She woke to the feather-light touch of his finger-tips dancing over her bare shoulder, the warmth of his chest against her cheek. With a soft moan she moved closer against him, and his arm around her waist tightened slightly, his fingers moving into her hair as he spoke quietly, "Good morning."
A small grumble left her lips and her palm rested flat on his chest beside her head, "Morning."
She felt the light touch of his lips against her forehead as he spoke, "How are you feeling?"
"I really love waking up next to you," she murmured softly, shuffling herself as close against him as she could, his fingers travelling down her arm and resting on her baby bump between them.
"I don't ever want to sleep apart from you again," he pressed a kiss to her lips as her hand moved to rest on top of his.
"We have to get up, don't we?" She said as their lips parted.
"We could stay in bed a little longer, but if we get up now then we can take a shower together," he smirked softly and suddenly she seemed more awake.
"You know, that sounds like a really good idea..." she grinned softly, "you're going to have to move first though, so I can get up."
He chuckled softly and pressed a final, lingering kiss to her lips before reluctantly getting out of the bed, and holding his hand to her, "Take my hand."
She swatted his hand away playfully as she sat up in the bed, "I'm fine, I'm fine, go start the shower, I'll join you in a moment."
He pressed his lips together a moment having a quick internal debate as to whether to leave her or not, before deciding to follow what she said and go start the shower. Meredith was and always had been independent, as much as he wanted to make things easier for her.
Back in the bedroom, Meredith sat on the edge of the bed, looking around the room for her robe. Spotting it, she stood and slipped it on but left it open, catching sight of herself in the floor length mirror on the front of the closet. Biting her lip, she turned to the side and lightly ran her hand slowly over the baby bump, aware of how much it had grown in just the past couple of days she had been back in Seattle.
After a moment of standing there, she picked her phone up off the nightstand, quickly reading the message from Cristina, who had also been recruited by Richard to return to Seattle Grace to help with the upscaling of the cardiothoracic surgical department. She had already started back there a week ago, and was the only one beside Derek and Richard, and HR, who knew Meredith was coming back, and what, or rather who, she was bringing with her.
Come find me when you get here, it's about time I met my godchild.
Meredith rolled her eyes at the message and simply replied to her friend with a thumbs up emoji before standing in front of the mirror again, using the camera on her phone to capture the growth of her abdomen, storing it away with the other photos she had been taking as time had progressed.
She threw her phone on to the bed and tied her robe before going through into the bathroom where Derek was waiting for her, sat on the edge of the bath as it filled. He looked up at her with a sleepy smile and she moved to stand between his legs, running her fingers through his hair as his hands situated themselves on her hips, his head against her chest. "What happened to a shower? Do you want me to get you some coffee?"
"I'd rather bathe with you, and no, I'm not drinking it," he murmured, as he slid one hand under the robe to rest on the bare skin of her hip.
"Why not?" She looked down at him with a soft laugh as he looked up at her.
"Because you can't. I'm not going to have it if you can't have it, baby."
She laughed softly again and pressed her lips against his for a moment before she spoke, "There's no point in both of us being tired."
He shook his head as he undid the tie of her robe, guiding her to sit in his lap with his hand resting on her swollen abdomen.
"I'm okay. I don't need coffee. I haven't had it in almost two months," he murmured softly, his face buried against her neck as he peppered her skin there with soft kisses, eliciting soft moans from between her lips.
Meredith moved off his lap as she noticed the bath almost full of the hot, soapy water. She reached to turn off the facet, hanging up her robe as Derek discarded his own clothing and sat in the bath, waiting for her to join him. She stepped in, nestling herself between his legs with her back against his torso, her head tilting back on his shoulder to look up at him with a soft smile, "I love you."
He smiled back at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he picked up the bath sponge, soaking it and using it to caress over her body, "I love you too."
"Ready?" He turned to her with a wide grin, shutting off the car engine.
"As ready as I'll ever be," she returned his smile, though not as enthusiastic as he was, and got out of the car with him. She found herself pulling her coat closer around herself, almost self-consciously.
"Everything will be fine," he murmured softly as his arm slid around her waist as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head.
"Hmm," she hummed softly before sliding her hand into his with a gentle grip as they walked into the building. As they walked, people she didn't recognise greeted Derek in passing and once they were in the elevator, she looked to him with asked eyebrow, "You've only been here two weeks, how does everyone know you already?"
