"You feel okay, Mer?" Addison asked later that night after the party had cleared out.
"Yeah," Meredith sighed as she sat on the couch, looking down at her hands. "I'm fine."
Mark glanced between Derek and Meredith before he leaned over to Addison and whispered, "They're fighting."
"We're not fighting," Derek snapped. "Just...we're fine."
"Okay," Addison nodded. "Do you guys still want to go out to dinner? We're here for another couple days, so if you want to put it off we can."
Meredith looked up at her friend. "Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yeah," Addison nodded. "I don't know what's going on with you, Mer, but you're obviously not up for going out."
"Thanks," Meredith said softly, standing as she made her way over to them as they stood. "I'll call you in the morning."
Addison smiled as she hugged her tightly. "Happy birthday Mer," she whispered. "Don't be too hard on him, whatever he did."
"I won't," Meredith smiled.
"Bye Grey," Mark said, patting her back before turning to Derek and whispering, "I hope you at least get some good make up sex."
"Shut up Mark," Derek rolled his eyes, sighing as they stepped out the door and he closed it gently behind them. He braced himself against the door for a moment before turning to look at Meredith. "Mer..." he breathed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
She smiled softly as she moved back to the living room and collapsed onto the couch. "It's okay, Derek," she sighed.
"No it's not," Derek shook his head, coming to sit down next to her, moving her head up so she could rest it in his lap. "I didn't mean to upset you on your birthday. Because I promised myself that I would always give you the best birthday ever. And now you're mad at me."
"I'm not mad," Meredith whispered. "I just...I wasn't expecting you to say that, and I was taken by surprise. But I'm not pregnant."
"Okay," Derek nodded. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry," Meredith shook her head as she sat up and knelt on the couch, facing him with a small smile on her lips. "I loved my party."
"Good," Derek said with a smile. "I worked on it for weeks. I'm glad you were surprised."
"I was," Meredith nodded, smiling as she placed her hands on his shoulders and straddled his hips as she kissed him deeply. "And I seem to remember another present that we'll both enjoy...quite a bit."
"Hmmm," Derek nodded, running his hands up and down her thighs. "There is that."
"So what do you say we go upstairs and have some birthday celebration?" Meredith whispered, grinding her hips against his.
"I like that idea."
Meredith giggled as she moved off of his lap and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the stairs. She smiled coyly as she made her way up the stairs, pushing him roughly onto the bed as she smirked down at him. "You wait there," she purred into his ear. "And when I come back...you better be naked."
Derek swallowed hard as he watched her make her way into the bathroom, her box clutched tightly in her hands. He took a deep breath as she smiled coyly at him over her shoulder before he quickly stripped out of his clothes and pushed the blankets back on the bed.
"Derek!" Meredith shouted from the bathroom, causing him to pause. That was not a good tone of voice.
"What?" he asked coming to stand on the other side of the bathroom door.
"You bought the wrong size," she snapped, opening the door and standing before him in the unzipped lingerie.
Derek swallowed hard as he looked at her, noticing for the first time the gentle swelling of her breasts that was apparently making it impossible for it to zip. "Mer..."
"Seriously?" she snapped, looking down at his erection. "You're turned on by the fact that you're an idiot and bought your wife the wrong size lingerie?"
"I didn't buy the wrong size," Derek insisted. "Mer, I know your size. Why would I have bought the wrong size?"
"Because you're an idiot."
"Do you want me to show you the tag?" Derek asked, picking up the discarded tag from the floor. "See?"
Meredith snatched the tag out of his hands and frowned as she looked up at him. "Well, then it has to fit," she snapped. "Just...help me zip it up."
"Mer..." Derek bit his lower lip as she turned and held up her, silently ordering him to zip her. He sighed as he reached up to bring the zipper as far as it would go. "It's not going to go."
"It has to," she snapped. "Because my boobs didn't grow a cup size overnight."
Derek sighed as he turned her gently to look at her. "Mer, are you even in the mood for sex anymore?" he asked.
"What?" she snapped. "Of course I'm not in the mood for sex. Why would you think that?"
"I..." Derek stared at her, wondering how he was supposed to get out of this one. "Because you're wearing lingerie?"
"I am not," she snapped. "I'm too fat to get into the lingerie."
"You're not fat," Derek rolled his eyes. "Maybe you're just getting your period. Your boobs sometimes get swollen right before your period."
Meredith nodded. "I guess," she said. "I was due..." she trailed off, a frown overcoming her face. "Derek."
"What?" he asked, panic suddenly filling his heart.
"I...my period," she gasped. "It's been weeks."
"Mer?" Derek asked, watching as she ripped off the lingerie and reached for a pair of sweatpants and one of his T-shirts. "Where are you going?"
"Beth's," Meredith replied as she hurried down the stairs. "She has pregnancy tests."
"I...Mer," Derek cried, running down after her.
"I'll bring them back here," she said. "Just...stay here. There's no reason for all our neighbors to see you naked."
