith smiled and gave her brother a hug. "Thank you."
"You're the She-Shepherd now!" Cristina finally spoke.
Meredith shook her head. "No way am I being called that. We used to call Addie that. I'm not getting a hand-me-down name."
Jackson laughed. "You deserve better."
"Well when you think of something, let me know."And with that, Meredith headed off in search for Addison.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Carolyn had found Lexie and after having talked about little things, like supper plans and schedules, she decided she'd head home to Derek and Meredith's for a little while before heading to the shops of Seattle.
When she got in the elevator, she noticed there were only two other occupants. She didn't pay much attention to them, but she couldn't help but overhear something that threw her off.
"It won't last," one of the two said to the other. "Everybody here knows Derek and Meredith's past. They know it's always on and off. But this, they're going to regret it, or Derek will regret it, and it'll be off for good."
Carolyn felt rage build up inside of her and she couldn't just stand around and do nothing. So being the mother that she was, she spoke up.
"How can you say something like that? If you don't know Derek and Meredith enough to know that there is no way that you or anybody else will break them, then you have no right to speak about them like that. You don't know Derek and Meredith."
The girl, who she had already guessed the identity of looked at her, partly confused, partly scared and mostly angry.
"And you do?"
Carolyn laughed. "Well I've known Derek since the day he was born. I've been through his entire life with him and have seen him happy, and more often I've seen him sad. But I haven't seen him as happy as he is now. And I've gotten to know Meredith in the last little while and I know that she loves Derek more than life itself. They're madly in love, and your stupid little games aren't going to hurt them like you hope they do."
The nurse just rolled her eyes. "And you are?"
"Carolyn Shepherd."
Her eyes grew into the size of golf balls and Carolyn knew that she had scared the girl.
"Sh-Shepherd?" she stammered.
"Derek's mother to be exact. And Meredith's mother now. And I already know who you are. You must be Rose."
Rose just stared blankly until Carolyn started to speak again.
"I've heard plenty about you, and none of its good. Now, I suggest you stay away from my son and his wife or else you'll have to deal with my wrath. And a mother always, always protects her little ones."
As if on cue, the elevator stopped and Carolyn marched out. When the doors closed again, she smiled as she thought about the reaction Derek would have when he found out she met a very unliked person of his past.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
"Wait up!" Meredith exclaimed as she caught up to Addison. She turned around and smiled.
"I take it Cristina didn't know about the whole last name thing, did she?" Addie asked.
"No, nobody but Richard, Lexie and Mark knew about it at the hospital. How'd you know?"
Addie smiled. "I was visiting Richard in his office, well Derek's office, but anyway. I noticed the lab coat on the desk, and I knew it wasn't Richard's cause he was wearing his, and Derek's was hanging up on the rack. When he noticed me staring at it, he just picked it up and made me read the name."
Meredith nodded. "Does anybody else know around here?"
Addie shook her head. "I don't think so. But everyone will know by the end of the day more than likely. It may be a big hospital, but things travel fast around here."
"So I've noticed," Meredith said with a laugh. "People I don't even know have been congratulating me."
Addie laughed. "You may not know them, but everyone knows about Derek and Meredith. And if they weren't here when everything happened oh so many years ago, you're the chief's wife. They know you."
Meredith sighed. "Popular isn't one of the things I had on my list of things I wanted to be when I grew up. It wasn't on my list in high school either. Why have I been cursed with it now?"
Addie giggled again. "Because you're you."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Callie was standing in front of the surgical board, looking for an empty spot when she noticed something particularly curious.
"Why is Shepherd the resident on Addie's surgery?" she asked out loud, not understanding why the chief of surgery would be assisting on a Neonatal surgery anyway.
"He's not," a voice answered behind her. Callie spun around and came face to face with Derek Shepherd himself.
"Well I don't remember there being any other Shepherd's walking these halls, especially not any residents."
Derek laughed. "Marriage can change people you know."
Callie finally understood. "Meredith is Dr Shepherd!"
"There you go," Derek answered with a laugh.
"How come nobody told us at the wedding?" Callie asked.
"Hey, I didn't even know until the next day."
Callie tilted her head for an explanation.
"I found the lab coat and ID card sitting on my desk, saying Dr Meredith Shepherd. Richard and Meredith had just sat there smiling as I figured it out."
Callie nodded her head. "Well, I have patients to check up on."
Derek nodded. "Yeah and I have paper work that needs some looking after."
Callie laughed. "Have fun."
"Like always."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
After her successful surgery with Addison, Meredith headed down to the pit to see if anybody needed her there. She found a young girl was doing a lot of throwing up. She complained of abdominal pains.
"I swear, if you're pregnant Stacy…" the lady, whom Meredith guessed was her mother exclaimed. She didn't seem too happy.
Meredith walked up to them. "Hi, I'm Dr Shepherd." She felt weird introducing herself like that. "And I can say from personal experience that I went through the same thing you're going through now. The nausea, the abdominal pains. And by the sounds of it, you're not pregnant. Neither was I. I'm going to have to run a few tests, to confirm your case, but it looks like you've got appendicitis."
The mother let out a breath and stopped pacing. She sat down in the chair beside the bed.
"I'm going to take you up for some tests, just because it's necessary to confirm your case, and when we know for sure if that's what it is, we'll let you know."
