"Hunter?"
He shook his head. "Sounds threatening."
"He could be threatening." Meredith said with a shrug before pausing as she looked at her husband's face. One that asked a lot of questions. Mainly if she was mad. She smirked, replying, "I mean he's not a sausage dog. It's not like it's some horribly ironic name."
"Right. But I don't think we want McDog to sound threatening with three young kids."
"Zola is not a young kid anymore Dere-"
"No, no, no-" He interrupted. "Zola is a tiny, tiny baby. Still a tiny baby. My tiny baby. Six months old. Doesn't even know how to talk yet. Okay? Baby. She is a baby."
She giggled. "I wish."
"Why do they keep growing? Tell them to stop growing up. Make them. Please. You're the strict one, do something!"
"What do you want me to do, lock them up so they don't develop?" She asked incredulously. Although, she wasn't that surprised; her husband was horrendous at dealing with the fact that their kids weren't hand-sized babies. Worse than her, somehow.
He didn't reply, mouth hanging open. "Uh. Yeah, kind of."
She sighed and rolled her eyes before looking back at her phone. "How about Ace?"
"Tycholine?"
"Ty-what-what?" She asked, confused.
"Ace...tylcholine?"
Meredith laughed, just once. He was such a nerd. Behind the hair and the grin and the handsomeness, he was a nerd. Always was. Always would be. And she absolutely freaking loved it. What normal person had a neurotransmitter pop into their head at a name suggestion? "Catch, Acetylcholine!" She said, imitating their possible future life.
He chuckled too before returning to a sensible manner. "Actually, I kind of like it...but I think the kids should name them, right?"
She sighed. "Mmm probably."
Derek looked up instantly when his eldest yelped. He was expecting her to see pain or fear or...some other horrified emotion on her face. But he didn't see that. All he saw was apprehension and a touch of confusion.
Zola didn't express confusion often. Most children got confused at books or worksheets, but Zola never seemed to do that. Where her friends struggled to find words, she struggled to find fun. Being a seven-year-old with a nine-year old brain made school very, very boring.
Apprehension, on the other hand, was a very commonly expressed emotion. She had experienced her dad's emotional and physical recovery from an accident that was so serious that he was still haunted by it, emotionally and physically, a year and a half later. She had visited her mom in hospital when she couldn't speak to her and her dad read out every line that she wrote out for them. She had seen things - a lot of things - which made her a strong, but traumatised little girl.
But she wasn't being challenged at school nor watching one of her family members be kicked to their lowest.
There was a cat on her lap.
That was it.
"Help! What do I do?"
He smiled at his daughter. It was a shame she wasn't often dumbfounded because she had such a cute little clueless face. "She's gonna walk around your lap for a little bit. Then she'll sit down."
She nodded, mouth still wide open. "Can I touch?"
"Mmm, you can stroke her now if you want."
She nodded slowly as she placed her hand on the cat's body and stroked her fur, only for her eyes to widen and her mouth to drop further. "Awww. She's. So. Fluffy!" She squeal-whispered, knowing noise could scare her away.
The cat mewed in response, rubbing her face across her hand affectionately.
"Yeah. She is, isn't she?"
Derek shuffled over a little, tickling the top of the cat's head with his fingernails. Her ears collapsed a little and eyes shut in pleasure.
"Oh. I want a go!" She entreated, shoving his hand out of the way with her right as her left scratched between her ears. It initiated the same response in the creature, and Zola was left in shock again.
Derek couldn't help but smirk at her desperation.
"Daddy-" She called after a little while of tickling and stroking the creature.
He looked back to his daughter. "Yes baby?"
"She's purring." She placed her hands against her side, feeling the cat's vibrations.
"You know what that means?" He asked rhetorically with a smile. "It means she loves you."
Her eyes shimmered as she beamed. "I think I love her too."
Meredith smiled, and couldn't help but take her phone out of her pocket when she found half of her family on the couch together. It was way too cute. She hesitated for a second, looking through her contacts before selecting one to send the photo to. She was surprised when, just a second later, her phone buzzed, considering their time zones. Apparently, the father-daughter-cat trio was 'so cute that I actually, physically just barfed'. She smirked at the text from Cristina before settling on the end of the sofa, looking at Derek, Zola and...Blue.
