Thank you again to those of you who left words of praise and encouragement! I greatly appreciate each and every review that is left.

I meant to give you this chapter earlier than this, but what can I say? Real life gets in the way sometimes.

This is chapter is pretty heavy in MerDer but I promise to those of you who are waiting and wanting more interaction with the other members of the Shepherd family, I promise you'll get this soon in the chapters to come.

Hopefully this will hold you over til then ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Later that evening, Derek started slowly regaining consciousness from their much needed nap. He let himself rest there for a moment longer as everything that had taken place that day came rushing back.

As he lay there, the feeling that he was being watched started creeping over him.

His suspicions were confirmed as he sleepily opened his eyes and saw his wife staring back at him. She mirrored his position and was propped up on her side facing the inside of their rather large hotel bed.

"You watching me sleep now? Isn't that my job?" he groaned tiredly.

"I don't remember you having a monopoly on watching your spouse as they slept," she responded with a sly smile.

"You do realize not too long ago, you chastised me for the same thing on the grounds that it was creepy."

"Not when I do it," she replied easily. "When I do it it's endearing."

"I see," he said with mock understanding.

"I started watching you sleep after you were shot," she confessed, vulnerability suddenly taking over her features.

If he wasn't awake before, her confession sure did the trick. All he could do was stare back into pained green eyes.

"Watching you breathe," she continued. "It's comforting."

"I know the feeling," he whispered back. Her eyes flashed with pain again.

"I used to do the same thing. After you drown. I would watch your chest rise and fall and feel you breathe in my arms. For the longest time it was hard to get the haunting image of you, cold and blue, out of mind. But watching you helped."

She just nodded.

"I used to have nightmares. After the shooting." She paused to clear the lump currently forming out of her throat. "I never got to you in time. There was always too much blood and my hands were too small to stop it all. So yeah…that's why I watch you now."

They shared a brief silence in which they both just stared at the other, reveling in the fact that they were alive.

"I'm sorry I almost died," Meredith whispered.

"Me too," he whispered back.

A small smile broke through her saddened face. "Call it even?"

Unexpected laughter burst through him. Despite the previous conversation, she could always manage to make him smile.

"Deal," he agreed and maneuvered closer to Meredith give her a small reassuring kiss.

The next morning found Meredith and Derek back in the waiting room of the rehab center for Amelia's last day. Addison and Carolyn were in her room saying goodbye and helping her pack, respectively.

"You sure you don't mind going?" Derek asked for about the 9th time (Meredith was counting) that morning.

She rolled her eyes before answering, "I'm going to say this one more time: No! I'm more than willing to spend the week at your mom's. Amelia wants your help and I like your mother. Plus, it'll be nice to get some motherly pointers for when Zola comes home."

The mention of her daughter never failed to make her beam with joy.

"That's true. I mean, she raised me after all," he said feigning arrogance.

"Yes, but we shouldn't fault her for that. She did the best she could with what she had to work with," she replied without missing a beat.

"You wound me, Mer."

"I think you'll survive," she replied without even looking up from the magazine she was scanning.

He shook his head and chuckled as he sat back in his seat to wait for his sister to appear.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking again. "Do you think we should tell them?" he asked in a semi-hushed tone.

Meredith looked up from her magazine to meet his questioning gaze.

"It's not time yet," she replied with slight worry wavering in her voice.

"It's so close though. And by the end of the week it will be," he insisted. "I know you're worried, and so am I, but everything has been fine and your doctor is really encouraging."

"I don't know, Derek," she said with more force than she meant to. She hadn't used anything but a comforting tone with him since yesterday so this took him by a slight surprise.

"Meredith," he continued, reaching for her hand. "The baby's been fine. It's okay to get excited. It's okay to want this." He cocked his head in an attempt to get her to meet her eyes with his. "We're having a baby, Mer."

His voice was soft and gentle like it always was when he was trying to talk her down from a freak out.

"It's okay to be happy," he concluded, running a gentle hand along her jaw.

Before she could respond, the three aforementioned women rounded the corner into the lobby. At their arrival, the couple stood to greet them.

"All set?" Derek questioned, taking in his sister's appearance for the first time that day. She was dressed simply in jeans and a solid green sweater. Her hair was neat and she looked like she had actually managed to get some sleep the night before. She was still very fragile looking and pale but at least he could recognize this woman as his sister a little bit better. It wasn't progress per se, but it was enough to give him hope.

"Were you two able to get on to our flight?" asked Carolyn.

"Yeah, thankfully the flight wasn't full," answered Meredith. 'And the airlines are willing to get anyone on their flights for a small fortune,' she thought.

"Wonderful!" the older woman beamed. "We have a couple cars waiting out front and Amelia is all ready to go."

Addison stepped forward to give her friend one final hug along with words of encouragement and a promise to stay in touch before turning to walk to her car.

The ride to the airport was mostly made in silence with the exception of the odd comment about the weather or how they slept the previous night.

Once on the plane, the foursome we forced to finally part ways for the nine hour flight due to their seating assignments.

Meredith went back to scanning her magazine from this morning and Derek leaned back to relax, lost in his own head. After an hour of amiable silence, Meredith finally spoke.

"I'll think about it," she said quietly. Derek took this as his queue to sit up and listen patiently.

"You know I'm worried and maybe I'm being overly cautious but I don't think I could handle having to tell everyone that it's not going to happen on top of losing a baby for the second time." She paused to fight off the tears that were threatening to form.

"But you're right. I'm almost past the first trimester where they say it's safe to start telling people and it would be nice to tell your mom in person." She smiled at the thought. She knew it'd mean a lot to Derek since they didn't get the chance to do so with Zola.

"But let me get used to the idea, okay?" The worried expression returned to her face. "I am trying, Derek. I want to be happy about this. I just don't want to hurt like that again."

"I know you are," he said, pulling her close enough to give her a quick kiss and tuck her securely in his arms.

"We'll be okay, Mer. We'll all be okay."

Let me know what you think! :D