150. Father's Day II

Disclaimer: I don't own TV shows. I just wish I did. Thank you for your patience, as always!

Meredith pulled out of the coffee house drive thru a few blocks away from the hospital, and stopped at the red light. The hot coffee burnt her tongue when she took a sip, but the caffeine it contained was worth it. She placed the extra-large cup back in the holder, then looked in the rear view mirror.

"We're almost there, Lillybug. We're going to pick up Dada and go out to breakfast, since it's Father's Day," Meredith said, pressing the accelerator when the light turned green. "Jeez, I barely tapped it with my toes. I swear, Dada was a race car driver in another life. I hate driving this thing."

"Dada," Lilly chattered excitedly from her car seat in the back.

"Yeah. And since Dada had to work overnight, he can't wait to see you," Meredith said with a small yawn as she glanced at the time on the radio panel. 8:15, which was practically lunchtime for a surgeon. But after going to bed at two in the morning after a long night of studying for her boards, silencing the alarm this morning at 7:00 was near torture.

She heard Lilly making small grunting sounds from the backseat, and Meredith peeked in the mirror again as she pulled into the employee lot. "What're you doing back there?"

"Poo."

"Uh oh. Well, that can be a nice surprise for Daddy," Meredith laughed, pulling into the closest spot to the hospital entrance. She cut the engine, grabbed her coffee, the diaper bag off the passenger seat, then walked around the car to open the rear door to unbuckle Lilly.

"Hi," Lilly greeted.

"Hi, peanut. Long time, no see," Meredith laughed. She lifted Lilly out of the car seat, closed the door with her hip, then locked the car with the key fob. "Do you want to walk?"

Lilly nodded in agreement. "Wok."

"Okay. Hold Mommy's hand," she said, letting Lilly grab hold of her fingers. She picked up her coffee from the roof of the car, and began walking the few feet of distance from the parking lot to the double doors that led to the hospital entrance.

Lilly veered left to pluck a flower from the patch growing under one of the trees that lined the entryway. "Dada," she explained after the slight detour, holding it proudly in her free hand.

"You picked a flower for Daddy? He'll love it," Meredith praised.

"Dada lub," Lilly echoed.

The double doors opened in front of them, and they stepped inside, relishing in the air conditioning that was a nice contrast to the unusually warm Seattle June morning. Derek stood at the nurses' station scribbling down the last of his post-op notes in his patient's chart, and the second Lilly spotted him, she let go of Meredith's hand and toddled as quickly as she could over to him.

"Dada!" she shrieked with delight.

Derek turned around when he heard the sweet, little voice he loved, and a grin spread over his face. "Lillybug!" he said, kneeling down to catch her in his arms when she reached him. He pressed kiss after kiss to her cheek, smiling against her skin. "Dada missed you so much."

Lilly handed him her freshly picked, yellow marigold flower. "Fa, Dada?"

"And you even got me a flower. It's beautiful. Thank you, Princess," Derek said. He sniffed the air around him and peeked into the back of her diaper. "Whoa, you left me this, too? You give the best presents, you know that?"

"That happened in the car on the way over. She's just really excited about celebrating Father's Day with you," Meredith joked.

"Guess so. How about Daddy changes you real quick, then we can go?" Derek suggested, taking the diaper bag from Meredith's shoulder.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. You've changed every diaper since yesterday afternoon. I think it's my turn," he chuckled. He scooped Lilly up and held her on his hip as they walked to the restroom located behind the reception desk.

Meredith smiled as she watched them go. Running on little sleep from being on call the night before, and he was still in Super Dad mode at all times. If anyone deserved a good Father's Day, it was Derek. She was so caught up in her sentimental mommy moment that she didn't even notice Mark until he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Oh. Hey," Meredith greeted him.

"You working today?" he asked.

"No, just picking Derek up. He's changing Lilly's diaper in the bathroom. Surprised to see you here on a Sunday. Emergency boob job?" she teased.

Mark grinned, taking a sip from the coffee he'd just purchased at the coffee cart. "Nah. I'm trying to bank as many days off as I can to extend my paternity leave once Bridget has the baby, so I've been working weekends."

"Daddy Mark is already impressing me, and the baby isn't even born yet," Meredith complimented.

"I don't want to miss a minute of the newborn stuff. Derek's been telling me how great it was getting to spend those extra weeks home with you and Lilly," Mark said.

