"Okay come on Kaylee. We have to go. I have to drop you off at preschool and then go to Aunty Nancy's and Steph's to organise their baby showers."
She calls out. It was now May and had been 2 weeks since their holiday. Cooper was 10 months old.
This month it was Charlie and Mark's birthday on the same day which happened to be today.
The next week it was Jasmine's birthday and that same day was her graduation from Med school.
She also had to plan baby showers and apply to hospitals. Life was getting busier and busier and she was finding less time to do things.
She dropped Kaylee off at preschool and had Cooper with her as she helped Nancy organise her baby shower. She went and picked Kaylee and Sam up and then went to Steph's to help organise one for her and her triplets. Steph was easy to and very lenient while Nancy was a Shepherd and everything had to be perfect and planned to the last detail.
They left Steph's and went over to buy presents for Charlie and Mark. Mark was having a dinner tonight with all his friends. It was going to be a really adult event so the kids were going to be babysat by Jackson for a few hours.
Meredith got the kids home and went and tidied up the house and done those jobs she could while she waited for Derek to get home. She started planning writing out invitations for those people coming to Steph's baby shower; Nancy was going to get Kathleen to write out the invitations as soon as she decided what invitations she wanted.
Derek arrived home and bathed the kids. Meredith showered and Derek got in the shower while Meredith dressed, put make up on and done her hair.
"Nancy is so picky."
"Yeah it doesn't surprise me."
"She was so done to detail. Steph was just like this and that will do."
"That's what all the Shepherd women are like. They have to trump the previous one."
"So your saying that Nancy is trying to trump my baby shower?"
"Yeah she is."
"My entire baby shower was just a lunch with friends. Lacey's baby shower was extravagant."
"Well there is your culprit. It is a rivalry between all the Shepherd sisters to have something bigger and better. That's why Nancy had to get the same sort of house as Kathleen but with one extra bedroom and a backyard bigger by a square mile."
"Your family is crazy."
"You can say that again."
They left the house with the kids and dropped in at the Webber house to say happy birthday to Charlie and give her present and drop the kids off.
The arrived at Mark's and saw how formal the event was.
"This can't be Mark's party." Meredith whispered to Derek.
"Hi welcome, can I take your coats?" A doorman asked.
"Is this Mark Sloan's birthday?" Derek asked.
"Yes it is."
"Derek, Meredith you finally made it." Mark says entering the foyer.
"Hi Mark. This is um…"
"Nice, formal."
"Not you." Derek finishes off.
"I wanted something different and look what I got."
"Well Happy birthday." Meredith says hugging him.
"Thank you Grey or should I say Grey Shepherd."
"You told him?"
"Well it is a big deal. You changed your name to mine." He says smiling at her.
Meredith just smiles back. "I love you."
"Hey none of this in here. This is a formal party. It is not a high school party full of horny 16 year olds."
"Well we will behave." Derek says.
The night went on and Meredith couldn't believe how un-Mark this was. There was supposed to be tequila shots and people playing strip poker and those couples in the corners of the darkened room practically having sex, the lights out and the music blaring.
Meredith and Derek had to leave it was to un-Mark and they had to get the kids home. They said goodbye to everyone and collected the kids taking them home to bed.
When the kids were at home asleep they just sat in disbelief at how weird that party was.
"Seriously something is going on. Is he trying to grow up?" Meredith says to aloud.
"I think he might be. It is very weird." Derek says. You can never imagine Mark Sloan to grow up."
"You better ask him what the go was tomorrow."
"Why me."
"Because you work with him you two are best friends."
"Fine."
…
The next week came and this was more an important time. It was the day graduated from med school. Richard let Derek have the day off considering Richard was taking the day off.
"Happy graduation day." Derek whispers. He kisses her shoulder.
"Thanks."
"You know what would make this even better."
"Hey we can do that tonight. Celebratory sex."
"Ok that is a deal."
She kisses him again and smiles. "I'm becoming a Doctor."
