175. Visiting Day

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Very sorry for the wait (as usual). Please enjoy this Lilly and Liam-packed update to make up for it!

It was March 21st, the first full day of spring, and Liam's fourth day on the outside world. With the arrival of warmer weather and blooming flowers came the reality of having two children under age two under the same roof. And since Meredith was only sleeping one or two hours at a time because of Liam's nursing schedule, she was reveling in her five minute shower, which had become her only alone time.

She leaned against the shower wall and closed her eyes, letting the warm water rain down on her tired body and swollen breasts. The steady stream of water spray and darkness behind her eyelids was so relaxing that she couldn't help but fantasize about a long, luxurious night of sleep, surrounded by a cocoon of blankets and pillows.

But her dream came to an abrupt halt when the bathroom door opened, followed by the sound of Liam crying. Concerned about her son, Meredith poked her head out of the shower to find Derek holding a very messy Liam, his back and bottom covered in poop.

"What happened?" Meredith asked.

"First diaper blowout."

Meredith quickly rinsed the last of the conditioner from her hair, then turned off the faucets. As much as she needed her mini shower vacation, Derek and Liam needed her for a more time-sensitive issue on the other side of the curtain. After stepping over the lip of the tub and slipping on her robe, she began peeling off Liam's soiled pajamas and diaper.

"If only you could've done this a few minutes ago before I took a shower," Meredith told her son, who looked at her with a pouty expression. "You're still the most handsome little boy I've ever seen, don't worry," she said. "Where's Lilly?"

"In our bed watching Frozen on the iPad. She's okay by herself for a few minutes," Derek said as he tested the warmth of the water. "Alright, Liam, don't freak out. I just need to wash you off. I'll be quick."

Meredith held Liam's tiny bottom under the sink faucet while Derek wiped him clean with a washcloth. The baby cried in displeasure at being rinsed, and the sad sound was enough to make Meredith cry, too. "I know, sweetpea. If your belly button were healed, I'd just hold you in the shower. Your sister loved the shower when she was a baby."

"Sorry we interrupted you. I know the shower is your happy place," Derek said.

"Poop emergencies require two people. It's okay," Meredith replied, turning Liam toward Derek to wash his other side. As she did, Liam decided it was necessary to empty his bladder, and he projectile peed all over Derek's t-shirt. But by the time Meredith could spin him toward the sink, Liam was finished, leaving Derek more soaked with urine than water.

"Liam, why?" Derek asked in good humor, looking down at his shirt.

"It was going to happen eventually. I'm impressed that he went three days without peeing on one of us. More impressed by his aim, though," Meredith admitted. She took the washcloth from Derek and finished washing Liam's bottom while he removed his shirt.

Derek laughed. "You should've saved that trick for Uncle Mark later on, buddy."

"Are they still coming today?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah, this afternoon. I haven't told Lilly that Charlotte is visiting yet; otherwise, she'd be bouncing off the walls," Derek joked, turning off the sink once Liam was clean.

"Good thinking," she said as she wrapped the baby in a towel. "I know that was torture, but now you have a clean, little butt. Let's go get you dressed before you decide to pee again, while Daddy takes a shower because he smells."

"Mean," Derek said, tossing his old clothes into the hamper.

Meredith bit her lip, his naked body hers to track from head to toe. "No, what's mean is you stripping in front of me, and me not being able to jump your bones for another five weeks," she countered.

"You gave birth four days ago..."

"Yeah, my hormones are on overdrive. Horny one minute, crying at a graham cracker commercial the next. Can't help it," she defended, watching as he leaned over the shower to turn on the faucets. "Okay, I'm leaving before this porno gets any steamier."

"Washing baby pee off myself qualifies as a porno?" he asked.

Meredith smiled, Liam dozing off in his towel swaddle. "If you sweeping Cheerios off the kitchen floor turns me on, you leaning naked over the shower definitely qualifies."

...

"Do you want to build a snowman. Come on let's go and play. I never see you anymore. Come out the door. It's like you've gone away. We used to be best buddies. And now we're not. I wish you would tell me why," Meredith sang to herself as she stood over the kitchen counter making Lilly's lunch. After the shower, however brief, slipping into clean clothes, and putting on some makeup, she was feeling semi-human again, and was determined to keep up the positive energy.

