124. Shepherd Family Visit

Disclaimer: I don't own TV shows.

"Well, I think you officially have more clothes than Daddy and I combined," Meredith said, putting a pair of Lilly's folded leggings atop the growing stack on the coffee table.

Lilly looked at Meredith from her boppy seat next to her on the couch, and stretched her tiny limbs before popping her thumb in her mouth. Meredith laughed. "Hey, don't fall asleep on me. Daddy's going to be back soon with your aunt, uncle and cousin from New York. And they've never met you, so they're probably going to make a fuss."

Meredith pulled one of Lilly's onesies from the laundry basket at her feet and folded it on her lap. "To be honest, I'm kinda nervous about having a toddler here. But I guess it'll be a good glimpse into what we can expect from you in three years, right? Although, you're a girl, and girls like tea parties and dolls. Boys like destruction and dead bugs," she said. "We'll see how it goes. Hopefully when all is said and done, Adam will be your new little cousin."

Car doors shut in the driveway, and Charlie's ears perked up in excitement. He trotted toward the front door. Meredith smiled, scooping Lilly from the boppy seat and into her arm. "They're here, Lillybug."

She walked into the foyer, and pushed open the door with her free arm, so they could enter. Charlie ran in circles around their legs, always happy to have company, and Tom leaned down to pet him. "Hey, buddy."

Amy set Kyle on his feet, and he was nearly eye level with the dog. Meredith smiled at the toddler, who timidly walked over to his dad. "You can pet him, Kyle. He's friendly. He might just lick your face, though," she giggled.

"Go ahead, sweetie," Amy encouraged, before turning her attention to Meredith and hugging her. "It's so nice to see you again. We haven't seen you guys since last Thanksgiving. You barely even had a baby bump yet." She looked at Lilly, who was looking around curiously at the three new people in her house. "Oh my God, she's beautiful," Amy gasped. "I mean, I've seen about a thousand pictures, but still. She's gorgeous."

"Oh, thank you," Meredith said, catching Derek's proud smile out of the corner of her eye.

"She's definitely a Shepherd. Look at that hair," Amy said in awe.

Meredith smiled, gently combing her fingers through Lilly's dark head of hair, smoothed back by her headband. "Yeah, I think that was a given. It's already getting a little wavy. I'm waiting to wake up one day, and see curls."

"I think Kyle's curls came in when he was about six months old. It's pretty much an unchangeable code in the Shepherd DNA. So, expect to see curls around Christmas," Amy laughed.

"She's right. It's inevitable," Derek chuckled.

"My blonde haired, brown eyed DNA didn't stand a chance," Tom joked as he picked Kyle up.

Meredith laughed. "I didn't think mine would, either, so I'm glad Lilly at least looks a little bit like me," she said as they walked into the living room.

"I see a lot of you in her," Amy said. "She's so pretty."

"She really is," Tom agreed, sitting Kyle on his lap. "Say hi to your cousin, buddy."

Kyle looked at Lilly, and she stared back at him, equally interested. "Hi," Kyle waved with his small hand.

"You're the first Shepherd cousin to meet her, Kyle," Derek said.

"Mom said you guys are coming out for Thanksgiving?" Amy said.

"Yeah, we're ninety-nine percent sure, as long as Meredith can bank enough hours for three days off," Derek replied. "Then Lilly can meet the fourteen other East coast cousins she has. Maybe they'll get to meet Adam by then, too."

"That's the plan," Amy said, already wringing her hands together in nervous anticipation. "After what happened last time, we know better than to get our hopes up."

Derek wrapped his arm around Amy and gave her shoulders a small squeeze. "One step at a time," he promised her. "We're meeting with Dr. Halloran and Karen this afternoon. Karen is the hospital social worker. She deals with all of the in-hospital adoptions."

"Your adoption social worker flew out here, too, right?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah, Michelle. She's staying at a hotel near the hospital. I do a lot of pro bono work in my practice for kids in the foster care system, so we've known each other for years. She's been with us from the start."

"Well, the good thing is that you're already at an advantage. You've had the home study and passed all of your clearances, so all of the legal stuff is out of the way. And because you were all set to adopt earlier this year, it shows you're prepared," Derek pointed out.

"And this is already a special case. Because Adam has no next of kin, the hospital wants to find him a family while he's still a patient, rather than putting him in the system when he's released. I mean, obviously, there's still a lot of stuff that has to be worked out, but given the circumstances, the scale tips in your favor," Meredith added.

