143. St Paddy's Day

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

Thanks for being so patient! Enjoy!

It was day eleven of Lilly's big move into her crib. And while her parents knew it was the right thing to do, Lilly's nightly round of tears were getting to both of them. Especially now, when getting out of bed was the last thing either of them wanted to do.

Derek dropped down onto the mattress at Meredith's behest, smiling up at her. "You wanna be on top?" he said, the end of his sentence coming out in a groan when she sank down on him.

"I love riding you," Meredith moaned, rocking her hips in slow circles. When she started moving up and down, Derek's breath caught in his throat, and she laughed at the look on his face. "That good, huh?"

"God, yes," Derek said, trailing his hands up her hips and moving to her breasts.

Meredith threw her head back in pleasure and closed her eyes. "Yeah, keep doing—" she said before the sound of Lilly crying over the baby monitor drowned her out. She froze on top of him, letting out a frustrated sigh. "Come on. Not again."

Derek swallowed thickly as he tried to keep his composure. "She might stop. Let's just wait."

"She's not gonna stop. It's been eleven days, and we've gotten interrupted eight times," Meredith said. She reluctantly lifted off of him, then reached for her robe on the edge of the bed.

"Wait, Mer; she stopped," he said softly, as though talking above a whisper might disturb the momentary peace.

Meredith flung off her robe, then pulled him on top of her. "Okay, go," she said, grabbing hold of his ass.

As much as they yearned for languid, uninterrupted sex, until Lilly got more used to her crib, quick sessions needed to suffice. Derek swiftly thrust back inside her and started moving, trying to get them both to the finish line. But before either of them had the chance to reach it, a large bout of thunder clapped outside, so loud it startled both of them.

Meredith flinched beneath him. "Holy crap!"

"Well, she's up now," Derek said.

Like clockwork, Lilly started wailing over the monitor, and Meredith ran a hand through her hair. "Now she's definitely not gonna stop. I'll get her."

"Maybe we should just let her cry through it. You know, self soothe," Derek suggested.

"Derek, that thunder scared us. She's nine months old. Trust me, she's up," Meredith said.

"Damn it." Derek reluctantly withdrew, both of them sighing at the loss of contact.

"I don't like it any more than you do."

"Which is why we need to let her cry once in a while," Derek replied.

Meredith shrugged her robe on and tied it around her waist. "Would you really rather have sex with Lilly crying in the background?"

"I need to take a shower. Again," Derek said, getting out of bed and going into the bathroom.

Meredith shook her head in frustration as she walked out of their room and into the hallway toward Lilly's nursery. As much as she knew Lilly was okay and Derek was right that she needed to self soothe sometimes, the sound of her daughter's crying was still enough to break her heart in two, and ignoring it wasn't nearly as simple as the parenting books made it out to be.

She opened Lilly's bedroom door, and saw her laying in her crib, steady streams of tears running down her rosy cheeks. When she saw Meredith, she reached out her arms, wanting to be held.

"Hey, baby girl. Did the thunder scare you?" Meredith cooed. She picked Lilly up out of her crib and held her close. "You're okay. Mommy's here."

Lilly hiccuped, her head buried in Meredith's chest. Meredith rocked her back and forth, wiping the tears off Lilly's face with the sleeve of her robe. "Thunder sucks, I know. Believe me, I really hate it tonight. Five minutes later, and we would've been in the clear."

Rather than go back into her bedroom and deal with Derek's attitude when Lilly was already upset enough for all three of them, Meredith walked over to the rocking chair in the corner. "We can hang out in here for a while. Daddy's not in a great mood right now—but not because of you. It's me. Or, well, me and Daddy, and what we were trying to do before the stupid thunder ruined it," Meredith rambled, putting her feet up on the ottoman.

Lilly laid her head on Meredith's breasts, the sound of her mom's voice calming her down. Meredith smiled, still in awe that she could provide someone with such comfort by doing so little. "I know these past few days haven't been easy on you," she said, tucking Lilly into her robe and pulling the sides over her like a blanket. "It's hard for us, too. We all got used to waking up together every morning and having quiet time with you before getting up for work."

Meredith kissed the top of Lilly's head, breathing in the smell of her baby shampoo. "I know we're doing the right thing. For the most part, you even sleep through the night, unless you get hungry or need a change. When you're a teenager, you'll probably want a lock on your door to keep us from bothering you. But sleeping on your own is new and different, and a little scary at first. You're doing so good, though."

