127. Lilly's First Halloween

Disclaimer: I don't own TV shows.

Thank you as always for your patience between chapters! School is stealing away all of my writing time lately, but I'm doing my best to write as often as I can. :)

Three weeks had passed since Amy, Tom and Kyle had gone back home to New York. And Adam, thanks to copious amounts of begging and bribing, was granted an extra week to stay at the hospital by the Chief. Meredith and Derek visited him every day. They fed him and held him and spent as much time with him as they could. Though nothing was made official just yet, they still considered him as their nephew.

And today, it was Halloween, the first for both Lilly and Adam. Lilly's surgeon scrubs were sitting next to her changing table, ready to be worn for tonight, and Adam's pumpkin costume that they'd bought him a few days ago was in Meredith's bag, so they could take it to him when they went for a visit, even though they both took the day off, per their rule of not working on holidays.

For now, though, Meredith sat at the kitchen counter with Lilly cradled in her arm, while Derek made breakfast. She smiled, watching as he expertly scrambled the eggs and flipped the French toast. It was nice, getting the chance to have a sit-down breakfast without the threat of pagers going off, or racing against the clock to shovel down a bowl of cereal before leaving for work.

"What time did you want to take Lilly over to Alex and Izzie's tonight? Izzie said she'd be home by five," Meredith said, before taking a small sip of her orange juice.

Derek lowered the flame under the French toast, and leaned against the counter. "I guess we can get there between five and six. That's usually when trick-or-treating starts."

"I hope we score some good candy, since, you know, we get to eat it all. Or, I do, since you don't really eat candy," Meredith told him, patting Lilly's bottom. "Sorry, peanut. Next year, you'll have a few teeth and will be able to eat some. But we're still taking you trick-or-treating. It'll technically be my first time, too."

Hearing Meredith say that was like a punch in the gut for Derek, and he sighed quietly to himself. It killed him that Meredith never got to experience the joy of the holiday as a child because her mother didn't let her. But still, he smiled. Meredith got to be the mom she always wanted for Lilly, and history wouldn't repeat itself.

"I can't wait to put the costume on her. She's gonna look adorable," he said, putting two slices of French toast on her plate, following by a heaping spatula full of scrambled eggs.

"I know. I think the scrubs were the right choice," Meredith said. "When I told Cristina she was going to be a surgeon for Halloween, she actually hugged me and thanked me for not dressing her in something frilly."

"You would've looked cute in either of those, Lillybug," Derek said, walking around the counter to take Lilly so Meredith could eat.

"Next year, you can pick, Lilly," Meredith promised.

Derek's phone rang, and he pulled it from his pocket. "Amy," he read off the display. He quickly answered the call then held it to his ear. "Hello?"

Meredith could hear his sister's voice on the other end, but couldn't decipher what she was saying, so she looked at Derek, hoping to read his face for clues.

"The agency called you this morning? What did they say?" Derek asked anxiously. He bounced on his heels with Lilly sitting in the crook of his arm as Amy spoke on the other end.

And when a smile broke out on his face, Meredith gasped. "They got custody?" she mouthed.

Derek gave her a thumbs up and grinned. "Yeah, Mer, Lilly and I were gonna go up in an hour or so to see him," he said before pausing. "Mhm. Sometime tomorrow morning, then?"

Amy spoke again, and Derek nodded. "Yep, we'll make sure he has everything... blankets, stuffed animals, all the paperwork. Karen's done this before; he's in excellent hands."

Meredith tossed Charlie a small piece of French toast. "Looks like you're getting a new human cousin, buddy," she said.

"Love you guys. And congrats," Derek told his sister over the phone. "Okay. Talk to you later."

After hanging up the phone, Meredith looked at him expectantly, itching to know all the details. "Okay, so? What's happening?" she asked.

"The agency called them this morning. They were officially given temporary custody, and pending a hearing, Adam will be their child permanently within two months. Because Karen is Seattle Grace's social worker, she'll be flying out to New York with Kyle tonight, and Amy and Tom will get him tomorrow morning."

