A/N- sorry for the wait, uni is kicking my butt as usual, and February is shaping up to be the busiest month ever, so I have no idea how regularly I'll be able to update over the next few weeks. This chapter was a pain as well, my timeline was totally thrown when I decided that they should have the baby sooner rather than later! As always thank you so much for your reviews, I'm incredibly late in answering them this time I know, but I really appreciate it when you take the time to say what you think, so thank you! Enjoy!
Disclaimer- I don't own TV shows
Derek picked up the test which was lying on Meredith's nightstand, just to be certain that the night before hadn't all been a miraculous dream, and he was really going to be a father in a few months. He traced the word on the window with his thumb, looking over at Meredith's sleeping form, a hand draped over her stomach. Gingerly he reached out to place a hand next to hers, imagining how amazing it would feel in just a few weeks when there was a tiny bump there, or in a few months when they'd be able to feel the baby move inside of her. He knew it was early, and things could go wrong, but he'd waited so long to be a father that he couldn't help but get his hopes up. He pulled his hand away, causing Meredith to stir at the sudden loss on warmth, blearily opening one eye and pouting at him for disturbing her sleep.
"You know I peed on that last night, right?" Meredith joked, stretching. They'd spent the evening celebrating their impending parenthood, and she ached a little. She sat up and leaned her head on his shoulder, staring at the window alongside him as he wrapped his free arm around her tiny waist, his hand resting on her flat stomach once more.
"I just can't believe it's real. That we made a baby. It's mind blowing, really. A person is going to be growing in your body. A person that we made. I'm a doctor, it shouldn't be that hard to believe, but I can't even begin to wrap my mind around this, it's incredible." She reached up and kissed his temple, her hand joining his atop her stomach.
"It is real. We made a baby. Even with contraceptives. Your swimmers did good." She bit her lip, clearly gauging his reaction in case he decided to freak out even more.
"I do have very impressive sperm." He agreed. Meredith giggled, and Derek paused to look at her, his eyes filled with love and pride.
"What?" Meredith asked, tilting her head at him. He hadn't noticed before, but she was glowing, as if finding out she was pregnant had suddenly made her even more beautiful, if that was possible. He knew for certain that he had never loved her more. She was perfect and he couldn't believe that she was his, and she was having his child. He was by far the luckiest guy on the entire planet.
"I love you." He grinned. "I would not have expected you to be this calm. I thought I'd be the calm one. Yet here I am trying to fathom how we managed to make a baby when we're practically a condom ad. I am so proud of you." He kissed her forehead, lingering a little to breathe in the scent of her hair.
"I wouldn't have bet on it happening this way either," she sighed. "Maybe it means I really was ready, and the baby had to come and let us know. We always planned it for someday, it's just a little sooner than we anticipated." She bit her lip again as she thought about the two of them with a tiny perfect little person one day soon. It was scary, but knowing she had Derek by her side made all of those fears go away. As if reading her mind, he laid the test on his own nightstand, pulling her onto his lap and lifting her shirt so that he could see where their baby was residing. He pressed a warm palm against her skin, rubbing in slow circles just below her belly button. Meredith rested her head on his shoulder, bringing one hand to meet his, just above their baby, nestled away inside, already so loved.
"So how far along do you think you are?" Derek asked after a few minutes, trying to remember the last time he'd been sent out for tampons and strawberry ice cream. Meredith scrunched up her mouth trying to do the sums in her head.
"Well, I was three days late, and I got my last period the second week of December. The more fertile days are mid cycle, which would have been around Christmas. That was just over three weeks ago. The date of conception is deemed as two weeks gestation, so five weeks, maybe six." She raised her eyebrows at the idea that her body had been accommodating their future child without her realising until the previous day.
"Around Christmas? We made our baby at Christmas?" Derek questioned disbelieving. Meredith giggled again at the idea that their sneaky Christmas sex at Derek's mother's house could have been where they had conceived.
"I guess Santa thought we were really good last year, so he brought us something extra special." She joked, distracting herself from the thought of Carolyn realising that they'd probably conceived a child in her home.
"God I love you." Derek smiled, kissing her neck the way that she loved. "I can't wait to unwrap our Christmas present."
"Well you'll have to wait until September, I guess. It still needs time to cook, and get all cute and fat. Though maybe not too fat, seeing as I'll be the one pushing it out of my body." She frowned a little, suddenly remembering that babies come out much the same way as they went in, only much larger.
