94. Last Day of Work

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Good news! This semester from hell is finally over, which means more writing time. Hopefully I'll be able to post more often now, at least for the next few weeks anyway. Enjoy this chapter! Oh, and for those that read my one shot fics, I'm going to try to write at least one over the holidays, so be on the lookout! :)

Meredith walked down the hall toward the resident lounge, trying to savor every moment of her last day before maternity leave. As annoyed as she was that the hospital was basically making her stop working at thirty-six weeks, she knew her body needed the rest. Her feet were swollen, her belly bumped everything in sight, and she visited the bathroom at least once an hour to pee. The prospect of getting to sleep in and lounge around at home doing nothing was actually starting to sound appealing, not that she'd ever admit it to anyone.

She opened the lounge door and smiled when she saw the 'Happy Last Day, Meredith!' banner taped above her cubby, undoubtedly Izzie's doing. "Thanks, you guys," she said to her friends as she dropped her bag down onto the bench.

"So... are you excited?" Izzie asked.

Meredith shrugged. "Yes and no. I'm excited to get to sleep in every day, and walk around in socks all day long..." she said, pulling off her shoes so she could change into her scrub pants. "My feet are so freaking swollen already."

"Well, you're eight months pregnant. Taking time off will be good for you," Lexie said supportively, smiling at her sister.

"I know," Meredith agreed. "But I know that in forty-eight hours, I'll be bored out of my mind. My body doesn't know how to shut off the Resident Mode."

"Is Shepherd taking time off, too?" Alex asked, biting into one of the muffins Izzie had baked for Meredith's last day.

"Not until after she's born. Babies are expensive," Meredith giggled as she pulled her scrub shirt over her head and smoothed it out over her belly. "One of us needs to bring in money."

"You still get paid, right?" George said, clipping his ID badge to his pocket.

Meredith nodded. "Yeah. But Derek brings in the fancy neurosurgeon money. Can I have one of those?" she asked, pointing to the large container of muffins on the table.

"Of course. I made them for you. Alex is just a mooch," Izzie said as she rolled her eyes at him. "Take as many as you want."

"I shouldn't even eat one, but they smell so good," Meredith yawned as she walked over to the table. "I'm so freaking bloated."

"Wow," Alex laughed. "Never thought I'd see this side of you, Grey..."

Meredith dropped down into a chair and sighed, peeling back the paper on the bottom of the muffin and biting into it. "Sorry. Along with not being able to see my feet, I also lost my ability to censor what comes out of my mouth," she giggled.

"I find it charming," Alex said, chugging down his coffee. "So, uh, if you poop during delivery, you won't care about that either?"

Izzie's eyes went wide and she smacked his arm. "Oh my God! Don't scare her with stuff like that!"

"Oh, I already told Derek not to tell me if I do. I'll be mortified enough as it is," Meredith said, tapping her fingers over her belly as the baby kicked. "Lilly's kicking. I think she likes the muffins."

"Speaking of that, I'm making you and Derek a care package. You know, food that you can freeze and reheat for after she's born. You're not going to have the energy to cook anything, so I want to help out. And I'm not taking no for an answer, so don't even try to stop me," Izzie said with a smile.

"Thank you, Iz," Meredith replied. "That's really sweet." She looked around the resident lounge and sighed sadly. "I'm going to miss this."

"It's not like you won't be back," Cristina pointed out. "Hell, you'll be back in four weeks to push a human being out of your body."

Meredith smirked. "Very comforting."

Derek appeared in the doorway and pointed his thumb toward the hall. "Bailey's coming," he warned them.

The five of them hopped out of their chairs, leaving Meredith there like a sitting duck. "Hello? Help please?" she laughed, holding her hand out.

George spun around and took her hand, helping to hoist her up out of the chair. "Thank you, George," she said.

George smiled. "No problem."

The two met up with Derek and the others in the hall, just as Bailey was approaching. "Any cases today?" Meredith asked her husband, who had a cup of decaf tea in his hand for her.

"Mrs. Donahue just rescheduled," Derek said.

Meredith frowned before taking a sip of tea. "What? Why?"

