59. Brunch with the Greys

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

I really hope people are still enjoying this fic. The lack of feedback lately has me a little discouraged. Thanks to all of you that do review - you know who you are; it means so much to me.

Meredith woke up with a knot in her stomach. Normally, a brunch wasn't something to be nervous about, but a brunch spent with an estranged father that she hadn't seen for months filled her with all sorts of butterflies that she'd rather not experience. Lexie called Meredith a few days ago, asking if she and Derek would like to join her, Molly, Eric, Laura, and Thatcher for a Christmas brunch. Apparently, Susan always used to host a get together a week or two before Christmas, and the girls thought it would be nice to keep tradition in their mother's memory. And because Meredith and Derek were family, of course they were invited along.

Meredith had her reservations at first. Seeing her father was always an awkward ordeal; she never knew what to say or how to act. Even ten minutes spent in the same room and she was itching to be somewhere else. But after talking to Derek, she realized that maybe it would be okay. A chance to see Molly, Laura, and Eric would be nice, and Derek would be next to her the whole time, so if things got too uncomfortable with her father, he could cleverly find a way to get them out of it. He was good at things like that.

But as she turned off the alarm, remembering why she'd set it today in the first place, she couldn't help but regret letting her charming husband talk her into such a stupid thing. "I don't want to get up," she murmured into her pillow.

Derek wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her head. "We have to be at your sister's house by eleven. It's already nine," he said sleepily.

"Brunches are stupid."

"Mer," Derek chuckled tiredly. "It's going to be okay."

"Says the Shepherd who married a Grey..." Meredith said sarcastically. "A Shepherd brunch would be all hugs and cobbler and perfection. My side of the family? A bloodbath that ends in tears."

Derek laughed out loud, potentially risking his own safety, but he couldn't help it. Meredith liked to throw in the dramatics for effect. "I promise your mother's ghost isn't going to come back and battle it out with your father," he joked. "It's just brunch. It'll all be over in an hour or two."

Meredith rolled over into his arms, nuzzling her face into his neck. "Hmm...you promise?"

"I promise," Derek whispered, kissing the crown of his wife's head. "Seeing Laura will be fun. She's almost two now."

"She is really cute..." Meredith confessed.

"She is," Derek agreed with a smile. When Meredith made no attempt to get out of bed, he knew what would cheer her up. It cheered her up every other day, and somehow he knew today, she needed the fun distraction. "Wanna have sex? That always makes you feel better," he suggested.

Meredith raised her head just a little. A small smile appeared on her lips as she looked at him. "Yeah?"

"You know I'm always up for having sex," Derek teased, running her fingers through her hair.

"Me too," she whispered as she rolled onto her back and pulled her husband on top of her. Morning sex was definitely necessary today.

--

They pulled up in front of 3321 Hadley Street promptly at eleven o'clock. Meredith had only been there once before; it seemed like decades ago when it fact it had only been a little over a year and a half. That, too, had been a less than pleasant memory...

"Nice house," Derek complimented as they unbuckled their seatbelts.

Meredith nodded distractedly. "Yeah, it's nice."

He noticed the look of complete dread in her eyes and frowned. "Mer," he said softly, taking hold of her hand. "If you really don't want to do this, we don't have to."

"No, it's...it's good. It'll be fine," she said unconvincingly but still managing a small smile. When she saw her husband's worried face, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Where's my rousing 'it's just brunch' speech you gave me in bed?" she asked with a smirk.

"Well, you look like you're going to pee yourself. I'm concerned," he chuckled.

Meredith pretended to be offended. "I do not look like I'm going to pee myself. Come on, let's just do this," she said, opening the car door.

Derek quickly got out of the car and walked around to take her hand. A light snow had fallen the night before, and he didn't want either of them to slip on any icy spots. He kissed her temple when they reached the front door and rang the doorbell. "I love you."

She squeezed his hand and smiled softly at her husband. "I love you too."

Lexie came to the door, bouncing Laura on her hip. "Hey guys" she said happily. "Come in."

"Thank you," Derek grinned.

He and Meredith stepped inside, and they immediately noticed just how cozy the home felt. Pictures of Molly and Lexie lined the walls, no doubt Susan's doing back when the girls were growing up, as well as photos of Laura. Meredith smiled a little; the idea of family wasn't always appealing, but she had to admit, it was nice to have actual relatives that she could grow close with.

"Mehwidif!" Laura squealed, reaching her arms out.

