Had I known How to Save a Life

Just Us Today

Chapter 18
*Derek POV*

Meredith needs a day off. She's exhausted. I'm exhausted. We just need a day. Our alarm to wake up is about to go off in a few minutes.

She's so beautiful. Every inch of her. She doesn't believe me when I tell her. But she is.

Our alarm goes off. She has the brightest smile ever. It's amazing.

"Morning" I tell her.

"How are you awake before the alarm?" She asks me.

"I wanted to ask you something. Let's take the day off. Just us today. Me, you, Zola, and Bailey ride the ferry. Or do anything. Let's just have an off day?" I ask her.

"I have surgeries. I mean if I could get someone to cover for me but I don't know on this short of notice." She tells me. Not knowing that 2 days ago I asked Bailey and Webber to cover her today.

"Took care of that 2 days ago." I laugh and she smiles.

"I love you." She tells me.

"I love you more." I tell her.

"Just us today?" She asks.

"Just us today." I respond.

"In that case, we have hours in bed together before we have to wake up the kids." Meredith says.

"I like that idea." I say.

We begin to kiss. We haven't gotten time alone like this in a while. It's nice.

We begin to go further. I throw my shirt across the room and I unbutton her pajama top. Meredith feels uncomfortable being naked while pregnant. She's a 23 weeks and I think she's beautiful.

"Why do you want to see me naked when I'm huge?" She asks embarrassed.

"Huge? I think you're beautiful Meredith." I tell her.

I can see that she's not very much in the mood for that right now. So instead we talk.

Ellis begins to kick. I love feeling her kick. I hope it doesn't hurt Meredith though. I stop talking and just wait for the next one.

We fall back asleep for a couple more hours.

When we wake up again, Zola is knocking at our door.

"Mommy! Daddy! We're late. You're late for surgery!" She yells.

"We have the cutest daughter in the entire world." I say.

"We'll have 2 of the cutest daughters in the entire world soon" she smiles.

I walk to the door to let Zola in, "Daddy you're late for surgery and mommy is too!" She tells me.

"Actually Zola, we don't have surgery today. It's just us today." I tell her.

"Oh...can we get Bailey?" She asks.

"Yes we can!" I say enthusiastically.

I pick Bailey up and carry him. He's still sleepy. Zola runs back to Meredith and I's room. I follow her.

"Mommy can I feel the baby" Zola asks.

Meredith smiles and puts her hand where Ellis is kicking. "Wow" she says in amazement. "When will she be here?"

"In about 4 months" Meredith says.

"I wish she was here now." Zola says disappointed.

"Oh me too sweetie. Me too." Meredith laughs.

We all get dressed and get in our car to head to the ferry boat. Today has been amazing. Relaxing. It's nice every once and a while to just be with Meredith and the kids all together.

I carry Bailey and Meredith is holding Zola in her hands.

I can't believe at one point I left my wife, my children for a job. I liked that job a lot. I loved it in fact. I will never love a job more than I love my wife and my kids.

Hours pass and it's still just us. I like this, days like this. Boring ones. There's no chaos. There's no heart pounding surgeries. Don't get me wrong, I love surgery, I love the way it makes me heart pound. But it's nice to have a day where you don't have to tell someone their loved one didn't make it out of surgery or will never wake up.

"This was a great idea" Meredith tells me.

"I know." I tell her and smile.

"Mommy these things are fun. I like the big boats." Zola tells Meredith.

"Hmm....like father like daughter." Meredith and I both laugh.

It's a pretty day which is rare for Seattle. So that's a nice touch. Zola takes Baileys hand and sits with him. Meredith leans against the railing looking over. She's just a few feet away. I walk up behind and put my arms around her, my hands rest on her stomach and I can feel the baby kicking. I whisper into her ear, "I love you." She smiles and turns her head and our lips lock. "I love you more." She tells me.

Soon we head back home. We spend time with Zola and Bailey, until it's their bed time. Amelia walks in, she looks exhausted. "How was your little off day? Lots of sex?" She asks and we laugh. "We actually spent the day on the ferry." I tell her.

"That sounds delightful. I spent the day removing a bullet from a mans skull." She says.

"Well I'll leave the two of you to get back to your thing. I'm going to bed." Amelia continues.

Today was amazing. I got to spend time with my family. It was amazing.

As surgeons, we like to believe that we're bulletproof. Nothing can get in our way. Nothing will stop us. There are no such things as off days. But the thing is, we exhaust ourselves. Push our minds to the breaking point. So a little off day. A little break from everything isn't all that bad.

Author Note:

Yeah I know this chapter was different. But I wanted to throw a curve ball, change things up. And I wanted a new perspective so I had this chapter in Derek's POV. I apologize for how long it took me to get this update up. I've been super busy these past few days. Next update should be tomorrow or Tuesday at the most.

~Erin :)