Can't Help Falling in Love

79

Derek Shepherd had stood in this OR several times, probably hundreds of time in the past two years, preparing to save someone's life. He remembered the first time, the way his hands had shook as he scrubbed in. But now, as he stared through the window and watched his wife get an epidural, his hands were shaking so much that he dropped the soap exactly six times before he was properly scrubbed in. Everything about this moment suggested that he was about to be Dr. Derek Shepherd; from the light blue scrubs pulled from his locker to the ferryboat scrub cap and surgical mask he was tying on, he looked like Dr. Shepherd. Except he knew that the next time he stepped out of this OR, he would be Daddy to two precious little girls.

"Derek," Meredith gasped, her voice filled with fright as he stepped out of the scrub room, immediately moving closer to her and taking her hand, squeezing it tightly as he looked around the room.

"I'm right here," Derek smiled, kneeling down to look into her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"I...I can't feel my legs," she whispered.

"I know," he nodded. "Our girls are about to come, Mer. We're going to be parents in a few minutes."

"I know," she breathed. "I'm going to be a good mom, right? And they're going to love me?"

"An amazing one," Derek nodded.

"Alright, we're ready to begin," Dr. White said as she entered the OR. "Anything you'd like to say, Dr. Shepherd?"

Derek smiled as he looked down at Meredith. "It's a beautiful night to save lives," he breathed. "Let's have some fun."

Meredith smiled slightly at him, and he glanced at Dr. White as she made the first incision before he turned his attention back to his wife. "I say that before every surgery," he explained. "It's good luck."

"Hmmm," Meredith nodded. "You're wearing the scrub cap I got you for your last birthday."

"I wear it for every surgery," Derek said. "You bring me good luck. And now it's going to bring us good luck."

Meredith smiled softly, and he felt his own panic subside slightly at the fact that he could calm his wife. He wasn't sure if it was seconds or hours later, but when he heard the sound of loud cries filling the OR, he turned to see Dr. White gently lifting his first baby girl out of his wife's stomach.

"Oh Mer," he breathed. "Look at her, she's beautiful. This is our daughter, Meredith. Our daughter."

"Oh," Meredith sobbed as she watched her husband take the tiny baby into his arms, bringing her closer, looking at her tiny perfect features and her mass of dark hair, stuck to her head. "Hi sweetheart."

"Dr. Shepherd, we've got to give her the APGAR," a nurse murmured as she reached for the baby."

"And we have another Baby Girl Shepherd," Dr. White smiled as she carefully maneuvered their second daughter out of Meredith's stomach, her face scrunched and blonde hair matted against her head.

Derek held his breath for a moment when he didn't hear the healthy cries he had of his first daughter. "Derek," Meredith gasped, squeezing his hand tightly. "Why isn't she crying..."

Before she could finish her terrified question, Dr. White suctioned some fluid out of the little girl's lungs and her loud cries filled the room, much louder and more insistent than her sister's.

"Oh," Meredith gasped as the baby girl was placed in Derek's arms and he moved to show her. "Derek," she whispered, looking closely at the tiny features. "She looks like me."

"She's beautiful," Derek breathed as he handed his daughter to the nurse to join her sister. He knelt down to his wife, tearing his surgical mask off to press his lips against hers. "Thank you, Mer," he whispered. "God, I love you so much."