"She remembers you two," Lexie laughed as she passed Laura over to Meredith.

Derek smiled proudly at his wife. She was so comfortable with the little girl, and Laura loved her. "Hi, Laur," he said with a smile. "You look very pretty today."

"Dewek!" Laura giggled, kicking her pantyhose-covered legs excitedly.

"Molly and Eric will be back any second. They're picking my--your--well, our uh...they're picking him up from his house. Molly didn't want him to have to drive in the snow," Lexie explained, rolling her eyes. "She's always been the worrier in the family."

Derek and Meredith followed Lexie into the kitchen. "So where's he living now?" Derek asked conversationally.

"Well, Molly and I thought this house wasn't really a good place for him to live. It's just...a lot of memories, you know, of my mom and...we just figured it would be better for him to start fresh somewhere else. He bought this little twin house a few miles away on Edgewood. So Molly and Eric live here now," Lexie told them. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Sure," Meredith said with a small smile. "Do you need me to help you with anything?" she asked as Laura picked up Meredith's hand to look at her wedding ring.

Lexie shook her head, setting two cups of coffee on the kitchen table. "Nope, I'm good. I'm over here enough watching Laura, so I know my way around," she joked. "Dr. Shepherd, do you want cream and sugar?" she asked.

Derek smiled. "Yeah, thanks. And you don't have to call me Dr. Shepherd. You're my sister-in-law," he chuckled. "Derek works fine."

"Oh, thanks," Lexie laughed, blushing a little. "Sorry if this is awkward. It really shouldn't be. I mean, we work together every day..."

"It's not," Meredith assured her. "This is good. Families do stuff like this. Derek's family does stuff like this, so I know he feels right at home," she teased.

Lexie handed her niece her sippy cup and smiled. "Do you come from a big family, Derek?"

"Four sisters. Fifteen nieces and nephews between them..." he said amusedly. "And I'm the black sheep who hasn't given my mother any grandkids yet."

Lexie laughed. "I think everybody is waiting for that day. Last week, I heard Izzie talking to Alex about your bridesmaid dress, Meredith. Apparently, she's not going to fit you for it until September, just in case you surprise us all with a baby bump. Her exact words..."

Meredith shook her head and giggled. "I swear, she's already knitting baby clothes."

"Baby?" Laura asked, turning her head up toward Meredith with wide eyes.

"No, no baby yet," Meredith said humorously.

The front door opened and Meredith swallowed hard. She knew it really was no big deal, seeing her father, but it was only natural given their history. Laura smiled wide when she saw her mom, dad, and grandpa enter the kitchen. "Hi Ma!" she giggled, waving her hand.

"Hey sweetie," Molly laughed. "Hi Meredith, hi Derek. It's so nice to see you guys again," she said kindly.

"Hey guys," Eric greeted them. "Hey beautiful," he laughed, ruffling the soft blonde curls on top of his daughter's head.

"Hi Meredith, Derek," Thatcher nodded politely, shaking each of their hands.

Derek decided to step in, in case words were lost on Meredith at the moment. He knew it was probably a lot to handle, and he wanted to help out. "Hi, how are you doing?" he asked kindly. After they both shook his hand, Derek wrapped his arm around Meredith's shoulders. Somehow he knew she'd appreciate it now.

"Good, thanks. Just uh, keeping busy. How are you two doing? It's been a while," Thatcher said.

"Yeah, it has," Meredith agreed. "We've been doing well. Work is, well, it's always busy. I'm sure Lexie tells you all about that," she managed to giggle awkwardly.

Her father laughed, taking a sip of the coffee Molly had poured for him. "She does. I think they work you too hard over there. All of those late nights and long hours. I don't know how you do it..." he said, undoubtedly thinking back to the days when Ellis spent more time at the hospital than with her family. That's one of the few things he and Meredith had in common. Memories of just the two of them, living a life that came second to Ellis Grey's work.

"Yeah, it's tough," Derek nodded. "We love it though. But days off are nice too," he joked.

Laura decided that she would like some attention, so she turned toward her grandpa from her place in Meredith's lap. "Baby in Mewedif," she informed him, pointing to her aunt's stomach.

"Oh! Oh my...Meredith, are you?" Thatcher stammered.

Meredith quickly shook her head. "No no, I'm not," she said. "Before you got here, we were talking about something a friend of ours said at work. I guess Laura spun the story a little..."

