The Seventh Sense is Love

A New Home and Date Night

The construction of the Shepherd's new home was complete at the end of the first week of November. It only took two weeks to have the entire house painted and decorated the way the family (okay, mostly Meredith) wanted it. This part ran very smoothly because everything -from paint colors to furniture, art and other accessories - had been decided upon and purchased before the girls were even born. Once Derek and Meredith realized that their house wouldn't be complete until after their little girls had arrived, they'd been on a mission to get everything done beforehand. After all, they were going to be moving with three small children and didn't want or need any extra stress added to the process.

Once the house was complete and in ready-to-be-lived-in condition - Derek insisted on dropping Ian, Jocelyn, and Amelia off at Kathleen's for the evening. Meredith giggled when her husband made the announcement that the kids were going to play with Aunt Kathleen.

"What?" he asked and grinned.

Leaning over to kiss him on the mouth, she simply said, "I love you." It certainly hadn't escaped her notice that he'd been rather persistent (almost annoyingly so) with the construction crew about finishing their house. She'd heard a couple of the crew members speaking and they thought it was because the baby had been born. Of course, that was part of it, but Meredith knew it also had a lot to do with the fact that Derek wanted to be in the new house once their six-week-wait was up, which it happened to be. However, if he wasn't going to admit to wanting sex then she was going to go along with whatever he had planned.

The very last of their furniture had been delivered that day and Derek had seen to the details of it while Mer stayed home with the kids. So technically, she hadn't yet seen their new home in its completion. She had to admit that she was anxious to do so.

"Did you pack enough milk?" Derek asked as Meredith shut the little cooler bag that was filled with frozen breast milk for the twins.

"Yes," she answered and barely suppressed the giggle that wanted to erupt. Her husband really was adorable although he'd hate that description. "Kathleen has formula," she grinned at Derek's scowl, "just in case a couple of ounces are necessary. Obviously Ian will just eat whatever they're having for dinner."

"All right," he said and turned away from her but not before she saw him smile. Fifteen minutes later they were all in the car driving the relatively small distance to Kathleen's house. After the requisite family visit - which Derek hurried along - they gave their kids hugs and kisses and went to the front door.

"Enjoy dinner," Kathleen said to Meredith.

"Thanks," she said. Once they were in the car, she asked Derek, "Why does Kathleen think we're going to dinner?"

"We are."

"I thought we were going to our new house."

"We are."

"In that order?" she asked and grinned as he gave a little boy scowl.

"Relax," he said and grabbed her hand, threading their fingers together. "Just enjoy the evening."

"All right," she sighed and leaned her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes. She had to admit that it did feel good to enjoy the silence and the ride in the car without worrying about a sippy cup or hungry children or dropped toys. Not that she would change a thing - she was simply enjoying the peacefulness. When the car slowed, she opened her eyes and saw that they were indeed at their new house.

"Stay here for a minute," Derek said after pulling into the garage and turning off the ignition.

"I might be asleep when you get back."