Chapter 5
"Wow, Mer, are you okay?" Cristina asks, seeing her friend in pain.
"I don't know, these cramps are really kicking my ass today. I can't remember the last time they were this bad," she whispers, holding her stomach.
"You sure you're not pregnant? With McBaby?" Cristina quipped. Meredith rolled her eyes.
"Cristina don't be ridiculous, I think I would know if I was pregnant. I got my period last month and I should be getting it soon, maybe now. Or I ate something that didn't agree with me." She moans, making a pained face.
"I know your period cramps. These aren't it." Meredith rolls her eyes at her friend. It was more than just period cramps, anyone else would agree.
"Then what do you think it is, and please be realistic." Meredith moaned, motioning for Cristina to hurry up with an answer. She was in pain and wanted drugs. Or something, anything that would help the pain.
"Can't be your appendix. That was your last McBaby scare. Kidney stones?" She tries with a little bit of snark.
"Knowing my luck, probably. We should draw my blood and just run every test." Meredith says, taking a seat on one of the beds.
Cristina grabs the supplies, drawing blood before running down to the lab telling them to rush the results.
After telling them to page her with the results, Meredith goes back to the room. She was now laying down, curled up in a ball as she groaned.
"I got a heating pad." Cristina says softly, seeing her friend really in pain.
"Good, maybe that'll help. Thanks." Meredith whispers. "I would ask for some morphine but we all know how that went last time." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh yeah that was hysterical." Cristina laughed.
"It was embarrassing." Meredith grumbled.
"Oh come on, it was a little funny." She laughs at her friend's misery thinking of a high Meredith.
A few minutes later, Cristina's pager went off.
"They have your results," Cristina says, looking down at her pager. "Try not to die before I get back."
"Gee thanks. That's encouraging." Meredith snarks back, temporarily forgetting about her pain, knowing Cristina would be back soon with the test results and she could get something for whatever was going on.
Cristina heads down to the labs, waiting as the woman hands her the paper. Her eyes scanned it as she walked back to the room.
"Guess what?" She asks, throwing the door open.
"What? Am I dying?" Meredith asks sarcastically.
"Well that would be the worst case scenario." She says seriously.
"What's the best case scenario? Cristina just give it to me straight, I can handle it, ya know." Meredith asks. Not really in the mood for games.
"You have some pain for a few hours or days then it's over. Congratulations, Mommy! McDreamy really knocked you up." Cristina says.
"What?!" Meredith yells as she sits up a little too fast, almost falling off the bed. "What do you mean I'm pregnant?"
"Woah! Don't stress yourself out. You're pregnant with McBaby for real this time. Here, look. Cristina says, handing Meredith the test results.
Meredith takes the paper with her shaky hands. "This can't be right. But it still doesn't explain why I feel like I'm dying."
"I stole a portable ultrasound on my way. Lift up your shirt." Cristina says.
Meredith complies, wincing as Cristina squirts the gel onto her stomach. After a few moments, Cristina got an even more shocked look on her face.
"Cristina, what the hell is wrong? You're scaring me." She snaps.
"This doesn't look like a barely there fetus. It looks like a full term McBaby." Cristina informs the blonde.
Meredith laid there, trying to form words. "So, I...I'm in labor?" She asked, trying to process what she had just been told.
"Maybe. Take off your pants." Cristina orders.
Meredith complies, slowly pulling her pants down before she takes them completely off, putting them on the floor beside the bed.
"Uh...Mer?" Cristina asks.
"What now?" Meredith asks as she squeezes her eyes shut, trying not to scream from the pain. They didn't need anyone getting the wrong idea.
"I don't think we have time to get you up to OB." Cristina says slowly, trying not to freak out.
"What do you -" Meredith stopped mid sentence. "You're not saying...I'm really delivering this baby right freaking now?!"
"Look I'm probably wrong, it's not like I spent much time or even paying attention during my OB rotation. Let me go get someone more qualified. Whatever you do, do not push!"
"Please get help, it's starting to hurt...a lot." Meredith panted, wanting to cry as she watched Cristina leave the room.
She stalks the halls looking for someone, anyone more qualified than her.
"Dr. Montgomery!" She calls, seeing the redhead. She was perfect for the job. Addison turns around.
"Cristina, are you alright?" She asks, noticing the distressed look on the woman's face.
"I need your help. Don't ask any questions, just...come with me please." She practically begs.
Addison, very confused, follows Cristina back to the on-call room. She walks in finding Meredith still laid on the bed, clutching her stomach as she cries.