"Her grandson was just born and she wants to get back home. It was a non-emergent procedure. She'll be back next week," he explained. "So unless something comes up, no fancy brain surgeries today."

"Okay, Karev, you're with Robbins on the kid who needs the transplant. Izzie, they need someone up in neonatal. Yang, you're with Torres. O'Malley, go prep Mr. Breslin for the thoracotomy. And Grey, in honor of your last day, I thought I'd go easy on you. You're in the clinic," Bailey said.

Meredith blinked. "What?"

"Take your husband with you," Bailey offered. "He's not scrubbed in anywhere."

"This is no fair," Meredith argued, crossing her arms on top of her belly.

Derek laughed. "Hey, last I checked, you enjoyed my company."

"I remember how exhausted I was on my last day here when I was pregnant. Believe me, you'll thank me later," Bailey said wisely, turning around and heading toward the nurses' station.

Meredith took another bite of her muffin. "This sucks."

"We'll make the most of it," Derek said in an effort to make the day ahead sound more appealing. "If there's nothing going on, we can sneak away for sex."

"I am kind of horny," Meredith admitted. "But I have no energy to be on top."

"That spooning thing is kind of fun," Derek grinned, hitting the button for the elevator.

Meredith smiled, her mood improving at the prospect of sneaky, dirty hospital sex, the last time she'd have sex at work for the next few months. "Yes it was..."

...

Three hours passed in the clinic. Three hours spent giving tetanus shots and suturing and writing prescriptions for various creams. The definition for dull if there ever was one. Meredith sat back in her swivel chair at the nurses' station and kicked off her shoes. "Bailey's plan is working," she said.

Derek flipped a chart shut and deposited it back in the bin. "What do you mean?"

"I'll thank her later when my clinic sentence is over," Meredith giggled. "Do you have fifty cents?"

"Yeah. For what?" he asked, reaching for his wallet.

Meredith pointed to the vending machine. "Can you get me a granola bar or something? Lilly starts kicking me if I don't eat something every two hours."

"Sure." Derek kissed the top of her head, then walked over toward the waiting area.

Olivia entered the clinic and made a beeline for the nurses' station where Meredith was seated. "Hey. There's a trauma coming into the ER. Do you think you could help out? We could use a few extra hands," she asked.

"Yeah," Meredith nodded, wedging her feet back into her shoes. "I'll bring Derek with me."

"Thank you," Olivia called out, already running back toward the trauma bay.

Meredith stood up and waved Derek back over, smiling when he handed her the chocolate chip granola bar. "The ER has a trauma coming in. We need to go help with the overflow," she told him, quickly unwrapping her snack and biting off a piece of it.

"Okay," Derek replied.

They crossed the ambulance bay and entered the ER doors to put on trauma gowns and gloves, moving quickly to meet the ambulances outside in time. "Any idea what happened?" Derek asked a nearby nurse.

"The play place at Happy Land collapsed. Big group of kids coming in from a birthday party," she briefed them.

"Happy Land? That sounds like a sex shop," Meredith said, tying the back of Derek's yellow gown.

"It's like Chuck E. Cheese," Derek informed her, laughing. "You wanted excitement, right? A bunch of little kids should help with that."

"Better than being stuck in the clinic," Meredith shrugged. She finished off the last of her granola bar then slipped on her gloves. "You still owe me spoony sex when we get home," she said, smiling at him.

"It's a date."

"A sex date?" Meredith giggled.

"Yes," Derek grinned. "A porny, fun, sex date."

The wailing of the ambulance sirens alerted them to the incoming trauma, and they ran outside to meet them, anxiously anticipating what was to come. Working in the pit could be fun at times, but when little kids were involved, the task became much more daunting. The first ambulance pulled into the bay and two paramedics swung open the back doors. "Lindsay Dreyer, age seven. She was in the play place when it collapsed on top of the ball pit. Initial exam showed nothing more than a few bump and bruises, but we brought her here just to be safe," the paramedic told them.

"Lindsay, my name is Meredith. I'm going to check you out, okay," Meredith said comfortingly.

Derek signed his name on the paramedic's chart, admitting her into his care. "She looks okay. Any serious injuries coming in?"