She was so wrapped up in her activity that she didn't notice Derek's footsteps behind her. He leaned against the doorway holding Liam, both of them listening to her one-woman karaoke. Derek waited until she made it through the whole song before revealing his presence, enjoying her off-key rendition. "Interesting song choice," he said, quickly putting an end to her ballad.

Meredith turned around when she heard his voice, and her face heated in a slight blush. "How long have you been standing there?" she asked.

"The whole time," he confessed. "Funny, I didn't peg you as a Frozen fan."

"I've heard you humming "Let It Go" one more than one occasion, so don't even start," Meredith warned him, scooping some pasta wheels onto Lilly's dish. "I miss the days when Finding Nemo was her go-to movie. That one doesn't have annoying songs that get stuck in your head for days on end."

"Your version of the snowman song is pretty great, though. It's technically a duet, but you pulled it off well on your own," Derek complimented.

Meredith narrowed her eyes at him and smirked. "I would through a pasta wheel at you, except you're holding Liam," she said as she reached for him. "How's my little guy doing? Are you ready to meet some aunts and uncles today?"

"He is. He's wearing his best outfit," Derek grinned. "I'm surprised you dressed him Yankee pride."

"Well, you had it laid out on the changing table already. I figured that was your not-so-subtle hint," Meredith said. Liam looked up at her as he sucked on his blue pacifier, and she smiled at how content he was in her arm. "You look handsome no matter what you're dressed in, so I can let it slide."

"Hi," Lilly greeted, walking to the kitchen with her sippy cup.

"Hey, Princess. Where's your iPad?" Derek asked her.

Meredith laughed. "You mean our iPad that she hijacked?"

"I pause," Lilly replied.

"You paused Frozen? Good job," Derek praised. "How does she know what pause means? Or how to do it?"

"Because we made two genius babies," Meredith said, scooping some yogurt onto Lilly's dish. "Are you ready for lunch? I want you to eat something healthy before Aunt Izzie arrives with piles of baked goods and a lasagna."

"She really made us lasagna?" Derek asked in disbelief, refilling Lilly's water cup.

Meredith nodded as she bounced Liam in her arm to help lull him to sleep. "Yeah, last night after working a twelve hour shift. I swear she's not human. I barely have the energy to toast a Pop-Tart after pulling twelve hours."

There was a short knock at the front door, and Charlie trotted toward the foyer, Lilly in tow. "So much for healthy lunch," Derek teased.

Meredith picked Lilly's plate off the counter anyway, determined for her to eat something other than sugar, then followed Derek into the living room. Lilly was already playing host to Alex, Izzie, and George, leading them toward the couch.

"Thanks for coming. It's good seeing all of you," Derek told the three of them.

"You, too. Mer, look at you. If I hadn't been there for it, I wouldn't believe that you just had a baby," Izzie complimented.

"You should've been here an hour ago when we were up to our elbows in baby poop," Meredith said.

"Liam poop," Lilly echoed as she munched on a pasta wheel.

Alex laughed when she handed him a piece of pasta, and dropped down on the couch next to her. "He pooped, huh? Do you change his diapers?"

Lilly nodded enthusiastically, always proud to show off her big sister skills. "I do," she said. "Liam penis."

"Did she just..." George asked.

"Yeah, it's her new favorite word," Derek sighed.

Izzie returned from dropping off food in the kitchen and gifts on the floor, and with her arms now free, she reached for Liam. "Aunt Izzie needs to hold you," she said, smiling as Meredith handed him over. "Hi, sweet boy. You look just like your mom."

"Damn, he really does. Iz showed me pictures, but to see him in person, he looks even more like you," Alex said.

"How's life having two?" George asked.

"We're still getting used to it. Too many diapers and not enough sleep, but it's all worth it. And Lilly loves helping out," Derek replied, tossing a penguin toy from one hand to the other. He got up when he heard another knock at the door, and smiled when he saw Owen and Cristina.

"Hey, how's it going? Good to see you," Derek said as he opened the door for them.

"Good; how are you guys doing with the little man so far?" Owen asked, handing Derek a bag of gifts from him and Cristina.

