A/N Thank you for your awesome comments after the last chapter! Sorry for the delay in posting this one, my internet was down after the storms. Enjoy!
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Meredith stared disconcertedly at the list in her hands. She was stupid to assume she could it. She was a wifey wife for a whole week now but she couldn't do it. It was beyond her capabilities. She couldn't do the shopping alone. Fine, she wasn't alone. Bessie was right beside her, sitting in the shopping cart, her legs dangling through the holes.
Meredith offered to do the shopping since Derek had an early shift and unfortunately they completely ran out of food. At the time, shopping didn't seem like a complicated thing. Mind you, she had done shopping countless times in her more than thirty-year-old life. However… she had usually bought frozen food, edible after 5 minutes in the microwave. She didn't have to worry about her meals during the time in the program and the limited cooking skills she gained under Stacy's watchful eye weren't of much use now. When she prepared mac and cheese or baked a carrot cake, she had all the ingredients at ready, waiting neatly in cups or plates. All that combined, she had now no idea what to choose from the sea of products in the supermarket.
"Mommy!" Bessie wailed impatiently from the cart and tugged at Meredith's sleeve. "Mommy!"
"We're going, Cherry-pie, we're going," Meredith murmured soothingly and her hand moved automatically to Bessie's blond locks. "Mommy has to do the rest of the shopping or we'll starve." The rest, meaning well, everything. She only managed to choose the toilet paper.
Meredith frowned at the mysterious entry Derek scribbled on the post-it note "12 eggs".
"Daddy could've been more specific," she groaned facing rows of cartons. Her head spun as she read the labels… Organic… Vegetarian… Omega-3 enhanced… Vitamin enhanced… Free range… Some were white, others brown-shelled… Hell, and there were even duck eggs and ostrich eggs…
"Daddy won't believe the store has run out of eggs, will he?" asked Meredith.
Bessie shook her head seriously and stuck out her arms towards the shelf pointing at a carton with yellow chickens running in the grass. "This!"
Meredith squinted her eyes and picked up the box, "You think?"
Bessie nodded her head and Meredith didn't wait for further encouragement. Checking the expire date beforehand, she took two boxes. "In any case, I'm blaming my two-year- old for telling me to buy that!"
The next item on the list brought about another dilemma – "flour".
"As if people couldn't do with one type of flour only," grumbled Meredith. "It's not like we eat that powder directly from the bag!"
A young and very cuddly couple passed them and Meredith couldn't help overhearing.
"I think we should by the other one, baby," said the woman pensively.
"Whatever you wish, snookadook," replied the man kissing her cheek.
Meredith felt as if she was going to gag. "Gross," she mouthed to Bessie.
"Ewww," the little girl scrunched her cute face.
Meredith grabbed the first packet of flour at hand and wheeled away. Two hours later, having made several tours around the store, the cart was visibly filled up with different products while Meredith felt more exhausted than after a twelve-hour surgery. They slowly directed themselves towards the check-out passing the section with fish.
"Maybe we should by some trout for Daddy?" Meredith came up with initiative.
"Trout?" frowned Bessie.
"It's a kind of fish Daddy's a bit obsessive about," explained Meredith. "Daddy loves going fishing." And it was a long time since he occupied himself with his favorite hobby fir the last time. He seemed like he utterly forgot about it, caught up with the daddy drama, working on their relationship, moving in with her and Bessie, their wedding… She managed to select so many things from the store so buying trout couldn't be that hard, could it?
She pushed the cart until they found themselves beside a huge tank filled with water. They both blinked at the fish swirling left and right.
"They're… alive…" said Meredith in shock. How she was going to transport a live fish home? She looked at another customer carrying a fish entangled in a plastic bag, desperately trying to catch air into its gills. Bessie wailed loudly, her teary eyes squeezing shut. Meredith quickly picked her up rocking her and rubbing her back soothingly.
"The fiiiishyy!" yelled Bessie.
"Sweetheart," she sighed, kissing her heartbroken daughter's wet face. "The fishy's going to a happy place… uhm, a heaven for fishies!"
"A heaven?" sobbed Bessie.
"Mhm, the fishy's going to be very happy, swimming in heaven with other fishies."
Meredith sighed and with one hand maneuvered the cart away from the tank. Buying a live fish was out of the question, Bessie would cry all the way and besides that, how would she kill it? She wasn't a fish killer. She figured she could ask the shop assistant to perform the execution but God help her, not with Bessie watching everything.