"And he's still doing well? Off all the machines and everything?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, he's doing great. He made it to six pounds, and he's in the regular nursery now. If it hadn't been for Karen and Dr. Halloran, he probably would have been discharged by now. But when your social worker got in contact with them, they held off on filing any paperwork. Honestly, they were both relieved. Placing newborns in temporary homes is always a risk. A lot of times, the parents decide it's too much work, and end up giving the babies back so they can be placed with new families. Then, they're just bounced around for God knows how long until a permanent family is found," Derek explained with a sigh, leaning over to kiss the top of Lilly's head, even more grateful for his daughter, and to know that she was his forever.

"We've been with him since the minute he was born. And we normally don't get attached to patients, but he's... it's almost like the universe was looking out for him, as corny as that sounds," Meredith said, smiling at Lilly who smiled in return.

"It's true," Derek agreed. "And he's got dark hair and blue eyes. That little guy is destined to be a Shepherd. He'd fit right in."

Amy and Tom smiled at that, almost as though it gave them hope. "That's a good sign," Amy said.

"Yeah, it is," Tom nodded.

"Legally, he doesn't have a name on his birth certificate, but we've been calling him Adam. Of course, that doesn't mean you have to—" Meredith said before Amy interrupted.

"We love it," Amy said. "We actually considered that name for Kyle, so Adam is perfect. If this works out, we can tell him his Aunt Meredith named him."

Meredith smiled at the thought. "Sounds good."

"You said Adam was a twin, right?" Tom asked.

"Yeah. Annie. She had a stroke, and went without oxygen. Her heart was too weak to recover from it. She, uh..." Meredith cleared her throat, hugging Lilly closer to her. "I was holding her when she died."

"Oh, God," Amy frowned.

"It was hard. She was doing well, so no one expected it. When Meredith and I have free time at work, we always spend time with him. He has no one else. So, we were both thrilled that you guys wanted to adopt him. And if it's meant to happen, it'll happen. You have every reason to be hopeful," Derek said. "So, how about we bring your bags in and give you some time to get settled, maybe get something to eat. Then we can get ready to go up to the hospital?" Derek suggested.

"You're sure you don't mind coming along?" Amy asked, shifting Kyle to her lap.

"No, not at all. Dr. Halloran delivered Lilly, and I've worked with Karen before on cases. I'm happy to go and offer any help I can," Derek replied, looking over at Meredith. "Unless you'd rather go, and I could stay here with Kyle and Lilly."

Meredith shook her head. "No, no. We'll be fine. You can ask Lilly, Kyle. I'm very entertaining."

"Hear that? You, Lilly, and Aunt Meredith are gonna have fun," Amy said, kissing her son's cheek.

Kyle smiled tentatively at her as he started to come out of his shell. "Do you have fruit snacks?"

"We have Scooby Doo and Spiderman," Meredith said in her best attempt to get her nephew to approve of her.

"Do you like Yo Gabba Gabba?" Kyle asked.

"I... love it. Yeah," Meredith nodded, looking to the others for help.

"It's a cartoon. I have DVDs in his bag," Amy said.

Meredith smiled in relief. "Thank you."

...

"This has to be the world's creepiest show, Lilly," Meredith said as she burped Lilly on her lap after nursing her.

Kyle stood in front of the TV, hopped up on his peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cookies from lunch, dancing to a song from his cartoon. "Don't bite your friends!" he sang along, clapping his hands.

"How is this appropriate for toddlers?" Meredith murmured, picking up the Yo Gabba Gabba DVD box and flipping it over. She smiled when she noticed Lilly was watching the TV, her big, blue eyes fascinated, too. "Really, Lillybug? It's bad enough you seem to prefer The Clash over Duran Duran. Now you like this, too?"

Lilly looked up at her and smiled wide, and Meredith pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Oh, you think that's funny, huh?" she laughed.

Kyle's cartoon ended, and he turned around. "Can I have some fruit snacks?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just need to change Lilly's diaper, then we'll go get some, okay?" Meredith compromised, laying Lilly down on the couch cushion.

"'Kay," Kyle agreed.

Meredith pointed to the pink bin full of diaper supplies next to the end table. "Can you get me that pink thing with the handle, Kyle?"

"Yeah," Kyle said, quickly running over to get it. He picked it up with two hands and walked back over to her, setting the bin at Meredith's feet. "Can I help?"

"Sure you can," Meredith said, pulling off Lilly's blue leggings. "Can you hand me the wipes in that green container?"

"Uh huh," Kyle said, lifting them from the bin and holding them out to her.

