You've got a Way

7.

Meredith was pretty sure that if she packed Emma and the stroller up now she could make it out before Derek would even get here. She was tired, Emma was being silly so she probably wouldn't pitch a fit and frankly, Meredith didn't want to see him. She knew she had messed up, but knowing that didn't make it easier on her either. So now, she was flipping through her phone to keep her fingers busy while Emma played in the stroller and she contemplated leaving.

"Hi...Sorry I'm late..." Derek said, coming up from behind Meredith. "I got hung up on the phone."

"Okay." Meredith said, not looking at him as she began to push the stroller in the opposite direction.

"It was my Mom."

"Oh." Meredith sighed, stopping to grab a few cheerios.

"How are you?" Derek asked, walking alongside the stroller.

"Tired...she woke me up at five."

"Ba....ba....ba....hi." Emma squeezed her stuffed baby doll, before slamming her lips against it. "Ba!"

"Emma..." Derek chuckled, bending down in front of the stroller. "Hi."

"Hi....Bah!" Emma looked at him, as she began to suck on the baby's hat.

"Come here..." He smiled, unbuckling her and picking her up out of the stroller. "Hey you."

"Ba!"

"She's talkative." Meredith said quietly, pushing the stroller forward again.

"Hmm...Like her Mom." Derek chuckled, trying to make conversation.

"Hmm..."

"Bah....Ma!" Emma kissed the doll, before tossing it on the ground and laughing. "My Ma!"

"Emma..." Derek laughed, kissing the baby's cheek.

"Noodle." Meredith groaned, leaning over and picking up the doll before tossing it into the stroller.

"Ba!"

"Noodle?" Derek asked.

"I've been calling her that since before she was born.." Meredith replied, closing her cell phone and trying not to pretend like she didn't want to snatch her perfectly happy baby.

"Because..."

"She was always moving...always kicking and squirming." Meredith said, a small smile coming across her lips.

"You're just like you're Mom." Derek laughed.

"And wakes up early like her Dad." Meredith muttered.

"Ma!" Emma gasped.

"She um...What's her birthday?" Derek asked as he walked along with Emma in his arms."

"February eighth."

"You're a winter baby." Derek whispered.

"Ma."

"Do you have any pictures of her...that I could have?" Derek whispered.

"Of her when she was born?"

"When she was born...two weeks ago...anytime."

"Oh um...yeah." Meredith scratched her head, stopping the stroller to reach into her purse. "I have extras of her hospital photo and her three month in my wallet...I can get you more though."

"That's good for now." Derek smiled lightly.

"I...here." Meredith handed him a photo with a crying newborn lying against a baby backdrop. The photo had been taken on the afternoon she was born and the next photo showed tired looking baby in sundress and bow on her head.