Dreams On Fire

Just Like A Woman

After finding out the baby as a girl, Meredith and Derek were on a mission. They only had baby boy things tucked into storage at their house, and he convinced her that a baby shower for their little girl would be fun, so he coerced her into going to the nearest Pottery Barn Kids/Baby to register for gifts. She was too giddy to protest, so that was how she found herself an hour later with a registry gun in her hand.

"I have too much power right now," she giggled as she looked at their options for baby bedding. They didn't even do this with Zola; they'd just picked something random for the crib that had been used and had used that for two years, then used the same crib for Bailey. But this baby was different in her eyes; it was special. It was part of the new life they had both been given, and although Meredith felt guilty for not giving Bailey and Zola the best of the best, she knew they didn't really care. To them it was a crib. They had pretty awesome bedrooms right now and that was all she cared about – that they loved what their parents could give them, which luckily was everything.

Derek was in the next room of the store staring down several cribs. "Mere, do we want light or dark for the room?" he asked her, and Meredith backed up several paces so she could see him. "I want white furniture. With purple walls, and purple bedding," she smiled. Purple was her favorite color after all, and Zola's. She knew Zola would be so excited to help with her little sister's bedroom, especially since it was purple. While she was in the room with the cribs, she spied a set of bedding she liked. "Derek!" she yelled, rushing over to that piece. "This is the one," she said proudly, displaying it with her hands. It was a pale lavender, with large, dark purple butterflies on both the bumper and the quilt that went with it. The skirt was also lavender, decorated with tiny butterflies in the same dark purple, fluttering down into a mass at the bottom. She smiled triumphantly. It was perfect. "We have to get it Der, it's the only one I like," she insisted, and when he rolled her eyes at her she knew she had won. She scanned every piece of the bedding set before turning around. "Now the little miss needs a crib," she giggled as he pulled her in for a kiss.

"Mmm I don't like any of the ones here," he shrugged, having looked at them all. None of them had called out to him as the perfect one for their unnamed baby. "But," he said, biting his thumb, "I like that bassinet," he said, pointing to a white one against a false window. It was breathtaking; the wicker was white with a white ruffle skirt cascading down from it. It would go perfectly in their bedroom for the first few months of their daughters life. Meredith whimpered, wanting in. Never in her life had she ever thought that she would be into the whole baby registry thing, or even wanting kids, but here she was, 37 and a completely changed woman from the ten years since she had woken up on her living room floor from what had supposed to have been a one night stand.

Derek stood beside her and laughed, taking the registry gun from her hands. "I've ruined you completely," he teased, pressing a kiss on her forehead as he scanned the price tag, adding it to their registry. First had been the bridal registry, which Meredith had insisted they didn't need at all, because, you know, 'they didn't need 16 of freaking everything', but that had turned out to be handy when they ended up hosting every holiday for their family and friends, and did end up having a real wedding. And now this baby registry. Her hormones were getting the best of her as she wandered into the next room, which was different types of rockers. She sunk into the comfiest looking one and let out a moan of content. If she was going to be breast feeding at weird hours, there was going to be a very comfortable rocker in a very pretty shade of purple, she decided, as she rocked back and forth, her hand on her stomach. "You've ruined me," she said down to her stomach, giggling a little. Derek had found her and she scrunched her nose up. "You've turned me into this person who cares about details. Like bassinets. And specific diapers brands. And and freaking sheets! Sheets Derek! I care about sheets now!" It was all he could do to not laugh at her, but he couldn't hold it in any longer, and soon she was laughing along with him.