147. Baby Boot Camp

Disclaimer: I don't own TV shows.

Endless thank yous for your patience. I survived my first year of nursing school, and I'm hoping to write a lot over the summer to make up for the lack of updates over the last few months. Enjoy this one!

Before Meredith even opened her eyes, she had a feeling that today was going to be one of those days. April showers hadn't brought May flowers, if the rain pelting against the bedroom window was any indication, and all she wanted to do was curl up under the covers all day with Derek. She stretched out her arm over his torso, soaking in his warmth until the inevitable blare of the alarm clock sounded. But before it had the chance, Lilly did instead.

"Mama! Dada!" she cried over the baby monitor, immediately ending the remainder of any sleep to be had that morning.

Meredith yawned as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "I'll get her," she said.

"You sure?" Derek mumbled tiredly.

"Yeah." Meredith swung her legs over the side of the bed and trudged out of their room, following the sound of Lilly's upset wails to her nursery. But when she pushed open the door, she wished she would've brought Derek along for backup.

Her worst nightmare had come to fruition. There was poop everywhere. The crib, the sheet, the blanket, Lilly, and her clothes. Meredith stood dumbfounded for a moment, unsure of what to do. "Oh, Lilly, what happened?" she asked.

Lilly's diaper slipped off as Meredith carefully picked her up, and she sighed. "Your diaper tabs probably weren't sticky enough. It's okay, peanut. We'll clean you up," Meredith said as she walked her back toward her own room.

"Derek, I need you," she said, heading toward the bathroom.

"Hmm, shower quickie?" Derek smiled into his pillow.

"Not quite."

He shuffled into a sitting position, his eyes growing wide when he saw his messy daughter. "Uh oh. How did that..."

"Faulty diaper. We need to get her washed off. It's all over her crib, too," Meredith said.

Derek followed her into the bathroom and immediately turned on the tub faucets, so the water could get warm, then he turned his attention to Lilly. "Don't worry. You still look pretty, even poop-covered," he said as he pulled off her socks.

Lilly looked at him with a pout on her face. "Dada," she murmured.

"I know. Don't worry, we won't tell this story when you bring your boyfriends over," Derek chuckled, delicately pulling her nightgown over her head without creating more of a mess.

"Okay, I'll hold her up in the tub if you wanted to spray her down with the attachment thingy," Meredith suggested. She put Lilly in the tub and let her feet touch the bottom, using the rubber mat as added support to keep her standing. "There we go. We're gonna make you squeaky clean, okay?"

Derek let the warm water spray over Lilly's shoulders as he rubbed a soapy washcloth over her skin. "Since Uncle Mark's hanging out with you today, you should've saved this for him," he chuckled.

Meredith laughed, turning Lilly slightly so Derek could rinse off her back. "I know. It's a shame we don't have a nanny cam. I'd like to see how he'd handle a poop explosion."

"You need to put him through the ringer today, Lillybug. Your cousin's gonna be born in a few months, and he needs all the daddy boot camp he can get," Derek told her. "I'm actually jealous that he gets to spend all day with you."

Meredith glanced over at him and frowned. "You're nervous about this surgery, aren't you?"

"Yeah I am," Derek said as he lathered Lilly's curls in her shampoo.

"Aubrey's parents have taken her to hospitals all over the country, but once those surgeons found out how young she is, they didn't want to touch her with a ten foot pole. You're the only one that said yes. Besides, you've treated Klippel-Feil before. With a hundred percent success rate, by the way," Meredith said supportively.

"I know. It's just that she's so young. I've never done a Klippel-Feil surgery on anyone younger than eleven. She's six months old."

"Derek, I know you. And you wouldn't have agreed to do it if you didn't think you could." Meredith bumped her shoulder with his, smiling at him. "We're kneeling over the tub washing poop off our daughter. The way I see it, the day can only get better from here, right?"

"Hope so," he agreed, rinsing the shampoo from Lilly's hair. "That's it. Tilt your head back, Princess."

"I know you can do it. So does Lilly. Right, Lilly? Tell Daddy he can do it," Meredith said.

Lilly pointed at Derek, her finger covered in soap suds. "Do," she repeated, smiling at him and showing off her tiny teeth.

"Thank you, poop monster," Derek grinned. He leaned over the tub and kissed Lilly's wet forehead. "I'll go clean up her room."

"You sure? There's no reason both of us should have to witness what happened in there," Meredith said as she picked Lilly up out of the tub.

