Perfect strangers

Chapter 36

Derek was late. Again. He had spent the morning talking to Meredith's stomach, listening as she laughed at him, insisting that their baby simply couldn't hear him yet. But that wasn't going to stop him, up until the moment their baby was born.

"Mr Shepherd punctual as ever!" Meg laughed as she waddled behind her desk.

"Meg, when are you going on maternity leave again?" Derek joked back as he walked up and collected his letters that had arrived for him.

"Last day today." She ran her hand over her bump lovingly. "Which means I need to introduce you to my replacement, Abi." Meg held her hand out towards a young brunette women who came and stood next to Derek.

"Oh right, I forgot you was starting today." Derek gave him a quick smile, glancing at her quickly before turning back to his letters.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Abi said in a flirtatious tone that Derek failed to pick up on causing Meg to laugh to herself.

"Yeah." Derek collected his things and walked into his office, failing to notice the wandering eyes that were following him.

"He's hot, is he single?" Abi asked as she turned to Meg.

"Oh god no." Meg laughed. "He's engaged, her name is Meredith, I'm sure you will meet her, she's here as much as her job allows her to be. Anyways come on, I need to show you through everything before I go off."

As Derek sat down on his office, he smiled as his phone beeped through with a text from Meredith, reminding him of their upcoming appointment. He placed it in his calendar so that nothing would be booked in on that day, nothing would stop him from being there.

******************
Meredith sneakily made her way down from the OB floor, desperate to keep her pregnancy a secret for as long as possible.

"Meredith Grey what are you doing sneaky round?" Mark said as he crept up on her, making her jump.

"Mark you idiot, you scared me." She slapped the top of his arm and watched as he frowned and rubbed his arm.

"Im sorry. Are you alright? How come you're on the OB..." Marks eyes went wide with realisation. "Are you preg...!" Mark all but shouted.

"Shh!" Meredith shook her head and her eyes pleaded with his as Lexie walked up behind him. "Please don't say anything Mark, please." She begged him.

"Hey Mer. What are you doing up here?" Lexie said as she walked over to them and bounced Noah on her hip.

"Just came to ask Dr Robbins a few things about my patient." Meredith smiled before she leaned in towards Noah. "Hey little man, you're getting so big!" Meredith cooed watching as Noah smiled widely.

"Wow, that's the first time he has smiled in days." Mark laughed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Why? What's been wrong with him?" Meredith asked as Noah grasped her finger tightly in his hand and placed her finger in his mouth.

"He had a bit of a fever and couldn't keep any of his milk down, hasn't been sleeping either so we thought we should come and get him checked out. We've been given some antibiotics so little man should be good as gold in a few days." Lexie smiled as she bounced him on her hip.

"Good, good." Meredith smiled to herself as she had to stop herself from letting her hand go to rest on her stomach. "Anyways, I must get goi..."

"Meredith!" Arizona shouted as she quickly walked up towards them. "Can I have a word? It's important."

"Oh yeah, sure." Meredith frowned. "I'll see you later." She waved at Mark and Lexie before following Arizona towards an empty exam room.

"Look, I'm not even meant to know about this yet but I've overheard people talking and some gossip. But remember that baby girl that came in not too long ago?" Arizona watched and waited for Meredith to nod in response. "Well, the mother is trying to sue the hospital or more like you..."

"What?" Meredith gasped.

"She is trying to say that you are the reason that her baby died. Apparently she's defending her partner, her step father, looks like she is looking to place blame somewhere else then it's looking like it's you. I'm so sorry Meredith." Arizona said as her face dropped.

"There was nothing I could have done, there was so much bleeding, I did my best..." Meredith gasped as tears threatened to fall down her cheeks.

"I know Derek can't be your lawyer but you need to speak to him, find out the best course of action. You need to cover you back Meredith, just in case." Arizona squeezed the top of her arm as Meredith's pager rang out.

"It's the chief." Meredith said quietly.

"It will be all ok Meredith, you did nothing wrong." Arizona encouraged her the best she could.

"Yeah, I should..." Meredith pushed herself up and headed out of the room, slowly heading up towards the Chiefs office.

As she approached his door, she took a big deep breath in before reaching up to knock on the door.

"Come in!" She heard Richards voice come from behind the door. Meredith slowly opened the door and stepped inside. "Ah Dr Grey, take a seat..."

Meredith knew by the tone in his voice that this wasn't going to be good news...

**************
Derek day had nothing but good, successful winning another case for one of his clients which meant he was going to go home and celebrate with Meredith. Pulling up to their house, he frowned when he found the house consumed by darkness even though Meredith's car was parked in the drive way.

Deciding not to waste any time, he moved out of his car, locking it before heading inside.

"Meredith! I'm home!" He shouted but was met with silence. Dropping his bag, he headed upstairs and stuck his head into the bedroom and bathroom to find both of them empty. "Mer, where are you?"

He walked out of their room, panic slowly starting to fill his body until he saw a soft glow coming from the spare room that would soon be turned into the nursery. Pushing the door open slowly, he found Meredith sitting in the rocking chair that Carolyn had gifted them and clutching a baby blanket tight in her hands as she stared a head.

"Hey Mer." Derek said as he crouched down to be eye level with Meredith, seeing that her eyes failed to show any kind of expression. "Hey." He reached up and tucked the hair that had fell in front of her face behind her ears.

Meredith failed to say anything back, she didn't even really acknowledge that Derek was there standing in front of her.

"When did you get this blanket?" Derek asked as he ran his hand over the soft grey material in Meredith's hands. He waited for a response but still nothing. "Meredith, please talk to him you're scaring me." He cupped her face in both of his hands forcing her eyes to meet his.

"I got suspended..." Meredith finally said as the tears finally feel down her face. "I might be losing my job."

Derek didn't say a word as he took Meredith into his arms and moved them so that he was sat on the chair with Meredith curled tightly in his lap. He didn't know what he could possibly say to make things better for her, for once he was left speechless...