The phone rang—

"Hon, can you get that?" Derek called over his shoulder as he concentrated on changing

Georgia's diaper without her rolling off of the change table. "Daddy and his little girl are a

little busy, aren't we?" He cooed to his nine month old daughter, who smiled and repeatedly

tried to wiggle away from her fathers hands, for there was much to explore and she didn't

want to be trapped where she wasn't free to crawl and investigate all things great and small.

"Can't you get it?" Came a hurried voice from somewhere down the hall. "I'm kinda into something right now..."

Derek snapped the button on the pink overalls and gently scooped Georgia up, placing her

on his left hip. "We'll I guess whoever it is will just have to wait another minute or so." She

giggled and snuggled into Derek's chest as they walked out of the play room and down the

hall, stopping at the bathroom door, where there was a fair amount of screeching and

splashing going on in the giant whirlpool bathtub that was set up on a dias in the middle of

the room. With one wall completely done in mirrors it made the room look even larger

than it was. One thing he knew for sure was that his wife was a decorating genius—from the

brass fixtures and knobs that she had picked for the faucets of their 'his and hers' sinks and

tub, down to towels and accessories that filled the room. There were candles

everywhere—and it was hard to find a spot where she didn't have one—but they sure smelled good.

"Having fun?" He inquired with a wide grin as he watched his wife bathing Luke and

Noah–or trying to. Both boys were covered with bubbles from head to toe and were

laughing and splashing vigorously in the water. Meredith was on her knees leaning over

trying to make sure Noah didn't slip and accidentally go under. "It looks like you got your

work cut out for you, babe."

Meredith turned and gave him a sweet smile—the kind that could still make his knees go

weak and his stomach feel like there was a hive full of bees inside. "Luke sure is a great

help, though, aren't you buddy?" She reached over and ruffled

his hair that was now pasted on his forehead. "He's helping me make sure that Noah doesn't

have an accident."

"That's really good, bud." Derek picked up the thread and gave Luke a thumb's up. "You're

doing a great job."

"Thanks daddy." He said proudly, puffing his little chest outward and pointing toward his

little brother. "He tried to eat da soap but I tooked it away from him."

"I'm proud of you for helping mommy."

"I know."

Both Derek and Meredith believed wholeheartedly in the rewards of positive reinforcement

regarding their children. They had seen their son come a long way in his near three years;

He was well behaved and they both believed that it was due to the positive way that they had

raised him; Never saying words like 'you are bad', or 'that was bad', they traded in words

that could have had a profoundly negative effect on the boy's self esteem for words that

constantly built him up; words like 'wonderful! Great! Good job!' were heard around the

Shepherd household on a consistent basis, and both parents believed that their hard work

had paid off.

"Who was on the phone?" Meredith asked, twisting her head around, while still holding onto

Noah's body with her hands.

He shrugged indifferently. "Uh...I didn't get to it. I was changing the baby." He nodded

down at Georgia, who was then struggling to get down and go to her twin—they could

hardly be out of each others site or they would start to cry. "I couldn't leave her on the

table so I just ignored it."

"That's okay." She turned back to the children and grabbed a bottle of shampoo and turned it

upside down, drizzling some on the palm of her hand. "Whoever it is'll call back if it's

important." She began to wash Noah's blond curls gently as Derek stood in the doorway

and watched. Georgia began to wail and he set her down on her knees so she could crawl to Meredith. She pulled herself up on wobbly legs by clutching at Meredith's legs.

"Nah...Nah." She chanted to her mother. It was what she called her twin and he, in turn,

referred to her as 'Jah'. It was quite possibly the cutest thing that they'd ever heard—that,

and how Luke referred to them as his 'sibs'.

Derek lost himself in thought as he watched the woman he loved be with their

children—their children! It seemed an eternity ago that they had made love in the on-call

room. He remembered the night vividly as if it were yesterday instead of almost four years

ago; That night had cemented them together and torn an already dying marriage apart but it

had also made him realize that living without Meredith wasn't living at all. He hadn't really

spoken to Addison since the birth of Vivian other than on a professional level or to say

hello when he passed her in the halls. The friendship that had turned them into lovers and

eventually a married couple had vanished; all traces gone and to tell the truth it was fine

with him and he knew that it was also fine with Meredith. She had always felt

uncomfortable with Addison–but now she was Derek's wife and there was nothing to feel

ashamed about. They had three kids together and were living the life they'd always wanted.

Addison was still engaged to Alex, or so that's what hospital gossipers had to say, and

refused to actually set a date. Derek felt bad for the guy—he obviously loved Addison a

great deal; enough to raise another mans child—and even though everyone else felt that he was being strung along he refused to listen to a word that anyone said about it. Funny how

Karev was always the one who treated women badly—and he ended up with a liar and a

cheater. Love wasn't always kind but it did have a way of coming back and biting you when

you got too cocky.

"What are you thinking about?"

He blinked and looked up at her. "What?"

She threw her head back and laughed as she undressed Georgia so she could get into the tub

with her brothers. "Derek, you were just standing there with this goofy grin on your face."

She pulled the tabs off of the diaper and picked up the little girl and set her in the tub.

"What are you thinking about?"

"The on-call room."

She looked back at him, knowing exactly what he meant and gave him a sexy smile and

raised her eyebrow to him. Just the thought of that night still made her heart race. "You

were, were you?"

He stepped into the room and came closer, crouching down and resting his arms on his

knees for balance. "Uh, huh." He tipped his head but she was already leaning over to kiss

him quickly, then pulling back to make sure one of the twins didn't do a nose dive. "And I

was thinking about how you still do that to me."

"Do what?"

"Still move me." He said softly. "You still move me, Mer."

Touched, she leaned over and nuzzled his shoulder. "You move me too."

"Hey."

"What?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You wanna make out with me tonight?"

"Why Dr. Shepherd, are you hitting on me?" She asked demurely, while trying to keep the

conversation at a very P.G. level.

"Is it working?"

"You bet."

As they kissed quickly, the phone began to ring again. "You better grab that incase it's

important." She said.

He stood up and exited the bathroom and went out into the long hallway and then down the

double set of stairs at his right. The house had two sets, one right and one left that met in a

landing at the bottom with long curvy bannisters made of oak that he could see his sons and

daughter eventually taking a long slide down. He cursed himself for forgetting to put the

phone in their master bedroom back on its cradle so that the battery had run out and now he

was reduced to traveling down to the kitchen to get the phone every time it rang. and went

into the mammoth room, passing the stainless steel refrigerator, sink and stove and grabbed

the phone that was mounted to the wall. "Hello?"

"Derek!" Came an excited voice on the line, which Derek knew immediately.

"Denny? What's up?" He asked, knowing that it was probably the baby. "Did she have it?"

He hopped up on the black marble counter top as he listened. "Congratulations, man!" He

shouted, really happy for his friends. " I'll tell Mer right away and send Izzy my love! We'll

be there in a couple of hours." He hopped off the counter, and twisted the phone cord in his

hand. "Okay, buddy...we'll see you then."

He hung up the phone with a fist raised and a "Yesssss!" and then turned and ran up the stairs

to tell Meredith the good news.