"I'm so happy for them. And for Adam," Meredith smiled, laughing slightly. "I have to say, I really wasn't expecting this call today."

"Neither was I."

"So, this means they'll have him for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is good," Meredith pointed out.

"I know. I was worried about that," he admitted. "Amy sounded so happy on the phone. After what happened last time with the adoption falling through, she didn't get her hopes up, but now that it's official..."

"It makes it all totally worth it?" Meredith guessed.

Derek looked at Lilly, who smiled at him with her thumb in her mouth. "Yeah. It really does."

...

An hour later, they arrived at the hospital, and went up to the nursery to see Adam. Because the hospital had been his home since he was born, all of the floor nurses knew that Meredith and Derek both visited him frequently, so they designated a small nook of the nursery just for the baby. It was peaceful and more secluded, decorated with a blue name banner, complete with a cradle, changing area, and a rocking chair.

Derek held the door open, so Meredith and Lilly could enter first, then walked in behind them. When they spotted Mark holding Adam in his nursery nook, they smiled at him.

"Hey," Meredith said, Lilly looking over her shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"I have to be in surgery in a half hour. It's chainsaw pumpkin carving contest day. Some guy accidentally chopped his hand off, so until he's ready to head up to the OR, I figured I'd come up to visit him," Mark shrugged. "Didn't think I'd see you guys up here today, 'cause of Lilly's first Halloween."

"Amy called us this morning. They got temporary custody," Derek said.

A grin spread over Mark's face. "No kidding. That's great."

"Yeah. Karen's flying out with him today, and we wanted to say goodbye, make sure everything was in order before he left," Derek nodded. "Hear that, Adam? You get to go to a new home today."

"Here. Swap," Mark said, reaching out his free hand to take Lilly, so Meredith could hold Adam.

Meredith gently passed Lilly into Mark's arm, then took Adam. She breathed in his new baby smell. "I'm gonna miss you, buddy. But Amy and Tom are amazing. And you get Kyle, too; he'll be a great big brother."

"How long until they get a hearing?" Mark asked, kissing Lilly's cheek.

"Probably not until January, but it's okay, as long as they have custody. I mean, I know he's taken care of here, but he needs stability. A house and a bedroom and a family," Derek said.

"And in a few months, you'll be a Shepherd family member," Meredith told Adam, who smiled at her. "Look at you, all grown up now, like Lilly. Smiling and learning to hold your head up all by yourself. Can't you both just stay little?" she joked.

"Lilly's not even five months old yet," Mark said.

"I remember when she was five hours old. She was all wrinkly and new and hadn't even pooped yet," Meredith said nostalgically, passing Adam to Derek so he could have a turn holding him.

"Now, she's a pooping machine," Derek said, chuckling when Lilly glanced at him and gave him a big, gummy smile accompanied by one of her little coos. "Yes, I'm talking about you, Princess."

"Oh, that reminds me. I have Adam's costume," Meredith said, pulling the orange pumpkin costume from her bag.

"You got him a costume?"

Derek nodded. "It's his first Halloween, too. He deserves a costume. Plus, now he can surprise Amy and Tom when he gets to New York."

"You guys still going to the old house tonight for trick-or-treating?" Mark asked. "Bridget and I wanted to stop by to see Lilly in her badass surgeon costume."

"Yeah, we'll be there," Meredith said, unbuttoning the back of the costume for Adam. "And we decided that she's going to wear Derek's ferryboat scrub cap. We tried it on her a few days ago. She looks so cute."

"You mean all of her hair fit under that thing?" Mark teased.

"After several attempts, yes, it did," Derek laughed as he gently laid Adam down on the changing table. "It was freaky how much she looked like me."

"Exactly like him," Meredith amended. "Which is why we got her a pink pumpkin bucket for her candy, so people know she's actually a girl."

Derek unsnapped Adam's onesie pajamas, and slung them over his shoulder after taking them off. "We pinned Mer's name tag to the shirt pocket, though, so she'll be wearing something from both of us," he said.