Molly set out a plate of pastries on the table and poked Laura's belly with her finger. "Always causing trouble," she laughed.

"One day though," Meredith added.

"Good," Thatcher beamed, seeming proud if his first born daughter. "You know, you used to carry your dolls around with you everywhere we went...like a little mother," he said nostalgically. "No matter where we went, you always had this one doll. What was her name? Something with an 'L'...Lilly, I think."

Meredith didn't know what to say. The fact that her father remembered the small detail of her doll's name after so many years may have seemed like a coincidence to anyone else, but it meant something to her, like he cared. Like he really did love her.

"You remember that?" she asked softly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Molly and Lexie smiling, too. It was almost like the two had been rooting for Meredith and Thatcher to mend some fences today. She had to give them credit; they could have just as easily been cold to her, but since finding out about Meredith, they'd welcomed her into their family freely, like she belonged.

"Of course," he chuckled. "I bought her for you when you were, oh I don't know, two years old or so."

"Have any pictures of that?" Derek asked teasingly, resulting in a playful elbow nudge from his wife.

"There's tons of pictures. Of all three of you girls. Susan...she uh, she framed the one of you and me, Meredith, on the sled at the middle school, remember? I took it with me when I moved," her father said with a smile as he handed Laura a cookie.

Meredith swallowed a bite of her scone. "You did?"

"I left most of the pictures in albums for you to show your kids one day, but I saved a few," he said.

"I've seen those pictures," Molly chimed in. "None of us can get over how much Laura looks like you at her age. She looks more like you than Eric or me," she said amusedly.

"I guess the Grey gene is dominant. Sorry to say, Derek..." Lexie giggled before refilling her cup of coffee.

Derek grinned at Meredith. "That's okay. Grey's make cute babies, if Laura is any indication," he chuckled as the nearly two old girl licked some pink icing off her hand then gave Derek a smile.

Meredith relaxed in her chair. For the first time in a long time, she actually felt comfortable with her father and her family. She owed a lot of that to Derek, who could always be counted on to strike up a chatty, pleasant conversation with anyone. Meredith really appreciated that about him. No matter what, he was always there for her.

The rest of the brunch was surprisingly enjoyable. There was small talk and laughter, and as Derek promised, only lasted a little under two hours. Meredith even hugged her father before she and Derek left, and it wasn't nearly as awkward as she thought it would be. All in all, it was a success. Laura was still adorable, and Molly, Eric, and Lexie were loving and friendly. When Thatcher asked to have them over for coffee sometime, Meredith agreed. Mending fences worked both ways, so the least she could do was try to have a relationship with her father, even if they were never the closest of relatives.

As Derek drove back home, he reached over and took Meredith's hand. "See? We lived," he chuckled.

"Yes, we lived," Meredith sighed. She gently squeezed his hand. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked confusedly.

Meredith shrugged, looking out the window at the white snow that blanketed everything around them. Seattle was beautiful this time of year; it was rare that snow fell, but when it did, it was always so picturesque and peaceful looking. "Coming with me today, being nice to my dad...I know how you feel about him."

"I don't hate your father," Derek said reassuringly. "I think he made some...bad decisions in his life, but I don't think he's a bad person. And he's trying to make things better. And I'm grateful to him for that, for your sake. You deserve a family, Meredith."

"I'm just glad I didn't feel the urge to gauge my eyes out with a spoon," she said, turning the heat up a notch in the car.

Derek laughed. "It was actually a nice morning. They're good people," he said sincerely. "It'll be nice to have family close by for when we have kids."

"Yeah," Meredith agreed softly. She hadn't thought about that aspect before, but he was right. Having aunts, uncles, and cousins on her side of the family was something their children deserved too. "And maybe my dad...I mean, I think he'd want to know our kids too. He's so good with Laura and--"

"I think that would be nice, too," Derek concurred, kissing the top of her hand as he drove down the dirt road toward their home.

Meredith smiled at her husband. If it weren't forty degrees outside, she'd be willing to give him car sex for how supportive and charming he was being today. After they got out of the car, Derek looked over at her and grinned widely. "You know what we haven't done yet?"

"Hmm?" she asked, eyeing him strangely.

"Gotten ourselves a Christmas tree," he pointed out, taking her rosy cheeks between his gloved hands and kissing her softly.

"Crap," Meredith blurted out against his lips.

Derek chuckled amusedly. "We've been busy with work. This is our first day off in two weeks; it's okay. We can get one today."