"It really was nice, just the three of us living in the happy baby bubble. After giving birth and then breastfeeding around the clock, I was exhausted those first few days until we started getting into a routine. Derek was amazing. He let me sleep in, he cooked, he cleaned, he got up during the night to change diapers. When I was cleared for sex after five weeks, he got very, very lucky. That's actually my Father's Day gift to him tonight," Meredith disclosed.

"Did you submit your application to Hallmark yet?" Mark asked. "Because they'd hire you on the spot for that greeting card gold."

Derek exited the restroom with Lilly on his hip, and walked over to Meredith and Mark who stood near the nurses' station. "Hey. Someone's fresh as a daisy and ready for pancakes."

"You or Lilly?" Mark asked.

"Both of us," Derek played along. His pager beeped and he unclipped it from his jeans, the smile on his face dissolving into a frown when he read the message that scrolled across the screen. "Pancakes might have to wait a little longer. I have to do a quick consult in the pit," he said.

"On what? I'll take it, so you guys can go," Mark offered.

"I don't know. Guess we'll find out, if you wanted to come with me," Derek said.

"I'll go with you, too. If the nurses see me there with Lilly, maybe it'll keep them from bugging you to do a consult on every curtain like they usually do," Meredith said as they walked toward the elevators.

Once they made it to the pit, the ER nurse spotted Derek and handed him the patient workup. "Thirty-four year old female, eight months pregnant in trauma bay two. Pale and diaphoretic after reporting dizziness while jogging. EMTs gave her a bolus of NS en route. Heart rate currently 72, BP was 102 systolic when they found her, but after the NS, it's up to 112," she reported.

All of the color drained from Mark's face and he bolted toward trauma two. And when Derek and Meredith read the name at the top of the workup chart, they followed right in after him.

"Bridg, are you alright? What happened?" Mark asked in a panic as soon as he pushed the door open.

Bridget gave them all a weak smile, putting on a brave face to calm them down. "I'm fine. I think I just overdid it. I didn't realize how humid it was outside until I was already running. When I felt dizzy, I stopped to sit on a bench. I would've called you, but I left my phone in the car. And my water, which I realize was stupid. By the time the ambulance brought me here, I felt a lot better."

"No fall, then. That's good," Derek said, pulling his penlight out of his pocket, just to be sure. He shined the light into each of Bridget's pupils, watching their reaction. "Brisk and equal. I think it's safe to rule out any head trauma."

Meredith set Lilly between the two of them on the gurney, having no other alternative, and she smiled when Mark's arm immediately stretched around both his niece and his wife. She wheeled the portable blood pressure machine out from the corner of the room and wrapped the cuff around Bridget's upper arm.

"I just saw you yesterday at your baby shower, and you were totally fine. Are you in any pain? Still dizzy or anything?" Meredith asked her.

"No. I just want an ultrasound to make sure the baby's okay. The EMTs didn't have a doppler, so they couldn't check the heartbeat. But I've felt the usual little kicks, so that's a good sign, right?"

Meredith nodded in reassurance. "Babies are tough. I'm sure he or she is just fine," she said, keeping her eyes focused on the sphygmomanometer. "BP is 114 over 82."

"That's good. Saline drip is doing its job," Derek said as he checked her IV site for any signs of infiltration.

"Alright, let's check the baby out," Meredith said, knowing that if she were the one in the situation, her baby's well being would trump her own.

Mark hopped off the gurney holding Lilly, so Meredith and Derek could continue their exam. With his free hand, he grabbed onto Bridget's, squeezing it tight.

Lilly waved at Bridget and gave her a happy smile. "Hi, Bee," she greeted her, her sunny, baby self brightening the room instantly.

Bridget smiled at her, waving back. "Hey, you," she replied as she lifted up her shirt. She let out a shaky breath as she tried to relax, watching as Meredith flipped on the sonogram machine.

"Okay, ready for the cold, blue goop?" Meredith asked, waiting for Bridget's nod before she squirt a small circle of it on her rounded belly. She spread it around with the wand, and the 3-D image of the baby appeared on the screen, followed by a strong, loud, heartbeat.

All four let out a communal sigh of relief, Meredith timing the beats with her watch. After a few moments, she nodded in confirmation. "Heart rate is 154. Perfectly normal."

Tears welled in Mark's eyes, and he ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, thank God," he said softly.

While Mark leaned down to kiss Bridget, Derek sneakily turned the monitor away from them, pointing to something he'd noticed on the screen. Meredith smiled at him when she realized what he saw.