"Cristina, I'm O.B., what do you need me for?" She asks, still confused.
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. McIntern is pregnant with McBaby. I needed someone with more experience to confirm that it's too late to move her." Cristina explains.
"What do you mean too late to move her?" She walks over, deciding to do her own ultrasound to see for herself. She warned Meredith about the gel before applying it, running the wand over her stomach.
"Oh my God," she whispers. "Yeah, you're definitely pregnant and by the looks of it...you're in labor."
"And here I thought I was just dying." Meredith snaps, trying to swallow her screams.
"Well I'm happy to say you are not dying," Addison smiles. "I take it you didn't know." She concludes.
"Not until about 15 minutes ago. I thought it was just bad cramps." Meredith whispers.
"Okay, Meredith, open your legs for me, we need to see how far along you are." Addison instructs softly.
"This is so embarrassing," Meredith mutters.
"Well, hey, at least I grabbed someone extremely qualified and not the evil spawn." Cristina shrugs.
"And I thank you for that but I really wasn't expecting to have my lady bits examined by my boyfriend's ex- wife." Meredith growls, trying not to focus on what Addison was doing.
"Well, I didn't expect to be examining my ex husband's girlfriends lady bits either so I'd say we're even, Meredith." Addison replies, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
"So what's the verdict, Doc?" Cristina asks, leaning against the door.
"I agree, it's definitely too late to move unless you want to deliver in a hallway or elevator. You're about nine centimeters dilated. We can page Derek if you want, there's time."
"He's in surgery, we shouldn't disturb him. Besides, panicking is not going to help anything." Meredith says, gripping onto the sheet with her fingers as she tries to breathe.
"Sorry it's too late for drugs or comfort." Addison says, covering her with the blanket for some dignity and privacy.
"This was most definitely not my ideal way of spending the afternoon, Grey. Why is your group of residents always in trouble?"
"Because today was so boring, I decided to spice things up." Meredith deadpans.
Addison chuckles. "Well if it helps any, I've been trained by the best."
"Good." Meredith replies.
There was a dead silence for a few minutes until another round of pain came. More intense, more painful than they had been.
"Try to breathe, Meredith. I know it hurts. Cristina, come give Meredith some support." Addison instructs.
Cristina comes over as Addison helps Meredith sit up, just enough for Cristina to slide in behind her before Meredith leans back against her chest.
Meredith leans against her friend tiredly and she wasn't even remotely close to done with this whole ordeal.
"I'm going to kill Derek Shepherd when I see him next." Meredith threatens, sweat starting to form on her forehead.
"Yeah, I've said that before, too." Addison laughs, trying to lighten the mood.
"Did you have his baby pushing out of your vajayjay?" Meredith asks.
"No I didn't, trust me all women threaten their men in the midst of labor." Addison smiles, trying to keep the mood light even if she could tell the younger woman was panicking.
"Have you ever pushed a kid out of your vajayjay? If not, then you do not understand how much I want to kill him. I think maybe I'll strangle him or just suffocate him with a pillow." Meredith threatens through gritted teeth, thinking of all the various ways she could kill her boyfriend for putting her in this position.
"Oh come on, then you wouldn't have McDreamy sex anymore." Cristina laughs. Meredith turns to look at her like she had just lost her mind.
"I do not like McDreamy sex. McDreamy is stupid and he has a stupid boy penis that got me into this stupid mess." She moans out.
"No more penises for me. That shop is closed." She states firmly before an insane amount of pain washes over her with a new sensation.
"Oh God...Addison, I think I need to push." Addison goes back down to the end of the bed, pulling the blanket up over Meredith's legs.
"Yes, you are. Okay, let's have a baby, shall we?" Addison asks.
"No." She cries. "I can't do this."
"Yes, you can," Addison whispers. "We're almost to the finish line, Meredith. Pretty soon, it will all be over." Addison says, trying to soothe the blonde. Meredith shakes her head.
"What if...what if something is wrong? I mean nine months not knowing, something has to be wrong with the baby." She sobs.
"Rarely something goes wrong. We'll run all the tests once he or she is here. At most, there's a risk of twins, you know Derek is one but that would have come up on the ultrasound and it didn't. Okay, on your next contraction, I want you to push for me, okay, Meredith?"
"If he knocks me up with twins, I'm gonna need help hiding his body after I kill him." Meredith growls as she throws her body forward, pushing as hard as her body would allow her. She could see Addison nodding, telling her to keep going.
