Six months later…. February 2013. As a side note, I decided that Meredith ended her internship in July 2007, so she is a seventh year resident now.
Meredith was walking in the hospital, her twenty-month-old son at her side, and her six-month-old baby in her arms. It had been a late night for her, and an early morning for Derek, leaving her to get the kids ready all by herself, something she wasn't very excited to do. Now that they were at the hospital, however, Meredith wished that she could have spent a little more time with the kids at home.
"Mommy, my soo's untie." Said Christopher, holding up his right foot as they reached the elevator on the main floor.
"Can you wait until we get upstairs, Chris? You can press the up button." asked Meredith, as Kate reached up and pulled on Meredith's hair. Christopher did as he was told, and then stepped back and grabbed Meredith's jacket. As the doors opened, Meredith nudged Christopher in, and then got in behind him.
"We see daddy?" asked Christopher, looking up at Meredith, his blond curls hanging around his head in an untamed mess, much like his fathers, but still looking good.
"Maybe, Chris. You know Daddy's working." Said Meredith, as Kate's eyes locked with hers.
"Dada?" asked Kate, her eyes growing with excitement.
"No Dada, Katie." Said Meredith, shaking her head.
"See's so silly." Said Christopher, laughing as his little sister mimicked Meredith and shook her head softly.
"She is silly." Said Meredith, kissing the baby on her beautiful dark brown hair.
"We see Cwistina?" asked Christopher, as the door opened.
"Maybe, baby, we'll see who's here. We can go to Mommy's locker room before daycare if you want." Said Meredith, as they stepped out of the elevator.
"Yeah." Said Christopher, holding onto Meredith's bag as they walked into the hall, and over to the nurse's station.
"Dr. Shepherd." Said a man, one of Meredith's young patients father's, Mr. McMullen.
"Mr. McMullen. How's Andy looking? I'll be in to see him in about a half hour." asked Meredith, smiling as Christopher reached for her hand.
"He's great. Woke up smiling. Are these your little helpers?" asked Mr. McMullen, waving to Christopher.
"Yes they are. This is Kate, she's about six months old, and this is my son, Christopher. He's almost two. Can you say hello to Mr. McMullen, Chris?" asked Meredith.
"Hewo." Said Christopher, holding out his hand, which Mr. McMullen shook.
"He's a very bright little boy." Said Mr. McMullen, smiling at Meredith.
"Thank you." She replied, as Christopher replaced his hand in hers.
"It was nice to meet you, young man." Said Mr. McMullen.
"You, too." Said Christopher, waving as he and Meredith walked down the hall towards the locker room.
"Mommy, I wike Missa Mihmullen." Said Christopher, as Meredith held the locker room door open for him.
"I like Mr. McMullen, too." Said Meredith, as she set Kate down on the floor. As soon as she had her bag in her locker, and her coat off, Cristina and Alex walked into the locker room.
"Cwistina!" shouted Christopher, running to Cristina as she walked into the locker room.
"Christopher!" said Cristina, scooping the little boy up in her arms. Cristina carried Christopher with her over to her locker; the two were absorbed in conversation.
"How's it going, Mer?" asked Alex, as he picked Kate up off the floor.
"It's going good, actually. Katie sleeps the whole night every night, and she's eating solid food, and the best news yet: Chris is out of diapers. Derek and I have officially potty trained him." Said Meredith, slipping her scrubs on as Alex blew kisses onto Kate's stomach, causing her to erupt in giggles.
"That's great, Mer." He said, as Meredith traded her flats for a pair of sneakers.
"I know, isn't it?" She said, smiling.
"So, Mer, Iz and I were thinking about going out tomorrow night, and our sitter bailed. Do you think you and Derek could watch Julia tomorrow night?" asked Alex, referring to his three-year-old daughter.
"I think that'd be fine. Tell Iz that we're just planning on pasta for dinner, and then a movie at home. We can keep Julia the night, too, if you send pajamas, and then I can bring her to work with Chris and Kate the next morning." Said Meredith, smiling as she slipped her ID badge over her head.
"Thanks, Mer." Said Alex, handing the baby back to Meredith.
