Howdy readers! It's been two weeks, I know, I'm sorry. The end of this academic year got in the way, but now I'm on holiday, so hopefully I'll be able to update on a regular schedule. I'm probably busier now than I was in winter, but whatever ;)

I really hope you're still out there, enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 37

The quiet was overwhelming. Meredith couldn't remember a day the skills lab had been so silent. Well, it usually wasn't, because interns asked questions, muttered curses under their breaths or sighed in relief; when Derek was the only occupant of the room though, it became eerily quiet.

Most doctors had already packed their things and went home for the night, leaving poor residents in charge and interns running around aimlessly.

Not Derek. Not even on his first full day back as a surgeon, even when he didn't operate.

The couple had walked to the skills lab together in the morning, as Meredith's shift started and he babysat the interns, and he hadn't moved from the room.

Derek might have had lunch with Meredith and sneaked a quick visit to Zola to see how she was doing on her first full day at the daycare in months, but the rest of the day he had been holed up in the room, suturing. Or cauterizing. Or playing with the microscopes. Honestly, Meredith didn't even want to know what he could have possibly done in the ten hours he had spent in the skills lab, but she surely wouldn't complain about it. He was so focused on whatever procedure he was reenacting that he didn't even register her presence as she lingered at the doorstep. Surely, he had no idea what time it was, or he would have already bolted out of the room.

He craned his neck sideways, and she smiled at the familiar gesture to alleviate the tension of his muscles, her smile widening when she noticed his hair wrapped protectively in his lucky scrub cap. She shuffled closer to him and made him jump lightly, as her hand went to rest in between his shoulder blades, her thumb rubbing a slow circle.

"Boy, you scared me." He chuckled, his grin bright, is eyes so blue and clear that they were almost dancing under the neon lights.

She shook her head, then leaned in to kiss him lightly. His body turned slightly to accommodate hers, then he placed another quick kiss on her forehead.

"You've been here all day?" She asked, her lips curling up in a smile right away.

He nodded, "I did a couple of craniotomies while the interns worked on their shunts." He grinned. "I also removed a fake teratoma. It was fun."

"Probably more surgical than my day was." Meredith sighed. "I think I spent more time in the bathroom stall on the fourth floor peeing than in an OR." She groaned, resting her cheek on his shoulder. His lips went automatically over her temple and lingered there. She could feel him smile though, and she swatted his chest playfully. "It's your fault Bird likes to jump on my bladder."

"How so?" He turned to face her, grinning at her pout.

"I don't know, it just is. No doubt that she's your child."

"Maybe he will snore." Derek smirked, winning another glare and another swat. "Are you sure you don't want to find out the sex later? So we can settle at least one of our major bickering arguments."

"No. No peeking in the lower regions of our baby." She shook her head. "And we don't bicker. I'm not bickering."

Derek smiled, widely and dreamily, cupped her cheek and kissed her lips, melting all her resolves to pretend to be mad at him for getting her pregnant.

"Do you want to find out?" Meredith asked then, their bodies still close and Derek's hand still on her cheek, his thumb drawing small circles on her skin.

"I will live if I stay in the unknown for twelve more weeks."

"Seriously, you can peek. I'll just close my eyes or something."

"And then what? You won't get suspicious when suddenly I want to paint the whole nursery blue and cover it in race cars? Or if the crib magically fits inside a castle in a marshmallow-colored room?"

"What?" Meredith's eyes widened, pulling away from him to stare deep into his eyes. "Race cars and castles?"

"I'm kidding. Unless you want race cars or castles."

"I want green, Derek. Yellows. Freaking tan is better than marshmallow!" She glared. "When you say things like these I'm worried we should indeed find out, so it won't be overwhelmed with weird stuff as soon as it comes out of my vagina." Meredith shook her head, sighing loudly.

"I promise you nothing crazy."

"Well, some things should be appropriate though. We only have a room and a crib."

"And the changing table."