How in the world the cat ended up being named Blue, she had no idea. Bailey just started calling her Blue one day, and that was that. She wasn't even sure if he had discussed it with Zola. The dog was blue (kind of), not the cat. But she had let a 5- and 7- year-old name them, so she wasn't quite sure why she was surprised. She did feel a little bad for Ellis and the fact that she had no choice in the name, but most pets came pre-named normally anyway. Luckily, they accepted Ace(tycholine) quite quickly when Derek recommended it.
"Admit it-" One very sleepy voice murmured.
She looked over to see her husband with his eyes just about open. Although, his smile was anything but tired.
"-you like cats."
"Dogs are still better."
"But you like cats?" He pushed.
She sighed, frowning at him.
His smirk only broadened before his head dropped back to where it was when he was sleeping and his eyes shut in the hope that he could fall back to sleep. "I'll take that as an admission of defeat."
"You know who I do like less than cats? Derek Shepherd."
"Don't lie to yourself, Mer. You love me."
She almost snorted a laugh. Almost. But she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of confirming that it had lit happiness in her soul. Then again, looking at him always seemed to do that. "Sure. Whatever you say."
"I think the clock hit eight thirty about ten minutes ago, but I don't see either of my kids in pyjamas."
"But it not a school day." Bailey moaned.
"You still need your sleep, babies." Meredith sighed before shooing Blue off of her lap. "Even if-"
"Mommy!" Bailey shouted, standing up from the floor.
"What?"
"You can't do that!" Zola exclaimed when Bailey failed to elaborate his point, far too outraged by their mom.
"Do what?"
"Number one rule of fluffies: if they sit on your lap, you can't do that! She loved you and you said no!"
"Oh." She breathed. That definitely wasn't the first time she had done that to one of their pets. "So...no moving the cat?"
"Or the dog! Have you been doing that?" Zola asked, in shock. Had her mother been committing that crime? The crime.
"Er- maybe." She admitted quietly.
She frowned. "Mommy! The poor fluffies!"
"Ah- no- cat." Amelia muttered as she slammed the door behind her, only to find Blue approaching her.
"Really Amelia?" Meredith sighed as she sped away from the creature.
"Not a fan."
"She's cute though, don't you think?" Meredith asked as the cat walked over Amelia's feet, rubbing her head against her legs on her way.
"No. Not really. And since when did you like cats?" Amelia asked as she placed her shopping bag on the kitchen table.
"I'm infecting Mer with my love for cats." Derek explained from the kitchen.
"You are not."
"Am too."
"Are not."
"Am too."
"Are n-" Meredith tried before being interrupted.
"You didn't want kids, met me, then wanted kids. If I can convince you to have children, I can convince you to like cats."
"Okay then-" Amelia sighed. "I think I'm just gonna leave you two to...be a gross married couple."
"How is this gross?" Derek asked, gladly approaching the cat and letting it rub its face against his socked toes before she jumped up onto his lap.
"You're arguing in a cutsie way. Like it's all funny and life is full of tiny little problems when it's really, really not. It...it's actually disgusting. Hence why I think you two are disgusting. So, enjoy. Kiss already or whatever."
Derek smirked before getting distracted as Blue looked up, trying to sniff his chin. He looked down at his cat, only for her to lick his nose.
"Okay. Nevermind. Cat-kisses? Even more disgusting."
"Mmm, I side with Amelia." Meredith muttered before laughing at Derek's offended face. "Take me away from this disgusting man. Please. Now."
"Says the one I saw cuddling and whispering sweet nothings to Blue for five hours yesterday."
"I had a four-hour nap, and, yes, I baby talked to Blue before I fell asleep, so what? You are so, so much worse."
"How is-" He paused as the door slammed, and both realized that Amelia was gone. "Oops."
Acetylcholine didn't like catch. He loved it. He freaking adored it. Which was great, for Meredith, but not for anyone else. Zola and Bailey, being so small, really had to launch the ball for him to actually be interested in it, so they got tired easily. Derek did his best to avoid unnecessary strain on his arms wherever he could, so he also tried to avoid tossing the ball. And, of course, they forgot the 'ball-chucky', which meant they were even more tired. And frozen. And numb. And shivery. Ace, on the other hand, didn't experience any of those things. So, when the dog requested that one of them throw it again, they were stuffed.
He barked. And barked. And barked. And barked. But no one moved to collect the ball for the overexcited creature.
"Enough?" Derek asked as he watched Bailey stare lifelessly at the ball.