"Thankfully, no. Not from what we could see. Mostly superficial wounds," she said. "There's a few more kids rolling in now."

"Okay," Derek nodded. He turned his attention to Lindsay, smiling when he saw her pink sash and tiara. "Hey, Lindsay. Are you the birthday girl?"

"Uh huh," Lindsay replied. "I'm seven."

"Well, happy birthday," Derek said enthusiastically, examining her pupils. "So what happened?"

"Me and Brittany and Josh were in the play place thingy and it fell into the ball pit underneath us. Chloe, Savannah, and Max were in there. Mommy was screaming and saying lots of bad words to the people at Happy Land," the girl laughed. "Can I still have my birthday cake? I told Mommy to bring it."

Meredith smiled. "Yeah, you can still have your cake. Let's just get you and your friends checked out first, okay?" she said.

Another gurney was wheeled in next to Lindsay's, escorted by Hunt. "Brittany, this is Meredith and Derek. They're gonna take care of you, okay?" Owen said, patting the girl's shoulder. He turned to the two of them and pointed to the ER doors. "Another kid is coming in. Would you mind looking after her?"

"Not at all. It's a birthday party, right?" Derek managed to laugh. "Hi, Brittany. I'm Derek. Do you hurt anywhere?"

Before the girl could answer, she vomited all over the bed, sending Meredith's gag reflex into overdrive. "Oh crap," she said, turning her head and placing her hand over her mouth.

"Deep breaths, Mer," Derek said, lifting Brittany off the bed and placing her onto another. "I need a nurse over here, please!"

A little boy was brought in while Meredith was regaining composure, not looking at the vomit, and she walked over to him. "Are you Josh?"

"Max," the little boy said. He saw the nurse carry away the vomit covered sheets and he shrieked. "Ew, who threw up?"

"I, uh..." Meredith swallowed thickly. "Are you hurt?"

"Hi, Max!" Lindsay waved excitedly.

"Did your mom bring the cake?" Max asked her while Meredith checked his pupils.

"I dunno," Lindsay shrugged. "Meredith, are you having a baby?"

Meredith patted Lindsay's gurney and looked to Max. "Hop up here, okay?"

Max did as he was told then pointed to Meredith's belly. "So are you having a baby?"

Derek sent Brittany off with one of the ER interns to get changed, then walked around the bed to help Meredith. "Yes, she is having a baby," he answered. "A little girl."

"What's her name gonna be?" Lindsay asked as Derek palpated her skull to make sure there were no fractured areas.

"Lilly," Derek replied.

"How do you know?" Max asked.

Meredith smiled as she palpated Max's skull. "Because he's the daddy," she informed them. Perhaps TMI, but she didn't particularly care.

"You are?" Lindsay gasped.

"Yep," Derek grinned, scribbling down some notes in the girl's chart. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Brittany returned, wearing some largely oversized scrubs, and Derek hoisted her up onto the gurney with her two friends. "They're having a baby," Max informed her.

"Really? When?" Brittany asked.

"In a few weeks," Meredith said. "Actually, this is my last day at work until after the baby is born."

"We were going to celebrate today," Derek said, flashing her a grin.

Meredith nudged his shoulder with hers and rolled her eyes. "Mmhmm..."

"Like a party?" Lindsay asked. "We could sing to you, too!"

"No, no. That's okay, sweetie. It's your birthday," Meredith said, hoping Derek kept his mouth shut. She knew how amusing he would find it if a group of kids sang to her, especially in the middle of the ER.

"When my cousin was born, there was a big party for my aunt. Did you have one of those?" Brittany asked.

Meredith sighed amusedly. "No, I haven't had a baby shower yet. But it's coming though..."

"Is it?" Derek smirked, checking Brittany's pupils.

"Just a hunch," Meredith shrugged. "Okay, Max, it looks like you have some bruising on your arm. And Lindsay, you have a few scratches on your chin."

"What about me?" Brittany asked.

Derek smiled. "Looks to me like you just had too much pizza, that's all."

"Aww, I won't get to wear a cast?" Max asked, disappointed by his minor injuries.

"I don't think so, buddy," Derek sighed.