Mark caught the two of them exchanging glances, and he narrowed his eyes. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing. It's just... Baby Pretzel Legs is actually letting us sneak a peek today," Derek hinted.

Bridget's eyes went wide. "You can see the sex?"

"Yes we can," Meredith replied as she reached for Lilly, whom Mark passed over the gurney. "But just because we can doesn't mean you guys have to. I know you decided you were just going to wait it out."

"That's only because the baby's been so stubborn. We didn't think we'd have another chance, since Bridg had her last ultrasound a few weeks ago. I don't know now. Do we go for it?" Mark asked.

"I almost passed out in the freaking park today. I think this is a sign that we go for it," Bridget pointed out, laughing in spite of herself. "What do you say?"

Mark nodded, rubbing his hands together in excitement. "Let's do it. Show us."

Rather than say it out loud, Meredith turned the monitor back toward Mark, who had also become adept at reading ultrasounds over his many years of experience. A wide grin spread over his face, and more tears welled in his eyes when he was finally able to sneak a peek between the baby's legs.

"It's a girl! I knew it!" Mark practically cheered. His arms wrapped around Bridget and he hugged her tight, unconcerned with their three person audience. "Best Father's Day present ever."

Meredith bumped her hip with Derek's and smiled at him, the remembrance of what that moment was like for them flooding back. The moment they found out their little blueberry was their little girl. Lilly knitted her brow as she tried to make sense of the excitement in the room, and Derek chuckled at her expression.

"Lilly, guess what? Your baby cousin is a girl," Derek told her. "That means you get to have tea parties together, and play dress up, and do all those girly things together."

"A baybay," Lilly said, pointing to the blobby human on the monitor.

"I knew if there was a penis, we would've seen it months ago, pretzel legs or not," Mark nearly beamed with pride.

"You called it from the beginning," Derek vouched, patting Mark's shoulder. "Congrats, you guys. We couldn't be more thrilled for you."

Bridget wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, in awe of her tiny, in-utero daughter. "Thank you," she whispered. "God, she's so cute, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is," Meredith said, deciding to take advantage of the giddiness and pry for the hell of it. "So... does 'she' have a name?"

"She might..." Mark said vaguely.

"Only my mom knows what our name picks are, but since you guys noticed she was a girl, I guess we can let you in on the secret," Bridget said as she wiped the blue gel off her belly with the paper towel Meredith handed her. "But we'll only tell you if you print us a stack of sonogram pictures."

"And if Derek helps me paint the nursery next weekend," Mark threw in.

"He will," Meredith agreed before Derek had the chance to do so. She selected each thumbnail image of the pictures she'd taken, then hit the printer icon on the lower right corner of the screen. "There. Printing. Spill," she said.

"Charlotte," Mark said, smiling as soon as the name left his mouth.

"So you are going with Charlotte! I was hoping you would. It's always been one of my favorites, especially after my quint," Meredith complimented.

"Your what?" Mark asked.

Meredith waved it off. "Quintuplets were born here a few years ago, before you came," she said.

"Charlotte Sloan is beautiful. Rolls right off the tongue," Derek added.

"Hear that, Lillybug? This is Charlotte," Meredith said, showing Lilly one of the sonogram photos after it came out of the printer.

Lilly pursed her lips and stared at the picture with interest for a few moments. "Lolo," she finally decided, smiling at her blobby cousin.

"Lolo," Derek echoed. "Looks like your kid is nicknamed for life."

"I'm liking Lolo, actually," Bridget said. She held up her hand for a high five, and Lilly reciprocated with a little smack. "Nice choice, Lilly."

"Our boy's name was Jack, so that's up for grabs, if you two wanted it," Mark said amusedly.

Derek laughed. "Jack Shepherd might be a bit much. You know, with the LOST connection and all, but maybe we'll throw it in the mix anyway when the time comes."

...

Lilly sat on Derek's lap, her face and hands covered in a sticky layer of syrup. Breakfast had been delayed an hour, but Lilly's pure excitement over her pancake was worth the wait. She shoveled a bite-sized piece into her mouth and munched happily.

"I think she's consumed more syrup than actual pancake," Meredith said as she forked a bite of French toast.

"That's okay. If she's too sugared up to nap, then she'll be zonked out tonight. Which means you and I can celebrate," Derek said with a raise of his eyebrows.

