A/N: Only one more chapter after this and then the epilogue. I hope you all like this chapter, and hopefully I'll find time to post the next one in a few days!
Chapter 43
"Where the hell is Derek?" Meredith shouted at the nurse who just stepped into the room.
"I'm sorry Dr. Grey, I paged him ten minutes ago, he said he would be there as soon as his patient was in the clear and he could get a resident to close."
"Well page him again!" Meredith demanded. "Ah crap!" Meredith moaned as another shot of pain shot through her. "Page Cristina Yang!"
"Right away doctor," the nurse said with gritted teeth.
Five minutes later, Cristina waltzed through the doors. "What's up boss? I'm missing a triple bypass for this, it better be good."
It was December, and Cristina had decided to start her internship at Seattle Grace this past July. Meredith loved having her person close by again, but as Meredith's pregnancy progressed, her friend's sarcasm became less and less amusing to Meredith.
"Cristina, shut up! I am in pain, and I don't know where my asshole of a husband is right now, so I need my person."
"Alright fine," Cristina said, plopping down on the chair next to her bed. "Why isn't Derek here again?"
"I went into labor a couple of days early," Meredith explained. "So Derek was working, but he came right to my room when I told him I was in labor. We were just hanging here for a while, and nothing was really happening, the labor wasn't progressing or anything, and Derek got a page about a major car accident. He ignored it originally, but then the Chief came and told him it was really bad, so I told him to go and help. He didn't want to, but I made him, telling him it would probably be a long labor. Little did I know that it would decide to speed up about two hours ago, so he needs to get back here soon."
"Dr. Grey," the nurse said as she walked back into the room. "Dr. Shepherd said that he would be another ten or fifteen minutes, but he will be here as soon as he can."
"You call the OR and tell Dr. Shepherd that if he isn't in this room in ten minutes his child will have my last name and he will lose all custody rights," Meredith snapped as another contraction tore through her abdomen.
"Alright Meredith, how's it going," Addison said as she walked through the room
"Contractions are about every two minutes. I have been in labor for twenty hours. Please tell me that I'm almost ready to push," Meredith said, her voice turning desperate at the end. Cristina snorted, but looked away quickly when Meredith shot her a look.
"Alright, well put your legs up in the stirrups and I'll check your progress," Addison said, sitting by Meredith's feet. After a minute, she stood and peeled her gloves off.
"Well, you're seven centimeters dilated, so hopefully you'll be ready to go in about an hour," Addison said, smiling.
"Good," Meredith sighed. "Good. Oh, and Addison?" Meredith called as Addison was about to step up.
"Yes?"
"If you see my husband, either castrate him or tell him to get the hell to my room so I can do it myself!"
"No need!" Derek gasped as he ran into the room, out of breath.
"Oh thank God," Cristina said, standing up. "Good luck McDreamy," Cristina said, patting Derek on the back as she left the room with Addison, leaving Meredith and Derek alone.
"I'm so sorry I'm late Mer," Derek said, moving towards her and placing a kiss on her forehead. "The guy coded twice, so my surgery got held up. I would have been here sooner, I promise."
"You cannot do this once the baby's born," Meredith said, tears welling in her eyes. "You have to be here for me and the baby. You promised you wouldn't be my mother."
"I know Mer, I'm sorry," Derek said, kissing her again. "I won't be like your mom. I'm taking six weeks off for paternity leave, and then lightening my schedule so you can catch up on the time you'll miss, remember?"
"Yeah," Meredith sniffed. "Sorry, damn hormones, I know that-Oh! I am going to kill you!" Meredith moaned, grabbing Derek's hand and holding it in a death grip.
"Why are you going to kill me?" Derek asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that question.
"Because you did this to me," she hissed, making sure no one in the hall heard her. "You and your stupid boy penis."
"Mer, you wanted this, remember? I said we could wait as long as you wanted, and you wanted to start trying back in November…"
"Shut up!" Meredith cut him off. "You do not get to fight with me right now. Your child is trying to push its way out of me right now, so from now until this baby is in my arms, whatever I say is right, got it?"
"Yes," Derek said meekly, trying not to wince as another contraction ripped through Meredith and she squeezed his hand.
