Chapter 49: Are We Pregnant?
"Merry Christmas, Meredith."
"It's not Christmas quite yet, but Merry Christmas, Derek," she answers with a laugh.
The last of their family and friends have gone home for the evening. Dinner had been wonderful, and all the kids loved their gifts. Now it's time for Meredith and Derek to have their Christmas.
Derek pulls his wife into his arms on the couch and asks, "What do you mean it's not Christmas yet? It is Christmas for all of December twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth."
"All right fine." she laughs and hugs her husband tighter. For some reason she does not want to let him go tonight. Truth be told, she's always touching him in some casual way, but tonight is different. Maybe it's because of the possibility of being pregnant, she thinks.
Meredith reflexively moves to put her hand on her stomach and bumps Derek's hand as he does the same thing. She glances at his face with wide eyes - nervous of what she might see there. What she sees is a soft smile and she brushes his fingers with her own. They both leave their hands on her stomach.
"Meredith?" Derek says quietly, seriously.
"Yes?" she answers, her heartbeat accelerating.
"Are you," he hesitates then continues, "are we pregnant?"
Meredith's eyes fill with tears at the use of the word 'we.' It told her what she already knew. Even though her body would be the one doing all the work if and when she was pregnant - they were in this together. He'd want to be involved every step of the way. "I don't know," she whispers. "Maybe."
"Maybe," he says, slightly awed. "Why maybe?"
"I'm only one day late," she answers.
"You're never late," he answers emphatically. "Every twenty-six days, like clockwork."
Meredith laughs at his choice of words - so like her own to her sisters. "I know," she replies.
Derek grins and asks, "So when are we going to test?"
She giggles at his enthusiasm. Was this really the same man who had been against having children not that long ago? "New Year's Eve," she answers.
He laughs in response. When she doesn't laugh with him, he sobers up and says, "You are not going to wait a week to test."
"Well," she qualifies, "I was. I think it'd be a wonderful way to start the New Year."
"It'll be a wonderful way to start Christmas too," he states stubbornly.
"Oh lord," she laughs. "Tomorrow I'll only be two days late."
"Clockwork," he mumbles, "remember?"
"Well," she concedes, excitement in her voice, "I did buy some First Response home pregnancy tests."
"You have tests already?" he asks excitedly and gets up from the couch, his hand in hers.
"What are we doing?" she laughs.
"You're going to pee on the stick."
"No, I am not," she says stubbornly and stops walking. "I am only one day late."
"Clockwork, Mer," he says again and pulls her into his arms.
She feels herself melting under his enthusiasm. She leans up to kiss him and replies, "All right, I'll test in the morning."
"Why not now?" he asks with a pout.
"The directions say the first urine of the day is best to test with because it has the highest levels of hCG."
"Okay," Derek relents, "that does sound vaguely familiar from my gynecology rotation."
"Way back when," she teases
"Yes, in caveman days," he laughs. "Come on."
"Now what?"
"We're going to bed so you can get up and test in the morning."
"Surprisingly," Meredith laughs, "I'm not at all tired."
"I know how to cure that," Derek grins and captures his wife's mouth with his own as he starts to carefully undress her.
"Derek! Derek, wake up!"
"What?" he grumbled grumpily to his cheery wife.
Giggling, Meredith kissed him and said, "I thought you wanted me to take the pregnancy test this morning."
"I do," he stretched, "but you just said you wanted to sleep longer."
"That was three hours ago," she giggled again. "I really have to pee now. So, wake up." she stated happily, walking toward the bathroom.
Derek lay where he was for a couple of minutes. His heart was beating a bit rapidly. He was nervous. What if Meredith was pregnant? Worse, what if she wasn't? He took his time making his way to the bathroom - giving Meredith time to pee on the stick in private. Even if he couldn't see her - it may still make her uncomfortable if he hovered right now.
Meredith came out of the bathroom and said, "Okay, now we wait for a couple of minutes and then check the results."
She went over and hugged her husband tightly. "Are you okay?" he asked
"I'm a little nervous," she whispered into his chest. Meredith leaned up to kiss him and then said, "Part of me thinks it would be better if I'm not pregnant just yet. Then there's a bigger part of me that is petrified that I'm not. I know that makes no sense and sounds completely ridiculous -"
Derek kissed her gently and rubbing her back said, "It makes perfect sense, Mer. I think it's completely natural to have a whole lot of mixed emotions about having a baby. I think something would be wrong if we didn't."
"You're feeling the same way?"
"Absolutely. Like you, I'm hoping more so for pregnant, but yeah - I'm kind of freaked out."
Meredith giggled and stated, "Strangely, that makes me feel a lot better."
Derek chuckled and asked, "Is it time to check yet?"
"Yes," she whispered, her legs suddenly feeling like lead.
"Come on," Derek laughed and pulled his wife back to the bathroom.
Squeezing Derek's hand tightly, she picked up the test in her other hand. Meredith started laughing - slightly hysterically and sat down on the floor - pulling Derek with her.
"What does it say?' he asked anxiously.
She tried to answer but couldn't get anything out around the hysterical giggles. Then she flung her arms around Derek's neck and held on tight.
"You're shaking Mer," he said and hugged her. When her laughing started to subside, he whispered again, "What does it say?"
Meredith leaned forward and kissed him softly and then clearly said, "Merry Christmas, Daddy."
Derek leaned his head back against the wall, looking dazed. Then a huge grin spread across his face and he pulled Meredith into his lap. "Merry Christmas, Mommy."