"But we just drove all the way back here," Meredith said as they walked toward the front door of the house.

"Mer, we own like forty acres of land. We have trees," he said with a smile. "We can go cut one down ourselves."

Meredith knelt down and pet Charlie, who greeted them when they got inside. "There's Christmas trees out here?"

"You mean fir? Yeah, I think there's a couple hundred actually," Derek chuckled. "We can take Charlie out there, cut one down ourselves; it'll be fun."

She smiled a little and kissed him. "You're the guy who wears the reindeer sweater on Christmas, aren't you?" she giggled.

"I'll buy us matching ones," he murmured, his lips still pressed to hers.

"You do that..." Meredith rolled her eyes playfully. "Alright fine, we can go. But let's go before it gets much colder outside. And Charlie needs his sweater."

Derek's forehead wrinkled and he looked at her suspiciously. "Since when does he have a sweater?"

"Since Izzie knitted one for him one afternoon," Meredith said, reaching into the coat closet for the navy blue sweater. "Come here, buddy."

"She knits dog sweaters now?" Derek asked with a laugh.

Meredith finished putting the small sweater on their dog then hooked his leash onto his collar. "You think that's bad? She's knitting blankets."

"For who?"

"For us," she said simply. "Or more specifically, our yet to be conceived child."

"Uh huh," he said incredulously.

Meredith giggled as they walked back out the front door and Derek locked it behind them. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's already planning a baby shower.'"

"Probably is," Derek chuckled. After retrieving a saw from their garage, he took her free hand as the two set out on the land to pick out a tree. If he recalled correctly, it wasn't more than a ten minute walk out to where there was a collection of fir trees. Finding one they both liked could be a little difficult, but Derek already knew Meredith would have the final say. That's how it usually went, and he didn't mind at all.

"Oh, this one," Meredith gasped after the short walk to the fir trees that populated their land. She walked around a large one, examining it for imperfections, but came across none. Charlie sniffed at the pine needles, then looked up at Meredith and barked. "And Charlie clearly agrees with me."

Derek looked the tree over for a minute, calculating the logistics of cutting it down, carrying it home, fitting it through the door, and making sure it didn't hit the ceiling of their house. From what he could tell, it seemed like a good tree. Not too tall, not too short, not too fat or thin. His wife knew how to pick a Christmas tree. "I love it," he grinned in agreement.

"Yeah?" she asked, her nose and cheeks red from the cold wind.

"Looks like the one to me," Derek said before kissing her.

"Need help cutting it down?"

"Yeah, just reach in for the trunk and hold it still," he instructed, kneeling down to see where he should begin sawing.

Meredith did just that and nodded. "Okay, I got it."

It took Derek a few minutes to chop it down, and when he finally did, Meredith smiled at her husband. "I'll help you carry it back."

"It's okay; I've got it," he assured her.

"Derek, it's a big tree. Seriously, let me help you," Meredith insisted. She unhooked Charlie from his leash and put it in her pocket. He always stayed close by, and they knew he wouldn't run off, so she didn't mind letting him walk a little ahead of them. She hoisted the top half of the tree between her arm and her side while Derek supported the weight of the bottom half, and after a bit of teamwork, they managed to make it home fairly quickly.

They set the tree up in an empty space in the living room, next to the window. Meredith couldn't help but smile at how perfect it looked sitting in their home. There was something so cozy and familiar about a Christmas tree, something she hadn't appreciated when she lived back at the old house. Sure, Izzie always did a nice job decorating the house, and making it homey, but without Derek there to celebrate with, the holiday wasn't one she really enjoyed. Now though, knowing that every holiday from here on in would be spent in the presence of her husband and their would-be children, she was actually, truly happy.

"I love it," she whispered, her arms wrapped around him as she rested her head on his chest.

Derek tilted her chin up and kissed her, softly and sweetly, before smiling. "We need to decorate it."

Meredith quickly frowned. Neither of them hadn't brought any Christmas tree decorations into the marriage; no ornaments or lights, for neither were too big on holidays in the past year or two. "Oh!" she gasped, remembering that Izzie had thought ahead, clearly aware of that fact, and had given them an array of decorations as part of her wedding present. Meredith had to give her props; Izzie was quite the homemaker.

"What?" Derek asked curiously.

"Izzie," she said, pulling back from their embrace. "She gave us a bunch of stuff, remember? Where did we put it?"

Derek furrowed his brow. "Huh?" he asked, still confused.

