Meredith
"We're going to find out right?" He asked me for the 14th time since we'd gotten out of the vehicle and came up to the OB floor, and the 39th time since I'd opened my eyes this morning. It was hitting a nerve.. no, it was FRAYING my last nerve, hitting it was 20 questions ago.
"I don't know!" I snapped as we took a seat outside the obstetrical radiology department. "I'm not sure I want to find out, I kind of like the idea of it being a surprise. Why is it so important for you to know?"
"I hate the color yellow, with a passion. Do you really want to paint the nursery yellow?"
"I won't be painting anything, its bad for the baby. YOU on the other hand will be painting it.. and I don't mind green, it's a nice color, goes with girl or boy stuff."
"Don't you want to plan?"
"Not a single thing of this pregnancy has been planned and we've done just fine." I muttered. He let out one of those heavy, loud, drawn-out sighs that says 'I don't really want to argue anymore so I won't stop sighing until you give me my way' What a toddler! "Fine." I muttered.
"Fine?!" he gasped like a kid reaching the bottom of a staircase on Christmas morning.
"Fine, we'll reach a compromise." I glared "We're married, marriage is all about compromise..right!"
"I've been compromising a lot here lately, like sleep and food and.."
"And your vagina?" I asked, he froze in sentence "How about your uterus? Or your abdominal wall? Or your ankles? How about any single part on your body Derek? Are you compromising those!" I hissed, he pressed his lips so tight air couldn't sneak past them as he sunk back into his chair.
"What are we compromising?" he sulked.
"If Nudger just so happens to be spread eagle and wanting to show us the goods then ok.. but if not, too bad. We're not gonna go looking for its junk."
"Nudger will show us." Derek grinned "He doesn't have anything embarrassing to hide, not like his daddy."
"And what if Nudger is a girl?" I rose a brow.
"Meredith Grey?" I heard from the doorway. Derek was on his feet before I was, practically pulling me to mine and dragging me down the dark hallway to the ultrasound room. "Just lie back on the table here and lift up your shirt."
I did so, and the jelly stuff was actually warm, it felt good. I wanted to steal a bottle of it and make Derek massage my tummy with it at night. Not sure I could get away with it though, I don't run as fast as I used to with this stupid waddle in my step. Our eyes watched as the screen lit up with a little black and white silhouette of a figure, I felt Derek take my hand and I knew he was in the same magical place I was at the moment as we watched the tech roll her wand over my belly and we saw an actual head and nose and lips and face of our baby..
"Its an actual person now." I whispered.
"A lot more to see than the last time." Derek said with a grin to his voice. I couldn't peel my eyes from the screen for anything in the world. THAT was my little Nudger! "Oh!"
I flipped my eyes to see what made him gasp and I saw something long and sticking straight up, my eyes bulged for a moment.. maybe it did take after its daddy...
"Is that...what is that?" I stuttered.
"It's a PENIS!" Derek grinned and practically bellowed out for the whole hall to hear. I heard the ultrasound tech snicker.
"Um, actually.. that's the umbilical cord. Baby has its legs crossed."
"Yes." I whispered under my breath, Derek shot me a short lived glare.
"But if I roll the wand around this way we can probably see what.."
"No!" I shrieked as I slapped her hand away, she gave me a what-the-fuck look was she rubbed her sore hand "That's enough viewing for one day. All the other parts are healthy."
"But.." Derek pouted.
"Compromise." I said through my teeth "Are we done?"
She just nodded at me and shooed us out of the room. I'd have to send her some chocolates or something, I didn't mean to smack her but well.. A mother's gotta do what she's gotta do to protect her Nudger from indecent exposure right?
🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
Derek
"I can't believe you slapped her hand." I sighed.
"Well she shouldn't have been trying to look between my kid's legs." She scoffed, "How rude is that!"
"Not rude at all." I muttered, I was still feeling a little sour that Nudger wasn't a he or she yet to us "Everyone looks between the kids legs on ultrasounds."
"Well not me, I would rather not know." She sighed as she slipped her lab coat on "How many surprises do we get in this lifetime anyway?"
"Everything about us has been a surprise." I scoffed as I flattened down the collar of her coat "Our marriage, our wedding, this baby... it'd be nice to know what's coming for once."
"I don't want to know!" she muttered with a glare "Why can't you respect that?"
"You know we can go take another peak." I pleaded "She can put it in an envelope and I can look at it.. you can still be surprised."
"No." she muttered "The kid is inside me, kicking the crap out of my internal organs.. if I don't get to know, no one does."
"Fine." I sighed with defeat, I noticed she hadn't put her scrubs on and frowned "Are you wearing your jeans and maternity shirt into surgery?"
"Can't." she pouted "Bailey thinks I'm getting too big to be on my feet for more than two hours.. she's assigned me to sit on my ass and work on charts until I pop."
"Hmm." I smirked "You know I'm above Bailey's head... I can let you in on one of my surgeries."
"Spiritually, Bailey is above everyone's head." She rolled her eyes "And you're not luring me into finding out Nudger's sex by teasing me with surgery, so don't even think about it."
"Damn." I muttered to myself, she heard me judging by the glare in her eyes.
She turned and stormed out of my office and towards the nurses station. I made a mental note to make my selfish asinine attitude up later in sex. I walked out the door and turned to go find my place on the OR board when I tripped over myself to keep from running over someone who'd just appeared in front of me suddenly. I gasped when I saw the familiar head of fluffy graying hair.
"Mom!"
"Hello dear." She smiled like she'd only seen me yesterday.
"What.. what are you doing here?"
"Well I haven't heard from you since you left Toronto, I was worried, I wanted to come check up on you."
"Umm..." I started to panic when I realized I hadn't contacted her regarding anything.. not about my wife, my child.. nothing. I'd been so busy with handling Meredith, making things up to her and now taking care of her through this pregnancy I hadn't told a single member of my family about the impending birth of my first child.. crap, I was dead.
"So, I've given you enough space... now, where is this lovely wife of yours, I'm dying to meet her."
"She's um.. Mom there's a lot I need to fill you in on before you meet Meredith, and I need you to not get upset, be... open minded." I stuttered, she frowned and opened her mouth to ask me what for, when I heard a pair of hard clicking boot heels stomp up behind me, I froze, I knew those footsteps.
"You know what!" Meredith shrieked, her hormones must still be raging from our morning spat "What is so damn wrong with having a girl! Why do you HAVE to know that we're having a boy.. I'm a girl, you like me plenty. You like Steph and Rachel and there are plenty of lovely women in your life Derek Shepherd so what is so damn wrong with having another one!"
Mom and I both turned to look at her with wide gaping expressions. My mother stepped past me towards Meredith and her eyes went straight to the belly. She reached out and I cringed as she placed both hands on my wife's swollen tummy.
"You must be Meredith." She said "And this must be someone I have yet to meet."
"Yes." Meredith snapped "Who are you?"
"Um, Mer honey." I chuckled nervously "This is my mom, Carolyn."
"Oh..." Meredith's face gaped with shock before it turned into a scolding glare directed straight at me "Why didn't you tell me! Awesome! Just awesome! I've totally made an ass out of my first impression with your mother.. Thank you very much asshole!"
She turned and stormed off down the hallway and I had to keep from laughing my ass off.. I mean her hormones were totally getting the better of her, my mother had been pregnant herself, she had to understand.
"She's a bit of a pistol isn't she?" I heard her say.
"Um yeah.. a little. Gets worse with pregnancy apparently."
"She must keep you in line then."
"Absolutely." I nodded, then glanced over nervously watching my mother's reaction. She grinned and let out her famous cackling laugh.
"I love her."