B for Babies

20

Meredith kicked the blankets off of her warm body; she rolled over onto her side, only to remember how pregnant she was, and how uncomfortable that position was for her. Alex let out a throaty groan as her arm flung back, elbow nudging his cheek in the dark. She winced, realising that he was sleeping a lot closer than she'd pictured. "Sorry." She whispered, reaching over to pick up her phone. It was only 2:30 am, too early for her to start wandering the house, or outside of it in the dark. He was tired, but the light coming from her screen was enough to alert him into attention. He rolled onto his back, hand resting beneath the back of his head. "You okay?" He asked quietly, unable to see her in the darkness. Meredith mumbled an answer he couldn't quite hear, but her head was soon resting against his shoulder, an answer he didn't need her to interpret.

It was mid-morning when Meredith finally climbed out of bed. She could hear voices, but couldn't quite place the bodies they came from. She walked her way through the house and out into the sunshine covered woodlands that the building backed onto. It didn't take her long to find Alex, who was lying spread out on top of a sunbed, glasses shielding his eyes from direct sunlight. Maggie and Amelia were chatting across the garden, hushed voices followed by giggles, it made Meredith feel thankful that they had each other in that moment, she wasn't in the mood to be chatty. As she sunk herself down into the second chair, Alex tilted his glasses away from his eye, squinting to see who it was beside him. "You eat anything yet?" He asked her before he collapsed his arms back to his sides, and returned to his sun covered nap.

Meredith didn't say anything at first, she just let out a tired sigh. "I'll eat soon, don't think this baby would let me get away with skipping meals." She said sadly, using her hands as a visor to find where Nathan and Owen had disappeared to.

"They've gone hunting or whatever," Alex said to her, knowing she was probably trying to place the pieces together. He didn't feel like hunting, hardly felt like being there at all, but he'd made a promise, one that was stupid, but still.

"Hunting." She repeated, thinking back to the people in her life that hunted, people she wanted to not think about. "I think I'm going to go and eat something." She told him, pushing herself off the chair, dusting herself off as if she'd been sitting on the dirty ground.

Alex groaned before he was doing the same. She gave him a look, one that told him he didn't have to get up because of her. He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want her eating burnt toast, her breakfast speciality.

"I don't need you to be my personal chef," Meredith told him stubbornly as she sat down on one of the kitchen stools. It didn't bother him, he liked to take care of her, but she wasn't the kind of person you told that to. He opened the fridge and skimmed the groceries Maggie had brought with her. He reached for the juice first, figuring Meredith would appreciate the sugar rush. "I'm not a personal chef, I'm your fri-..." He stopped himself, not sure what his label was anymore, maybe he didn't have one, or maybe he did, he wasn't going to give himself one.

"I know." She said with a sigh, leaning herself up against her hand, elbow pressed against the countertop. "It's weird being here, isn't it? like being in one of those slasher movies. I keep thinking somebody is going to come and slice me open. My money's on Nathan." She chuckled, enjoying the smile Alex was now sporting on his face. He pushed the glass of orange juice over towards her before screwing the cap back on the bottle.

"Nobody is going to take out a pregnant lady." He defended her, although he wasn't entirely sure he could trust a slasher to have morals, it wasn't what murderers were known for.

"I'd take out the weakest link if I was a slasher." She commented, closing her eyes as she tilted her glass up to take a sip. Alex rolled his eyes and started taking slices of bread out of the packet. He didn't think she was the weakest link, pregnant belly, or no pregnant belly.

When the toast popped, he walked around the counter to sit down beside her, the butter was soon melting against the hot bread, and Meredith took her very first bite without flinching. It was nice being alone with the one person he actually wanted to spend any time with lately. It was like a magnet was drawing him into her, and only her. He hadn't felt that in a while, hadn't felt the overwhelming sensation to be around someone, protecting them, tending to their every need. He had no intention of sharing that little detail with her, but he felt it all the same.

She picked up the newspaper in front of her and started flicking through the pages. She didn't have any interest in reading it, but Alex was quiet and she had no idea what else to do. It didn't bother her when Amelia and Maggie noisily walked through the doors.

"Hey non-drinking buddy." Amelia greeted her, a small smile springing across her lips. Meredith hadn't even thought about that, but she frowned and looked across at Alex, wondering if he planned on getting wasted with everybody else. It wasn't like she hadn't seen the booze sitting in the kitchen doorway earlier, she just hadn't connected the dots yet.

"You throwing a party or do you like rubbing it in?" Meredith asked Maggie, who had only just figured it all out herself.

"Oh my god! I didn't mean to make things awkward for you." She said sincerely, looking between the two women with a frown. "We don't have to drink, I just wanted to have a nice weekend away with all of my friends, my family." She said with a sigh, looking to Alex who didn't want to have any part in this conversation.

"If anybody needs a drink around here, it's me." He muttered, with only Meredith in earshot. She snorted, shaking her head because she was thinking the same thing about herself.

It was after dinner when Meredith found herself alone in the kitchen with Nathan. Maggie and Amelia were arguing over which board game would be better for six players, while Alex was taking a shower. She wiped her hands on a tea towel and looked over at the other surgeon in the room. He opened the fridge and took out a can of soda, the drinks Maggie had shoved in there to make up for her insensitive alcohol purchasing.

"I didn't know you liked hunting." She said first, meeting his eye again. She wasn't entirely sure why she was the one starting the conversation, but he didn't seem to mind at all. He set his can down on the counter and leant himself up against it.

"I didn't know you cared." He said in response.

Immediately her eyes started to roll, it was a mistake to even try talking to him like an adult, she knew that now.

"What's your problem with me? I've been nothing but nice to you, and now you're shutting me out, moving on with Alex?" He asked her, keeping his voice down to avoid causing a scene.

Meredith opened her mouth to say something, but no words seemed to form. She didn't know why she had such a problem with her, it was just something that happened and she didn't know how to stop it. "You don't do this. You don't sleep with vulnerable and confused women, and then date their bastard half sisters." She said, wagging her finger in his direction.

"And you don't get to tell me who to date." He said in return, meeting her eye with a challenging smirk across his lips.

"I'm not telling you who to date. I'm telling you to leave me alone. We don't need to speak outside of work, especially not about me and Alex." She said firmly, folding her arms across her chest.

He held his hands up in defence, but his eyes made it clear that he wasn't done pressing her. He didn't know what was wrong, but he would figure it out eventually.

Maggie walked in through the kitchen door, a big smile on her face. "You two ready for a game?" She asked excitedly.