"Why are you so surprised? I'm a very likeable person, I'll have you know," he said with a soft grin, and she laughed softly at him, shaking her head slightly as the doors opened.
"Meredith!" She finally saw a familiar face as Bailey entered the lift, surprised to see her, "What are you doing back here? Is Shepherd bothering you?"
Meredith stifled a laugh at the glare Bailey was giving Derek and he looked jokingly offended.
"Miranda, I was just telling Dr Grey here how I'm a very likeable person, and you're tarnishing my image already," he joked with her, and Meredith interrupted him.
"Bailey, it's great to see you, as always. I'm surprised Richard didn't tell you I was coming back," she said with a grin to her former mentor.
Bailey ignored Derek's earlier comment for favour of the news Meredith was telling her, "I should've known when I saw Yang back around here that you wouldn't be too far behind, Grey."
"I didn't realise my return was so hush-hush," Meredith eyed Derek a moment who just shrugged with a knowing smile before looking back at Bailey who seemed to be scrutinising her.
"There's something different about you, Grey, I just can't put my finger on what it is," Bailey said, and was about to say more of her observations but her pager beeped, "Damn these interns. I'll figure it out, Grey, I always do."
"I have no doubt about that, Bailey," Meredith said with an amused grin as the elevator came to a stop and both Derek and Meredith stepped off, leaving Bailey behind.
"Leave her alone, Shepherd!" Bailey called to him as the door closed and he just chuckled softly.
Meredith looked to him as they walked down the hallway, "What have you done to get on Bailey's bad side already?"
"I can't say I'm a hundred percent sure," he told her, his hand settling on her lower back as they reached the door to Richard's office and he knocked on, "Maybe I got her favourite student pregnant."
"Please don't get on the wrong side of Bailey," she told him, and they heard Richard's voice from inside the room telling them to come in.
"Meredith!" Richard exclaimed as he stood up from his desk, walking toward her with open arms and embracing her, "It's so good to see you again, and I have to say, you really are glowing."
Meredith stepped back from the embrace as soon as she could, "It's good to see you again too, Richard." As Richard moved back behind his desk, she sat in one of the guest chairs with Derek sat in the chair beside her.
"I have all your paperwork and things here ready for you, we just need to iron out a few details before you get started again. Shepherd, don't you have a surgery scheduled in half an hour?" Richard told him, with the undertone of trying to get him to leave them be.
"I know, I'm going now," he said as he reached to give Meredith's hand a gentle squeeze, "I'll find you at lunch."
She nodded as he gave her a chaste kiss before leaving her alone in the room with Richard. She turned back to him, "So, you wanted to iron out a few details?"
A quiet conversation between the interns who were observing him in the OR caught his attention as he operated on his second patient that morning, and without having to look up to see who it was, his voice came sharp, "Problem, Dr Cooper?"
"Oh, no, Dr Shepherd it's just… we heard there was another new neurosurgeon starting today," the intern explained, "Apparently, it's Dr Meredith Grey."
"And how is that more interesting than quietly observing this surgery, Dr Cooper?" Derek asked, looking up now and raising an eyebrow at the intern.
"Don't you know who she is, sir? She's like… a prodigy. Dr Ellis Grey's daughter, already a winner of the Harper-Avery award in her fifth year of residency, a residency she completed right here at Seattle Grace. She's practically a legend," the intern told him with a hint of awe in his voice.
"I know very well who she is, Dr Cooper, but I don't think now is the time or place for you and Dr Stone to be gossiping about one of your new bosses, do you?"
He turned his attention back to his patient, catching the eye of the scrub nurse, Bohkee, who had already congratulated him on his engagement with the aforementioned doctor, and her pregnancy, having already seen Meredith herself.
"Right, sir, sorry, Sir," Dr Cooper apologised, conversation ceasing between the two interns as Derek continued to operate.
He couldn't help but feel through him at the mention of Meredith and her achievements, the reputation she'd built for herself. He couldn't wait to marry her and spend the rest of his life with her. It's all he'd wanted for the past six years, ever since that first night they shared together.
So... this is the last chapter! i can't confirm a sequel, but I can confirm an epilogue that will be posted over the next few days as it isn't quite finished just yet. Thank you all for reading!