Ok, so I told some of you who reviewed that I would put this chapter up last week, but as I wrote it I started to dislike what I was writing. Now I keep telling myself that I am going to go back and fix it, but honestly if I do that it's going to take me months to get around to it. And you guys don't want to wait months. So this chapter isn't as good as some of my other ones, but I hope you will forgive me and I will try to make it up to you in the next chapter. So for now enjoy this one and tell me what you think please! Almost the same thing happened last time, over three hundred people read it but only a few reviewed.
A huge thank you to those people who did review last time! I think I responded to everyone. I really appreciate it!
The next morning the sun had barley risen when Olivia rolled over on top of Meredith, causing her to groan.
"Wake up momma," Olivia said quietly, kissing her cheek. Meredith looked at the alarm clock next to the bed, 6:30. She hadn't slept well the night before and really wanted to sleep a little longer,
"Go back to sleep sweetie," Meredith mumbled, rolling over. Olivia sighed and turned around to face Derek,
"Daddy, wake up," she said a little more loudly this time, slightly annoyed that Meredith had gone back to sleep. Derek groaned and opened one eye, looking at his daughter,
"It's too early Liv, go back to sleep for a little while," he told her, rolling over as Meredith just had. Olivia sat in the bed, arms crossed, pouting for a moment before she decided to go downstairs anyway. Maybe Addison or Amelia was up. Sure enough when she walked into the kitchen Addison was standing at the counter pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"Morning Aunt Addie," she said, rubbing the rest of the sleep from her eyes. Addison looked up from the counter,
"Good morning Olivia, you're up early. Are your mom and dad awake?" she asked. Olivia shook her head,
"They went back to sleep," she told Addison while trying to climb onto one of the stools at the counter. Addison went to help her but before she could get there the three year old had managed to climb up on it herself.
"Do you want some breakfast?" she asked, trying to think if she had any kid appropriate breakfast foods. She suddenly remembered that Amelia bought cereal every once in a while and went to look in the pantry. After moving a few things around she found a box of Cocoa Pebbles and Olivia's face lit up when she showed them to her.
"Those my favorite!" she exclaimed happily, "Can I please hab some?" she asked.
"Of course," Addison said, pulling down a bowl and pouring some of the chocolate cereal in before covering it with milk, "Do you want to go eat on the deck?" she asked. She normally spent a little time on the deck each morning watching the waves and figured the three year old might like it. Olivia nodded happily and Addison carried the bowl of cereal and her coffee mug out for her. Addison put the bowl down on the table and Olivia immediately dug in, shoving soggy cereal into her mouth.
"So are you excited for the park today?" Addison asked. Olivia nodded and swallowed her food,
"Uh-huh, I love the park!" She told Addison excitedly as Amelia joined them on the deck.
"Morning," she mumbled, "Where's Meredith and Derek?"
"They won't wake up," Olivia complained. Amelia faked a gasp and looked appalled,
"How dare they," she said, causing the little girl to smile slightly. She didn't really understand what her Aunt had said but she knew it was supposed to be funny. They sat outside while Olivia finished her cereal then the trio headed back inside. By this time Derek was making his way down the stairs and when he reached the bottom step he scooped his daughter into his arms,
"Morning sunshine," he said, giving her a kiss. Olivia smiled,
"Morning daddy," she said, kissing him back.
"Did you have breakfast?" he asked, looking at the chocolate milk mustache she had insisted that Addison couldn't wipe off.
"Mmm-hmm, Aunt Addie fed me cuz you were sleepin," she said accusingly. Derek laughed a little,
"I'm sorry Liv, why don't you go upstairs and mommy will help you get dressed," he said as he put her down. Olivia took off for the stairs and climbed them as quickly as her three year old body would allow. She burst into the room to find Meredith pulling a shirt over her head.
"Momma!" she cried, throwing herself at Meredith and wrapping her arms around her legs. Meredith grunted a little at the impact,
"Good morning Olivia, you would think you hadn't seen me in years instead of just last night," she said mostly to herself as Olivia looked up at her confused. Meredith sighed, "You ready to get dressed?" Olivia nodded and walked over to the suitcase that had her clothes in it. She pulled the top open and examined her choices. "Can I help you Liv?" she asked, knowing her daughter would not be able to pick out an appropriate outfit without help. Olivia thought about it and nodded, so Meredith walked over and pulled out a few things that would match and be weather appropriate. It was slightly warm today but there was still a chill in the air and Meredith knew her daughter could be over dramatic if she got too cold or too hot.
After a few more minutes Olivia was dressed in jeans and a green t-shirt with a pink jacket on top and tennis shoes with her hair in braided pigtails. She ran down the stairs ahead of Meredith and back into the kitchen where Meredith, Amelia, and Derek still were. She walked over to Amelia and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her towards the door,
"Let's go," she said, whining a little.
