Hi! First chapter is a classic "Derek is alive AU" S14-15. Hope you like it. Title of the collection is from a movie.
Chapter 1: "I'll do it for you."
Meredith shut the car door miraculously while juggling a million things in her hands.
"Stupid night shift, stupid intern, stupid hospital Secret Santa Derek signed me up for and then makes me pick up his presents after my stupid night shift," Christmas never was her favorite holiday. The shopping bags along with her purse and patient files were slipping out of her hands, "Happy Holidays to me," she grumbled as she walked down the driveway.
"Mama, you're home!" Ellis squealed as she ran to jump into Meredith with wide arms prompting her to drop everything to catch her.
"Heyyy baby," she concealed her groan in a cheerful voice as they stood in the pile of fallen things around them, "What in the world are you doing outside on a cold Saturday morning?" she readjusted the pajama-clad little girl clinging on to her as she looked around.
"Daddy!" she pointed at Derek dangerously high up on a ladder trying to put up a fake reindeer on the roof.
Her face contorted in puzzled horror as she spotted the mess of brand new boxes and holiday decorations sprawled out on the lawn.
Dammit, Derek.
Ellis clapped her hands with glee just as Rudolph received his fake light-up antlers from Derek, completing the Yuletide ensemble on their Dream House's roof. Derek turned his attention to his daughter, wonderfully surprised to see that his wife was home.
He waved innocently, getting ready to come down and greet her. "Hey, Mer."
"Daddy, you did it!" she wiggled to squeeze out of Meredith's hold so she could run towards the ladder her daddy was coming down from.
He picked her up so they could adore his hard work together as Meredith walked towards the father-daughter duo after re-gathering all her things from the floor.
"Derek," she gritted out with a forced smile after he pecked her cheek with an ecstatic grin, "I thought we agreed to keep the decorations inside the house that has no neighbors?"
"Yeah, but Ellie here wanted Santa to see the house when he's delivering their presents."
"Well thank God for this then," she studied the corny Santa Stop Here picket sign. "I thought we already discussed you and the kids can turn my living room into the North Pole all you want, but we weren't gonna involve the roof or the outside?"
"Mommy, we need to decorate the house," Ellis whined with reason. "We're all alone in the woods so we're the only ones who can make sure Santa feels we have the Christmas Spirit. Daddy thought I made basbolute tense," she tried to remember his words as she gave her mother a toothy grin with wide and bright green-blue eyes and leaned her head against daddy's cheek while swinging her legs.
Derek followed her lead and gave Meredith an identical, innocent grin without saying a word. She swore they shared a single brain cell sometimes. She rolled her eyes in surrender. It was two against one, and it always will be when Ellis wants something.
She sighed and tucked Ellie's blond strands behind her ear, "Come help mama bring all these things in, love."
Derek set her down and they watched as her little legs trotted into the house dragging in paper bags as big as her body while announcing to the whole forest repeatedly that mommy was back.
She turned to Derek with an unamused face and a cocked eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," he nodded back, catching her unresponsive lips in his. "Oh, come on. The kids are ecstatic about it!" he chuckled.
"Derek, we barely get any free time after the holidays and when we do, we spend it relaxing from all the doctoring and board-membering, and head of departmenting, and parenting. You and I both know we'll be putting off climbing a ladder to take those down. Next thing you know, it's the middle of July yet a snowman is smiling on the roof." she read into the future. "We also live in the middle of nowhere. Unless you're trying to impress the bears, putting up lights is futile."
"I happen to be trying to impress my kids," he crossed his arms. "Come one. Don't be such a grinch," he smirked.
Her eyes widened. "What did you just call me? Alright, fine. But I'm not helping now or after. That's all you." She placed a sharp finger on his chest. "I'm staying inside. By the fire. Where it's warm and spending time with my kids," she smiled evilly. "Get those boxes out the lawn. We don't want the bears to think we're a mess."
He groaned and went after her. "Okay, okay. I know. You're right. It's just…" he scratched his head nervously. He was still trying to wrap his head around what happened. "Last night, Ellis gave me this smile and her eyes and I swear to God, I have no idea what happened. I started agreeing to all these things," he tried to explain with genuine concern. "Apparently I promised and people are supposed to keep promises or whatever."
