I think that Meredith and Derek, with their flaws and successes, helped each other develop throughout the first seasons. Meredith was scared of commitment and had suicidal tendencies, but then became a good surgeon, wife and mother. Derek was at lo...
Meredith was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. She hadn't been working at the hospital for a week already, but it was the first time she didn't have a purpose. The thought that they could buy the hospital was the reason why she could wake up and not go see her patients.
In the dream house everyone was sleeping, even though it was past 9. Unbelievable in the Grey Shepherd household.
Ring ring.
For a moment she thought it was her pager, but then she realized someone was calling her.
"Dr. Grey, sorry for the sudden call. It's the Brigham! We heard what's happening at the Seattle Grace Hospital and we wanted to let you know we still have a spot in our general surgery program." Meredith was so surprised that she couldn't say anything for a few seconds.
"I'm honored you're still considering me as an option! Just to be clear, I'm pregnant."
"If what I heard about you is true, I'm sure you're not the kind of person that can be stopped by a pregnancy."
"That's right. It's a big decision though, and I need to talk about it with my husband first. I'll let you know as soon as possible."
A groan came from her side: "What time is it? Who was that?"
"It was the Brigham. They want me. Would you still move to Boston? I mean, you could contact Harvard. I'm sure they still want you, especially now that you have your hand back!"
Derek's head popped out of the pillows he was hiding under with a big smile printed on it. "That's great news! Are you sure you want to do this?"
Meredith stopped to think about it. She had an amazing husband, a perfect daughter and she was going to have another baby. What was missing? A great job opportunity. The one she had just received. Besides, Lexie was gone and Cristina had already told her she was considering to go to Columbia, as she was offered a job there the previous night.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be forever grateful to this city, because here's where I learnt what family means, but I guess our Seattle chapter is over." He stared at her with those piercing blue eyes and leaned forward to kiss her. "Alright then. You call the Brigham back and I'll call Harvard!"
***
They were sitting on the couch with Zola between them. She couldn't look cuter with her head leaning on Meredith's belly. A real estate agency had just sent them some house options in Boston. "Well this is a great one! It has three bedrooms, great light and it's close to both our workplaces. And with time we could buy a land and build another dream house of our own."
It was hard to consider another place as their dream house, but hadn't she learn that being able to adapt without losing themselves means growing up?
"You know, since we've decided to move to the east coast, I've been thinking that Zola hasn't spent much time with her granny. I'd like to go visit her... like, the whole family!"
Meredith did not expect this. She looked at him without knowing what to say, but then Lexie's face appeared in her mind. She was the young sister with shoulder-length-black hair she didn't want to have anything to do with, when they had first met.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
What would have happened if her sister hadn't tried so hard to get to know her and if Derek hadn't pushed her to give her a chance? She wouldn't have experienced her loss, that immense sense of nothingness she felt when thinking about her, but she wouldn't have experienced the beauty of sisterhood either.
"Have you lost your tongue?" Derek asked, worried that he'd pushed her too suddenly towards something she was not comfortable with. "No, I was just thinking about Lexie, about how hard it was to let her close to me, and how then she became one of the most important people in my life. You're right, you need to keep more in touch with your family and so do our kids. Our family, I mean ... to keep more in touch with our family."
She smiled, trying to assure him that she really believed in what she was saying. And, as a matter of fact, she did believe in it. Even though she grew up with a messed up mother and without a father or other family figures, it didn't mean her kids had to as well.
***
Meredith and Cristina were sitting on a bench below the Space needle, an unusual spot to have, as Derek would call it, her Yang time. Her twisted sister was explaining the cutting edge research project she was going to start in Columbia. She sounded as excited as the kids who were chasing soap bubbles around them.
"Derek wants to reconnect with his family and I'm okay with it. Isn't it weird? I mean I think that after everything that's happened, especially Mark and Lexie, we need to hold on to the people we have. Them for him, you for me. Am I getting crazy?" Meredith threw Cristina a quick look, expecting to be mocked. Instead, she got serious: "No, this is very mature."
Meredith was still smiling in relief, when she asked: "You're gonna be there, I mean, when I'll be delivering my baby, won't you?"
"Of course, I'll be there! I would never miss fetus' birth. But wait ..." she paused, as if a disgusting thought had just come to her mind "you don't mean the delivery room. I'm not gonna do that, because you're gonna poop on the table!"
Meredith quickly turned her face in disbelief. "I'm not gonna poop on the table ... and even if I do, it's the miracle of life, isn't it? I just know that, the second I start screaming, Derek is gonna have them pump me full of drugs. I need you there!"
Cristina gave her a long look with her dark eyes and then, lifting them to the sky, she sighed: "Okay then, I'll be in the room, when fetus arrives. You will poop on the table though and I'm gonna have to see it and then I could never unsee it."
A laugh burst from Meredith's chest, while thinking about the scene. "You know what's worse than you see me poop on the table? Me knowing you've seen me poop on the table."
"So you'll suffer more than me. That makes me feel better!" Classic Cristina!
"What about Owen? Is he moving too?" Cristina's face darkened all of a sudden. "He says he wants to move somewhere close, but I don't know ... A part of me really wants him to, but deep down I know that our aspirations will eventually lead us apart. Isn't it better to go our own way right now?"
***
"Tell Liz to be less pushy, okay?" Derek was packing his last clothes, as they had a flight to New York the next day.
"Are you telling your family not to be too pushy with me?" He lifted his eyes to look at his wife, furrowing his brow. "Listen, I know this is important for you. And for me too. You don't need to bubble wrap me. I won't try to quit anymore or whatever, okay?"
"Okay. I love you, you know?"
"I love you too." Meredith replied, helping him carry one last box into the living room, ready to be picked up and moved to the new house in Boston.
***
One month had passed since their decision to move from Seattle, but it'd been so busy, packing, planning and saying bye to everyone (especially Alex, Callie and Arizona, who had promised to go visit them), that she started to realize that her life was about to drastically change when she stepped on the plane, holding her kid's hand. Meredith looked back, as she had looked back to see the dream house for the last time, and just like a couple of hours earlier, she found comfort in her husband's blue eyes.
"Zo-zo, sweetie, it's your first flight. Don't be scared!" she said, while buckling her up.
"Are you saying that to Zola or to yourself?" Derek was feeling as anxious as she was at the thought to be on a plane. She focused on the amazing general surgery program she was about to start, about fetus, Zola and Derek and about Cristina, with whom she had already planned to meet the next weekend, right before starting the new job.
"It's all gonna be fine! Let's watch a movie on the Ipad to kill some time." She told Derek, putting her hand on her belly to feel the baby kick, while he was caressing Zola's braided hair.
