Merder: Different Circumstances

Chapter Twenty Eight

The next morning, Meredith woke to the sound of multiple hands knocking on their bedroom door, to which she gently pushed Derek awake to deal with his nieces and nephews. Her small hangover was making the comfort of the bed seem much more appealing than it should do, but she knew she couldn't hide away forever.

"They're going to be your nieces and nephews soon too. You're going to have to deal with them too." Derek said as he crawled back into bed with her. "A couple of them were even asking me where Auntie Meredith is."

"Auntie Meredith?" Meredith asked, to which Derek hummed. "I like the sound of that."

After what they both felt wasn't long enough lying in each others embrace, the two of them eventually got out of bed and began to get ready for the day. As tradition in the Shepherd family, much to the adults dismay, the whole family would have a late brunch and then go on a long walk all together.

When they went into the kitchen, Carolyn was in the middle of plating up the final parts of breakfast before adding the plates to the already full table. There was only one adult sized chair left, due to Nancy bringing Mark along despite the arguments his presence caused yesterday, so there was no questioning when Derek pulled Meredith too his lap.

Brunch took an hour and by the time it was over, the adults were ready to go back to bed, whilst the children were fully energised and desperate to go on the walk. As everyone was getting ready to leave, Mark approached Meredith and Derek, but Derek chose to ignore him.

"Der, just talk to him. I know how close you two were before what happened, Ashley was telling me how he was practically your brother and looking at those photo albums with your mom the other night just proved it." Meredith asked as the two of them walked out of the door.

"Mer, not now. I just want to spend New Years day on a walk with my beautiful fiancee and daughter through New York." Derek insisted as they kept walking.

Rather than replying to his denial, Meredith gently pushed him back inside with a stern glare, to which he just rolled his eyes at her and walked back inside with a slight temper to him. She had to hold back her laughter at his childish attitude and then was grabbed at the arm by Amelia and joined the family.

On the whole walk, Meredith couldn't help but worry about what was going on between Derek and Mark back at Carolyn's house. Amelia kept trying to get Meredith to make decisions about the wedding, getting Ashley and a few of Derek's other nieces involved in the conversation, to which she tried to brush off but promised they would all get to see her dress once she's bought it.

When they finally arrived back at Carolyn's, Meredith and Amelia went into the house first, expecting them to be sat in separate rooms or even one of them with a black eye and covered in bruises. No one was prepared to walk in and find the two of them sat on a couch with a bottle of beer in their hands, talking like civil people.

"Okay, what happened whilst we were gone." Amelia asked when they approached them.

"Amy! Do you want a drink?" Derek called to his sister, which made both Amelia and Meredith's jaw drop. "Whoops, sorry."

"We talked, and then we shouted, and then we talked, and then we drank." a just as drunk Mark explained.

"I still don't trust him but I don't hate him." Derek continued walking over to his fiancée and pulling her in by the waist for a kiss.

"No." She said pushing him gently away. "Amelia, I'm taking Derek to lie down, maybe you could try to get Mark into the spare single room. They will be no use around all the kids right now."

Amelia and Meredith managed to get the two of them upstairs and by that point the rest of the family were all trailing in. Once they were alone in their room, Derek once again tried to make a move on Meredith and she just smirked as she pushed him back down onto the bed.

"You're no fun Mer." Derek pouted.

"You're drunk and I told you before we're not having sex at your mother's house." Meredith said with a grin as she pulled the covers over him. "Now sleep and I'll come get you an hour or so before your sisters leave."

She didn't get a proper answer, but rather a hum of sorts before he was asleep in a matter of seconds. When Meredith went out to the corridor, Amelia was walking out of Mark's room and the moment the two of the made eye contact they burst into a fit of laughter.

"I have never seen Derek that drunk." Meredith said.

"Same with Mark. At least they're friends now."

"Amelia, I'm sorry that, you know, Derek offered you a drink. He's really drunk and didn't mean to offend you."

"It's fine honestly, after the things my mom and sisters said to me, it was kind of comedic." Amelia said as they reached the stairs.

Meredith spent her afternoon with Amelia close by to her at all time, and the younger nieces playing dress up with her hair and applying makeup of all colours onto her. Ashley watched from a distance as she caught up with her older cousins, finding it hilarious at how drunk her Aunt Amelia described her father to be and having an unspoken agreement with him to keep an eye on Meredith when he's not around.

Like the night before, Meredith found herself with an infant in her arms, tugging on a piece of hair that hadn't been pulled into a messy up-do by the other girls. Three hours had passed before Meredith eventually decided to wake Derek up, after much nagging from his nephews and nieces.

Although she attempted to wake him up quietly, knowing he would most likely have a headache, four children followed behind Meredith and as soon as the door was opened they ran over to his bed. Three easily got on, one needing the help of Meredith, and they all pulled his hair and jumped next to him, waking him up.

"Okay, I think I'm awake." Derek said as he struggled to sit up underneath the children, a smile on his face.

"I think Mark is down the hall, maybe you could wake him up to." Meredith suggested, to which they all abandoned one Uncle to wake another, as Derek groaned. "You love them really, they're cute."

"I do and ours will be cuter." Derek admitted, which made Meredith's breath hitch in her throat when she leaned into his arms.

"I guess they will be."