Chapter 157: 157. Beach Day
Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine.
I know I sound like a broken record every time, but THANK YOU for being patient with me!
Meredith sat in the rocking chair of Lilly's bedroom, watching as Lilly sleepily nursed. It was still early when Meredith woke up for the third time to pee, and when she peeked in on Lilly, she saw that her daughter was just waking up, a happy smile on her little face. Knowing she'd be hungry within the hour anyway, Meredith decided to take advantage of the quiet time to nurse. Lilly unlatched briefly to yawn, then continued sucking, her hand splayed across her mom's breast.
"I love how happy you are in the mornings. You definitely got that from Daddy," Meredith laughed softly, brushing her finger over Lilly's cheek. "Are you excited for the beach today? It's supposed to be sunny and warm, so you can wear your new bikini. Daddy wants me to wear mine, too, but I'm not so sure about that."
"Dada," Lilly echoed into her breast.
"Yeah, Dada is a funny guy. He's coming with us, and so is Uncle Mark, Aunt Bee, and Lolo," Meredith said, watching as Lilly's eyes lit up in delight. "I thought that might make you excited."
Derek poked his head in the partially closed nursery door, and stepped in fully when he saw that Meredith and Lilly were both awake. "Hey. You guys are up early."
"I got up to pee, and she was awake, so we decided to have Mommy-Lilly time now," Meredith said as he sat on the ottoman at the foot of the rocking chair. "I'd ask why you were up before the alarm, but you always are anyway," she teased him.
"I rolled over, and when I realized Charlie moved into your spot and I was spooning him, I figured it was a good time to get up," Derek chuckled, kissing the top of Lilly's head. "Good morning, beautiful," he said before pressing a kiss to Meredith's lips. "Morning."
"Morning," she returned.
Lilly nursed for a few more moments before pulling away. She sat up on Meredith's lap, stretching her limbs, then reached for Derek. "Hi, Da," she greeted.
"Hi, Princess. Today's our big beach day," he said, bouncing her on his knee.
Lilly pointed to her red bikini with white polka dots hanging on her changing table. "'Kini," she told him.
"You're gonna wear your bikini to the beach and show off your little belly?" he grinned, patting the front of her pajamas.
"My bel," Lilly said as she lifted up her nightgown. "Mama bel?"
"My belly isn't as cute as yours," Meredith said, but giving Lilly a peek anyway to appease her. She lifted up the front of her t-shirt, and Derek's eyes were immediately drawn to the belly she revealed.
"When did that get there?" he asked.
Meredith looked down to where his eyes were glued, and she let out a small gasp. "Holy crap," she whispered.
Derek reached out his hand and gently ran his fingers over the small swell just above the waistband of her pajama pants. "I don't think this was here yesterday."
"It wasn't," Meredith said, putting her hands next his.
"It's normal to show earlier with subsequent pregnancies. And you're tiny, so showing at eight weeks isn't that uncommon," Derek recalled from the pregnancy book he had already begun to read for a second time.
Meredith smiled at the small bump under her hands. Though she was still in her first trimester, making it to eight weeks problem-free felt like a milestone. And now that she could actually see and feel the proof of the healthy baby she carried inside her, the relief multiplied tenfold.
"Hi, Jellybean," she said softly.
Derek grinned, unsure whether the bump, itself, or the joy it brought to Meredith's face made him happier. "Best surprise to wake up to."
"Dat?" Lilly asked.
Meredith glanced toward Derek and raised her eyebrows, but he just nodded in encouragement. They'd decided to wait until a bump appeared to make a simple explanation more concrete for Lilly, so now seemed as good a time as any, especially since her curiosity was piqued.
"There's a baby in here, Lillybug," Meredith said.
Lilly cocked her head in the trademark way Derek did. "My baybay?"
"Yeah. She lives in Mommy's belly, but she belongs to all of us. Once she gets bigger, she'll come out, and we'll get to meet her," Meredith explained.
Lilly reached out and put her tiny hand just below Meredith's belly button as she processed the information. Even in her one year old way, Lilly seemed to understand what she'd been told, and her immediate bond with her olive-sized brother or sister left her parents in awed silence as they watched.
"Yeah. You're Jellybean's big sister," Derek added.