Cristina makes a face, supporting her friend. She was never having kids, that's for sure.
Meredith closes her eyes when Addison tells her to take a minute, leaning her head back against Cristina's chest. It wasn't long before she needed to push again.
"Come on Mer, you got this. You need to get McBaby out so you can kill McDreamy." Cristina says, trying to motivate her friend.
Meredith chuckles a little bit before leaning forward to push again.
"Good job Meredith, keep going." Addison praises. "You almost got the head out, the hardest part is coming up."
"I'm gonna die." She cries. The pain was so much more than she ever experienced.
"Very few people die during childbirth and you're not going to be one of them," Addison says firmly.
"How can you know that?" Meredith cries.
"Because if I have to tell Derek his girlfriend died and I was the one delivering your child, I may as well dig my own grave." Addison quips.
"And then he'd off himself and I'd be the one stuck raising this baby. You are just fine. I will not allow you to die. You hear me? Meredith Grey is not dying. Not today." Cristina says firmly.
"Okay Meredith, get ready to push again" Addison says.
"This is terrible. I'm never doing this again." She pushes as hard as she can, wanting this over with. Maybe she'll wake up and it'll all be a dream.
"Okay, the head is out Mer, no sign of the cord so we're in the clear." Addison says. She reaches into her pocket, grabbing a suction bulb as she starts to suction the baby's airway.
"Do you always carry supplies with you?" Cristina asks, slightly disgusted.
"Believe it or not Yang, women don't always make it upstairs, I just like to be prepared." Addison replies.
"Thank yourself for grabbing the right person, Cristina." Meredith pants, trying to focus on anything other than what was happening between her legs.
"Okay Meredith, on this next push I'm going to need you to put everything you got into it. The shoulders are the worst part." Addison says, reaching up to grab another blanket from the top bunk.
"I don't know if I can." She says tearfully. She was so tired and so sore. She didn't know how women did this.
"You can, Meredith," Addison whispers. "It's almost over, you're so close."
"Mer, come on, push. The faster you do this, the faster it's over."
Meredith starts to push, harder than she ever had, feeling the burning sensation as she felt the baby slowly make its way out of her.
"Okay, that was great, Meredith!" Addison smiles. "Take a breath and the next time you push should be the last."
"Are you kidding me?" She nearly screams, tears pouring down her face. It hurt and burned like crazy and she wasn't even done yet? "Can you just yank it out?"
Addison laughs. "That's not how it works. You're so close to being done, Meredith. You can do this, I know you can."
"Remind me to never have kids." Cristina says.
"Cristina, you're not helping. Please be supportive. She needs all the support she can get right now." Addison nearly screams. Cristina had the decency to look a little ashamed, looking down at her friend. She didn't know how to help.
"Why can't you? It would be over so much faster. I don't want to do this anymore." Meredith whimpers.
"Listen, I know you're tired, you're scared and you feel like you can't do this anymore and you wanna give up. But Meredith Grey doesnt give up easily. You are so very close to getting this baby here. Just hang in there a little bit longer." Addison whispers. This is why she nearly screamed at Cristina. Meredith needed support, not off-hand comments to send her into a tizzy.
"I can't." She whimpers. "I'm not good enough. I'll screw this baby up so bad that I'll ruin it forever. I don't know how to be a mother. Mine never wanted me." Mer sobs.
"No one knows how to be a parent, we learn as we go. But you know how your mom treated you, use that as a motivator to be better than her." Addison softly says.
"Are you a parent? How could you even know?" She sobs.
"Because I've known a lot of women who thought they would be shitty mothers because of their upbringing. They usually go on to be fantastic mothers and you know you're not alone, Meredith, you have Derek and Cristina. Not to mention an entire hospital that would have your back. Look, I bet you any money Lexie and Izzie would be fighting to hold this baby first and constantly be in competition to be the best auntie." She says, trying to cheer Meredith up knowing she had to get her pushing again and soon.
"I'm just the slutty intern who broke up the surgical queen and king and uses her mothers reputation to get ahead. I'm not a good person. This baby is already so screwed up." Meredith whimpers.
"For the record, you didn't break up anything. I cheated with Mark and after that, our marriage was pretty much done. I was stupid to think I could save it. You and Derek are perfect for each other. As for your mother's reputation, she might have not been a good mom but she was one hell of a surgeon and it runs in your blood, don't be ashamed of that." Addison whispered.