"For the wedding. Her gift. Remember, the big frilly box with Christmas stuff in it. I think we put it in the basement back when we were moving in."

"Oh, yeah," Derek finally recalled. "I remember that," he nodded.

"Yeah."

Meredith walked in front of him down the basement stairs, and after a little searching, they found the box amongst an assortment of others, full of shiny new lights and Christmas balls Izzie had purchased. Derek carried it up the steps and set it down on the living room floor after they returned. When he opened it, both of them smiled. It was an unconventional wedding gift, but Izzie knew them well, and she obviously knew that neither of them would have thought to buy such a thing until the last minute, so she saved them the trouble.

"Remind me to thank her for this," Meredith giggled.

"We'll buy her a really nice Christmas gift," Derek agreed humorously. He pulled a few glass Christmas balls from the box and smiled. Red and green, blue and gold, ones with candy canes, snowmen, snowflakes. Appropriately Izzie, but also incredibly sweet.

"These are cute," she said sincerely, examining one in her hand.

Derek grinned. "One day, we'll have the kids' ornaments all over the tree...popsicle stick angels and clothespin reindeer. All of that fun preschool stuff that we put up every year, even when they're old enough to beg us not to," he laughed.

"Does your mom still have all of that stuff?" Meredith asked as they opened the packs of lights to string around the tree.

"Yeah," Derek said, rolling his eyes amusedly. "She does. She even has Mark's stuff. He always gave her the art projects we made at school. My mom...appreciated it more than his did."

"We're keeping all of that stuff too. No matter how bad it is...like macaroni glued to construction paper. I want us to have all of it," Meredith said softly, gently squeezing his hand.

He leaned in and kissed her, smiling against her lips. "We will. Homemade ornaments and gingerbread houses. Even if it's tacky," he chuckled. "It's important for kids to have memories like that."

Meredith took his hand, helping to lift him up off the floor so they could begin wrapping the lights around the tree. "Some memories, I don't want them knowing about..." she said coyly as she began weaving a string of lights through the thick green branches.

Derek smirked, accepting the lights when her arms couldn't reach any further. "Meaning?"

"Well, when we have sex under it, I don't think they'll want to know," she giggled.

"Hmm...good point," Derek agreed, laughing. "So I guess that means we should have sex under it tonight, too?"

"Maybe," Meredith said teasingly, although she knew there was close to a hundred percent guarantee of such a thing happening. Naked Derek under the Christmas tree was much too tempting to pass up.

He just smirked at her. "Uh huh...I'll take that as a yes."

"Decorating first, sex later," she said definitively, pulling another string of lights from the box. "The faster we do this, the faster you can undress me under it."

"I'll take the lights, you can starting putting the ornaments on," Derek said, no doubt trying to speed up the process. Sex was always a great incentive to get things done.

And get things done, they did. Within the hour, the entire tree was glowing with reds, greens, yellows, and blues. The ornaments hung daintily from the branches, the light reflecting off of them and casting a warm glow over the entire living room. It wasn't overdone in a way that made it look tacky, but had just the perfect amount of decoration that even Izzie would be proud.

"I love it," Derek said softly, wrapping his arms around her waist before kissing her.

Meredith smiled as she kissed him back, relishing in the warmth of his body pressed to hers. "Me too."

"Our first Christmas together," he grinned.

"This might be our only Christmas where it's just the two of us--and Charlie, obviously," she whispered, resting her head on his chest. "There could be a baby on the way next Christmas."

Derek hugged her tighter; whenever Meredith said things like that, his heart went wild. Just the image of his wife carrying their child was enough to bring tears to his eyes. "Hmm..." he hummed. "I hope so."

She raised her head and smiled at him. "Me too."

"You know how to ensure that there's a baby on the way next Christmas?" he asked, kissing her forehead.

"How?" she asked with a smirk, sensing what he was going to say next.

"Lots of practicing," he said, his blue eyes sparking even more than usual thanks to the lights on their tree.

Meredith ran her fingers through his hair, settling her hands on the back of his neck. "Like under the Christmas tree?" she giggled.

"New traditions have to start sometime," Derek pointed out amusedly.

She laughed, pulling her shirt over her head before gently pushing him toward the carpeted floor under the tree. "Excellent point."

--

Again, let me know if this fic is getting old. I'm not saying this for pity, I'm just wondering if I should wrap things up sooner than I originally planned out. Anyway, let me know. :)