Chapter 85

"Thank you so much for helping me with this. I do brain surgery everyday, so you would not think that it would be this difficult to put together a simple crib." I sigh as Derek and I look at the finished crib. I still have a little while until I have the baby, but I've just been so excited that I really wanted to start the nursery. Even though I decided that I don't want to know the baby's gender until he or she's born, I still figured there's no reason for me to wait to start decorating the nursery since we're sticking with neutral colors. Derek went with me to buy some things for the nursery earlier this week and we decided to set everything up today.

"You don't have to thank me. You know I don't mind helping you." He smiles as we sit in the nursery.

"Everything came together really nice. I can't wait for Jackson to see it tonight." I smile excitedly as I look around the nursery. I was originally going to get Jackson to help me pick out everything for the nursery, but when we went to the baby store I can tell that being around all of the baby stuff was really making him more nervous then he already is, so that's why I got Derek to go with me instead to pick out everything and I'm going to show Jackson the nursery now that it's finished once he gets home tonight.

"Yes, it did. Speaking of Avery, how does he feel about becoming a dad?" He asks me.

"He's happy, but I can tell he's really nervous at the same time. I'm pretty sure we've both bought every parenting book ever made, even though I'm not really sure if they'll really help us prepare for the baby." I say.

"Parenting is unpredictable, you can never really prepare or know what to expect. You just have to take it one day at a time"

"Well that's comforting." I say sarcastically.

"Parenting always is." He smirks. "I know you're nervous which is to be expected, but how do you feel physically?"

"Well I can't get a full nights sleep anymore because everytime I get comfortable I have to get up to pee and my back aches all of the time, and my feet are almost always swollen, so physically I feel like crap most of the time, but I don't mind because I know it'll all be worth it in the end." I say.

"That's a positive way to look at things." He says.

"I know. I'm trying this new thing where I try to have a positive outlook on life. I want to be all bright and bubbly instead of dark and twisty by the time the baby gets here." I sigh.

"You're not entirely dark and twisty. You have bright and bubbly moments." He smirks.

"Thanks, I guess." I smirk. "Oh, you know what? I just thought about something, I'll be right back." I say before leaving the room and grabbing something from the living room that I found the other day and bringing it back with me to the nursery. "I was organizing things around the house earlier this week and look at what I came across." I smile walking back into the room and sitting beside Derek as I hand him a photo album.

"I didn't know you kept these." He smiles as he opens the photo album. Derek's always been into taking photos of different moments that have happened through the years, even the ones that I thought were minor at the time, but now I actually appreciate having photos of different milestones in life.

"Of course I kept them. I didn't realize we had so many photos together until I started looking through them." I smile as we look through the photos.

"I remember this Thanksgiving. We pretended we were operating when we were cooking the turkey." He laughs as we look at a picture of us in the kitchen during Thanksgiving a couple of years ago.

"It's the only thing that made all of the cooking we did that day bearable, well all of the cooking you did. I'm pretty sure I just sat there and watched." I laugh.

"You did." He chuckles. "Here's the picture we took the morning of your board exams."

"I remember. You followed me around all morning trying to make sure I didn't freak out about the exam."

"I just wanted to make sure you stayed calm before you left for the boards." He laughs.

"I know and it helped even though I didn't admit it at the time." I say.

"I know it did." He smiles.

"This is my favorite picture out of all of them." I say flipping to the picture of Derek and I on the docks after he took me fishing when we were all emotionally recovering from the plane crash.

"Why this one?" He asks.

"Because everytime I look at this picture it reminds me of how far we've came. We were all so broken after that crash. I mean at one point I thought it would never get better, but that day when we went fishing I finally felt at peace, like everything would be okay and now look at us. You and Meredith have Zola and Bailey and Jackson and I are married and expecting our baby. Life is finally back on track and working in our favor for once." I say.

"Yeah, you're right. That's something to cheer to, well if you weren't pregnant." He jokes.