Meredith smiled, sipping her orange juice. "Well, not to ruin it, but that actually was my gift to you. But we need to make it a porny study session. My boards are in six days, and I need to study as much as I can until then."

"Even better," Derek grinned.

"I don't know if I'm more nervous for the actual exam, or being away from Lilly. Either way, there will be tears," Meredith admitted.

"Don't be nervous. You've been ready for the boards since your intern year. And Lilly will be fine, too. I'm very entertaining," he said in an attempt to calm her mommy anxieties. "Besides, you'll only be gone from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. It's not a big deal."

"I'm probably bumping my flight up to Saturday night instead. If I take the test on Saturday morning, there's really no reason to stay over the extra night," Meredith shrugged, giving Lilly a small bite of scrambled eggs off her fork.

"Mmm, gigi," Lilly said in delight as she chewed.

"If you wanted to stay and have a fun night out with Cristina and everyone, I want you to," Derek encouraged.

"If we didn't have Lilly, I'd stay. But I know I'd just be thinking about her the whole time. Seriously, I'd much rather be home with you guys watching Finding Nemo than drinking at the hotel bar," Meredith said honestly.

"Okay. Well, just let me know. Lilly and I can come pick you up at the airport whenever with a dozen victory balloons," Derek said.

"Technically, I won't even find out if I passed until Sunday night, so maybe hold off on the balloons in case I fail miserably," she laughed, handing Derek a wipe so he could clean some of the sticky syrup off Lilly's hands.

"You won't fail. And I very much look forward to having celebration S-E-X with you that night," Derek promised her.

"I wish you could be my neuro proctor. You could ask me a question or two, then we could just spend the rest of the session having S-E-X on the hotel bed," Meredith said, only half joking.

Derek shot her a smirk, raising his mug of coffee to his lips. "If that wasn't such a blatant conflict of interest, I'd agree to it in a heartbeat."

"Me, too."

"So, what Father's Day festivities have you got planned for today?" he asked, letting Lilly use the sleeve of his shirt as her napkin.

"Well, I promised Lilly she could go in her pool. She saw the bikini that Mark and Bridget got her for her birthday in the laundry basket today. You know, the ruffly one that looks like a strawberry. She wanted to wear it to pick you up at the hospital, but we compromised with the pool later on," Meredith said.

"We need to buy Charlotte a few bikinis of her own. Then Mark will know how I feel when he sees his daughter in one," Derek said.

"Wouldn't you rather she wear it now than when she's sixteen?"

"We need to build an in ground pool. That way when she's sixteen, her friends can come over to the house, and I can give the guys the death stare from the porch... remind them I have access to sharp surgical instruments," Derek chuckled.

Meredith rolled her eyes at him playfully. "Okay, let's do that."

...

As promised, after arriving home and washing off the remainder of syrup, Lilly sat in her kiddie pool on the back patio. It had been nearly an hour, and each of Lilly's fingers and toes was thoroughly pruned. She didn't mind though; instead, she was happy as a clam playing with her collection of rubber ducks that bobbed all around her.

"Dudud," she said, plucking one dressed like a pirate out of the water.

"That's pirate duck. He says argh!" Derek said in his best impression.

Lilly waved it in the air with enthusiasm. "Argh!"

"Good girl," Meredith praised. She picked up Dr. Duck from the pool and showed it to her. "What does Dr. Duck fix?"

"Bain," Lilly replied, pointing to the top of her head.

"See? She's prepping for her boards just like you probably were at age one," Derek told Meredith from across the pool. "Right, Lilly? Tell Mommy she'll ace her boards just like you will one day."

"Ace!" Lilly exclaimed, smacking her hands against the surface of the water.

Meredith leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Thank you, peanut."

Derek looked beyond the trees out toward the dock a short distance away, and he smiled when a thought crossed his mind. "I have an idea."

"What?" she asked.

"Let's go out on the boat. You got it for me for Christmas, and we've never had the chance. What do you say?" he suggested.

"You want to go on a boat ride?"

"Yeah. It's a beautiful day. Plus, you could use a stress reliever. And since I can't help you with that the naked way until Lilly's asleep, why not?" Derek said in a way that didn't leave room for her to debate.

"Fine, I'm sold. Let's go," Meredith shrugged. She grabbed Lilly's beach towel off the patio chair and shook it out. "Want to go out on Dada's boat, Lillybug?"