"She's gonna be the prettiest surgeon I've ever seen," Mark said, tickling the bottom of Lilly's socked foot, and grinned when she broke out in a small fit of giggles.

Meredith and Derek both smiled at their favorite sound. As much as they missed the wrinkly, new, five hour old Lilly, they were just as in love with the five month old Lilly that smiled and laughed made funny, little facial expressions all day long.

"Is Uncle Mark tickling you?" Meredith asked her daughter, reaching for a new diaper while Derek took off Adam's old one.

Just as Derek opened the pack of diaper wipes, Adam took the opportunity to empty his bladder, and a geyser of urine sprang up like a fountain. Derek quickly grabbed a wad of tissues from the box sitting on the shelf under the changing table to suppress the leak, laughing at the bad timing. "Really, buddy? You couldn't have waited ten seconds?"

"We have a girl. We're not used to mischievous baby penises," Meredith said.

"Guess you don't get peed on?" Mark assumed.

Meredith laughed. "Oh, we still do. Lilly pees on Derek more than she pees on me, though, which I appreciate," she said, catching the amused look on Derek's face. "It just doesn't shoot at us."

"She peed on me the day we brought her home from the hospital, all over the front of my shirt," Derek said.

"Impressive. You don't even have the equipment to aim, and you still pee on your Daddy. High five," Mark said proudly, tapping his palm against Lilly's.

"One of her many talents," Derek said, fastening the diaper around Adam's waist. He slipped a onesie over the baby's head, and maneuvered his arms and legs through the holes before snapping it.

"Here you go," Meredith said, handing him the costume.

Derek put Adam's costume on him without protest, then picked him up to survey his work. "Very handsome, Adam," he said.

"Yes, he is," Meredith agreed.

Mark noticed as Lilly scrunched her face in a serious scowl, and balled up her tiny fists, and he laughed. "She's either thinking real hard, or she's living up to that pooping machine nickname you gave her."

"I'll go change her," Meredith giggled, waiting until Lilly finished before taking her from Mark. She slung Lilly's diaper bag over her shoulder and walked toward the door to the nursery to take her to the bathroom right across the hall. "We'll be right back."

Derek smiled. "Okay."

"She's very chipper today," Mark commented after Meredith and Lilly left the room.

"She is. This is Lilly's first big holiday. Ellis wasn't big on holidays, so Meredith never really got to enjoy them growing up. Now that Lilly's here, she gets to do all the fun stuff she missed out on," Derek said. "I know I shouldn't resent Ellis, but I do. I couldn't imagine not taking Lilly out trick-or-treating. Mom worked two jobs, but still made all of our costumes, including yours. Six of them. And she wrangled us all by herself to go out and get candy. Ellis had one child, and didn't care enough to make Meredith a priority, just for one night."

"She was kind of a bitch," Mark said candidly.

"Mark."

"What? Am I wrong?" Mark upheld.

Derek sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Not entirely," he admitted.

"Maybe it's for the best. You guys get to right the wrongs for your own kid," Mark said. "Meredith practically skipped out of the room, just to go change a diaper. Think Ellis Grey ever did that?"

"I'm not sure Ellis changed a single diaper her whole life," Derek said. "Today's a good day, though. I get to go trick-or-treating with my wife and daughter, and Adam gets to go home to his real family. Couldn't ask for more than that," he said, ruffling his hand through Adam's dark hair. "Plus, it's a holiday. And Mer and I have a rule that we... get to have some alone time on holidays."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "Is that a euphemism for getting laid?"

"I was trying to be subtle for the sake of all the babies in the room, but yeah."

"Hmm, Halloween sex. Knowing Grey, that's bound to be a little kinky. Nurse, flight attendant, Cat Woman?" Mark guessed.

"Mark."

"Again, am I wrong?"

Before Derek could answer, Meredith had walked back into the room with Lilly, and caught the tail end of the conversation. "Nope, not wrong," she answered shamelessly.