She took another look around and spotted… Thank God for the filets!
"Trout, please," she breathed out, seating Bessie back into the cart.
The man in the white apron stared at her fixedly.
"The filets, I mean," she hurried.
"Golden? Bull? Lake? Rainbow?" he shot.
"Rainbow," nodded Meredith, for the first time sure of her choice.
"How much?"
Silence. How the hell should she know the weight of a trout filet?
Ten minutes later she left the food section blowing a strand of hair from her face.
"We're going home, Sweetie," she assured Bess tiredly. "Can't take no more…"
They passed a stall with condoms and Meredith decided against taking any. She should have a talk with Derek…
They reached the check-out and waited for an elderly couple to pay for their shopping.
"Don't heave up that bags all by yourself, sugarplum," said the husband. "I'll just collect the change."
Meredith frowned. What was with people and sickeningly sweet terms of endearment? She and Derek never used any. Towards each other, they didn't . Bessie was always a Sweetie, Sweetheart, Cherry-pie or Princess. It came as natural as breathing. Bessie was the most beautiful being in the world, warm, cuddly and cute. They never used sweet names for each other, ever; not when they first got together, not when they reunited after Addison, never. They usually called each other just Meredith and Derek, or Mer and Der, or Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Grey, well now Dr. Shepherd.
But maybe that was the thing? Maybe they should? If it was such a normal couply thing to do… Especially in the face of Derek's sisters' arrival… they would surely be looking at her hands…
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"Do you have a minute, Dr. Shepherd?" Meredith knocked on the door of Derek's office and peeked her head inside.
"For you, Dr. Shepherd , always," came his cheeky answer. "How was your morning?" he asked putting away the files he was reviewing.
"Busy," she winced at the memory of her shopping adventure leaning back against his desk. "Yours?"
"Quite lazy, actually," he swiveled to face her. "Just one household accident with a fallen ladder."
"That's too bad…" she bit her lip, "stud muffin."
His forehead creased in a frown and he looked at her quirkily, "Did you burn the stove?"
"No," she answered quickly.
"Bumped the jeep?"
"No!" she exclaimed indignantly.
"Okay," he said disbelievingly and reached for her hand. "You exceeded the limit on the credit card?"
"Seriously," she got irritated swatting his fingers away. "Why do you think I did something?"
"Because you're talking weird."
"Weird? It's you who is weird here. I'm just a normal person and a normal wife who wanted to call her husband with a term of endearment!"
"Ah," he smiled at her and stood up trying to take her into his arms.
"But my husband turns out to be an insensitive jerk! And a sexist!" she pulled away from him, circling around his desk.
"Sorry," he grinned following her like a predator. "Let me make it up to you… Hmm, should I come with a name for you too, babe? Uhm, sexy thing."
"You see, this is going somewhere weird," she stated keeping at a distance from him. "I'm trying to be a cute wife and you're bringing everything to sex!"
"Because we're more sexy than cute," he said, finally pinning her to his desk standing between her legs.
"I barely did the shopping today," she sighed clawing her fingers onto the front of his scrubs. "Wouldn't have managed without Bessie. I'm a useless wife."
"I'm sensing another freak out," he murmured burying his face into her neck. "So it's time for a little pick me up." He scooped her up onto the desk and his fingers crawled under the hem of her top.
"Oh, yes," she inhaled, hooking her legs around her waist and propping herself on her hands.
His palms travelled upwards and upwards squeezing her breasts through the delicate material of her bra while his mouth attacked hers.
She moaned deeply, grabbed his head firmly and lied back flat on the desk, feeling him grow in his pants. "I guess I'm not that bad of a wife after all…" She reached between them and tugged at the tie on his scrubs.
"I don't have a condom here," he warned.
"You know… we should resign from condoms completely," she sighed.
"Pill?" he asked untying his pants anyway.
"No… I meant… maybe… maybe…" she stammered and he cupped her face to meet her gaze.
"Maybe?" he kissed her nose.
"Maybe, uhm, we could… I mean if you want to… because I do…"
"Want what?"
"A… a little sister or a little brother for Bessie…"
His eyes bored into hers in wonder, his lips lit with a smile. "You want to have another baby?"
"If you do," she nodded, mirroring his smile.
"Yeah," he whispered reverently.
"Yeah?" her breath hitched in her throat.
"Oh, yes," he said warmly. "Starting now?"