"How is Julia doing?" asked Meredith, setting the baby again on the floor, so that both she and Alex could finish getting ready.
"You know how it is with stomach virus's, Mer. She was sick for two days, all she did was vomit, Iz even brought her in to the clinic for some saline, but now she's back and better than ever." Said Alex, as he got into his scrubs.
"Yeah, Chris had that about a month ago. It was awful. Of course, Derek and I aren't Izzie, so he didn't get saline, but he did have tons and tons of Gatorade. I'm glad Julia is better, though." Said Meredith, as she picked Kate up off of the floor.
"Yeah, me too." Said Alex, smiling.
"Christopher, it's time for daycare." Said Meredith, turning to Christina and her son, smiling as she saw then sitting on the bench, talking.
"Five mowh minutes?" asked Christopher, sticking his bottom lip out.
"How about I take you to daycare with your Mommy?" said Cristina, standing up, and sweeping the little boy onto her shoulders.
"Yes!" shouted Christopher, hugging tightly to Cristina's head.
"Bye, Alex. See you on the floor." Said Meredith, smiling as she carried her daughter out the door behind Cristina and Christopher.
__________________________________________________
Izzie rang the doorbell, and looked over at her husband who was holding their little girl, Julia, with her platinum blond hair tied neatly back in a prefect French braid. Derek was the one to answer the door for them.
"Come on in, guys." Said Derek, leading them into the foyer. Meredith heard the commotion, and walked in, carrying Kate.
"Hey Izzie, Alex, Miss. Julia." Said Meredith, smiling as she walked over.
"Thanks again for doing this." Said Alex, clapping Derek on the shoulder.
"It's no problem. We love spending time with Julia." He said, taking the girl from Alex and tickling her, causing the little girl to giggle.
"Okay, well, I'll leave Julia's bag here. It has her clothes for the morning, and her blanket, and Scooter, her puppy, and her toiletries, and I guess we'll get going." Said Alex, taking the bag off of his shoulder, and setting it on the floor by the stairs.
"That's fine. Have fun, you two." Said Meredith, smiling.
"Bye, Julia." Said Alex, picking his little girl up and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Be a good girl for Meredith and Derek, Jules." Said Izzie, as she gave the girl a kiss on her hair.
"I promise. Bye Mommy, bye Daddy." Said Julia, as Alex set her down.
"Okay. Goodbye. Mer, you know how to reach us." Said Alex, as he opened the door for Izzie, and followed her out.
As soon as the door shut, Meredith turned to Julia.
"Now we can really have fun, Jules." Said Meredith, smiling. Julia beamed and nodded.
"Can we go find Christopher?" asked Julia, reaching for Derek's hand.
"Of course." Said Derek, leading her up the stairs, with Meredith and Kate trailing behind.
"Christopher!" shouted Julia, running to give the boy a hug as soon as she saw him in his room.
"Jooia." Said Christopher, smiling as the girl wrapped her arms around him.
The evening with Julia was a pleasant one for all. First they had Penne with Marinara sauce, Julia's favorite. Then they watched Brother Bear, Christopher's favorite movie, but neither Julia and Christopher, nor Kate for that matter, stayed awake until the end of the movie. Derek carried Christopher upstairs and placed him on his bed, and tucked him in, and then went down to get Julia, whom he placed on the air mattress in Christopher's room, along with her blanket and Scooter. Then together, Meredith and Derek went down to get their daughter, who woke up as soon as Meredith picked her up. Once in the nursery, Meredith sat down in the rocking chair, and breast-fed the baby, while singing her a soft song. Derek smiled and watched as he straightened the baby's crib, picked up clothing off of the floor, and then grabbed her blue footie pajamas.
Meredith handed him Kate to burp, and then watched on as he changed her diaper, and then her outfit. He handed her back a changed baby, and watched as she rocked Kate to sleep, and sang a lullaby at the same time. Within ten minutes, Kate was fast asleep. He then took her from Meredith, and walked over to the crib with her, and placed her into the crib, and smiled as Meredith pulled the blanket up over the baby's torso. They stood and watched the baby for five minutes, taking comfort in the rise and fall of her chest.