Part Two, Chapter Twenty Four

A/N: A deep, heart-felt thank you to all of you for sticking with me through my first foray into fan fiction. This story will always mean so much to me, being my first, and all of you will always hold a very special place in my heart! A special thanks goes out to Longclaw 1-6 for keeping me motivated and helping me through the rough spots. Your ideas have been most appreciated.

I have decided to end the story with this chapter. There may be a sequel in the future, but I feel this story has reached it's end for now. Thank you again for putting up with the delays, and I hope you enjoy the end of their adventure…for now.

Meredith hurried into the lounge, locking the door behind her. She walked over to the table, reached into her pocket and extracted a thin, white packet. She sunk down into the chair and took a deep breath. With trembling fingers, she extracted the contents of the packet. She looked straight ahead, inhaling deeply, and blew her breath out sharply to steady her nerves. Once centered, she shifted her gaze downward. Her breath caught, and time seemed to stand still as she read the word, "pregnant".

Instantly, she was sucked into a veritable maelstrom of emotions; elation, worry, excitement and terror competed as warring factions in her mind. She'd meant what she had said to Jackson and Arizona, she did want to have a child with Alex, but they had yet to even discuss the possibility. In retrospect, she realized how foolhardy that had been, but what was done was done. Would Alex even want a child of his own? He was great with kids, especially hers, but would a child of their own change things between them? She also wondered if her body could even handle another pregnancy. The last one was difficult, at best, and the delivery had been nearly fatal. Suddenly, an image of Alex cuddling a baby, their baby, sprang into her mind, bringing with it the end of her insecurity. She needed to tell him as soon as possible!

She was roused from her reverie by a knock on the door. Quickly, she gathered herself and re-inserted the pregnancy test into its pouch before placing it back in the pocket of her scrubs. With another deep breath to calm her racing heart, she rose and strode to the door. She unlocked it, allowing Maggie to enter. Meredith was so caught up in her recent discovery that she missed the wistful smile on Maggie's face.

"Hey Mer, why was the door locked?"

"Oh, I guess I locked it," she replied, noncommittally. She didn't see the confused look that flashed momentarily across Maggie's face, nor did she notice Maggie attempting, and failing, to control her facial expressions. Her only thought was of telling Alex about their news. She was starting to feel restless keeping the news to herself.

Maggie turned to her cubby, busying herself to avoid making eye contact with Meredith. She was intently focused on making a show of looking for something, and nearly missed Meredith talking to her.

"Maggie, do you have a minute? I need to talk about something." Meredith decided to confide in Maggie as a way of trying out the news.

Maggie winced before turning to face Meredith. She quickly decided that she would run surgical procedures in her head in order to avoid giving away the surprise Alex had planned for her. "Sure, Mer. What's up?" She sat down at the table, running a CABG procedure through her mind, paying attention to every detail.

Meredith took a deep breath and began. "I have something to tell you, but you cannot tell anyone else. Can you keep a secret?"

Maggie was only half listening, deeply engrossed in the imaginary surgery she was performing. "Uh, sure. Of course I can."

"The thing is, I just found out some pretty big news, and I'm trying to figure out how to tell Alex."

Maggie was relaxed as she continued with her surgical imagery. "Oh, he'll be fine, Mer. Just tell him whatever it is."

"Well, we never really talked about this. I know we should have, obviously, or at least done something to prevent it, but I just never thought that this would happen."

"Uh-huh." Maggie now had her eyes closed as she ran the procedure.

"It's pretty stupid considering we're doctors and know how this happens…"

"Right, sure," Maggie continued to provide lip service.

"And I think he would be happy about it…"

"Yes, happy," Maggie murmured.

Meredith slapped her hand on the table. "You're right. What am I waiting for? I should just tell him! Thanks, Maggie, and remember don't say anything!"

Maggie looked up, jolted out of her reverie. "Uh, of course!" She chuckled halfheartedly. "Mums the word!"

