Chapter 55: First Baby Appointment
"Derek, we have plenty of time." Meredith laughed. "Just let me check on my patient and then we'll go to the appointment."
"Mer." he replied calmly. "Don't you remember what Kathleen said? She said don't be late or we'll end up being in the waiting room -"
"For hours," she giggled again and stopped her husband in the Seattle Grace lobby to wrap her arms around his waist. Then she leaned up and placed a very sweet and lingering kiss on his mouth. "I love you," she said softly. "Our baby loves you. We are forty-five minutes early for our appointment with Dr. Chu. We have," she kissed him again, "plenty," another kiss, "of time."
"You don't fight fair," he sighed and hugged her to him.
"Come on," she said and took his hand to go toward the elevator. "You can talk to Mark while I check on Mr. Tidwell."
"Mark might be busy."
"Mark's rarely busy at this time of day."
"You're in a mood today." Derek teased, pulling his wife closer to him.
"I know," she said as they stepped off the elevator onto the surgical floor. "I'm happy because we have a day off together, we're seeing the Dr., I haven't felt sick all day -"
"Thank God," Derek sighed. "And," he grinned, "we'll probably get to hear the baby's heartbeat today."
"Exactly," she giggled and kissed him yet again. Then whispered in his ear, "and then we can go home and have wild sex all over our house."
Derek groaned and shoved his hands in his wife's hair to thoroughly kiss her.
"Knock it off," they heard Mark's good-natured chuckle. "You've already made the baby. No one wants to witness your disgusting displays of lust and affection."
"You're wrong," Derek grinned, breaking the kiss with Meredith.
"Told you he wouldn't be busy," Mer teased. Then said to Mark, "I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm going to check on Mr. Tidwell in 5102."
"Don't you have a female doctor's appointment -"
Meredith just groaned as she walked away from her laughing husband and his confused best friend. Mark turned back to Derek and said, "If she's going to be a few minutes - I know where Katie-the-inappropriate-Scrub nurse is at the moment."
All traces of Derek's humor vanished, and his face immediately set in stone. "Let's go."
Mark took Derek to the fifth-floor nurse's station where Katie was filing charts. "Katie," Mark said.
"Dr. Sloan," she smiled at the sound of his voice and turned around. Upon seeing Derek with Mark - her smile vanished, and she looked a little nervous.
"This is Dr. Shepherd," Mark introduced him to Katie.
"I know," she said. "Hello, Dr. Shepherd."
"Hello Katie," he answered, his usual warmth clearly absent. "Have we met before today?"
"No Sir," she answered, "I know who you are. And I scrub-in frequently with your wife."
Mark put his hand on Derek's shoulder and leaned in to quietly say, "No one else is around at the moment. And I'll be on the other side of this nurse's station when you're done."
Derek nodded his head in quiet acknowledgement and then said nothing for a moment until he was certain Mark was out of the way. He didn't want to embarrass Katie, but he did want her to understand that he knew exactly what was going on. "Katie," he said quietly but with definite authority.
She swallowed nervously before answering, "Yes?"
"Why are you a scrub nurse?"
"Excuse me?" she asked, definitely confused. "I don't understand what you're asking me, Sir."
"Really?" Derek flashed a quick, cold smile. "Let me rephrase my question. Why did you decide to become a nurse?"
Katie swallowed hard again but also narrowed her eyes at him. She momentarily considered walking away. It wasn't like he'd know. She quickly dismissed that stupid idea. Dr. Shepherd was well-respected around here. From what she understood - Chief Webber had been grooming Shepherd to be Chief before he lost his sight. She'd be a moron to be disrespectful.
"I care about being a nurse," she answered carefully. "It's a profession I believe in and I take pride in my work. It feels good to know I can help someone feel better and get healthy."
"If that's true," Derek said calmly, "how do you explain laughing about someone being ill? That's not noble or caring. It certainly doesn't show an ounce of pride about your profession."
"I'm sorry, Sir," Katie said carefully. "I know this about me laughing at your wife -"
"This is about your lack of professionalism," Derek interrupted. He ground his teeth angrily. He wanted to lash out at this woman for the way he'd treated his precious wife but knew that he couldn't. Besides the fact that Meredith would be pissed if she found out - it would put a small ding in his credibility. So, even though this was personally motivated, he had to keep it professional. "I'm wondering about your patient care."