"How many people can say they're the child of a two time Harper Avery award winner?" Cristina adds.
Meredith snorts. "I can one-up you. I actually know Harper Avery's grandson. He'd kill me if I told you that, though."
"Do you feel a little better?" Addison asks. "We really need to finish this."
"I-I...not really. I'm sorry." She sobs.
"It's okay, we can figure the rest out later. Let's just focus on getting this baby here and then we can panic." Addison smiles slightly.
"Come on Mer, just pretend you're killing Derek and his gorgeous hair." Cristina says, trying to give her some sort of motivation.
"Oh this kid definitely has his hair." Addison laughs. "Give me your best push, Meredith. This should hopefully be the last one. Here, give me your hands."
Meredith reaches out, grabbing Addison's hands. She starts to push, praying to whatever was out there that Addison was right and this was the last time she had to do this. She feels as the baby slips out of her, relieved when the pain had ended.
Addison beams, cleaning off the squirming infant before handing the baby over to the new mother.
"Congratulations, Mommy. You have a baby with very dreamy hair." Meredith wraps her arms around the baby as tears stream down her cheeks. She did it. She couldn't believe it.
"Hey there. It's okay, we're okay." She whispers, trying to soothe the baby. Addison reaches over, putting a blanket over the baby before standing there a moment, admiring them.
"Boy or girl?" Cristina asks after a few minutes.
"Girl," Addison smiles. "And a very cute girl if I may add." Meredith softly smiles, her eyes never leaving the baby. She was still in shock but relieved.
"Okay Meredith." She says after about a half an hour. "Let's get you up to maternity now so we can properly deliver the placenta. I really would rather not do that part here."
"Yeah, sounds good." She leans up a little bit to let Cristina get up.
"Cristina, go and grab a wheelchair." Addison orders. They waited for a couple minutes until Cristina returned.
"You know you're gonna be talked about, right, Mer?" Cristina asks, helping Meredith into the chair as Addison makes sure mom and baby are properly covered. Thankfully she knew this wasn't a popular on call room.
"I'm sure everyone around the hospital will know before we even get upstairs." Meredith laughs. She knew how the rumor mill was around here.
"I claim godmother, by the way." Cristina says offhandly.
"Well yeah of course, you're the one who discovered her." Meredith laughs.
"Just making sure. I also want the last hour of my life back, that was disgusting. Sorry, Mer. God, I never want kids. I don't understand how women willingly put themselves through that." She says, disgusted.
"Would you rather be disgusted or be the one going through it?" Meredith asks. "Trust me, it isn't fun."
"Yeah, you're right." She agrees. "I'll make sure you get the drugs next time. If McDreamy knocks you up again." Cristina laughs.
"That's not going to happen any time soon." Meredith laughs. "He's not getting near me for a while."
"Minimum six weeks." Addison reminds her, smiling lightly.
"Yeah, I'm thinking more like six years." Meredith chuckles.
"Yeah right Mer, like McDreamy will be able to stay off of you that long." Cristina jokes. "I'll be surprised if he even waits until you're discharged."
"Oh, he will if I have anything to say about it." They arrive at the room, Addison closing the blinds as Cristina grabs some supplies.
Addison easily delivers the afterbirth not long after they settle. Aside from the unusual circumstances, this really was a textbook birth.
"Now that that's over with, I'm gonna get a nurse to take you and your baby girl for some tests. You did really good, Mer." Addison smiles, hoping she was soothed for now. The panic would probably come back the second Derek got there.
"Thanks," Meredith smiles. She closes her eyes, enjoying being pain-free. She reopens them, looking at Addison.
"You can rest for a few minutes while I find Derek. I'll make sure this stays as quiet as it can be. I make no promises, though."
"I know, I don't expect it to stay quiet long." She closes her eyes again as Addison leaves, running her hand up and down the baby's back and she sleeps against her.
Not long after, a nurse comes in to take them for testing.
Addison, now that her job was done, wanders the halls until she spots the exact man she was looking for, unsurprised that he was with Mark.
"Derek!"
"Oh hey, what's up?" Derek asks, seeing his ex-wife.
"Wanna explain to me why I just delivered your child in an on-call room?" Addison asks.
The end.
So this was the longest chapter yet coming in at 16 pages. I tried cutting it into 3 but it really just didn't look right. Once we got into writing this I really wanted it to come full circle so it ended the way it started. I'll have an Alt version posted if anyone wants to read this laid out in a different order. I disagreed with their preferred order so you can tell me which one you like better.
