Chapter 6: Bubbles & More (Mer & Cormac)

A/N: Thanks for your patience. Been struggling to get writing into my day. I don't know why. But back at it. Thanks for everyone who is looking and commenting on my work.

Chapter Summary: Cormac decides to celebrate Valentine's for the whole week between Valentine's day and their first sleepover date. A series of small themed Valentine's gifts hoping his sweetheart takes time for herself - Sweet dreams and self care.

Sunday
Valentine's Day

"To be a good parent, you need to take care of yourself so that you can have the physical and emotional energy to take care of your family." -Michelle Obama

Meredith settles her kids in bed, says goodnight to Maggie, Link and Amelia and heads upstairs to her room. She usually stays in the living room, but the past few days she'd barely gotten any downtime so thought it was a perfect way to start the week, with some time on her own. Sitting on her pillow she finds a small package, wrapped in pink tissue paper, with a note:

"Enjoy this special gift of bubbles, flickering light and Irish music. -C"

In the small gift is a lavender citrus bath bomb, a locally made soy wax scented candle, and a link to a playlist. Thinking to herself, she now knows what she is going to do with her time before bed. She slips into the bathroom, starts filling the tub, turns the lights down, lights a few candles, and selects the new playlist.

Once the tub is full, she snaps a picture and quickly sends it to Cormac. "Thanks for the gift. Time to enjoy some bubbles."

Monday

"Don't take your health for granted. Don't take your body for granted. Do something today that communicates to your body that you desire to care for it. Tomorrow is not promised."-Jada Pinkett Smith

Monday mornings at work can sometimes be super busy getting through any backlog of surgery from the weekend, and today would keep her team of general surgeons busy. This Monday, Maggie is responsible for getting her kids to school while she supervises morning rounds and needs to be at the hospital by 7am. She arrives and on her desk she finds another packet with a note:

"Some of your favourite healthy snacks that you always forget to buy yourself.
How about a walk after work?-C"

Smiling to herself, she grabs one of the fruit bars and puts it in her lab coat while ensuring she has her pager, phone, stethoscope, penlight, pen and id badge. She starts the morning with rounds with her team of residents and interns for the week, sets out the patients for the day, reviews the OR schedules and decides she will treat herself and assign herself to the complicated peds case instead of leaving it to Dr Bailey or Dr Webber. She assigns a series of shorter, less complicated surgeries to Dr Webber and Dr DeLuca, the two proving to be an amazingly efficient team, while assigning Dr Bailey a routine but more complex tumour removal that had arrived over the weekend.

The peds surgery isn't booked until 10am so she races down to the coffee cart hoping to get to the coffees before Cormac arrives. As she walks up to the cart, she notices Cormac standing and ordering their coffees.

"I thought I could make it before you," she says.

"Not fast enough," he replies.

"Hey, I already rounded and dealt with the residents this morning," she replies.

"Busy day today?" he asks.

"Not too bad. We have surgery at 10," she confirms as they walk into the hospital.

"Good that gives me a bit to check in with everyone on the floor before meeting you in the OR. Gotta run," he says kissing her cheek before heading in the opposite direction from her.

Everything flows smoothly for a Monday and the four hour surgery with Cormac is successful. Leaving the scrub room she kisses Cormac quickly before heading to meet up with her next patient.

At 5pm, she looks up to see Cormac already changed into jeans and a striped dress shirt, leaning on the door frame as she sits finishing her paperwork. "Hey, you ready to head out for a walk?" he asks.

"Sure, but I need to change," she says putting down her work and tidying her desk. "You need to either step in or out and close the door!"

"Well… maybe we can skip the walk," he says with a smirk.

"Out! Not at work," she says, pulling her leggings and sweater out of her bag. She quickly changes, clips her pager on her waist band, and tosses her phone in her purse before turning off the light. They go out to their cars and separately drive to the waterfront for a quick walk. It is a lovely evening, a few puddles from the earlier rain, but for a February evening in Seattle, it is mild with a gentle breeze and no rain. They arrive back at their cars and he wraps his arms around her pulling her close, spending a few minutes together knowing they each need to head home to their kids for dinner.

Tuesday

"Keep good company, read good books, love good things and cultivate soul and body as faithfully as you can." -Louisa May Alcott

Tuesday Meredith arrives at her office to find a gift on her desk. Opening the box she finds a novel series from Ireland and a cozy blanket. Cormac's mom had been talking about the books over Christmas. The rest of the day is super busy, but she does pass Cormac in the hallways and ER a few times. He joins her and her family for dinner before heading out to pick up his kids from soccer leaving her reading her new novel wrapped in the large fleece blanket on the couch.

Wednesday

"To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life." -Jill Bolte Taylor

Today's gift is sitting on her bed when she arrives home. She wonders how he managed to slip to her house to drop it off, or possibly he recruited one of the adults in her house. It is late, Wednesdays are always busy with kids' activities, and she finally manages to get all 3 kids home, fed, homework done, cleaned and to bed so she's planning on calling Cormac as she climbs into bed to unwrap her gift.

"Enjoy some quiet time after a busy day, you are worth it!
Cozy pyjamas for when I can't be with you. -C"

Opening the gift bag she finds a box of sleepytime tea, a lavender scented eye mask, and a pair of super cozy pyjamas, and quickly calls him. They chat for a while before she's yawning and he suggests she turn out her light, put her head down and go to sleep.

"But I like talking to you," she says.

"You are staying here on Friday, only two more sleeps," he reminds her.

"But I miss cuddling with you," she says.

"We never get to cuddle on Wednesdays, and we are in surgery tomorrow so I'll see you there," he says.

"OK. I'll go to sleep. Goodnight," she yawns.

"Tá mo chroí istigh ionat, oíche mhaith mo anam chara" he whispers disconnecting the phone call.

Irish (Gaelic) translations

Tá mo chroí istigh ionat. ~ Literal Translation: My heart is within you. Meaning: Your heart is very dear to mine.

Oíche mhaith mo anam chara ~ Goodnight my soulmate

A/N: Once again thanks everyone for your support. Comments and likes are appreciated. This work has 3 more chapters.