NEVER LEAVING YOUR HEART ALONE

CRAFTY

"I hate shopping." Meredith muttered as she pushed the cart down the aisle.

"I know you do." Derek agreed as he walked beside her and threw various items in the cart.

"Are you sure we should do this? It's a lot of work. And chaos. And our friends..." Meredith whined as she turned the cart around the corner.

"It will be fun. All of our friends, over at our place. You'll have fun." Derek said optimistically.

"I hope so." She muttered as she rubbed her back.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Anna asked as she looked at Meredith's painful face.

"Just sore, honey." Meredith said as she looked at both of them.

"Mer?" Derek said as he grabbed the cart. She quickly grabbed the cart back.

"Don't you dare. I need to lean on that." She said as she began pushing it along.

"Can I get this?" Anna asked as she held up a candybar.

"No." Meredith said quickly. Derek looked over at Meredith. "No." She said again.

"What about this?" She asked as she held up a package of oreos.

"Not unless you want an angioplasty." Meredith spat as she kept walking.

"What's an angioplasty?" Anna asked quickly.

"They stick a tube with a balloon in your femoral artery and blow it up." Meredith said nonchalantly.

"It hurts." Derek said simply.

"Oh. I don't like those cookies anyway." Anna said as she threw them back down.

"No one likes hot dogs." Meredith said as she looked at the list.

"Some people do." Derek said as he grabbed a few package.

"Do you?" Meredith said as she cocked her head.

"No." Derek said as he put one of the packages back. Meredith giggled.

"Steak and hamburgers." Meredith said as she looked at the list. "And corn. I guess people like corn. Potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad... Der, I think that we are supposed to make this stuff." She said with a look of worry.

"We don't have to. Most of our friends will eat anything. Come on, Mer. We're talking about Drew, Alex and George here." Derek said with raised eyebrows.

"You have a point." Meredith responded with a nod.

"I don't like coleslaw." Anna said as she pointed to it.

"Yeah, me either." Meredith agreed as she scrunched her nose.

"Can we get that?" Anna pointed to the cucumber salad.

"Sure." Derek said as he ordered a plethora of different deli salads.

"Hey!" A female voice said happily.

"Megan! Hey..." Meredith said with a smile as she looked over at her high school friend.

"Oh my god!" Megan said as she walked over and put her hands on Meredith's abdomen. "You're pregnant. Meredith Grey, pregnant! who would have thought?"

"It's Meredith Shepherd now." Meredith said with a smile. "Megan, this is my husband, Derek." She said as she introduced them to each other. "Derek, this is my best friend from high school, Megan."

"Derek...what happened to..." She looked at them and decided to drop it. "And who is this?" She asked as she looked at Anna.

"I'm Anna. This is my mommy and daddy." Anna said boldly.