"Eating, sleeping, pooping. He's such a good baby," Derek said as they walked into the living room. "You didn't have to buy him anything. Thank you."

"Of course we did. You have, like, no boy clothes because everyone thought Liam was gonna be a girl," Cristina pointed out.

Meredith laughed. "Yeah, we're still kind of shocked. We had to dress him in one of Lilly's old newborn outfits yesterday because we ran out of boy stuff. Poor guy had to wear purple bunnies until the laundry was finished drying. He still looked handsome, though."

"Wait, are you wearing scrub pants?" Cristina asked Meredith in curiosity.

"Yeah, I need all six pockets; it's like having a diaper bag at all times. Baby monitor clipped to my phone pocket, a spare burp cloth, spare diaper, breast pads, hand sanitizer, a pack of travel wipes, and at least two pacifiers, since he always manages to spit one on the floor. I've worn nothing but scrub pants for three days," Meredith shared.

"You really carry breast pads in your pockets?" Alex asked.

"If you were nursing every hour and had leaking boobs, you'd carry breast pads in your pockets, too," Meredith defended.

Izzie laughed, passing Liam over to Alex. "Here, hold your godson, so we can stop discussing breast pads," she said.

"Oh, speaking of godson, Derek and I decided to have him baptized on April fifth. It's Easter Sunday, so we figured it would be easier for people to come, since they'll have the day off. And Derek's birthday is April second, so his mom is going to fly out from Thursday to Tuesday to celebrate his birthday, Easter, and the baptism during the same trip," Meredith explained.

"Everyone's welcome to come back here after the baptism, too. Mark and Bridget are bringing Charlotte for an Easter egg hunt, and my Mom already offered to cook," Derek said.

"April fifth. We'll be there," Izzie agreed, squeezing Liam's foot. "I can't wait to see him in his little, white outfit."

"We ordered it last night. It's ivory-ish, and it comes with a hat and booties. It's adorable. We ordered Lilly's Easter dress, too. Tell them what color you chose, Lilly," Meredith said, wiping Lilly's yogurt-covered hand with one of her pants pocket travel wipes.

Lilly looked up from her plate of lunch and smiled. "Lellow."

"Yeah, you got a yellow dress. You're going to wear it on Easter, and when you and Liam visit the Easter bunny. Mommy's hoping it's a meltdown free visit," Meredith teased.

"Planning a baptism and Easter plans with a newborn and a toddler? You two are on the ball," Owen complimented.

"That's what happens when I'm up nursing at three in the morning with a fully charged laptop and a credit card," Meredith said.

"You seem to have the whole two kid thing down. When are you popping out number three?" Alex asked.

Meredith scoffed at the question, unsure if he was serious. "At this point, the only way we're having a third is if he or she is a surprise like Liam was. But if we do, then you and Lexie are on deck as the third set of grandparents, George."

"Well, if that day comes, I'd be happy to," George agreed.

"Has Lexie visited Liam yet?" Izzie asked.

"She and my Dad came by yesterday. It was nice, actually. He was really excited to meet Liam, and he and Lexie had a tea party with Lilly. We had fun," Meredith said truthfully.

Lilly pointed to the pile of gifts everyone had brought over, and the look in her eye told Meredith what she was thinking before she even had to ask. "I open?"

"Those are for your brother, but you can help open them," Meredith nodded, setting Lilly's plate on the table.

"We got presents for her, too," Izzie admitted.

"So did we," Cristina said.

George raised his hand guiltily. "Me, too."

"You're spoiled, Lillybug," Meredith sighed. She shuffled off the couch and onto the floor next to Lilly, who was already scoping out which gift to tackle first. "Thank you, guys. You didn't have to get them anything; we really do appreciate it."

Alex felt a vibration hit his arm, then sniffed the air around him. "Dude, did you fart on me?"

"Yeah, he does that a lot. He woke us up with one of those last night. Definitely not shy," Derek said.

Lilly stopped in mid-unwrapping of the present and stilled Meredith's hand. "I poo," she announced before walking over to her trusty corner of the living room.

Meredith laughed, dropping her head against the arm of the couch. "Please pardon our children and their over-sharing of bodily functions. It's a work in progress."