"Yeah, alcohol isn't really an option considering I want my baby to come out healthy." I laugh. We continue to sit in the nursery looking through photos and reflecting on memories for awhile until Derek has to leave to pick up the kids from daycare. I decide to order some Chinese food for Jackson and I, since he should be getting home soon. I'm supposed to be learning how to cook, because I think it's important to know how to cook a meal for my child. I mean I don't want them to survive solely off of take out, which is what Jackson and I do unless he cooks for us, but I really just don't feel like cooking, so takeout will continue to do for now. After ordering the food I leave to pick it up, which doesn't take long at all. Shortly after I get back home, Jackson arrives also so we sit at the dinner table to eat our food.

"You know fortune cookies don't actually count as dinner, right?" Jackson smirks as we sit at the dinner table eating.

"Shut up. You know fortune cookies are my favorite." I laugh before grabbing another fortune cookie.

"That I do, but you and the baby need real food." He says before taking the bag of fortune cookies from me.

"Hey, give those back." I frown.

"After you finish your food."

"I am an adult, you can not tell me what to eat." I say.

"Well you're not getting these back until you eat your food." He smirks.

"I really don't like you." I sigh as I grab my dinner.

"You love me." He smirks. "So how's the nursery coming along?"

"Great, Derek and I actually finished it today." I smile.

"Oh, really? Why didn't you tell me it was finished? I want to go see it." He says beginning to stand up.

"Nope, you don't get to see it until you finish your food." I smirk.

"Fine." He mumbles as he sits back down and we continue eating our dinner.

"Okay, can I see the nursery now?" He asks after we finish eating dinner.

"Yeah, if you give me my fortune cookies back." I say.

"Okay, here." He says handing them back to me.

"Thank you." I smile before standing up and walking with Jackson to the nursery.

"Okay, close your eyes." I say.

"Okay." He smiles closing his eyes, before I open the nursery door and take his hand as I lead him inside.

"Okay, you can open them now." I say.

"Wow, it looks amazing." He smiles.

"Well thanks Avery, I'm glad you like it." I smile.

"I don't just like it, I love it. You did an amazing job sweetheart" He says as he gives me a kiss.

"Yeah, at first I was completely lost when I went into that baby store. There was just so much stuff, but Derek's pretty much a pro at all this baby stuff, so he helped me figure everything out."

"Well I'm impressed."

"I know." I smirk making him laugh. "I'm going to leave you to bask in the glory of this nursery, while I go take a shower, because I'm tired and I'm ready to go to bed." I say.

"Okay." says before I leave to take a shower, but stopping to finish my fortune cookies first.

"How's the baby book coming along?" I ask walking back into the nursery, where Jackson is reading one of our many baby books after I finish my shower.

"It's the scariest thing I think I've ever read." He says making me laugh.

"We'll be fine Avery," I say as I sit beside him.

"I know, it's just I want to be prepared when the baby gets here, but I have no idea what to expect." He sighs.

"Parenting is unpredictable, you can never really prepare or know what to expect. We'll just have to take it one day at a time." I say as I lay my head on his chest

"Well look at you already giving good parenting advice like a pro" He smirks as he wraps his arms around me.

"Yeah, I would love to take credit for that advice but I actually got it from Derek. He's right though, you can never really know what to expect when it comes to parenting, but you want me to tell you something that I do know?" I ask.

"What's that?" He asks,

"That you're going to be an amazing father. You've been there for me through everything life's thrown at me these last couple of years and you've never left my side. You're the most loving and caring man I know and this baby is lucky that he or she is going to have the best father anyone could ask for." I smile.

"Thanks sweetheart. You always know the right things to say." He smiles giving me a kiss.

"I'm only saying what's true." I smile. Even though there isn't a handbook to tell us step by step how to prepare for this baby, I know we're going to figure everything out and that our baby will have all of the love in the world, which is the most important thing anyone can have.