Thank you, thank you, thank you for every review and for all of you who have stuck with this until the end. Each and every one of you is appreciated! Here we are...the last chapter in the last story. We've finally come to the end. It's bittersweet for me!

The Fight For Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Meredith's labor rapidly intensified over the next couple of hours, and by three that morning she was completely losing her resolve and ability to make it through the blinding pain of her contractions. They were coming fast and furious, and she'd last calculated they were roughly two minutes apart and lasting well over a minute when she finally lost it. "I can't do this!" She almost screamed as another one started.

Derek was there, right there with her, just as he had been through everything. He'd still managed to keep a brave face even as he watched her suffering. "You're doing great." He whispered gently, letting her lean against him as she fought through the pain. She'd wrapped her arms around his neck and he rubbed her hips, holding her up as she started to sink. "Deep breaths. It will pass."

Meredith screamed as the contraction peaked. Her hands moved to grip Derek's shoulders and she was sure she was squeezing them hard enough to hurt him, but in that moment she didn't care. His presence did little, if anything, to help ease the pain. She groaned as the slicing pain across her abdomen started to taper off. "I'm going to throw up." She mumbled. It was the first time she'd been nauseous, and it didn't give her much warning. Derek was barely able to grab the trashcan in time for her to get sick. "I don't think I can do this anymore."

"Yes you can." Derek helped her sit on the bed so she could rest. "I'll be right back." He was relieved when she laid down and closed her eyes, though he knew it wouldn't last long .He wanted her to get some rest. Neither of them had gotten any sleep, and he worried about her stamina.

Meredith was reluctant, but she let go of his hand after a minute and closed her eyes, wishing she could get just a few minutes without contractions. She was exhausted.

Derek went down to the kitchen, getting rid of the bag in the trashcan. He grabbed a bottle of water for each of them before trying to call Addison again. The phone lines were still dead, so he instead reached for the open medical book on the counter, scanning through a bit more of it. A few paragraphs in he found a chart that listed an average frequency of contractions for each stage of labor, and that coupled with the sudden throwing up made him wonder if she'd progressed much faster than they'd expected. He read a bit more before going back to their room, closing the door behind him. "How about some water?" He could tell he'd caught her at the end of another contraction, and he sat down on the edge of the bed, gently rubbing her hand.

"I can't." She mumbled. "Can't drink anything right now."

"Okay." He set both of them on their bedside table. "I think we should check you Mer. It's been a couple of hours and things have really intensified." Derek checked her quickly. "I think you're at least a seven." He was relieved. She was progressing quickly, and from everything he knew and had read, that was a good sign. Pain aside, she was holding up well and there were no signs that anything was going wrong. He'd managed to find the baby's heart beat a few time with his stethoscope, but it was difficult all things considered. They both wished they had a doppler there just to give them more reassurance that she was doing okay, but they ultimately had to trust that their baby would come out of it alright.

"My hips feel like they are splitting in two!" She screamed, writhing against the pain that enveloped her. She rolled onto her side, hands clenched into fists.

Derek reached down and placed his hands on either of her hips after tossing his gloves in the garbage, applying gentle pressure. "That's the baby moving down, Mer. It's a good sign. I know it hurts."

"I need something for the pain." She begged, grateful that he seemed to instinctively know how to help her. "Can you do that every time?" She found her voice when the contraction passed.

"Every time." He promised. "Mer, the..." He caught himself almost saying book. "Addison suggested you stay upright as much as possible, to encourage the baby to move down into the correct position."

"I can't. I can't do it anymore, Derek. I'm tired. I..."

"It's okay." He cut her off, his tone soothing and quiet. "It's okay if you can't. But it might make things continue at this pace. You're so close." He ran his hand over her hair, relieved when she sat up on her own.

Meredith ended up laboring another good two hours, mostly on her feet. She leaned on Derek and furniture for support during contractions, sometimes squatted, and other times sat down on the edge of her bed. She did everything he asked of her for as long as she could, but eventually became too tired to continue it. By the time five rolled around, she was convinced she was dying, and she said so. She begged him to take her to a hospital, though she knew he couldn't. She pleaded with him for pain meds though she knew there wouldn't be any. She screamed at him, snapped at him, and she was sure almost broke his hand, but he still stayed. He supported her through every contraction she had, and if he ever worried, she didn't know it. Derek was everything she needed in those hours, and she knew she'd never be able to tell him just how much that meant to her.

When she was finally too exhausted to continue on her feet, she practically collapsed into their bed, grateful that Derek had already put down extra sheets. She snapped at him to fix the pillows around her, fighting with them until she got into a semi-comfortable position. By then she was so blinded by pain that she couldn't even think straight. Contractions were coming in what seemed like rapid succession, and it was all she could do to scream through them, convinced she was going to pass out cold from the pain. She was almost too distracted to hear Derek telling her she was completely dilated. "I can push, right?!" She didn't mean to scream, but it happened anyway.

Derek couldn't help but smile, reaching down to gently rub her leg. "You can push, Mer." He'd tried his phone several more times throughout her labor but the lines still hadn't come back, and eventually he gave up. Her starting to push scared him. He'd been semi confident in everything until then, but he had to be honest with himself when he admitted that he had absolutely no idea how to deliver a baby. He could only hope that everything wen the way it should. "The baby's still high." He admitted. "If you want to wait, you can wait. It will save your energy."