Lilly looked up at Meredith with a tired smile on her face, babbling away as though she were taking part in the conversation. "Oh, you don't say?" Meredith played along. "You're getting so big, peanut. I think that's why it's hard to give you a little more independence, too. You're talking more. You only crawled for, like, six hours before you started walking. Your first birthday is three months away. I miss when you were that squishy newborn who couldn't even hold her head up," she said, trying to stifle a yawn with no luck.

Lilly caught the yawn, then put her thumb in her mouth, always a telltale sign of sleepiness. Meredith placed a protective hand on Lilly's back and the other on her bottom. "Since I'm too comfy to move anyway, how about we just sleep like this? Wake me up when you're hungry, okay?" Meredith said softly, kissing the top of Lilly's head.

After Lilly closed her eyes and went back to sleep, Meredith let herself sleep, too. Her daughter needed her, and that trumped whatever any parenting book may have said.

When Meredith woke up the next morning, she blinked blearily around the room as she remembered where she was. The alarm on her phone beeped incessantly, and she quickly silenced it. She saw a yellow Post-it stuck to the arm of the rocking chair, her eyes adjusting to the light as she read the note on it.

Got paged in for surgery at 5. Didn't want to wake you, so I set the alarm on your phone so you wouldn't oversleep. See you at work. Love you both. - Derek

She noticed the throw blanket Derek had draped over them, and she smiled at the gesture. "Maybe this is Daddy's olive branch after last night. I really hope so, Lilly, because it's St. Paddy's Day, and if Daddy would like to get lucky tonight, it's in his best interest not to be grumpy today."

...

Derek sat on the couch in the attending lounge, scribbling post-op notes in the chart on his lap. He reached for his coffee on the end table and chugged a large sip. It was already his second of the day, but so far, the caffeine wasn't doing much for him.

"Morning," Mark greeted as he walked into the room.

"Morning," Derek returned.

Mark dropped down onto the adjacent couch. "You look like hell," he commented.

"Didn't sleep much last night," Derek said, running a hand through his hair.

"Aah. Up all night doing the horizontal mambo?" Mark asked.

"Well, it started out that way, but no," Derek answered. "The storm scared Lilly, so we had to stop."

"Couldn't you just get her back to sleep, then pick up where you left off? No need to waste the woody."

Derek shrugged, choosing to ignore the last part of what Mark had said. "We were both annoyed at each other anyway, so it didn't matter," he sighed. "It's not that I don't see where Meredith is coming from. I do. I hate it when Lilly's upset, too. But we haven't had uninterrupted sex since she started sleeping in her crib."

Mark narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Wasn't that the whole point of moving her to the crib?"

"That's what we thought," Derek couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know. It's just hard enough to make time for each other with work and Lilly as it is. And now, I'm pretty sure Mer's pissed off at me, so it should be a pretty fun day."

"Take her out for some drinks tonight. It's St. Paddy's Day. We'll watch Lilly for you," Mark offered.

"Really?"

"Bridget's pregnant, so it's not like we were planning on Joe's anyway. And if Lilly's there, Bridg won't make me watch any childbirth videos. I'd rather change ten diapers than see any more babies crowning," Mark said with a shudder.

"Thanks for that visual," Derek joked. "Trust me, though; there's nothing greater than seeing your wife give birth to your baby. Million times better than any surgery."

"When it's my own wife, sure. Not when it's someone else's," Mark shook his head. "Anyway, let me know about tonight. If you want Grey to play with your... Irish potatoes, a little tequila could really help with that."

"My Irish potatoes? What are you—" Derek said before the euphemism clicked in his brain. "Oh. That's disgusting, Mark."

"Hey, it's the truth," Mark upheld.

Derek pulled his phone from his pocket when it signaled a text. "I need to go meet Mer. She's here with Lilly. And thanks for comparing my balls to Irish potatoes. Those are ruined forever now," he said, signing his name to the chart and flipping it closed.

"You would've found that funny if you were getting laid," Mark said.

Derek patted Mark's shoulder as he headed for the door. "Yeah. Just you wait..."

He took the elevator downstairs and walked to the resident lounge where Meredith and Lilly were. He was keeping his fingers crossed that her friends wouldn't be in there, so the two of them could talk, but when he entered the room, they were all still gathered, getting ready for the day.

"You're just the prettiest, little girl. Yes you are," Izzie told Lilly, who was dressed in her shamrock shirt and a pair of green leggings.

Derek grinned at his daughter, whose eyes lit up when she saw him. "Dada!" she greeted him.

"Hey, Princess. You look beautiful," Derek said. Izzie handed Lilly over to him, and he kissed the baby's chubby cheek. "Where's Mer?"

"Getting changed," Izzie replied, holding up a Tupperware container. "Irish potato? I made them last night."

Derek's conversation with Mark was too fresh in his mind to even consider the possibility of eating one, and he could only smile as he tried to get the visual out of his mind. "Maybe later. I haven't had a decent breakfast yet. Thank you, though," he declined.

"Hey," Meredith said, coming up behind them dressed in her scrubs. "Thanks for watching her, Iz."

"No problem," Izzie said. "Oh, and let me know about Derek's birthday."

"I will. Thank you," Meredith smiled, following Derek out into the hall with Lilly.

"What about my birthday?" Derek asked.

"She offered to watch her overnight in case you and I wanted to do something," Meredith told him, clipping her name badge to her pocket.

"Might be the only way we actually get to have sex and finish," Derek said.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Okay. So you are still mad about last night."

"Mad? No. Frustrated? Yeah," Derek admitted.

"And I'm not?"

"Mer, I don't want to fight. Especially not in the hospital hallway, or in front of Lilly," Derek said.

"Neither do I. And we have to meet Cristina anyway. She's watching Lilly while we're in surgery. I was going to suggest sex before we scrub in, but I'm really not in the mood anymore," Meredith said, pulling her hair back into ponytail.

Cristina cleared her throat to get their attention, and they turned around to find her standing awkwardly behind them. "Oh. Hey," Meredith said, her face blushing in embarrassment.

"Hey. Reporting for duty. Tell me what I need to do," Cristina said, taking a small notebook and a pen from her bag. "Just give me the Cliffs Notes version."

"I wrote out a list already. Bottles, feeding, burping, nap time; it's self-explanatory. Oh, and she's pretty mobile now, so watch her like a hawk. Seriously, one blink, and she's across the room. And she can walk when she holds onto furniture, so just make sure she's careful," Meredith said.

"Got it," Cristina nodded.

"Thanks, Yang. We appreciate it," Derek said, kissing Lilly's forehead. "Have fun, Lillybug. We'll pick you up in a few hours, okay?"

Meredith held out her arms and Derek passed her over. "Aunt Cristina is very entertaining. Maybe you two can have a dance party. How's that sound?" she said. "We love you, Lilly."

"She's my buddy. We always have fun," Cristina said, bouncing Lilly in her arm after Meredith reluctantly handed her off.

Meredith leaned in and got one last kiss to get her through the next few hours. "Okay, be good. We'll see you soon."

"Does that mean I can't take her bar hopping?" Cristina asked.

"No, you may not," Meredith laughed.

"Bye bye, crazy, overprotective parents," Cristina waved Lilly's little hand before the two of them walked toward the elevator.

"Bye, peanut," Meredith waved back. After they rounded the corner, she looked at Derek, unsure of what to say. "I um... when is our surgery?"

"At nine," he said.

Meredith checked her watch, then scanned the hallway for potential onlookers. When the coast was clear, she reached for his hand. "Let's go, then."

"What? Where are we going?" Derek asked as he followed her.

"Well, having sex at home hasn't been working recently, so we may as well do it here," she said, pulling him into the on call room at the end of the hall, then locking the door behind them.

"Here? My office is right upstairs," Derek said.

"Too far away," Meredith replied, gasping when Derek picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked them over to the bed, pulling him on top of her after she landed with a soft thud on the mattress. "Still annoyed at me?"

"Medium," Derek said before cupping his cheeks and kissing her. "You?"

Meredith snaked her hands under his shirt, her fingertips trailing down his abdomen. "Same," she said, tipping her head back when she felt his lips on her neck. "A quickie could help with that, though."

Derek was untying the drawstring to her scrub pants when their pagers went off at the same time, filling the quiet of the room with the incessant, jarring beep. Meredith banged on the mattress with her fists and shook her head. "Okay, I give up."

"We're never gonna have sex again, are we?" Derek asked, pulling his pager from the clip on his pants.

"No, we're not," Meredith said as she sat up. "What happened?"

"Neuro consult in the ER. Blown pupil from a bar fight in curtain six," Derek said. "8:15, and the drunken stupidity begins."

"Damn it," Meredith sighed. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, adjusting her rumpled clothes. "Well, wasn't my fault this time."

"I never said last night was your fault."

"You didn't have to say it. I know that's what you're thinking," she said. "Come on. Let's just go. My back hurts from sleeping in the rocking chair last night, I'm horny, and fighting with you isn't going to help either of those things."

"Fine, let's go," Derek agreed, holding the door open for her.

They took the elevator down to the pit, and as Derek had predicted, the first round of drunken stupidity was already piling in. Split lips, glass shards sprinkled in scalps, and plenty of banana bag IVs to go around. Meredith grabbed curtain six's clipboard from the bin at the nurses' station, scanning her eyes over the notes the intern had jotted down.

"Shawn Scanlon, twenty-eight, got into a bar fight with another patron. Sustained black eye and possible skull contusion. Tender on palpation. He was unconscious when EMTs arrived at the scene, but regained consciousness during admission. Slightly intoxicated, so Hunt ordered a banana bag IV, and requested a neuro consult," Meredith said, shaking her head. "Well, that's lovely."

Derek pulled back the curtain, and they saw that the man was passed out asleep, a woman next to him reading a magazine. "Hi, I'm Dr. Shepherd. This is Dr. Grey," Derek greeted the woman. "Are you with him?"

"Yeah, hi. I'm Bethany, Shawn's fiancée. Although, today, I have no idea why. Shawn, wake up. The doctors are here to see you," Bethany said, nudging his shoulder gently.

"What? Oh. Hey. You two here to fix me up, so I can get back to the bachelor party?" Shawn asked with slurred speech.

"You were at a bachelor party at eight in the morning?" Meredith asked.

"My bachelor party. Getting married tomorrow!" Shawn nearly cheered.

Bethany rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we'll see," she murmured.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Derek asked the man, pulling out a pen so he could take notes while Meredith examined him.

"Me and my buddies were at the bar. Some jerk said something; next thing you know, we're in the middle of a bar brawl. I'm fuzzy on the rest. I think I blacked out," Shawn said, flinching when Meredith pressed his against temple with her fingers. "Ouch!"

"Do you have a headache, too, Mr. Scanlon?" Meredith asked.

"Kinda, yeah. But that could be from the booze," Shawn shrugged.

"His right pupil is fixed and dilated. I want to get him up to CT to rule out a brain bleed," Meredith said.

Derek nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's get him up there."

"Then what? I'm free to go?" Shawn asked.

"If you don't need surgery, maybe. But we may decide to keep you here for observation," Meredith answered, trying to keep her patience in check.

"You think he'll be okay, though, right? I mean, it's nothing serious?" Bethany asked, nervously spinning her engagement ring around her finger.

Derek smiled at the woman in reassurance. "It's really just a precaution. There's no need to worry unless there's a reason to."

"I'm going to page an intern to take you for the scan, and we'll meet you upstairs shortly, okay?" Meredith said.

Derek closed the curtain to give them privacy, and he and Meredith walked toward the nurses' station, their previous annoyance at one another transferred to their patient. He dropped the clipboard onto the desk and scribbled his signature under the notes he'd written down.

"Do you think he really could have a brain bleed?" Meredith asked.

"He hit his head when he fell, and I don't like the way his pupil looks. We can't do a reliable GCS measure, because he's drunk. I don't want to take any chances. Can you call up to pre-op, and tell them we might need to hold the OR for Hartman's surgery at nine, unless Nelson or Weller is available?" he asked, reaching for the phone to have an intern paged.

"Yeah." Meredith grabbed the phone on the opposite side of the desk and started dialing.

"Interrupted from having sex by an idiot who's drunk at eight in the morning," Derek mumbled to her under his breath.

Meredith sighed. "Yeah. Always fun."

...

"Hey, how is she?" Meredith asked Cristina, holding the phone to her ear as she waited for Mr. Scanlon's CT results to show up. Derek placed a hot cup of coffee in front of her and she smiled over at him. Grudgy or not, she always appreciated coffee, especially when it came from him. "Thank you," she mouthed.

"She's fine. We read that book about the mouse, then the annoying hippo one with all the alliterations. And now, she's eating a snack," Cristina said, giving Lilly a spoonful of the puréed berries and bananas that Derek made for her.

"I miss her," Meredith frowned.

Cristina laughed. "Mer, you saw her an hour ago. We're literally right across the street. You could probably look out the window and see us in the apartment," she pointed out.

"Shut up," Meredith replied, taking a sip of her coffee.

"How are things there? I can't believe I'm missing St. Paddy's Day in the ER to crawl around on the floor with your kid," Cristina said. "No offense, Lilly."

"Mmm, nana," Lilly requested with a smile.

"Jeez, pushy," Cristina told her, giving her another bite.

Meredith laughed when she overheard the exchange, her daughter's tiny voice enough to make her want to play hooky from work just to be with her. "That's my girl," she said proudly. "And believe me, you're not missing much right now. Just the usual liquor-induced stupidity."

"Scans are coming up," Derek said, wheeling his chair closer to the computer monitor.

"Okay, I gotta go. Tell Lilly we love her," Meredith said.

"Alright, talk to you later," Cristina said before ending the call.

Images of Shawn's brain loaded on the screen, showing slices at every angle. They reviewed them closely, both of their eyes locking on the brain bleed in his right temporal lobe when they saw it. "Damn it. Look at the size of that thing," Derek said, zooming in closer. "He's probably had that aneurysm for years for it to be that big."

"It looks like it's already burst. There's blood leaking into the surrounding tissue. We need to clamp it off before he hemorrhages to death," Meredith said, pushing the button on the wall. "Aaron, can you get him out of there? We need to take him to surgery," she told the tech behind the booth.

"He's sedated, so we need to get Bethany to sign the consent form. She's his power of attorney. Tell her what's going on, have her sign the form, then meet me in the OR," Derek said as they walked out into the hall.

Meredith nodded, walking briskly to the waiting area and trying to keep her demeanor calm and collected. Being the bearer of bad news was one of the least favorite parts of her job, and made her wish even more she could just walk across the street and hang out with her daughter.

And it didn't get much better inside the OR, either. By the time Meredith scrubbed in, Derek had already done the craniotomy, and was trying to control the bleeding, with little success. Meredith joined him at the head of the table, peering into Shawn's brain, but the only thing she saw was blood.

"Oh, Derek," she whispered under her mask. She took the suction from him, so he could try to track the bleeding back to the aneurysm, hidden under all the red.

"I know. It's coming out faster than the IV infusions are replacing it," Derek said. "We need to widen the craniotomy, otherwise his brain is going to swell. Drill three burr holes three inches from the initial cut, then remove the skull piece."

"Me?" Meredith asked as he handed her the drill.

Derek stepped aside, then nodded his head for her to move into his spot. "Yeah, I want you to do it. Easy in, easy out."

"Thank you," Meredith said, positioning the drill in the correct area. She drilled the first hole without pause, then moved onto the second.

Derek smiled, proud of her work both as her teacher and her husband. "Excellent, Dr. Grey," he said, turning to Pam, one of the scrub nurses. "What's his BP?"

Pam glanced at the monitor. "Still low. 88 over 56. Temp. is at 97."

"Alright. We're running out of O-negative, too. We're gonna need more."

"I'll call down to the blood bank," Pam said.

"Thank you."

Meredith finished drilling the burr holes, then carefully gave the drill back to Bokey. "Fine tipped bone saw, please?" she requested. After Bokey placed it in her hand, Meredith began making the delicate cut into Mr. Scanlon's skull, careful not to slice into his brain tissue underneath. "Got it," she said, plucking off the piece of skull she'd removed.

She dropped it into the metal basin Bokey held out, and Derek immediately suctioned the area before it could fill with blood. "There it is," he said, pointing to the aneurysm. "This thing's the size of a golf ball. No wonder he's leaking blood by the pint. Alright, get me the biggest clamp you can find."

"Pressure's dropping. Down to 80 over 46," Pam said.

"He's losing too much blood," Meredith said, handing Derek a clamp, the only one large enough to fit around the aneurysm neck. She looked up at the monitor and shook her head. "Down to 70 over 40. Derek, we're losing him."

"I know that," Derek snapped. "The whole thing is starting to dissect. This clamp isn't holding, and he's still bleeding out. Turn up the suction and keep putting O-neg in the rapid infuser. Mer, keep draining."

When the man's brain continued to hemorrhage, and started streaming into a puddle at their feet, Derek exhaled, unwilling to let Shawn go down without a fight, despite the ominous looks from all the others gathered in the OR. "Be ready with the crash cart. The clamp isn't doing anything to stop the bleeding. There's too much damage," he said.

"Heart stopped!" Pam announced.

"Gannon, get in there and shock him," Derek told the intern.

She went into action, rubbing the paddles together while a nurse charged up the machine. Meredith shook her head. "Derek, he's DNR," she said.

"I don't care. He's twenty-eight, and he's getting married tomorrow. Gannon, shock him. One, two, three, three sixty," Derek upheld.

The intern did as she was instructed, but even after completing all four charges, the high pitch of the flatline still rang out in the OR. Derek pursed his lips beneath his mask, nodding his head toward the nurse to turn the monitor off. The deafening quiet that followed was even more jarring than the flatline, and Derek couldn't stand in there for another minute.