Meredith smiled. "Thank you," she said. She set them on her lap and popped open the lid, then peeled back the tabs of Lilly's diaper. As she was cleaning Lilly, Meredith noticed the expression on Kyle's face, and she couldn't help but laugh at how cute he looked, a lot like the pictures of Derek she'd seen when he was that age.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Meredith asked.

"She don't got a penis," Kyle said, puzzled.

Meredith froze, biting her lip. She didn't even know he knew that word, much less how to explain the difference between boys and girls to her toddler-aged nephew. "Oh. Well..." she stalled. "You see, um, girls... they don't have those. Only boys have those. Girls have... different parts. And because Lilly is a girl and you're a boy, you're different from each other."

"Oh," Kyle replied simply.

Meredith breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that he seemed placated by that answer. Before he could ask her any more questions about human anatomy, she diverted the conversation elsewhere. "Can you hand me a new diaper, please?"

Kyle reached into the bin and pulled out the diaper, then swapped that for the wipes. "Here ya go."

"Thank you," Meredith said, sliding the fresh diaper under Lilly's bottom. "Okay, now the powder?"

Kyle eagerly gave it to her, and Meredith smiled at his enthusiasm. "You're a very good helper, Kyle. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kyle said politely, putting the powder back in its place when Meredith handed it back to him.

She fastened the diaper together, then shimmied the baby's pants back up her legs. "Okay, all finished," Meredith said, picking Lilly up off the couch, then grabbing the old diaper. "Let's go into the kitchen."

"Okay," Kyle said, running ahead of her.

"At least he's not shy anymore," Meredith told Lilly, who grabbed some of Meredith's hair and put it in her mouth.

"Can I have Spiderman?" Kyle asked as he hopped up onto one of the kitchen chairs.

"Sure," Meredith said, tossing Lilly's old diaper in the trash. She washed and dried her hands one at a time, switching Lilly from one arm to the other, then took two packs of fruit snacks from the pantry. After opening them, she handed one pack to Kyle. "Here you go."

"Thank you," Kyle said, pulling out a blue one.

Meredith popped a green one into her mouth and began chewing, contemplating on something to talk about with her nephew. "So, uh, do you know why you and your Mommy and Daddy are here?"

"'Cause I might be gettin' a baby Adam," Kyle answered excitedly.

"Yeah. That's pretty cool, you know," Meredith said.

"Can I meet him?" Kyle asked.

Meredith smiled. "Your Mom, Dad, and Uncle Derek just went to go talk to some people about that. If everything goes well, maybe you can meet him tomorrow."

"How big is he?"

"He's just a baby. He's even smaller than Lilly," Meredith said. Kyle's mouth formed an 'o' shape, and Meredith laughed. "Yeah, that little."

"Can he go trick or treating with me?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know yet," Meredith said, not wanting to give the little boy false hope. "Do you have a Halloween costume yet?"

"Uh huh," Kyle said as he chewed on a fruit snack. "I'm gonna be a pirate!"

"Really? That's awesome!" Meredith smiled.

Kyle pointed to Lilly. "Does she have a costume yet?"

"No, not yet. What do you think she should be for Halloween?" Meredith asked him.

"Uhhh..." Kyle pondered seriously before his eyes lit up. "Snow White 'cause she has dark hair like Snow White."

"You know what, that's a great idea. When Uncle Derek gets home, I'll run that by him," Meredith giggled, looking down at Lilly, who switched from sucking on Meredith's hair for her own thumb. "What do you think, Lilly? Wanna be Snow White?"

"My cousins make me watch that a lot," Kyle said dramatically.

"Lots of girl cousins that outvote you, huh?" Meredith said, walking over to the fridge.

"All the time," Kyle sighed, as though it was the biggest problem to ever plague him.

Meredith sat back down, stabbed a straw into each of their juice boxes, and handed one to him. "Well then, you need a little brother more than anyone, don't you?"

"Yup."

Meredith took a sip and smiled at him. "We all have our fingers crossed for you, buddy."

...

Over an hour passed without a call from Derek, and Meredith was getting anxious. She knew that the meeting was going to be tedious and take time, and that she was probably just being impatient, but still, she was itching to know how things were going. She set down her crayon next to the coloring book she and Kyle were sharing, and reached for her phone on the end table.

"I'll be right back, sweetie," she told Kyle, getting up off the floor. She smiled at Lilly, who was peacefully napping in her motion swing, then walked into the kitchen. Rather than calling Derek and risking disrupting anything, she settled on Cristina instead. After dialing, she held the phone to her ear, leaning against the counter while she waited for an answer.

On the third ring, Cristina picked up. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Meredith returned. "You're still at work, right?"

