Morgan couldn't stand being around her little cousins for more than half an hour and therefore, the children got bored of her and she got to spend a little time with Carolyn and be spoiled by her uncles. David's magic tricks entertained her the most and that was the first time Meredith and Derek saw the awe expression on her face.
Later on, as he didn't want anyone to see Morgan's birth mark, Derek asked his mother to have Morgan ready for their dinner.
In their room, Meredith was hovering over her suitcase, trying to decide what to wear.
"I told you it doesn't have to be very formal," Derek couldn't help but groan as he saw how slow she was moving.
"I am a fiancé now," Meredith stated, throwing her hands in the air with exasperation before starting fumbling again through her suitcase. "I can't wear my regular rags."
That brought a smile on his face and he walked up to her, bringing her into his arms. "Of course you can still wear your regular rags. I wouldn't mind."
Meredith looked at him with distrust. She stepped back from his arms and bent over the suitcase; from there she picked an ivory sweater and a pair of black jeans.
"You could try a skirt though," Derek said quietly.
Meredith sighed and turned to him with a glare. "Jeans and sweater." He hurried to agree. "You look great in whatever that makes you feel comfortable."
Meredith threw the jeans back in the suitcase then. "Good, because I think I gained a little weight since I gave birth."
Derek looked at her, puzzled. He shook his head and muttered, "We're speaking in different dialects, I think." He let Meredith chose the outfit what she wanted and, while she was doing it, he went into the bathroom to arrange his hair. Once that was solved, Derek was ready for going out.
To give Meredith a little more time, he went to see how his mother was doing with Morgan. Crossing the hall to her room, Derek heard his sisters and nieces downstairs and he sighed with relief as none had assisted Carolyn. Walking inside, Derek found Morgan sitting on her bum on the bed while his mother was arranging her hair with a silk hair band. As Carolyn tied it on her head, Morgan started fussing and brushed the band off her head; being silky, same as her hair, the band fell off easily.
"Please, Morgan," Carolyn asked her with a begging, not yet noticing Derek's presence in the room. "It really looks nice on you." Then she tried to tie it again, but Morgan was firm. She didn't like it. Once the band fell off again, Morgan also got on her knees and started crawling away from her grandma.
"How many times did you try doing it?" Derek laughed, making his presence there noticed.
As she heard Derek, Morgan stopped, got on her bum and held her arms out to him, whimpering.
"Come here," Derek laughed at her as he picked her up into his arms.
"I thought she would look nice," Carolyn replied matter-of-factly, trying not to look embarrassed. It was well known already that Carolyn liked dressing up her granddaughters.
"I don't remember you doing it with your daughters," Derek smiled. "Are you trying to catch up now?"
"Oh just shut up," Carolyn groaned. "Have I done a good job or not?" she asked him, pointing to Morgan's dress.
Derek looked down at Morgan's outfit; a tiny purple dress with a white waist band tying in a bow. Her dress was short sleeve and her arms looked adorable, especially with Derek's bracelet at her left wrist. As if she knew she was admired, Morgan giggled and slapped Derek. Derek caught her hand and held it in his as he kissed it. "You've done a great job," he smiled at his mom.
"Thank you," she answered and went to close the door. Then she turned to Derek, this time looking more serious and also confused. "Did Nancy see her birth mark?"
"Yes," Derek sighed. "Today when she changed her diaper. Why? Did she figure out something, because she didn't look like she had when she saw it?"
"No, she didn't and that's what confuses me," Carolyn answered. "Everyone knows Mark's birth sign and it's identical with Morgan's; it's located on the same place. She just pointed it to me, but she didn't mention about the resemblance with Mark's."
"Maybe she has other things on her mind."
"Other things? Derek, she notices anything no matter how busy and stressed she is. It must be something big holding her attention distracted then."
Derek just shrugged and didn't say anything, but there was still something on his face that told his mom that he might know something.
"Do you know anything and you're not telling me?" she asked him.
"No," he answered. "She didn't tell me anything," he lied. Then he was ready to get out of there and get rid of his mom's suspicions. "I have to see if Meredith is ready." He told her. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and then left the room with Morgan.
Back in their bedroom, Derek found Meredith brushing her hair and she was wearing a pair of black pants and a purple blouse, matching with Morgan's dress color. "You've started to develop a sense of style in your wardrobe," Derek chuckled.
Meredith just smiled and took Morgan from Derek. "You look pretty," she smiled at her daughter and Morgan answered with the same giggle as earlier when Derek had complimented her too. "I like her when she's cheerful," she looked at Derek.
"Everyone likes her when she's cheerful. Some of us like her mood swings too," Derek chuckled.