"Yes you are." He says climbing on top of her and kisses her again.
Meredith's phone interrupts them and she answers.
"Hello. Yeah it starts at 11. Okay I'll see you then."
"Who was that?"
"Cristina."
"Is not like her to forget these types of things."
"I know." She says. "Hey you didn't tell me why Mark's party was so boring?"
"Well I have you just didn't listen."
"Well when did you tell me?"
"Last week when I got home."
"Well you got home at 12. I was half asleep."
"He was trying to impress a lady."
"Impress a lady. Why is it that hard for him to do that? He just sleeps with them and that's it."
"He apparently really likes this girl."
"Oh god."
Derek just laughs at Meredith knowing that this could be the end of the world. They see their door open and Kaylee's head poke around.
"Hey Peanut." Derek says.
"Hi daddy. Are you working today?" She says jumping on the bed and sitting herself in the space between Meredith and Derek.
"No I'm not."
"That's good."
"Well we have to go and watch mummy graduate."
"Does that mean you are a doctor?"
"Yes it does."
"When do you start being a doctor?"
"Not for a few weeks yet."
"So I still have plenty of time to spend with you?"
"Yes you do."
"Ok that's good."
"It's also Jas's birthday today."
"Are we going out?"
"Yes we are."
"That is good because I haven't seen Jas in a while."
"You saw her yesterday afternoon." Meredith says.
"That is still a long time ago."
"Everything is a long time for you."
"Do I get to wear a pretty dress today?"
"Yes and one tonight as well."
"I'm going to go and choose it now." Kaylee says leaving the bedroom.
"Quickie?" Derek asks her.
"It won't be a quickie because she will walk in those doors in about 5 seconds."
"Mummy, I found it." She says.
"Told you." Meredith says to him. "You sure you won't to wear that one it's a bit too formal for a graduation?"
"Yes mummy."
"How about I come and have a look at what you have in there."
"Ok."
Meredith leaves the bedroom and goes back down to Kaylee's room and sorts through her wardrobe for a dress.
"Here we go. What about this one." Meredith says holding up a different dress.
She looks at it and makes a few faces. "Only if I can wear this one tonight."
"Ok then. You can wear that one tonight."
"Thank you." She says hugging Meredith. "Is Cooper dressing up nicely?"
"Yes he is."
"That's good because he needs to show you support mummy."
Meredith just smiles at her.
"You all show me support no matter what."
"You're the best mummy in the world."
"Thanks Kaylee."
"Do we get a special breakfast today?"
"You will have to go and ask daddy."
Kaylee leaves the room and Meredith goes to check in the nursery. Cooper is lying in his cot awake and watching the mobile.
"Good morning baby boy." Meredith says.
Cooper tracks Meredith and stands up holding onto the railing. She reaches in and takes him from the cot and holds him close to her body.
"Oh you are getting big. I think you have doubled in size since last night."
"Mumma."
"Yes baby. You get to watch me graduate today. I get to become a doctor. I reckon that you could graduate today with me. You have spent a lot of time at school with me. For over 18 months from just being inside me to coming with me every day. You are going to be a smart boy."
"Dada." He says pointing at the door that goes into the bedroom.
"Fine we will go see daddy." She tells him carrying him into the bedroom. "Someone wants to say hello." Meredith says carrying Cooper to the bed. She drops him and he walks to Derek and goes and sits on his chest.
"Good morning to you too Cooper." Derek says.
"Mummy, daddy said that he will make pancakes."
"Ok baby girl."
"Oh he needs his nappy changed." Derek says sitting him on the bed beside him and getting up.
"Oh why can't you do it?"
"Because I am going to make breakfast. Come on Kaylee."
"Excuses." Meredith says smiling after him. "Come on you stinky boy."
After breakfast Meredith and Derek showered together and got changed. She grabbed Cooper and went to dress him. She laid him on the change table and tried his clothes on.
"Cooper these are getting too small for you." She says as she stands him up. "The pants are too short. We are going to need a new pair of pants."
