Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy, but after discovering there would be no Grey's tonight, I figured that you might need a little bit of Grey's anyway and so I decided it would be a good time to update !

Sorry it took me a little while... exams next week and it's taken over my time ! Anyway, I hope enjoy this chapter. It was a fun one to write, especially when it came to McCocky (You'll see...) and the next few will also be lighter chapters. I also want to apologize to any Private Practice fans... I didn't think about it when I put Addie and Sam together, and me not being someone who follows the spinoff, I only clued in on the coincidence when it was too late P: Anyway, enjoy !

The days went by slowly after that. Weeks came and went. Finally, the end of the summer had come and the rain was more frequent, back to normal Seattle weather. Things were completely back to normal.

Meredith was going back to work today. She didn't know for how long, because it seemed that every time she ended up working, something happened and she was sent home again. This is where being married to the chief came in handy. Derek would always find something or other to help her catch up, and she was glad to know that she would in fact be able to catch up after spending several months off once the twins were born.

The hospital now knew. They knew their chief would soon be a father. But what they ignored was the fact that Meredith was carrying twins. They kept that detail away from the gossip mongrels. Needed to keep a little something to themselves.

As Derek had suggested, because of all the advancements Meredith and Izzie had made on the home, they did move out temporarily. And to where? One of the smaller cottages at the Inn. This made things easier on Meredith, because she could spend more time with Izzie on planning, and more time with her sister for bonding. Derek also loved this, not just because he had Mark so close by, but because there was no way Meredith was ever completely alone.

And now it was the end of August and Meredith was making her first appearance in the hospital since her surgery, other than her checkups, which Addie had done at the clinic.

"Why don't you want to do these in the maternity ward again?"

Meredith sighed. "I don't want to go into the hospital if I can avoid it. Surgery is calling me, and I know that if I see or hear anything surgery related, I'll want to scrub in, and that's not an option."

So that day, Addison had promised to let her scrub in on whatever surgery she had on the day she went back to work. And that day was today.

"You ready?" Derek asked as they pulled into the parking lot.

Meredith nodded. "I think so."

Derek let out a chuckle and kissed her on the forehead. "You're ready, I know it."

Meredith smiled at him. "I know."

They got out of the car, and walked hand in hand towards the main doors.

Meredith was overwhelmed as soon as she made it through those sliding doors. People she barely knew were coming over and congratulating her. Her baby bump still wasn't that big, and would definitely camouflage under her scrubs, but in her street clothes it was noticeable, and even if the secret hadn't of been out before today, it definitely would have ended.

"Meredith!" she heard her best friend's voice over all the voices that were still congratulating her.

"Cristina, am I ever glad to see you," she said as the two of them, along with Derek, jumped on an empty elevator.

"Welcome back," she said with a smirk. "You didn't miss much, except there's a new guy and he's pretty good, but brains aren't my thing, they're yours."

"Derek told me," Meredith said with a laugh. "But today I'm scrubbing in with Addie."

"Are you sure you're up for surgery?" Derek asked hesitantly.

"Derek, I'm scrubbing in with Addie. My doctor. If she thinks I'm not up for it, she won't let me in the OR. You have nothing to worry about." Meredith finished with a quick peck on his lips, smiling at her husband.

"Anyway," Cristina ignored the loving look Derek and Meredith were sharing, "I was wondering if you wanted to come over for a little while tonight," Cristina said to her person. "Jackson's on-call and from what I hear, McDreamy will be here late tonight, so I was thinking we could rant about what sucks in our life right now."

Meredith laughed as she looked at her person. "My life is just about perfect right now, so I'll listen to you rant."

Cristina shook her head. "You say that now, but after one day back in this hospital, you'll surely have something."

They all got off the elevator. Meredith was about to follow her friend to the locker room, but Derek held her back. "If you need anything, you know where I am. And come visit me sometime today so I know you're alive."

Meredith laughed. "Sure. Love you," she added quickly as she ran off. Derek just laughed.