"She has been very moody lately," Meredith said, a little worried.
"She's growing. Do you think it's easy to grow up?" he wanted to comfort her.
"I don't know," Meredith sighed. "I didn't know I was growing until I was 18."
"Don't worry. We'll help her grow without any problem or complication." Derek put his arms around them and gave each a kiss. "So?" he asked Meredith.
"So?" Meredith asked back, not knowing what he was talking about. Then she remembered. "Oh."
"How did it go?" he asked her, wanting details about her talk with Nancy.
"I don't know," Meredith shrugged. "I talked to her, but she's still the one that takes decisions toward her life."
"I know, but do you think you got her thinking?"
Meredith wasn't sure and she didn't want to give Derek false hopes. "I hope so. I really do. But now you're her brother. You should talk to her and listen to her. Be there for her. I am a stranger to her, but you're her brother. You know her better and she listens differently to you. Everyone noticed how you two are avoiding each other."
Derek just nodded his head once. "Let's go. We're going to be late."
Without commenting more about Nancy, Derek and Meredith headed to the restaurant with Morgan. Derek also avoided mentioning to Meredith about the fact that Nancy had seen Morgan's birth mark. Nancy seemed too busy with her own problems to figure out the connection between Mark and Morgan and therefore, Derek had no reason to alarm Meredith about that. On their way to the restaurant, they talked about Morgan and her cousins, a little about his sisters and their husband and also about the things that happened since they got there, and Derek was pleased to see how great and comfortable Meredith started feeling with his family.
At the restaurant, they were greeted by a young waitress who couldn't stop from pinching Morgan's cheeks. That annoyed Meredith terribly. As she didn't want to be rude, she passed Morgan to Derek, who was taller than the waitress and made it difficult to reach for Morgan at that height.
She led them to their table and handed them the menus, telling them she would bring a highchair for Morgan immediately; not before she pinched Morgan's cheek one more time. In that moment, Meredith wanted to protest, but Derek anticipated her reaction and held her hand, stopping her.
"At least Morgan doesn't mind," Derek pointed out, wanting to save the waitress.
"I don't care," Meredith argued quietly. "She didn't wash her hands. She hands the menus, touches things… Not even I touch her cheeks this much and if I do, I cleaned them well before doing it."
"Just calm down," Derek chuckled. "I need to go to the men's room. Promise you'll be good?"
Meredith rolled her eyes and smiled.
"I will have what you have," Derek leaned to her, kissing her, before he stood up and left to the bathroom.
The waitress came back, bringing a highchair. She bent to Morgan, smiling and cooing.
"Please," Meredith said when the waitress reached with her hand for Morgan's cheek. "She has sensitive skin. You need to be very clean on your hands."
"Oh," the waitress smiled embarrassed. "I am sorry. Yeah. I should be more careful."
"You should," Meredith smiled sarcastically.
While the waitress got some help with the chair from a waiter, Meredith held Morgan on her knees and looked through the menu. When the chair was set, the waitress was also ready to take their order.
After she told her the order, Meredith stood up to put Morgan in the highchair, but then she noticed someone watching them, not far from their table. There was a tall redhead, very classy, that looked quickly away when Meredith caught her staring. But then she glanced at them again and came to them hesitating. She bent to Morgan and just smiled.
"She's so pretty," she said.
Confused, Meredith smiled gratefully. Then the woman straightened up and looked at Meredith, watching her, until Meredith lifted a brow, questioning.
"Enjoy your dinner," the woman smiled kindly and headed to the exit, leaving the air filled with an expensive scent.
Meredith stared after her, confused. She wasn't the first person that stopped by to coo at Morgan, but she did it in a different way; like she was studying her.
Derek was two tables away when his feet froze. He blinked once and opened his eyes wider. He watched the woman smiling at Morgan and then telling Meredith a few words. Panic swept through him as he tried to read their lips. As Meredith stood calm and smiled politely at that woman, Derek was sure that nothing was happening. He watched her leaving as well; just then he started moving again and came back to the table.
"What did she want?" Derek asked Meredith.
"To look closer at Morgan," Meredith shrugged. "I am telling you, people stares make me feel like I am carrying a monkey from the Zoo with me," she grumbled.
Derek didn't hear what she said; he looked up at the doors as if he was watching beyond them. He didn't know what to believe about that. He surely hadn't expected to meet his ex-wife there in Hampton. Did she see him coming with Meredith? Did she know who Meredith and Morgan were? He shook all those questions out his thoughts and turned his full attention to his family, enjoying their night out. Maybe his family knew something about that.
