44. Moving Day

Disclaimer: I really wish it was, but sadly, it's not mine.

Sorry for the wait. College is annoying and likes to drive me insane. Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them. Enjoy the update!

Today was Meredith and Derek's first day back after the honeymoon. Waking up to an alarm clock for the first time in two weeks certainly sucked, but both would admit that they were starting to miss the OR. As fun as it was vacationing in Italy, nothing compared to wielding a scalpel.

After rounds, Meredith bumped into Derek in the hall on her way to pick up her patient's pre-op labs. "Oh. Hey," she smiled.

Derek kissed her cheek. "Hey. Where are you going?"

"The lab," she told him, brushing her bangs away from her face. "I'm on OB. I could have been on neuro but my idiot husband decided to choose Cristina," she said jokingly.

Derek looked to her and grinned. "Your idiot husband...that hurts," he sighed, pretending to be offended. "Actually, I have an ulterior motive in mind. That's why I chose her."

Meredith eyed him curiously as the two walked down the hall together. "What kind of ulterior motive?"

"Your birthday is in two days...I need to run some things by her," he explained vaguely.

She knew that no matter how much she pried, he wasn't going to tell her anything, so instead she just smiled. "Okay then."

"You're not going to try to weasel anything out of me?" he asked amusedly.

"Nope. I'm not," she said, shaking her head. "As long as I get food, sex, and the signature cheesiness I'm sure you have in store, I'll be happy."

"You get those things every day," Derek replied smugly, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall as Meredith awaited the labs. "But yes, those things are part of the birthday package."

Meredith rolled her eyes and giggled at his feigned arrogance. "Looking forward to it."

"And I'm letting you scrub in with me that day too. I'm even going to let you cut," he informed her, knowing something like that would thrill her more than any material gift.

"Seriously?" she asked, the smile on her face something that always made Derek's heart skip a beat.

"Seriously," he nodded with a grin. "Am I still your idiot husband?"

She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him softly. "Hmm...no."

The sound of Derek's pager interrupted them, much to their chagrin. He unclipped it from his scrub pants and read it. "Cristina."

"Okay. Love you," she said, quickly kissing him again.

"Love you too. I'll see you at lunch, Dr. Shepherd," he grinned enthusiastically, using her new name for the first time.

Meredith gave his hand a gentle squeeze and smiled. She had only been a Shepherd for two weeks, but in that short time, she felt more part of a family than she had ever felt as a Grey. "I'll see you then, Dr. Shepherd."

--

Derek met Cristina back up on the surgical floor where she was taking down notes at the nurses' station. "Dr. Yang," he greeted with a smile.

Cristina turned her head and looked to her boss. "I just ordered the CT. My intern is taking Mr. Sansom down now."

"Good," Derek said with a nod.

"So...how was the honeymoon?" she asked unenthusiastically.

Derek looked at her strangely and cocked his head. He and Cristina rarely talked unless it was work related, so her question was a bit odd. "It was great."

"I'm just being the supportive friend of the married couple," she shrugged in explanation.

"Aah, got it," he grinned. "Thanks...for asking."

Cristina continued to take notes but managed to acknowledge him with a simple "Mmhmm..."

Derek decided that now was a good time to ask her about some gifts his wife might like for her birthday. "So, I need your help with something."

"Is this work related?" she asked dryly, handing the chart to the nurse before putting her pen in the pocket of her scrub shirt.

"No," Derek stated simply. "It's about Meredith."

Cristina raised her eyebrows in question. "Okay..."

As the two walked down the hall toward the elevator, Derek explained the situation. "Her birthday is coming up, and I wanted to run some things by you."

"Okay," she nodded, surprisingly willing to help.

"I'm thinking of getting us a dog," Derek said with a smile as they stepped into the elevator to go read the CT results.

"Like, an actual dog?" Cristina asked confusedly.

"I don't know what other kind there is, but yes, an actual dog," he confirmed. "Is it too soon, or...?"

She thought for a moment, staring at the elevator doors before spinning on her heels to face her boss. "I think she'd want a say."

"Yeah, I'd find a way to bring it up, then we could go get one together," Derek explained with a smile. "Do you think she'd like that?"

"Probably," she shrugged. "Something like that has your names written all over it."

