Chapter 4

"Ah!" Meredith screamed. Izzie stood in her room with a coffee mug in hand.

"George is trying to take my room." Izzie stated. Meredith got out of her bed and started to her door before tripping and falling on her face. "I called the room. I should have the room." Izzie continued. You better have not woken Conner.

"I got here first." George defended. Meredith walked straight past him with a limp and continued down the hall.

"It's Meredith's house she should decide." Izzie shot out.

"Mommy, can I wear my Celtics shirt?" Conner chimed in. Meredith grunted and nodded her head. "Yay!" Conner ran back into his room. "Don't worry I'll do my morning things." He called out. Great they woke up Conner. Meredith continued down the stairs and Izzie looked back to Conner before following Meredith. George ran after them.

"What's the big deal? It's a room. I want it." George asked.

"It's bigger." Izzie informed.

"My room is like two inches bigger than yours." He yelled.

"It has a bigger closet." Izzie yelled back.

"Why is everything a competition?" George started a fight with Izzie. Meredith quickly walked into the laundry room and pulled a blouse and pants out of a basket. She walked while Izzie and George talked about unpacking and making the house homey. Meredith shuffled Conner into the bathroom and closed the door behind them. Meredith opened the door again and grabbed the coffee mug out of Izzie's hand. "Meredith, do you want some privacy?" George asked through the door. Conner stared at his mom as she leaned up against the door and slid down to sit on the floor.

"Mommy, you okay?" Conner asked standing in front of Meredith. He rubbed her cheek and smiled at her. Meredith finally looked at what Conner was wearing and his appearance.

"What are you wearing?" She asked scrunching up her face. She looked at Conner. He was wearing some of his really old jeans that had holes; grass stains and mud stains covering them. He had his old white and green Celtics shirt on that also had holes and stains on it. His hair was sticking up all over the place and was obviously not brushed.

"You said I could wear my Celtics shirt." Conner informed. Meredith blinked and stood up.

"I thought you meant the new one I bought you. The one that says Boston basketball on it." Meredith rubbed her eyes and walked to the sink.

"This one's softer." Conner whined.

"Why are you wearing your old jeans that have holes and stains on them?" She asked brushing her teeth. Conner walked to the toilet and sighed. Meredith turned around to look at his face when he answered.

"Turn around I have to pee." He informed twirling his finger. Meredith rolled her eyes but turned around for him. "I couldn't find my newer jeans." Conner said finishing up. Meredith turned around when she heard him flush.

"Can you change for Mommy?" She asked before spitting in the sink and brushing her hair. Conner sighed and walked to the door.

"Conner can change." Conner answered. Meredith quirked a smile and let out a small laugh.

"Come here, buddy." She said walking toward him. Conner walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Did you brush your hair?" She asked smiling. Conner looked away and shook his head. "Do you want me to do the thing the hair cutter person did when you got your last hair cut?" She asked. Conner nodded his head and smiled.

"The thing where my hair sticks up but only in the front?" He asked. Meredith nodded her head and put him in front of her as she quickly brushed his hair then got the gel, the hairstylist gave her, out. Meredith ran it through Conner's hair and when she was done she smiled.

"Tada." Meredith said. Conner kissed her cheek and went to change clothes.

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"Hello, Meredith." Derek smiled as he ran into Conner and her in the hallway. Meredith gave him a little smiled and pointed to the daycare entrance. "Hi, Conner." Derek smiled down at him. Conner smiled big and jumped into a big hug with Derek.

"Derek! You didn't stay the night." He stated. Derek looked at him.

"Your hair's different." He stated trying to change the subject.

"Yeah. Mommy did my hair the way the hair cutter lady does it. Mommy only does it when she really wants something or something big happened or when she thanks me for getting her out of something." Conner explained. Derek nodded his head and looked up at a tired Meredith. "Why didn't you stay like you said you would?" Conner asked sadly.

"Because I had to go into surgery." Derek stated. "I had to fix someone who really needed my help. I wanted to spend the morning with you guys but the person really needed my help. Next time I promise I will stay the whole time." Derek informed. Conner smiled up at him and took Meredith's hand.

"Are you still going to visit me later in the day?" Conner asked walking into the daycare.