"Yeah, the changing table. But nowhere to put Zola's stuff that is now in the changing table."

"Look, let's do one thing at a time, -"

"What? Have the baby and make her sleep in a bare room?"

"The baby will sleep in our room for weeks, we do have time to get the nursery ready."

"That's so not the point Derek!" Meredith rolled her eyes. "We really have to leave now, or we'll be late for the check up with Nora." She added, too tired to argue with him at this point of the day.

Derek sighed, but his eyes lit up. He kissed her one more time, then untied his scrub cap and put it in his pocket. He quickly changed out of his scrubs in his office, then they headed on the other side of the road where the birth center was.

They had to wait a few minutes for Nora to be free, but it took her less than usual to greet them warmly and usher them in the room with her proverbial warmth and openness.

"Twenty-eight weeks scan." Nora grinned brightly as she set up the equipment, while Derek helped Meredith up on the exam table. "I'll take a look myself before I find a good picture without gender revealing details, alright?"

Meredith noddedand Derek stood alertly at her side, their hands joined tightly as Nora spread the gel over Meredith's stomach.

"There it is." She smiled, still looking and clicking, Meredith's fears building in the pit of her stomach all of a sudden.

"What if it has two heads and a tail?" She blurted, her eyes looking at Derek with a mixture of true panic and shock for the fact that she had indeed voiced that irrational fear.

"A tail?" He asked, almost amused.

"Maybe she has twelve fingers and an arm sticking out from her chest, Derek!"

"Bird didn't have any extra arms nor tails at the last scan, I don't think they grew in the weeks we haven't seen Nora." He reassured her warmly.

"Derek, things grow in weeks. Look at me, I'm a truck! I wasn't this huge at our last check up!"

"No arms, no tails." Nora smiled amused at the couple, turning the screen towards them and switching on the heartbeat, quickly silencing the conversation.

"See, Bird is perfect." Derek grinned, then his eyes softened and his jaw slackened a bit when the 3D face of Bird stared at them from the screen. "Bird is just perfect." He echoed, this time his voice filled with awe.

"Der," Meredith mumbled, her eyes glued to the screen. "Hi, Bird." She breathed out, her eyes misty.

"Bird is right on track with everything. No apparent genetics defects or abnormalities. Ten fingers, ten toes."

"Are you sure they're ten?" Meredith blurted.

"Let's count them." Nora smiled, placing her fingers over the screen and indeed counting each finger and each toe.

"Ten fingers, ten toes." Derek confirmed, his hand squeezing Meredith's even tighter as she reached out to touch the screen herself.

Then she burst in tears.

"Mere?" Derek's eyes widened, as she hid her face in her hands to try and hold back her tears.

"I'm sorry." She blabbered in between sobs.

"What is it?" Derek's hand went on her shoulder, rubbing small circles as she shook lightly under his touch.

"I was so worried." She breathed out, as her tears subsided, her red-rimmed eyes staring deeply into Derek's. "The whole day I've just been...worried."

"Oh, Mere." He smiled, brushing away the last few tears, then kissing the tip of her nose. "You could have told me."

"It's stupid. I know our baby can't possibly have a tail, I'm a freaking surgeon!" She hiccupped.

"You're not the first Mom who's worried about tails, Meredith." Nora grinned, and Derek smiled as well.

"See, it's a Mom thing." He grinned, and Meredith was able to relax and stretch a shaky smile of her own.

"I'm more worried about DiGeorge syndrome, Down syndrome, spina bifida, -"

"We had ruled out all that already. Bird's genes aren't going to suddenly change, and the spine had already closed up pretty nicely."

"But maybe the tests were wrong and suddenly our baby has a congenital heart defect or cleft palateand we didn't even prepare. We don't even have a nursery!"

"Can you give us a moment?" Derek mumbled to Nora, who nodded, leaving on the image of Bird and walked out of the room. "Meredith, -"

"We're not ready for a child, let alone a sick one!"

