Meredith sighed as the doorbell rang through the house. Derek wasn't home, and she was completely not looking forward to getting off the couch and putting more pressure on her aching back.

"Come in!" she shouted, hoping whoever was there would hear her and not make her get up.

"Meredith?" Liz's voice called from the foyer. "Is Derek home? Where are you? I have a crisis."

"He's not here, Liz," Meredith called. "I'd get up but your nieces are sending piercing pains through by back."

"Right," Liz said as she walked into the room, her eyes rimmed with red as she sat down on the couch beside her.

"Liz, what's wrong?" Meredith asked, shifting slightly and pulling her ice pack out from under her back.

"I…" Liz inhaled sharply as she looked at Meredith. "What were the signs?" she asked softly.

"Signs?" Meredith frowned.

"How did you know you were pregnant?" Liz whispered, causing Meredith's spoon to clatter into her bowl of ice cream.

"Liz…" Meredith breathed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't know what to do. I can't…my mom is going to kill me, and the sisters would all tell her. You're the only person I wasn't completely terrified to tell."

"Okay," Meredith sighed, rubbing her stomach softly. "Are you late? Sick? Can you fit into your bras?"

"I had some spotting," Liz whispered, looking down at her hands. "But it wasn't even enough for a tampon."

"Your boobs?"

"Completely sore," Liz whispered. "And I slept at Mom's last night, so she made me eggs this morning, which made me completely sick. I told her I was going to the doctor, but I came here."

"Oh, Liz," Meredith sighed. "It sounds like you are pregnant. Don't worry, I'll help you through this."

"I know," Liz whispered, tears filling her eyes. "Meredith, I don't know what to do about this."

"Does Shawn know?" Meredith asked.

"He broke up with me," Liz whispered. "I can't…If I tell him, he's going to take responsibility, but I don't want him to be with me because I'm pregnant. He doesn't love me."

Meredith sighed deeply before she reached for her cell phone. "Okay," she sighed. "I'm going to call Addison and ask her to pick up some tests and run them out here so we'll know."

"You're not mad?" Liz whispered.

"Of course not," Meredith shook her head as she held the phone to her ear. "This could just as easily have been Derek and I. We're going to figure this out, and then I'll help you tell Derek and the rest of the family."

"Okay," Liz whispered.

"Let me just talk to Addison, then we can eat ice cream and commiserate," Meredith said. "And pump water into you so you'll have to pee when she gets here. Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

XXXXX

"Okay, I'm here," Addison called, walking into the house, a hand resting on her baby bump. "I have pregnancy tests and double chocolate cheesecake, every pregnant woman's craving."

"Thank God," Liz said, jumping off the couch and grabbing the bag out of Addison's hand before rushing towards the bathroom.

"So she's pregnant too?" Addison asked, collapsing onto the couch beside Meredith.

"I think so," Meredith sighed.

"Poor girl."

"Read my mind."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I swallowed a beach ball," Meredith sighed. "And the babies never sleep at the same time, so there's pretty much constant movement in my stomach."

"I'm so glad I only have one baby," Addison sighed. "At least he sleeps sometimes."

"He?" Meredith asked, looking down at Addison's stomach.

"We found out yesterday," Addison giggled.

"Well, Mark and Derek are going to be completely obnoxious about this," Meredith sighed.

"I think Mark's excited for the wedding of our children than he is for our own," Addison rolled her eyes.

Before Meredith could reply, Liz came back into the room, collapsing into Derek's armchair with tears in her eyes.

"Positive?" Meredith asked.

"Two lines," Liz sighed. "What the hell am I going to do?"

"First," Meredith said. "We're going to dig into this amazing cheesecake and cry over soap operas."

"What?" Liz frowned. "How is that going to help anything?"

"It's what we do," Addison nodded, handing Liz a piece of cheesecake. "Welcome to the world of pregnancy."

"But what about telling people?" Liz asked.

"We'll worry about that later," Meredith nodded. "I promise. But first you need to let this settle in."

"Fine," Liz sighed, digging into the cheesecake and looking at the TV. "I've never actually watched soap operas before."

"You don't need to," Meredith shook her head. "They're all the same."

"Someone's pregnant, but not with her husband's baby," Addison nodded. "Someone's getting divorced, and someone's trying to kill someone else. You'll catch on."

"Okay," Liz sighed.

Meredith wasn't sure how long the three of them sat there watching soap operas, but after an unspecified amount of time, the front door opened and Derek's voice called through the house. "Mer, I'm home! I'm glad you've got some company."

Liz sat up straight and stared at Meredith with wide, panicking eyes.

"Shh," Meredith shook her head. "He doesn't have to know today."

"Hey Addie, Liz," Derek smiled as he walked into the living room. "Mer, I know you're bored," he said with a smile. "But I don't think you need to be taking pregnancy tests. We know our girls are in there."

Liz's face paled even more, and she looked closely at Meredith.

"Don't make fun of me," Meredith laughed. "I'm completely bored. There's only so much knitting a girl can do, and the tests were just sitting there."

"How much did you do today?" Derek asked with a laugh.

"I finished Becky's blanket," Meredith sighed. "And started Melanie's."

"Well, you were busy," he laughed. "How are you doing, Addie? Mark told me about your son."

