The drive had been quiet… extremely quiet. Meredith sat next to him holding his hand as he drove, her other hand rested on her baby bump. He could tell she was feeling slightly better. Avery was the one that concerned him. She was just sitting back there looking out the window. He could tell by the look on her face that her little mind was going a thousand miles a minute.
"I feel so alone in this car no one wants to talk to me… no one loves me." He dramatically sighed.
"Der?" Meredith asked raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"I wuv you wots daddy." Avery whispered from her car seat.
"You do?" he asked softly.
"Daddy, I wuv you this much." She said stretching her arms out all the way emphasizing her point.
"Then why won't you talk to me?" he pried gently watching her in the rear-view mirror.
"I'm tawking." She said as her lip began to quiver, something Meredith did when she was upset.
"Aves, what's wrong baby?" Meredith asked shifting slowly in her seat to look at her.
"I don't want daddy." She whimpered.
"You don't want me?"
"The otha daddy." Avery corrected as tears poured down her cheeks.
"She's not damaged yet?" Meredith mumbled to him knowing she was right earlier.
"Mer, she doesn't understand."
"I get that Derek, but all of this is leaving her scared and confused."
"Meredith, I promise you she will not be damaged we will fix this whole situation." He said firmly.
"You're the one that can pay for her therapy when she's twenty." she grumbled looking up at the huge house in front of her. "What did you do?" she breathed.
"Are you done?" he smirked.
"This is a house." She said in shock.
"Mommy a castle." Avery added from the back seat.
"Der…"
"This is our new home Mrs. Shepherd." He whispered in her ear pulling away to give her a quick kiss.
"Who told you?" she asked knowing he had to know something about the little detail she fabricated to Gabe.
"My mom said you told her that you told Gabriel we're married." He shrugged.
"I did." She frowned afraid that he was upset.
"We're going to make it official… very soon." Derek said in a determined tone.
"Mommy can we go in?" Avery interrupted fidgeting in her car seat.
"I guess so…this is our home." She sighed happily.
Derek got Avery out of the car. She buried her little face into his shoulder, slightly turning to see the house. He walked over to Meredith's side to help her out. She slowly got out of the car, the shock beginning to wear off. They walked hand in hand up the driveway. He let go of her hand momentarily to open the door. Walking into the house definitely made a new wave of shock hit her. The ceilings were high. She was able to see the open upstairs hallway the downstairs was basically one big room connected with dividers. She had never seen anything like it or actually she had, but it was more in her head.
"I'm taking the shocked look on your face as you like my surprise?" he smiled kissing her.
"Der…When?" she spit out.
"You remember when we talked about remodeling your house you gave me some ideas? Well I gave those ideas to a contractor… here's our house." He said quietly noticing Avery was slowly drifting off.
"You… this is all new furniture." She said amazed giving the living room a once over.
"The whole house is furnished. Meredith we have everything we'll ever need here."
"What about the other house?"
"Alex bought it for him and Izzie. He figured it was better then the apartment." He shrugged.
"How did you do all of this without me knowing? Where's the trailer?"
"We're getting married and I was living at your house. It was time I did this for you, Mer. So we can do this family thing right. The trailer at the moment is further out on the land I think we can use it for camping." He explained.
"I don't know what I did to deserve you." She sighed cuddling into his free side. She gently placed her hand on her sleeping daughter's back.
"I think that's what I feel because you're the one that saved me. I was miserable and then you two came into my life." He murmured kissing her forehead.
"I can't wait for the baby to get here then every thing will be…"
"Real?" he finished.
"Yeah."
"How about we get this one up to bed?" he asked slightly shifting Avery.
"Sounds like a plan." She whispered.
"Then we can get some sleep."
"So Avery doesn't get a party?" she frowned a little.
"We're doing gifts tomorrow everyone thought they would give us some time to adjust to the house."
"We need to christen our room." She said with a smile playing on her lips.
"We do." He chuckled leading her up the stairs.
This was the first step to one of the biggest changes in their lives.