"A go," Lilly agreed easily, her pigtails bobbing as she nodded her head.

Derek scooped her up out of the pool and handed her to Meredith, who wrapped her in the towel. "It's so sweet that she wants to hang out with us. Sixteen Father's Days from now, she'll probably be pretending we don't exist."

"Unless you get her that pool. You know, without the whole 'threatening guys with scalpels' thing," Meredith reminded him.

He laughed, sliding open the screen door to the kitchen. "Oh, that part's nonnegotiable."

Once they packed everything they could possible need and then some, they trekked out to the water. But now, as Meredith stood on the dock holding Lilly, she was beginning to have second thoughts.

"How deep is this water?" she asked.

"A few feet right here, but the farther out you go, it's probably close to thirty," Derek approximated as he did various boat-related things that Meredith couldn't even pretend to understand.

She clacked her flip flop on the dock nervously and bit her lip. "Do you have life jackets?"

"Mer, this isn't the Titanic. We're not gonna hit an iceberg," Derek chuckled. "But yes, I have life jackets."

"Okay, good."

"All aboard," he announced, reaching his hand toward her.

Meredith reached out and took it, walking up the two steps to the boat deck. When she was sure she had her footing, she smiled in relief. The boat she'd gotten him was even nicer than she'd first thought. Cushioned benches lining either side, a retractable awning, storage cabinets, a mini fridge, and even enough room for Lilly to run around.

Once Derek retracted the stairs, effectively closing the boat's perimeter, Meredith set Lilly on her feet. "You're okay, Lillybug. You can walk around."

Lilly took a tentative step forward, but when she realized she couldn't see the water from her height, she looked at Derek. "Up?" she requested.

"You want a better view?" Derek asked. He picked her up and held her on his hip, grinning with pride at the way she peered out into the water. "Are you gonna be Daddy's fishing buddy in a few years?"

Lilly's face lit up when she heard the word 'fish' leave his mouth. "Meemo!" she cheered.

"I should have brought my fishing gear. I could've caught us some trout," Derek said, putting Lilly down after she lost interest in the calm water.

Meredith scrunched her nose, her memories of fishing off the dock with Derek fresh in her mind, even though it'd been over a year. "You'd really catch Nemo and cook him for dinner?"

"Well, when you put it like that, it's a lot less appetizing," Derek replied. He smiled when he saw Lilly standing on the boat deck, twirling in circles. She shrieked with laughter every time her dress flew up, oblivious to her parents' conversation about eating Nemo.

"I can't wait to make her a little sibling. I mean, she's a pro at entertaining herself and everyone around her, but still, it'll be fun having two running around," Meredith imagined out loud.

"She'll be a good big sister. And until then, since Mark got so much daddy practice with Lilly, Lilly can get a lot of sister practice with Charlotte," Derek said, pressing some of the control buttons on the panel.

Lilly glanced up mid-twirl at both of them. "Lolo," she said.

"Yeah, Lolo. Remember we saw Lolo in Aunt Bridget's belly this morning. Are you going to play with her when she gets here?" Meredith asked.

"Pay," Lilly agreed.

"You're so smart. You know that?" Meredith praised her. "Dada should name the boat after you."

"Actually, I was thinking of naming it after you," Derek said with the straightest face he could manage, just to see how she would react.

Meredith turned to face him, eyes wide in horror. "If you name a boat after me, I'm never sleeping with you again."

"But if I name it after Lilly, then her future siblings will be jealous," Derek pointed out.

"The answer is still no," she upheld.

"Party pooper," Derek said, steering them away from the dock.

"Poo?" Lilly asked.

"Don't give her any ideas," Meredith giggled as she adjusted Lilly's sunhat. "We're at sea, and I only packed two diapers."

...

The end of the day was winding down, at least for Lilly, and she quietly nursed as she tried to stay awake, not wanting to miss a moment of her dad opening his Father's Day presents.

Derek joined the two of them in the bed after brushing his teeth, prepping in advance for the study session he and Meredith had coming up. He smiled when he saw the pile of gifts sitting at his feet. "I told you not to get me anything. Getting to spend every day with both of you is the best gift ever."

"After the gifts you got me for Mother's Day, there was no way I wasn't getting you anything," Meredith countered. She tapped the smallest gift with her toe. "Open this one first."

"Okay." Derek reached for the rectangular present wrapped in blue. He sliced through the tape with his finger, then ripped off the wrapping paper. When he saw what was inside, his head whipped toward Meredith. "Where did you find this?" he asked, holding the first edition copy of The Sun Also Rises in his hands.