"Maybe your Mommy will let me come and visit." Derek looked over at Meredith but saw her with an angry face on. He looked at her confuse but she walked into the daycare, signed Conner in and told the daycare helper something before walking out and toward the elevator. Derek followed her and got into the elevator with her. "Why are you mad at me?" he asked quietly.

"You promised Conner something you have no control over." Meredith growled. Derek looked at her and then looked back at the orderly behind them.

"I can control that, Meredith. I just won't do it when I'm on-call." He informed. Meredith shook her head and excited the elevator with Derek on her heals.

"Leave me alone." Meredith said. Derek pulled her back to him and down an empty hallway before she could enter the locker room. "Derek." She whined. Derek gave her a look and she kept quiet.

"I know I can't control a lot of things but I'm pretty sure I can control if I get paged. The only time I answer a page when I'm with the people I truly love is when it is a 9-1-1 and no one else can answer it." Derek informed. Meredith's eyes were wide and Derek realized that he just said he loved not only her but also Conner. He took a deep breath.

"You… you just said you… loved us." Meredith whispered. Derek stared into her eyes.

"I did." He responded. Meredith gulped.

"You…" She trailed off.

"Yes." He answered her unsaid question. Meredith smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss before looking around the hallway.

"Page me in a bit if you can. Bailey probably won't let me come find you. Especially since she doesn't know about us. I'm gonna be late. Bailey is going to kill me. I need to talk to you, but not now. Later. I'll talk to you later." She rambled. Derek watched her quickly walk toward the locker room again. She was out of sight for a second before she popped back into his sight. She walked over to him, leaned into him gave him a soft kiss on the lips, smiled big at him and whispered, "I love you." She gave him another quick kiss and turned away. Derek pulled her back to him.

"I love you too." He whispered. He gave her a quick peck on the lips and let her go. Now I'm late.

MDMDMDMD

"Ooh I'll take that guy." Meredith said happily staring at a guy with bike spikes sticking out of his abdomen.

"You'll have to beat me to it, Momma Grey." Alex stated rushing to the guy. Meredith was on his heals. Momma Grey… what?

"Hey." Meredith whispered angrily. They got to the patient at the same time. "I got here first his mine." Meredith said standing closer to the patient before looking at him staring at her chest and taking a step back.

"Okay, lets settle this. Heads he's mine tails he's yours." Alex said taking a coin out.

"Why do you get to be heads?" Meredith asked.

"Because I have a head and you are a tail." Alex grinned. Meredith took a breath in and pulled the curtain forward.

"Excuse me." She said to the patient. "How do you manage to make everything dirty?" She said madly. Alex thought for a second then flipped the coin. "Ha. Tails." Meredith said looking down at the coin. "There are plenty of other cases." She informed Alex.

"So go get one." He shot back. "I was here first.

"I got here first. And I am not backing down so I can do sutures all day while you're up in the OR. This is a surgical case and you know it."

"It's superficial. I mean it's cool but it's superficial." Alex stated.

"How do you know things didn't rupture his-"

"He's sitting up and his talking, Momma Grey."

"Why are you calling me Momma Grey?" Meredith asked with anger lining her voice.

"Cause you're a mommy?" Alex said faking smiling.

"So? Who cares?" Meredith said squinting her eyes at him.

"I'm taking the case, Grey." Alex growled.

"He could have-"

"Again he's sitting here talking to us." Alex motioned to the patient behind the curtain. Suddenly the curtain got pulled back and the guy with the spikes in his abdomen was talking to them. As Meredith was explaining why they couldn't pull the spikes out Alex did just what the patient had asked.

"Can you stich me up now?" the British guy asked. Meredith sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

"Yeah, come with me." Meredith informed walking with him to an exam room.

"So you're really a mum?" He asked. Meredith turned around and started to get the supplies ready.

"Yes." She answered with a deadpan expression.

"You got a husband and a little boy or girl?" He asked. Meredith turned around annoyed.

"Nope. I just have a little boy and um… a boyfriend." She stated cleaning the wound.

"This boyfriend doesn't sound very convincing." He informed.

"I'm your doctor." Meredith mumbled numbing the wound.

"Okay." He mumbled back. Meredith started the sutures. "You've got a nice touch." He stated after Meredith finished. "And by the way even with the kid you're a walking babe." He said leaning his head closer to hers. Meredith looked up at him.

MDMDMD

"Maybe. You might want to get that checked out too." Meredith informed.