Lilly pressed a small kiss to Meredith's belly. "My bean."
"Your bean. That's right," Meredith said, twirling one of Lilly's wild morning curls with her finger.
"Now you have to wear a bikini today. Show off proof of our hard work," Derek said with a dirty but prideful glint in his eye.
Meredith snickered at his suggestion and pointed to her breasts. "Between feeding one of our children, and growing the other, my boobs are already huge. If I wear a bikini top, it's going to look like I have porn star boobs."
"That's why you should wear it," Derek agreed.
"Lilly, tell Dada he's crazy," Meredith giggled.
Lilly pointed to Derek accusingly. "Cazy, Da."
...
They could smell the saltwater of the Elliott Bay as soon as they reached Alki beach. Though it was only a half hour away from their house, it was the first time Meredith had been there since she was four, and Derek had never visited at all before today. He parked the car in the small lot, luckily almost empty because it was a weekday, and Mark pulled into the spot next to theirs.
Meredith unbuckled Lilly from her car seat as quickly as possible, eager to exit the backseat where she'd sat next to Lilly during the drive. Morning sickness was beginning to wane slightly, but even a short drive in the backseat was enough to trigger hints of nausea that she wanted to cast off before it got worse. The cool breeze coming off the water fanned her face, and she breathed in and out slowly, feeling the queasiness dissipate.
"Jellybean doesn't like the car, Lillybug. Which is weird, because you love it. That's something else you got from Daddy, the car love," Meredith told Lilly, whom she held in her arm.
"Lolo!" Lilly exclaimed as soon as Bridget took Charlotte out of her car seat, walking over to her while Mark and Derek unloaded the car trunks.
"Hi, pretty girl," Bridget said. "You look stylish, as always."
"She's been wearing the bikini, sandals, and sunglasses since this morning. I had to slip on her sundress while Derek distracted her," Meredith laughed as she snuck a peek at Charlotte, who was wrapped in a light blanket. "She looks so much bigger already."
"She'll already be a month old in a few days. It's crazy how fast it went," Bridget said, adjusting Charlotte's sunhat so it shielded her face. "She looks more like her dad every day."
"Yeah, so did Lilly," Meredith sympathized. "Ninety percent Derek with a teaspoon of me."
"Jellybean will look like you," Derek promised as he gathered all of Lilly's beach supplies.
"Uh huh. I'll believe it when I see him," Meredith laughed.
Mark slung the beach bags over his shoulder, three of the four containing baby-related items. "I think Lilly's starting to look more like you, Grey," he chimed in.
"You think?" Meredith asked.
"Oh, yeah. Her hair's getting a little lighter, she's getting the freckle sprinkles over her nose. Way more than just a teaspoon now," Bridget nodded.
"Well, good. I'm doing all the work anyway," Meredith teased as they walked the short trek to the beach just beyond the sidewalk. She put Lilly down once they reached the sand, and Lilly happily began squishing it beneath her sandals.
"Someone loves the beach already," Derek chuckled, reaching for one of her hands while Meredith reached for the other.
"I pay?" Lilly asked.
"Yeah, we can play whatever you want. Dada will take you in the water, too," Derek said as they walked further inward. Other than a few families scattered around, they had their pick of spots to choose from, and when Lilly bent down to pick up a seashell that was laying in the sand, she decided for them.
"Good choice, Princess," Derek praised, eager to put down all of the beach equipment that weighed him down.
Meredith took the large beach blanket out of one of the bags, and with Derek's help, they smoothed it over the sand. She kicked off her flip flops, then set about lathering Lilly up with a repeat layer of sunblock. "Come here, peanut. You got Mommy's pale skin, so we need to make sure you stay sunburn-free today."
"You're gonna rub some of that on me, right?" Derek asked with a grin, dumping Lilly's sand toys out on the blanket.
"If that means you're shirtless all afternoon, I'd be happy to," Meredith leveraged, the pregnancy hormones yearning to be satisfied with some eye candy from her husband.
"You wore the bikini. I guess it's only fair," Derek said. He pulled his shirt over his head, and tossed it into the bag, making Meredith's insides flutter with desire that she knew had to be put on hold at least for the time being.
