Brown sugar and Lavender

Chapter forty one: Painting

This is a new chapter, I rewrote it because I didn't exactly like the last version. This ones longer and I think is way better.

Addison's POV:

"I think we should go with sky blue" I told Meredith as we browsed the aisles of the hardware store, looking for supplies and paint to finally begin painting the nursery. We still hadn't cleaned it out, George's old bed and dresser along with some things Meredith needed to have put in storage still sat faithfully in what was going to be the baby's nursery.

"Why not orange?" Meredith asked "I think a sunset orange with yello; we can go for a duck theme. Or maybe a cute nature theme"

I shook my head "Orange is too harsh. Blue, a light baby blue, with cream white furnishings I think would be better. Besides, Orange reminds me of savannah themes and I can't stand those" I tacked on.

"We don't want the baby to get scared of its own room" Meredith pointed out "maybe we should stick with something simple, like orange, yellow and white. No animals or anything"

"What happened to baby blue?" I loved the idea of baby blue; we went through so many different phases of what colours we wanted, but baby blue stuck out to me. Yellow was too generic, orange was too harsh, white was too plain, green was too bright. We were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Orange and blue are complimentary colours. We could do orange, blue and white?" Meredith asked hopefully.

"Alright, fine. Orange, blue and white it is"

~

"Thanks so much for helping me move everything" Meredith panted later, as she took apart the bed and the dresser and moved them piece by piece into Izzie's old room. I, on the other hand, was online shopping (surprise surprise) for the nursery furniture.

"I am five months pregnant" I state "I may not look it, but I am. And I don't exactly want to lug furniture when I can be shopping for it"

She laughed "You're only getting this pass because of the baby; its more so a pass for the baby and not for you"

I shrug and stand up "it's all the same. Now, are we gonna start painting our kids room or what?" I was excited to start painting; nesting was kicking in and I had all these urges to clean up and get everything ready even though the baby was a few months away.

It didn't take long to put painters tape along the windowsill, door jams, baseboards and ceiling. I cracked open a can of paint while Meredith spread a white tarp across the floor to make sure no paint stained the hardwood. We worked as a team, fast and efficient, and it wasn't long before all the edges of the three orange walls were painted.

"What colour was the furniture you ordered?" Meredith asked me as she dipped her roller brush in the orange paint. The sky blue wall would be the very back one with the window on it, and would be painted last.

"White" I tell her, rolling the paint onto the walls. The colour was coming out prettier than I'd expected. "I found a cute set, a changing table, crib, dresser and rocking chair, all white and all the same make and design. It's gorgeous, I think it'll look great in here"

Mer nodded absently "It won't be long before we're washing little baby onesies to fold up"

"Why would we wash the baby clothes?" I ask "it'll be brand new, never worn" I knew for a fact Meredith wore clothes that were brand new without washing them. I'd witnessed her buy clothes when she had no time for laundry and just throw it on, tags be damned.

"I read somewhere that the stores use chemicals to keep the baby clothes looking crisp and clean, so people will be more likely to buy them. It might not be true, but if it is, I want to wash everything to be double sure" the caution in her voice made my heart throb. Meredith Grey, balls to the wind, who gives a shit, let's do it anyway, Meredith Grey who was never cautious and never planned ahead for safety, was suddenly being a helicopter Mom and I'd never been more in love.

"Be careful" I warn, with a smirk on my face "soon you'll be driving a mini van and picking cheerios out of your ears"

She chuckled lightly, but nonetheless nodded in agreement "I want lots of babies, before I met you I didn't want babies at all, but you ruined that. You made me into someone who's warm and fuzzy instead of dark and twisty, you made me wake up and see everything brighter. So yeah, I will gladly pick cheerios out of my ears and drive a mini van with a bunch of little screaming kids in the back to soccer practice or ballet or karate. Whatever they want" she kissed me lightly on the cheek, as I continued to paint with a big smile blossoming over my features "I can't wait to see a herd of mini-Meredith's and baby bunnies"

I turn to face her, and laugh "Baby bunnies? Our children are wildlife now?"

"You're my bunny, they're gonna be my babies, since they're small versions of your they'll be baby bunnies"

~

An hour later, after we finished the first coat of all four walls and were waiting for it to dry before adding a second, I was going to the bathroom. I was using the guest bathroom, Meredith had just cleaned the ensuite and the smell of Mr. Clean made the baby nauseous, and had just come out to walk down the hall, when I saw a little orange paw print.

Confused, I followed the paw prints to the nursery, then all the way down the stairs. They circled around the stairs and down the hall, until I saw Carrot curled up under the kitchen table, covered in orange paint.

"Meredith!" I yelled, before doubling over with laughter. The poor little kitten was completely orange.

"What's wrong?" She looked worried, but her face softened to confusion when she saw me laughing harder than ever.

"The cat" I wheeze "Carrot. He's orange. He's-hes a CARROT" I die laughing all over again, my back and stomach both hurt and the baby begins to kick extremely hard.

"You're a wing nut" Meredith smiles fondly, before scooping up the tiny cat from under the table "Clem and Cloudy are asleep upstairs, I figured he was with them. I must've left the nursery door open" she muses.

I wipe the tears from my eyes and compose myself "He's a little trouble maker, you know that" Carrot was the hell raiser of the three kittens; he liked to scratch the doormat, chew on the corners of the throw pillows, and he ate nearly any kind of paper left unattended. He was worse than a baby.

"He's adorable though" Meredith smiled fondly, as we made our way up to the bathroom to give him a bath. She'd grown fond of Carrot, and Carrot definitely favoured her over me. He slept curled up in a ball right by her head every night, when she watched tv he had to be on her lap, during breakfast he curled himself around her feet while she sat at the table.

"I feel awful" I wince, as we get into the bathroom and I turn the water on, making sure to keep it at a warm but not hot level "he's going to hate this bath" the baby kicked again, and I sighed, grabbing my stomach. "The baby, apparently, hates this bath too"

"Our kid is a boxing kangaroo" Meredith smiles, reaching over with her free hand to feel "definitely a soccer player. She'll be a little tom boy for sure"

While we're caught up with feeling the baby kick, little Carrot wakes up and, after seeing the bathtub, nosedives into the water. I had never seen anything like it.

"Did he just-"

"Yup"

We watched in amazement as the cat rolled around in the water, batted the steady stream coming out of the faucet like a boxer, and turned the entire bathtub soft orange. He was the weirdest cat I'd ever seen.

"Okay, so apparently he doesn't hate the bath" I say, my eyebrows raised in shock. Carrot was living it up, loving every second of his bath. It didn't take long for the paint to all come out of his fur, leaving him fluffy and soft.

As Meredith picked him up and wrapped him in a towel, he started to meow and reach to get back into the bath.

"Honestly" Meredith laughs "Carrot Montgomery-Grey, you are a piece of work"