When Meredith and Stacy returned from their tests, Meredith confirmed that it was appendicitis and that they'd have to do an appendectomy.
She then proceeded to making her way to the ER desk to page Dr Bailey. When she arrived, she seemed to be looking for someone.
"Dr Bailey, who are you looking for?" Meredith asked.
"Dr Shepherd paged me here, I just don't see him."
Meredith giggled which caught Miranda off-guard.
"I paged you here, Dr Bailey," Meredith explained. "I have a sixteen year old with appendicitis. She needs an appendectomy."
Miranda shrugged her eye brows, then noticed the name on Meredith's lab coat.
"Dr Shepherd…" she finally understood. "We'll talk about this later."
Meredith laughed as she led her former resident to her patient.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
After her second surgery on her first day back, Meredith felt an exhaustion she had never felt before. It had only been six hours since her shift started, and yet, she felt more tired than she ever had after a forty-eight hour shift.
"It's probably because you're pregnant Mer," Derek used as an explanation when she came to see him in his office after her appendectomy.
"I'm not even two months along yet! If I'm this tired now, how will I last another seven months?"
Derek could see the tears starting to build in the corners of her eyes. He wasn't used to Meredith crying, and it still hurt to see her broken like this over the little things. He pulled her closer to him and with his hands around her waist, he kissed the top of her head. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up in his eyes.
"I love you," she said with a smile.
"I love you too, don't ever forget that."
"I know."
A knock came at the door and Derek had barely invited the person in when Miranda burst through the doors.
"You changed your name?" she exclaimed.
Meredith just nodded as a smile started to build on her lips.
"You know, it makes you less independent, changing your name," Miranda tried to argue.
"No, it makes me feel like I belong for the first time in my life," Meredith said in a very calm voice. "You don't know what my childhood was like, and I don't want to be Ellis Grey's daughter anymore. I don't want to be a Grey period anymore. I've found my family."
She looked up to Derek who smiled in response.
"You better not have told her to do this," Miranda said as she pointed to Derek.
"Trust me, I had nothing to do with it. I only found out the day after the wedding."
Miranda looked back and forth between the couple, and finally she smiled.
"You guys do make a cute couple in the end. Your children will be precious." And she walked out, leaving the other two with their mouths hanging open.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
"So are you planning a big wedding, a small wedding…?" Izzie asked Lexie while they were eating supper at Izzie and Alex's house. Carolyn was sitting at the table, laughing interiorly at the expression on her soon to be daughter in law's face as Izzie started asking her all of these questions.
"I really liked Derek and Meredith's wedding," she answered. "It wasn't too big, but it was just right. And everybody they loved was there."
Izzie nodded. "It was a pretty amazing wedding. But I'm not organizing another surprise one. Too much secret keeping."
Lexie nodded. "No kidding."
"I think it was amazing," Carolyn said. "It was definitely the first surprise wedding I have been to."
"And probably the last."
Once they finished, Lexie got up from the table. "I want to show you guys something."
Izzie and Carolyn looked back and forth, but neither one of them knew what was going on.
Lexie led them outside and once Izzie realized they were headed towards the woods, she got a little more curious.
"Lexie, where are we going?"
Lexie smiled and started to explain. "We came by yesterday on our lunch break. Mark and I." They reached a cottage that was slightly bigger than Izzie and Alex's, but looked to be about the same style. Trees surrounded it on three sides, and the fourth had a view of the water. Lexie pulled out a key and smiled. "This one's ours."
The expressions on Izzie's and Carolyn's faces were much the same that Meredith and Derek's had been the night before.
Lexie and Mark had found a break in the hospital rush and decided that they wouldn't be missed if they left for a little while. Besides, they were both on-call, so they would be paged automatically if somebody needed them.
They wanted to show Meredith and Derek their new home before they told anybody else. It felt like the right thing to do.
When they got to Meredith and Derek's, they weren't surprised to see them lying on the couch together. It seemed to be quite often that they were like this.
"Hey," Meredith said as she saw them walk in. She sat up and Derek followed her actions and sat up too. "What's brought you guys here?"
Lexie and Mark smiled. "We want to show you guys something," Mark answered. "Where's mom?"
"She's having a nap," Derek answered.
"That's too bad," Lexie answered.
"You can always show her tomorrow when you get off," Mark suggested. Lexie nodded.
"Show her what?" Meredith asked.
"Follow us."
The four of them got into Mark's car and headed down towards the Inn.
"This is déjà view," Derek said with a laugh. "Mark not telling us where were going, then being led down to the Inn."
Meredith laughed.
But they didn't pull into the same driveway as they had the last time. They passed the little dirt drive that led to the Inn and turned into the next one.
When Mark stopped the car, they all got out. Meredith and Derek both looked at the house there in front of them.
"It's ours," Mark said with a smile.
Meredith and Derek's looks were both ones of surprise.
"Would you like the grand tour?"
Lexie asked the same question to her two new guests, even though it was very much the same as Izzie's. But they nodded anyway.
It seemed like all of the Seattle Grace crew was growing up. And it felt amazing.
I know, I know ... it's another slow chapter ... but I promise, they will get better ... not too long from now ... it's coming, I promise (:
.Enjoy!