Is Forever Enough?

Chapter 79

"Wow, that...that was an amazing surgery." Lexie told Derek as they stood at the scrub room sink. "That was the spine....I can't believe it...it was just...amazing." Derek smiled in her direction as he scrubbed his hands.

"The spine is an amazing thing." He told her, and Lexie continued to talk in wonder. He felt bad, but he couldn't pay attention to her words that were filling the air. The next time he saw his wife, he had to have baby name ideas...good names. Names she wouldn't crinkle her nose at. Two adorable names to go with his already adorable daughters....it seemed impossible.

Thoughts of the various forms of names had plagued him during surgery. Not to mention, the fact that his sister had been with Meredith all morning perhaps...ruining her day floated through his mind once or twice. There was a tap on his shoulder, and he turned to see Lexie staring at him in worry. He had zoned out again, without even meaning to.

"Doctor Shep....." Looking at his arched eyebrow, she corrected herself before he could object to the use of his formal name. "Sorry. Derek, are you okay?" Grabbing two paper towels, he handed them to her and then went to grab his own.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking." He tried to force a smile, but Lexie saw right through it. She wanted to pry, but still felt out of place doing so.

"Okay. That's good you're fine. I mean....if you weren't fine that would be okay....I could understand if you weren't fine...but you're fine...so good. It's just....are you really fine?" She let out a deep breath and looked at him shyly.

Derek had replaced his fake smile with a real one. "Yes, I am fine. You two both do that rambling thing so well. I've become quite the pro at figuring it out." Lexie blushed and couldn't meet his eyes.

"My dad always told me it was a bad habit..."

"Something tells me it was your dad that gave it to you."

"Don't listen to your father. I happen to enjoy the rambling...it usually gives me time to come up with a good argument before Meredith yells."

"Well, I guess it'll be good if I ever yell then." Lexie joked, and Derek laughed. He felt comfortable talking to her. He never had a sister in law. Someone who didn't know him from birth, but considered him family anyway.

"Thanks for letting me scrub in. I know I'm not a neuro resident..." She trailed off, ready to start a new ramble, but his smirk stopped her. The amusement was twinkling in his eyes, but he decided not to tease her anymore.

"Don't worry about it. You're a good surgeon. Everyone should see a spinal reconstruction once in their life." He leaned against the scrub sink and looked into the OR to see the nurses cleaning up.

They stood in silence for several seconds, both lost in different trains of thought. Looking at her pager to check the time, Lexie apologized. "Sorry, I'm supposed to meet Meredith for lunch. Well...in her room....and I'm bringing lunch to her...but...I should go." She rambled, and he sighed and threw away his paper towel.

"Well, I'm sure Meredith will appreciate that after spending the morning with my sister..." He told her honestly, and then as Lexie went to the door, his voice stopped her.

"Before you go....do you think you could help me?" Lexie stared at him a little shocked.

"You...want my help? I don't...I don't know how I could ever possibly help you..." The nurses began filling the room, so he walked towards her and led her out into the hallway.

The hallway was crowded, so he found a corner near a supply closet and pulled her into it. "We don't have middle names for the babies. Meredith's freaking out about it. I can't go back there without ideas."

Lexie watched him with an amused smile. "So...you want baby names?"

"Hmmm....yes. You girls always had baby names picked out, right?"

"Some girls...I guess. My sister, Molly did anyway. Me...I had med schools picked out." She was ambitious, like Meredith and it didn't shock him.

Running a hand through his hair he leaned against the wall. His body was exhausted. The lack of sleep was finally catching up to him. But, he knew sleep wouldn't come while he was worrying over baby names. He was sure he wouldn't be able to go within ten feet of Meredith without some good ideas.

"Well...do you have any you like now? Anything that sounds...remotely like it could go with Ella or Caroline?" Lexie thought for a minute. She wanted to help, she really did...but baby names was the furthest thing from her mind.

"Sorry. I have no idea. I do like the name Caroline though. Did you know....well...of course you wouldn't know....Caroline is my middle name."

He didn't know, and he was surprised it hadn't come up before. "No...I had no idea. I just thought it was a pretty name. It's all the more fitting now."

Lexie smiled, a real smile, that lit up her face. It was nice to see her smile. "I'm not very good at the name thing. Did you try a name book?"

"I think we have one at home....but...I don't think Meredith ever found it very helpful."

"I don't think my family was good at names either. I never knew my name was Alexandra until I was in kindergarten. My mother named me and then ended up hating it so she called me Lexie. Molly....well that was my mom's sister's name...so you're not the only one who can't do the name thing."

"Well, that's good at least..." He trailed off, letting his mind wander back to the task at hand.

"Sorry, I wasn't more helpful." Shaking his head, he gave her a smile.

"No, it's okay. You've got a lunch to get to." An idea popped into his head, a sudden flash of genius and he knew his name crisis could be over.

"Are you okay, Derek?" She asked for the second time that day.

"Yeah. I'm good. I think you may have helped me more than you thought."

"Really? That's good." She told him before they parted ways. The on call room bed seemed much more appealing now that a beautiful name was rolling around in his mind.