"I think I can handle it," he promised, shaking out a fresh towel, then wrapping it around Lilly.

Meredith bundled it around her and held her close to her chest. "There we go. One very clean, tiny baby hiney."

"Dream team," Derek said, giving her a high-five before walking out of the bathroom.

Meredith laughed. "Yes we are."

...

"Are you sure Mark's okay watching her for eight hours? Check your phone again. Make sure he didn't call," Meredith fretted, checking her own phone for the fifth time in five minutes.

"I just did. No calls, no texts, no SOS alerts. Besides, don't you want Lilly to give him a little hell?" Derek reminded her.

Meredith cocked her head at him and smirked. "Derek."

"What? Nothing to worry about," Derek said as he took a chart out of the bin and tucked it under his arm. "Ready to go see Aubrey?"

"Yeah." She took his arm and squeezed it gently. "Need another Meredith pep talk?"

Derek kissed her forehead, smiling against her skin. "Hmm, I'll let you know."

They walked the short distance down the hall to Aubrey's room, and Derek knocked briefly before entering. "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Hayden. I'm Dr. Shepherd. I know we spoke on the phone a few times, but it's nice to finally meet you in person," he greeted them.

"You, too," Mr. Hayden replied, shaking Derek's hand, then Meredith's.

"I'm Dr. Grey. I'll be helping Dr. Shepherd with Aubrey's surgery today," Meredith said.

"So this is really happening. We've waited for this since Aubrey was born, but her spina bifida needed to be corrected first. And then once she was cleared after that, it took us months to find you," Mrs. Hayden told them, rocking back and forth on her heels with her daughter in her arm.

"Well, we're happy to do everything we can. Dr. Grey and I have been prepping since you contacted us a few weeks ago," Derek said.

"And you think you can fix it, right?" Mr. Hayden asked.

"Yes, we do," Meredith nodded, pulling an X-ray out of the large envelope and setting it up on the light box. "Aubrey's C2 and C3 vertebrae are fused, which limits her range of motion and prevents her from moving her head from side to side. Once we separate C2 and C3, the hope is that she'll get full range of motion."

"And this is... I mean, from all the research I've done online, this type of surgery usually isn't done at this age. Is Aubrey the youngest Klippel-Feil patient you've seen in your experience?" Mrs. Hayden asked nervously.

"She is," Derek answered honestly. "But given her previous spina bifida, the benefits of surgery at this age actually outweigh the risks in Aubrey's case. Her age works in her favor. She still has a lot of growing to do, so once the vertebrae are no longer fused, the chances of her developing scoliosis or spinal stenosis later in life are nearly eliminated," he explained.

Mr. Hayden breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. And what about nerve damage?"

"Obviously, Aubrey's nerves and surrounding vessels are much smaller because of her age, but Dr. Grey and I have operated on babies younger than her for other types of spinal surgeries and had no nerve damage. In fact, last month Dr. Grey single-handedly removed a spinal clot in a premature newborn with zero complications," Derek said proudly.

Meredith smiled at him, then turned to Aubrey's parents. "And everything I learned, I learned from Dr. Shepherd. Your daughter's in good hands," she assured them. "Do you mind if we take a look at her back?"

"Of course," the girl's mother said, kissing her forehead before handing her off to Meredith. "Do you two have your own practice? You work well together."

"No practice. We are married, though. Loved her since the day we met five years ago, and we've worked together ever since," Derek grinned.

Before Derek could further sing her praises or profess their love, Meredith decided to begin examining Aubrey. "Okay, sweetie. Can I sneak a peek at your back?" she asked softly, laying Aubrey down on the exam table on her belly.

"The incision from her previous surgery healed well. Clean margins, pinking scar. Now is she crawling yet?" Derek asked the girl's parents.

"She's just starting to, but she gets frustrated because her neck limits how much she's able to move her head and her shoulders," Mr. Hayden said.

"You'd say she has normal muscle strength?" Meredith asked, letting Aubrey grip her fingers and lift herself off the padded table. "Oh, wow. She just answered my question."

"Does that mean less therapy after the surgery?" Mr. Hayden asked.

"It might. It really depends on how today goes. But I'd say she'll probably need a minimum four to six months of PT, just to make sure she keeps building strength and mobility," Derek replied, scooping Aubrey off the table and sitting her on his arm. "We're going to make an incision along the back of her neck, and do a cervical laminectomy to decompress the vertebrae. Barring any complications, she'll be able to crawl, walk, become an Olympic gymnast, whatever she wants. Right, pretty girl?"