"It's not time to go yet Olivia," Amelia said, gently pulling her hand from the three year olds. Olivia stuck her bottom lip out in the perfect pout but Amelia was immune, "Uh-uh, that won't work on me. Me and Addison have to get dressed first. Do you think we can go to the park in our pajamas?" she asked, causing the little girl to giggle at the thought.
"Go get dressed, I wanna play," she said excitedly, jumping up and down in circles.
"Let's go watch some TV while we have to wait," Meredith suggested. Olivia nodded and followed Meredith to the living room. After Olivia was sitting quietly in front of the TV, fascinated by an episode of Dora, Meredith made her way back upstairs to talk to her husband. Derek was sitting on the bed pulling his shoes on and looked up when Meredith entered. She stood nervously by the door,
"You ok?" he asked worriedly. Meredith sighed,
"I'm just nervous," she told him. Derek nodded in understanding,
"Me too, but Naomi is one of the best, she will be able to help us," he said confidently. Derek finished tying his shoes and walked over to Meredith, pulling her into his arms. She let him hold her and they stood there for a moment, neither one saying anything. After a few moments they pulled apart and gathered the rest of their things.
"You ready?" Meredith asked. Derek nodded and they headed down the stairs. Amelia was sitting on the couch with Olivia, who was currently explaining Dora to her. Derek laughed a little,
"Enjoying the show?" he asked Amelia sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, best I've ever seen," she shot back.
"We're going to get going, are you guys sure you're ok with her?" Derek asked, "We can bring her with us if you don't want to watch her."
"Derek, she is my niece, I want to spend time with her."
"Ok, just don't spoil her too much," Derek told his sister who just smiled at him.
"No promises," she said. Derek was about to say something else but Meredith put a hand on his arm.
"A little spoiling is fine Derek. Let's go or we will be late," she said, walking over and giving Olivia a kiss on the top of her head, "Bye baby, love you,"
"Bye mommy, love you too," she said, her eyes never leaving the TV. Derek came over and also gave her a kiss and she repeated her I love yous to her father.
"Call us if anything happens," Meredith said to Amelia. She nodded,
"Don't worry, everything will be fine," she assured them as they walked out the door. Twenty minutes later Addison came downstairs, dressed for a day at the park.
"You two ready?" she asked.
"Yes," Amelia said, grateful that she was finally able to turn off the TV. Olivia jumped off the couch and ran to the door,
"C'mon!" She said, reaching for the doorknob. Addison helped her open it and she instantly took off for the car. They quickly buckled her into the car seat and took off for the park.
Meanwhile Meredith and Derek walked into Ocean Side Wellness. The receptionist looked up when they approached the front desk,
"Can I help you?" she asked politely.
"We have an appointment with Dr. Benet," Derek told the woman.
"Right, her last appointment is running a little long, so if you take a seat she will be with you in about ten minutes." They thanked the woman and went to sit in the waiting area. Ten minutes later Naomi walked out of her office and after walking her previous patients to the elevator she walked back over to the waiting area and approached Meredith and Derek,
"Hey guys," she said happily, "how are you?" she asked.
"Nervous," Meredith answered for her and Derek. Naomi smiled understandingly,
"Well let's go back to my office and we can get started," she suggested. Meredith and Derek nodded and followed her back to her office.
"This is nice," Derek said as they sat down.
"Thank you. So how have you been? The last time I saw you was when Archer was dying. Addison tells me you had a baby?"
"Yeah, a little girl. Olivianna Grace Shepherd, we call her Olivia though," he said proudly, smiling at the thought of his daughter.
"How old is she?"
"She's three," Meredith answered as Derek pulled out his phone to find a picture. He scrolled through all of them and finally chose one of Olivia dressed in one of Meredith's scrub tops, which was more like a dress on her, with the stethoscope in her ears and showed the picture to Naomi.
"Oh, how precious," she said smiling at the little girl on the screen, "She's beautiful."
"Yeah she is," Derek said in agreement as he put his phone away.
"So why don't we go ahead and get started then," Naomi said, focusing on the reason they were there in the first place. Meredith and Derek nodded, "So you've tried other methods of getting pregnant before right?"
"Yeah, the drugs that I was taking were causing me to lose my eye sight. Which is obviously a problem, so I had to stop taking them," Meredith told her. Naomi went on to explain different drugs and options available to them to help with getting pregnant. Meredith and Derek listened closely, feeling a little more hopeful as Naomi talked.