"Yeah, I just scrubbed out. Teddy let me fix a coronary artery aneurysm by myself. You should've been there, Mer. I was flawless," Cristina boasted.

Meredith smiled, amused by her unveiled arrogance. "I'm sure you were," she said. "Anyway, I have a favor to ask. Do you have a minute?"

"What?" Cristina asked.

"I need you to walk by the meeting they're having in conference room B, and see if you can find out what's going on," Meredith explained, glancing into the living room to make sure Lilly and Kyle were okay.

"Oh, for the adoption thing?"

"Yeah."

"So, you want me to be your spy?" Cristina assumed.

"Yes, but you know, casually. Just... mosey by the window and sneak a peek," Meredith said.

"Did you just say mosey?" Cristina asked, the teasing evident in her tone.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Mosey. Saunter. Whatever. Just be subtle about it."

"Fine. But can I at least stop at the vending machine first? I haven't eaten since seven this morning."

"Fine."

"Are you being the good aunt-slash-babysitter while they're here?" Cristina asked.

"Yeah. Lilly is sleeping, and Kyle's coloring, so I figured while the house was quiet, I'd call you," Meredith said, picking up one of Charlie's toys and tossing it into his toy basket.

"Salt and vinegar chips or a pack of Oreos?" Cristina said after she reached the vending machine.

"Chips," Meredith answered.

Cristina put two quarters in the slot, and Meredith could hear as the chips fell into the delivery bin. As soon as Cristina reached in and took them, she opened the bag, and popped one into her mouth. "Good choice," she said as she chewed. "Conference room B, you said?"

"Yeah."

"Approaching the hallway," Cristina said in a hushed tone.

Meredith laughed. "Okay, you don't need to mock me and give me a play by play. Just walk by the window and tell me what you see."

Cristina put the phone in her pocket to avoid suspicion in case Derek or someone else in the room saw her, then glanced into the window, gauging whatever she could between the slats of the blinds. When she made it to the other side, she put the phone to her ear again. "Okay, six of them are sitting in there. Derek, whatever his sister's name is, the guy I'm assuming is her husband, Seattle Grace's social worker whose name I can't remember, Halloran, and some blond woman I don't know."

"Yeah, that's Amy and Tom's adoption social worker," Meredith said. "Could you tell what they were doing?"

Cristina shrugged. "I don't know. Just talking, I think. There were a bunch of papers spread out on the table."

"Well, did they look happy? Or was it all doom and gloom in there?" Meredith asked.

"It took me five seconds to walk past the window. How am I supposed to decipher any of that in five seconds?" Cristina retorted, crunching on another chip.

"Walk by again, then," Meredith said.

"Yeah, because that won't look stalkery," Cristina said sarcastically.

"Come on. Be a friend. Do it for me," Meredith said, trying not to sound like she was begging.

"Fine, but you owe me," Cristina groaned.

"Fine."

Cristina walked back the opposite way, peeking into the window again, slower this time. After passing by, she took the phone from her pocket again. "Okay, Derek said something and smiled, then they all laughed. How's that?"

"Oh, that's good!" Meredith said happily. "Maybe that means things are going their way."

"Yeah, McDreamy can move mountains with that smile," Cristina said, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, though. It doesn't look like doom and gloom to me."

Meredith breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. That's good."

"So, can I stop being Harriet the Spy now? Because it would be borderline creepy if I walked by a third time," Cristina said.

"No, you did good," Meredith said, smiling when she saw that Lilly was stretching her tiny limbs as she woke up from her nap. "Lilly's awake. I have to go. Thank you for gently stalking. I appreciate it."

"Just so you know, if someone saw me doing that, I'm blaming you," Cristina said.

"You do that."

...

Just as Meredith was about to call Derek out of desperation after suffering through a third episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, he came in the front door with a box of pizza. "Hey," he called out, walking into the living room.

Meredith turned around, smiling in relief. "Hey," she returned. "And you have pizza, which means I don't have to yell at you."

"Yell at me?" Derek asked. He set the pizza down on the table, and kissed Lilly's cheek. "Hey, Lillybug."

"You've been gone for three hours," Meredith said, handing Lilly to Derek.

Derek hugged Lilly to him and smiled. "There were about a hundred points on the agenda. Getting through it took a lot of time."

"So, how'd it go?" Meredith asked.

"You mean Cristina didn't tell you?" Derek asked, a knowing smirk plastered on his face.

Meredith bit her lip. She was busted, and she knew it. "You saw her, huh?"

"The first time, I didn't think much of it. But the second time she strolled by? Yeah, I kinda figured you were involved," Derek chuckled.