"Call it, Dr. Grey," he said, pulling off his loupes and headlight, setting them on the tray.

Meredith looked up at the wall, the tears in her eyes blurring the numbers on the clock. "Time of death: 9:56."

She followed him out into the scrub room, anxious to strip off her blood-soaked gown and gloves. She watched Derek as he did the same, tossing his soiled gown into the trash bin. "We did everything we could have done," Meredith said softly.

"I know," Derek nodded as he took two bars of soap from the box above the sink.

When he handed one to her, she smiled. "Thank you."

They scrubbed their hands side by side in silence, dried them, then walked into the hall, heading for the waiting area where Bethany was hoping for good news that they didn't have. Days like this always had a way of putting things into perspective, and suddenly, playing the blame game for interrupted sex seemed so irrationally stupid that they both would have laughed under different circumstances.

Derek reached for her hand and squeezed. "I'm sorry," he whispered, smiling at her as best he could.

"I know. Me, too," Meredith said. She wrapped both her arms around him, hugging him tight. She knew he needed it as much as she did, and she melted into him when he hugged her even tighter. "Love you."

"I love you, too."

When they pulled back nearly a minute later, Meredith took his hand again. "Ready to go tell Bethany?" she asked.

As much as neither of them wanted to, Derek nodded, grateful that he didn't have to do it alone. "Yeah. Let's go."

...

The rest of their shift went by quickly despite the rough start, and they were more than ready to leave the building by the end of it. After they picked up Lilly from Cristina's, the only place they wanted to go was home, choosing to forgo Mark's babysitting offer to spend the night with their daughter. Losing a patient was always hard, but Lilly had of way of making things better, something they both needed.

Lilly gripped Derek's fingers as she walked across the floor, Derek waddling behind her on his knees. "That's it. See, you're getting the hang of it," he said encouragingly.

Meredith smiled at Lilly, clad in her green leprechaun pajamas. "I think she's just humoring you. She can probably walk without holding onto anything, but just wants to make you feel useful," she joked.

"Probably, yeah."

"Come on, Lilly. Come to Mommy," Meredith said, holding her arms out.

"Mamama," Lilly said, her little legs speeding up, eager to reach her.

Meredith's eyes went wide when she heard Lilly speak, and it nearly took her breath away. "Lilly, you said Mama!" she gasped. Lilly made it to Meredith's arms, and was instantly stamped with kisses all over her cheeks. "Derek, she finally said it."

"Maybe she's been saving it for the right time," Derek said as he kissed the crown of her head. "That was so great, Princess."

"Well, she picked a good day for it. We needed that today, Lillybug," Meredith said. "Mommy loves you so much."

Lilly put her chubby hand on Meredith's cheek and smiled, showing off her side by side pair of bottom teeth. "Mama," she repeated.

"Are you trying to make me cry?" Meredith asked, breathing in her daughter's soft curls. "I wish we could've gotten that on tape."

"It's okay, we'll get it. She'll be saying it all the time now, just like Dada. Right, Lilly?" Derek said, tickling Lilly's belly with his finger.

"A dada!" Lilly shrieked with laughter.

"I love that sound. Much better than trying to have S-E-X," Derek chuckled.

Meredith looked up at him and smirked. "It's still St. Paddy's Day. We're going to get lucky, come hell or high water."

"Oh, yeah?" Derek asked.

"We've been you-know-what blocked too many times, and mama needs an orgasm," Meredith said.

"Mama," Lilly echoed again, bouncing her knees while Meredith helped keep her steady.

Meredith bit her lip. "Oops. Probably shouldn't have said that in front of you."

"She spent the day with Cristina. She probably heard worse," Derek pointed out. "How about a celebration snack before bottle and bedtime, Lilly?"

"Oh, that reminds me. I have Irish potatoes in my bag from Izzie. You and I can eat those to celebrate," Meredith said, putting Lilly on her hip before standing up.

"Yeah, I um... I think I'll pass."

Meredith reached into her bag and pulled out the large Tupperware container. "Why? I thought you loved Irish potatoes?" she asked, popping one into her mouth.

"I did. Until Mark compared them to my balls today. I'll never look at them the same way again," Derek said.

Meredith stopped mid-chew and peered into the container, the visual now burned into her own brain. "Oh God, he's gross."

"Ruined forever, right?" Derek laughed.

Meredith nodded, using all her willpower to chew and swallow. "Yes, they are."