It's Christmas Eve and Meredith is two weeks away from her due date. Derek has just finished putting Bailey to bed and is starting to get all the presents ready. Meredith is putting Zola to bed, which is quite difficult due to the size of her stomach.
"Mama will Santa bring me my baby sister for Christmas?" "No he doesn't bring siblings sweetie, but she's going to be here in a few weeks" she says with a smile. She leans over and kisses Zola on the head. "Santa can't come until you're asleep" she says. She has to use Zola's bed to push herself up, and puts one hand under her belly for support. As she's about to close the door Zola calls after her "I love you mommy." "I love you too baby girl. Goodnight." She walks into the living room where Derek is already putting presents under the tree. "Zola asked me if Santa is going to bring her little sister" Meredith says to him. "Oh really?" "I hope she's not going to be too disappointed when she realizes they won't be playing together for a while." "Oh I think she'll get over it" he says with a smile. Meredith walks over to the stack of presents and grabs a big box from the top. "Here let me carry that" he says taking it from her. "Derek I can carry a few boxes, I'm fine." "You can sit on the floor and wrap! I just don't want you to overwork yourself" he says in a concerned manner. She glares at him before slowly lowering herself to the floor. "Did Arizona tell you that she asked Addison to come next week for a consult" she says casually. "She did what" he says, as the thought of his ex-wife makes his blood run cold. "She has a mom with two uteruses. One has twins with TTTS and the other has a baby that is 6 weeks younger. Addison has seen two uteruses before and since Arizona is new at fetal surgery she thought it was best to get some help" she says. Derek just nods and doesn't say anything for a few moments. "And you're okay with this" he asks. "Of course I'm okay with this" she says with a smile. She takes a deep breath as if she's afraid of what she has to say but knows she has to say it anyway. "I was just thinking it might be hard on you with Mark gone, but that you could use this opportunity to talk to her about him." She puts her hand on his arm and rubs it as they sit in silence. He turns to her and says "I love you, you know that." "I love you too" she replies. 'But I'm okay, and I don't need to talk to Addison about Mark" he says sternly. "Well maybe she wants to talk to you about him. She hadn't seen him in a while and she never had a chance to say…" "I said I don't want to talk about Mark" he says cutting her off. She can see the pain in his eyes, how he's thinking back to all his great memories with his best friend. "Okay" she says softly, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's just finish these presents and get to bed because it is going to be a long day tomorrow" she adds.
"Mommy, daddy wake up it's Christmas! Come on wake up, wake up, wake up!" Zola runs around their bedroom with Bailey chasing after her. Both kids have huge smiles on their faces which go perfectly with their matching Christmas pjs. "Uuuugghh I'm up" Derek moans as he gets out of bed. Meredith slowly sits up as she watches Derek pick Bailey up and swing him into the air. "Come on mommy we have to open our presents!" Zola says excitedly as she tugs on Meredith's hand. "Alright sweetie I'm coming" she says with a smile. The kids run downstairs with Derek and Meredith following slowly behind them. "Coffee?" he asks as he heads into the kitchen. "Yes please" she calls as she heads over to the couch to sit down. "Alright you can start opening your presents now" she says to Zola and Bailey. They rip into their presents, throwing wrapping paper and bows everywhere. Derek comes and sits down next to Meredith, and they just sit and enjoy watching their kids. She leans her back on his chest and takes a moment to put his hand over where the baby is kicking. He kisses her cheek and smiles, both knowing that in a few weeks their lives are going to be beyond chaotic. The rest of the morning goes by quickly; Zola and Bailey play with their toys until Derek calls them into the kitchen for pancakes and hot chocolate. The kids play outside in the snow for a while until Meredith makes them come in to get ready for the dinner party. The guests slowly start arriving until their house is filled with people. April, Maggie, and Amelia are helping Derek in the kitchen while Meredith sits in the living room with Catherine, Richard, Jackson, and Owen. Alex and Jo are playing with the kids in Zola's room because as soon as they walked in the door Zola said "Uncle Alex come see my new toys", and Alex has no ability to ignore her cute little face. Owen plays his guitar with Amelia and Maggie singing Christmas carols while Richard and Catherine dance with Zola and Bailey. Alex and Meredith decide to FaceTime Christina before dinner and spend time reminiscing about their past Christmases, especially their first Christmas together as interns. After dinner the adults take turns playing with the new nerf guns Santa brought the kids. Bailey had run into the run firing at people until Alex and Jackson each picked up one and started firing back. The game turns into target practice when Derek brings out the dart board. By the end of the evening everyone leaves feeling happy and tired, which is the best way to feel after a Christmas party.