Later, when they arrived home, Derek and Meredith found Kathleen sitting with her husband in a corner of the porch and Derek just waved and walked inside with Meredith and Morgan. Morgan had started snoozing no long ago; she had liked so much the cheese cake she had for dessert that Meredith allowed her to have a little more than necessary and they were hoping now that she would go to sleep without a stomachache.
Walking inside, Derek saw light in living room. He gave Morgan a kiss, lingering against her cheek and smelled sweetly like cheese, and let her go with her Mommy to get ready for bed. Derek headed to living room to see if his mother was there.
Carolyn was there indeed, sitting in the couch and reading from a book. She looked up as she heard someone approaching.
"How was dinner?" she smiled.
Derek walked over to her couch and set down beside her. "Dinner was good," he answered and sneaked his arm around his mother.
"Did Morgan like the food?"
Derek nodded his head firmly. "You should have seen her devouring the cheese cake. She used both hands," he chuckled.
"She's growing unbelievably fast, isn't she?" his mother smiled knowingly.
"Unbelievably," Derek agreed.
"So everything is going on great with you," she said and she was clearly waiting for assurance.
"Absolutely great," Derek reassured her. "I don't think we told you. We set the wedding date."
"You did?" she asked, surprised.
Derek nodded and answered, "On the 5th of May."
"But…" Carolyn stammered a little, surprised. "That's in less than a month."
Derek smiled as if he was apologizing. "Or in almost a year."
Carolyn was visibly a little disappointed at first, but then she sighed and smiled at her son. "Time will fly by too fast."
"We know. We already talked about a location. We'll have the wedding on Orcas Island, near Seattle."
"To the beach," Carolyn approved, impressed.
"Meredith and I were there recently and the place is fantastic. It's so fantastic that they couldn't book us a reservation sooner than next year in May."
Carolyn took his hand and cradled it between hers. She patted him gently while putting her head down on his shoulder. "I am glad things turned out this way for you. I like Meredith better than Addison," she said quietly.
"They're two different people and I like Meredith better too," Derek answered. "And speaking of Addison…" he sighed and his mother pulled away as if she had guessed that he had something serious to say. "I might be crazy, but I think I saw Addison today at the restaurant."
"Did she see you?" Carolyn asked.
"I don't know," Derek shrugged. "I went to the men's room and when I came back I saw someone at our table, smiling at Morgan and telling Meredith something. Then she left. I am almost sure, that was Addison."
"That's strange," Carolyn mused.
"I don't know," Derek sighed.
"What did she tell Meredith?"
"Nothing really; she noticed Morgan and complimented her a little."
"Maybe it wasn't her," Carolyn muttered, unsure.
"Maybe," Derek answered the same way.
As neither of them wanted to mention Addison anymore, the topic moved to Derek's other relatives, his mother updating him with a few news from their lives. They also remembered of good old times of his childhood, without even noticing when Kathleen and Colin got back into the house and joined to their talk. A little bit later, they heard the door unlocking and Derek looked questioningly at the others.
"Nancy and David were out too," his mother answered.
Derek was surprised to hear his sister laughing noisily and to see her holding hands with David. It looked like Meredith gave her a successful lecture after all.
"Oh," David smiled apologetically as he and Nancy walked into the living room. "I thought you were in bed."
"So you could empty mom's bar?" Derek chuckled.
"Her bar is always empty," Kathleen joked. "Like you don't know."
"Well, I am sorry for being responsible," Carolyn replied with a fake a frown.
"We're going upstairs then," Nancy told them and wanted to pull David after her, but he stopped her and asked her, "Aren't you going to tell them?"
Nancy looked at him confused at first, but then she remembered. "I think we saw Addison earlier in a bar. She was her friend Ella."
Derek and Carolyn looked at each other. The woman Derek had seen was Addison indeed.
"What?" everyone asked them.
"I saw her at the restaurant too," Derek answered and went on telling them about the scene with Morgan and Meredith.
"Did she saw you?" Kathleen asked him. "Do you think she knew who Meredith and Morgan were?"
But Derek couldn't answer right away, because Nancy cut in. "It was Addison. Meredith and I walked today along the shore and when we passed past your house, we thought we saw the front door open."
Derek thought about that for a moment. "I think she could know who Meredith and Morgan were. First of all, she never stops to coo at a stranger's baby and, second of all, she could have seen us today at the beach."
Everyone agreed.
"Does Meredith know who that woman was?" Carolyn asked Derek.
Derek hadn't thought about Meredith or even telling her. "No. I don't think Addison introduced herself to her."
"Then everything was nothing but a slight awkward moment," David added quickly, making everyone turn and look curious at his hurry. It was obvious by the way he was holding Nancy's hand and he was shifting his weight from one foot to another that he was in a hurry.