Meredith smiled in satisfaction, taking off Lilly's sundress. "Thank you," she said as she squirt a large dollop of sunblock in her palms and rubbed it gently over Lilly's skin.
"That is the cutest bikini I've ever seen. Where did you get it?" Bridget gushed.
"One of Derek's sisters. Liz, I think. They all send clothes year round, so it's hard to keep track of who sent what," Meredith laughed.
"I want her to wear all the bikinis she wants while she's little. That way, by the time she's a teenager, she'll be sick of them," Derek said with wishful thinking.
Meredith rolled her eyes playfully, finishing applying Lilly's sunblock, and moving onto Derek. "Right. That's how it works," she agreed to appease him. She squirt more sunblock into her hands, then started lathering it up and down his back. It was a task that she thoroughly enjoyed, and if she had any say in the matter, she would be rubbing her hands down his back later on tonight during a different kind of activity.
She felt his toned muscles under his skin, taking her time as she rubbed from his shoulders down to his lower back. Mark watched in amusement as she practically massaged Derek with sunblock, unable to keep his commentary to himself.
"If Banana Boat ever wants do a porn shoot, you two are a shoe-in," Mark said as he set up the baby beach tent on top of the blanket.
"Blame Derek. His sperm got me pregnant, and the pregnancy is making me want to mount him twenty-four-seven," Meredith admitted with her usual lack of filter. "We had S-E-X twice last night, and I wanted to go for round three, but Derek begged me to let him sleep."
"Oh, God," Derek said as his cheeks blushed with crimson.
Meredith smoothed her sunblock-covered hands over his pectorals, and once she was satisfied with her work, she handed him the bottle. "Okay, my turn."
Lilly pointed to the water, looking up to her parents in excitement. "I spash?" she asked.
"Yep, we can go splash in just a minute," Derek promised.
Meredith hesitated for a moment before deciding to throw caution to the wind and taking off her tank top, revealing her newly rounded belly underneath. Even though he'd seen it a couple hours ago, the sight of her belly still made Derek's breath catch in his throat.
The bump caught Bridget's eye, too, and her mouth went agape. "Holy crap, when did that get there?"
"What?" Mark asked, his own eyes traveling to the source. "Oh. Damn, that was fast."
"We noticed this morning. I swear, it appeared overnight," Meredith giggled, Derek massaging up and down her back and shoulders the same way she had done for him.
"If I didn't know you were pregnant, I wouldn't have even noticed it. But yeah, there's a baby in there for sure," Bridget said.
Lilly's eyes lit up when she saw Meredith's belly. "My bean!"
"Yeah, there's your bean," Derek chuckled, handing Meredith the sunblock, so she could put some over her stomach. "Lilly's already very enthused about her little sibling."
Meredith dropped the sunblock onto the blanket once she finished covering her belly in it. "Ready to go in the water, baby girl?" she asked, reaching for Lilly's hand. Derek held the other, and they walked toward the bay, the Seattle skyline visible on the other side.
"I didn't even know Seattle had a beach until last week when Derek asked if we wanted to come along. I waited for the punchline for a minute before I realized he was serious," Mark admitted, one of his arms holding Charlotte, and the other wrapped around Bridget.
"Seattle is surrounded by water on three sides. Someone told me that a long time ago," Derek said, flashing a grin in Meredith's direction.
Meredith laughed, smiling down at Lilly, who was styling her red sunglasses to match her bikini. "That's because everyone associates Seattle with rain. Joke's on them, because I wouldn't trade this warm, sunny day for anything."
They reached the water's edge, happy to stand on the squishy, wet sand, most especially Lilly. When an inch of the remaining tide skimmed their feet, they all jumped backward, surprised by the cold temperature.
"Holy crap, that's like ice water," Bridget said.
"Up up!" Lilly said, reaching toward Derek.
Derek smiled and scooped Lilly into his arms. "Too cold for you, Lillybug?"
"Too cold for me, too. I'll stick to lying under the umbrella with my toes buried in the warm sand," Meredith said.
"Let me guess: Derek, the fly fishing nature boy, doesn't think it's cold at all," Mark joked, stepping back as more water drifted toward their feet.
"Well, when I'm fly fishing, I'm not shirtless in swim trunks. Once I get hot in the sun, I'll probably go back out, swim through a few waves," Derek shrugged.