Another round of kids entered the ER, accompanied by two adults, the chaos escalating by the second. "Do you know those grown-ups?" Meredith asked them.

"Uh huh. That's my mom and dad," Lindsay said. "Mommy! Daddy!"

The girl's parents rushed over to her side, making sure she was okay. "How is she?" Lindsay's mother asked worriedly.

"She's fine; they're all just fine," Derek assured them both. "Excuse us a second. We need to check on the others."

"Chloe, Savannah, and Josh," the paramedic said, pointing to each of them. "The girls look good, but Josh is complaining of some pain in his foot. It might be fractured."

"Okay," Meredith nodded. She smiled at the kids. "Derek and I are going to check you out, okay?"

"My foot hurts," Josh whined.

"I know. We're going to take care of it, okay?" Meredith said comfortingly. "Can you page Torres please?" she asked a nurse. Meredith gently removed the boy's shoe, careful not to jostle his foot. "Does anything else hurt?"

Josh shook his head. "No."

"How about you girls?" Derek addressed Chloe and Savannah. "Does anything hurt?"

"Nope," Chloe answered. "Is Lindsay here?"

"She's over there," Derek said, pulling out his penlight and checking her pupils. "You can go see them once we're done, okay?" He switched to Savannah's eyes and examined them. "No dizziness or headaches?"

Savannah shook her head. "No. Did Lindsay's mom bring the cake?"

"This must be one heck of a cake," Derek chuckled.

"She didn't even get to open her presents yet," Josh said dramatically. "We didn't get to smash the piñata either."

"A piñata, huh? That's my kind of party," Derek agreed.

"And she had ice cream cake!" Savannah added.

"Wow. Ice cream cake, too," Meredith said, sounding impressed.

Bailey entered the ER, quickly securing her gown so she could help manage the chaos. She spotted Meredith and Derek in a sea of little kids and smiled. "Wishing you were over in the clinic right now, don't you?"

Meredith smiled. "A little, yeah."

...

She barely had enough energy to change back into her clothes at the end of her shift, and her feet were practically screaming at her. The day had been long and tiring, and she didn't even get to see the inside of an OR. And now, it was over. Mostly, that fact sucked. But a part of her was relieved that she got to go home and do nothing more than curl up in bed with Derek. "No more scrubs for a while, Lilly..." she sighed, tossing them into the bin.

"Hey," Derek said as he entered the lounge, setting his briefcase on the table.

Meredith shimmied back into her pants and smiled at him. "Hey."

"Are you sad?" he asked.

"Twelve hours ago, I thought you would've had to drag me out of here. But now, I'm exhausted," she giggled. "My body wants me to stop, even if my brain says work until I'm in labor."

"I agree with your body on that one," Derek chuckled. "Sorry there were no surgeries."

"That's okay. I had fun," Meredith said, shoving her books into her tote bag, along with other odds and ends she wanted to take with her while she was on leave.

Derek eyed her curiously. "You did?"

"Yeah. I mean, little kids are exhausting. But still, it was nice to spend the day with you," Meredith said.

"It was fun spending the day with you, too," Derek said. He walked over to her and sat down on the bench next to her. "I thought we could stop for takeout on the way home. Then have that spoony sex."

Meredith bit her lip and smiled. "I'd like that," she said, tossing out some old food from her cubby into the trash can.

"How long has that been in there?"

"How long have I had this cubby?" she asked.

Derek laughed. "That's gross, Mer."

"I never have time to clean this thing out," Meredith said, finding a stack of tampons in her pile of stuff and splitting them evenly between Izzie's and Cristina's cubbies. "They're always asking me for tampons. And since I'm knocked up and don't need them, these can be my parting gift."

"Very kind of you," Derek teased. He saw a picture of the two of them from a long time ago, before Addison even showed up, taped on the side of her cubby and he smiled. "I never knew you kept that there."

"Oh. Yeah. I've had that picture with me since I got it developed all those years ago. At first, I had it tucked into the back of my intern locker. When I was having a bad day, it always made me happy. Then once we got together-together, I taped it up. And here's one of Lilly," Meredith said, pointing to one of their daughter's ultrasound photos.