Mark grinned. "Knew it."

...

Izzie dropped her oven mitt onto the counter when she heard a short knock at the front door, and walked out of the kitchen to answer it. When she saw Meredith, Derek, and Lilly on the other side of the glass, she smiled, turning the handle to let them inside. "You guys gave us this house. You really don't have to knock," she laughed.

"Derek and I have been walked in on in... less than appropriate circumstances. We always knock," Meredith said, kneeling down to unbuckle Lilly from her car seat.

"You mean when Alex and I walked in on you two having counter top sex? Yeah, I still have fond memories of that," Izzie teased. Her smile only grew when she saw Lilly in her surgeon costume, and reached for her. "Look how cute you are!"

"Cutest surgeon I've ever seen," Derek grinned proudly, setting Lilly's diaper bag next to her car seat.

Izzie hugged Lilly to her chest. "You look even more like your Daddy with the scrubs on."

"It figures. I carry her for nine months, and push her out of my body, and he gets all the glory," Meredith smirked. "But that's okay, because she's perfect."

"Yes, she is," Izzie agreed, letting Lilly grab hold of her necklace. "Did you get a lot of pictures?"

"Yeah, we got about a thousand before we left," Derek said.

"Okay, good, because I want copies," Izzie said as a small group of kids knocked on the door. "Looks like trick-or-treating's started. Better get going if you want to get the good candy."

Meredith reached for Lilly and smiled so Izzie could tend to the trick-or-treaters waiting anxiously at the door. "Yeah, we should. I want our fair share of chocolate and gum," she said.

"Better than loose change or old Easter candy," Derek pointed out, pulling a blanket out of Lilly's bag in case it got cold.

"Do people really do that?" Meredith asked.

Derek picked up Lilly's pink pumpkin bucket and laughed. "Hey, kids are demanding. Have to give them something."

"He's right. One time, when I was a kid, the neighbors ran out of candy, so they gave out cough drops," Izzie said after the kids had gotten their candy and eagerly went to the next house on the street.

"Eww," Meredith said, adjusting the ferryboat scrub cap on Lilly's head to make sure it covered her ears. "Guess we should get going then. We shouldn't be that long; just a few blocks."

"Take your time. I just took pumpkin bread out of the oven, and I'm going to make a pizza while you're gone. Alex will be home soon, and Sloan said something about coming by later with Bridget, so I wanted to make some food," Izzie said.

"You didn't have to do all of that," Meredith said.

"I know. I wanted to. Now go, have fun," Izzie said, holding the door open for them.

"We will," Meredith promised.

She and Derek waved back at her as they walked across the patio and down the steps, letting a group of little kids and their parents pass by before stepping onto the sidewalk. Derek took hold of Meredith's hand as they walked, and she leaned into him.

"Want me to hold her?" he offered.

Meredith bounced Lilly in her arm, and smiled when she saw how much her daughter was taking everything in with interest. "That's okay; I've got her."

The house on the left was the first stop on their route, and they walked up the steps to the front porch. A married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett, with college-aged kids lived there, and while Derek and Meredith had lived next door to them for a few years, they didn't interact much, except to exchange pleasantries in passing.

The woman smiled when she saw them approaching, and she picked out a chocolate candy bar from the bowl on her lap, dropping it into Lilly's candy bucket that Derek was holding. "Hi, there. We haven't seen you in ages," Mrs. Bartlett greeted, looking to Lilly. "She's beautiful. Lilly, isn't it?"

"Yeah. How did you know?" Derek asked in surprise.

"Whenever I run into Izzie, I always ask about you two, and she tells me all about your baby. The way she talks about her, I'd swear Lilly belonged to her, too," the woman joked.

Meredith laughed. "Yeah, we're lucky. Our friends really love her."

"And it looks like she's following in the footsteps of her parents," Mr. Bartlett said. "I remember when our kids were that little. Now, they're nineteen and twenty-one. Before you know it, she'll be all grown up."