She goes through his draws for new pants. She finds another pair and puts them on him and finds that it fits perfectly.
"Good because I didn't want you're chubby legs shown off to everyone. They might start tickling you." She says blowing raspberries on his stomach. He starts giggling and smiling.
"Ok let's put your groovy converse sneakers on your feet and you are ready to go." She says as she picks him up to sit on the floor and put his shoes on his feet. "See perfect."
She lets him stand and admires him.
"You are a groovy baby Cooper and if people ask where you get your style from say from some amazing person who carried me for 9 months. You got that."
"Ya."
"Good. Now let's go see if you daddy could dress Kaylee as good as I could dress you."
They walk down to Kaylee's room and Meredith let's Cooper walk but he held onto Meredith's hands the whole time. They enter Kaylee's room and see that they aren't in the room.
They head downstairs and Kaylee is playing in her dress.
"Hey Kay where's dad?"
"He had to go and call the hospital."
"Ok. Can you watch your brother for just a little while?"
"Sure mummy."
Meredith sits Cooper on the floor with Kaylee and he starts playing with his sister. Meredith finds Derek sitting in the study on the phone.
"Yeah I will. Bye." Derek says hanging the phone up.
"Did you get called in?"
"They just needed to know what dosage to give one of my patients." He says. "You ready?"
"Yeah I am."
"Good. We still have time." He says as he pulls her to his lap.
"You are in a good mood today."
"I always am if I am with my wife."
"Cheesy but I love the cheesiness."
"You love everything about me."
"That is true." She says kissing him. She looks over at his desk and sees blueprints. "What are these?"
"Blueprints. I had them made up as soon as we found out we were having Kaylee."
"You've had these for over 5 years?"
"Well not these ones. When we were engaged and pregnant with Cooper I had another lot drawn up because we said that we were going to have 2 more kids so I just had a plan drawn up with what could be an idea."
"7 bedrooms. Why 7?"
"Well if we have 4 kids they can get a bedroom to themselves then we have 2 spare rooms."
"Nursery. That's a nice idea but what if we don't have any babies when we move out there."
"Well I think we should think about building after our next child."
"Ok so let's just say we welcome a baby 2 – 3 years. That means we have that time to save money." Meredith says.
"And we can design something else. That was just what I liked but we can both co-operate and choose something that we both like."
"Ok then. Can we think about this later though?"
"Of course." He says. "It was just something that I have been thinking about. We better be going anyway."
They both get up and get ready, packing the baby bag and getting to the car. They arrive at the university where the graduation is taking place. Meredith takes Cooper and Derek grabs Kaylee and the bag. They head inside into the auditorium and Derek takes a seat next to Carolyn and his sisters. Meredith hands Cooper over and goes and joins everyone else.
"Can you believe it? We are graduating." Izzie says.
"I know. It feels so surreal." Meredith says. "Just think 6 weeks and we will be doctors."
"Don't get me started." Cristina says.
Meredith couldn't concentrate on the speaker. She just sat chewing her lip and tapping her feet.
All the lectures and doctors who have be a part of their journey came and talked to everyone and took their time. Their class only had 25 people in there so it would be over as soon as possible.
They all received their doctorates and were now Doctors of medicine.
Cristina and Meredith both graduated at the top of their class with their marks averaging the same over the period of the course.
With the graduation soon ended everyone left for photos outside in the park area. When Cooper saw his mum coming to their rows of seats he stayed attached to her. He managed to get into every photo except for one and after the photos they headed for lunch.
"I still remember last year's graduation." Derek says.
"Me too. I was so pregnant. I had 6 weeks to go."
"You were beautiful."
"Thanks."
"But Mark having that huge after party."
"Oh yes I remember you brought me along and everyone thought that I was going to give birth there and then. They were a little too drunk to remember their OB training."
"You were quiet popular though. Everyone came up to you holding your stomach or rubbing it for good luck." Derek says.
"Oh drunk people don't they do some silly things."