"Pretty soon, you'll be able to hang up her newborn pictures," Derek grinned proudly.

Meredith rested her head on his shoulder. "And you'll need a bigger desk for all the pictures of her."

"Oh, I plan on having pictures of Lilly plastered all over the walls of my office," Derek said. "And, you know, any additional offspring, of course."

"Uh huh," Meredith giggled. "As long as you don't hang up any pictures of me on the wall, that's all."

"I only have the two pictures of us on my desk... one of us at our wedding, and one of us at Izzie and Alex's," Derek said.

"Hmm, the day we found out I was pregnant with her," she said, smoothing her shirt over her belly.

"That's what that picture reminds me of." Derek kissed the top of her head and she leaned into him. "All set?"

Meredith nodded. "Yep, let's go."

...

"So I was thinking, this weekend we could put the nursery together," Meredith said as she twirled some pasta on her fork. "All of her clothes and bedding are washed, so all we need to do is move everything in."

"Sure, sounds good," Derek agreed, taking another bite of salad. "Mark and I already assembled the furniture, so the hard part is done. It's just figuring out where to put everything. She has a lot of stuff."

"And she's only going to get more after the baby shower. I already told everyone not to go overboard, but they never listen," she said.

"Well, they know we bought all the big things, right?" Derek pointed out. "And we only registered for items on the registry Izzie made us do. Clothes and toys and stuff."

"Exactly. Lilly's wardrobe is already bigger than both of ours combined," Meredith laughed. "She has two sock drawers, Derek."

"You wanted to buy all those socks," Derek reminded her, making sure she caught the smirk on his face.

Meredith bit her lip, trying to come up with a defense, but couldn't. "Shut up."

"She has a big closet. There'll be plenty of room for her dresses and shoes and headbands," Derek chuckled.

"I can't wait to put those headbands on her. Think of how cute she'll look, especially if she has hair like yours," Meredith said with a smile as she sprinkled more parmesan cheese onto her chicken.

Derek shook his head in incredulity. "Where is the tequila-loving girl I met in the bar that night?"

"I blame you," Meredith retorted. "You turned me into a cheerful person."

"You've always been cheerful. It's just been hidden under that cloak of darkness," Derek teased her.

Meredith tossed a crouton at him and narrowed her eyes. "I'm carrying your child. Can you not make fun of me?" she requested playfully.

"Sorry." He kissed her cheek then hopped up off the stool, heading for the fridge. "I know a way I can make it up to you."

"How?"

Derek pulled two slices of ice cream cake out of the fridge and placed them on the counter in front of her. "Birthday cake."

"Where did you get cake from? And how did you sneak it in here?" she asked, waiting for an explanation.

"You were with Callie putting the cast on Josh's foot, and Lindsay told me to take some cake so you and I could celebrate," he grinned, grabbing two clean forks from the drawer. "Her mom cut me two slices, and I ran it upstairs to the freezer in the attending lounge. And then before I came to see you after your shift, I snuck the plate out to the car. And while you were getting changed, I snuck the plate into the house."

Meredith smiled at him as she accepted the fork he handed her. "You did all of that for me?"

"Well technically, Lindsay supplied the cake. I just delivered it to you."

"Sneaky, clever man..." She sliced off a small sliver of the chocolate ice cream cake with her fork and brought it to her mouth. "Mmm, wow. Happy birthday, Lindsay."

"Good?"

"I want this for my birthday. Seriously, take a bite," Meredith said, tapping her fork on his plate.

"That is good," Derek agreed, his mouth full of the ice cream cake. "I'll make sure there's one here on your birthday," he promised her.

"If you could call Izzie and tell her I want ice cream cake for this mysterious baby shower, I'll give you lots of spoony sex tonight," she bribed, not that she really needed to. Derek would ask Izzie regardless, just as Meredith would give him sex. Win-win scenario for both of them.

Derek pulled his cell phone from his pocket, amused. "Chocolate, right?"

"Yes, with the Oreo crumbs," Meredith added. "Oh, and frosting flowers." She licked some ice cream from her fingers and smiled. Maybe maternity leave wouldn't be so bad.