"Definitely…"
"Oi!" they sprung from each other hearing Alex's disgusted yelp. "Dude, you should have a neon sign above your door telling not to come in while you have your pants down!"
Derek groaned in annoyance mixed with embarrassment and quickly pulled up his trousers and Meredith slid from the desk, fixing her hair.
"What do you want, Karev?" asked Derek rudely. Damn Alex, not only did he effectively prevent the sex with his gorgeous wife but probably siring his next child as well.
"Dr. Shepherd… and Dr. Shepherd," smirked Alex, "we need you for a consult."
"Both of us?" asked Meredith in surprise.
"It's a hopeless case," shrugged Alex and they followed him passing Meredith's office, which since the previous day, proudly bore the name MD. Meredith Grey-Shepherd.
"Everyone's waiting in the conference room," drawled Alex and opened the door for them.
They walked in and… "CONGRATULATIONS!"
They halted watching in astonishment a crowd of people gathered in the room, clapping at them tumultuously and throwing rice in the air. All their closest friends were here, Lexie holding Bessie on her hip, as well as a lot of their colleagues, doctors and nurses.
"Guess what they were doing when I found them!" Alex's voice boomed above the noise causing a gale of laughter wave through the room.
"Spare us the details, Karev," snorted Ned. "No sane person wants to know."
"What is this all about?" laughed Meredith, shaking the rice from Derek's hair. He looked… cute… and sexy.
"It's your reception, of course!" piped Izzie hugging her. "You didn't think you could wriggle out that easily, did you?"
"I… I don't know what to say," stammered out Meredith, her eyes moistening.
"Thanks, Richard," said Derek shaking hands with the Chief.
"You two, lovebirds," beckoned them Bailey. "Come over here!"
Having their hands shook and their backs patted, they moved towards the table hosting a huge wedding cake with "Mr. and Mrs. McDreamy" written across. Sugar scalpels and clamps were decorating the edges.
"Wow," let out Meredith.
"Here, cut," Cristina handed her a scalpel.
"Hey, I'm the husband here," grinned Derek. "Plus, I'm the head-"
"Yeah, yeah," Miranda rolled her eyes. "We're waiting for the cake!"
Meredith cut out an ample piece and grabbed a teaspoon.
"Open wide," she smiled mischievously while the others laughed. They laughed even harder when Meredith smeared the white cake all over his jaw instead feeding him.
"That's my person," cheered Cristina.
Meredith leaned and kissed the sweetness of his face.
"And that's my person after taking an overdose of McDreamy."
"Stop it there, you two!" said Mark. "Or we'll all die of sugar shock!"
"Time for presents!" announced George ceremoniously.
"You really shouldn't have!" Meredith shook her head wiping of the remnants of the cake from her lips. "It's too much!"
"Don't worry," smirked Cristina. "We didn't spend much on you."
She, Izzie, Alex and George lined up and the boys hauled a wooden plate up.
"It's from the four of us. It cost pretty cheap but we figured you both earn much more than we do," said Alex.
Meredith and Derek read the golden writing on the plate "Welcome to the Herd!"
"What's the Herd?" Meredith furrowed her brows.
"You are," grinned Cristina. "McDreamy here, he's the shepherd. Sorry, Mer, we live in a patriarchal society. You are the mama sheep and that's," she pointed down at Bessie, "that's the little sheep, a lamb doesn't sound that good. So, a herd."
Derek laughed openly and Meredith couldn't hide her grin either.
"It's awesome, isn't it?" Izzie patted the plate. "You can hang it in your new house when it's built."
"By the way," cut in Alex, "we're expecting an invitation to the housewarming party."
"Thank you ," said Derek. "We'll put it up at the front door."
"Derek!" swatted him Meredith.
He brought her arms around her waist and leaned towards her ear. "We just need to work on a another little sheep before that. Three is a bit too small for a herd, don't you think?"
Without waiting for her answer, he plundered her mouth with his tongue, disregarding the audience.
"I agree…" she moaned into his lips as they broke the kiss.
"Come here, Little Sheep," Derek scooped up his daughter and started tickling her mercilessly.
"Mommy!" she giggled throwing her hands at Meredith for rescue. Meredith hugged her and looked into the eyes of her husband above her head. As they stood holding their daughter together, there wasn't a hint of doubt in her mind whatsoever. They were going to be extraordinary together.
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A/N I hope you liked the update, I loved writing it. The next two or three updates will be the epilogue, after that, the sequel.
Please comment! You make my day with every single review!
Yours,
Em