"Time to tell Daddy he's crazy again, Lilly," Meredith said.
Lilly looked up at him from her place in his arm. "Dada cazy."
...
Between the breeze of the bay, and the warm sand that Lilly poured over her feet, Meredith was never more grateful for making it to her fellowship. A day off during the week had once been a rare treat. But now that she wore the navy blue scrubs and got to make her own schedule, it made every hour of residency worth it.
"I think we should build the castle in the middle, with the fortress around it. If we leave enough room around the sides, we can do the moat and drawbridge," Mark said, mapping out the sand castle with Derek, both more interested in the task than the toddler with whom they were building it.
"How are you going to build a drawbridge out of sand?" Meredith asked in amusement.
Derek pursed his lips as he pondered the logistics of it, but came up blank. "Not sure yet. We'll save it for the end," he said, handing Lilly a small, plastic shovel from her pack of toys. "Do you want to fill up your bucket with some sand, Princess?"
"I do," Lilly agreed.
Meredith smiled, wiggling her toes under the small mountains of sand Lilly had created. "Hey, you're taking away my foot-sand massager."
"We need her. Otherwise, it just looks like two grown men building a sand castle together," Mark pointed out.
"Fine," Meredith relented. She watched as Lilly planted herself between her dad and her uncle, and began busily scooping small piles of sand into her blue bucket. "She's so big now. It's seems like she should still be Charlotte's age, and she was so tiny that I could nurse her in one arm as I walked around the house."
"You're still nursing though, right?" Bridget asked.
"Yeah. I'm probably going to have to wean her soon, though," Meredith sighed.
Bridget smiled in support, patting Charlotte's bottom soothingly with her hand. "Well, who could blame you? Full time job, taking care of Lilly, and growing a person, it's got to be exhausting nursing on top of it."
"Yeah, it can be. Honestly, I think Lilly would be fine if I weaned her. It's me who would cry myself to sleep," Meredith managed to laugh, though she knew it was the truth.
"Well, look on the bright side. By the time Lilly stops nursing, you'll have to nurse the new baby," Bridget said.
"And if Derek's majestic sperm have proven anything, it's that you'll probably get knocked up with the third before Jellybean even starts crawling," Mark chimed in, sculpting one of the sand towers with his hands.
"No, no more. Well, not for a while, anyway. Two is plenty for now," Meredith laughed, shaking her head with emphasis.
Derek held up his water bottle in a toast before taking a sip. "Agreed."
Charlotte turned her head toward Bridget's chest, and started rooting around with her mouth, signaling that she was hungry. Bridget scanned the surrounding area, then glanced at Meredith. "You think it's okay for me to nurse her here, right? You wouldn't mind?"
"Are you kidding? Go for it," Meredith encouraged. "I've nursed in the OR gallery, resident lounge, and attending lounge. If anyone even looks at me sideways, I shoot them the death stare. Problem solved."
"I've saw her give that death stare to an intern once. Sent a shiver down my spine," Mark recalled.
"Your boobs are powerful things. Celebrate them," Meredith said.
Lilly looked up from her shoveling, and pointed to her bikini top with her sand-covered hands. "My boob?" she asked innocently.
"Oh, jeez," Derek sighed, dropping his head.
Meredith recovered from the question before Derek did, and she simply nodded. "Yeah. You have them, just like Mommy does," she agreed.
"A mama," Lilly smiled, pleased with the answer, and resumed her work on the sand castle.
"Well, considering what other words I say in front of her by accident, 'boobs' isn't too bad," Meredith shrugged.
"This sand is too soft. The castle keeps crumbling. We'll never get good edges this way," Mark said in mild frustration.
"That's the plastic surgeon talking," Meredith accused. "Never satisfied until it's perfect."
"Even though it's technically a sand castle that you're helping a one year old build," Bridget reminded him.
"I'll go fill up a bucket with water. I want to cool off anyway," Derek offered, smoothing his hair off his forehead.
Meredith smiled enthusiastically at the idea, her horny, pregnant self more than eager to see him wet and dripping with water. "You definitely need to cool off. Don't come back until you're soaked."
"Wow. Not even shy about wanting to mount him right here and now," Mark observed smugly, knowing neither of them could refute it.
