In the next few weeks, Meredith's morning sickness started to ease up a bit. Normally it started to ease up for her around 12 weeks, but it was around the midway mark, 20 weeks, before she started to feel herself again. She had more energy, more pep in her step, and she was feeling great again. Of course, her belly was taken over by their daughter, kicking and rolling around in her amniotic sac as Meredith walked around the hospital doing her job, but she didn't mind. It felt nice to be adding onto the family again, especially since Grace was so much older now.
Every night before bed, Grace insisted on one story for her, and one story for her little sister. They both thought it was adorable but at the same time it was exhausting, doing two stories. That was just her life now, she felt – pure exhaustion. Meredith wouldn't change anything about it, however.
Residency was…residency. Meredith felt she had to get to the hospital at 4am in order to be on the service of who she wanted to and get the good cases, so that's what she did. At 20 weeks, her belly was unable to hide itself anymore, but her patients loved seeing their pregnant resident every morning. She became their favorite as they asked about the baby, despite Mer feeling unprofessional about all of it. It wasn't every day that there was a knocked up resident in the program, she thought, as she rolled her eyes to herself.
Getting to do surgery was always such an exciting thing, as they were now advanced enough to be trusted with a scalpel. The ER was always a punishment, stitching up little cuts, but the day Meredith was asked to scrub in on her first craniotomy was like Christmas day. She spent all day researching the procedure, even though she knew It like the back of her hand.
The day came for her big surgery and as she scrubbed in and came into the OR, her eyes flicked up to the gallery. Derek, Addison, and Mark all sat there, and she swallowed thickly, nervous all of a sudden. She knew they were both rooting for her to succeed and waiting for her to fail. As she made the first cut, she could hear everyone cheering and howling in the gallery, and she wanted to step away and sink into the floor, waiting for it to swallow her whole.
She managed to get through the surgery, assisting Dr. Fredrick, and as she closed, everyone came another cheer. She caught Derek's eye as he clapped, proud of his wife, and she scrubbed out, meeting him in the hallway.
"My wife is on her way to being a badass neurosurgeon," he told her, locking her in a kiss.
"Mmm my husband is on his way to being one too," she smiled, pressing her forehead against his. Inbetween them, she could feel their daughter kicking and she laughed, looking down.
"Someone agrees with both of us!" she laughed, pressing his hands to the spot. He remembered Gracie kicking, but it had been so long since she had been born that he teared up.
"It's such an amazing and powerful feeling, feeling your baby kick for the first time," he told her, giving her another kiss
"It really is," she smiled, wanting this moment to last forever. Of course, it had to be broken by Derek's pager going off, and he groaned.
"One of my patients is coding," he said, giving her another kiss before running off. She sighed, shaking her head a bit before she accompanied her post-op patient to the recovery room.
They had worked it out so they always had Saturdays off together to spend as a family. The new house was finished, surrounded by nothing but land, and that Saturday they wanted to explore. It was raining lightly but neither of them cared, as they bundled Grace into something warm with her adorable lady bug raincoat and matching rain boots. Meredith was more practical, opting for warm thermals with her usual leggings and a Dartmouth shirt, a fleece underneath her jacket with worn rainboots. She wasn't going to miss exploring their land for anything.
When they were ready they left the house, heading down the dirt road away from the house, Grace walking inbetween them. There were so many places to go, but Derek had a place in mind. They headed up a trail that led them up a hill a ways beyond the house, and after what seemed like hours they reached the top. Grace was tired and wanted Derek to carry her, so he did as they reached the top, and Meredith gasped. There were no trees, but there were gorgeous, 360 views of Seattle, and she pushed back the hood of her coat a bit, not even caring that her hair was getting wet.
"It's so gorgeous," she smiled, slowly turning around in a smile. She would always be that girl from Boston, but she knew she would learn to love Seattle for all it's rain and beauty. Mount Rainier was in the distance, begging to be climbed with it's snow-capped peak, and the entire view was unspoiled by anything. She could pick out the hospital easily, despite it being so far away from where they were, and the space needle dominated the skyline.
"Isn't it beautiful? I loved this land the moment I saw the view," he told her, coming up behind her. Grace had fallen asleep on his shoulder and Meredith questioned how, in the rain and cold, but she knew kids could sleep anywhere.
"It's perfect," she whispered, not wanting to upset any animal around them with her loud voice. Reaching for his hand, she gently squeezed it. She may not have wanted to come back to Seattle, ever, but this right here was worth it. She could definitely get used to this, the hiking, the beautiful views, getting in touch with nature. Underneath her layers she felt their nameless daughter move and she smiled, looking up at Derek.
"I think I know what I want to name the baby," she told him with a smile.
So I'm finally back to Long Live! I'm about to start my rewrite for Dreams On Fire, under a dfferent title (but you'll be able to tell it's the rewrite because I'll put it in the description), I have another MerDer story in mind, and I'm debating a high school Omelia story because why not? I LOVE Omelia, and if it's high school Derek doesn't have to die! And he won't in these three stories! So come along with me and be patient as I regain my footing