"You'll do great, I know you will. You're amazing." He kissed her again. "Are you going to call the OB this morning or wait until lunch time? You'll need prenatal vitamins, so we'll need to get those too. Should we do a blood test just to make sure? Should we tell the chief, or Bailey? Maybe you should be on my service today so I can keep an eye on you." He ran his fingers through his hair as he thought of all the things they would need to get ready for the baby.
"Derek, breathe. I'll call the OB when we get to work, and we can stop off at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up the vitamins. We have plenty of time to tell everyone, let's just get through the next few weeks first. But I am not randomly switching onto your service. Somewhere between that goofy grin you've had on your face since we found out, and that terrified look in your eyes every time you think about the next eight months or so, people are going to figure it out. If something feels weird, I'll let you know. Now stop worrying and come take a shower with me. I only have an hour before I have to be at rounds."
"No, that's great, I'll see you then, Thank you. Bye. Bye." Meredith hung up the phone in Derek's office, almost jumping up and down as she scribbled on a post-it. "A week Wednesday, the 31st. She said given that my period was the eleventh, it should be around eight weeks then. We're gonna see our baby Derek." She did jump up and down this time, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him hard. "I'm late for rounds." She pouted, pulling away and glancing at the clock. "Keep this somewhere safe." She told him as she stuck the post-it to his chest. "And I'll see you later. I love you."
"I love you too." He said looking down at her smiling face and kissing her softly. "Take it easy okay, that's my baby in there." His face broke into a smile as she skipped out. He peeled the note from his chest and stuck it inside his date book so that he didn't schedule anything at the same time. He wouldn't miss their first appointment for the world. Seeing the life they created on the screen, knowing in a few months he'd be holding it in his arms. He wiped away a tear at the thought of seeing his child on an ultrasound. The child he was convinced he would never have. The child he'd given up even dreaming of, and yet here he was engaged to the love of his life with a baby on the way. Maybe his father had been right all those years ago. Once you find your soul mate you really do get a happily ever after.
He glanced down at the papers Meredith had left on his desk the day before. She often left things in his office, forgetting to pick them up after a page or before they went home. She'd mentioned that she'd been in there before she left the night before so it was of no surprise to him that a stack of papers had been left on his desk. He recognised her curly handwriting on the top sheet, complete with doodles in the corners. She tended to doodle when she was on the phone, so she'd probably been using his office line to avoid using up the minutes on her cell. He smiled at the bride and groom she'd sketched right above the words: May 26th- 5 months? He looked a little more closely at the sheet, the list of venues that his sister had emailed to both of them. Almost all of them had been crossed out, Meredith's annotations in the margin. From flat out 'no' to 'two year waiting list'. Several had stars next to them, seemingly the venues that she liked the look of. Two however were surrounded by tiny hearts and the words 'free on the 26th' followed by smiley faces. He opened his laptop, typing the names of the two venues into his search engine, gasping as he saw them on the screen. Skansonia was a ferryboat, and judging by the tiny 'c' next to the name on the sheet, that was where Meredith wanted to have their ceremony. Pan Pacific, annotated with a small 'r' was perfect for their reception, and for spending their first night as a married couple. It would even accommodate all of his family. He glanced back at Meredith's notes, to see if there was any indication of her having booked anything yet. Then he spotted it. In the bottom right hand corner. 'S& PP, Call to confirm by 17th at noon.' All of the excitement over their impending parenthood had clearly distracted them both from their nuptials, and he was all too aware of how determined Meredith had been to be married before she got pregnant. He couldn't imagine a more perfect setting for their wedding. Admittedly they'd never seen either of the places other than driving by on occasion, but he'd brought his land sight unseen and that had turned out pretty well. Clearly Meredith had felt strongly enough about these places to call and enquire, so it was likely that she felt the same way. He pulled his desk phone towards him. It seemed he had some calls to make. He couldn't change the fact that fate had realised their plans a little out of order, but he could give Meredith a wedding to remember before their lives were taken over by their little one.
"So did you talk to Derek?" Izzie questioned her as soon as she reached the locker room. She'd helped Meredith make the calls the previous night. They'd planned to merely enquire, but when they'd found out that both of Meredith's choices of venue were free on the same day after a cancellation, they decided they had to go for it. But once Meredith looked at the result of her pregnancy test, all thoughts of the wedding disappeared from her mind, and there was no way that she would get the chance to speak to Derek before noon. She was on Hahn's service and their surgery would last most of the day.