"Listen to me." Derek spoke gently but resolutely, his eyes boring into hers. "First of all, Bird is doing great and he or she is perfectly healthy."

"I know."

"Even if Bird had a congenital heart disease we missed, we can deal with it. Mer, your best friend is an upcoming self-proclaimed Cardio god. We would be prepared for it."

"Derek,"

"How many articles we read about spina bifida for Zola? How many?"

"A lot." She whispered.

"We're ready for that too, then. Even if we don't need it for Bird, we're ready." He smiled warmly. "Cleft palate? My best friend is one of the best plastic surgeons in the country." He smirked now, feeling like he could go on forever if she needed this kind of reassurance.

"But the nursery is still bare."

"So we'll go home and look at furniture online tonight. We can go shop for anything we want as soon as we have a day off together. Nursery is not a big issue here."

"What about a diaphragmatic hernia?" Meredith swallowed thickly.

"Miranda Bailey wants you as her maid of honor. Don't you think she'll give Bird the best care?"

"She would."

"We got every department covered, Mer. Even if things end up going wrong."

"It's me, Derek. Things go wrong when I'm involved. The least it can happen is me giving birth in the middle of the road or during a super storm."

"Let's prove this theory wrong, alright?"

Meredith nodded weakly, letting out a shaky breath. Derek kissed the top of her head lovingly, then grabbed the stool and sat next to Meredith's stomach, his eyes turning to the still of Bird on the screen.

"Bird has your nose." He commented lightly, which finally forced a giggle out of Meredith.

"She does. Or he does."

"You're calling Bird 'she' a lot today. You didn't peek, did you?"

"I was too busy freaking out about a tail to check for a penis." Meredith rolled her eyes, and Derek chuckled, his eyes sparkling. "I'm sorry about all this."

"No need to." Derek smiled softly, and half-nodded for Nora that it was safe to come back in the room.

Meredith apologized to the midwife, blushing lightly as Nora sat again on her stool.

"It happens at basically every single pregnancy, sooner or later." Nora grinned. "Even more when Mommy is a doctor."

"I'm still sorry. I'm sure you have patients waiting and..."

"I have a lot of time for the three of you, you're not messing up any schedule. And if you were, I wouldn't care." Nora giggled, and Meredith relaxed again.

"So the baby is okay, but Meredith is okay too, right?" Derek asked.

"Her blood pressure was a little too high, but I believe it's because she was worried."

"I can check it during the course of this week, if you think it needs to be monitored."

"That's a good idea. Have you arranged your maternity leave?" She asked Meredith then.

"I've thought about it." Meredith admitted. "I mean, talked to the Chief and all that, yeah. I want to work as much as I can, so I can spend more time with the baby later. Can I do that?"

"Yeah, you can do that." Nora grinned.

"Can I do a wedding?" Meredith blurted, biting her lip once again for the inappropriateness of the question. "I mean, I should be the maid of honor at a wedding the day before the due date. I was just wondering -"

"You can do a wedding if you do surgery." Nora grinned. "Just tell me the location, so I can be ready to come and get you."

"Oh, if it all goes well it's going to be in my backyard." Meredith smirked.

"What?" Derek's eyes widened.

"There were conditions to my being maid of honor thing." Meredith giggled at his stunned face, and Nora shook her head amused.

"Okay, we can discuss that later." Derek frowned, knowing that they needed an extensive conversation about this detail.

"So, I want to see you a little more often now that you're entering your third trimester. Let's say two or three weeks from now, alright?"

"Okay. I'll schedule it at the desk."

"Oh, I almost forgot. I'll pop in at your house so I have an idea what to expect and how I can organize the birth, just in case you end up opting for the home birth instead of coming to the birth center."

"Like a home study?" Meredith giggled. "I freaked out at our last home study."

"She basically hid anything that wasn't necessary from view." Derek recalled with a grin. "Took me a week to find my favorite sweater."