Meredith stood quickly, grabbing her phone, and left the lounge.

"What just happened?" Maggie muttered.

Outside the lounge, Meredith was texting Alex, "I need to talk to you. Where are you?"

He texted back immediately. "I'm in the tunnels. Meet me here. I have something to talk to you about, too."

She smiled and headed off in the direction of the tunnels. As she walked, she thought about their early days in the tunnels, days where she did not like Alex, or herself, all that much. They had gotten to know each other in those tunnels; it was where their friendship had really begun. It seemed only fitting to her that she should give him their news in this same location. Her smile grew larger as she drew nearer to the tunnels. She thought back to when Ellis was born, and how Alex was her emergency contact. She remembered hearing the nurse mistakenly calling him her husband, and how good it felt to see him in the doorway. A sadness quickly overcame her, once again remembering how badly she had treated him that year, and how he refused to allow her to feel badly about it. She shook her head, once again wondering how she had gotten so lucky to have him in her life.

She turned the corner and her heart stopped. Candlelight streamed from every surface, white and silver balloons were gathered in groups with elegant ribbons streaming down. White lights hung from the ceiling, their light dancing along the walls. Even the gurneys were lined with white satin sheets gathered with wide white ribbon at the sides. And right in the midst of this was Alex, wearing the suit that he knew was her favorite on him.

Her hand flew to her mouth in shock at the sight before her. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, and only intensified when Alex dropped to one knee. "Oh my God!" was all she could choke out.

Alex knelt before her. "Meredith, I've wanted to do this for a while now. I thought of all the places that I could do this in, and it was no contest. It had to be here. This is where we started our friendship. Where we had so many talks that led us down the road that eventually brought us here. I know you disagree, but I wasn't anyone worth knowing then. I thank God that you didn't see it that way. You knocked sense into me in more ways than one. You called me on my crap. Told me when I was being an ass."

He stepped forward and grasped her hands in his own. "You cared about me when I didn't give a damn about myself. You pulled me to my feet when I was down, and even more, you forgave me when I was at my worst." His eyes began to glaze over with unshed tears. "I don't know what I ever did to deserve you, Mer, but I swear to you that I will continue to work for the rest of my life to live up to be the man that you believe that I am. And I know that I can't do it without you. So, Meredith Grey, will you give me the unbelievable honor of being my wife?"

Tears streamed down Meredith's face, but before she could answer she turned from him and rushed to the nearest garbage can as another wave of nausea over took her. Alex rushed to her, concerned. "Mer, are you okay?"

After a minute, she nodded and sat down on the floor. Alex handed her a tissue to wipe her face and crouched down next to her on the floor, concern flooding his features. She looked at him through tear stained eyes. She chuckled when she saw the worry on his face. "I'm okay, Alex. Umm, it's actually what I wanted to talk to you about…." She let her words trail off as she looked at him expectantly.

He stared at her, and she watched his features morph from worry to confusion to realization, and finally to her great relief, euphoria. "Oh my God, Mer! You're…you're pregnant?"

She nodded as new tears fell. "Oh my God! You're having my baby!" He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as his own tears fell over his cheeks.

"So, you're okay with this?"

"Okay? Are you kidding? I'm more than okay with this! This is a dream come true. The woman I love more than anything is having my baby! The only thing that would make it better is if she would agree to marry me!"

Shock clouded her featured for a moment, as she just then realized she had not answered his question. "I'm so sorry! Yes, of course I'll marry you!" They both laughed through their tears, both amazed that their lives had brought them here to this place.

Alex reached into his pocket, extracted the black velvet box and opened it, revealing the ring he had selected for her. Meredith gasped, which earned her one of Alex's lopsided smiles that she loved so much. He took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger before bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing it.

"I love you, Meredith Grey."

Meredith sniffled through her tears. "And I love you, Alex Karev."

The end…for now…