"Derek," Meredith giggled as she tried to scramble out of his view a week later. "Put the camera down."

"But I want pictures of you all cute and fat," Derek laughed, snapping a picture as she moved towards their bathroom.

"Excuse me?" Meredith asked, an eyebrow raised as she turned to look at him with her teacher face.

"I mean…I want pictures of my babies growing in your stomach, which is completely proportional to what one would think when having two babies inside of it," Derek nodded quickly.

"Nice save," Meredith rolled her eyes as she disappeared into the bathroom in their bedroom.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Derek asked as he leaned against the doorway of the bathroom.

"I'm fine," Meredith nodded. "They're both asleep right now, so I can actually function."

"That's good," Derek smiled. "You hungry?"

"A little," she sighed as she washed her hands. "You're going to have to help me down the stairs."

"Always," Derek nodded, taking her hand and leading him towards the bedroom door. "Hang on."

"Seriously?" Meredith asked, crossing her arms over her chest as he snapped another picture of her.

"Could you try to smile?" Derek asked. "When we show these to Mel and Becky you might want them to think you were a little excited to have them. Just smile or… something."

"Of course I'm excited to have them," Meredith rolled her eyes. "But that doesn't mean I want to be photographed every minute of every day. I'm huge, Derek, I don't need to be reminded of this."

Before Derek could respond, the sound of the doorbell traveled to their bedroom. "Help me down the stairs so you can answer the door," Meredith ordered, following him into the hallway.

"Bossy," Derek muttered.

"I'd suggest not complaining right now," Meredith said as they slowly made their way down the stairs. "Your daughters are trying to kill me. Actually taking over my body and killing me."

"They're not trying to kill you," Derek rolled his eyes, wondering how he was going to get through the next three months. "Go get comfortable on the couch, I'll answer the door."

"Thank you," Meredith sighed as she walked down the hall, disappearing into the living room.

Derek ran a hand through his hair as he moved to the door, blinking in surprise as he laid eyes on a group of teenagers standing on the porch. "Can I help you?" he asked with a frown.

"This is where Mrs. Shepherd lives, right?" a girl in the front of the group asked with a wide smile.

"Yes," Derek said slowly. "Are you students?"

"Yeah," the girl nodded. "We were really disappointed to hear that she took her maternity leave early. We were going to have a party for her on her planned last day, so we figured we'd bring the party to her."

"Oh," Derek said, surprised with how dedicated his wife's students were to her. "That's really thoughtful, but I'm not sure."

"Derek, do you…" Meredith's voice trailed off as she made her way into the hallway, stopping when she saw her students file into the house, past a speechless Derek. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"We wanted to say a proper goodbye," the girl said as she hugged Meredith closely, handing her a present.

"We have presents," another girl giggled.

"And cake," a guy added, holding up a cake.

"You're so getting A's for that," Meredith said. "Come in. I'm so glad to see you guys, I wish I hadn't had to leave."

Derek watched as his wife disappeared into the living room, surrounded by five teenagers. He hadn't been expecting this, but if that's what it took to make her snap out of her current mood swing, he would take it. As long as he made sure her blood pressure didn't go up.

"Oh, Derek," Meredith smiled, reaching for him happily as he walked into the room a moment later. "These are some of my top students. This is Ethan, Kelly, Kenny, Laura, and Al."

Derek smiled at the students as he sat down on the couch beside Meredith. "Do you need anything?" he asked.

"No, we're good," Meredith smiled. "Or…maybe some plates and forks for the cake? And a knife?"

"Of course," Derek said, kissing her cheek softly before moving to the kitchen for the requested items.

"Wow, Mrs. Shepherd," Kelly breathed. "Your husband is amazing."

"Hmm," Meredith smiled, leaning into the couch as she rubbed her stomach gently. "He has been pretty great."

"He's cute too," Laura giggled.

"Don't tell him that," Meredith rolled her eyes. "How's everything at school? Do you like your new teacher?"

"She's okay," Ethan shrugged. "She's not you."

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" Meredith asked, a sparkle in her eyes.

"Bad," Kenny nodded. "It's all…reading and writing papers."

"That's what school is," Meredith laughed.

"Not with you," Kelly sighed. "You make it fun."

"I'm glad you enjoyed my class," Meredith smiled. "I'm sorry I had to leave early."

"We get it," Al nodded. "It's important for you to do what's best for your babies."

"Here we are," Derek announced, walking into the living room with plates and knives. "Mer, are you okay here for a little while?"

"Yeah," she said, looking up at him. "Why?"

"Mark just called. He said Addie dragged him out to the baby store, and he picked up the car seats we had on layaway," Derek said. "I was going to pick them up from the hospital and get you that strawberry smoothie you were asking for earlier."

"Okay," Meredith smiled, reaching up to kiss him quickly. "I love you."

"Love you too," he smiled. He straightened and looked at the students. "Make sure she paces herself."

"Derek," Meredith rolled her eyes.

"Sorry," Derek sighed. "I'm going."

"Tell Mark hi for us," Meredith called after him before she turned back to her students, smiling as she leaned into the couch and shoved a piece of cake into her mouth, excited to have an afternoon with her favorite students.

XXXXX

"I can't believe they did that," Meredith smiled later that night as she watched Derek change into his pajamas.

"You must have really made a good impression on their lives," Derek smiled, stopping to kiss her forehead before moving towards the bathroom. "I'm proud of you, Mer. It's not easy to make a good impression on teenagers."

"I can't…" Meredith smiled as she leaned back into the pillows. "I can't believe that they love me that much."

