New Beginnings

Chapter 45

"Can you believe we have a 1 year old already?" Meredith asked as she ran her hand up and down Morgan's back whilst she slept against Derek's chest.

"I know, I just want her to stay little, like before we know it she will be off to college." Derek said as he let Morgan grasp his finger, smiling down at her as she did it.

"Alright calm down, let's get her potty trained before we think about college." Meredith rolled her eyes at how dramatic Derek was being.

She pushed herself out of bed and stretched her arms above her before moving her hands to itch at her belly.

"Itchy?" Derek asked turning to face her.

"Yeah, where's the moisturiser?" She asked, frowning.

"Bathroom." Derek replied as Meredith walked into the bathroom.

It was at this moment that Morgan began to rub her eyes and wiggling slightly which meant she was waking up.

"Dada." She mumbled as she looked up, her eyes meeting Derek's as she reached out for his mouth.

"Happy birthday princess." He said as he kissed her hand, causing her to giggle slightly.

Morgan slowly sat up and looked around the room, her hair sticking up in all different directions as she rubbed at her eyes again, adjusting to the light.

"I'm getting so fat." Meredith mumbled walking into the room with her hands on her bump.

"Mama fa." Morgan repeated causing Meredith and Derek to gasp slightly before bursting into laughter.

"Thanks bug." Meredith said shaking her head and walking over to her. She moved to the bed and climbed on, lying next to Derek.

"Happy birthday Morgan." Meredith said as she took Morgan into her arms and squeezed her tight.

"Mama down." Morgan said, pulling out of Meredith's arms and climbing to the side of the bed.

"Woah slow down." Derek said, grabbing her foot and pulling her back. "Where you going so fast?" He said tickling her, watching as she giggled contagiously.

"Come on, let's go downstairs and get this one fed." Meredith said she smoothed down Morgan's hair and allowed Derek to take her into his arms.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Morgan started kicking her legs.

"Dada, down." She exclaimed.

"Alright." Derek laughed before placing her down on the floor, watching as she walked away as fast as she could into the kitchen.

Meredith walked behind Derek and wrapped his arms around his waist, her head resting on his shoulders.

"If she's like this already, imagine what she will be like after the cake." Derek said, feeling Meredith giggle behind him.

Their moment was interrupted when a loud crash came from the kitchen.

"Uh oh!" Morgan exclaimed causing Meredith and Derek to rush into the kitchen.

Walking in they found Morgan sitting on the floor, surrounded by Cheerios. She sat there happily eating them off the floor.

"O's mama!" She giggled before continuing to eat some more.

"Imagine what it will be like when there's two of them." Derek said as he stared in disbelief at his daughter.

"We are screwed." Meredith replied, laughing as her daughter started lying in the Cheerios.

"Totally." Derek said shaking his head.

"Come on you, that's enough Cheerios for now, it's present time." Derek said as he moved to scoop Morgan into his arms before passing her to Meredith so he could quickly clean up the mess.

It didn't take long for them to walk into the living room to find the large pile of presents that Derek had set up in the early hours of the morning.

"Oh!" Morgan exclaimed as she saw piles of pink wrapping paper. "Mama down."

"In a minute, let's sit." Meredith said as she laughed at her daughter impatience.

They sat down when Derek started to hand Morgan a present. With the help of Meredith, she was able to get all of her presents open. But out of all the things, Morgan was more interested in the wrapping paper as she lay on the floor, laughing as she crinkled it in her hands.

"Imagine how much money we could have saved if we knew she would be happy with just wrapping paper." Derek said as he sat on the arm of the chair, handing Meredith her cup of tea.

"Yeah true, but look how happy she is." Meredith said as she looked lovingly at their daughter, her hand on her stomach.

Their front door bell went off before the sound of the door opening caught their attention.

"I heard it's someone birthday!" Christopher's voice rang throughout the house causing Morgan to sit up.

"Pa!" She squealed before pushing to her feet and crawling as fast as she could to get to him.

"Guess we know who her favourite is." Derek said rolling his eyes before smiling as Meredith playfully slapped his stomach.

"Na!" They then heard Morgan exclaim, as Carolyn began wishing her a happy birthday.

"Help me." Meredith said, extending her hands towards Derek.

Helping her up they moved to the hall where they found Carolyn and Christopher talking to Morgan with a large bag of presents.

"You shouldn't have bothered, she's more interested in the wrapping paper." Derek said as he moved to hug his mom and then his dad.

"Derek, you was just the same at that age. Hey, Meredith, how are we feeling?" Carolyn asked as she pulled Meredith into her arms then letting her hand go to her stomach.

"Great actually, no morning sickness. It was the worse when I was pregnant with Morgan but this pregnancy is completely different." Meredith said as she smiled at Carolyn.

"That's because it's a boy." Derek replied, watching as Meredith glared at him.

Today was all about Morgan and that all Meredith wanted. From the minute she had found out she was pregnant with Morgan she had made a promise to herself that she would give her daughter a better childhood than she had ever had. That's exactly what she was doing. She was ten time the mother than her own had ever been.

"Time for cake." Carolyn cheered as she placed Morgan in her high chair.

"Derek, get the camera." Meredith said as she turned to face him.

"Already one step ahead of you." He said as held the camera up in front of him. 

Altogether they started singing happy birthday, watching as Morgan's eyes lit up at the sight of the cake, kicking her legs in excitement. The candles were blew out with the help of Carolyn before Morgan reached out and buried her hands in the cake.

"Mmm." She said as she lifted her hands to her face and began eating the cake.

Meredith stood back and watched as Morgan ran her hands all over her face and hair, not a care in the world. She knew it would be a struggle to wash it out later but seeing her daughter so happy made it all worth it.

In Meredith's eyes, she had made it in life. This was it.