"Reminds me of the last few months of your pregnancy when you used to fill us in on how bloated you felt, or details about your mucus plug," Cristina reminisced.

Rather than let herself get embarrassed by her pregnancy-induced lack of filter, Meredith chose instead to play along. "Oh, I could tell you more stories. Like how I didn't need an episiotomy or stitches with either birth. Or how I need to put lanolin on my boobs to keep them from getting chapped."

Alex nearly choked on his drink at the admission. "Disturbing, Mer," he coughed.

"On that note, I have a diaper to change," Derek said, grateful for Lilly's timing as she left her corner and walked toward him. "Come on, Princess."

Owen's pager beeped, and he pulled it from his pocket. "The ER is paging me. I'll be right back. I call dibs on holding the baby when I get back," he said with a smile before excusing himself, walking into the kitchen.

"Do you miss that sound?" Alex asked, giving Liam to George to hold.

"The sound of pagers going off? Right now, no. Derek and I are enjoying the baby bubble. Five weeks from now, I might miss it a little. Not as much as I'll miss Lilly and Liam when I go back to work," Meredith sighed, the thought of that day already making her stomach churn.

"Are you and Derek going to keep alternating schedules?" Izzie asked.

Meredith nodded. "We're going to try, yeah. There's going to be days when we can't, though. That's what we need to figure out."

George made a funny face at Liam, fixing his sleeve when it rolled past his hand. "What about daycare, just for those days? That way they'll both be close by," he suggested.

"Bailey came by yesterday, and we actually talked to her about that. With just Lilly, we managed to schedule things so one of us was always here with her. Or in a pinch, we could ask you guys to watch her for a few hours. It's harder with two, though. We don't want to have to ask you to babysit both of them if we both needed to work," Meredith explained.

"You know we're happy to help whenever we can," Izzie assured her.

"I know, and we really appreciate it. Of course we'd always prefer you guys to daycare, but we may need daycare as a backup, at least for Lilly. Bailey said it's good preschool prep. It might be good for her to spend a few hours a week with kids her own age," Meredith admitted.

"She's such a sweetheart, and has such an outgoing personality already. I think she'd enjoy it," Izzie said in support.

"Yeah, Derek and I need to talk about it more, but that could be an option at some point. We'll see," Meredith said as Derek and Lilly came back into the room. "Hey, all clean?"

Lilly smiled, running to the waiting pile of unopened gifts. "I keen!"

"Very good," Meredith praised.

"Sorry about that. Admin. hiccup in the pit. I had to rearrange some on-call shifts," Owen said, noticing the iPad on the couch, still paused on the movie. "Oh, good. Lilly's a Frozen fan. She'll like the gift we got her, then."

Meredith braced herself as Lilly ripped the gift wrap off the present from Cristina and Owen, realizing she was right to be concerned when she saw what was under the paper. "Fozen, Mama!" Lilly exclaimed.

"Frozen Flashing Light-Up Karaoke," Meredith read off the large box. "And look, it comes with two microphones and the soundtrack. Isn't that cool, Lillybug?"

"I pay," Lilly said, jumping up and down in excitement.

"You know where this would be even more fun to play with? Aunt Cristina's house," Derek hinted, already looking for a way to get rid of the loud present.

"Hell no. Those songs drive me crazy," Cristina said, shaking her head.

"She's right. Every little girl in the peds. ward is obsessed with that freaking movie. I hear those songs echoing in the damn halls at all hours," Alex chimed in.

Meredith sighed as she started slicing through the tape on the box with her thumb, eying Cristina with vowed revenge. "I will kill you for this. You know that, right?"

...

Two hours' worth of Frozen karaoke later, the first round of guests had cleared out, and Derek was cleaning the living room of gift wrap piles while Meredith nursed Liam. She stroked his chubby hand with her finger, smiling at the dimples on each knuckle.

"For a six pound baby, you're a great eater, Liam," Meredith told him.

"Hurting?" Derek asked.

Meredith shook her head. "No, just powerful. Lilly was always gentle. He's like a man on a mission," she teased, listening to his determined suckling sounds. "Did Mark text you?"

"Yeah, they're on their way. Lilly should be up before they get here," Derek replied.