Derek looked down at himself, realizing for the first time that he was naked. He turned and walked back up the stairs, quickly dressing in a pair of pajama pants and T-shirt before he began pacing the floor of their bedroom. A few moments later the door slammed and Meredith pounded back up the stairs. She didn't say a word to him as she ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her. He paced for a few more minutes before he moved closer to the bathroom and asked, "Mer, are you okay?"
The door opened and she stood before him with red rimmed eyes. "Yeah," she said softly. "Just have to wait a few minutes before we know."
Derek nodded as he reached for her hand, gently pulling her towards their bed. "Mer," he said softly, pulling her onto his lap. "It'll be okay. Whatever happens...I promise it will be okay."
"For you," she whispered. "I'm the one having a baby."
"We are," Derek whispered, pressing a kiss to her head.
"No, Derek," she said pulling back from him. "You're not the one who will get fat and swollen and have to take months away from your life to take care of a baby..."
"Meredith," Derek said firmly. "There is no way that I will let you take all the responsibility for this and let myself get ahead in med school. Any time you take off to spend with the baby, I'll take off too. And we'll split time off to take care of him or her."
"It's not that easy," Meredith whispered.
"It is," Derek nodded. "Mer, we can do this. I promise. And you know that I never break my promises to you."
Meredith rolled her eyes as she stood and walked into the bathroom. She picked up a test and stared down at it, lowering herself to the side of the bathtub. "Oh."
"Oh?" Derek asked, following her in and looking down at the other test that was sitting on the counter. "Oh."
"It's..."
"Well, this is good, right?" Derek asked.
"Good?" Meredith snapped. "Sure, it's good. If you think that me getting my life completely swept out of control is good."
"But...you said you didn't want a baby."
"I don't," Meredith replied. "Which is why this..." she shoved the test he was holding into his hand. "Is a big problem."
Derek frowned as he looked down at it. "This says you're pregnant."
"I know that Derek," she said as she walked out of the bathroom and collapsed onto the bed. "I'm going to have to take the fall off from Columbia."
"Meredith."
"Which means I won't graduate on time."
"Meredith."
"Maybe I should just...be a PA. I'll have better hours and won't have to go to school as long."
"Meredith."
"My mom had me when she was a resident and she barely had time for me. I can't be an intern with a baby."
"Meredith Elizabeth Shepherd, will you listen to me?"
"What?" she asked, sitting up and staring at him.
"This test says you're pregnant," Derek said evenly, holding up one hand. "And this test says you're not."
"What?" Meredith asked, jumping off the bed to grab the two tests from his hands. She stared at them for a moment before she asked, "Well, what do we do now?"
"We call the doctor," Derek nodded.
"Right, doctor," Meredith said, turning away from him to reach for the phone on his side of the bed. She stopped and turned back to him. "It's seven on a Saturday night."
"Oh," Derek said.
"We...there are clinics," Meredith said. "I know they're supposed to be fore emergencies, but Derek...I don't want to wait until Monday to know."
"Neither do I," he sighed. "Alright...let's go."
Meredith's hands shook as she quickly changed her clothes, Derek doing the same. Neither one of them said anything as they quickly walked into the street, making their way towards the clinic on campus. Meredith checked herself in and filled out some paperwork before she moved to sit next to Derek in the waiting room, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly. "Derek," she whispered. "Don't leave."
"I won't," he whispered. "Never, Mer, never."
"Meredith Shepherd?"
Meredith swallowed hard as she stood and made her way over to the exam rooms, Derek's hand clutched tightly in hers. "Alright, I see that we're looking at a possible pregnancy," the nurse said with a smile. "Congratulations."
"Oh," Meredith said. "Um...thanks. I think."
"We'll just draw some blood and that will give us a definitive answer," she said with a smile.
Meredith nodded, squeezing Derek's hand as the blood was drawn. "Alright, Mrs. Shepherd, I'm just going to take this to the lab, and the results will be back shortly."
"Okay," Meredith whispered, turning to Derek and resting her head on his shoulder. "Derek?" she whispered after a few moments of painful silence.
"Hmm?" he asked, squeezing her tightly.
"Is it a bad thing if I hope it's negative?"
"No," he whispered. "I hope it's negative too."
"Really?" Meredith asked, pulling her head up to look at him.
"Yeah," he nodded. "I want kids with you, Mer, more than anything in the world. But I want them when the time's right. And I'm not sure I can be a doctor if we have a baby right now. Because being a dad needs to be the first thing in my life. And as an intern...that would be hard."
"Good," Meredith whispered. "I mean, not good, but...it's good that we're on the same page."
Derek smiled as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I love you, Mer," he whispered. "No matter what happens, nothing will change that."
"That's good," she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him again.
"Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd," the nurse said with a smile as she came back into the room. "The tests are back."
"And?" Derek asked, holding Meredith tightly.
"I'm sorry, but you're not pregnant," she said gently.
"Oh," Meredith breathed clinging to Derek as she sighed in relief. She clung tightly to him as he laughed happily, wondering why she actually felt disappointed.