"We were adopting a baby from Malawi!" Meredith retorted with a smile.

"Still. They loved us." Derek smirked, and Meredith sighed in defeat at his cockiness.

"You finally get to meet Zola." Meredith beamed at Nora when the realization hit her.

"I finally do." Nora smiled just as brightly. "Call me if anything doesn't feel right and I'll get back at you for the home study." The midwife laughed, as she shook hands with Derek and gave a light hug to Meredith.

"Are you good to go home now?" Derek asked, smiling softly, his eyes full of love as he tucked the sonogram's image into his pocket, and handed the other one to Meredith.

"We need to hurry. We have to go see furniture." She laughed, and so did Derek as he helped her on her feet. "I think my body is never going to recover from this hippo-like shape I currently have."

"You look great Mere."

She grimaced, before she whispered: "I have stretch marks."

"I know. They're great stretch marks. And I can rub lotion on them as soon as we get home. You know I'm good with my hands." Derek smirked, making Meredith blush.

"Let's go get Zola from daycare, then." Meredith smirked, winking and grabbing his hand as they walked out of the room and back into Seattle Grace.

"I do like when your hands are all over me." Meredith whispered in Derek's ear as they waited for the elevator, their hands joined. She giggled, and he winked at her just as the doors opened, revealing Bailey, her hand holding Tucker's smaller one in hers.

"Meredith," she beamed "The woman I was looking for."

"Dr. Bailey." Meredith grinned. "We were at my check up. We have pictures."

"I don't have time for pictures." Bailey tried to argue, but her eyes softened when the black and white sonogram was thrust into her free hand. She looked up to see the two adults with awaiting expression on their facesand she rolled her eyes. "Cute fetus indeed. Did you find a location for the wedding?" She asked.

"I...guess." Meredith hesitated. "Look, I'm due the day after your wedding -"

"What?" Bailey's eyes widened, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because. I do have a location, though. My backyard."

Bailey stared at Meredith puzzled, almost as if she was speaking in an unknown language.

"You've been to our new house, right Miranda?" Derek asked, amused by the conversation.

"It's a beautiful land."

"And I'm considering a home birth if I don't go into labor at the hospital." Meredith added swiftly, making Miranda's eyes widen further.

"I think we need to discuss this in another time." Bailey said simply.

"Definitely." Meredith smiled. "We can find the time, now we really need to pick up Zola."

"Alright. Have a good evening."

"Bye. Bye Tuck!" Meredith smiled at the child, as they exchanged positions in the elevator.

The doors closed, and Meredith began giggling. Derek glanced at her with a smirk on his face, which only made her giggle louder.

"I'm sorry. I can't help it. I don't even know why I'm laughing. Probably Bailey's face." She giggled one last time. "The next few weeks are going to be so much fun," she sighed, "Especially if I can't keep my emotions in check."

"You're endearing." Derek said simply, and she melted against his side.

The elevator's door opened, and they exited swiftly, going straight for the daycare.

Zola was there, coloring a picture at the table closest to the door, and she beamed as soon as her eyes met theirs.

"Hi!" She grinned, leaving her crayons on the table and running towards her parents, wrapping her arms around both their legs. Her hand then patted Meredith's stomach gently, leaving a kiss on the fabric, then mumbled "Hi Bird."

Derek picked up Zola as Meredith signed her out, smiling at the teachers and gathering her backpack.

Zola was already retelling her adventures to Derek when Meredith joined them, and together they went home, Zola's voice as the perfect company until they pulled in their driveway.

"I'll go make dinner." Derek announced as Zola scrambled away.

"Can you keep an eye on Zo? I just need to lie down a minute."

"Are you okay?" Derek asked concerned.

"Bird started to move a lot while we were in the car, I need to sit down and wait for it to pass. I'll be back right away." Meredith smiled, pecking Derek's lips in reassurance, then shuffling to her bedroom with a grimace.