"Hey, until you grow a uterus and then grow a baby in that uterus, no judging," Meredith said.
Derek stood up and grabbed one of the spare buckets, kissing the top of Lilly's head. "I'll be right back, Lillybug. Mommy needs me to do her a favor," he chuckled.
Meredith watched as he walked the few yards down to the water, and imagined all of the things she wanted to do to him in bed tonight. Even Derek getting out of the shower turned her on these days, so seeing him all Baywatch-y, dripping wet and walking on the beach would make it especially difficult to keep her hands off him.
To help keep her mind out of the gutter, she got up from her beach chair and sat on the edge of the blanket next to Lilly. "Can Mommy help?"
Lilly handed Meredith her Finding Nemo sand scooping tool. "Ma dig?" she asked.
"I'd love to. Thank you, baby girl," Meredith said as she began digging.
"Good. You get started on the moat. That'll free me up to build the steeples," Mark said.
Bridget raised her eyebrows at his enthusiasm. "Really? Steeples?"
"Hey, I never got to do this as a kid. Now's my chance. Besides, when Charlotte's old enough to build a sandcastle, she'll put all the other kids to shame," Mark defended.
"I get it. The first time I went trick-or-treating, I was in my second year of residency. When you're deprived of something every other kid gets to do, you find joy in doing it as an adult," Meredith sympathized.
"Well, if there's an upside to that, look at you two now. Both of these little girls are beyond lucky," Bridget said, patting Charlotte's bottom as she sleepily nursed.
"Thanks, Bridg," Meredith smiled, losing her train of thought when she saw Derek walking back up the beach. He held the bucket full of water in his hand, and as promised, was thoroughly soaked from the tips of his hair to his toes.
"God, that water was cold," he said, setting the water bucket next to Mark.
"Yeah, but this visual is indulging my horniness," Meredith argued. She bit her lip as she tracked him from head to toe, taking in every inch of him before she surrendered one of the beach towels to him.
He shook it out to unfold it, smiling when he saw the Minnie Mouse cartoon printed all over it. "So, Dada gets the girly towel, huh?" he asked as he wrapped it around his shoulders.
"Well, the Finding Nemo towel is Lilly's favorite, so that leaves you Minnie Mouse by default," Meredith said. "Don't worry. If anyone can make it look sexy, it's you."
Derek dropped down next to her on the blanket and kissed her temple. "Hmm, thanks."
A beach employee selling ice cream nearby caught Lilly's eye with the large ice cream cone drawing on his shirt, and she clapped her hands excitedly. "I-peem, Ma!"
Meredith looked up from her digging and found the man Lilly had spotted, laughing when she realized Lilly was right. "Wow. Good eyes, peanut," she praised. "You're definitely my daughter if you have a sixth sense for ice cream. Do you want some?"
"I-peem!" Lilly repeated.
"Okay." Derek reached behind him into the beach bag, and pulled out his wallet while Meredith waved the ice cream man over to their umbrella.
"Hi, there," the man greeted. "What can I get for you today? We've got chocolate, swirl, vanilla, strawberry, mint, and creamsicle."
Lilly pointed to the picture of the strawberry cone on the wheelie freezer. "A dat."
"Yeah, you're just like Mommy," Derek grinned.
"Two strawberries, please," Meredith requested, glancing to Bridget and Mark. "Want anything? Our treat."
"Nah, I'm good. Thank you, though," Bridget said.
Mark nodded, deciding to take them up on the offer. "If you insist, then I'll take a creamsicle."
"Coming right up," the ice cream vendor said as he scooped the ice cream from the large containers.
Meredith turned her head toward Derek, who was still practically swaddled in the Minnie Mouse towel. "You don't want any?"
"Maybe later. I'm still warming up after my ice water bath," Derek teased.
She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and squeezed him in a hug. "I'll lie on top of you naked later. Would that help?" she murmured against his ear, so that only he could hear what she'd said.
The visual image made him prickle with goosebumps, which had nothing do to with him being cold. "Hmm, I think it might."
"Okay, then."
"Here you go. Two strawberry and one creamsicle," said the vendor, handing Meredith the ice cream cups and spoons in a cardboard holder. "Total comes to six dollars."
