Derek groaned as he was pulled out of his sleep to the ringing of a telephone beside him. He squeezed his eyes tightly and buried his face in Meredith's hair, hoping that if he ignored it, the phone would stop ringing.
And it did.
For about a minute.
Apparently whoever was calling was waiting until the machine picked up and then dialing again.
"Make it stop," Meredith mumbled into the pillow.
"You make it stop," Derek groaned as the phone started ringing again.
"Seriously, Derek, make it stop," Meredith snapped, pulling out of his arms and burying her head in the pillow.
Derek groaned as he turned onto his back and reached for the stupid ringing phone. "What?" he mumbled into the receiver.
"Derek Christopher, that is no way to answer the phone," his mother's voice came over the other end of the line.
"Mom?" Derek asked. "It's three in the morning. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Emma smiled. "It just seems that I am now a grandmother."
"Seriously?" Derek asked, sitting up. "I'm an uncle?"
"You're an uncle," Emma laughed. "To a beautiful baby girl named Hailey Elizabeth."
"Wow," Derek sighed. "Everything went okay? Kath's good and the baby is okay and... everything's good?"
"Kathleen did wonderfully," Emma nodded. "I wanted to make sure that you all knew as soon as it happened."
"Thanks, Mom," Derek said, a smile plastered across his face. "Mer and I will be in tomorrow afternoon. Tell Kath I love her and I'm proud of her."
"I will," Emma said with a smile. "Give Meredith my love. Tell her I'm sorry for waking her."
Derek laughed. His mother knew his wife all too well. "I will," he said. "Bye Mom."
He hung up the phone and turned on his side to look at Meredith before he leaned over, his lips millimeters away from her ear. "Meredith..."
"Go away," Meredith mumbled.
"Mer, wake up," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her naked shoulder. "It's exciting, I promise."
"It can wait til morning," Meredith groaned.
"Meredith," Derek said firmly.
"Derek, seriously," she groaned. "We went to sleep like an hour ago. So what do you have to tell me? Just tell me so I can go back to sleep."
"Fine," Derek shrugged. "You're an aunt." He turned on his side, his back to her as he settled back under the covers.
"What?" Meredith asked, sitting up quickly as she turned on the light. "Kath...the baby... Derek, I need details!"
Derek laughed as he turned over to look at her. "You said you wanted to go back to sleep."
"That's when I thought it was something stupid like Mark calling you to tell you to divorce me because he missed hanging out with you," Meredith replied.
"That was one time," Derek rolled his eyes. "And he was drunk. He didn't really mean it."
"Whatever," Meredith rolled her eyes. "The baby's here?"
"She's here," Derek nodded. "Hailey Elizabeth. Mom said everyone's doing well, Kathleen's resting now and Chris is with her, but the baby's healthy. I told her we'd come in tomorrow afternoon."
"Wow," Meredith giggled. "I'm an aunt."
"You're an aunt," Derek laughed, pulling her closer to kiss her gently. "And I'm an uncle."
"I never thought I would be an aunt," Meredith giggled. "And now...I have a family. And it's just so amazing that I have people who love me, no matter what."
"You do," Derek nodded. "Although you just lost your title as the newest Shepherd."
"Well, technically the baby's a Sawyer," Meredith giggled. "So I'm the newest Shepherd."
Derek laughed as he pulled her into his arms. "My point is," he laughed. "Is that Hailey isn't ever going to know this family without Aunt Meredith around. None of our nieces and nephews will. And they'll all love you."
Meredith sighed happily as she settled into his arms. "I'm glad," she sighed. "I'll...I'll love them all too."
"I know you will," Derek nodded.
"Can we...sleep now?" Meredith whispered.
"Of course," Derek nodded. "I love you."
"I love you too," Meredith whispered, settling into his arms and getting comfortable enough to sleep, a smile gracing both of their lips.
XXXXX
"Knock knock," Derek said, poking his head into his sister's room the next afternoon. "I hear someone's now a mommy."
"Derek," Kathleen exclaimed, looking up from the tiny baby in her arms. "Come in. Is Mer with you?"
"Of course," Derek laughed, stepping into the room. "And we have presents."
"I like presents," Kathleen laughed.
"They're not for you," Derek rolled his eyes. "They're for my niece."
"Derek, don't be stupid," Meredith said, pulling the gift bag out of his hands. "Hi Kath," she said, leaning forward to hug her gently. "You look amazing."
"Thanks, but you don't need to lie," Kathleen laughed. "Meet your niece."
"Hi Haley," Meredith whispered, turning her attention to the baby in her sister in law's arms. "You're a beautiful baby. I'm your Aunt Meredith. And Uncle Derek's here to meet you too."
"You want to hold her?" Kathleen asked.
"Oh, I know you probably want to keep her to yourself..." Meredith started, biting her lower lip.
"It's okay," Kathleen smiled. "Mom's already held her, and so have Chris's parents."
"Okay," Meredith breathed, reaching for the baby. "Hi Hailey," she breathed, looking down at her.
"Let me hold her," Derek said, reaching to take the baby from her arms.