"I think so, yes?" Derek asked with a smile, playing into her sarcasm. The two stepped off the elevator and Derek continued speaking in that overly-excited, lovey dovey tone he always used when taking about Meredith, resulting in an eye roll from Cristina. "Meredith is the hardest person to shop for on the planet. I've been thinking up ideas for months. So far I just got her a few things I know she wanted, and I had something shipped from Italy that I think she'll like."

Cristina looked at him suspiciously. "How did you manage that one?"

"Very carefully," Derek said with a laugh. "But I know she'll love it."

--

Up on the OB floor, Meredith entered her patient's room, a first time mother and father awaiting the birth of their first child. "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Dougherty. I know Dr. Jensen was already in here, but I'm her resident, Dr. Grey--Shepherd, I mean. Dr. Shepherd," Meredith said, correcting herself. Using her new name was going to take some getting used to.

"New bride?" Mrs. Dougherty asked with a small smile.

Meredith laughed slightly, unconsciously spinning her ring on her finger. "Yeah. I got married two weeks ago."

"Congratulations!" the expectant mother said happily. "This little one was a honeymoon surprise actually," Nina said, rubbing her pregnant belly.

Meredith swallowed hard and smiled, mentally calculating when she was supposed to get her period. She breathed a sigh of relief when she remembered that she wasn't due for another week, and hadn't missed it. It was insane for her to worry in the first place considering she and Derek were still a condom ad, but because she still had the Grey genes, something like that obviously caused a small panic inside of her.

"We weren't planning on having a baby for a few years, but apparently now was the time. So here we are..." Mr. Dougherty smiled, kissing his wife's cheek.

"Well, congratulations. You both seem so happy," Meredith said kindly. She pulled a pen from her pocket and began writing down her patient's stats. "Do you know what you're having?"

"Nope. We wanted to be surprised. Jim swears it's a girl, but the rest of our family says it's a boy. I have no idea," she laughed.

Meredith examined the woman's progress and smiled at her. "Well, you're at six centimeters, so you should be finding out soon enough. You've had an epidural, right?"

"I wouldn't be this happy if I didn't have an epidural," Nina pointed out with a laugh. "What time do you think I'll deliver?"

Meredith looked at her watch and thought for a moment. "Well, you're at a six now, and it's almost noon. Because it's your first baby, I'd guess before four o'clock if you keep progressing regularly," she explained.

"Okay then," she breathed, running her hand over her abdomen. "And everything looks good?"

"Everything is good. Don't hesitate to page me if there are any problems, okay?" Meredith said politely before exiting the room. As she walked down the hall, she couldn't help but smile a little at the thought that in a few year's time, she and Derek could be becoming first time parents.

After visiting with her patient, Meredith was kept busy for a few hours down in the pit after Alex had paged her for help. There was a fire at a local restaurant, and both employees and restaurant goers had to be treated for smoke inhalation amongst other things like minor cuts and burns. She had barely had a moment to sit down when she got an emergency page to Mrs. Dougherty's room. She quickly paged her interns down to help with the chaos of the ER before hurrying upstairs to the OB floor. "Page Dr. Jensen," Meredith called out to one of the nurses nearby.

Meredith entered Mrs. Dougherty's room and upon checking her, found out that she was ready to push. As Meredith was getting things ready, the nurse entered the room. "Dr. Jensen is in surgery. She said she'd be here as soon as she could, but said she trusts you to take care of it," she informed her.

Rather than yell at the nurse or begin to panic, Meredith simply let out a deep breath. "Okay," she nodded. Meredith quickly pulled her hair back into a ponytail and put on a pair of gloves. She looked over at the monitor and saw that her patient was about to have a contraction. "Alright, Nina. I need you to take a deep breath and push when you have your next contraction, okay?"

Nina nodded and bore down when the next wave of pain hit her. Meredith had never delivered a baby on her own before, but had seen it done a few times. So she just had to have faith that she really could do it. "Okay, good. Just relax for a minute," she said calmly as the nurse tied a sterile blue gown around Meredith's neck.

When the next contraction came, the expectant mother pushed again and Meredith could see the baby emerging. "Good. I can see the baby coming down. Just a few more pushes, okay?" Meredith said. She smiled slightly when she saw the woman's husband whispering words of encouragement into her ear and kissing her forehead.