As soon as she had changed into her scrubs, Meredith made her way to the nurse's station where she instantly ran into Addison.

"First day back," she said with a smile. "How do you feel Dr Shepherd?"

Meredith smiled. "Great," she admitted.

"Are you up for that surgery I promised you?"

Meredith nodded. "Of course, have been looking forward to it."

Addie smiled. "Well we start in twenty minutes. I'll see you in OR 3."

Meredith nodded and headed down to meet the patient. She was about to enter the room when she ran into a very happy looking face.

"Meredith! It's good to see you back," Richard welcomed her. "I see you're looking good. Are you feeling okay?"

Meredith smiled brightly. "Feeling wonderful actually. I'm scrubbing in."

Richard gave her a nervous look. "Are you sure that's not too much, I mean, you haven't been here half an hour… is it that new guy, Dr Lewis who asked you to scrub in?"

Meredith laughed. "Nope, Dr Montgomery."

Richard's shook his head. "Well I guess that I can't argue with her then."

"I'll see you later Richard," Meredith said as he walked away with a wave.

Meredith entered her patient's room.

"Hello, I'm Dr Shepherd and I'll be prepping you for surgery." It felt good to be back.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

After leaving the locker room, Cristina headed down to meet her mentor, her absolute favorite teacher, the man she once thought she loved but could now see wasn't the right guy, Preston Burke.

But things had started getting weird between them in the last little while. Burke started treating her differently, he didn't seem as friendly. Almost scared. Since he was back, they had built a friendship that everyone saw as near impossible. But things had been easy between them. Until now.

"Dr Burke," she greeted as she entered the scrub room. He just glanced over to her and said nothing. "What's going on with you?"

He finished washing his hands, then looked up at his ex-fiancé. "I'm dating someone," was all he said.

"And?" Cristina asked. "I'm dating someone too. That never stopped us from being friends."

"I've never been in a relationship since…" he trailed off.

Cristina just stood there quietly. She didn't know how to answer to that.

He decided that since she wasn't answering, he'd be better off going into the OR and prepare for surgery. Cristina would join him when she was ready.

The surgery went very successfully, and Cristina and Burke's work relationship, although their personal friendship wasn't very stable, still blew everyone's mind. They knew exactly what was going on in each other's heads. Cristina knew the surgery's better than any other resident, third year or higher. She even knew them better than some attendings. But that was just who Cristina was.

Once the surgery was done, Cristina and Burke went back to that awkward silence as they scrubbed out.

Finally, Cristina spoke up. "It's time you've moved on," she said, almost inaudible. "It's time you get your life going with someone who loves you and who you love and that you understand each other. I loved you Burke, but I didn't understand you, outside of the OR. And that's why we didn't work."

Burke smiled slightly. "I know. I couldn't understand you period."

Cristina laughed slightly."I hope she makes you happy."

Burke nodded. "She does, she really does…"

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Derek had been sitting in his office when there was a light knock at the door, and then his favorite person in the world walked in.

"If it isn't just the person I was hoping for," he said with a smile as he got up to meet her. When he reached her, he lifted her in his arms and smiled. "Meredith's going to be jealous when she finds out I've replaced her as my favorite."

Stephanie giggled. "No she won't! She likes me too!"

Derek smiled. "Are you excited to go back to school?"

Stephanie nodded. "I'm going to be in grade three!" she exclaimed. After her fist year of school, the teacher's had assessed her as being too far ahead so they bumped her up a grade.

"You're a big girl," he said as he sat her down on his lap at his desk. "Maybe you could help me with my paperwork."

She scrunched up her nose. "I don't think so," she shook her head. "We haven't learnt that yet. Maybe this year!"

Derek laughed. "Maybe."

"Kayla's going to be in my class!" Stephanie exclaimed excitedly. "She's older than me, but not very much."

Derek smiled as he automatically calculated the age difference in his head. Stephanie would be seven in November, whereas Kayla turned nine in April. They were almost a year and a half apart, but that didn't matter because they would, in fact, both be in grade three. "That's awesome! Are you going to make sure she has lots of friends in your class?"