"You're so good with her. Any kids at home?" Mrs. Hayden prodded, watching as the two interacted with Aubrey.

"We have an eleven month old. She means... everything to us. That's part of why Dr. Grey and I wanted to do this surgery. We know what it's like to love someone so much that you do everything you can for them. We'd do the same for our daughter," Derek said sincerely.

Mr. Hayden wrapped a hand around his wife's shoulder. "Well, she's one lucky kid to have you guys."

"We're grateful for her every day," Meredith said, smiling when she thought of Lilly, and hoping she and Mark were making the most of their day together. Although she had to admit, she kind of hoped Lilly was giving him a run for his money.

...

Back at the Shepherd residence, Lilly watched in curiosity as her Uncle Mark rummaged through the fridge for her snack. She held her spoon in her hand as she waited, wondering what was taking him so long.

"Do they seriously have this stuff in alphabetical order?" Mark murmured, admiring the shelf in the fridge with Tupperware containers full of Lilly's homemade food, everything from apples to zucchinis. He pulled one at random and read the label. "Pureed mangoes. Jeez, for someone who poops in a diaper, you have expensive taste," he chuckled. "Alright, let's give these a try."

"Mmm," Lilly said in excitement, wiggling her tiny bottom in her high chair.

Mark pulled up a seat in front of her and took the lid off the container, but stopped before giving her the first bite. "Wait a minute, you need a bib," he said, setting the mangoes on the table next to him.

Lilly heaved a heavy sigh as her snack was once again delayed, and Mark couldn't help but laugh at the little sound. "Give me a break. I'm new at this," he defended. "Okay, where do they keep those?"

Mark opened and closed each of the drawers before moving onto the cabinets, and after having no luck, he checked the laundry room. But the only one he found was covered in banana and sitting in the hamper. He walked back into the kitchen with it, then took Lilly out of her high chair, setting her on her feet.

"Alright, smarty pants. Where are your bibs?" he asked her, showing her the dirty bib for reference.

Lilly studied it for a moment, then began toddling toward the living room. Mark followed close behind as she led him to the pink bin of supplies next to the couch. Sure enough, a pile of clean bibs were stacked inside, and Mark stood in awe of his niece.

"Damn. You really are the genius progeny of two brain surgeons. Can you pick one out?"

Lilly knelt down and picked the top bib off the pile, handing it to Mark. "A dada," she told him.

Mark looked at the bib she gave him, shaking his head in amusement when he saw The Clash logo patterned on it. "Yep, this thing has your dad written all over it. He always did have awful taste in music, not that your mom's is much better," he said, fastening the bib around her neck. "Okay, all set."

Instead of letting Mark pick her up and take her back into the kitchen, Lilly toddled over to her toy box in the corner and squatted down next to it. Mark cocked his head in suspicion. "What're you doing over there?"

"Poo."

"Of course you are," Mark nodded, dropping down onto the couch. "Alright, you do your thing. I'll wait."

His phone rang from inside his pocket, and he pulled it out, answering when he saw Derek's name on the screen. "Don't worry, she's fine."

"I know she is. Just calling to check in before Meredith and I head into surgery," Derek chuckled. "What's she doing?"

"Well, she just showed me where the bibs are and picked one out for herself. Then she walked over to the toy box and told me she was pooping," Mark said, tossing a stuffed bunny in the air and catching it when it came back down.

Derek grinned on the other end of the line. "Yeah, that's her poop corner."

"She has a poop corner?"

"That's where she always goes. She likes to look out onto the porch and watch the squirrels and trees. Her version of reading a newspaper," Derek said, Meredith's voice audible in the background. "Can you put her on the phone? Mer wants to say hi."

"Yeah. You might interrupt her squirrel watching, though," Mark joked. He put the phone on speaker mode, then walked over to Lilly, setting it on the lid to the toy box. "Okay, go ahead."

"Hey, Princess!" Derek said over the line.

Lilly's eyes lit up when she heard his voice, and she peered down at the phone. "Dada!" she squealed.

"Hi, peanut!" Meredith joined in.

"Mama!" Lilly shrieked in delight again.

"Are you having fun with Uncle Mark? What're you doing?" Derek asked her.

"Poo."