"One of my patients a few months ago was a retired English professor. He had For Whom the Bell Tolls sitting on his tray table, and we got to talking about you, and how much you loved Hemingway. Anyway, he mentioned this little antique bookshop in Oregon that sold lots of first edition copies of old books. So I called the shop, and the owner sold me the last copy he had. I had it shipped to Cristina's, so you wouldn't see it once it got delivered," Meredith explained, trailing her fingers up and down Lilly's back.

"I've been looking for a first edition for years."

Meredith smiled at his excitement, and she squeezed his arm. "I know. You told me that the morning after you showed me the trailer for the first time. We were drinking coffee at the little table, and I asked you why that book was your favorite. You said you read it when you were in eighth grade, right after your dad died. You found a first edition copy of The Sun Also Rises on your dad's bookshelf, so that's what you wrote your book report on. All of the other kids chose easy books, but you chose that. You said the whole lost identity thing really stuck with you. You read it once a year ever since you were twelve, but when you were in college, you lost your dad's first edition copy, and you've always wanted to find another one."

"God, I can't believe you remember all that. I told you that years ago," Derek said as he reverently flipped through the yellowed pages. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome."

"I don't know what else you and Lilly got me, but this is pretty... untrumpable," he said sincerely.

"Untrumpable," she parroted. "That sounds like a word in the Meredith dictionary."

Derek laughed, setting his book on his nightstand to prevent any chance of it getting crumpled. "I'm sure I got it from you."

"Probably. Okay, Nemo one next," Meredith said, pointing to the gift covered in Lilly's leftover birthday wrapping paper.

Instead of lugging the large box toward himself, Derek scooted down to the edge of the bed. "This thing is huge."

"Funny. Usually I'm the one who says that to you in bed," Meredith said with a smirky smile.

"Porny," Derek accused.

"Still true."

Derek tore off the Finding Nemo wrapping paper in an attempt to re-channel his focus on Father's Day, and not the activity that led to him being a father in the first place. "You got me a hammock?"

"Not just any hammock. This is huge, top of the line, four-sided one. Way better than the piece of crap one you used to have to sleep in to get away from my snoring. I figured this summer, you could lie in it with your book and relax. Or if you're feeling adventurous, we could have some baby making S-E-X in it. Well, attempt to, anyway," Meredith said, peeking down at a nearly snoozing Lilly, grateful that she wasn't aware of the current conversation.

"Yeah?"

"If it was already installed in the backyard, I'd go out and practice with you tonight," Meredith said. "Seriously, it's as wide as our bed. Lilly helped me pick it out. She calls it a hammy."

"Excellent choice. Thank you, Princess," Derek said, pressing a kiss to Lilly's forehead, before moving up to Meredith's lips. "I'll put it up tomorrow, and you and I can test it out."

"Looking forward to it," she replied, just as Lilly slipped off her breast, finally asleep.

Derek gently scooped her tiny body out of Meredith's arms, so she could readjust her shirt. "You're much bigger than you were last year, Lillybug," he whispered, cuddling her close.

"That sort of brings us to the last gift," Meredith said. She took the polka-dot printed gift, also decorated in birthday leftovers, and swapped that with Derek for Lilly. "My boards are next week, and it's because of you that I get to take them. You put your career on hold, so that I could make sure I had one. There's no way I would've finished my residency on time if you hadn't done that for me. I was able to go to work every day knowing that she was here with you, exactly where she should've been."

Derek smiled at her. "I'd do every second of it all over again."

"I know you would. That's what I love about you. And why I wanted to make this present extra special," Meredith prompted, tapping the gift box with her finger.

Derek tore off the wrapping paper, and pulled the lid off the box, smiling at what was inside of it. "A Lilly album. Always love these. You and I really think alike."

"Yeah, we do. By the time you gave me the 365 days of Lilly album, I was already working on this one. But it's different than the one you gave me. Open it," Meredith said.

As soon as Derek turned to the first page, Lilly's voice came out of the speaker in the spine of the album, saying the word Dada, and on the page, there was a picture of him and Lilly at the hospital softball game.

"It's one of those voice recording albums. I wanted to do this, too," Derek said. "Does she say a new word on every page?"