She left the door ajar as she reached the bedroom, changed into more comfortable clothes, then sunk on the mattress and closed her eyes, sighing in bliss. She switched on the computer right away to pass the time looking at furniture, one hand firmly rubbing her stomach, the other holding the picture of Bird they had just received as she waited for the computer to load and connect to the Wi-Fi.

"Getting cramped in here, uh?" She whispered down to her stomach, then lifted up her head when she heard a familiar pitter-patter of little feet entering her bedroom.

"Hi Mama." Zola smiled. "What that?" She asked curiously, pointing at the picture Meredith was holding.

"Come here, I'll show you."

Zola swiftly hopped to the bed and managed to sit on the bed with Meredith's help. She snuggled closer to her mother's body, tucked under her arm, then she peeked curiously at the black and white picture.

"This is a sonogram." Meredith explained, "It shows the inside of Mama's belly."

Zola looked up puzzled. "Baby Bird's home."

"Yeah. This little face here is your sibling, ZoZo." Meredith smiled brightly as Zola stared intently at the picture, her chubby fingers tracing the features of Bird almost with the same reverence Meredith and Derek had used.

"Bird's pretty." Zola smiled, her eyes locking with Meredith's. "I thinks Bird's a sistar."

"A sister? Really?"

"You no know, Mama?"

"No, we don't know, yet. Would you like a brother or a sister?"

"Dunno." Zola hummed. "Can have a sistar and a brudar?"

"Just one baby sibling now, Zola."

"Otay," she sighed poignantly. "Soon?"

"We'll see, Lovebug." Meredith smiled sadly. Zola shrugged, then she put her little hands on the swell of Meredith's stomach, her lips placing a sloppy kiss over the fabric of the old t-shirt Meredith was wearing. Almost as if it was magic, Bird stopped rolling and kicking, for which Meredith was grateful.

"Do you want to help me pick out some things for Baby Bird's new room?" Meredith smiled then, running her hand over Zola's curls as the girl burrowed even deeper in the little space they had left between their bodies. "Or you wanna snuggle?"

"Snuggle." Zola whispered, tightening her hold on Meredith.

Meredith didn't mind closing the laptop and sitting Zola on her thighs, as the little girl rested her cheek still on top of her stomach. Meredith rubbed Zola's back evenly as they both relaxed in the comfortable position, for a moment their breaths were the only sound filling the bedroom.

"Mama," Zola lifted up her head then, her eyes full of questions. "Bird no leaves your belly-home?"

"Now it doesn't, but it will be able to leave when it's big enough, then it will never get back to its first home. Our home will become its home." Meredith explained.

"I miss home when not here." Zola frowned. "Bird no miss home?"

"Bird will probably miss home for a little while, but we need to make our home as homey as possible for him or her to come and live with us."

"What if no likes home?" Zola asked with a hint of worry. "Bird leaves?"

"Oh, Bird won't leave in a long time, I promise."

"Ya promise?"

"I promise." Meredith smiled in reassurance.

Zola did the same in return, before she craned her neck down and whispered to the baby: "This home's pretty. No leaves, promise?" Then she placed another kiss right in the center of Meredith's stomach.

That's how Derek found them when he walked in the room to call them for dinner, snuggling in a tight embrace and whispering secrets in the dusk.

I had almost posted this with only the exam room scene, then I felt like it lacked a lot of Zola, so I thought about it a long time and ended up writing that last part last night/early this morning. I loved worried Meredith on the show, I think she was pretty amusing and also believable. She deals with diseases all day, I'm sure she'll end up thinking about the worst case scenario when it comes to bad genes. [Did you see what I did there, mentioning the super storm?]

I was clearly a little inspired from the show, but I hope you still enjoyed this. I can't believe we have passed the 540 reviews, it blows my mind.

I'll get back at you next week if I know exactly when I'll be on holiday -all is still up in the air- but if you do need to brace yourselves for a couple of weeks of Hope withdrawal, I'll tell you in advance.

Thank you for reading!