Chapter 73: Zola's New Pet
The early morning sun peeked through the windows at the Dream House. Everyone who had ended up in the house the night before was sound asleep, except for Meredith. While deeply lost in a dream, she heard an unfamiliar, subtle noise that called her from peaceful sleep to wide awake curiosity. Lying in bed without opening her eyes, she lowered her brow as she struggled to hear the sound again.
Nothing. Just Quiet. Absolute silence.
Just about to fade back into Dreamworld, the tiny noise reemerged. Meredith sleepily opened her eyes and blinked repeatedly, tracing the sound that was coming from her bedroom doorway.
Attempting to not panic, Meredith sputtered quietly, "Derek…Derek…Derek, wake up." Derek did not move. The kids and the camping adventure had worn him to a frazzle the day and night before.
Meredith took in a deep breath as she pulled the blankets around her shoulders and sunk under them, keeping her gaze sharply fixed toward the only exit from the room. "Derek!... Derek!..." Although he was half awake, he wasn't about to move a muscle. Derek had no idea what Meredith could possibly want, but he was sincerely hoping to not find out. His hope was that lying perfectly still might convince her that he was still asleep.
Finally, Meredith shoved him and said at normal volume and with tension in her voice, "Derek!"
Derek opened one eye slightly and groaned, "Mmmmmm?"
Landing a pillow on top of her husband, Meredith clipped out the words, "Wake. Up." She returned to a whisper and anxiously declared, "Derek! You need to get out of bed. Now!"
Derek stretched and sat up slow as a sloth, sleepily inquiring, "Why?" He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. 5:37 am.
Whispering very quietly, Meredith tentatively removed one hand from under the blankets and pointed toward the bedroom doorway, "Because… That."
Derek laughed heartily and playfully shoved his wife, "Meredith, it's a tiny little mouse. It's not going to hurt anything."
"Get it out of my house, Derek. You brought it in here last night, you need to remove it," she ordered sharply.
Laughing at her again, Derek questioned, "How do you know I brought it in? Maybe one of the kids did or maybe Owen did. It probably crawled into one of the duffel bags and ended up inside when we threw everything into the house."
"Derek," Meredith maintained seriously.
Running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to flatten down his bedhead, Derek grinned at his wife as he looked at her over his shoulder. "You really are adorable, you know that, right?"
"It's still looking at me," Meredith explained with disgust. "It's plotting."
Derek chuckled and headed toward the mouse, stating, "You know as soon as I get close to it, it's going to run, right?"
"Then kill it. Kill it before you get close enough for it to run," Meredith suggested.
Smiling sweetly at his wife with his softened blue eyes, Derek maintained, "Meredith, that mouse is more afraid of you than you are of it."
"I highly doubt that. It's been staring at me for at least an hour," Meredith explained as she wrapped the blankets around herself even tighter.
"You know it could run right over here, up the bed, under the blankets and up your legs, right?" Derek teased as he jumped onto the bed and began to tickle his wife.
Unable to avoid laughing, Meredith attempted to be angry and giggly simultaneously, "You are not funny," she giggled. "Stop. Derek. Get the damn mouse!"
Grinning, Derek slowly stepped out of bed and threw on a robe. He picked up a big empty cup he'd used the day before but had forgotten to take back to the kitchen. Leisurely, he walked toward the mouse, gently coaxing, "Hi, little guy. Don't worry, that giant, mean woman won't hurt you. I'm here to save you from her flying scalpels and threatening desires."
"You're not funny," Meredith responded flatly as she watched Derek's every move.
He looked back at her with a grin and corrected, "Oh, yes, I am. Frankly, Meredith, you are even funnier." Very deliberately, Derek knelt down about seven feet from the mouse and set the cup by the creature. "This mouse is funny – he doesn't run or move like most mice would," Derek observed.
"He's probably diseased. I bet he's carrying the Plague," Meredith announced.
Derek rolled his eyes and very gradually approached the little rodent. With a lightning fast swoop of a magazine in one hand and the cup approaching the mouse using the other hand, Derek expertly caught the critter. Its tiny nails scratched the inside of the container with desperate fear.
"What do you want me to do with it?" Derek inquired.
Meredith looked at the cup with utter disgust. Her face looked like she was about to be sick as she insisted, "You're the man. Deal with it however men deal with them."
"Ah! I'm the man around the house when it's convenient, huh? When it comes to mice?" Derek blurted.
"Stomp him and kill him," Meredith ordered.
"So much for the Hippocratic Oath," Derek chuckled. "How about if I just put him outside?" He leaned against the bedroom doorway as he held the cup in one hand and the magazine over the cup with the other.
"He'll come back in. And my oath was toward humanity not disease-infested, creepy rodents attempting to infect my family and roaming in my home," Meredith clarified.
Grinning widely but holding back laughter, Derek gently shook his head and reassured his wife, "Go back to sleep or I'll pursue other plans with you when I return from freeing this prisoner."
Meredith grinned back and slipped down onto the bed, closing her eyes and breathing a deep sigh of relief. Derek, unable to contain himself, walked to the front door and opened and closed it. He stood silent and still for a moment in the entry with the cup, mouse, and magazine still in hand. Then he opened and closed the door again and stopped in the kitchen to place a proper lid on the cup in his hand. He walked toward his bedroom with the sealed cup, attempting not to burst into hysterics. He did not have a specific plan for the mouse, but he knew he'd come up with some way to harass his sister later.
