Who would have thought

35

Meredith chewed on her thumbnail as she paced the living room of her small apartment, her cell phone in her hand. This was stupid. She was being completely stupid. Completely and totally...she wasn't in high school. She was an adult. A doctor. A self-respecting doctor who wasn't supposed to wonder why a guy hadn't called her yet. This was stupid.

Except he hadn't called. He had sent her a text message with some thing about Sophie and having to stay and that he would call. And he still hadn't. He hadn't called and she wasn't bothered by it. Not at all. She was just wondering where he was. And why he hadn't called. Because Derek was kind of annoying with calling when he said he was going to.

He had done this before. He had said he was going to call and then he didn't and...he hadn't called. No calls. It was now almost ten thirty on Monday night and he hadn't called. At all. No calls at all. But she wasn't going to call. That would be stalkerish and creepy. And if one of the other Shepherds answered his phone...awkward. So she wasn't going to call. And she wasn't going to worry about it.

He was fine. He was probably just doing Shepherd family thing. There was a lot of Shepherds and he was probably busy. They weren't together. They weren't anything close to together. It was just a first date so he didn't have to call. He was probably tired and had passed out. Or Mark and Addie had gotten in a fight and he was comforting Mark or something.

But still...he had said he was going to call. He had said he was going to call and explain everything. Because the text had been weird. Not coming tonight. Soph. Call you later. Not that she had it memorized. That would be weird. Having a text message from the guy that she was about to go on a date with memorized was definitely weird and stalkerish. She had to stop. She definitely had to stop.

He would laugh at her if he knew she was pacing around her apartment waiting for him to call. And not in a oh you're so cute kind of way, but in a you're kind of an idiot kind of way. It was just a phone call. He probably hadn't even remembered he was supposed to call her. Nothing was wrong. Nothing bad was happening. She just needed to stop doing all of this.

A drink. She could have a drink. No she couldn't. She didn't even really keep alcohol in the house anymore. She had finished her wine at Derek's trailer the week before and now she didn't have any alcohol and...okay. Freaking out was stupid. She just needed to sit down and not freak out. Except now there was a knock at her door and it was making her jump. "Coming!" she called.

"Don't worry, take your time," Derek's voice came from the other side.

"Derek!" she gasped, throwing the door open to see him standing there, a huge grin on his face.

"Did someone miss me?" he laughed softly, opening his arms to her.

"I didn't...I mean...you're home," she giggled, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"I'm home," he laughed, his arms going around her waist. "Sorry I didn't call, it's been...crazy."

"What happened?" she murmured, taking a deep breath as he held her close.

"I'm an uncle again," he laughed softly.

"Seriously?"

"Sophie went into labor right before I left so I had to stay."

"Oh...wow," Meredith breathed, burying her face in his neck. "What's...boy or girl?"

"Girl," he murmured, burying his nose in her hair. "Sarah Rebecca."

"Oh that's...amazing," she whispered.

"I know. She's gorgeous."

"I have to call Sophie later."