Addison smiled softly. "Yeah," she said. "We're very excited."

"How are you doing, Lizzie?" Derek asked with a smile, turning to his sister.

"It's mine," Liz blurted out.

"What's yours?" Derek asked.

"The pregnancy test," she whispered.

The room was completely silent for a moment before Derek stood, staring down at his sister with dark eyes. "You're pregnant?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Derek," Liz whispered.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Derek shouted. "Liz, you're in med school!"

"I know," Liz whispered, looking down at her hands.

"Who is it?" Derek asked.

"What?" Liz asked.

"Who did this to you?"

"No one did this to me," Liz shook her head. "We…it was one time. We forgot one time."

"Who?" Derek shouted.

"It was Shawn," Liz whispered.

Derek nodded, his mouth set in a straight line as he stared down at her, arms crossed over his chest. "Where the hell is that son of a bitch?" he asked.

"We broke up," Liz said.

"You broke up," Derek repeated. "What are you going to do, Liz? Raise this baby by yourself? Live off of Mom?"

"I don't know," Liz cried. "I don't know, Derek, I just found this out. I came here and Meredith helped me…"

"You knew about this?" Derek asked, turning to Meredith with anger flashing in his eyes.

"I'm going to go," Addison said softly, slipping out of the room. "Liz…call me later, okay?"

Liz nodded silently, not looking up from her lap as tears streamed down her face.

"Meredith," Derek snapped. "You knew about this and you didn't tell me?"

"Okay, yelling is not going to help this," Meredith replied, wincing slightly as she got to her feet. "Derek, your sister needs you right now."

"I don't have time to deal with her," Derek snapped. "Our daughters are on the way, Meredith. I'm trying to work and make sure you don't overwork yourself. The last thing I need is to worry about my baby sister being pregnant."

"Well, you don't have a choice," Meredith said. "She's your sister, Derek, and she's completely traumatized. She needs her big brother right now, and you will not talk about her like she's not in the room."

"You're okay with this?" Derek asked in disbelief.

"I don't understand why you're not," Meredith said. "Derek, we're going to have another niece or nephew."

Derek sighed as he looked at his sister. "You can stay here until you get things straightened out," he murmured. "The guest room at the end of the hall is yours."

"Thank you, Derbear," Liz breathed, looking up at him.

"I need to talk to my wife," Derek said flatly.

Liz nodded, tears streaming down her face as she stood and moved towards the room.

"Liz," Meredith breathed, pulling her sister close and wrapping her in a tight hug. "Congratulations."

"Oh," Liz breathed, sinking into Meredith's embrace.

"You're going to be a wonderful mother," Meredith said, pulling back and running a hand over her own stomach. "And in a few months you can practice on our babies."

"Thank you," Liz whispered, looking at Derek for a moment before she turned and walked out of the room.

"What the hell was that?" Derek snapped.

"I think the better question is what the hell is wrong with you?" Meredith replied. "Honestly, Derek, that's your sister. She needs you right now."

"She's pregnant, Meredith."

"I know," Meredith nodded. "She's an adult, Derek, she can take care of herself. She's terrified right now, but she needs you to support her."

"Meredith, she's a baby."

"She's my age, Derek," Meredith pointed out. "If she's too young to have a baby, then so am I."

"That's not the point."

"Well, then enlighten me," Meredith said, crossing her arms over her swollen stomach. "Because I'm completely unaware of what the problem is."

"She's my sister, Mer," Derek sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't want her to do this alone."

"So you're making her feel like complete crap because she made a mistake?" Meredith demanded. "She needs you to be there for her."

"I can't raise her baby, Meredith."

"I now that," she rolled her eyes. "But you remember how miserable I was when I was first pregnant, don't you?"

"Of course," Derek nodded.

"Do you think someone I cared about more than anything in the world screaming at me would have made me feel any better at all?" Meredith demanded.

"I…" Derek started with a frown. "I just don't want her to do this."

"She doesn't have much of a choice," Meredith replied. "You're the one with a choice."

"Me?" Derek asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes," Meredith nodded. "You can be a selfish, stubborn idiot who doesn't care about what his sister needs. Or you can man up and be the man I married who's there for his sister when she's terrified, even if he's disappointed in her."

"I can't do this, Mer," Derek whispered. "I have too much going on."

"And I don't?" Meredith snapped. "I know I'm not working anymore and I'm not some hot shot fancy doctor, but believe it or not, growing your babies is just a little exhausting. I'm supposed to be avoiding stress, and getting into screaming fights with my husband isn't exactly recommended behavior."

"I'm sorry, Mer," Derek sighed.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," she snapped, storming out of the room and moving towards the freezer for a fresh ice pack.

"You're okay, right?" Derek asked, moving closer to her and running a hand over her stomach. "Becky and Mellie are okay?"

"They're fine," she nodded. "You need to go talk to your sister."

"I know," he sighed. He paused for a moment as he looked at her closely. "Are you mad?"

"This isn't about me," Meredith rolled her eyes. "This is about you pulling your head out of your ass long enough to realize that your family needs you."

"You're my family, Mer."

"So is Liz," Meredith nodded. "And right now, she needs you more than we do. So go make everything right with her. We'll be waiting when you're done."