Derek handed the man a ten dollar bill, then tossed his wallet back into the bag. "Keep the change," he offered. "Looks delicious. Thank you."
"Thank you," he returned, waving to Lilly as he continued on down the beach. "Enjoy your ice cream, little lady."
"I-peem!" Lilly said in appreciation, sand castle forgotten.
Meredith scooped dime-sized amount onto the plastic spoon. "It's cold, so we'll do little bites," she said, feeding it to her.
Lilly's lips puckered as the cold ice cream touched her tongue, but she didn't seem to mind. "Mmmm!"
"She's the only kid I know who likes strawberry. Usually vanilla is the go-to for toddlers," Bridget said in surprise.
"She loves strawberry ice cream. Meredith's daughter, through and through," Derek chuckled.
"A momo?" Lilly requested.
"I'll feed her. That way you can eat yours before it melts," Derek offered, taking Lilly's ice cream cup. He gave her another small spoonful. "Yummy?"
Lilly smiled with a coating of pink ice cream on her lips. "Ummy!"
"Hey, have you told Mom about the pregnancy yet?" Mark asked before eating a large scoop of the creamsicle ice cream.
Meredith shook her head. "Not yet. I have an ultrasound next week where we'll get to hear the heartbeat for the first time. We were thinking about calling her then."
"You should just hold off and surprise everyone when you fly out there for Thanksgiving. If Grey's already starting to show now, imagine the size of her belly in November," Mark suggested.
"Yeah right. Mom would pass out, and the girls would try to kill me for keeping it a secret," Derek laughed, wiping some ice cream off Lilly's chin with his towel.
"True. But it would be funny," Mark upheld.
Bridget smiled as she burped Charlotte over her shoulder. "Within two days of telling them I was pregnant, we had packages arriving at the door. Bibs and booties and every other unisex baby item you could think of," she recalled.
"Yeah. They freak out over babies. That's why they have so many," Derek joked, although he would argue it was the truth.
"Kathy texted me every day once we found out we were having a girl to see if we'd come up with a name, so she could get started on the embroidering. Izzie did the same thing, only it was in person and involved bribery muffins," Meredith said. "I'm sure they'll both do it all over again with this one."
"What's your hunch this time?" Bridget asked.
"No idea, honestly. Apparently, cravings have something to do with it, but my cravings are all over the place. Taco Bell, Peeps, mangoes, waffles, you name it. And I'm just as horny," Meredith disclosed.
Derek shook his head and smiled. "And the same lack of filter, just like last time."
"I get it now. Once you push a human being out of your body, you've earned the right to say whatever you want," Bridget vouched.
"See? You have to have a vagina to understand," Meredith explained, giving Lilly her sippy cup so she could wash down her ice cream with some water. "Probably shouldn't say that word in front of you, Lillybug. That'll be the next anatomical term that rolls off your tongue," she giggled.
"This past school year, one of the little girls in my class decided it would be fun to teach the other kids about body parts during playtime. She even knew what a uterus was. Gotta say, for being five years old, I was actually impressed with her," Bridget said as she handed Charlotte over to Mark.
"That will be my child in a few years," Meredith said with a sigh of amusement, fixing Lilly's barrette. "And if this baby is anything like Lilly, we're in for two very chatty, very unfiltered kids."
Lilly got up from her place between her parents, hands sticky with ice cream. "I poo," she announced before toddling over to the bag of beach toys and squatting next to it.
"Case in point, chatty and unfiltered," Derek grinned at her always impeccable timing.
"And she keeps the sunglasses on while she poops, too," Mark added, bouncing Charlotte on his knee. "Your best friend is one of a kind, Lolo."
Meredith smiled at her daughter and quickly snapped another photo of her with her phone, unable to pass up the opportunity. "Yes, she is."
...
The day was winding down, and they were all happily exhausted after the beach trip. Lilly had fallen asleep before they even had her buckled in her car seat on the way home, and stayed sleeping even during her bath. After waking briefly to nurse, she dozed off again, and Meredith kissed her nose before gently placing her in her crib.
"I love you, baby girl," she whispered, turning on the small nightlight, then carefully tiptoeing out of Lilly's room. She padded downstairs with the baby monitor in hand, smiling when she saw Derek on the couch with Charlie, using the last of his steam to fold a basket of clean laundry.