"She needed a power nap after entertaining her company earlier. It's rough being the center of attention," Meredith teased. She gently pulled him off her breast to burp him, much to his displeasure. "I know, peanut. Give me a burp, then you can finish eating, okay?"

As she patted Liam's back, she looked down at herself and sighed in good humor. "Remember the days when my boobs weren't out twenty-four-seven?"

"Not really, no. It's become the norm around here—not that I mind," he grinned.

"Hmm, I'm sure you don't," Meredith said, watching as Derek moved the karaoke machine to Lilly's corner of the living room with all of her other toys. "We need to ban any more presents from entering the house."

"It was bad before Liam came along. Imagine how many toys we're gonna have this time next year. Even with the playroom, the house will be bursting at the seams," Derek predicted.

Liam let out the burp Meredith was waiting for, and she laughed as she helped him latch back onto her breast. "Probably, yeah."

"Mama Dada Liam," Lilly called out in a sing-song voice over the monitor.

"She bellows. I'll get her," Derek offered.

"Thank you."

While Derek was upstairs getting Lilly, there was a knock at the door, signaling Mark and Bridget's arrival. "Crap," Meredith said as she reached out her free arm to grab a light blanket off the arm of the couch. She draped it over her shoulder to shield herself since Liam was still nursing, then walked into the foyer to open the front door. "Hey, you guys. Come in."

"Baby," Charlotte said in awe when she noticed Liam's little feet poking out from the blanket.

"Yeah, this is Liam. He's a brand new baby. And a very good eater. He should be finished soon, then you guys can hold him," Meredith said, ushering them toward the living room.

"You look great, Mer. Giving birth agrees with you," Bridget complimented.

"Thank you. Not sure I'll give birth again or any time soon, but having him at home was so nice," Meredith said.

After Derek carried Lilly downstairs, she immediately bolted toward Charlotte, and squeezed her in a hug. "Lolo!"

"There's your buddy, Lolo," Mark said, extending his hand to Derek. "Congrats, man. The Shepherd sperm proved us all wrong and gave you guys a boy. Didn't think it could be done."

"Us, either. When Derek told me it was a boy, I thought he was joking until I saw Liam's boy parts," Meredith replied as Liam slipped off her breast, full after eating. She handed him to Derek while she adjusted her shirt. "Can you try to get another burp out of him?"

"Yeah," Derek nodded.

Bridget smiled when she saw Liam's face in person for the first time, and she touched his hand with her finger. "Hi, sweet boy. Oh, Meredith, he looks just like you."

"Right? No one saw that coming," Meredith said.

"How's Lilly been with her new brother?" Bridget asked.

"She's been great so far. We've been letting her help as much as we can. Diapers, changing his clothes, burping him, all of that. I think as Liam gets older and starts getting into her stuff, she might have a slightly different opinion. But for now, she's like a second mommy to him," Meredith said.

Lilly patted Mark's knee with a foam block to get his attention, and when he looked at her, she smiled. "Liam penis."

"Oh, God. She's never gonna stop saying that word," Derek sighed.

At a loss for a response, all Mark could do was nod in agreement with Lilly's statement. "That's, um... yeah. Very good."

"That's her new favorite word. She shares it with everyone," Meredith explained. "We kind of wish she was old enough to bribe. A new Frozen toy in exchange for not saying that word in public."

"She's still obsessed with that movie, too? So is Charlotte. We keep trying to get her to watch different movies, but that's still her favorite," Bridget commiserated, steadying the girls' block tower before it could tip over.

"If I have to hear the redhead ask the blonde if she wants to build a snowman one more time, I'm gonna lose it," Mark said.

Derek laughed. "Wow, someone has a lot of anti-Frozen venom," he accused.

"A man can only take so much," Mark said as he leaned forward. "Alright, hand him over."

"Liam, this is Uncle Mark. He's gonna teach you all kinds of things that Mommy and I probably won't approve of, like what stores don't put the condoms behind the counter, and bad pickup lines to use on girls at bars," Derek predicted, placing Liam into Mark's arm.

"Right on both counts," Mark agreed. "Hey, Liam. It's nice to finally meet you, buddy. Your Dad and I are gonna have so much fun with you when you get older. Maybe you'll even have a fellow male cousin if Aunt Bridget lets us have another baby."