"Oh my god. You are SO easy. You'd buy her a pony if she asked," she shook her head unimpressed at his leniency. "She needs to learn how to accept the word 'no'," she crossed her arms. "You were the same with Zola at that age and now, she thinks she can get away with anything with you as long as she bats her eyelashes."
"Well…we do have the room for horses," he shrugged. "Ouch!" he winced after her punch on his shoulder as she walked into the house to greet her babies.
"I'm home!" Her call immediately prompted Little Grey-Shepherds to swarm around her. "Did you guys have fun with daddy yesterday?"
"Yeah," they chorused as she giggled when they attacked her with affection.
"They missed you," Derek chimed as he walked through the front door and dusted his hands off.
"Well, I. missed. you. more," she said as she crouched down and gave each of them a kiss.
The kids babbled on about their day to give their mother a rundown on yesterday's happenings. As Meredith sat comfortably with Zola and Bailey talking off each ear on her sides and Ellis sat on her lap with both hands on her cheeks trying to keep her eyes trained on her to listen to her story about the movie they watched, Derek stood amused by the kitchen island at how Meredith tried to register three voices at once.
They had a movie marathon for lack of things to do, and as Meredith listened to synopsis after the other, Bailey rattled on about some cartoon movie. "Then the dog got captured by the dog catcher and put in the pound. So I asked daddy if we could go look at puppies at the pound and then daddy said we can go as long as we don't tell you so we rode the ferry to —."
"Bailey!" Zola interrupted.
Meredith definitely didn't miss that. Her eyes widened. "He what?"
"Okaaaay, That's enough," he jumped over to the couch to lift a giggling Bailey off of Meredith. "Your mother is tired from her night shift, why don't we let her rest while we cook a nice holiday lunch, hmm?"
The kids piled into the kitchen as Derek gave Mer a sheepish McDreamy smile. "Sorry. We were just looking!" he bent down to peck her from behind the sofa. "We were running out of things to do in the house."
"If I wasn't so tired and hungry, I'd kick your ass. Now make me a sandwich," she yawned and gestured him away. He was putting ideas in their heads and she was nowhere near ready to take care of another creature.
By the time Meredith popped her eyes open, the sky had turned into a deep dark blue and you could see the orange sun sink into the earth. She had a blanket over her and was still on the couch wearing the same clothes she had been since she came home. The TV had been playing some colorful movie in the lowest volume possible and Zola was leaning on Derek who had Ellis snuggling on him at the end of the couch and Bailey lying on the carpet as all their eyes were glued to the screen.
She wondered if she should be worried about their TV habits. On the plus side, Maggie's Netflix subscription wasn't going to waste.
"How long was I asleep?" her hoarse voice tried to ask and her eyes squinted from the light glowing from the TV.
"Whole entire day," Ellis exaggerated her wonder as she used all her limbs to climb across her grunting father and sister to reach her mother. "And you drool."
"Actually, you're awake just in time for dinner," Derek got up to check on the boiling pot on the stove. "Okay, kiddos. Come on."
Meredith watched her perfect Shepherds from the couch clamor on. Zola was so warm and nurturing as she blew on little Ellie's soup before giving her a taste of it. Bailey and Zola were capable enough to be able to take care of their little sister with minimal supervision, who was definitely still the baby of the family. Sometimes, she couldn't help but wonder where all the time went.
Her kids were growing up. And so was her husband, she noted as she spotted the sexy silver streak against his dark mane getting brighter from this angle. He still looked good, no doubt. The same rugged, chiseled face that could turn a heartwarming moment into a steamy one with just one look.
He walked over to her with a bowl and spoon, knowing she should be hungry by now. She sat up and smiled at him with gratitude, almost forgetting about what she walked home to in the morning until the corner of her eye caught the lights from outside turning on as soon as the sensor detected it was dark enough.
The outside lit up like a gingerbread house, lights in the bushes and life-size figurines of reindeer and ballerinas and fake gifts making themselves known. The kids squealed in delight as they ran outside through the back porch to look at the decorations that wrapped around their house.
As much as Meredith wanted to roll her eyes at Derek's silent smug look at her, she couldn't help but feel joy at seeing her kids through the window so enamored by the bright holiday figurines and animatronics.
"Oh, wipe that smirk off your face. Fine, you were right. It's nice to see them this happy," she dismissed as she ate her soup. "Doesn't change the fact that you have no backbone when it comes to the kids, especially Ellie," she laughed.
Of course, she loved it when he would do anything for their kids. What parent wouldn't? But when Ellis said jump, he'd ask how high even if it was over a cliff. Maybe she was a tad jealous that 90% of the time, she was the bad cop and he was the good cop, but she'd never admit that to him.
She also knew how he liked to deny how his kids had reins over him. He always thought that when he'd be a dad, he'd be the perfect balance between disciplinarian and friend, like his dad was. Now, here he was giving in before they even asked. She liked to tease the softie in him, especially since he acted like such a hardass at work.
He scoffed in exaggeration. "I have a backbone!"
"Oh please!" she giggled out loud at his denial. "She has you wrapped around her finger. Our evil daughter plays you like a puppet and you don't even know it," she sipped on another spoon of soup.
He thought for a moment to retaliate that notion but he realized he didn't know the last time he told her no. "Well, at least we know who she gets that from," his arms crossed and his tone accusing.
"Excuse me?"
"You seduced me last week to do the dishes for you on your night!"
"Oh, that," she giggled out loud and her shoulders shook with laughter. She settled the soup down on the coffee table before she could spill it. "So you don't think it was a fair bargain?"
"I gave in because I love you and I know you hate doing the dishes. Even though we had a deal. I cook because you're a kitchen nightmare. You wash every other night."
"Give me a break. You gave in because you wanted sex," she corrected him as she leaned back and raised rest her feet on his lap. "Besides, I haven't seen you do the dishes that quickly before." She tapped on his stomach lightly with her foot.
"I'll show you who's whose puppet," he gave her a quick playful glare before twisting his body to face her and grabbing hold of each of her lower legs. She yelped with a giggle as he quickly pulled on her so she could wrap her legs around his waist as her hands slipped their way around his neck.
Their noses gently grazed one another and she knew that stormy gaze spelled out danger. Years and years together, yet he still looked at her like she was the girl from the bar all too willing to take him home. A smile crept up his features as his hand made its way under her blouse to roam her back, tracing her spine and fiddling with her bra strap. She let out another amused giggle as he grazed her neck and jaw with his lips, but before he could lose himself in her, she grabbed hold of his stubbled cheeks in her soft hands to face her.
"Slow down, Shepherd. Your puppet masters are right outside. And you better get them in here before they catch a cold," she ran her fingers through his hair and pouted back at his surrendered face. "They have to go to bed soon. Arizona and Sofia are picking them up early to go to see the snow."
After getting them to finish eating and wrangling them into bathing, the kids still somehow made it into their parents' bedroom, jumping up and down the bed as Meredith struggled to put a shirt on her youngest. Working in a hospital, running codes, rushing to surgery was her bread and butter. You'd think she was used to the fast-paced lifestyle, but when the kids were on the same page about wreaking havoc, they could turn the house upside down.
Derek came out of the bathroom after draining the tub to see a struggling Meredith trying to catch the shirtless little girl bouncing from one end of the bed to the other amongst her siblings. He quickly towered over the bed to easily pluck the giggling child and put her on the floor so her mother could swoop in to place a shirt over her in just a millisecond. That was her newfound superpower.
"I'm sweating," she looked at Derek in horror as she could feel her back getting damp. "It's freezing cold and I'm actually sweating from chasing these monkeys around. They need to go to sleep and I still need to take a shower."
"Oh, you know what? I could use a shower too," he exclaimed innocently before grunting as Bailey decided it was the right time to jump from the bed to his back, clinging to his neck from behind.
Meredith gave him a giggle, knowing the idea he already planted in her head. "Well, first you're gonna have to get these–"
"Daddy, can I sleep here with you and mommy tonight?" Ellie requested, her tiny figure standing in front of him on the bed as she looked up at her father, accentuating the pouting mouth and pleading eyes.
