Chapter 8: Welcome Home!

When Meredith arrived home with Derek, she smelled a million things cooking. Obviously, it was his mother hard at work and while Meredith wasn't exactly in the mood to eat, his mother being there made things easier. She cleaned the place up and it was one last thing Meredith needed to worry about. Now, she was on bed rest, and she wasn't sure what that would be like, but Derek had needed a quick shower and he told her to sit on the couch while she waited, then they would get her settled in bed. "I'm so tired."

"Well that's understandable. You've been through a lot the past few days." Carolyn replied, handing Meredith a cup of decaf tea. "Careful...it's pretty warm."

"It's perfect."

"Mark came over and moved the television into your bedroom."

"The one from the baby's room?"

"Yes." Carolyn nodded. "And we made sure all of your comfortable clothes are easy for you to find."

"Thank you." Meredith sipped at her tea as she heard Derek coming down the steps.

"Of course." His mother smiled sympathetically

"Ready to go upstairs?" Derek asked, his hair still wet from the shower.

"Alright." She sighed.

"I'll put a plate together for you and bring it up." Carolyn said, leaving into the kitchen.

"Let's go." Meredith took a deep breath, before standing up as she rubbed her belly.

"At least we're home." Derek whispered, holding her hand as they walked towards the stairs.

"We should put carpet on these steps."

"Okay."

"I don't want her slipping up the steps when she starts crawling." Meredith turned around as she reached the top of the steps.

"We can put carpeting in."

"We could keep the wood downstairs...just maybe in the hallway here and the steps." Meredith nodded.

"And we can always put up baby gates."

"True." She stopped suddenly when she saw their bed. There were several pillows propped up, a tv tray by the bed as well as many things she might need including remotes, lotions, books, magazines and snacks.

"What?" Derek asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah it's just...a lot of stuff around one side of the bed."

"Everything you need...or most of it."

"My feet aren't broken...I can get snacks if I need them."

"You're not supposed to be up."

"Not even to get food?" Meredith frowned as he pulled back the blankets.

"Not even to get food." Derek replied, helping her into the bed.

"What if I crave tacos and I have to cook them?"

"Mer."

"What?" She smiled innocently, knowing her limits.

"You don't cook. Ever."

"But I'm going to be a mom so..."

"You can learn that at another time."

"Alright." She laughed, knowing she was stressing him out.

"Comfortable?" He asked, helping her get settled.

"Mmmhmm."

"Good...because you're going to be here for awhile."

"Good thing we bought a new bed." Meredith sighed.

"And that you're wonderful fiancé will get you anything you need." Derek whispered, kissing her head and putting his hand over her belly.

"Ivy."

"Ivy?"

"I was reading a magazine while I was waiting for my last test and the author of the article was Ivy and I thought that was pretty...just wondering what you thought of it." Meredith smiled, moving her hand over his.

"Hmm..."

"What do you think?"

"It's an option."

"I was thinking...do we want her to have her name and then make her last name Grey-Shepherd or do you think we should just make her Shepherd and come up with a middle name or..."

"We could do Grey-Shepherd."

"It's up to you...we'll be married eventually so if you want her to have just your last name I'm okay with that."

"We can think about it."

"Okay."

"Do you need anything?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Derek your mom put everything anyone could ever need right by this bed."

"Just making sure."

"I could get used to this."

"I'll remind you that you said that in a few months."

"I'm a very patient woman."

"Oh yeah?

"Uh huh."

"Here you go dear..." Carolyn walked into the bedroom with a tray in her hands. "I brought you a little bit of everything."

"She's taking the doctor's order for me to gain five pounds very seriously." Meredith grinned as Carolyn sat a tray in front of her. "You made me cookies!"

"Of course." His mother laughed. "I'm going to make you some smoothies and stick them in the fridge, so they are available whenever you want."

"Sounds good." Meredith breathed, laying back against the pillows. "I love this bed."

"Eat up. I'm going to head downstairs and clean up." Carolyn smiled, leaving their bedroom.

"Okay...nobody can ever say this is a bad gig. I love to be on the go but the idea of someone bringing me food while I lay in bed and do absolutely nothing is kind of great." Meredith replied, sitting back up. "You know how much work I can get done for when I go back to work?"

"Not too much." Derek cautioned her.

"I can finally catch up on all of those Real Housewives shows the women at work talk about."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously what?" She asked, reaching for the TV Guide that his mother had sat on the tray.

"I can't believe you are going to watch that."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Derek shook his head, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"I heard the ones from New Jersey are the best."

"I'll take your word for that."

"You won't have to because you will get to watch it with me."

"Mer...I don't want to watch that." Derek laughed.

"But look...there is a marathon starting in an hour." Meredith pointed to the schedule on the page.

"I have to get a couple things done and then I'll watch with you." He said, kissing her quickly.

"Perfect." She grinned. Bed rest wasn't so bad when there were things to do.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Yeah...I have everything right here."

"Okay." Derek smiled.

"I'll be here."

"I love you."

"Yeah yeah..."

"Just yell if you need anything." Derek laughed, kissing her head, and rubbing her stomach softly. It was nice to have her home and now he just needed to keep her calm and make sure that everything went well, and she carried the baby as long as possible.