Hello again!
Glad to see you all seemed to like what Carolyn had to say to Derek ;) I love hearing from my readers!

I had a general idea of where I wanted this chapter to go but as I was writing, this chapter pretty much said 'screw you, I have my own plans' and here we are now!

I promise, this chapter wasn't originally supposed to be MerDer-polooza but that's pretty much what ended up happening, haha! I am very excited to post this though. I've had the flashback scene written since I posted the 3rd chapter so I'm very ready to finally share it with you all!

I promise you more of Carolyn and Amelia in the next chapters for those of you waiting for that. Still hope you all like this update.

Enjoy!

Italicized text = flashback

Chapter 9

Meredith's eyes snapped open as a wave of nausea washed over her. She forced her eyes shut again and fought off the awful sensation.

It had been like this for the past week. Luckily (in her opinion), her morning sickness consisted of mostly just nausea and only actual bouts of vomiting on rare occasions or when she ate something her stomach didn't agree with.

Not being able to tell if her late night dinner was about to make a reappearance, she extracted herself from Derek's arms and quickly made her way to the bathroom across the hall.

After sitting on the edge of the tub for a good 10 minutes, she was fairly certain this particular wave of nausea was going to stay just that. She splashed her face with cool water and freshened up before deciding to pad down the stairs. Maybe Carolyn has some ginger ale or something to calm her rolling stomach.

Early morning sun streamed into the inviting kitchen. The clock on the stove informed her it was about 7 in the morning. Not even born and already this kid was cutting into her sleep.

She spotted a couple bottles of soda sitting next to the fridge and eagerly poured herself a small glass to sip on. As she leaned casually against the counter she took the time to properly examine her surroundings. Due to her exhaustion and the late hour she really didn't get a good look at the house before she turned in.

The kitchen was about the size of the one they had sat her mother's house with its own island in middle to provide extra counter space or a small eating area depending on the need. The walls held a soft yellow color that really brightened the room. Small knick-knacks and crayon colored drawings were scattered about the window sills and hung on the refrigerator doors. Courtesy of Carolyn's 14 grandchildren, she was sure.

She continued to sip her ginger ale as she crossed over the threshold and into the living room. The far wall directly in front of Meredith was made entirely out of some beautiful stone Meredith couldn't identify to save herself. A large fireplace sat directly in the center with a long mantle stretching along above it. Four framed pictures graced the mantle and Meredith moved closer to investigate.

The center frame held what Meredith assumed to be Carolyn and Derek's father on their wedding day. They were both posing at the altar of a church, dressed in the traditional white dress and tux.

An involuntary smile crept across her face. Although she never met the man, there was no denying the man in the photograph was Derek's father. The bright blue eyes, dazzling smile, and think black curls were more than enough to give it away.

She moved on from the center photo to the ones resting off to its left and right. They were also wedding photos containing the smiling brides and grooms. The two to the left were of two women she had never seen before but assumed were Derek's two oldest sisters and their husbands. She recognized the bride in the photo to the right to be Nancy and the man who must now be her husband.

There was a small clock and few small figurines but something about the symmetry of the items on the mantle felt off somehow.

All at once she realized that, once upon a time, another wedding photo used to sit along the mantle next to Nancy's. The thought of seeing Derek and Addison's wedding photo made her chest tighten unexplainably. It really shouldn't bother her. They themselves had been together for years now and there was no reason for jealousy. But the thought of Derek with anyone but herself made her physically ill.

Instead of staring at the empty space any longer she moved on to the wall directly to her right. It was entirely covered with family photos, school photos, and smiling toothless babies. She had obviously found the grandkid wall.

While gazing at the array of pictures and silently wondering what their own baby would look like, two strong arms snaked their way around her abdomen. A soft kiss was placed on her shoulder before Derek chose that spot to rest his chin.

"Morning," Meredith whispered in greeting. She placed her own arms on the ones holding her and leaned back into her husband.

"Good morning," Derek responded with another kiss against her temple. "I missed you when I woke up."

"I didn't have much of a say about having to leave," she groaned, closing her eyes again.

He spied the half empty glass in her hand and asked, "Morning sickness again? You could have woken me up."

"It's just some nausea right now. If it gets more exciting than that, you'll be the first to know. You know how sexy vomiting is. Wouldn't want you to miss a second of that," she added sarcastically.

"Oh yeah," he agreed, chuckling. "You make morning sickness so sexy. Don't know how you do it, Mer."

"Shut-up," she demanded, slapping at his arm and stepping out of his embrace to face him. "You try constantly feeling like you're going to puke and see how attractive you feel."

"Meredith," he soothed. "I'm kidding with you. I know this part isn't fun. But you are attractive. You're beautiful. You're always beautiful to me." He reached out for her again and, when she didn't pull away, hugged her against his chest.

"Even if I'm vomiting?" she mumbled into his neck.

"Especially then," he teased.

"Jerk."

"You love me anyway."

"You keep telling yourself that," she muttered with a good natured scowl.

He kissed her forehead and her scowl softened into a small grin.

"What have you been up to down here?"

"Just looking around. Your mom has a lot of pictures," Meredith observed, indicating to the wall behind her.

"We have a lot of family," Derek reasoned with a laugh.

"So," Meredith started as she turned to face the wall she had been admiring earlier. "Have more Shepherd's been added to the mix since you last updated me or are there still just 9 nieces and 5 nephews?"

"Still just the 14. Although they're not technically Shepherd's. My sisters all took their husbands' last names."

"Oh…Well, I guess it's a good thing Zola and I are becoming Shepherds then," she grinned. "Gotta carry on the name somehow."

Derek's smile rivaled her own as he lit up at the thought.