"Hey. Still out like a light?" Derek asked.
Meredith nodded, dropping down on the couch next to him. "Yep. She nursed for ten minutes, and fell asleep before she even unlatched."
"Between the sand castle building and the thousand pictures we took of her, she had a busy day," Derek teased, his eyes drawn to his wife's outfit, which consisted only of her panties and one of his t-shirts.
"What?" she asked.
"You look cute in that," Derek grinned, folding a pair of Lilly's shorts.
Meredith rolled her eyes and reached for one of Lilly's sundresses from the basket. "Oh, yeah. I'm ready for the red carpet," she laughed.
"I'm serious. You do. Although, I kind of miss seeing Jellybean. You need to wear bikinis more often, at least until your belly grows more," Derek suggested.
"He's still in there, don't worry," Meredith said, placing one hand over the small swell covered by the shirt she was wearing. "I can't wait until he starts kicking. I felt so much more... calm when Lilly started kicking. A sign that she was okay, you know?"
"Mer, she's fine. Or he's fine," Derek said. He reached over Charlie between them and put his hand on top of hers. "Do you think you'll feel better once we hear the heartbeat?"
"Yeah, I do."
A smile came over Derek's face as an idea came to mind. "Then let's listen to it."
"What?"
"We have the doppler you bought me for Christmas two years ago. You're eight weeks along now; almost nine. We should be able to hear it just fine," Derek said.
"Let's do it," Meredith nodded, anxiously tapping her fingers over her belly.
"It's upstairs in the closet. I'll bring it down," Derek offered. He planted a kiss on top of her head before going upstairs, just as eager to hear his child's heartbeat as he was to help allay Meredith's nerves.
When he returned to the living room with the doppler under a minute later, Meredith was already making herself comfortable on the couch. She rolled up her shirt just below her breasts, even though it gave Derek more reasons to comment on the pink panties she wore underneath.
"Still have the blue goo, too," Derek said, rolling the bottle in his hands to warm it up. "Ready?"
"Yeah," Meredith said. She gasped slightly when the cold gel touched her, and flinched at the tickle of the wand as he rubbed it over her skin. "If this works, you're getting sex tonight."
"Hmm, I thought I was already getting sex tonight for my beach modeling," Derek said with a smirk.
"Extra sex, then," Meredith amended.
Derek turned on the fetal doppler and handed it to Meredith to hold while he pressed the wand just above the waistband of her panties. At first, it was nothing but fuzzy static as he slowly roamed the wand around, trying to find the right spot. Meredith chewed nervously on her lip while she waited, about to throw in the towel thinking it was too early, but then it happened.
The powerful woosh-woosh-woosh of the baby's heartbeat filled the living room, loud, strong, and beautiful. Meredith dropped her head onto the back of the couch in relief, blinking away the tears that already burned in her eyes.
"There he is," Derek nearly beamed, keeping the wand steady over the right spot. "Sounds healthy to me."
Meredith wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her shirt. "Yeah, he does."
"What's the doppler say?" he asked.
Meredith looked the doppler screen, even more relieved when she saw the reading. "Fetal heart rate: 178."
"See? Strong and perfect," Derek said as he rubbed his free hand over her arm.
Charlie's ears perked up when he heard the continued wooshes of the heartbeat, and the curious expression on his furry face made Meredith laugh. "Hear that, buddy? That's your brother. Well, probably sister."
"Jellybean determines gender majority. Right now, Charlie and I are tied with you and Lilly. Two and two," Derek said.
"Uh huh," Meredith played along. "Well, even if we gave Lilly five little brothers that outnumbered her, she would still rule the roost."
"Oh, I'm sure she would," Derek grinned. "This one surprised us enough already. Pink or blue, it doesn't matter."
Meredith squeezed his free hand in hers. "Thank you, Derek."
"For what?"
"This. Best idea ever," she said.
"You mean the listening to the baby's heartbeat, or the baby I knocked you up with?" Derek teased.
"Both."
A smile spread over his face, and it was a look Meredith recognized. "You know what says thank you like nothing else?"
Meredith laughed, the baby's heartbeat so soothing that they never wanted the sound to stop. "I think I might have an idea."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone