A/N- believe it or not I am still here, I just got tied up in all sorts of uni, job and family stuff. Then I was plagued by a very small minded troll but they seem to have disappeared for the time being. I'm hoping things will ease enough to let me get on a little over the next few months and try and bank something so I can update more regularly! As ever thank you for those that do find the time to read my all too infrequent updates. Your support and kind words mean so much to me, and your patience is unbelievably humbling. I've skipped on a tiny bit here, but I wanted to get this part out of the way before we tumble headfirst into the wedding stuff in the next few chapters. It's a little less polished than I'd like but I really wanted to get it up before I go on holiday, and I finally found the time to write but not quite enough to smooth it over as much as I'd like. Anyway, here's chapter 49, I hope you enjoy!

As the beginning of April rolled in, Meredith's almost sixteen week bump was growing increasingly prominent, even under her loose scrub top. With the wedding drawing ever closer her excitement too was growing, regularly bubbling over when she spoke of their plans. The bridesmaid's dresses were ordered, her own gown had finally been delivered just days before for her to try on though adjustments would be made in the final week or so to ensure it was comfortable enough for both her and bee to spend the day in. As Derek and Izzie had promised, many of the little details had fallen into place with little effort, only food and cake needed to be decided on together, with Derek taking charge of music. It seemed that Duran Duran, the gogos and eurhythmics along with a little Teagan and Sarah wasn't enough to entertain everyone for the entire day much to Meredith's dismay. He hadn't given much away yet but Meredith had absolute faith that whatever he chose, it would be utterly perfect for their big day.

Exciting as planning for a wedding and a baby and a whole life was for the two of them, the hospital still continued to supply more than enough patients for them both, switching their focus from bachelorette parties and baby swings to the far more exhausting task of saving lives. To say working eighty or more hours a week was challenging for any resident would be an understatement, but doing so whilst growing a human being was even more tiring. The ER always seemed to fill up more around the time of a full moon, and the ORs were booked almost around the clock some days. It meant more opportunity to scrub in to see and assist in new procedures but even the strongest residents were turning down opportunities in favour of just a few hours of sleep. Meredith relished the extra hours in the OR, banking both time and procedures which would only be a good thing when she went on maternity leave.

Having been paged in early that day to assist with a paediatric cardiothoracic patient, Meredith had scrubbed in with almost all of the attendings, only breaking for lunch when Mark saw her pale faced and rubbing her stomach and insisted that she take a break before she or one of her patients got hurt. It had been Richard that she had scrubbed in with at the end of the day, and he had told her to head home as soon as they finished up with the bowel repair that she was assisting with. Derek had left her several messages asking for her to meet him in the lobby when she was ready to go. Usually he waited in his office until she was done, or she would take a nap on his couch or do some research on his computer if it was him that was finishing later. Him wanting to meet in the lobby meant that he wanted to do something or go somewhere and she would have to be enthusiastic about it. As much as she wanted to curl up in bed with a bowl of Cheetos and lettuce, she was too tired to argue with Derek when he was excited about something.

As she slumped tiredly towards the near empty lobby she spotted Derek, previous week's sonogram picture in hand, tracing the details of their baby. Any trace of fatigue induced grumpiness dissolved at the sight of his proud fatherly smile, utterly humbled that she was the only person that would ever be half of the reason for all of the firsts that would come for both of them in the next few months and years.

"Still bitter that they wouldn't show you the goods." She said softly from her position to his right. His expression shifted to one of love for her as he reached out to envelope her in a hug that she'd waited all day for, and a kiss that told of how much he'd missed the two of them since this morning.

"Not at all." He lied with a grin. "Are you ready?"

"That depends." She quipped. "What for and will there be food."

"It's a surprise where we're going, so you will need to be blindfolded…"

"No way, no Derek." She scolded trying desperately not to smile at his Mcdreamy pleading face. "No!"

"Not even if I tell you I got you an extra thick shake from down the street and have had it next to me for long enough that it's almost at the right temperature for you to drink now, and I bribed the cafeteria lady to sell me one of those catering sized packs of Oreos, and my trunk is full of lettuce and strawberries."

"How about Cheetos?"

"They have them where we're going. I made sure of it."

"Hand over the shake." Meredith pouted and Derek did so, stifling a laugh at the face she made when the cold liquid hit her tongue. She frowned at him slightly. "You put bee in here, and forced me to act this way, so you don't get to laugh at the things he or she makes me do. Now get your blindfold out before I change my mind."

After what felt like a very long car journey they came to a stop and Derek helped the two of them out of the car, holding Meredith's hand and waist as they walked the short way to where Derek's surprise was. Meredith tried to decipher where they were based on the sounds she could here and what she could smell, but nothing felt more than vaguely familiar to her, and having to walk in what felt like wet mud was not helping to ease her frustrations.

"Please tell me you're planning on arriving before my due date." She grumbled as she slipped slightly on the damp grass.

"Just a little further, I promise." Derek said squeezing her hand slightly and pressing a kiss to her temple. "We're nearly there. Just a few more steps and you'll see it."

"Derek," Meredith whined, pouting a little. "You said that five minutes ago."

"I know, but it was too muddy to get the car any closer so I had to make you and bee walk a little further than I'd've liked. It'll be worth it I promise. Now, big step up here then wipe your feet." He guided, grinning widely as he pulled her inside. "Okay take off your blindfold."

"Finally," she mumbled as she tore the tie from her eyes, adjusting to the light, before her jaw dropped. "Derek…"

"Welcome home Meredith." He uttered quietly, taking the hand she reached out to him, squeezing it gently. Squeezing his hand back, she swallowed a lump in her throat and let the inevitable tears flow down her cheeks.

"It's the… from the catalogue… and the hardwood floor. I… how did you do all of this without me knowing?"

"For a world class surgeon, I get a lot of down time! It was easy for a few weeks, cause you were pretty exhausted, so I'd order things when you were napping and arrange for Mark or George or someone to wait in for it. And those extra hours you worked in the mornings gave me a chance to decide where to put things. The decorator helped too with some of the chairs and lighting."

"It's incredible Derek. I…" stuck for words she simply tuned around and captured Derek's lips in a long embrace, sighing softly at the onset of guppies in her abdomen. "I love you. I can't wait until we get to live here permanently."

"Well once everything you want to bring from the house is here, we can. Unless you want to wait until the wedding." It had been something they had discussed numerous times over the past few months but they didn't seem to be able to agree whether they should wait to move in or to enjoy the time they had before the wedding just the two of them.

"I've waited my whole life to find you, get a place and to do the whole grown up relationships thing, I don't want to wait another second, Derek. I want a fresh start for bee. You built us this house, now let's build the rest of our life." There had been no greater offer for Derek in his entire life, and he reached out his arms to envelope his love in his arms as she began to do her increasingly infamous pee dance.

"Straight through the kitchen then third door on the right," he chuckled as she sped off in search of their downstairs bathroom. He walked slowly between the rooms, imagining the memories that would be made in the years to come, wonderful happy ones to try and ease the pain of what they had both had to endure before they started on the road to happily ever after. Meredith was right, they needed something momentous to close the last chapter of their lives so they could start the next one together.

"This is just… wow." Meredith breathed as they reached the end of their tour. "I can't believe this is our house, this is where we're going to bring our baby home to and spend Christmas. There's no bad memories or ghosts haunting the place. It's just ours. It's so perfect."

"Even though the tile isn't the same as the one we picked, and the oven is slightly smaller than we'd agreed?"

"Derek, we have tile, and we have an oven that I'm not going to know how to use, it doesn't matter that they aren't the way we planned it. Our whole relationship isn't how either of us planned it, and that's what makes it so amazing."

"Since when were you such an optimist?"

"I'm carrying round a child that is half you, I think it was inevitable." She rubbed her chest slightly. "The only thing that would make it better is some antacids."

"Heartburn again?"

"A little, I swear this kid had better come out with a head full of your hair, I am not suffering with this for nothing."

"Maybe the doctor can give you something to help."

"Derek, its normal, if it gets too frequent or too painful then I have to worry, a couple times a week is nothing to worry about. I had fried chicken with Cristina at lunch, it's probably just that."

"Hmm, bee doesn't like his mommy eating all that nasty unhealthy food."

"She was having a great time. Cristina swapped her salad for my fries so she was more than happy to let me have me have my chicken. And coleslaw and corn." Derek chuckled, even before the pregnancy Meredith had a healthy appetite, but now she impressed him even more with the amount she could eat in one sitting. He wrapped his arms around her, his hands atop her tiny bump as she snuggled into his chest.

"Please can we find out?" Derek begged for the thousandth time since their appointment the week before.

"No," Meredith told him, looking up at his chin. "We agreed that if bee showed us the goods at that appointment then we'd find out, and she didn't."

"No, he just mooned me instead." He pouted, knowing he wasn't going to win this argument today, they had agreed and Meredith wasn't backing down anytime soon. "Are you ready to go? I'd stay here, but with no sheets, and no toiletries it wouldn't be much fun." Meredith sighed happily, knowing that it would be one of the last times that they would leave the house to go back home, but completely over the moon that the next phase of her life was mere weeks away.

In some miraculous coincidence, both Izzie, Alex and Meredith had the following evening off, as did both George and Lexie so the five were able to make plans together for the first time in months. Cristina, however had been scheduled as on call, much to the group's dismay, so with the move imminent they decided to make it a celebration of the house being ready, and the chance to reminisce about their time in the house, albeit for some of them only brief.

"Okay, there's wine in the fridge and there's extra in the laundry room if you run out. There's caffeine free soda there too and some iced tea. There's Cheetos and Oreos in the cupboard, but I haven't had the chance to grab anymore lettuce from the store yet after last night. I'll have my cell on though, so if you need anything just call me, okay? I'll come straight home."

"Derek, I'm spending the evening at home with three of my best friends and my sister. We'll be fine. Izzie is cooking, so I won't be near the kitchen. Lexie has every detail of my pregnancy programmed into that head of hers, and we're all doctors. We have it covered. Now go. Have fun with Mark. You've been so stressed with everything recently, it's about time you took some time to relax."

"I'd much rather relax with you and bee, in the bathtub or in our bed, or the couch..."

"Tonight, you're going to forget about me and bee, and the house and the wedding and just have fun. Have a couple drinks or go watch a game or something." She reached up on her tiptoes to kiss his pouting lips, patting his ass to tell him to leave. "We'll be right here when you get home. We love you."

"I love you too." he smiled, taking in the sight of Meredith's glowing form once more before he left. "More than anything."

"Oh my God, Izzie this is amazing." Meredith exclaimed as she took a bit of Izzie's chicken. "Why have you never made this before?"

"I know, it's one of my favourites. My grandma used to cook it on the last night that she stayed with us, or whenever we stayed with her. It's abandonment chicken. It seemed appropriate for tonight."

"We're not abandoning you, we're still in the same city, same hospital, it's just a different address for the half a dozen hours that we get to ourselves outside of work."

"I know, it's just crazy thinking that you and Derek won't be all loved up at the breakfast table or sat in his office reading your baby book and fighting over whether you wanna find out the sex. It's like the end of an era is all."

"Or the start of a better one." Lexie suggested. "No being woken up by Meredith's orgasms or having to try and sleep through the sound of the headboard hammering against the wall. I was here a week while they fumigated our apartment, and I don't think I slept the entire night once." The four laughed out loud, Meredith choosing to ignore yet another attack on her highly energetic sex life, though not denying a thing.

"So how are you going to afford the bills with Meredith gone?" George ventured. "Can anyone afford a house like this just on resident salaries?"

"I guess we could look for a roommate. It worked for Yang." Alex suggested.

"Or you could just get George and Lexie to move in." Meredith said as she reached for more chicken, one hand atop bee, who had a natural penchant for bumping into things of late. "You can't tell me you're gonna live in the crapartment forever? 4 salaries, 4 way split on groceries, makes sense to me, but my brain is currently telling me to try the chicken with ice cream so I may not be that reliable."

"That could work." Izzie agreed looking at Alex for his opinion then at George and Lexie, the three of whom nodded in agreement. "Okay then. George's old room is empty if you want to move any stuff and… Meredith what are you doing?" Meredith looked up from her plate which now also contained a large scoop of strawberry ice cream.

"I was right, the chicken is really good with the ice cream."

"No way, the first Christmas we all had together, that was the best time we ever had here. All of us under the tree with Doc just watching the lights." Izzie argued. Despite some of the sad and awful memories that the five of them had had in the house, there seemed to be too many good memories to pick just one as their favourite.

"Alex and I weren't even here for that." Lexie protested. "It has to be the day before Derek' proposed. All of us here so he could make sure we all knew what we were doing. Going through every one of his notes so that you'd definitely be here at the right time. Everyone was laughing and talking. I know Mer wasn't here but it was about her. I can't remember it ever being all of us."

"That's what happens when you become a slave to the hospital." Izzie told them. "A couple weeks before you got here we all had to study for our intern test, and the four of us crashed in the den for an entire week almost, and there was one night that we couldn't eat anymore pizza or grilled cheese or muffins, and Burke had put together this box of food that Cristina could heat up and eat so she didn't starve. George was with us for the night while Callie was on call, so he looks through the box, finds this fried chicken, and decides it'll be fine to eat cold then he takes a bite and it's only half done. And he's wiping his tongue trying to take the taste away and chugging water and its fine until a couple hours later…"

"Do we have to tell this story?" George interjects. "Can't we tell the one about you throwing an enormous party and not telling Mer?"

"No that one ends with Bailey catching me naked straddling Derek in his car wearing just a bra and his shirt, and we said we were done with discussing my sex life."

"In his car, like outside?" Lexie gasped.

"Yeah, we've done it in loads of public places. The threat of getting caught is a huge turn on." Meredith told her as she reached for another handful of Cheetos.

"Okay, back to George," Izzie reminded them. "We're sat doing quick fire questions and George's stomach rumbles, so he tries to get up, but Cristina is still answering questions so she makes him sit down again. It was maybe a few minutes later he tries to get up again and as Cristina pushes him back, he misses the couch lands on the floor, and very quickly gets up to go change his underpants." The group began to laugh at the picture of George after his minor food poisoning, George protesting futilely, trying desperately to change the subject.

"Mer, you must have better stories than that. You grew up here." Lexie encouraged her sister.

"I don't really remember anything from when I was little. All my memories are of the hospital or after we moved to Boston. I remember when I finally caved and let Izzie and George move in that we tried to watch a 22 hour surgery tape without eating, peeing or sleeping. I don't remember if we passed out or just fell asleep, but I woke up with Izzie's hand cupping my boob and my legs wrapped in George's. Derek came over and fell about laughing which woke George up, he tried to get up and fell over my feet, pulled me off the couch and into the coffee table."

"Didn't that hurt?"

"Yeah, but Derek picked me up off the floor, and started rubbing my ass where it hit the table. In the end we decided to skip dinner and go straight to bed. Never did watch the other half of that surgery…"

"So man, how's it going, house, wedding, baby, you planning on slowing down anytime soon?" Mark asked, Derek chuckling at him.

"Oh God, I know it's crazy. If you'd told me a year ago about the house or the wedding, I might have believed you, but all three, no way. I love it, god knows I've wanted it all for long enough; I'm just waiting for the ball to drop you know, waiting for something to go wrong or change the plans or something."

"I think the baby changed enough plans. And Meredith still wanted you after Addison and the scrub nurse and all the other crap you've pulled. She's not running, not anymore."

"She tried to drown herself Mark, she was dead in that room. Every time I have to do a consult in there, I end up thinking she left me, just gave up. What if… what if something…?"

"She fought Derek, she fought to come back, and she fought for your relationship. And she fights every day to make a name for herself, to have people know her for who she is, not who gave birth to her or who she is choosing to spend her life with. Everything in her past says that she should be a lifetime member of the dirty mistresses club. Going from guy to guy, meaningless relationship to meaningless relationship, but instead she picked you, and she's doing the whole commitment thing without having a clue. She's not going to give that up for anything. If it makes you feel better, I'll ring mom or Nancy or Kath right now, get them to tell you that Meredith is going nowhere…"

"No, I know you're right, I'm just terrified Mark, terrified that something or someone is gonna take her away from me, and I know I can't live without her. She's my world Mark, she's my everything." The choked up tone of Derek's revelation told Mark that the fifth glass of scotch was probably one too many, and the indecipherable speech about how much he loved Meredith told him it was definitely time to return him to her. Leaving his keys with Joe he called a cab and took Derek outside for a little air, in the hope he was a little less weepy, and a lot happier when he finally got home.

"I think you're forgetting the best story about this house." Izzie pointed out to a sea of blank faces. "Alex and Derek's little rendezvous."

"What?" George and Lexie gasped, "When did this happen?"

"Don't you dare Iz." Alex scolded forgetting the other possessor of knowledge of that night.

"It was a couple months back, my morning sickness was bad and I spent most of my time feeling like crap, but I'd promised Alex and Izzie and Cristina that I'd go out for a few drinks one night after work. I called Joe to tell him that he could only serve me virgin drinks so before too long everyone was a little bit drunk. And for some reason, Alex and Cristina decided to have a competition to see who could take the most shots. One thing led to another, and we ended up in a cab trying to make sure Alex didn't throw up before we got home. We managed to get him up the stairs and into the bathroom and figured it was best to leave him there for a while. Me and Iz went to bed and it was fine til we heard the guys screaming. Turns out Alex lost his bearings and tried to get into bed behind Derek. Derek thought I was finally feeling well enough for sex, so he reached out and grabbed what he thought was my ass, only to stick his hand under the waistband and realise that I don't have quite so much body hair. Opened his eyes and was met with Alex's lips and a very prominent erection. I'm just glad Derek woke up when he did." The circle erupted in torrents of laughter, as much the result of the wine than anything else, but after everything they'd been through together as a household it was nice to be able to sit and to laugh and simply be reminded of all that they had to be thankful for.

"Okay, fine so I don't do well when I'm drunk, there are plenty of stories we could tell about you being drunk, Mer. Iz has told me pretty much everything. Stuck with a hard on guy. Really well-endowed guy, liked to do it hard against the wall guy, gave you rope burns on your thighs guy. Need I go on?"

"Okay okay, I'm sorry. Alex is wonderful. He promised to kick Derek's ass if he ever hurt me again, even gave him the big brother talk. Izzie's very lucky to have him. Though Iz, if you do break Alex, I am going to have to kick your ass, it's only fair." The group giggled at the thought. Feisty and strong as she was, Izzie grew up in a trailer park, so beating her in any kind of confrontation was fairly unlikely.

For the rest of the night the five regaled each other with tales of their own experiences in the house, both funny and sweet, draining the wine that Derek had left out in the hope of blocking out the inevitable pain that came with knowing that this would probably be the last time they were together before the wedding and the move and soon enough baby Shepherd and the many changes that went with each.

"But aren't you going to miss the house you grew up in." Lexie slurred slightly, lines on her face from the tears of laughter she'd been crying for much of the night.

"I was only here until I was five, then it was just the odd week here and there when my mom was consulting. So I don't remember much. My parents fighting, or my mom downing drinks at the kitchen table. It's the place I met Derek sober for the first time, but it's the place I came home to alone the night Addison came back. I found out I was pregnant upstairs, and tried to drown myself in the same room. A lot of my happy Seattle memories are here, but so are the worst ones. After the bomb or when I died, the only person I wanted was Derek, and all that was here was some ghost of what could've been. Now he'll always be there. You guys can still make happy memories here, but there are too many ghosts for me. The only real good things have been the nights we spent in front of old surgery tapes or staying up til dawn on our days off after we'd been to joe's. Or every day that I wake up next to Derek and know that none of that bad stuff can change the way I feel about him. I fell in love here, made my friends here, I got to be part of a family here, but this baby, they're part of a whole other family and for that I feel like I need a new place for our memories."

"So you know what it is really right? This whole not finding out thing is just an act?" George blurted, still as unconvinced as he had been after Meredith told him about her most recent ultrasound.

"No, we aren't going to find out until he or she is put on my chest. I have my suspicions but they are not backed by anything other than a feeling, so I'm not telling. There are only 24 more weeks to wait anyway."

"How can you not want to…?" Izzie was interrupted by the sound of the front door, and Mark calling for Meredith. She got up out of her seat to see her fiancé's best friend wobbling a little from his place in the foyer, but looking concerned enough for Meredith to worry just a little.

"Mer, I'm sorry." He said as he came into the room. "He drunk it a little quickly and I thought if he sobered up a little he'd be fine but now he won't stop crying and he's refusing to get out of the damn cab and I just didn't know what to do."

"Okay I'm coming. George, Lex you're welcome to crash here if you want, I have to go sort Derek out. Tonight's been great, it was such an amazing way to say goodbye to the place but I think party's over now. I'll see you all tomorrow." She heaved herself out of the chair that she'd been sat in for hours and followed Mark out to the car.

"What are you doing out here?" She said softly to her fiancé. "It's warmer inside, and there's a bed and a bathroom you can puke in."

"I love you Meredith." He announced, getting up a little too quickly, and wrapping his arms around her, nearly knocking the pair of them over in the process.

"How much have you had to drink?" She giggled, as Mark propped up his friend on one of his muscular shoulders.

"Not as much as you'd think." Mark informed her. "He got all choked up after the third, I thought another drink or two might mellow him, but it had rather the opposite effect. He's a bit of a lightweight now."

"He hasn't drunk since we found out about the baby." Meredith smiled, reaching over to kiss Derek's cheek. "The smell made me nauseous so he didn't go near it until now. Maybe he should've eased himself back in a little more slowly."

"You're telling me. Now do you want me to help you get him up the stairs?"

"Please," Meredith smiled, as they manoeuvred Derek through the door and towards the staircase that she had many times stumbled up in a drunken stupor. After settling him on the bed with a bucket by his side, Mark bid the two of them farewell and headed back to where the cab was waiting patiently, yet another perk of being renowned physicians. Meredith ran a hand through Derek's raven curls, giving him a quick peck on the cheek as she made to leave the room.

"Please don't leave me." He slurred, only semi-conscious at this point.

"I'm going nowhere, I promise. I'm just going to grab you a glass of water and make sure Lexie and George have everything that they need then I'm all yours. I love you."

"I love you too Mer-dith, so much."

"Glad to hear it." She grinned slipping away just as Derek's breathing became almost snore like as he drifted off into a much needed sleep.