"So, how far along are you in this process?" Derek asked as the contraction subsided.
"Uh, I was seven centimeters about a half an hour ago," Meredith said after thinking.
"Oh good, you're almost there, not much longer then," Derek said with relief, which Meredith noticed and shot him a glare.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? And the dilation could slow down, and I could be like this for hours."
"I just don't like seeing you in pain," Derek recovered quickly. "And you can't do anything to speed it up, you know, like exercises?"
"Derek, this isn't like my mouth or my arm, I can't force my cervix to open any faster. Don't you think I would have done that if I could?"
"Sorry I asked," Derek mumbled as he took her hand, noticing another contraction on the monitor.
After another hour and a half, Derek noticed Meredith's facial expression change.
"Mer," he said, leaning into her. "What's wrong?"
"It hurts," Meredith gasped.
"Is it worse than before?" Derek asked, moving to page Addison.
"No, just different," Meredith gasped as Derek moved back towards her.
"What's wrong?" Addison asked as she entered the room, quickly snapping on a pair of gloves.
"She's in pain, and it's different than the contractions," Derek said briskly as Meredith was examined.
"Ten centimeters dilated, one hundred percent effaced," Addison noted as she stood up smiling. "Meredith, that feeling means that you're ready to push."
"Really?" Derek and Meredith said in unison, though Meredith's statement was said more in a gasp of pain.
"Yup," Addison said, hitting the page button. "As soon as the nurses arrive, you can start pushing."
"Derek," Meredith said, looking at Derek with wide eyes. "She's coming."
"She is," Derek grinned as he moved to sit behind Meredith, cradling her as he held both of her hands.
"I'm scared," Meredith whispered, so that only he could hear.
"You'll do great," Derek promised. "You'll fly through this, and you will be a great mom, I promise."
"Okay," Meredith whispered. She tilted her head to kiss him softly, but the tender moment was cut short by a contraction, causing Meredith to groan loudly.
"Alright Mer, let's meet your daughter," Addison said, sitting between Meredith's legs. "Push with the next contraction.
"Okay," Meredith nodded as she felt pain approaching. She groaned as she pushed with all of her might, but it felt like nothing had changed.
"Good job Meredith," Derek whispered into her ear, kissing her neck softly. "You did great, only a couple more."
Meredith whimpered in response, feeling another wave of pain.
"Push again," Addison demanded, and Meredith obeyed, continuing to push for the next twenty minutes.
"I see a head!" Addison exclaimed after twenty five minutes.
"We're so close Mer," Derek murmured into her ear. "One more big push, okay?"
"I can't," Meredith choked out. "I'm tired."
"If you want to take a break for a minute Meredith you can, but it really seems like you have just one more push," Addison said.
"One more push," Meredith said softly.
"One more, and if your baby doesn't come then, you can take a little break."
Meredith nodded, leaning her head back against Derek's shoulder and closing her eyes, trying to gain a few minutes of rest.
Derek kissed her sweaty forehead. "I'm so proud of you," he said. "I love you so much, and you are doing amazing."
Meredith nodded, tilting her head into his neck and inhaling deeply, relishing in the scent of him.
"Okay Meredith, here comes a contraction," Addison's voice interrupted their private bubble, and Meredith picked her head up, pressing it against her chest and pushing with all of her might as she felt the pain come.
She was rewards a minute later with a loud, healthy cry.
"There she is," Derek said, beaming down at Meredith. "You did it."
"I did?" Meredith asked as she felt a release of pressure.
"It's a girl," Addison confirmed. "Would you like to cut the cord Derek?"
Derek nodded, reaching for the scissors and snipping the umbilical cord, allowing the doctors to clean her quickly.
"Here you go," Addison said, easing her onto Meredith's chest. "You can hold her for a few seconds, but we need to take her up for tests."
Meredith immediately burst into tears as she held the small, red baby in her arms. Derek sat down beside Meredith, one arm going around Meredith's shoulders and the other hand softly stroking his daughter.
"Hi baby girl," Meredith said through tears. "We're so happy to meet you."
"Mommy and Daddy are so excited you're finally here," Derek agreed.