Stephanie nodded. She knew what being the new girl was like. "She can be my best friend though," she added with a very serious tone.

"She can," Derek nodded. Another knock at the door ended the short discussion between the two friends. "Come in," Derek called out.

"Hey," Meredith said as she came in. She looked tired, but her eyes brightened when she saw that Derek already had a guest.

"Meredith!" Stephanie exclaimed as she jumped off Derek's lap and ran over to the woman standing in the doorway.

"It looks like I'll never be able to keep a best friend for very long," Derek said with a laugh.

"Hey, why don't you go see if your mommy wants you, and then later on I'll go play with you? Does that sound good?"

Stephanie nodded and rushed out the door.

Meredith closed the door and collapsed on the couch. Derek was soon by her side.

"Are you okay Meredith?"

Meredith looked up at his worried expression and smiled, followed by a quick kiss.

"I'm great," she admitted. "Tired, sure, and my feet are definitely sore from all that standing, but I feel completely like me again."

Derek smiled as he made room for himself beside Meredith. "That's good to hear."

"I realized, today, that I can't wait for our babies to be born," Meredith said suddenly. "I was liking the whole feel of being pregnant, other than the morning sickness, but I realized that actually holding our babies is going to be amazing."

Derek smiled. "That's good to know. Three and a half more months."

Meredith nodded. "It feels so unreal."

Derek laughed. "I still remember walking in on you when Addie was doing your check up, as if it was yesterday."

Meredith laughed. "I still remember sitting in your house of lavenders, talking about how we should wait."

Derek smiled. "I'm glad we didn't have to wait, that you had already been pregnant."

"Me too."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

After having spent a little time in their own little bubble, Meredith and Derek decided to head down to the cafeteria for lunch. They grabbed a few things to eat, and with their trays, made their way to where their friends were sitting.

"Come on," Izzie said, "you need to start looking at this with more enthusiasm."

Mark laughed. "I need to start worrying about what you're going to make me do."

Lexie was laughing and Jackson was trying hard not to, but it was obvious he was failing.

"Izzie, what are you doing here?" Meredith asked as she took a seat beside Lexie.

"She's trying to convince me to take ballroom dancing classes."

Derek nearly spit out the juice he had just taken a sip of. "You're what?"

"That's how I reacted," Mark answered.

Meredith couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Mark taking dance classes. Lexie was definitely finding it hilarious.

"Izzie, give him a break," Jackson spoke up. "He's not as corny as Derek, this is definitely not his thing."

"Hey," Derek said. "Did you see the way he proposed? And you're calling him not corny?"

"It was your setup Derek," Mark reminded him. "I just played along."

Lexie and Meredith continued to laugh. "I swear, I missed this so much, stuck at home."

Lexie nodded. "Trust me, this isn't going to be the end of it."

Meredith was suddenly paged, so she excused herself and headed to the room she was informed to go to.

When she arrived, she was surprised to notice it was empty, except for a doctor she did not recognize. He got up from his seat in the corner, and when he reached Meredith, he put out his hand. "Dr Malcolm Lewis, Head of Neurosurgery. I've been informed that you, Dr Shepherd, are the best in your year and that you want to specialize in Neuro. It looks like we'll be working a lot together."

Meredith smiled a friendly smile. "Dr Meredith Shepherd, but you seem to know that already."

Malcolm laughed. "I was told Chief Shepherd had a lot of sisters who were doctors, but I didn't know he had more than one here."

Meredith didn't know how to react. He thought she was one of Derek's sisters!

"Actually, um, I'm not his sister…"

"A cousin? Anyway, it doesn't matter. You don't need to be related to Derek Shepherd to be a better Neurosurgeon then him. And I've heard that you're getting pretty close to being the next big thing in Neurosurgery." He finished with a wink. Meredith was glued to place. Was he flirting with her?