When Derek entered the bedroom, Meredith was still lying on the bed with her eyes closed. Setting the cup on his nightstand, Derek slid into bed and reached out his arm. He pulled his wife close to his body and kissed her neck as his chest and her back met.
"You think you deserve a reward for your valiant efforts?" Meredith giggled. Derek simply grumbled playfully without words as he continued to stroke and kiss his wife. The two began making love as Meredith observed dryly, "You smell like a campfire."
Derek nuzzled into Meredith's hair and responded in a sultry whisper, "You smell like lavender." He continued kissing her and guiding their bodies in united movement.
As Meredith snuggled onto his chest afterward, she spotted the cup and, before Derek could say a word, Meredith sighed with relief, "Oh good, water." She reached out for the cup. Just as she grasped it, the mouse scratched on the cup and Meredith threw the cup straight up in the air with a scream. The cup landed on the floor, the lid fell off and the terrified mouse went scurrying toward the bathroom.
Meredith stood up and jumped on the bed, alternating her feet. "Derek Christopher Shepherd, you are so rotten!" she exclaimed as she became hysterical and found herself simultaneously laughing and screaming in fright.
"Shhhhhh, you're going to wake the kids up," Derek warned as tears of laughter fell from his eyes and his stomach began to hurt from his response to her panic.
Meredith grabbed any pillow she could reach and began hitting him with them. Oliver, Zola, Bronwyn and Bailey came running in with wide eyes and faces displaying varying degrees of face paint mixed with dirt.
"Auntie Mer, what's wrong?!" Oliver asked with widened eyes. Meredith was continuing to hop back and forth between her feet on the bed.
"There's a mouse in the house," Derek explained, continuing to laugh heartily.
Bailey ran over to his mama and climbed on the bed, clinging to her and assuring her, "I'll protect you, Mama. It's ok."
Meredith, still a mixture of tears and laughter, sat down and all the kids climbed up on the bed. They all asked about the mouse – What color was it? How big was it? Was the mouse a boy or a girl? Did it have a name? Where was it now? How did it get in the house? Zola and Bailey asked if they could keep it.
Leaning close to his wife's ear, Derek shared, "I really didn't mean for that to happen. I was saving the mouse so I could bug Amelia later. I had no idea you'd grab the cup."
Meredith shifted a sideways glance toward her husband with a semi-convinced grin, "Hmmm…" She whispered back, "If you haven't caught it by tonight, I'm getting a hotel." Derek, shaking his head and laughing, knew she wasn't joking. His priority for the day had been determined.
Meanwhile, back at the trailer, Amelia and Owen were whispering with one another and reminiscing about their first days as a couple.
"Being in here brings back so many memories," Owen mused. He leaned over and kissed Amelia on each cheek and then on the lips, neck, and each shoulder. "So many wonderful, incredible memories."
As she soaked in the love with her eyes half open and serenity showering over her entire being, Amelia smiled softly and agreed, "Many, many memories." Owen's strong body leaned upon hers as they wrapped their arms around each other's naked bodies and began to make love for the second time that morning.
Bang! Wham! The door to the trailer flew open with full force and remained ajar as a pile of children lunged inside. Finley was carrying Gwen and Oliver had a hold of Ella – they had pushed them to the trailer using the stroller and carried the babies to Amelia. All of the kids were exploding with energy and words. "Mouse!" "Mommy's getting a hotel." "Mamamammama" "Uncle Derek caught it." "Dadaaaddaa" "That mouse is creepy." "That mouse is so cool." "I wanna keep him!"
Owen sat up, ensuring the sheets covered him from the waist down, and handed Amelia a nearby robe. Amelia slipped it on, pulled the sheet up to her shoulders and sighed about the interruption. "One at a time," Owen coaxed with a wide smile. "I can tell something really exciting happened, but I can't listen to all of you at once."
"Zola, it's your house and your mommy, so you go first," Bronwyn ordered before either boy had an opportunity to pipe up.
"My mommy, she woke up 'cause she heard a tiny little noise and she saw a eensy weensy mouse," Zola began with great enthusiasm.
"And Uncle Derek caughted the mouse in a cup!" Bronwyn shrieked.
Oliver added, "Then Auntie Mer thought the cup had water in it and almost drank the mouse!"
"Oh, wow," Owen guffawed as he moved his head from speaker to speaker gathering in the story of the morning. "How do you drink a mouse?" he asked with a furrowed brow as he rubbed Amelia's shoulder with his hand.
"The cup had a lid on it and she picked up the cup because she thought it was full of water," Finley clarified. "Then the mouse scratched the cup and she threw the mouse and the cup into the air."
"And now the mouse is running all over our house," Zola giggled as she swarmed her hands in the air. "Mommy is not happy about that, but Daddy thinks it's funny."
"I'll bet so!" Amelia commented as each twin wormed their way up to their mommy's breasts. "Why didn't your daddy put the mouse outside when he caught it the first time?"
"Hmmm….should we tell her?" Bronwyn asked the group with utter seriousness.
Zola shook her head as Oliver spurted out, "He wanted to keep it to scare you later."
Owen laughed as Amelia grinned and shook her head, "That's my brother. Rotten and full of tricks."
"Auntie Mia! Auntie Mia! You wanna know the best part of the story?" Zola beamed as she and the rest of the kids climbed onto the bed.
"Of course, I do. What's the best part, kiddo?" Amelia inquired.
Zola clasped her hands together and smiled from ear to ear, "Daddy says that he's taking me to adopt a kitty later so it can help him find the mouse."