Prologue

February 14, 1997. 9:37pm.

"I'm sorry I'm late. You can't believe the kind of day I had." Derek Shepard walked through the front door of his home and seeing his wife sitting on the sofa with an empty wine glass in her hand. By the sign of the half empty bottle on the counter he had a feeling that he was in trouble for being late on Valentines Day, but he didn't care. He had to tell her about his day. "Right when I was ready to come home, they pulled into a emergency surgery on a twelve year old." He pulled his jack it off. "It was incredible, you should have seen it. I was…"

"Derek." Addison cut him off with a quiet tone and stood up.

"What? What is it?" Derek asked after not sure if she had a pissed off look or concerned look on her face. Both of them were very similar.

"Your mother called. It's about your sister" Addison winced as she walked over to the answering machine.

"Great. What did she do this time?" Derek sighed as he threw his coat on the sofa and leaned on the back of it. Addison pushed play on the machine and walked to the wine bottle to fill her glass.

Beep. Next Message. 4:23pm

"Derek, it's you mother. I need to talk to you. Call me as soon as possible."

Beep. Next Message. 4:57pm

"Derek, I really need you call me back."

Beep. Next Message. 5:15pm

"Derek, She is getting out of control. Please call."

Beep. Next Message. 6:05pm

"Derek, This is your mother calling. You better be dead in a ditch for not calling me back. It's about your sister." The young man could hear his mother sob through her words. "She dropped out of school, Derek. When I tried talking to her about it she just ran off. I don't know where she is. Please go and find her. And when you do, talk some sense into her." Derek's hands ran through hair before he let out a frustrated huff and grabbed his jacket from the sofa.

Beep. Next Message. 7:30pm

"Derek, I'm scared. I think we lost her."

Beep. End of Messages.

"What are you going to do?" Addison asked her aggravated husband.

"I'm going to find her and drag her back home." He pulled his coat on.

"Do you even know where she?" His wife asked

"I have a idea." The doctor sighed.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No. Just call my mom. Tell her that Natalie will be home soon." Derek said as he stormed on out of the house.

Coney Island, the place that he and his other sisters would take their baby sister for her birthday until she was too embarrassed to go with her siblings. Then it became the place she would run away to when she was having a bad day. He knew that he could find her there.

The traffic was horrible for being ten o'clock at night but after about forty minutes he finally made it to Coney Island. He step out of his car, there was a chill in the air. He went into the trunk of the car and pulled out the emergency blanket. Derek walked down the boardwalk searching for his sister but there was no sigh. The place was deserted. No one in their right mind would come at night in the middle of February. He was getting worried when he spotted a dark shadow in the sand. He started to jog towards and as he drew closer her recognized the shadow to be the youngest in their family.

"Natalie, what the hell do you think you're doing? It's freezing out here." He shouted when he saw his kid sister sitting close to the water with just a hoodie on. A duffle bag sat right beside her. The girl didn't flinch a muscle as he approached her.

"Leave me alone, Derek." Natalie snapped before she even saw his face. Derek walked around and noticed that she was shivering. He unfolded the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She shrugged of the blanket.

"Natalie, it's cold out her and I do want you to become hypothermic." He said as he placed the blanket back on her shoulders and sat down beside her. The brother waited hoping that she would say something, anything. "What going on? Mom said you're dropping out of school? What happened?"

"I just can't do it anymore. I tired but the more I try the more I don't get what I'm doing and I just fail. I don't know if they have higher expectations from me because I come from a family of geniuses all going into the medical field. Apparently, I didn't get the memo. I just don't get it." Tears came streaming down her face. "And mom…I can't stand the look she gives me every time I fail. Always comparing me to her other children. I don't think can even graduate high school." More tears streamed down her face, teethe chattered as she spoke.

"How come this is the first I'm hearing about this, why didn't you talk to me about this sooner." The concerned brother asked.

"You have been busy, with your wife and your residency. Then there was the thing with Amelia. I didn't want to be a bother. " She wiped away a tear with the palm of her hand. "I just can't wait for all this to be over I can't stand it. I can't stand being alone in the house with her. "

"Hey," he wrapped his arms around her shoulder "you will never be a bother. You hear me. You can come to me for anything. I'll help in any way you can and you will graduate. Alright?" She didn't respond. " Alright?" He insisted.

"Alright." She said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I have a feeling this is not just about school. What else is going on?" Derek asked. Natalie sat in silence staring into the black vast of the ocean in front of them for a few minutes before she spoke.

"I was going to see how far I could out into the ocean." She said bluntly. "I only made it to my knees before I felt how cold the water was.

"You what?" Derek gasped at his sister's comment and glanced down at her legs and saw that her pants from her knees down were soaked. He pulled up the pant leg and felt her icy cold skin. He took the blanket of her shoulders and covered her legs and then took his own jacket and put on her.

"It's funny, I even failed at taking he plunge." She ignored her brother completely. "I'm must be such s disappointment for him. Good thing he will never know."

"Natalie, what are you talking about?" Derek insisted, his hand cupped her face and he moved it so she was looking at him.

"I was invited to Sarah's sisters wedding last weekend. I thought it would be fun. And it was fun. Getting dressed up and dolled up. I was excited to dance with Jeremy. " Natalie pause for a moment. "Then the bride came up the aisle with her father beside her." Fresh tear fell down her face. "She was beautiful and he looked so proud of her. That's when I realized that I my father would never walk me down the aisle on my wedding day. Because I wasn't even born when he was killed. He didn't even know I existed before he died. How screwed up is that. I never had the chance to meet my own father. And I can't even talk to her about it because she is just reminded of the horrible event that cost her a husband and left alone to raise six children. She just hides away from me. It's not fair, Derek. It's just not fair. I want him to be here to walk me down aisle. It's not fair." The young girl finally finished her rant as she started to hyperventilate.

"Hey. It's okay. Take a breath." He held her close like he always did when she was just a child and would bonk her head. I know. None of it is fair. And there is not a day that I go with out thinking about that day. But then I remember that I have five amazing sister." Her breathing started to slow down, his hand made its way to her wrist so he could feel her pulse wondering how long she has been sitting in the cold. "And you, Natalie Shepherd, there is no way you're a failure, because you're a Shepherd. And dad would be nothing proud of you." He comforted his sister, noticing that her heart rate was higher then normal from being in the cold. "Now why don't we go home and warm you up."

"Okay." She spoke through her chattering teeth. "I'm so cold."

"Can you stand?" Derek asked as he stood up.

"I've ruined Valentine's day with Addison." She just remembered as she moved to stand up. Derek helped her to her feet, and then pulled the strap of the duffle bag over his shoulders.

"We didn't have plans. She had to work." He lied; they started walking through the sand towards the boardwalk. "Let's just get you home."