"No," Meredith sighed. "He was home late, and we got distracted." Cristina smiled approvingly, Izzie however was less than impressed.
"Meredith, how are you supposed to plan a wedding when you're distracted by sex all the time? I thought you'd finally made a decision last night, so I was willing to look past the keeping me up half the night and the live porn in the shower this morning. When do you have to let them know by?"
"Noon. Iz, its fine, there'll be other places, or we'll wait until we can get them both with time to actually plan. It isn't a big deal."
"It is a big deal!" Izzie exclaimed, exasperated. "It's a freaking miracle that you're even getting married. You had the perfect venue and the perfect date for you and Derek to get married. It was almost exactly between your birthdays, and there was so much symbolism in the ferryboat idea that I wanted to cry, and you're throwing all that away because you wanted to get laid last night instead? I can't believe you."
"Chill out Iz. It's her day not yours." Alex defended. "When Shepherd left the hospital last night he was on such a high, I doubt he'd even have taken in what Mer even said. So they don't get married this year, so what. If they're going to be together forever anyway, what does it matter when they get married, or where?"
"Yeah, seriously Izzie, what's your deal with this wedding? You've been all over it since you found out about the proposal." Cristina frowned at her.
"I happen to think the fact that Meredith is getting married despite all of the crap that went on last year, and all the dark and twistiness is amazing. And a complete testament to true love. I don't think she should just fritter away her chance to share that love with everybody just because she can't be bothered to mention these things to Derek. I know you all think I'm crazy, but that's just how I feel."
"Iz, we sleep down the hall from them. They really don't have an issue with 'sharing their love'" Alex joked.
"That is not what I meant Alex, and you know it." Izzie pouted as she headed for the door.
"I'll speak to Derek tonight, we'll figure it out. Just relax. We have this. I don't want city hall and Taco Bell either. So I'm not frittering it away. Now's not even the best time anyway. As soon as we've figured it out I'll let you know and you can start shopping for bridesmaids' dresses or whatever." Izzie nodded her head slightly as she left the locker room, slightly enthused by the idea of shopping for her dress. Officially, they hadn't chosen a wedding party, but it was almost assumed that Izzie and Cristina would be involved somewhere.
"Somebody really needs to get her laid." Cristina remarked as the door closed behind their friend. "Alex, it's time to step up. Use your evil spawn powers to relax Barbie and restore order to the hospital." The three chuckled as they filed out into the hall for the beginning of rounds, hoping Izzie's anger at Meredith's lack of planning would soon blow over.
"Dr. Grey, I hear you're scrubbing in on my valve replacement." Hahn greeted her as she entered her patient's room after the assignments.
"Yes, Dr. Hahn." She answered. "I've been reading Mr Morella's chart, and I've read up on the procedure."
"Good, well if you impress me between now and then, maybe I'll let you throw in a few sutures. You can start by collecting the pre-op labs I ordered before rounds and answering any questions he or his family have. If everything comes back clear, you can prep him and I'll see you in the OR at eight."
"Yes, ma'am." Meredith nodded. "Thank you."
"Well, any child of Ellis Grey is bound to have an abundance of raw talent. Suturing in a valve shouldn't be too taxing for you." She left Meredith outside the patient's room, excited at the prospect of a cardio surgery that would make Cristina green with jealousy.
"Okay Dr. Grey, I'm going to make the incision, if you could just cauterize the bleeders as we go, we'll have that valve ready to go in in no time." Meredith smiled beneath her scrub mask as Dr. Hahn made the incision, poised to catch any bleeders. Then the smell hit her, infiltrating her scrub mask, making her stomach churn, and the nausea wash over her. She took a deep breath, trying to think of anything else but the smell of burning flesh. She paused for a second, closing her eyes.
"Are you okay Dr. Grey?" Hahn raised an eyebrow as Meredith concentrated on not throwing up in the middle of surgery.
"Fine," She replied, looking back at the task in hand. "Sorry." Hahn nodded and went back to preparing the heart for its valve replacement. Meredith watched avidly, doing exactly as she was instructed.