"You are? Well, that sounds like fun. You have a good day with Uncle Mark, okay? He loves singing songs, and watching Elmo, and changing stinky diapers, so you're in good hands," Derek said.

Mark laughed. "I'll get you back for that."

"We'll see you when we get home. We love you, Lilly," Meredith said.

Lilly blew a kiss at the phone and smiled. "Lub," she repeated.

"Love you, Princess. Bye bye," Derek told his daughter before hanging up the phone.

"All done over here?" Mark asked, putting his phone back in his pocket.

Lilly turned her attention toward a squirrel running across the porch, then squatted down.

"Guess that's a no," Mark said, heading back toward the couch. He opened the end table drawer in search of a magazine to read while he passed the time waiting for Lilly to finish. When he saw a copy of Sports Illustrated, he picked it up, only to discover a small pile of forgotten glow-in-the-dark condoms underneath.

Mark shook his head, amused. "Only your parents, Lilly," he said. "If they keep these in the living room, I can only imagine what's hidden away in their nightstands."

...

"Now that we've done the initial incision, what's next, Dr. Grey?" Derek asked, he and Meredith standing over the OR table.

"We need to decompress C2 by removing the lamina portion of the vertebrate," Meredith answered.

"Excellent," he nodded. "What's her oxygen sat and BP?"

"99 percent O2. BP is 88 over 52," the scrub nurse, Chelsea, read off the monitor.

"Okay, numbers are looking good. After I decompress C2, how about you do C3," Derek offered.

Meredith smiled at him under her mask. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I want you to have as many surgeries as you can for your boards," Derek said. Chelsea handed him the drill, and he began delicately cutting away at the spinous process down to the lamina. He kept uncharacteristically silent as he operated, careful not to accidentally damage Aubrey's surrounding nerves, muscles, and blood vessels.

Meredith watched as he worked, the smile on her face growing when she saw how deeply he concentrated. It was the same look Lilly got on her face when she was on one of her missions, whether it was trying to climb up onto the couch, or searching through her toy box for a certain toy she wanted.

As Derek handed one of the instruments back to the scrub nurse, he caught the look she was giving him. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing. It's just that watching you reminds me of Lilly. She'll make that same face when she's standing over an OR table one day," Meredith said.

"And tonight, you get to tell her all about how you helped give Aubrey her life back today," Derek said, nodding toward Aubrey's spine. "All yours."

Meredith exhaled slowly, then turned to the scrub nurse. "Okay. Drill, please?"

Just as Meredith had watched him, he watched her. She'd had a knack for neuro since the first day they worked together five years ago, and had continued to give him a run for his money ever since. Her technique easily surpassed that of any other attending he'd ever worked with, and while he considered telling her that, he decided to hold off and show her just how much he meant it later.

Meredith could feel his eyes on her, but didn't look at him, for fear that if she did, her train of thought would derail from Aubrey's spine to a certain part of Derek's own anatomy. And thinking of what he could do with it was wrong on so many levels while standing over an open body cavity.

She was relieved when she finally finished, not only because the whole surgery had gone off without a hitch, but because she'd successfully managed to avoid Derek's gaze, and subsequent knowing looks from the OR team gathered around them.

As the two of them wheeled Aubrey to the PACU after scrubbing out, Meredith smirked at him, shaking her head in disapproval. Derek laughed as he pressed the button for the elevator. "What?"

"You."

"What did I do?"

"Giving me sex eyes in the OR. Very unprofessional, Dr. Shepherd," Meredith scolded.

Derek grinned, stepping into the elevator, Aubrey's gurney between them. "Me? You were undressing me with your eyes the whole time," he accused.

"I was not," she denied, smiling when he saw through her lie in an instant. "Fine. I was. But so were you."

"I know. And I fully intend on having my way with you when we get home," Derek said.

"Oh, yeah?"

Before Derek could answer, his phone signaled a text, and he pulled it from the pocket of his scrub pants. After checking the screen, he smiled wide, and Meredith didn't need to ask what it was.

"Let me see her," she said.

Derek turned his phone toward her, and she smiled too when she saw a picture of Lilly that Mark had sent him. She was sprawled out on the grass in the backyard leaning against Charlie, sporting her sunglasses, with a bottle in one hand, and her favorite doll in the other.

"Oh my God, look at that face. We made the cutest kid ever," Meredith said, already missing Lilly, even if it had only been hours since last seeing her.

"Yeah, we did."

The elevator doors opened, and just as Derek started to roll the gurney forward, Meredith reached across and squeezed his hand. "I'm really proud of you."