"Dr Shepherd has been my mentor since I started my intership," she started explaining. But she didn't get to finish.

"Well it looks like I have a pretty big footstep to replace. Why don't I start impressing you by taking you out for dinner? Let's say, tomorrow night?"

Meredith couldn't believe her ears. Had she just been asked out? "Um…"

"Great! We can go straight from work. I'll pick you up at the main doors around seven."

And with that, he was gone. Meredith hadn't even had the chance to put one word in. And now she had a date tomorrow night. With someone other than her husband.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Mark, you don't have to do everything Izzie says you do," Lexie tried convincing him as they sat in his office. "You can do whatever you want."

Mark shook his head. "No, I'll do whatever you want, so if you want me to take dance lessons, I will."

Lexie smiled at how loving Mark was. He always put her before himself. But Lexie needed to save him from humiliation. "Although it would definitely give me a good laugh, I don't think I could go through with you taking dance classes. I think you'd embarrass both of us."

Mark let out a breath. "Oh thank God. I really didn't want to take those lessons."

Lexie laughed. "I kind of guessed that already."

Mark smiled at his fiancé. He got up from his seat and joined her on the couch. "I love you," he said as he pulled her as close to him as he possibly could.

Lexie smiled. "I love you too." He leaned in and kissed her, and although Mark wished they went further, he pulled away, knowing he couldn't start what they might not be able to finish.

"I can't believe we ever broke up."

Lexie put her finger on his lips. "We never did," she said with the most beautiful smile. Mark smiled back and kissed her again.

"And never will," he added.

Lexie nodded. "This is forever Mark, right?"

Mark pulled back. "Are you having doubts Lexie Grey?"

She shook her head. "Not doubts, it's just… you never were the settle down guy, start a family guy, only sleep with one woman for the rest of his life guy… I just don't want you to give up on me when you get bored…"

Mark pulled her as close as he could. "I changed Lexie," he started. "I changed when I met you, when I started having feelings for you, when we started seeing each other secretly. I changed. I wouldn't have gone through all that trouble sneaking around if it had of been just another girl. I knew that we were more than a fling. I knew you meant more to me than all the other woman. You were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. There was no way I would settle for anything else, no way I would settle for anybody else. You changed me little Grey, and there's no way I'll ever get bored of being with you."

Lexie was touched. She almost had teary eyes. Mark was serious, and he smiled as he pulled her in for a kiss, one filled with tenderness, gentleness and love. Definitely not an old Mark feature. And it made Lexie feel amazing to know she was in fact the only one who could ever change Mark this drastically.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

After her shift had ended, Meredith met up with Cristina in the lobby and they made their way to hers and Jackson's apartment, which was a little ways across town. They had stayed quiet most of the car ride, wanting to save all their gossip and crap for when they were cuddled up in Cristina's bed with a tub of ice cream, like they used to do what seemed like forever ago.

"It seems like such a long time since we did this last," Meredith said as Cristina came into her bedroom with the strawberry ice cream in one hand, and the spoons in the other. She handed it over to Meredith and instantly fell over beside her on the bed.

"It's because it has been forever. The last time we did this was before you knew you were pregnant."

Meredith nodded. "I've sort of been wrapped up in my own little world with Derek lately that I've been pushing you aside."

Cristina shrugged. "It's okay. I mean, sure you've been way too caught up with McDreamy, but that's totally normal since you guys are having a baby. And I can't hate you for loving your baby."

"Babies," Meredith corrected with a laugh. "I know, it still hasn't sunk in."

Cristina laughed as she took a spoonful of ice cream. "You and your pregnant hormones have got me thinking crazy things Grey."

Meredith was now curious. Where did this come from? "What kind of things?" She turned towards her friend to see that she was in fact pulling down her outer wall of tough impenetrable emotions. Whatever it was, it was big.

"You've got me thinking about… babies, and how maybe I want kids… someday…maybe… soon…"

Meredith was shocked. This was not the Cristina she knew. What had happened to her in the last little while? Had Meredith seriously pushed her aside enough to not even realize she had changed so drastically?