"Can you catch that bleeder Grey?" Hahn gestured to a small vessel in need of cauterizing. Meredith did as she was told, once again filling the area with the smell of burning flesh. She swallowed thickly, willing herself not to retch. Her breathing grew heavy as she tried desperately to distract herself. "Grey, what are you doing?" Hahn questioned firmly, glancing up at the resident.
"I, Er… I um…" Meredith stuttered as she brought a hand instinctively towards her scrub mask. "I think I'm going to be sick." Hahn sighed. "O'Malley, take over from Dr. Grey, clearly the human heart is too much for her fragile disposition. Grey, get out. Clearly you shouldn't even have been in here. You're off my service, go ask for a new assignment." Reluctantly Meredith left the OR, watching George win points with Hahn as she scrubbed. Bailey would be less than impressed with her being thrown off cardio after just a few hours, but clearly the baby didn't like the smell of the cautery, so she had no choice. Just a few weeks in, and the baby was already in charge. She just had to hope that she could find a way to stay in the OR in future.
"Why are you hovering over me, Grey? Your name was on the OR board, you better not have come to tell me you've been kicked off cardio, and now I have to take time out of my day to reassign you to someone else's service." Bailey didn't look up from her paperwork, but her single raised eyebrow made Meredith more than slightly nervous.
"Um..." Meredith bit her lip, looking at her converse clad feet rather than meet the steely gaze of her senior resident.
"What did you do?"
"The smell of the cautery made me nauseous, and Dr. Hahn felt that I couldn't be in the OR anymore. Or at all." She braced herself for the lecture she was about to get.
"Are you sick?" Bailey asked, her gaze softening for a second. "You're pale." She stuck a hand up to feel Meredith's forehead. "No fever. You better not be hung over."
"I'm not, I'm fine. I was just taking a second to compose myself and Hahn sent me away."
"Hmmm, fine. Go see if Torres needs you, if not you can head down to the pit or the clinic. And if you even so much as look like you might throw up on one of the patients then you are going home. I am not going to be responsible for an infection outbreak because I let you stay and vomit everywhere. Are we clear?"
"Yes Dr. Bailey," Meredith half smiled at her as she ran off to see where Callie was.
She eventually found her in the pit, splinting a little boy's fingers, the expression on her face telling that she was clearly not having a particularly busy day. The pit boasted just four patients, none appearing to be surgical, so she headed to the clinic, someone had to need her somewhere.
"Hey," Lexie greeted as Meredith sat down beside her. "Could you take a look at bed three for me, we're a little swamped. Everyone thinks they have the flu." She handed Meredith a chart, and Meredith opened the curtain to a sickly looking old man.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Grey, the chart says you're experiencing some abdominal pain is that correct?" Rather than answer, the man vomited down the front of her lab coat. "Can I get a nurse to clean this up please?" She called to the other side of the curtain, checking the patient's vitals and palpating his abdomen looking for signs of anything other than the flu wrong. All the while trying desperately not to inhale the stench of the vomit that was staining her front. A nurse came and mopped up the floor as she took a vial of blood just to be on the safe side.
"Okay, I'll leave you to get cleaned up with Nurse Kathy, and I'm going to run this to the lab and find myself a fresh pair of scrubs. Sit tight okay?"
The old man nodded gently. "Sorry, Dr. Grey." He mumbled as she closed the curtain, and made a beeline for the bathroom, leaving her blood sample on the chart. She barely made it to the stall before she vomited loudly, emptying the contents of her stomach. After a few deep breaths she got up and splashed some water over her face and returned to her chart. A post it with Lexie's neat handwriting boasted that she'd taken the blood up to the lab, for which Meredith was particularly grateful. She picked up the chart for the next bed, hoping and praying that she could get through the day without upsetting her stomach any further.
By the time she got home that night, she was exhausted. After her patient's labs came back clear, she'd advised him of basic flu protocol and sent him on his way. The rest of her day had consisted of dealing with many other potential flu victims, some displaying the obvious, and rather nauseating signs, others clearly worried about catching it based on the information they'd seen. She hadn't vomited since her close call earlier in the day for which she was thankful, but all she wanted was a shower and an early night ready to do it all again the next day. Derek had sent her a message letting her know that he was heading home a little earlier, meaning they'd get a full twelve hours together much to her delight. As she headed towards the amazing smell in the kitchen she spotted Derek at the stove, stirring a pot, which smelt like the sauce she always ordered whenever Derek took her to dinner. If they bottled it she was fairly certain she'd drink it.