Meredith raised an eyebrow at him with a smile knowing that this was the look he was talking about earlier. The witchcrafty, voodoo, manipulative look concealed in innocence dictated his every move.
"Not tonight, angel," It took everything in him to break out of that trance. Derek kissed her forehead before grabbing her by the armpits and securing her on his hip. "Daddy's got some serious business to deal with tonight," he kept his eyes trained on his wife who shook her head in amusement as she combed through Zola's hair.
She was cute but he refused to be cockblocked by any of his kids anymore now that they all knew how to walk and go to the bathroom by themselves. They owed him that. And he was too transfixed on their mother right now to be coerced. If anything could cure him of his three-year-old's magical hold, it would only be because Meredith was his master manipulator. His eyes had the sudden urge to travel down her cleavage, she was only clad in a black spaghetti strap now that she had removed her blouse when she gave the kids a bath. Her blonde hair rested softly on her shoulders, her jeans hugged her just right to accentuate her curves. Was it bad that daddy was looking at mommy like that while the kids were in the room?
"Hey!" she snapped her fingers, giggling at his face, disrupting his downcasting eyes and parched lips. "Help me get them to bed."
"Right. Right. Okay, let's go," he boomed urgently before his pants grew any tighter. "Come on Zola. You're my sidekick here," he christened as he beckoned her to get up as he walked out of the room effortlessly while the other two were literally hanging off of him.
He tried to get them into their respective rooms as quickly as possible and may have horrified them with the idea that Santa didn't like children who didn't go to bed on time. When he finally kissed Zola goodnight, he erupted into a light jog into his bedroom, eager to ravish some desert. Disappointment overcame him when Meredith was neither on the bed nor the shower.
He walked down the living room and peeked into the kitchen to find her washing the goddamned dishes at a turtle's pace.
"Oh, hey there," she smiled at him evilly, suddenly finding the need to take her time and scrutinize that each utensil she was scrubbing was completely spotless.
"What are you doing?" He walked behind her as she continued at the task at hand.
"It's my night. I'm doing the dishes," she held up the gleaming, dripping white plate for him to see. "Oops, missed a spot."
"You're a tease." he deadpanned as he circled his arms around her waist and buried his nose in her hair. "Leave it for tomorrow."
"No. You cooked so now, I wash. Go grab that," she cocked her head to the bowl she left in the living room.
"This?" he chuckled as she squealed when his hands traveled to squeeze her tight butt.
"No!" she continued to giggle as he embraced her again and kissed her up from her shoulders to her neck.
"Shhhh… you'll wake the kids," he whispered into her ear after she let out a soft moan when his lips captured the spot right below her ear. "No more night shifts for you. I miss you too much."
"Keep missing me just a little longer," she turned her head to face him teasingly, his lips hovering over hers as she continued, "Because I have to make sure each and every dish is completely clean." With that, she laughed and nudged her hip to push him away from her.
His eyes grew wide as she dramatically held out a clean, overly-washed plate and shook her head disapprovingly at an imaginary stain.
She yelped in surprise, covering her mouth from the loud laughs escaping her when he came back and lifted her up to effortlessly slew her on his shoulder. He walked around the island to the living room as she futilely tried to escape. Before she knew it, he deposited her on the fluffy couch, grabbed the offending soup bowl on the coffee table, and strutted back to the kitchen.
She raised herself up on her elbows to watch him furiously scrubbing and rinsing every dish on manic speed. She laughed madly at his impatience with a stain and pursed her lips. Now she felt a little guilty.
"What are you doing?" she asked innocently, pretending like this wasn't her evil plan all along. "I was supposed to wash."
"I'll do it for you," he glared at her, failing to conceal the smile that played on his lips.
She bit her lip trying to hold in her victory laugh. God, she loved him. "How gallant of you. Well, Santa gives nice gifts to husbands who wash the dishes for their wives," she threw back his strategy at him.
"He better," he agreed, "I only had one thing on my list," he gave her a smirk, cashing in the promise of a nice hot shower with his wife. As soon as he finished washing these dishes, of course. They were so using disposables next time.
What he knew, and hoped that she did too, was that he'd do anything for her.
Meredith Grey was his puppet master and he'd gladly dance for her.