After a few more pushes, Meredith guided the baby into the world and let out a deep breath when she began crying. "It's a girl!" Meredith announced with a smile. She took the baby in the crook of her arm and suctioned out her nose and throat with the suctioning bulb. After the new father cut the cord, Meredith placed the infant on her mother's chest and watched as the new parents cried and celebrated at the same time. She couldn't even imagine what that kind of love felt like. But there was no doubt in her mind that one day, she'd know.

--

Later on that day as her shift was nearing an end, Meredith was peering into the nursery, smiling slightly at the baby girl she had just delivered. It was still strange for her to fathom that just a few hours ago, this baby was inside her mother, and all of the sudden, she was this true to life little person wrapped in a pink blanket sleeping soundly.

As she looked in the glass, she felt someone come up behind her and kiss her cheek. "Hey," Derek said softly.

Meredith smiled at the feeling of his lips on her skin. "Hey. How did you know I was up here?"

"Izzie told me," he replied. "I'm horny and wanted to drag you off to an on-call room before we leave..." Derek grinned.

"Somehow, talking about sex in the nursery seems wrong," Meredith pointed out.

Derek smirked. "That's why there's babies in there to begin with."

"After seeing a baby come out of a you know what, you probably wouldn't be so horny anymore," she laughed, brushing some hair off her face. "I delivered her a few hours ago," she told him, pointing to the little, dark haired baby with her hand curled up under her chin.

Derek looked over at her and cocked his head slightly. "By yourself?"

"Yep," she whispered.

"Congratulations," he smiled, pressing a kiss to her temple.

Meredith rolled her eyes and giggled softly. "I'm not the one who gave birth..."

"Even still. I'm proud of you," Derek insisted as he wrapped his arm loosely around her waist.

"She's a surprise honeymoon baby," Meredith told him, running her fingers over the wooden ledge under the glass.

"I don't think we made one of those. We were a honeymoon condom ad," he chuckled.

Meredith smiled slightly. "I think that's probably what they thought too..." she pointed out.

Derek froze and pulled back, a look of curiosity in his eyes. "Mer, do you think you're...?"

"What?" she gasped. "No no no! I'm not. I was just thinking, you know, we have...a plan. Her parents had a plan," she said, pointing to the tiny girl. "And I just think that we should be prepared...if it happens before we plan..."

"Mer," Derek said softly, effectively cutting off her rambling. "If that happens, I'm fine with it--more than fine with it. We agreed on trying in a year, but if we're meant to have one sooner, so be it. I'd be thrilled."

"They're so happy. When I saw them with her, they just...I don't think I've ever seen people fall in love with something so quickly," Meredith said with a small smile.

Derek searched her eyes for a moment, noticing the small flecks of blue within the green orbs. "Meredith," he began softly. "We'll have that. One day, you and I know what that feels like." He kissed her forehead and pulled her close to him.

"Sorry. I'm pre-PMS-ing and jet lagged, and I think I spent too much time today on this cutesy maternity floor with the booties and the animal pictures. You probably think I'm nuts," she sighed, wiping away a stray tear that escaped her eye.

Derek chuckled slightly and rubbed his hands up and down her arms. "You call it nuts, I call it adorable."

"Shut up," Meredith giggled, looking back to the little baby behind the glass.

"You okay?" he asked as he tucked some hair behind her ear.

Meredith nodded, slightly embarrassed that she was crying. "I guess my wife instincts kicked in, and now I'm all nesty and gooey and disgusting. And I'd probably let you get me pregnant right now if you asked nicely."

"Meredith," he laughed heartily, loving how she never ceased to make him smile. "I love you."

She wrapped her arms around her husband and gave him a small hug. "I love you, too," she breathed. "Ready to go?"

"Yep." Derek laced his fingers through hers and together, the two walked down the hall of the nursery.

--

After getting changed, they had to drive back to Meredith's house to get some more boxes that would be going with them to the new house. There were still a few odds and ends that needed to be gathered, like utensils. Last night, after arriving back at the house, Meredith was warming up the dinner Izzie had packed up for them when she realized that they hadn't grabbed any forks or knives. They had no choice but to use their fingers, which ultimately led to sex on the kitchen floor. Not a bad way to christen the kitchen, but some silverware would be nice.