"Hey," Derek greeted, turning around for a second so he could kiss her before returning to dinner. "I'm almost done here, you can set the table if you want." Meredith pulled the necessary dishes and cutlery from the drawers, pulling out two wine glasses and filling a water jug, passing two plates to Derek so he could serve dinner.
"Where did you get the recipe for the sauce?" Meredith questioned him as he scooped a large spoonful over her chicken and bacon, inhaling the smell that she had unknowingly been craving.
"Well, I had a look online, and they don't sell the sauce anywhere, but a lot of people put variations of it on a site I was looking at so I thought I'd try and replicate it for you. I know it's your favourite, and Lexie told me you weren't feeling too great, so I thought I'd make it to cheer you up. I know you'd prefer prosciutto, but I read that it's not recommended during pregnancy so I improvised." He set the plates on the table, fetching a bottle of grape juice from the fridge and pouring it. "And, this was as close to wine as I could find, but you can pretend we're at a restaurant with real wine. And even better than that you can eat naked here, if you wanted." He grinned at her in his Mcdreamy way.
"A guy threw up on me today, and then I threw up, all after being kicked off of Hahn's service because I nearly blew chunks in the OR. Forgive me if I'm not feeling so sexy tonight." She stabbed a piece of chicken, shoving it in her mouth and pouting as she pulled the fork from between her lips. "Sorry, I don't mean to be bitchy. I'm just tired, and I didn't expect to be getting sick this soon. I don't mean to take it out on you."
"You're carrying my baby, nothing you could possibly say could make me love you any less, and you're allowed to be bitchy, your body is changing so much that your hormones are bound to be a little off, and you work long hours on your feet. You're allowed to feel exhausted." Meredith gave him a weak smile as she finished her dinner, not even making a comment about the large portion of vegetables he'd put on her plate.
"You know you're the best fiancé ever right?" she told him as she sipped at her non-wine wine.
"I try," he smiled, grabbing her hand and rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.
"I love you." She told him, blinking back the tired, hormonal tears that were threatening to fall.
"I love you too." He smiled, his eyes sparkling. "Both of you." They finished up dinner fairly quietly, both recalling the cases they'd seen that day, and what they were scrubbing in on the following day, neither mentioning the wedding, even though both were itching too.
"Dessert?" Derek asked, tilting his head, even though he knew the answer. "I picked up some chocolate mousse."
"Anyone would think you're trying to fatten me up." She said playfully. "Knocking me up wasn't enough for you?" He grinned, as he deposited their plates by the sink, grabbing the mousse from the fridge, and dropping a fresh strawberry into the top of Meredith's. She moaned in appreciation as she scooped the first spoonful.
"Oh, before I forget, you got a letter in the mail today, it looks kind of important." He passed Meredith a thick ivory coloured envelope, with neat script stating her name and address. She frowned slightly, unsure of who would send her such a thing, but slipped her finger under the seal, pulling out the card that was inside.
"A wedding invite, who do we know whose getting married?" Derek pulled a face, shaking his head that he didn't know. Meredith opened the stiff invite, her mouth dropping open as she read the names. "Us?" She giggled then gasped. "You found my venue list?"
"You left it on my desk. I figured you wouldn't have enquired if you didn't really want to get married there. So I booked it, and just so we're certain, we're heading to both of them on Sunday so we can see everything. All being well, we're getting married on May 26th, put it in your calendar." Meredith bit her lip, as she got up to hug him.
"Thank you." She sniffed. "Did you like them because we can change them if you want, or we can change the date or something? Or if you think your mom would hate it or your sisters. What if they can't get time off? Maybe we should have asked them first." Derek kissed her to stop the ramble.
"Everything will be fine. We'll go see the venues, then we'll call mom and my sisters on Sunday so they can save the date. It'll all work out, I know it will. We're getting married Meredith."
"We're getting married." She giggled, and grinned at him before taking his lips hostage with her own.
"Hmmm, a house, a baby and a wedding, am I a great fiancé or what?"
"You're definitely the best fiancé I've ever had."
"I'm the only fiancé you've ever had."
"And you're so brilliant I never want to have another one. All of this is just… I love you so much, and I can't wait to be married to you and have our baby. It's shaping up to be a pretty amazing year." Derek looked deep into her eyes, in awe of her, and the joy she'd brought into his life. She was right, 2007 was going to be the best year ever.
A/N- reviews make my day ;)