Meredith spent the next three days at home. She caught up on technical reading, did some research, supervised a surgery in Idaho on Skype, followed up on questions from the conference and finished all her charts. Since she'd been out of the hospital for the conference as well as her sick leave, she did her department reports and planned her following weeks teaching labs. She was able to get all her paperwork updated and was very happy about the productive hours she'd spent on the couch with her leg up. She conferenced with Jo and her research team with their findings and reports that were due for funding.
When Nathan arrived home on the third night he looked at her cuddled on the couch, Journal on her lap, Zola leaning on her propped up feet, Bailey on the floor in front of the couch and Ellis snuggled in beside her sound asleep. Zola and Bailey were watching a movie and everyone looked so comfy. He approached the back of the couch and dropped a kiss on Meredith's head. "This looks cozy. I wish I could join in," he said.
"Very cozy, as long as you don't need to pee," she said, wrapping her arm up grabbing his hand.
"Do you need up? I can take Elli from you."
"If you order pizza first, then help me wiggle out from here?"
"The usual pizza order?"
"Yes please. El likes the Mediterranean Veggie with only Feta cheese on the thin crust."
"I'll get my bunny some veggies," he replied laughing. When he returned, he helped Meredith move Ellis onto the other end of the couch and climb over Bailey. She limped as fast as possible to the bathroom glad to be out from under her kids. When she got back to the kitchen Nathan had already set the table and pulled out some fruit and veggies to go with the pizza.
"Maybe I should distract you and then we can just eat pizza for dinner," she joked.
"The kids will tell you that we need to eat our veggies too. After I get these ready I'll let you distract me," he replied, placing the strawberries on the platter. She took the two platters to the table and then turned back to find Nathan stepping towards her wrapping her in his arms.
"I've missed you at the hospital," he said between kisses.
"I wish I could be there. I saw a consult come through on a tumour resection for us," she said as she wrapped her arms tighter around his waist.
"Yes. I think the surgery should be done within the next week, so I might end up doing it with Bailey," he said.
"I'd rather do it," she said.
"Your health is more important," he said.
"I know. What about doing it with Jo? I could scrub in and teach, then I could sit down," she said.
"That's a possibility. We can run it by Callie and see if she'll clear you for that," he said as they heard the doorbell ring.
"Pizza!" yelled Bailey.
"I guess we can continue this after bedtime," he said, grabbing one more deep kiss.
"Sounds good. You get the pizza, I'll wake sleepy head," Meredith said, heading to see if Ellis was going to wake for dinner. Although Ellis woke easily in the morning, these late afternoon naps were often troublesome. As she approached the lump on the couch, she could see that Ellis was trying to ignore the world around her. Meredith went over and wrapped her arms around Ellis picking her up and heading to the bathroom to wash up.
"Mamma, I sleepy."
"I know. But we have pizza. Do you want to go for pizza?"
"Veggie pizza?"
"Yes sweetie. Your favourite one with feta."
"OK."
The evening was quiet, the kids playing games after dinner and then settling in to read books before bed. Meredith and Nathan decided to head to their room after tucking the kids into bed. She asked, "Can we have a bath?"
"Sure, it's been a while since we've had one together. I'll get the water started," he said. Meredith headed to her dresser pulling out lace panties and a nightie. Meredith also opened the box of condoms that had arrived from Amazon, grabbing a few to place in the bathroom drawer, placing one on the bedside table, and the rest in the bedside table.
"I don't know if we'll need one for in the bath, but I'm no longer protected by hormones," she said, handing a package to Nathan.
"Thanks, I'll just put this on the shelf here," he said, pulling her into a hug.
"We used to store condoms in the cookie jar when we were residents," she said as they undressed and slid into the bathtub to enjoy the hot water and time together. She was leaning against him, her head resting on his shoulder, relaxing as his hands explored her breasts.
"The cookie jar?" he said laughing.
"Well it was kinda a frat house, so somehow they ended up in the cookie jar."
As the water cooled, they climbed out of the tub. Nathan stepped out first, wrapping himself in his warm towel, offering Meredith a hand he helped her out of the tub and into another towel. Wrapping it around her, he pulled her into a hug, one hand dipping to cup her bare bum and the other holding her waist close to him. "We should dry off," he whispered into her ear.
"Mm-mmm," she moaned, agreeing but not separating from him. They took the time to dry one another off before moving to the bedroom. As she lay on the bed he grabbed the lavender massage bar and rolled her onto her tummy. Starting at her feet he massaged his way up her legs, over her butt and then her back. His hands exploring her skin and reaching down and teasing the side of her breasts and slipping between her legs.
Not being able to take the explorations any longer she wiggled and rolled herself over and his lips descended to capture her breasts. She rocked her hips and he moved himself so he was between her legs. He quickly reached over to the bedside table putting aside the massage bar and grabbing the condom.
They lay there, sated and not wanting to move. "I know you don't want to move, but we should put on some clothes just in case a kid somes in," he said.
"I know, but I don't want to move," she complained, snuggling and kissing him. He got up and deposited the used condom and packaging in the garbage, put away the massage supplies, and slipped on his silk boxers. He grabbed her nightie and panties she'd set out and brought them over to the bed and helped her put them on.
"Come back here," she said, pulling him back onto the bed. They settle under the covers and with his arms wrapped around her they fall asleep.