"My arm hurts." Bailey sighed.
"Too cold." Zola noted.
"We already threw it twenty- uh- hundred- gillion times."
"Wanna go home? Or to the playground? Or to get a drink from the cafe?"
"Hot coco at home?" Zola suggested, combining two of his options.
Derek smiled. "I think I could do with some coco too Zozo."
"With marshymeelows?" She asked as she watched her brother collect the tennis ball from the other side of the field.
"Mmm mmm. Coco isn't coco without marshmallows."
Bailey concurred from the other side of the field before chucking the ball one last time, this time at his father.
"Bailey!" Zola called as the dog sped from the edge of the field to his owners at the movement of his prized ball. "Don't throw the ball at Dad!"
"Why can't I-" He started before pausing when he heard a thud. And a mutter of 'ow'.
Now he understood why he wasn't supposed to send a dog charging at his dad. When it was too late. When he was already on the floor.
"Dad! Are you okay?" Zola asked as she rushed over, almost skidding across the grass before falling to her knees beside him.
He was trying his best to get up off of the floor, but he couldn't with Acetylcholine all over him. "I've been better." He replied with a smirk, right before getting licked in the face. "Yeah, yeah, Ace, I'm okay- I'm okay- no thanks to you."
He gave a low whine before sitting down next to his owner on the opposite side of Zola, almost apprehensive.
"You sure?" His daughter asked, eyebrows dropped.
"I'm sure. But- how did you know that that was even gonna happen? Even I didn't think about that Zo." He replied as he moved his legs with his hands before flipping his chair the right way round and pulling it into a good position.
"You've gotta be careful Dad."
"Zo, you're seven." He explained bluntly as he pushed his breaks on.
"So?"
"You need to stop being so smart before you take my job."
"I haven't been an intern yet. No way am I gonna take your job. That's just silly."
He smirked at his daughter. "See, now you're being even more smart. You've really got to stop it."
"Derek! If there's a single minute of traffic, we're gonna be late!" Meredith shouted as she looked at the time again.
"I know!" He shouted back from somewhere upstairs.
She sighed. "Are you going to come down any time soon then?"
"I'm kinda stuck."
She ran up the stairs at the shout, slipping her phone into her pocket. Her mind jumped to the worst, but most common place he found himself stuck on. The floor. Floor to chair and chair to floor transfers were the hardest of all, and sometimes he couldn't do it by himself.
But Derek wasn't on the floor, looking between her and his chair helplessly. He was sat in his chair with an unimpressed seriously? look on his face.
"Uh- what's the problem?"
"I think you know what the problem is." He said pointedly.
"Well, yes. But...why is this a problem?" She asked, confused. She could clearly see the problem, she just didn't know why he didn't fix it himself.
"What is the number one rule of pets, Mer?"
She sighed as realization hit her hard in the face. Their kids were so aggressive about this rule. "Don't move them if they sit on your lap."
"So what do you do when you have to go to work, and you have a dog on your lap-" He started, just before Ace turned to look at him at his mention. He sniffed his owner's face, and he couldn't help but smirk. "-and a cat on your shoulder?"
Meredith's mouth just hung open. She didn't know the answer. "How the hell did they even- what?"
Ace had crammed himself onto Derek's lap, half of his body pressed right against Derek's torso, while Blue had taken on the role of a pirate's parrot, and was currently licking his ear. It made sense that she had taken that position, seeing as she often clawed her way up the back of his chair and ended up jumping down from his shoulder, rather than up from the floor to his lap.
"I think they made some kind of pact to ruin my life at the worst possible moment with their adorableness."
She smirked. "Right. The pets plotted against you to...make you late for work? And their weapon of choice is...cuteness."
"Hey! Don't laugh!" He exclaimed. "It's not funny!"
"Just get them to move. Push them off."
"I'll get arrested by the Zola-Bailey police force. You've seen what they do to their prisoners. Ruthless 9-1-1 responders they are."
"Jeez, Derek, you take our children way too seriously. Dead-patients-because-you-didn't-turn-up-to-work trumps offending the pets."
"Have you met our children?"
"They're not that bad." He dismissed, just as she shooed both Blue and Acetylcholine off of his lap and shoulder.
"See, no Zola-Bailey police force coming to te-"
"Mommy!" Zola exclaimed, horrified.
Crap.
"What. Did. I. Say. About. The. Fluffies?"