"For what?"

"What you did today. It's always harder with kids, especially babies, but you did it anyway," she said. "Way better than baby poop, isn't it?"

"Lilly might not agree with it, but yeah, it is," Derek chuckled. "Come on, let's go give the Haydens their daughter back, so we can go home and see ours."

"Slightly off topic, but do you think Mark would watch Lilly while we had a quickie in the shower?" Meredith suggested.

Derek laughed. "Worth a shot."

...

Mark's day of baby boot camp was coming to a close, and there was only one thing he knew for certain: he was exhausted. As far as babies went, Lilly was ideal, but taking care of an eleven month old was more work than he'd anticipated. And now, after ten minutes and counting spent chasing her little nude self around the house, he was more than ready to clock out for the day.

"All I need to do is put a diaper on you, then you can run around all you want," Mark tried to compromise with her, but to no avail.

Lilly giggled in delight as she toddled around the living room, unaware that her Uncle Mark wasn't enjoying the game as much as she was. She crawled under the coffee table as though it were an obstacle course, then made a beeline for Charlie.

"Cha-Cha," Lilly cooed at him, practically laying on top of him and using his whole body as her pillow.

Mark dropped to his knees in front of her, and lay down on the carpet on his back while catching his breath. "How do those chubby legs run so fast?" he asked. "No offense."

Lilly pointed at him and smiled. "Lub," she said before sticking her thumb in her mouth.

Whatever resolve Mark had left melted when she told him that, and he scooped her into his arm. "You're a heart breaker, you know that?" he said. "Alright, let's at least slap a diaper on you. I don't want your parents thinking I'm completely incompetent."

Mark gently laid Lilly on the floor next to him, but as soon as he reached for the fresh diaper on the coffee table, the front door opened, and she took off running again. "This close," Mark murmured to himself.

Lilly toddled over to the foyer, and her blue eyes lit up when she saw her parents walking through the door. "Mama Da!" she cheered, holding up her arms.

Meredith knelt down and picked her up, giggling at her daughter. "What are you up to, nudy?" she asked.

"We missed you, Princess," Derek said as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"That little princess of yours is an escape artist. I've been chasing that tiny hiney of hers around the house for fifteen minutes," Mark said, handing Derek the clean diaper. "There. All yours."

"She runs around naked all the time. If she could live naked in a field of flowers, she would. I swear, she was a hippie in a past life," Meredith said, the four of them going back into the living room.

"Did you give her a bath?" Derek asked.

"Yeah. She was rolling around on the grass in the backyard this afternoon. I soaked her dress in stain remover before I washed it. It's in the dryer now. I gave her a bath in the sink, and was about to put her in the ducky jammies she picked out when you guys walked in," Mark said.

They both stared at him in impressive awe. "Wow," Meredith said as she laid Lilly on the couch.

"What?" Mark asked.

"Never thought I'd hear all of those words come out of your mouth," Derek confessed, patting his friend on the shoulder. "You'll make a good dad, Mark."

"You think so?"

Meredith fastened Lilly's diaper around her chubby waist, then tickled her stomach. "Lilly's happy, fed, and bathed, the house is still standing, and you did laundry. That has 'good dad' written all over it," she complimented.

"Are you two just buttering me up so that I'll stick around a little longer while you go have a quickie?" Mark joked.

Meredith scoffed, slipping Lilly into her duck-printed nightgown. "Do you really think we'd stoop that low?"

"Yes."

"We meant every word we said," Derek assured him. "But, I mean, if you're offering, I'm sure Lilly would love another twenty minutes with her favorite uncle..."

"It's bad enough I had to find glow-in-the-dark condoms in the drawer. Now you're baiting me with your cute baby?" Mark said.

A shade of crimson burned over Meredith's cheeks. "Crap. There were more? I thought we found them all. I swear, they're like baby rabbits, multiplying all over the place."

"We just liked to be prepared. Sprinkling handfuls throughout the house seemed like a good idea at the time," Derek chuckled.

"Is there a surface in this house that you two haven't been naked on?" Mark asked.

"Anything Lilly-related is off limits," Meredith said, Lilly curled comfortably in her lap, sucking her thumb. "But everything else? Yeah, we probably have."

"For the record? I still miss using the glow-in-the-dark condoms," Derek grinned, the same dirty look on his face that he had all those years ago.

Meredith laughed. "I bet you do."