This Life

Chapter 11

Meredith could not wait to get this day over with. In fact Meredith could not wait to get the next few days over with. The day after tomorrow was Beth's first birthday and as promised both Carolyn and Michael Shepherd were due to land in Seattle later this evening.

Since New Year Derek had talked non stop about what to buy Beth for her birthday and what to do for her first birthday party.

Several times Meredith tried to tell him that hiring a bouncy castle and magician was a bit too much for a first birthday. It was only when Carolyn rang to confirm the flight details that she had talked some sense into Derek.

The plan now was a too have a large party for all the family and various members of staff from the hospital and the nursery. Carolyn and Michael were arriving in Seattle tonight with the remaining Shepherd's arriving later tomorrow – thankfully not all of the grandchildren were coming as they had exams in school. Sam, Gavin and Noah were definitely coming and Meredith could not wait to see them again.

As much as she loved Derek's family the thought of entertaining them filled her with dread. However Meredith was not looking forward to seeing Nancy who was bringing her two youngest children, Lauren and Charlotte. Kathleen was also bringing her youngest Regan and Jennifer was bringing her three children Sarah, Toby and Clara and husband Peter.

Meredith had been relieved when Derek told her that they had rented a holiday cottage for the few days that they would be in Seattle, however Carolyn and Michael would be staying with Derek and Meredith instead. Hence the reason why Meredith was a little bit jittery.

This would be the first time that Derek's parents would be staying with them since they moved their relationship to the next level and she was unsure as to Carolyn would react to this. Also the house was a mess or so Meredith thought and no matter how many times Derek tried to reassure her she just panicked even more.

Meredith looked at the clock on the wall. 1:30pm. "Only three more hours to go" she thought wishing Adele would hurry up and return from her lunch meeting so they could discuss the safety procedures at the creche.

Meredith had just finished talking with the mother of a child who started at the crèche two weeks ago regarding his behaviour.

Karen Harper had just moved to Seattle and started working as a Radiographer at the hospital and was a single parent. Her three year old son Jason had behaviour problems and would often be found throwing toys around the room and hitting other children.

During the meeting Karen had told Meredith about the abuse she had received from her husband and how she was in the process of getting a restraining order issued against her ex-husband.

Meredith sympathized with the position Karen was in and assured her that all staff would be told not to let Jason's father into the creche. She left a note for Adele to check that all the panic buttons in the nursery were working and still linked not only to the hospital security but also to the police. Meredith wanted to be planned and prepared for the worst case scenario. As she was crèche manager she would have to be the one to block Gary Harper from his seeing his son.

There was a knock at her door and Gina came in "Meredith, I'm sorry to interrupt but we need you now, it's Jason"

Meredith ran from her office and into the pre-school room and was immediately met with a toy dinosaur narrowly missing her head.

"Jason stop that right now!" Meredith said loudly but not shouting.

Jason immediately froze and backed into the corner screaming "I want my daddy".

Meredith took a deep breath and walked over and sat down beside Jason who had started to cry.

"Jason have you got something to say" Meredith asked the sobbing boy.