"Wait your turn," Meredith rolled her eyes, settling into the chair on the side of Kathleen's bed. "Give Kath the presents."
"Bossy," Derek muttered under his breath as he handed the bag to Kathleen. "Here Kath."
"Thanks," Kathleen laughed, wincing slightly as she moved to sit up more.
"You okay?" Derek frowned.
"Just sore," Kathleen shrugged. "It's normal." She giggled as she reached into the bag and pulled out a teddy bear dressed in scrubs. "Wow, thanks, Der."
"We named it Dr. Shepherd," Meredith giggled. "I wanted to name it Dr. Sawyer, because that's her last name, but...Derek insisted on Shepherd."
"I'm sure she'll love it," Kathleen replied. "She can remember Grandpa with it."
Derek smiled softly. "Keep looking," he encouraged.
"Now who's bossy?" Kathleen asked as she pulled a picture frame out of the bag. "Der..." she whispered, looking down at the old picture in the frame. "It's Daddy..."
"I found it in some photo albums," Derek whispered. "It's the first time he held you, and I just thought you could put in Hailey's room so she could know that her Grandpa loved her Mommy a lot and he would have loved her a lot too."
"Thank you," Kathleen whispered, tears streaming down her face. "God, Derek...this means so much."
"You're welcome," Derek smiled, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. "He's proud of you, Kath."
"I know," Kathleen whispered, running her fingertips over the picture.
"Derek," Meredith whispered from his side. "You should hold her."
"Oh," Derek breathed, gently taking Hailey out of Meredith's arms. "Hi sweetie. I'm your Uncle Derek."
Meredith smiled as she watched Derek talk softly to the baby, walking around the room as he bounced her gently. She turned to Kathleen and sat down on the end of the bed. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Pretty good," Kathleen nodded. "Sore, and my hormones are still all over the place, but I've never been happier. She's so amazing and Chris is so good with her."
"Where is he?" Meredith asked.
"He had to go call his brother," Kathleen said. "Apparently his parents calling weren't good enough, he had to hear it straight from Daddy."
"Hmmm," Meredith nodded, watching as Derek stood by the window, still talking softly to Hailey as he let her tug on his finger.
"He's good with her, isn't he?" Kathleen asked.
"He is," Meredith smiled. "I've never seen him with a baby before. He's...amazing."
Kathleen nodded knowingly. "I know that look," she laughed. "You've got a long few years ahead of you, you've got to get that baby desire on hold."
"I know," Meredith smiled. "We aren't going to have babies for a long time, but it's just refreshing to know that he's so wonderful with babies."
"It seems like you'll get lots of practice in this family," Kathleen giggled. "Has Nancy told you?"
"Told me what?" Meredith asked.
"Twins," Kathleen replied.
"Oh boy," Meredith said. "She's going to be twice as crabby now."
Just as Hailey let out a loud wail, Derek walked back over to the bed. "She needs Mommy," he said, handing his niece back to his sister.
"She's probably hungry," Kathleen sighed. "Um...guys, I really appreciate your visit and you can come back in a few minutes but I have to..."
"We'll leave," Meredith nodded, taking Derek's hand and pulling him towards the door. "We'll come back in a little while."
Derek closed the door gently behind him as Meredith turned to look at him. "She's beautiful," she said as she leaned into his open arms.
"She is," Derek nodded against her head.
Meredith pulled back as she looked at him. "Should we go find Mom?"
"We could," Derek replied. "But...we could explore."
"Explore?" Meredith asked, a sparkle in her eyes.
"I grew up in this hospital, Mer," Derek laughed. "I know my way around."
"Let's explore," Meredith giggled, pulling out of his arms and dragging him down the hall.
Derek laughed as they made their way through the hospital. Meredith had grown up in a hospital as well, but she somehow found it all new and exciting as she and Derek explored the new hospital. As they got off the elevator two floors above Kathleen's room, Meredith rolled her eyes and turned back to the elevator.
"It's just offices," she sighed. "Let's go to the surgery floor."
"Mer," Derek said softly, pulling her back down the hall.
"Derek, what do you want to see offices for?" Meredith asked as she followed him towards the end of the hall.
Derek stopped in front of a corner office at the end of the hall. Meredith stopped beside him and looked at the nameplate on the door. Dr. Clark Scott, Head of Neurosurgery.
"This was my dad's office," Derek whispered.
"Oh, Der," Meredith whispered, rubbing his back gently as she rested her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Derek sighed. "It...I'll always miss him, but it happened a long time ago. It's just weird to see this office without him in it."
"You spent a lot of time here," Meredith whispered.
"Hmmm," Derek nodded. "My mom was a navy nurse, and they weren't so good with having kids around, so my sisters and I had to go to the daycare here. I hated it, and I would sneak out to see my dad. He had this little kid desk set up in the corner behind his, and when he was doing paperwork, I would sit at my own desk and...I don't know, draw or something, but I pretended I was a doctor just like my dad."
Meredith smiled softly. "He loves you, Derek," she whispered. "And he's still here. He's proud of you."
"He's proud of you too," Derek whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. "And so am I."