Bridget rolled her eyes. "We'll see."

"Come on, we need another boy in the group. Chances are, Liam was a fluke and the rest of the Shepherd dozen Mer pops out will be girls. Liam's gonna need a companion in girl world. Derek, back me up," Mark said, letting Liam grab hold of his finger.

"Not sure we're having a dozen. Two is plenty for now. Although, yes, having grown up in girl world, I admit having Mark around was nice," Derek said. "Poor Liam's in for a lot of dress-up clothes and tea parties."

"He can be the Prince Charming of the tea party. Look at those eyes. He'll be the heart breaker of preschool one day," Bridget said.

"Oh, we actually wanted to ask you about that. We figured since you teach kindergarten, you'd know better than anyone. Derek and I were thinking of enrolling Lilly in the hospital daycare. Not every day, but maybe once or twice a week for a few hours, just to be around kids her own age. She's still a while off from preschool, but getting that structure and social time might be good for her, right?" Meredith asked.

Bridget nodded. "Oh, yeah. My coworker, Lindsay, who teaches the other kindergarten class actually works at the daycare during summer vacations. I was picking her brain the other day, since Mark and I were thinking of letting Charlotte go, too."

"Were you really?" Derek asked, the idea of daycare less daunting with the prospect of Lilly going with a friend.

"Yeah. Like you said, maybe just a few hours a week. She's either with us or my sister, who watches her when we have to work. Just for a change of scenery, you know?" Bridget explained.

"That's what we're thinking. When I was little, I was always with my dad until the day I started kindergarten. I'd never been away from home, so it was hard on me. I cried every day for two months," Meredith recalled. "It was like being thrown in the deep end on day one. We figured daycare will let her dip her toes in the water a little bit, so preschool won't be so hard on her when the time comes. Probably a bad metaphor, but..."

"No, it's true. That's the same thing Lindsay told me when I asked her. They put a lot of emphasis on socialization and early education, even for the little guys like Lilly and Charlotte. Letters, colors, shapes, and how to share and take turns, all of that," Bridget said.

Mark paused his game of funny faces with Liam to rejoin the adult conversation. "Bridg and I were going to schedule a tour. If you want, we could go together, that way the girls could buddy up. It'd be more fun for both of them," he suggested.

"We need to take Liam in for his one week checkup on the 25th. Our appointment is at nine, so if you wanted to go around ten. I could set everything up," Derek said.

"Yeah, that works for us," Bridget agreed. "And obviously, if we get there and you decide it's not a good fit, don't feel obligated to sign her up."

"Same goes for you guys. We'll just go and check it out," Meredith said, fixing the clip in Lilly's hair.

"Penis," Lilly giggled.

Derek shook his head and sighed. "She's probably gonna get herself kicked out of daycare the first day if we don't get her to stop saying that."

"Speaking of... that body part, I think Liam peed. He feels warm," Mark said, cupping Liam's diapered bottom in his hand.

"Okay, I'll change him," Meredith offered as she reached for him.

"I can do it," Mark said.

"You sure about that? He has impeccable aim," Derek warned him, grabbing the bin of diaper supplies from under the table.

Mark nodded confidently. "I think I can handle it," he said, laying Liam down on the changing pad after Derek rolled it out on the couch cushion. "There better just be pee in here, Liam. If you pooped, game over."

"You offered. Number one or number two, it's all yours," Derek replied.

"This is a sacred uniform, Liam. We can't get it dirty," Mark said as he unsnapped Liam's Yankee outfit. "If it were a Red Sox uniform, I'd say pee all over it."

Meredith narrowed her eyes. "I heard that."

After shimmying off the bottom half of Liam's outfit, Mark peeled back the tabs on the old diaper and pulled down the front. Derek basked with pride at his son's boy parts, eager for Mark to weigh in. "Look at that. Incontrovertible proof that he's a Shepherd," Derek boasted.

"It's impressive, I'll give you that," Mark agreed. "I mean, a lot of that swelling is from the birth. It will go down."

"He's a Shepherd," Derek grinned.

Mark patted Derek's shoulder before pulling a wipe from the box. "Right."