"You're an amazing teacher, Mer," Derek said around his toothbrush. "God, I would have killed for a teacher like you in high school."

"You're just saying that because you would have wanted a hot teacher," Meredith rolled her eyes. "Not that I'm hot anymore."

"Trust me you are," Derek laughed as he moved back into the room and slid into bed beside her. "And if it wasn't banned, I would show you exactly how hot you are."

Meredith smiled as she cuddled into him. "You really think I'm a good teacher?" she asked.

"You are," Derek nodded, running a hand through her hair. "I've watched you with your students. They adore you, Mer. And your lesson plans are fun, they're not boring like most teachers think are beneficial."

"I miss it," Meredith sighed, resting her head against his chest. "I mean, it's totally worth it because the girls need me to stop now, but I miss teaching."

"I know," Derek sighed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Maybe you can work something out for after the girls are born."

"I'm not going back to work," Meredith shook her head firmly. "They need to have their parents there for them the first year."

"I know," Derek nodded. "But maybe you can look into tutoring a couple afternoons a week or something. That way you can still help some of your students, even if it's not in the same capacity you are right now."

"Hmm," Meredith nodded. "It's something to think about."

Derek was silent for a moment before he whispered, "I talked to your mom when I stopped by the hospital today."

Meredith tensed into his arms for a moment before she asked, "Why?"

"I had to talk to her about paternity leave."

"Oh," Meredith said. "What did she say?"

"I get six weeks off," Derek murmured. "I'm going to take the week before your surgery off too, so she's giving me seven weeks."

"Seven weeks," Meredith nodded. "That's…good."

"She asked about you," Derek whispered.

"What did you say?"

"I told her she should call you if she wanted to know how you were," Derek said. "I did tell her about the girls."

"Why?" Meredith frowned.

"They're her grand daughters, Mer," Derek sighed.

"Derek, I invited her to our wedding," Meredith breathed. "Her daughter's wedding. And she gave another surgeon the day off so she could take over his surgery and have an excuse not to come. If she couldn't even come to her daughter's wedding, what makes you think that she'll even want to be a grand mother?"

"I'm not saying she does," Derek sighed. "But she deserves to know."

"If I had wanted her to know, then I would have called her when we found out," Meredith snapped. "Derek, I can't believe you did this."

"Mer, calm down," Derek said, reaching out for her. "You can't get stressed, high blood pressure's not good for the girls."

"Don't touch me," Meredith snapped. "Derek, you know how I feel about her."

"I know, Mer, but I couldn't just not answer her questions," Derek sighed. "She's my boss."

Meredith stared at him for a moment before she sighed and leaned back against the pillows. "I know," she sighed. "Derek, I just…I don't want our girls to know her. I know that sounds horrible, but if you knew what I went through growing up, you'd understand why I don't want any other child to come into contact with that women, especially my own babies."

"Mer, I know you had a horrible childhood," Derek whispered, pulling her into his arms. "And I hate that. I also know that I'll never fully understand the way you felt unwanted until college. But I promise you, even if you do let your mother see our girls, they will not be miserable like you were. Mer, they are going to have so much love. And we will never leave them with her, which I doubt she'll ever want."

"She didn't want me, Derek," Meredith whispered. "I…I found her diaries once when I was going through her den in the old house. She said that right out, that she didn't want me. She didn't even hold me when I was born."

"Oh Mer," Derek sighed, pulling her into his arms. "I'm so sorry."

"I just don't understand," Meredith sobbed. "Because here I am, pregnant with twins, and there's nothing I want more than to hold my girls, to love them and play with them and never let them go."

"I know, Mer," Derek whispered. "You're an amazing mother."

"She doesn't even love me," Meredith whispered. "She completely cut me out of their lives. Why should I let her meet my children?"

"You don't have to," Derek replied. "Mer, we don't have to do anything with our girls that we don't want to."

"I want to be a good mother," Meredith whispered. "I don't want her to ruin the amazing time that we're about to go through."

"That's totally fine," Derek whispered. "I wasn't trying to tell you what to do, Mer. I just thought you should know that she knows about the girls."

Meredith was silent as she let her fingers trail over the fabric of his t-shirt for a moment. "I'm sorry I've been a raging bitch lately," she whispered.

"You haven't been a raging bitch," Derek laughed.

"Really?" Meredith asked, looking up at him.

"Maybe a calm bitch," Derek laughed.

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes.

"I know you're not used to taking it easy," Derek said, trailing his fingers down his arm. "You have such a passion for life, it's not easy to just stop completely."

"Definitely not," Meredith sighed.

"You should start a new hobby," Derek suggested.

"Like what?" Meredith asked.

"Cooking," Derek smirked. "Maybe cleaning."

"You're mean."

"I'm kidding," Derek said, pulling her closer. "I'm just saying, we've still got two months. You have plenty of time to start a new hobby."

"I used to knit," she whispered.

"You used to knit?" Derek asked, looking down at her.

"When we were…when I was with Andrew," she whispered. "It was completely and totally awful, and knitting made me miss you less. Or I hoped it would."

"I take it it didn't help," Derek said.

"Not really," she sighed, looking up at him. "I still ended up missing you completely and hating whenever he touched me. My classroom got a lot of new blankets for the reading corner though."

"Well, you'll never have to knit to stop missing me again," Derek said, kissing the top of her head. "So you can take it up to distract you from being pregnant."

"I could make something for the girls," she murmured, running a hand over her stomach.

"They seem very excited about that," Derek laughed as he ran a hand over her stomach. "Right girls? Mommy will make you both a blanket so you'll be nice and warm when we bring you home from the hospital."