While Derek and Alex were busy putting boxes into Derek's Land Rover, Izzie and Meredith were at the grocery store, picking up some food for the house. Meredith had no idea what they would need, and Izzie offered her shopping expertise. When they got home, they found Derek and Alex on the couch watching ESPN. The two girls looked to them and shook their heads. "Look at our hard working men..." Izzie smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We finished packing up the car an hour ago. We were about to call search and rescue to come find the two of you," Derek grinned, reaching into the bag of pretzels and tossing one in his mouth.

"They were giving out free samples in practically every aisle. We had to be good patrons and try them all," Meredith explained with a giggle.

"Bring any back for us?" Alex asked jokingly.

Izzie laughed. "I'm making dinner. You can wait an hour. Are you two staying?" she asked.

"Nah, I think we're gonna go. Thanks, though," Meredith said with a gracious smile.

"Okay," Izzie nodded. "Oh, and Mer, I'm going to put together some easy to follow recipes. I'll give them to you tomorrow."

Meredith laughed. "Thanks, Iz."

Derek got up from the couch and kissed Meredith's cheek. "Thank you both for helping out these past few days. We really appreciate it."

"It's no problem," Izzie smiled, curling up on the couch next to Alex. "Obviously, it's your house, you can stop by whenever."

"You know that if you two wanted to move into our room, you can. I mean, you don't have to, but it has more space and the attached bathroom. So feel free to if you wanted," Meredith rambled.

"Seriously?" Izzie asked with wide eyes. "But that's..."

"It's yours if you want it," Derek said graciously.

"Thanks," Alex said with a nod. "We really appreciate that."

"Sure," Meredith said softly. "We'll see you guys tomorrow."

--

Meredith stood at the counter of her new home. This was all still strange to her--not in a bad way though. She and Derek finally had privacy. They didn't have to worry about roommates barging in during sex, or be forced into the bedroom for intimacy. Now they could just be themselves. Meredith turned to Derek and kissed him quickly. "Love you."

"I love you too," he said softly.

"This is still weird," she pointed out as she put some salad into bowls.

Derek grabbed two of their new plates from the cabinet and smiled at her. "What do you mean?"

"This...us...being here alone. It's nice," Meredith shrugged.

The two decided to take advantage of the warm summer night, so they ate outback on the patio. After setting their dishes down, Derek pulled his chair next to Meredith's and kissed her cheek. "I love it."

"We could even walk around naked, and no one would ever know..." she suggested playfully.

Derek took a sip of his drink and smirked at her. "We could even have sex out here."

"I plan on it," Meredith giggled. "We still need to christen the rest of this house."

"Yes we do..." he agreed.

"I could scream as loud as I wanted to," she whispered into his ear, biting gently on his earlobe.

Derek groaned in appreciation. "You're making it kind of hard to eat Mer..."

"I think I'm just making it kind of hard," she quipped, looking down at his growing erection with a naughty glint in her eye.

"That too," Derek chuckled.

Meredith decided to stop teasing him so they could eat. There would be plenty of sex later on, as was the rule of newly married couples. "Fine. I'll behave," she smiled before changing the subject. "So what did you and Alex talk about?"

"He wants to propose," Derek said as he took a bite of the chicken they had prepared.

Meredith nearly choked on her water. "What?"

"We got to talking, and I guess he just figured he could tell me. I don't think he told anyone else, so don't say anything to anyone."

"Derek! How could you not tell me this?" she shrieked.

Derek tried to stifle a laugh. "I was going to. I guess it just slipped my mind."

"Well, did he say when? Or how?" Meredith questioned curiously.

"No, he just said he was thinking about it. Apparently, when we were away, he and Izzie spent a lot of time together alone. I guess he figured it's the right time. I don't know. I can't translate it into girl talk," he chuckled.

"Aww," Meredith said, wiping the moisture from her eyes. "That's so sweet..."

"You're a mess, huh?" Derek joked, handing her a napkin so she could wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Shut up," she smirked. "It's just that...they're like my brother and sister--not like that--I mean, in a non-gross way, because that would mean my brother wanted to marry my sister, but I'm just...I'm happy for them," Meredith rambled.

Derek smiled softly at her. "Me too."

"And yes, I am a mess," she giggled.

"That's okay," he said, kissing her cheek. "I still love you."

--

Meredith sighed contentedly as Derek rolled off of her, the latest round of sex having just ended moments ago. "Oh God," she panted. "Promise me...that sex will always...be this good."