He signed the form and was walking out the door when he turned around, grabbed her, and kissed her. Meredith kept her eyes open, put her hands on his shoulders to push him away but he pulled back and she put her hands up in mock surrender. He walked out of the room and Meredith shook her head cleaning up the exam room.

She looked out the window and saw Derek standing there with his hands on his hips looking at her. She started to walk out the door and didn't realize Derek was walking to the door also. She opened the door to find him standing there. She looked down and smiled.

"What do you want?" She asked softly. Derek leaned a little closer to her.

"You make out with patients?" He asked shocked. Meredith looked at him and smiled again.

"What are you jealous?" She asked teasingly. Derek walked toward her.

"I don't get jealous." He stated closing the door. Meredith laughed and picked up the chart.

"Dr. Shepherd, I didn't-" Meredith started.

"Dr. Shepherd? Meredith, what was that with the making out with a patient? This morning you tell me you love me and now, what the hell?" He said angrily. Meredith sighed and walked over to the windows. She closed the blinds and walked back over to him. She placed her hands on his chest.

"I do love you. I hope you love me too. The patient grabbed me when I was cleaning up and kissed me. If you were looking closely you would have seen I didn't do anything. Didn't close my eyes or kiss him back. I put my hands on his shoulders to push him off but he was gone before I could." Meredith informed. She still saw the jealousy lingering in his eyes. She smiled up at him, stepped onto her tippy toes and kissed him softly on the lips. Derek grabbed her hips and deepened the kiss. She moaned into his mouth and smiled against his lips. He walked her back to the exam table and lifted her onto the table with a sigh. They pulled back and Meredith sheepishly smiled at him.

"I love you too." He whispered. Meredith smiled big at him.

"You need to trust me. And you need to let me tell you what happens before you assume." Meredith said looking deeply into his eyes. Derek looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. Meredith pulled him closer to her and let him stand between her legs.

"You were jealous it okay. I would probably do the same if I saw a woman kissing you. In fact I would probably rip her head off before yelling at you." Meredith laughed and Derek truly smiled at her. He kissed her softly and let her down from the table.

"I have to go do some stuff." Derek mumbled. Meredith nodded her head.

"I have the pit." She smiled up at him.

"Do you think we should tell the Chief about us?" Derek blurted out. Meredith stopped in her tracts to the door and turned around to face him.

"Should we?" She whispered.

"Are you serious about our relationship?" he asked breathing deeply. Meredith walked toward him and rubbed his shoulders looking into his eyes.

"I'm serious if you're serious. If you want to go to the Chief about us I'll tell him with you. I thought I showed you how serious I was when I introduced you to Conner. I've never let anyone meet him before." Meredith informed. Derek nodded his head and grinned at her.

"I think we should tell before someone sees me with you and Conner, Conner blurts something in daycare and then the gossip spreads, it slips from someone or something like that. I would rather tell him ourselves so he knows our relationship is real and not just an attending and an intern screwing around." Meredith nodded her head and leaned her body against his stronger one.

"Okay. We'll tell him. Do you want to do it later today or early in the morning tomorrow?" Meredith breathed. Derek wrapped his arms around her body and kissed her head.

"Tomorrow." Derek whispered. Meredith nodded her head against his chest.

"I'll see you later." She whispered against his lips. She ran out of the room and Derek opened the blinds.

MDMDMD

"I don't want to smell you." Meredith growled. Get off now!

"Oh, yes you do." Alex said wrapping his arms around her body.

"You have got to be kidding me! Okay I have got more important things to deal with than you. I have roommates, and boy problems and family problems. You wanna act like a little frat boy bitch. That's fine. You wanna take credit for your saves and everybody else's that's fine too. Just stay out of my face." Meredith had Alex pushed up against the lockers when Derek walked in. "And for the record you smell like crap!" She yelled and looked over toward the doorway where Derek was. She walked away with her head down and got to her locker.

"The momma-bear attacked me." Alex stated pointing to Meredith. She turned around and lunged at him. What the hell?

"Meredith, Meredith, Meredith." Derek tried calming her down. Derek caught her right before she could beat Alex. He pushed her back until she was standing by her locker again. While he was pushing her back she was staring angrily at Alex. "You know what. You might want to leave before I change my mind let her beat you to a pulp with her tiny ineffectual fists." Derek pushed Alex out of the room and slammed the door on him. He turned around, sighed, and looked at Meredith. Meredith stuffed her things in her bag and looked up at him still fuming from Alex.