"That's right," Derek chuckled. "I should go and help Meredith with Morgan."
"Then we're going upstairs too," David stated and he and Nancy waved at them.
"We're going to make a snack," Kathleen stated as she and Colin stood up. "Do you want to join us?" she asked her mother and then looked at Derek too.
"No. I just ate," Derek answered and his mother refused also, saying it was a late hour for her.
As Derek and Carolyn headed to the stairs, Carolyn sighed with content. "I am glad they're solving their problems."
"Who?" Derek asked her, confused.
Carolyn just looked at Nancy's bedroom.
"You knew?" he asked her.
"I am a mother and after all these years I got to see things easily," she stated. "Besides that, you're not a good liar. How did you know?"
"She told me," Derek answered. "And Meredith talked to her," he added, smirking.
Carolyn just chuckled and patted him on the back. "Good night, Derek."
"Good night, mom," he leaned down and kissed her.
Derek opened the door slowly and sneaking his head inside, saw Meredith lying on the bed with Morgan.
"Is she sleeping?" Derek asked in whisper.
"She is now," Meredith answered, gently rubbing against Morgan's stomach.
Closing the door and picking Morgan's clothes from the floor, Derek made a face and asked, "What's this smell?"
"The clothes you're holding," Meredith answered and stood up from the bed. Derek looked puzzled. "She threw up a little. I think she had too much cheese cake."
"You think?" Derek asked sarcastically, raising his voice a little.
"I know," Meredith frowned at his reproach.
"Why didn't you call me from downstairs?" Derek asked her as he walked up to the bed to look at Morgan.
"Because you were with your family and because I am a doctor too, so I had everything under control."
"How come I didn't hear her crying?"
"Because she didn't cry. You should have seen how her face lit up after she got everything out," answered Meredith. "Do you want to take her to her crib while I wash her dress?"
Derek grinned at her silly question. "Ok." Meredith laughed. "I hope she throws up on you too."
"Oh that's not going to happen to me," Derek answered smugly. "But I know someone who wasn't that lucky," he said, referring at Mark when being in hospital Morgan threw up on him.
"See? She knows how to scary her daddies away," Meredith joked.
"And you think I chicken out so easily?" Derek lifted a brow.
Meredith just smiled; she knew he could be trusted. After she cleaned Morgan's dress, Meredith returned in their room. Morgan was sleeping soundly in her crib and Derek had changed his clothes. She turned the light off and walked to the bed, sneaking beside Derek while he held the quilt up for her and nestling beside him.
"Do you remember that woman from the restaurant?" Derek asked her out of nowhere.
Meredith took a moment to remembered and answered, "What about her?"
"That was Addison," he answered short.
Meredith looked up and threw the darkness could see he was looking at her. "Your ex-wife?" Derek nodded his head. Meredith looked at him a moment longer and put her head back down on his chest saying just, "Oh."
"Nancy said she and David saw her too earlier."
Meredith didn't say anything back.
At her silence, Derek wrapped tighter his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"Do you think she knew who we were?" Meredith asked just then.
"I don't know."
"I think she does," she said. "She looked at us in a way."
Derek was curious now, but he wasn't sure if it was cautious of him to talk to Meredith about this. He dared to ask though, "In what way?"
Meredith shrugged. "In a way. Like she wanted to look better at us," she answered. "She seems nice," she added then.
Derek just kissed her, tracing the line of her jaw with his fingers. "Guess what?" he was ready to move from this subject and bring Nancy up.
"Guess about what?"
"About Nancy."
Meredith looked up at him again and met his grin. "Because I talked to her?"
"Because you talked to her," he answered.
She put her head down again. "Wow."
"See? You should not underestimate yourself," he encouraged her.
"What plans do we have for tomorrow morning?" she changed the subject as well. Right in that moment a lightning filled the room with light for a second and then a thunder broke outside. "I guess we know," Meredith answered herself.
Indeed, the rain didn't stop during the night and it kept pouring in the morning too. This gave Carolyn the chance to spend a little more time alone with Morgan, Meredith and Derek and it also gave the chance to the older cousins to meet Morgan better. Jessie proved to be very patient and careful with the babies and Morgan really liked the new face.
It was time for Meredith and Derek to get ready for leaving at noon. Carolyn accompanied them to the airport and sang a lullaby to Morgan during the ride and Morgan put her thumb into her mouth and, watching her grandma's lips, she started snoozing. The flight was perfect for everyone as Morgan slept throughout the flight and there was no noisy child in the plane disturbing her sleep. Morgan was ready now to see her dog.