Ultimately, she pushed. Meredith pushed with every contraction for almost an hour with relatively no progress. Derek started to worry. He knew it could take hours of pushing for a baby to come, but when there wasn't much progress of the baby moving down, he began to panic. Once again, he picked up the phone. It was still dead. He resisted the urge to throw it down the hallway and instead took a moment to collect himself and try to figure out what they could try before he went back to his wife.

"We need to change your position." He had no idea if it would help at all, but the basic concept of gravity coupled with what little experience he had told him it was really the only suggestion he could offer considering the situation.

"What's wrong?" For the first time she saw fear in his eyes, and she began to panic. "Derek?"

"Everything's okay." He tried to reassure her. "But the baby's not moving down, and I don't want you running out of energy to do this. Changing positions may help." He reached down and helped her sit up. "Lets try sitting on the edge of the bed."

Meredith was grateful for his help. She was almost too tired to sit there, leaning back on her arms a bit. But she did it, because honestly, Derek scared terrified her. "Derek, I'm getting tired." She mumbled.

"I know." He moved in front of her and reached out, brushing her hair behind her ear. "You can do this." Relief washed over him when Meredith's next few pushes proved their efforts were successful. "She's coming, Meredith. Keep pushing. Take a deep breath, and push." He knew she was beyond the point of exhausted, but he forced her to focus and keep going, knowing they were close.

Meredith screamed, shaking her head and pulling back from him a bit. "I can't! I can't do this anymore! I can't! Please, help me! Derek!"

Derek leaned over and rested both his hands on the side of her belly, looking at her. "Meredith, look at me." His voice was gentle, soothing, despite the chaos in the room. "Meredith." It took him a minute to catch her attention. "Look. At me. Right here at me." He gave her a smile when she calmed down a bit. "You can do this. You're doing it. You are strong, and this baby is almost here. I need you to stay right here with me. Stay focused so we can meet her."

Meredith tried so hard to hang on to his words though it seemed impossible. She stared at him with tiny nods between ragged breaths, knowing the only way the agony was going to end was to focus on her husband's words. She had to find a way to pull herself away from her suffering just enough to stay calm. "Okay," She whimpered. "I'm trying."

Derek moved back when he saw her tense, knowing she was contracting again. "Take a deep breath, Meredith. And push. Push as hard as you can." He watched as she did at first, but when she started to lean back on the pillows behind her and scream that she couldn't, he demanded her attention again. "Meredith! Focus on me. Right here. I need you to push."

Meredith let out a scream as the baby's head finally came.

He had never been more relieved in his life, "One more push, Mer. Just one more."

"I can't! I can't do this!" She couldn't help the screaming anymore, but she pushed with as much strength as she had left, collapsing back onto the pillows when Derek caught the baby. "Oh my God." She instantly took her when he laid her on her belly, her hands laying on her back. "I had a baby."

Derek wiped tears from his eyes as he grabbed several blankets and laid them over the crying baby. "You did so well, Mer." He couldn't describe the incredible feeling that came over him as he sat there, staring at his wife and brand new daughter. "She's beautiful. You're amazing."

"She's okay, right? Is she okay?" Meredith was crying too, tears coming so fast she could barely focus on her daughter.

"She's perfect, Mer." Derek's hands were shaking and his vision was blurred by tears as he gently rubbed the baby's back, wiping her off as best he could before grabbing clean blankets to put over her. He grabbed his stethoscope, listening to her heart and lungs just to be sure. "Hi, Brynn." He whispered as he set it aside, laying his hand on the baby's back. "One day I'll have to tell you about how much your mommy went through to get you here."

Meredith relished in every second she had with the tiny baby laying on her chest. Between pure joy and incredible exhaustion, she didn't remember much of Derek helping her deliver the placenta and getting her cleaned up and settled onto clean sheets. He'd taken the baby after that just to look her over more carefully, and get her dressed, but had immediately returned Brynn to her chest. "Weston will be waking up soon." She mumbled, closing her eyes when Derek finally climbed into bed next to her after cleaning up the room.

"I'll take care of Weston." Derek assured her, watching both of them as he laid there next to them on his side. He reached over and stroked the baby's cheek. "Hard to believe they start off this small."

Meredith looked over. "You helped me have a baby. And I didn't bleed to death. And she's here. And healthy."

He smiled, kissing her. "You were so amazing, Meredith."

"Because of you." She insisted. "I couldn't have done this without you here, Derek. And at the end...she never would have come. She would have been stuck, and..."

"But she wasn't." He soothed, running his hand over her hair. "She got here safely. Both of you are doing perfectly." He assured her.

"I'm so tired." She mumbled.

"I know." He smiled a bit. "Sleep. I'm not going anywhere." Derek watched as she drifted off. He didn't think he could ever feel happier than he did in that moment. His wife was safe. His daughter was safely sleeping in her arms. Their son was sleeping down the hall. His family was complete. Despite everything life had thrown their way, they'd made it.

The End

Please let me know what you think!

I don't watch Grey's anymore. I haven't since Shonda did the unthinkable and killed Derek off, and for a while I wasn't sure if I would write anymore Grey's stories.

BUT, an idea came to mind and I am currently working on "Gone". It's by far my favorite piece I've written. Hop on over and check it out :)