"Fine. I called her. But that's only because I was getting worried," Meredith defended.

"It actually went well. Because they went through all of this a year ago, a lot of the paperwork is already verified. They have to go back tomorrow for separate and joint interviews. So far, so good. I told them to go out to dinner, so they could have some time to themselves, so I brought home a pizza for me, you, and Kyle," Derek said.

Kyle turned around from his simultaneous TV watching and puzzle doing, eyes wide in excitement. "Pizza?"

"Yep. Why don't we go into the kitchen and eat it before it gets cold," Derek said.

"Okay. But I gotta go potty first," Kyle said, dropping his puzzle piece before running toward the stairs.

"So, what did you guys do today?" Derek asked.

"Well, I gave a condensed, G-rated version of why boys and girls are different. That was fun," Meredith said, amused.

"What?"

"I was changing Lilly's diaper, and he asked where her penis was," Meredith said as she began putting Kyle's crayons back in the box.

"Seriously? What did you tell him?"

"Why would I make that up? Yes, seriously," Meredith laughed. "I just kept it simple. Boys have them; girls don't. Then he wanted fruit snacks, so we were in the clear."

Derek grinned at Lilly, who reached her hand toward his face as she stretched. "Mommy is very good in a crisis, Lilly."

"Yeah, well, at least we're better prepared for when Lilly asks us about sex one day," Meredith said, grabbing the pizza off the table.

Derek got up off the couch and followed her into the kitchen. "By 'us' you mean you, right?"

"What? Why just me?" Meredith asked. She put the pizza down on the counter, then walked toward the cabinet for plates. "Just because I have a vagina and you don't means I'm the go-to parent for that stuff?"

"Well... yes," Derek said. "She's not gonna want to ask her dad about that. Bras and periods and... I don't even want to think about it." He looked at Lilly. "Just stay little forever, okay?"

Meredith smiled, setting the plates down on the table, then kissing his cheek. "Fine," she agreed. "But if future, fictitious baby number two is a boy, then you have to handle it."

"Deal."

"Deal," Meredith echoed, just as Kyle ran into the kitchen.

"Hey, buddy. Did you wash your hands?" Derek asked.

Kyle held out his palms proudly. "Uh huh," he nodded, before climbing into a kitchen chair.

"Good job," he praised, shifting Lilly to his other arm. "So, did you have fun with Aunt Meredith and Lilly this afternoon?"

"We colored and did puzzles and watched Yo Gabba Gabba," Kyle said as Meredith put a slice of cut up pizza on the little boy's dish.

"A lot of Yo Gabba Gabba," Meredith amended, getting herself a slice of pineapple and plain for Derek. She sat down in the chair next to him. "I'll be fighting nightmares for a week," she murmured.

"What do you mean?" Derek asked.

"There's a song about not biting your friends. And there's this weird character that just walks around and cries. He looks like a giant T-A-M-P-O-N," Meredith explained, spelling out the word so she wouldn't have to explain that to Kyle, too.

Derek nearly choked on his pizza slice, and Meredith nodded. "Right? And this is a kids' show."

"Lilly was watchin' it with me," Kyle said, a bite of pizza in his mouth.

"You were watching it too, Princess?" Derek asked Lilly, who smiled up at him.

"Yep, she was. She loved it," Meredith said, reaching for Kyle's empty sippy cup so she could refill it for him. "Actually, she enjoyed it so much that she had to fight to keep her eyes open, so she got a shorter nap than usual."

Derek raised his eyebrows at her. "Really?"

"Mhm," Meredith hummed.

"So that means..."

"Sex," Meredith mouthed, standing behind Kyle as she handed him his cup back.

"Looks like we'll be adding that show to our Tivo, then," Derek joked, adjusting Lilly so she sat resting on his free arm. He kissed the top of her head. "If it means more Mommy and Daddy time, I guess we can overlook the sad T-A-M-P-O-N, although I'm kind of convinced Mommy is making that up..."

"I am not," Meredith said, dropping her pizza onto her plate. She took Derek's phone from his pocket, and after a quick Wikipedia search, she showed him the screen. "See? Look. Creepy, giant T-A-M-P-O-N man. Actually, his name is Gooble, but I like my name for him better."

Derek's eyebrows knitted together in equal parts disturbance and amusement, and he laughed. "Yikes. That is creepy."

"Gooble is kinda weird, Uncle Derek," Kyle chimed in, licking some pizza sauce off of his finger.

Meredith smiled at Derek in satisfaction. "Told you."

...

Yes, Gooble actually exists, and he's hilariously creepy. Google image him! ;)