"It will be," he said, reaching over for her hand and kissing it softly.

"That was..." she breathed, unable to find the right word as she kicked the covers off her sweat slickened body.

Derek drew lazy designs over her bare stomach with his finger. "Amazing," he breathed.

"Stop staring at my boobs," Meredith giggled, making no attempt to cover herself.

"You're completely naked. How can I not stare?" he asked with a smirk. "Besides, I happen to love your boobs..."

Meredith looked down at her body and shrugged. "You're the only one I don't mind being naked around."

"Well, I'd hope so," Derek chuckled, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead. "You're beautiful," he whispered.

"I'm sorry I went all weird on you today in the nursery," she said quietly, staring into the blue eyes of her husband that she loved so much.

"You weren't weird," he said reassuringly.

Meredith rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes I was."

"It's okay," Derek responded. He pulled her closer to him and tickled her back softly with his fingers.

She arched her body into his touch; her breasts pressing into his chest. "Hmm...Cristina was right. Babies make you toxic."

"If by toxic you mean adorable, then yes," he joked.

"It wasn't adorable," Meredith argued. "I don't know. We've only been married for two weeks, but already I'm feeling the urge to nest, which is so...Izzie. Not me. And then tonight when you were in the shower, I was bored so I went into the nursery, and got to thinking about where we would...put the crib, and the rocking chair, and what kind of curtains would look cute with the yellow paint we used," she rambled, resulting in a smile from Derek.

"Mer," he began softly. "Do you...want a baby...sooner?"

Meredith sighed before going off on another ramble. Usually, Derek would cut her off with a kiss, but instead he listened to her intently as she voiced her thoughts. "No. If we had one now...it's just that we have a lot going on right now. I just started my third year of residency today, and there's a lot more stress that comes along with rotations, and starting to think about a speciality...and adding a baby to the mix would make us both..."

"Insane?" he offered.

"Yeah. Insane sounds accurate," Meredith breathed. "Did you...want one now?"

Derek thought for a moment and kissed her forehead. "Yes and no. I mean, if it happened, I'd be fine with it. But I think waiting would be better for us. And it's only a year. That'll give us time to get ourselves ready--and the house," he pointed out.

Meredith rested her palm on his cheek and kissed him. "Yeah. You're right."

"This kind of throws a wrench in my birthday plans for you," he chuckled.

"Was your plan to knock me up?" she asked sarcastically, unable to hide the smile on her face.

"No," Derek laughed. He knew he wasn't going to get off that easy so he decided to divulge his idea two days early. "Actually, I was thinking we could get a dog."

Meredith pulled back a bit and looked at him. "Like, and actual dog?"

"Cristina said the exact same thing. What other kind of dog is there?" he joked.

"I just...seriously?" she asked, slightly surprised his suggestion.

Derek nodded. "Yeah. I know it's still early, and if you wanted to hold off, we can. But I just thought it might be nice. And after all the nesting talk today, I was thinking it would make you happy," he explained, brushing some wavy strands of sex hair off her face.

Instead of giving him a yes or no answer, Meredith pressed her lips to his. She ran her tongue over his lips and smiled when he gave her entry into his mouth. Derek wrapped his arms around her torso and pulled her on top of him. As she kissed him, she knew that the spark between them would never fade; that kissing him would always give her that tingly, warm feeling that made her never want to stop kissing him. Only when the desperate need for breath took over did she pull back.

Meredith rested her forehead against her husband's and smiled softly. "So I'll take that as a yes?", Derek asked with a small smirk.

"Yes," she said, still slightly out of breath.

"Yeah?" Derek asked, keeping her wrapped in his arms above him.

Meredith began kissing his jaw line. "Mmhmm..."

"Want to have sex again?" he asked as he began lavishing attention on her breasts with his mouth. Derek knew he had gotten the answer when she began grinding her hips into his pelvis. He gave a slight groan in appreciation. "Yes?"

Meredith ran her fingers through the dark curls on his head and smiled. "Always..."

I know we all want McBabies, but right now really isn't the best time. And just keep in mind that a year in fic time isn't actually a year. After Mer's birthday, I might jump in the timeline a bit. I haven't decided yet. Either way, I hope you liked it.

Reviews make my day! :)