"Cristina! That's… well that's not like you, but that's amazing!"

Cristina looked up at her person. "You've ruined me, you know that? I'm thinking about babies, and family and marriage… I don't recognize myself anymore. I'm not me anymore."

Meredith smiled brightly at her friend. "You're changing for the better. Have you talked to Jackson about this?"

Cristina was quick to answer. "No way. When he asked me out, I was the focused surgeon, the one that didn't know what emotions were. What if he thinks I've changed so much that he doesn't love me anymore?"

Meredith saw the pain in her friend's eyes. "He loves you Cristina, no matter what. Derek still loved me when I became whole and healed, even though he fell in love with the dark and twisty me. Jackson will always love you."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Derek hadn't seen Meredith since lunch. He knew she was fine, and not Meredith fine, but actually fine since she texted him right before leaving the hospital with Cristina assuring him she had a good day and would see him later on tonight, but he still missed having her come visit him throughout the day. He knew it was because she had scrubbed in on another surgery with Addie, after there were some complications that had been discovered in their first surgery, but he still wished she would have come by before leaving.

He was becoming a sop.

"Dude, you need to stop worrying about her so much," Mark said as he took a shot with the basket ball, and missed by a mile. Mark could read him so well, due to a long life spent as brothers.

"He's allowed to worry about her, it's only normal, and expected of future fathers," Amy said as she gave Mark a look that said 'you're an idiot.'

"Besides, if he didn't worry, he wouldn't be Derek," Miranda added. She wasn't usually one for hanging out with the other attendings, but since the wedding and the beginning of Meredith's pregnancy she had become much more close to not only the couple in question but to all of the big family.

"Derek does have a habit of being overly worried, all the time," Mark agreed.

"Could you guys stop talking about me as if I wasn't here?" he asked, not really mad, but just stating that he could in fact hear them.

"Well your pretty close to not being here," Amy pointed out. "You've been spacing out since we got here."

Derek shrugged. "I have a lot on my mind," was all he said.

"Like what?" Mark asked.

Derek looked around to the people who were now looking at him for some sort of explanation. His friends and family were always way too curious. They were just as bad as the nurses when it came to gossip.

"Meredith's almost in her third trimester. We haven't done any shopping for baby stuff, and other than the few gifts we've gotten from the family, we don't have much for the baby. We haven't even thought much about names, and Addison says there's a very high chance she goes into labor prematurely. She could have the baby anytime now, and we haven't planned anything. And I'm worried about her. Twins, and she's still tiny."

Mark came over and patted him on the back. "You need to talk to her about all of this. She needs to hear it from you. Maybe she's thinking all the same things, she just doesn't know if you feel that it's almost time and you guys aren't ready."

"Yeah, I'll talk to her. Tonight hopefully."

Mark smiled. "That's my boy."

Amy decided to speak up. "I've got a lot of Daniels stuff still, so if it happened that you didn't have a chance to get everything you needed because the babies come along faster than you expected, you've always got that as a backup."

Miranda nodded. "Tuck's stuff is still mostly in storage at his father's but I could probably get my hands on whatever you needed."

Derek couldn't believe the luck he had when it came to the people who surrounded him. If this had been his old life, in New York with Addie, his coworkers wouldn't have even thought to talk to him about his worries. They were all to wrapped up in their own lives to notice their coworkers. Here, his coworkers had become his second family, and even when they had their own things in life to face, they were always there for one another. Just like a real family.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Jackson and Lexie were both on-call that night. It being pretty slow, they had both made their way to the underground tunnels to do charts or just to get away from the buzzing hospital life.

"Hey," Lexie said as she noticed that she wasn't the only person who thought of the hideaway.

"Hey," Jackson called back as he scooted over and made room for her on the gurney they used as a bench.

"Charts?" she asked, referring to the sheets in his hands.

"Nope," he answered with a smile. He showed her the sheet of paper.

"Jackson! That's amazing!" she exclaimed.

