I'm ready

"Chapter 18"

Since the start of April, Derek had been working much lighter hours. He wasn't willing to risk not being home when Meredith went into labor. He'd gone in for just a little while to sign off on some department paperwork one morning under the assumption that he would be back before Meredith woke up. He was, therefore, surprised when he came home and heard noise coming from the nursery.

Quickly climbing the stairs, he came to a halt in the doorway. After the shower, they'd stacked all the baby clothes in a box, and piled some other gifts into the nursery with it. They figured they'd have plenty of time to get everything sorted, especially since Sarah would spend the first few weeks in a bassinet in the master bedroom.

Meredith had apparently decided unpacking later was no longer a good plan. And she had been very busy while he was at work. All of the clothes were either hung in the closet or packed away in the dresser. At least, he assumed that's where the rest of the clothes were, because they weren't in the box and he was certain EVERYTHING wasn't in the closet. The diapers were neatly arranged both on and beneath the changing table's shelves, and the diaper genie was set up right next to it. The tiny mattress inside the crib was covered with sheets, the stuffed animals were neatly arranged around the room, and there was a framed picture of Meredith and Derek on top of the dresser. At the moment, however, his wife was dusting.

"Mer, what are you doing?" he inquired.

"Hey," she greeted, "I just wanted to organize a few things before Sarah gets here. I know we thought we would wait until after, but there's no time like the present."

"Okay," Derek nodded as she continued to dust.

"Can you take the high chair down to the kitchen and put it together?" she asked.

Derek nodded. It was the only 'big gift' that was sitting in the nursery. He'd taken some other things like the bouncy swing and the walker down to the basement for storage until Sarah was old enough to use them.

"Thanks," she replied, reaching up to dust the blinds.

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After assembling the high chair, Derek went in search of his wife once more. He found her sitting on the floor in front of their DVD cabinet, wiping down each case and organizing them somehow, though he couldn't tell what the system was from afar.

"Meredith, are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm just cleaning and alphabetizing the DVDs," she answered.

"And that needs to be done now?" he wondered.

"Nothing needs to be dirty or out of place when Sarah gets here. You can help or you can question me, but it still needs to get done," she explained, her temper on the verge of flaring up.

"Sorry, what can I do?" he inquired.

"The CDs need to be organized, too," she informed him.

"Okay, I'll get right on that. How do you want them sorted?" he asked.

"Alphabetically by artist, but you have to wipe them down first. I don't want any dirt in this house" she commanded.

Derek nodded and got to work organizing the cabinet opposite hers. He worked silently for a few minutes, worrying about his wife's strange behavior. Meredith wasn't necessarily messy, but she was no clean freak. Nothing needs to be dirty or out of place when Sarah gets here, she'd told him. That's when it hit him. She was nesting. He looked over at her with a wide smile. Sarah just might be arriving sooner than they'd thought.

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"Derek!" Meredith called from the downstairs bathroom. He was in the kitchen making sure all of the drawers were organized.