"Excuse me?" Katie asked, now she sounded insulted. "My patient care is exemplary."
"I hope so," Derek stated, "because it's being looked into. You raised some red flags by laughing at your colleague being ill." He paused and then stressed, "Your superior. If you can treat your superior with such an uncaring and callous attitude - how do you treat your patients? They're fragile and completely vulnerable while in our care. They deserve the best care and consideration while in this hospital. I'm going to make certain that you're providing that for them. Understood?"
"Yes Sir," she answered.
"That's all," Derek said and listened as Katie's footsteps carried her toward the stairwell.
"Wow," Mark said from Derek's right.
"Did you hear all of that?"
"Hell yes," Mark chuckled. "I'm glad I've never given you a reason to be angry at me like that."
"Chicken shit," Derek chuckled.
"Damn right," Mark agreed. "Your kid is never going to step out of line."
"Sure, he will." Derek said. "He'll probably steal the car keys in the middle of the night when he's fifteen. Just to go see the girl he has a crush on."
"That's what you did," Mark laughed.
"That's why I know my son will do the same thing."
"Or your daughter." Mark said and laughed as Derek paled.
"No," Derek said with a vigorous shake of his head. "If we have a daughter - there will be no sneaking out."
"You don't know that," Mark laughed again.
"I do," Derek insisted, "There will be bars on her bedroom window by the time she's ten."
"That's a double standard."
"So?"
"So - do you think Meredith's going to go for that?"
"She won't have a choice," Derek grunted, caveman style.
"Oh, how I'm going to love watching this drama unfold," Mark grinned. "Speaking of drama," he said, serious again. "Are you really looking into Katie's patient care?"
"Yes," Derek answered. "I really want to know that she's treating our patients with more consideration than she showed Meredith."
"I'll help you."
"You don't have to," Derek said.
"I know but I want to, and you'll need the help reading the charts. There's something that seems off about Katie and I agree with you. If she can treat a superior the way she did Mer - how does she treat our patients? And speaking of Mer - there she is." They walked up to her and she automatically took Derek's hand in hers.
"You okay?" Derek asked, sensing something.
"Mr. Tidwell's running a high post-op fever. I'm worried about infection. I prescribed antibiotic but -" she trailed off.
"You're worried," Derek stated.
"Yes." she sighed.
"Let's go to our appointment with Dr. Chu. We'll come back to check on Mr. Tidwell afterward," Derek said.
"Okay," Meredith sighed, a little emotional. She was so grateful that Derek understood about being a Doctor. Not only that - he accepted that she got emotional about it sometimes.
"I'll keep an eye on him for you too," Mark said.
"Thanks," Meredith said. "I have my intern - Riley - with Mr. Tidwell, but I feel better knowing you're looking out, too."
"Of course, you do," Mark said cockily and made her laugh. "I'm far superior to an intern."
"True," Meredith laughed. "Arrogant, but true."
Then Meredith and Derek walked together to the elevators. Their excitement about hopefully hearing their baby's heartbeat back in the forefront of their minds and conversation.
Meredith could tell Derek was nervous as they sat waiting for their appointment in Dr. Chu's office. As she filled out all the required paperwork, she assumed it was nervous excitement about the baby and hearing the heartbeat. However, once she was done with the papers and holding his hand, Derek started tapping his foot. It dawned on Meredith that his nerves were about being in new, completely unfamiliar surroundings. I'm an idiot, she thought to herself. Then she leaned closer to her husband and said softly, "The waiting room is rectangular, with ten chairs along three walls. The door to leave is immediately to your right. The door into the exam rooms is directly across from that."
Derek turned his head while she was speaking to him and smiled. When she was done, he said, "You knew I was nervous."
"Yes," she said rummaging around in her purse. "I'm sorry it took me a few minutes to realize why."
"No, don't be sorry, Mer. You're amazing and I could've simply told you but," he trailed off.
"You don't want me to worry."
"Yes," he admitted.
"We get to worry about - and take care of - each other Derek," she said. Then she put his iPod in his hands and said, "Listen to your music - it'll calm you down. I'm going to use the restroom."
Derek put the ear buds in and scrolled through until he heard a song he wanted to listen to. Meredith was right about the music calming him more, but she'd done most of that just by explaining the layout of the room to him.