Meanwhile Addison and Amelia were busy chasing Olivia around the park. For a three year old she sure could move fast and Addison and Amelia were having a little trouble keeping up. They finally managed to get her into a swing which made it much easier for them to enjoy the day. Of course the swing only distracted her from running around for a few minutes until she saw some older kids hanging off the jungle gym,
"I wanna go," She said, pointing to the climbing structure.
"I don't think so," Addison said immediately.
"You're too little," Amelia added, "You might get hurt."
"I won't," Olivia insisted, but Addison still shook her head. Olivia stuck her lip out in a pout, "Please," she said tearfully. Addison and Amelia looked at each other,
"How has she perfected this look already? She's three and her puppy dog face is making me melt," Amelia said incredulously.
"I don't know, but it is pretty impressive," Addison agreed. Olivia was still sitting in the swing listening to the two adults talk.
"I want down," she whined, drawing their attention back to her. Addison lifted her out of the swing but didn't put her down right away.
"Don't go on the jungle gym, ok. You're too little and you might get stuck or get hurt. Ok?" Olivia nodded and squirmed to be put down. Addison put her down and instead of going to the jungle gym like she wanted to she ran to the slides. After playing for another twenty minutes or so she ran back to Addison and Amelia.
"I'm hungy," she said, climbing into Amelia's lap.
"Why don't we go get some lunch then," Addison suggested. Olivia nodded so they gathered their belongings and began to leave the park.
After eating lunch they decided to go ahead and go to the practice, thinking that Meredith and Derek would probably be done with their appointment by now. They hadn't been in the car for five minutes and when Addison looked in the back to see Olivia sound asleep in her car seat. It was about a thirty minute drive from where they were to the practice so they let her sleep and when they went to take her out of the car she stayed asleep, snuggling up in Amelia's arms. They walked into the lobby of the practice and found that Meredith and Derek were still in their appointment but several of the other doctors were milling around by the front desk.
"Have you been hiding your kid from us Amelia?" Cooper asked jokingly when he saw them.
"Very funny Cooper. She's my niece," she told them.
"Your niece? What's she doing here? Where are her parents?" Violet asked.
"In Naomi's office, we were just watching her for the morning," Addison said as Olivia continued to wake up.
"Mommy?" she mumbled quietly, lifting her head slightly from Amelia's shoulder.
"Mommy's in an appointment right now Olivia, she'll be done soon," Amelia told the three year old. Olivia nodded, rubbing the sleep from her eyes,
"Where are we?"
"This is where we work," Amelia told Olivia.
"I wanna play," Olivia said, not really caring where they were.
"We don't really have any toys sweetie," Addison said.
"I have some of Lucas's toys in my office," Violet offered, "She can play with those."
"Pleaseeee," Olivia begged, wanting to be allowed to play with the toys.
"Ok you can go," Amelia said, putting her on the floor. Olivia jumped up and down for a moment before jumping over to Violet,
"Tank you! I'm livia," she said, slipping her hand into Violet's.
"Hi Olivia, I'm Violet. We'll be in my office," she told the others as she walked off with Olivia. A few minutes later Meredith and Derek were led into the kitchen by Naomi where everyone else was.
"How'd it go?" Amelia asked when she saw them.
"It went well," Derek said.
"We'll get there," Naomi said reassuringly. They nodded and looked around,
"Where is Olivia?" Meredith asked.
"She's in Violet's office playing with Lucas's toys. I'll show you where it is," Amelia offered. When they reached Violet's office they stood in the doorway for a moment. Olivia was sitting on the floor with Violet and they were playing with dump trucks and army men. Olivia happened to glance up and see her parents,
"Momma! Daddy!" she cried, abandoning the toys on the floor and running over to her parents. Derek picked her up and gave her a kiss,
"Hey baby, did you have fun at the park?"
"Uh-huh! We swinged and slided and made sand castles and played tag and hide and seek!" she rambled, telling them about her day. Derek and Meredith smiled and listened patiently until she eventually stopped talking.
"Thanks for letting her play," Meredith said to Violet.
"It's no problem. My son is about a year older than her."
"Oh so you've got experience with kids then," Meredith said.
"A little, just what I know from Lucas. You guys were here to meet with Naomi right?"
"Yeah, we're hoping she can help us get another b-a-b-y," Derek said, spelling out the word baby. Violet nodded, figuring Olivia did not know what her parents were doing yet.
"Well good luck, I really hope it works out for you," she said politely.
"Thanks. Well we have to get going," Derek said.
"Of course, have a good day," Violet said, going to her desk while the others left. They went back into the kitchen to say goodbye to the others and confirm that they had another appointment with Naomi tomorrow before leaving for the day.
Well, there you have it. Sorry for the awkward ending. Hope you liked it.
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