"And you don't know how happy I am that I get to do so with you."

Derek's happiness was infectious. As he scooped her up once again to properly kiss her, she thought back to the night last week when the decision came about.

It was one of those quiet evenings together. A rare night off spent relaxing in bed with a book or medical journal in comfortable silence, content to just be in the other's company.

For the past 20 minutes, Meredith stared at the pages of her book without really reading them. She had taken a moment to shift her sitting position in an effort to be more comfortable and as her gaze lifted from her book, they momentarily settled on her daughter's crib. Involuntarily, a smile spread across her face as she settled back down and returned to her book.

'Soon,' she thought. 'She'll be home soon.'

However her attention did not return to the story in front of her, but drifted and jumped to different future related topics.

This staring contest with her novel did not go unnoticed by her husband as he had glanced up at his daydreaming wife a minute ago and was now gazing at her questioningly.

"Where'd you go?" he questioned over his magazine.

"Hmm?" she startled as she was broken from her thoughts. "Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile.

"It's okay," he replied with an amused grin. He lowered his reading material and scooted closer to his wife. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Just…stuff," Meredith answered, not really knowing where to begin.

"Stuff?" he countered, teasingly. "That all?"

"Just…"

She sighed and closed her book, not really knowing how to start but knowing she needed to. She looked up at her husband who was giving her looks of encouragement.

"I was just thinking about Zola."

At the sound of his daughter's name, Derek's smile visibly brightened.

"Zola? What about her?"

"About what her name should be when we finally, officially adopt her. Not her first name," she clarified quickly, "but her last name."

Derek shifted his body to face her, sensing the conversation was taking a more serious turn than he previously expected.

"Well, what did you have in mind?"

"I think she should be a Shepherd," she answered, almost shyly.

"Really?"

He was, not so secretly, loving the idea and that served to calm some of her fears.

"Mhmm," she confirmed with a smile of her own.

"What about your last name? She's your daughter too," he suggested, wanting to make sure this was really what she wanted. It was an important decision after all.

"We could hyphenate it even. Grey-Shepherd or Shepherd-Grey even."

"Derek," she started with a teasing glint in her eye. "Why would you do that to your daughter? Do you realize how horrible it would be to have to write all that out in school? She could get held back just because we forced this horribly long name on her and she couldn't remember how to spell all that!"

She chuckled before continuing, "If you really think Grey should be in her name, it still can be. She can just be Zola Grey Shepherd, no hyphen. Like serve as her middle name or something."

She paused and he could tell there was more she wanted to say. He remained silent and allowed her to collect her thoughts.

"I wasn't just thinking about Zola's name," she started slowly. "I've also been thinking about mine."

There was a note of uncertainty in her voice but something kept her going.

"I mean. It's not that getting married wasn't a reason enough. But we did our Post-It and then George died and Izzie had brain tumors and took off and I decided to give away half my liver. Then you got shot and I had miscarriage and we started trying to get pregnant and everything has just been so crazy that really changing my name never really occurred to me. And I don't want that to sound awful because after you proposed I did start thinking about it. But then all that other stuff I mentioned happened and it kind of got pushed back in my mind. But then we found Zola. And we went to city hall and started trying to adopt her and I started thinking about it again. And now that it's really happening," she finally paused her rambling. "I just want to give her a family. I want to be a family."

She still had this uncertain look etched in her features but she seemed to slowly gain a little more confidence in her words as she kept speaking.

"You…you want to change your name to Shepherd?"

He had not seen this coming.

"Yeah…" she said this like a question.

"I mean, people already call me Mrs. Shepherd. And now that we're starting a family, everyone we see for Zola, like teachers or doctors, are just going to assume we have the same last name," she trailed off, still trying to gauge his thoughts on the matter.

"And the baby!" she exclaimed. "He or she should be a Shepherd too."

She paused, more sure of her decision than she'd been all night.

"We're finally getting our family, Derek," she said softly with her eyes shining with emotion. "And I just want to be a part of it."

Not being able to do anything else, Derek leaned across the small space between them and pulled her in for a loving kiss.

After a few perfect moments, she pulled away and let her forehead rest against his. His hands were still softly caressing her cheeks and, even with her eyes closed, she could practically hear him smiling.

"Mer," he whispered, "you'll always be my family. Grey or Shepherd, you will always be my family."

He peppered a few more kisses across her face before resuming his assault on her lips.

"However," he chuckled, pulling back to give her a breathtaking smile. "I would be absolutely honored for you to take my name."

Meredith matched his smile with one of her own and snuggled into her husband's chest. Derek placed a kiss on the top of her head and lowered both of them further into the bed from their sitting positions against the headboard.

"Does this mean I get to call you Mrs. Shepherd now?" He couldn't resist teasing her.

She could hear the smile in his voice even if she couldn't see it.

"That's Dr. Shepherd to you," she played along with feigned annoyance.

"Besides," she continued. "I was leaning towards Grey-Shepherd. Having two Grey's at work is confusing so I know having two Shepherd's wouldn't be any better. At least this way there's some way to differentiate."

She angled her head to look at him. "What do you think?"

"I think that's a great idea."

"Me too," she whispered before closing her eyes to prepare for sleep.

"Good night, Dr. Grey-Shepherd."

"Good night, Dr. Shepherd."

The memory kept her smiling as Derek pulled away to gaze at her with a loving expression.

"How are you feeling now? Do you want to try eating something?"

She thought for a moment and when her stomach didn't react negatively to the thought of food, she replied, "Maybe some toast to start with. Just to be on the safe side."

"Very doable," he assured, grasping her hand and leading her back into the kitchen to prepare her breakfast.

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