"Yeah. I had to record her voice on my phone, then hook it up to the album with the USB thingy. We've been working on it little by little since April," Meredith explained, the many hours spent putting the album together well worth it for the joy etched all over Derek's face.

"I love this," Derek said, flipping to the next page. Lilly said the word Mama this time, and a photo of her and Meredith on Christmas was tucked into the slot.

"You and I can page through it when she goes off to college, and I'm a sobbing mess. And she can even show it to her own kids one day," Meredith said. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and hugged him to her. "She's already growing up so fast. This way we get to preserve her sweet, little voice forever."

They flipped through every page of the album, with Lilly's voice narrating each photo. Cha-Cha for Charlie, gigi for egg, Meemo for Nemo, even one of her saying poo with a picture of her standing in her poop corner. By the time they'd reached the last page Meredith had filled, but with plenty of blank pages to fill for the future, it was almost unfathomable to look back and see how much Lilly had grown. One minute, a tiny newborn, and the next, a chatty, giggly one year old with a personality that made them smile and laugh every day.

"Best Father's Day gift ever," Derek said softly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I love it so much that I can't wait to thank you for it properly," he hinted, putting the photo album next to his Hemingway book. "So how about I tuck Lilly in, and when I get back, you're N-A-K-E-D and waiting?"

"I like that idea." Meredith kissed Lilly's nose, then passed her off to Derek. "Goodnight, peanut. I love you."

Derek walked down the hall toward Lilly's nursery, padding carefully so he wouldn't wake her up. "Mommy is the best, you know that? She always says she feels lucky to have me, but you know what? Mommy is the reason you exist, so I feel even luckier to have her," he whispered as he went into Lilly's room.

He moved Dr. Squirrel and her baby doll out of the way to make space for her, then gently laid Lilly down in her crib. He covered her in the Finding Nemo blanket she always used, and leaned over the rail to kiss her. "Daddy loves you so much. Thank you for giving me such a great Father's Day. Sweet dreams, Lillybug."

After turning on her small nightlight, Derek tiptoed out of Lilly's nursery, and walked as quickly as he could back to his own bedroom. And sure enough, when he crossed the threshold, Meredith was naked and waiting as promised.

"Ready for the study session, huh?" he asked, pulling his shirt over his head after dropping down onto the bed next to her.

Meredith decided to speed up the process by shimmying off his pants and boxers for him. "I've been looking forward to it all day."

"Me, too."

Derek shivered when she ran her fingers along the length of him, sucking in a breath. "Holy... if you keep doing that, studying won't be nearly as fun," he said, retaliating by snaking his hand down her belly to where she wanted it most.

When she felt his fingers, she arched up off the bed in surprised pleasure. "No fair," she gasped, but still relinquishing her hold on him.

Derek cradled his hands under her shoulders and kissed her hard, smiling when her legs wrapped around his waist. "Well, someone's impatient."

"I'm just a diligent student, eager to learn," Meredith murmured against his lips.

"Okay, then. Let's get started." Derek unhooked her legs and knelt in front of her, setting his palms under her knees.

"What're you doing?"

"Reward system. Every right answer gets you some sex. Wrong answer, and we stop," Derek suggested.

Meredith gripped onto the sheets in eager anticipation, her heart pounding in her chest. "Fine. Let's go."

"Okay. Defend your use of tenting suture over the 4.0 polypropylene suture during the Moyamoya surgery you performed this past January," Derek said, sounding as professional as possible, though with him kneeling naked before her, it wasn't working so well.

"I chose the tenting suture to avoid risking an intracranial bleed post-op. Additionally, the patient was a nine year old child, and tenting suture is safer for pediatric neurosurgery," Meredith said, the final word coming out in a moan when Derek finally thrust inside her.

Derek buried his face in her neck and kept still as he waited for her to adjust. "Correct," he praised.

As soon as Meredith wiggled her hips in a signal for him to move, Derek reluctantly withdrew. He forced his mind to cooperate, though another part of his body was threatening to trump whatever his brain was telling him to do.

"And when your board proctors ask you who your supervising attending was, what're you planning to say?" he asked.

Meredith smirked at him, knowing this was torturing him just as much as it was her. "I'll say it was my fancy, mind-blowingly good at sex neurosurgeon husband," she said, smiling when he resumed, and even happier when he didn't stop. "Gold stars for that answer, huh?"

Derek grinned, throwing her legs over his shoulders. "If I were proctoring you, I'd pass you for that alone, Dr. Grey."