They sat there in silence for a little while before Addison approached. "I'll bring her back as soon as I can, but she needs to be checked out and get the APGAR, and Meredith need's to deliver the afterbirth. I'll be back soon."
"Bye sweetie," Derek said as Meredith handed their daughter back to Addison.
"We love you," Meredith joined in, turning to look at Derek.
"We have a daughter," he stated as he kissed her.
"We have a daughter," she confirmed, muttering against his lips.
XXXXXX
Two hours later, Derek watched as Addison wheeled his daughter into Meredith's room, a grin spreading across his face.
"How'd she do?" Derek asked, moving towards the bassinet.
"Passed with flying colors, perfectly healthy," Addison said, smiling as Derek reached for his daughter. "She's beautiful, congratulations."
"Thank you," Derek said, not looking up from his daughter.
"I'll check on Meredith later," Addison said, easing out of the room.
Derek nodded, looking up quickly. "Thank you for everything Addison."
"Of course," she said as she turned and walked down the hallway.
Five minutes later, Meredith began to stir. "Derek," she called as her eyes fluttered open.
"Right here," Derek said, slowly moving towards her, their daughter still resting in his arms. "And you have a visitor."
Meredith looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms, immediately reaching for her. He handed her over willingly, sitting next to Meredith as he had done a few hours ago.
"Have you told her her name yet?" Meredith asked, tearing her eyes away from her daughter.
"No, I wanted to wait until you were awake. You thought of her name. Plus, we wanted to wait until we both saw her to make sure the name fit," Derek replied.
"And do you think it does?"
"I do," Derek nodded. He slowly took the little white cap off of his daughters head, revealing a head of very fine, blonde hair. With the sudden chill at her head, the little girl opened her eyes, which were bright blue, just like her fathers.
"She has my hair," Meredith said, smiling.
"And your nose and mouth," Derek added. "But my eyes and chin."
"She's perfect," Meredith whispered, kissing her baby on the forehead.
"She absolutely is," Derek agreed. "So, should we tell her what her name is?"
"I think it fits," Meredith said, shifting the newborn in her arms so that she was being held partially by Derek as well. "Hello Charlotte Elizabeth Shepherd," Meredith cooed at the baby.
"Charlotte Elizabeth Grey-Shepherd," Derek corrected.
"Wait, why?" Meredith said, her head snapping up.
"Because she's part of both of us, and since you want to stay a Grey, than she should have your name too."
"But that's a lot for a kid to learn," Meredith said before looking down at her daughter, going silent. "You know," she said finally. "I could be convinced to become a Shepherd."
Derek's heart soared as he began to smile; the day just kept getting better and better. "You want to be a Shepherd? I mean, you already are a Shepherd, but you want to be one officially?"
"Well, it's about time don't you think? I want to be, and I guess I can live with being associated with you," Meredith joked, elbowing him in the ribs.
"Mean," Derek pouted. "I gave you a baby two hours ago, and you're already being mean."
"You gave me a baby?" Meredith asked incredulously. "You may have impregnated me, which led to the perfect baby we have right here, but I am the one who carried her for nine months and pushed her out of me two hours ago, so if anything, I gave you a child."
"Right, sorry," Derek said sheepishly, kissing her cheek.
"I forgive you," Meredith smiled, looking back down at Charlotte, who was falling back to sleep.
"We did a good job with this one," Derek said quietly.
"She's pretty great," Meredith agreed. "Hopefully we'll do as well with the next one."
Derek smiled at the thought of their future, and having more kids with Meredith. "I know we will."
"I love you," Meredith said, looking up at her husband.
"I love you too," Derek said wholeheartedly, kissing her tenderly, only to be broken apart by a small whimper.
"Oh, and Daddy loves you too Charlotte," Derek said, leaning down to kiss his daughter.
"I think she's hungry," Meredith said.
"Are you going to need help?" Derek asked.
"No offense Derek, but you don't have breasts, so I don't think you can help," Meredith giggled.
"Oh, right," he laughed. "Well, then I'm going to call my mom. She'll be thrilled to hear about how the two of you are doing."
"Okay," Meredith nodded, pulling her hospital gown down.
Derek looked down at his phone to find his mother's number, a wide smile stretched across his face. He had a daughter, and they finally had a family.