Chapter 31: Definitely All Baby

The days flew by, and weeks turned into months. Everything around Seattle Grace, and the whole state of Washington for that matter, settled down and the only time Chris O'Dandridge's name was even heard was when the TV was on late night Saturday's and America's Most Wanted was playing in the background.

Life was good. Meredith successfully completed her internship and was now enjoying being a resident along with her friends. Derek settled nicely into his role as chief and was balancing work and family life expertly. Carwyn's fifth birthday party came and gone without a hitch. Luckily for Meredith, she was surrounded by friends who were more than willing to help with a houseful of preschoolers, and she didn't ware her pregnant self out.

Everything checked out fine at Meredith's twenty-week ultrasound about a month ago. The baby was strong and healthy and both she and Derek opted out of finding out the sex. They both agreed they wanted it to be a surprise. Meredith had turned to neutral colors when daydreaming over nursery catalogs for the baby's room.

Not that she had much time to daydream lately. Seattle Grace was nominated to host the 23rd Annual Prestige Surgeon convention. It was a huge honor, one Derek should have taken pride in, but instead he had wanted to turn it down. He had explained that it was just too soon. He didn't know if hospital security could keep up with the demands of out of state doctors coming and going and refused to jeopardize Meredith's safety.

After many late-night conversations, Meredith finally persuaded Derek into accepting the nomination. She reassured him that she wasn't in any real danger anymore, that the bastard who had tried to ruin their lives was long gone, and this was too big of an opportunity, not only for the hospital but for him as the chief of surgery to pass up.

The last month had been crazy getting everything set up and speakers and demonstrations assigned. She had played the supportive fiancée role perfectly. Offering helpful suggestions when he'd ask, waiting up for him on the nights he wouldn't crawl into bed until hours after Carwyn was tucked in, bringing him wrapped sandwiches and tupperwared salads when he didn't have time to stop for lunch.

It was worth it and all the hours and sweat paid off as now they were coming to the end of the weeklong convention. Famous surgeons from all around the world had been flown in to show off new procedures and break through's discovered during the past year. Meredith, as well as the hundreds of other doctors lucky enough to attend, learned a lot and soaked up every ounce of information offered, knowing this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Meredith leaned tiredly over the tall counter of the nurse's station, lost in thought about the last procedure she observed. The remarkable advances that had been made in lasers over the past decade was astounding. She found her heart fluttering at the thought of the many birth defects that could now be corrected in utero, enabling babies to be born perfectly healthy instead of dying during delivery which was common only a century before.

"Can you move your fat ass out of the way? I need a pen."

Meredith looked up and rolled her eyes at her snarky best friend. "I'm hardly blocking you. You can reach the pens just fine."

"Maybe… but I can't pass up an opportunity to point out how large you are."

"I'm growing a baby. What's your excuse?" Meredith bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing as she suddenly found the pamphlet in her hand very interesting.

"Me?! Girl, you can bounce a penny off my ass it's so tight. Wanna feel?"

Meredith shook her head as they both finally laughed. It was common banter between the two and they had yet to grow old of it.

"What are you guys laughing at?" Alex joined the two girls at the station, returning a chart and looking through the stack for another.

"Uh.. did I give you permission to speak?" Cristina raised her eyebrows at the cocky male who shook his head.

"Dude... how many times do I have to remind you? You were elected Chief Resident… not Queen of England."

"In my book… same thing." Cristina smiled smugly as an irritated Alex found the chart he was looking for and hurried away, shooting a dirty look as he passed.

A month hadn't even passed yet since Cristina won the resident chief race, the fiercest contender being Alex, and she had yet to stop rubbing it in.

"You're cruel." Meredith added when Alex was out of sight.

Cristina shrugged unfazed. "And you're chubby."

She dodged Meredith's back hand and hurried towards the resident locker room as Meredith shouted at her back.

"I am not chubby! I'm all baby! Derek even says so!"

"What do I say?"

Meredith jumped and turned to find her fiancé standing with three other tall men in nice suites.

"Oh... um…I…" Meredith's face reddened in embarrassment wondering if they'd heard everything she yelled. "Nothing."

Derek laughed and kissed her quickly on the cheek. "Mer, I want you to meet some buddies of mine from med school. This is Patrick, Eric, and Justin." He pointed out his three friends, and then turned back to her.

"This... is my beautiful fiancée, Meredith."

Meredith smiled warmly and shook each of their hands politely. She couldn't help but smile at the proud way Derek placed his arm around her back. Not afraid to show the world how much love he had for her.

"We were just asking Derek if you two would like to join us for dinner tonight, there's a nice restaurant at the hotel we're staying at we thought might be good?" Patrick asked.

Derek nodded and smiled but looked to Meredith for consent before answering. She quickly nodded her approval and so he replied. "That sounds great. Why don't we meet you there? You guys go on ahead so we can change, and we'll be there in a bit."

The three men nodded and offered polite nice to meet you's and see you soon's, as they headed towards the elevator.

Derek wrapped his arms around Meredith and pulled her close. He lowered his head to steal a kiss and lingered longer than he intended to.

"Did you know that I love you?"

"Yes." She giggled as he moved his lips to her neck and began biting her softly. "But you can tell me again."

"I love you." He moved down to her round belly and pressed his lips against her hard stomach. "I love you." He said again in goofy voice.

Meredith laughed and pushed him away. "If we're going to meet them for dinner, I better start getting changed. It takes me forever to get out of these tight scrubs."

Derek chuckled and nodded. "Okay, I'll go change in my office. Meet me there when you're done."

He kissed her again quickly and they started walking in opposite directions.

"And for the record…"

Meredith stopped and turned to see what he was going to say.

"…you're definitely all baby."

Meredith dropped her jaw as Derek winked and hurried away. She shook her head and laughed as she quickened her pace, eager to change for dinner.