"Yeah. One day, she'll be too cool for all this," Derek said amusedly.

"Enjoy every minute of it," Mrs. Bartlett said wisely.

Meredith propped Lilly up in her arm so she could get a better look at the carved pumpkin on the patio ledge. "I know. We really do," she said.

"Okay, well, we won't keep you. Have a good first Halloween, sweetie," Mrs. Bartlett said kindly, waving to Lilly. "It was so nice seeing you both. And congratulations on the baby. She's just adorable."

"Thank you," Meredith said graciously.

"Good seeing you," Derek said, nodding his head at both of them.

Another group of kids arrived just as they turned to leave, and they managed to maneuver themselves back down the steps in the midst of Cinderella, a cowgirl, Spiderman, and two football players. Once on the sidewalk again, they continued their stroll down the street.

"That'll be us one day. Sitting on the porch, giving out candy, while Lilly and future fictitious baby number two are away at college, not wanting to hang out with Mom and Dad," he chuckled.

"I will make them come home and spend every holiday with us," Meredith teased, pulling the penlight out of Lilly's white doctor's coat pocket so she could hold it. "Especially Halloween. Halloween and college parties lead to frat guys doing body shots of candy apple vodka off of you."

Derek gave her a look that was equal parts horrified and intrigued. "What? Preppy, Dartmouth frat guys actually did body shots off of you?"

"Once. Maybe twice," she shrugged. "It was a costume party. That's just what we did."

"Oh, yeah? What'd you dress up as?"

"A cat. Which was basically just black lingerie and some sexy cat ears," Meredith said.

Derek smirked. "Still have that costume?"

"I might," Meredith said vaguely as they walked up the steps to the next house.

"Seriously?" Derek asked, his curiosity piqued.

Meredith raised her eyebrows at him. "I guess you'll find out..."

...

An hour later, with a bucket full to the brim with candy, they walked back toward the old house. Lilly was still wide awake, and smiled at Derek, who held her in his arm. "Did you have fun, Lillybug?" he asked, kissing her forehead.

"I think she did. Although, I think she was more interested in all the lights and the little kids than the candy," Meredith said, picking a Reese cup from Lilly's candy bucket and peeling off the foil wrapper. She popped it into her mouth and moaned. "This is so good. I don't think I haven't had a Reese cup in... I can't even remember. Halloween is kind of awesome."

"I'm sorry you never got to do this as a kid," Derek said, hugging his arm more snugly around Meredith's waist.

Meredith shrugged it off, and smiled anyway. "Lilly does. That's all that matters," she said.

"Yeah," Derek said softly. "And because of you, Adam is on a plane right now, heading home to a family. You did that."

"I didn't really do anything," Meredith said as they walked back up the steps to the old house.

"You cared enough to stick by him. You promised you would help find him some people, and you did. Whether or not you give yourself credit, it's just the truth. You're a good person, Meredith," Derek said, smiling when Lilly put her thumb in her mouth, a sign of impending sleepiness. He leaned in and kissed her as they stood on the porch before going inside. "I love you."

Meredith put her hand on his cheek and kissed him back. "I love you, too."

The screen door opened, and Mark peeked his head out, holding the candy bowl. "Hey, lovebirds. Buzz and Woody would like to get some candy."

They pulled back from the kiss, turning around to see two trick-or-treaters standing behind them in Toy Story costumes. "Oops. Sorry," Meredith apologized as a blush crept over her cheeks.

"Happy Halloween," Mark said, dropping candy into each of their pillow cases. After the two little boys walked back down the steps to join their parents on the sidewalk, Mark grinned at them. "Shame on you. Making out on the porch... while holding your baby."

Meredith just smiled and kissed her husband again with Lilly in between them, unconcerned that Mark was watching. Adam got a family, and Lilly got to go trick-or-treating. That was pretty damn good for one day.

"Hmm, yep," she agreed.

"I still expect dirty sex later," Derek murmured against her lips.

"So do I," Meredith said. "And for the record? I still have those cat ears..."

"Knew it."