"Don't." She said. Derek walked over to her and brushed some of the hair that fell into her face back. She sighed and pulled her bag over her shoulder. "I… I have to go get Conner." Meredith whispered. Derek nodded his head, walked to the door and opened it for her. Meredith walked out then came back in quickly.

"Meet me in the parking lot to say goodbye to Conner. I love you." She informed. She quickly gave him a sweet kiss and was out of the room when he opened his eyes. Derek sighed, strolled out of the room and walked toward the parking lot.

MDMDMD

"Derek!" Conner yelled. All his earlier tiredness drained away and he ran over to Derek. Derek caught the little boy mid air and gave him a big hug.

"Hey, Conner." Derek took a deep breath in. He smelt a mixture of flowers, crayons, blueberries and the natural kid smell you can't get from anywhere but a happy playful kid. You're so cute with him. Did I just think that? Oh god Cristina would kill me.

"Did Mommy show you my pictures I drew today?" He asked excitedly as Derek placed him back on the ground. Meredith who had been standing back a little stepped forward and handed Derek three drawings.

"Who's this?" Derek asked pointing to the top picture. Conner stood on his tippy toes as Derek bent down so he could see.

"That's me and Mommy and Izzie and George and Aunty Cristina and you. See I have Mommy and you next to each other cause you like each other. That right there is the sun and the blue sky. Oh there is the grass and then a big lake with fish jumping out. That, that there is a big tree and there is a dog next to you, me and Mommy. That's a cloud and that's a bird." Derek took all the little things he pointed out in. He looked up at Meredith and saw her smiling. He felt a light forming in his heart at the fact that Conner put him in the picture.

"Thank you, Conner. I'm going to put this up in my office." Derek informed. Conner nodded his head and pulled the second picture out of the stack.

"This is a truck. See it has blue wheels and orange windows and it's got spikes coming out so other trucks don't hurt it." Conner took a deep breath and looked up at Derek. Derek smiled down at him.

"I'm gonna put this one on my fridge. I want to be able to look at it even on my days off." Derek informed. Conner took the last picture out and stared at it along with Meredith and Derek.

"Conner, what's this one?" Meredith asked looking down at the paper full of color.

"Mister Frank said it was abstricked. He said everyone would see it in a different way and for me not to tell anyone what it was that they had to figure it out on their own." Conner informed staring intently at the paper. A beach at sunset with the moon over in the corner.

"Did he say abstract?" Derek asked. Conner nodded his head and looked up at the two adults.

"Is Derek gonna stay over again?" He asked looking up with puppy dog eyes.

"I have to be at the hospital. I'm sorry. We'll do it another night." Derek said gently rubbing Conner's shoulder. Conner nodded his head and gave Derek a big hug.

"It's okay. Mommy, can I sleep in your bed tonight?" Conner asked walking over to Meredith and wrapping his arms around her legs.

"Yeah, are you okay?" She asked cupping his chin and looking down at him. He looked up at her and nodded his head.

"I don't want to sleep alone. What if George or Izzie comes into my room by accident?" He worried.

"I'll kill them if they do. I'll kill them if they do anything to you that you don't want them to." Meredith stated firmly. Conner nodded his head and pushed his face into her body. Meredith petted the back of his head and looked at Derek. He smiled sadly at her and cupped her cheek. She leaned into his gentle touch. He softly kissed her lips and smiled at her again.

"I'll see you two tomorrow. Love you, Conner. Love you, Mer." He stated. He squeezed Meredith's shoulder and kissed Conner's head before walking back into the hospital.

"Derek loves us?" Conner asked. Meredith picked him up and nodded her head.

"He loves us very much." Meredith informed. Conner leaned his head on her shoulder.

"You love him too?"
"Yes I do." Meredith sighed as she opened the car door.

"So you can sleep in the same bed without Derek having a nightmare. Now he wouldn't get them as much with you with him." Conner mumbled as Meredith buckled him in.

"Is that what your friend says? That people who love each other can sleep in the same bed?" She said letting out a small yawn.

"Yeah. I love you, Mommy. I love Derek too." Conner slowly blinked a few times before his eyes didn't open again and he was softly sleeping. Meredith smiled, kissed his head before getting in and starting the car.