"I'm sorry, peanut. It's a stupid guy thing. Mommy doesn't get it either," Meredith cooed to her son, smoothing her fingers through his soft hair.

Before Liam could show off his newly discovered talent of aiming and firing, Mark slipped a fresh diaper under Liam's bottom and secured the tabs around his waist. "There we go, pal. Good as new."

"Okay, my turn. You've hogged him long enough," Bridget decided. She scooped Liam out of Mark's arm and placed him in her own, smiling at the way he stared up at her in content curiosity. "Oh my goodness, six pounds and already making me swoon, Liam," she said, glancing at Mark. "Fine, let's have another."

"Alright, Liam! That's my man," Mark cheered.

Lilly tugged on Derek's pant leg, ready to steal back the spotlight from her baby brother. "Fozen, Dada?" she asked.

"You want to watch Frozen with Lolo? Okay, but how about we eat first," Derek suggested.

"Eat pizza," Lilly nodded.

"Pizza works for me," Mark said as he got up off the couch. "I'll fire up the grill. Anything to delay watching that movie."

"Cristina gave Lilly a Frozen karaoke machine earlier. We're still trying to think of a way to get back at her," Meredith said, giving Liam his pacifier when he started to fuss.

"She has a valve replacement scheduled on Monday after my turbinectomy in OR 2. Give me a copy of the Frozen CD and I'll switch out her OR playlist with that," Mark devised in seconds flat, much to Meredith and Derek's joy.

Derek grinned, popping the CD out of the sparkly karaoke machine. "Keep it in there all week. And please get it on tape."

...

"There's more pizza sauce on your face than there was on the whole pizza, Lillybug," Derek said, washing Lilly's face with a washcloth as he leaned over the bathtub.

"She loves pizza as much as her Mama. One day, you'll get to eat it too, little guy. For now, you're stuck with the boob," Meredith told Liam, who was starting to fall asleep in her arm.

"Liam tubby?" Lilly asked.

Meredith smiled at her daughter, wiping some water droplets off her forehead. "Not yet, sweetpea. Maybe next week after his cord falls off, we can put his little tub in here when you get a bath, so you guys can play together."

"I pay wif him," Lilly said enthusiastically. She patted his head with her wet hand, and Liam opened his eyes, annoyed at being woken up. "Hi, Liam."

"Did you hear that? She just said 'I play with him.' That's a full sentence, Derek. She's not even two. Lilly, why are you getting so big so fast?" Meredith asked.

"I big," Lilly shrugged, handing Derek her rubber duck dressed as a ballerina.

Meredith dried Liam's wet hair with the sleeve of her shirt, then kissed his forehead. ""I forgot how little they are when they're newborns. I mean, they feel like bowling balls coming out, but once they're actually in your arms, they're like little dolls. Then before you know it, they're holding conversations with you."

"Bowling balls, huh?" Derek chuckled.

"Yes, and not the kiddie ones. The fifteen-pounders. With Lilly, it wasn't as bad, because the epidural was still tapering off. But with Liam, oh yeah. Bowling ball is very accurate. I'm still not sure how I didn't accidentally poop with either of them," Meredith said.

Derek said nothing, focusing his attention on skimming Lilly's rubber duck on the water's surface. Meredith narrowed her eyes at him in curious suspicion. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing, it's just... you did. A little. Very little," Derek admitted.

"What? I did not!" Meredith argued.

"It's not a big deal. It all happened so fast. No one cared. And five seconds later, Liam was born, and he was all that mattered," Derek said, fairly certain he should've taken this factoid to the grave with him instead of revealing it to her.

Meredith shook her head and turned toward the shelf of towels. "I can never look you in the eye ever again. Or Izzie, apparently."

"I've watched you give birth twice to the babies we made together. I've seen everything there is to see, and you know what? You're every bit as incredible to me as you were the day we met," Derek said honestly.

"That's sweet, but I'm still mortified," Meredith said, leaning her hot, crimson cheek against the cool wood of the shelf. "Give me a minute to erase this moment from my memory."

Derek laughed as he rinsed some foamy bubbles off Lilly's shoulders. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll change every diaper for the next three days, Lilly's and Liam's."

Meredith considered the offer, and deciding it was better than nothing, she nodded. "That's a start."