A few days later Meredith is standing in the OR halfway through a tumor resection on an 8 year old with Alex.
"Clamps" she says and holds out her hand for the instrument. She and Alex work diligently, occasionally pausing to question the interns. In the middle of answering a question Meredith suddenly feels a sharp pain in her abdomen. She makes a face and reaches down to put a hand under her belly. Alex looks up and says "Mer is everything okay?" "Yeah I'm fine" she replies. She goes back to resecting the tumor until a few minutes later she gets another sharp pain. "Damnit" she says reaching down to her belly. The pain doesn't go away this time and she drops her instruments to hold her belly with two hands. "Mer what's going on?" Alex asks, his voice laced with concern. "Are you going into labor?" asks one of the interns. "No I'm not in labor" she says in her Medusa voice. The pain goes away and she puts her hands on the table to stable herself. She moans in pain and Alex walks around the table to put his arms around her. "Someone page Dr. Webber to take over for me and then page OB, let them now I'm coming down." She stands up straight with one hand still supporting her belly and turns to look at Alex. "I'm not in labor" she says in a scared voice. He nods in understanding and helps her walk out of the OR. As soon as they scrub out and walk out of the OR they bump into Addison who's standing in front of the OR board. "Alex I'm fine go back into the OR and finish the surgery with Webber. I can get myself down to OB." "Mer you are not fine and Webber can handle the surgery without me, the interns can fill him in." Addison sees them walking towards her and smiles at her former colleagues. "Grey, Karev it's good to see you." "Hi Addison" Meredith says politely while Alex just nods in her direction. "Is everything okay" she asks. She can see that Alex is very worried and Meredith still has a hand under her belly. "Yes I'm fine" Meredith says quickly. Alex rolls his eyes and says "no you're not fine." Turning to look at Addison he says "she's had two sharp pains in the past 5 minutes. We don't think she's in labor but she needs to get checked out." Addison puts her doctor face on and leads Alex and Meredith into an exam room. Just as she's about to sit down Meredith feels the sharp pain again. After examining her for a few minutes the door slams open and Derek rushes in. "What's happening is everything okay? I got here as soon as I could." "You paged him?" Meredith says angrily to Alex. "I'm glad he did" Derek says seriously. "Okay Meredith it looks like you're just having some Braxton-Hicks. This is your body's way of telling you that you need to slow down. I'm putting you on bed rest until the baby's born" Addison says. "See what did I tell you, you need to slow down" Derek says. Meredith just huffs angrily and moves to get off the table. "Bed rest means no lifting heavy objects, minimal movement, and relaxation" Alex says. "Do you even know how to do that" he adds with a laugh. "Yes" Meredith replies. "Let me know if any more contractions happen Meredith, but they should stop once you lie down" Addison adds. "Thanks Addison" Meredith says with a small smile. She puts a hand on Meredith shoulder and gives her a small smile before leaving the room. "Alright Nelson took over my surgery so I can drive you home" Derek says. "I can drive myself home" Meredith says. "Meredith, this is serious. You need to stop trying to do so much and accept the fact that your due date is approaching." "I know that. It doesn't mean I have to be an invalid." "Yes it does actually" he says giving her a kiss on the cheek.