Jackson laughed. "We're almost like siblings, right? I mean, you being Meredith's sister and me being her brother?"

Lexie laughed. "I think that on levels of family and siblings in our group, it doesn't matter if you're actually related. Look at Meredith and Cristina, or Mark and Derek."

Jackson nodded. "Okay, then this is me confiding in my sister. You can keep a secret right?"

Lexie nodded. "You have no idea," she answered, referring to the biggest secret she even had to keep, and that was her relationship with Mark.

"The thought popped into my head a week ago. I mean, most serious relationships lead up to this, and I knew since the beginning, well mostly when she moved in, that it was a possibility, but it's Cristina, and after hearing about what Burke did and that it could have caused some insecurities that she doesn't let show, I kind of pushed it aside. But last week, I had this feeling that this is what was right, that this is what we both wanted, just in the way she acts, or the way she talks. And I really hope she wants this, because I do."

Lexie smiled and gave Jackson a hug. "I'm sure she's been thinking about it," she answered. "I mean, you're the first person that has made Cristina this open about her emotions. I still remember the day you left her a note in her locker. I was there when she found it. And she had a sparkle in her eye that I had never seen before. I think this is the first time she is truly in love."

"It's just, it's so fast," Jackson stated. "It's only been, what, five months? I'm not planning on doing it really soon, but the idea has gotten into my head, and now it's all I think about. Is five months too soon to think about all of this?"

Lexie shook her head. "When it's love, nothing is too soon."

She took the small package of paper from Jackson's hand and started looking at all the variety.

"Definitely go with simple," she said. "Cristina's a simple person. She doesn't want too flashy."

"How do I know which ones right?" he asked.

"You'll just know," she said as she looked down at her own ring. "You'll just know."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Their heart to heart, sentimental moment had ended and soon enough, Cristina was already complaining about something or other.

"That new guy, ugh, he seems so… stuck up… it's all about him, he's the best, he's the guy… McCocky."

Meredith burst out laughing. "And the McNicknames live on." Once her laughter had stopped, she shook her head. "You have no idea Cristina."

"I feel bad for you Mer. He's your new guy, the Brain guy. He has to be your inspiration."

Meredith shook her head. "My first Brain guy will always be my inspiration," she smiled. "And new Brain guy is an idiot. He asked me out."

Cristina choked on her spoonful of ice cream. "He what?"

"He asked me on a date for tomorrow night. Just out of the blue."

Cristina was blown away. "You're Dr Meredith Shepherd… didn't he notice the last name thing?"

Meredith rolled her eyes. "He thought I was one of Derek's many sisters. I told him I wasn't, but I wasn't able to tell him he was my husband. He thinks I'm a cousin."

It was Cristina's turn to burst out laughing. "He'll be fired once Derek finds out."

Meredith laughed along. "I'll tell him tonight. That way I won't have to worry about my date tomorrow night."

Cristina couldn't stop herself from laughing. She was laughing so hard that she couldn't bother getting up when the doorbell rang. So Meredith decided she'd leave her person to her humor and find out who their guest was.

When she opened the door, there was an older lady standing there. She seemed to be in her late fifties, early sixties and didn't seem at all familiar. Meredith suddenly had a flashback from the last time she opened the door for a stranger and felt a chill run down her spine. But Cristina was here. Nothing could happen. Right?

"Hello," she said with a smile. "Can I help you?"

The lady seemed a little confused. "I was told Jackson Avery lived here. I must have the wrong place." She was about to leave when Meredith called her back.

"This is his place. He's at the hospital, on-call," she answered, not knowing whether the stranger knew he was a doctor, because saying somebody was at the hospital usually meant that they were hurt or something was wrong.

"Oh okay then. Are you his girlfriend?"

Meredith laughed slightly at the thought of being Jackson's girlfriend. The lady just gave her another confused look.

"No, I'm his half sister, Meredith Shepherd," she introduced herself. "And you are?"

"His mother, Helen Avery."