A few minutes later he felt Meredith sit back down beside him. He turned off the iPod and held her hand after she put it back in her purse. "As soon as we go through the door to the inner office - we'll turn right for my weigh-in," she ended this sentence on a groan.
Derek laughed and said, "Meredith, you don't have anything to worry about in regard to being weighed."
She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and giggled. Then she replied, "Regardless, no woman enjoys being weighed. Most women don't enjoy the idea of the number on the scale going up - me included."
"It's supposed to go up," he states reasonably. "You are pregnant."
She sighs and rolls her eyes. Then continues with her original topic. "We'll make another right out of the little torture-scale room. Ten feet down on the left is the restroom. And a perfect left diagonal from that is exam room number five - where we'll be going."
Derek squeezes her hand in his and whispers, "Thank you for finding out. Even though we'll be together - it still helps to see it in my head."
"I know," she replies and feels a huge squeeze of love around her heart.
"Mrs. Shepherd," the nurse calls from the check-in window.
"Yes," Meredith answers and gets up from her seat to walk over.
"We need to take a photo copy of your insurance card."
"All right," Meredith answers and goes back to pull it from her wallet. After the nurse makes a copy and Meredith sits back down with Derek - he chuckles.
"What?"
"She said, 'Mrs. Shepherd' and you didn't correct her."
Meredith puts her hand on his cheek and feels the wave of intense emotion again. "That's because I'm proud to be your 'Mrs.' You know that. The only place I insist on 'Dr. Shepherd' is at work," she finishes and leans in to kiss him quickly - again. She's completely oblivious to the other two pregnant women in the office watching her and Derek. Just a bit enviously.
A few minutes later Meredith is called in for her exam and she and Derek walk in hand in hand.
Dr. Chu is an amazing Doctor and Meredith and Derek immediately feel comfortable with her. She's very no nonsense but she still took the time to talk to them and answer the few questions they had. The baby's expected due date was confirmed: September third.
"Considering the pregnancy is nine weeks along - we should be able to hear the baby's heartbeat. If you want to hear it," said Dr. Chu with a smile.
"We want to hear it," Meredith and Derek said together.
"I thought so," answered Dr. Chu. Then she had Meredith lay back on the exam table and lift her shirt. "You both know how this works. Right?"
"Yes," they answered, again in unison.
Derek was sitting in a chair on one side of the exam room table. Meredith reached out to take his hand in hers as Dr. Chu put the cold gel onto her stomach. Then she moved the Doppler around Meredith's still flat stomach - in search of baby Shepherd's rapid heartbeat. When she found it, Dr. Chu said, "There it is." She left the Doppler in place so Derek and Meredith could listen to the beautiful sound of their baby's heartbeat.
Meredith's eyes filled with tears and she turned to look at Derek. He squeezed her hand tightly in his and the look on his face was one of complete awe. He was grinning the hugest smile. It was his happy smile for her, but it was also filled with pride. He turned his face toward hers and then leaned down to kiss her on the lips. "That's our baby," he whispered, his face still close to her and their hands still clasped tightly.
"I know," she said and giggled. "It's good and strong."
"The baby's heartbeat is 175 beats per minute," Dr. Chu said. "That's perfect for this stage of it's development. She moved the Doppler a bit and said, "This swishing sound is the blood flowing and the placenta inside the uterus. This," she moved back to the baby, "is the baby's heart. I'm sure - being Doctors - you can tell the difference."
"Yes," Derek answered while Meredith nodded. She was still on the verge of tears.
Dr. Chu put the Doppler away and handed Meredith some tissue to wipe the cold gel away. "I'm sure," Dr. Chu said, "you'll probably be able to find the baby's heartbeat with your stethoscopes."
Meredith laughed as she sat up on the table. "I know how I'll be waking up for the next seven months."
Derek just grinned. "Okay," Dr. Chu said. "I'll have my nurse give you the paperwork to test for HIV and then I'll see you back here in a month."
After Dr. Chu left, Meredith went into Derek's arms for a tight hug. "That was our baby's heart beating," she whispered and started to cry.
"I know," he whispered in return, sounding choked up. "It was amazing." he rubbed her back softly until she finished crying.
"All right." she giggled. "I'm okay now. After we check on Mr. Tidwell - let's get some lunch. I'm so hungry."
"Okay." he chuckled and held her hand as they left the exam room.