Derek just laughs. "Oh yes they do."
That night the dinner plans were cancelled because Jasmine and Jackson had had a fight and she couldn't handle anyone. So the four of them went for dinner instead and came home with sleeping kids and a night full of congratulatory sex.
…
The next few days went by and Meredith had started to send out applications to the hospitals around Seattle and the outside towns. She had over a month left to get everything done and get ready for her life as a surgeon to begin. Kaylee was at preschool for the full day today and Cooper was asleep so Meredith finished the laundry and the cleaning and sat in the study looking over the blueprints for the house.
Derek and she had been talking about what they liked from styles to what rooms they should include.
She had made up rooms on paper and rearranged it all on paper to get the feel of what looked right.
She thought that for the downstairs the kitchen and the lounge room could be the two rooms with the best view in Seattle. She had the huge double garage connected to the house. A kid's room, dining room, study, laundry and small bathroom would fit nicely downstairs.
She then sorted out the upstairs with the 7 bedrooms, a rumpus room, nursery and the bathrooms.
She decided that she liked the style and she would show Derek later on when he arrived home.
Cooper crying came through the baby monitor so she went upstairs and got him.
"Do you want some lunch?" She asks him.
"Ba."
"Ok come on then."
She was feeding him in the highchair when the front door opened. She knew that it was too early for Derek so she didn't know who it was. The person came into the kitchen really quickly.
"Jas what are you doing here."
"I need your help?"
"What with?"
"Well you know how Jackson and I broke up?"
"Yeah." Meredith says.
"Well it is just so hard to try and get over him. He is just everywhere and he is just Jackson. I loved him we have been with each other for almost 5 years. It's hard to forget about that you know."
"Ok you sit down and take a breath. I am going to finish feeding Cooper and then we can go through this."
Meredith finished feeding Cooper and cleaned him down and went and put him in his walker.
"Okay tell me why you broke up?"
"We needed a break."
"Ok that's fair enough. How long was the break for?"
"Until we have had a break from each other. Got to do our own things."
"So this break could have been for a few weeks or a few days. It has been a few days since you two started this break."
"Yeah I suppose."
"How does Jackson feel about this? Has he come to see you yet? Tell you how he is feeling after everything."
"No he hasn't."
"Ok I think you should try and call him and talk to him because then you will both know where you stand."
"But I don't know what to say."
"Ok this is simple. You just tell him the truth. Remember when Derek and I sat down with the two of you and we said that you have to communicate and tell the truth. This is the time you need to do that."
"Ok then. I can do that." She says standing. "I will tell him that I can't imagine my life without him and that I love him."
"Yes exactly that."
"Thanks Mer."
"No worries."
Jasmine leaves and Meredith looks down at Cooper.
"Why is life so complicated?" She asks him. He just smiles at her. "Well it's not for you."
Derek came home late that night just as Cooper was going down for bed.
"Your phone is going crazy as well." Derek says to her as she enters the bedroom.
"Ok."
She checks her phone and reads the messages from Jasmine.
"Who are they from?"
"Jas."
"What is going on?"
"Her and Jackson are back together. They were honest with each other and said what they were feeling and now they are back together."
"Did you have anything to do with that?"
"She just came to talk to about her feels and I let her know what the best thing to do was and apparently it worked."
He changes into his pyjamas and gets into bed.
"Oh I sorted out new plans for the house."
"Oh you did."
"Yeah they are just here." She says showing him the plans. "What do you think?"
"This could work." He says looking at the plans of their could be house. "I actually do like it. Very big but we need the space and the room."
"This could be our house." She says smiling at him.
"Yeah it could be. Just think we could be there in 5 years' time."
"It's our future."
"We are getting our future."
What'd you think? Let me know.
Next chapter I will have up ASAP. I am starting year 11 tomorrow so I will see how busy I am and all that stuff.
Next chapter is a day with Steph and the kids which ends with Steph in hospital.
Read and review please. It makes me update faster.
