A/N: Happy 2014! I figured I'd start off the New Year with a third story for The Shepherds series. I guess I'm still not quite ready to let this fictional family go. This story is really different from anything I've ever written. I've already written several chapters of this story, but I've been holding off on posting because I knew that this story was going to be dark, and I wanted to make sure that I could write dark. This story will eventually be rated M (I'll bump the rating at chapter 3), but I want to warn you ahead of time that the subject matter becomes sensitive.

You don't need to read my other two Shepherd stories to keep up with what's going on in this one, although I'd never discourage you from doing so. :) For those of you who have read the other two stories, this story takes place shortly after the epilogue of The Life We've Made.

I hope you like this story, and thank you so much for reading!

The Shepherds: I'll Stand By You

Won't let nobody hurt you.
I'll stand by you.

"You look like you're in a hurry," Alex noted, as he and Addison scrubbed out together.

"I am," Addison nodded. "Derek and I are interviewing babysitters, and we're meeting one of the candidates this afternoon."

"Oh," Alex nodded. "How's that going?"

"So far, pretty terribly," Addison admitted. "We interviewed a few people last week. But none of them felt right. Derek's pretty optimistic about the woman we're interviewing today, though."

"Why's that?" Alex asked.

"She's pre-med," Addison explained. "Derek has a soft spot for anyone who's interested in medicine…even if she's in college."

"You and Derek are okay with having a college student baby-sit your kids?" Alex asked in confusion. That didn't sound like Addison and Derek.

Addison shook her head. "I'm not. But Derek spoke to her over the phone, and said she sounds very mature for nineteen. But I'm going to need some more convincing."

Alex nodded.

"Anyway," Addison sighed, "I should probably get home so that Derek and I can interview…uh…um…"

"Don't tell me you forgot her name," Alex laughed.

"No, I remember," Addison insisted, desperately wracking her brain, trying to remember the young woman's name. "Heather…I think. Or maybe Hailey. I don't know," she admitted. "Something with an H."

Alex chuckled. "You should probably figure it out before you meet her," he teased. "And I'll be waiting for an update on whatever-her-name-is tomorrow," he added with a smirk.

"Don't bother," Addison laughed. "I can already tell you how it's going to play out. There's no way I'm letting a child baby-sit my children."

"Hey, I hear you," Alex agreed, as he thought about his own son and his daughter on the way. "But Derek seems to like her, so at least give her a chance."

"I will," Addison conceded reluctantly. "But just a small chance."

xxxxx

When Addison arrived home, Derek was already sitting on the living room couch; and the H-named babysitter that they were interviewing was sitting on another couch, across from him. From where Addison was standing, she could only see the young woman from the back, and she seemed inoffensive enough – purple collared shirt, trim build, shoulder-length dirty blonde hair.

"Addison," Derek smiled, rising from the couch to greet his wife. "This is Hannah Klein."

"Hi, Hannah," Addison smiled, reaching out and shaking the young woman's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. So," she continued, as she and Derek sat down on the couch together. "What did I miss?"

"Not much," Derek answered. "Hannah was just saying that she's going to be a sophomore at the University of Washington, and that she's pre-med."

"Oh," Addison nodded, smiling at Hannah warmly; and as she did, she couldn't help noticing that there was something familiar about Hannah's brown eyes.

"Anyway," Derek went on, cutting into Addison's thoughts. "I was just telling Hannah that we have three kids."

"That's right," Addison smiled. "We have a daughter, Willa, who's seven. And we have twins, Carter and Colette. They're three-and-a-half. We'd mostly need you to just watch Willa after school," Addison explained. "We'll bring Carter and Colette back to the hospital daycare after they get out of nursery school. But Willa's starting second grade, and she's going to have homework. So we want her to have a quiet place to get it done…and that's definitely not the hospital daycare."

"But there might be a few nights every couple of months, when Addison and I both have to work late, where we'd ask you to watch all three kids," Derek added. "Those nights are few and far between, but we want to make sure that you feel comfortable taking care of all three of them."

"It shouldn't be a problem," Hannah smiled. "I've been babysitting for as long as I can remember. I'm fine with watching three kids."

"It sounds like you spent a lot of time babysitting younger siblings," Addison assessed, as she continued to marvel at how oddly familiar Hannah looked.

Hannah shook her head. "I'm actually an only child," she admitted. "I always wanted siblings…and I think my parents didn't plan on me being an only child. But, uh, when I was little, I got sick. I spent a lot of time in the hospital. And I guess that kind of put any plans my parents had of adopting another child on hold."

"Adopting another child?" Derek asked curiously.

"I'm adopted," Hannah explained. "But, yeah," she went on. "Not growing up with siblings, and being so sick as a kid…it's made me want to work with children. I eventually want to go into pediatrics."

Addison watched her husband nod his head in approval, as all the thoughts and questions that had been running through her mind began to click into place. She suddenly knew why Hannah's eyes looked so familiar. They were Izzie's eyes. Hannah was Izzie's daughter. It all checked out. The name, the age, the eyes, the childhood illness. And Derek was completely oblivious.

"Well, Hannah," Derek smiled. "Your resume looks good, and it seems like you're great with kids. Would you like to meet our children?"

"I'd love to," Hannah grinned.

"Okay," Derek nodded, as he went upstairs to get Willa, Carter, and Colette, leaving Addison alone with Hannah.

Addison ran a hand through her hair, doing her best to keep herself composed. Normally, she was great at making small talk. But normally she wasn't making small talk with the daughter that one of her very best friends had given up for adoption over nineteen years ago.

"So," Addison stammered, doing her best to pretend that Hannah was just a normal person with absolutely no ties to Izzie whatsoever. "Have you started thinking about which field of medicine you want to specialize in?"

"Uh, yeah," Hannah nodded. "I really want to go into pediatrics."

"Right," Addison chuckled in embarrassment. "You mentioned that already, didn't you?" She wracked her brain, desperately trying to come up with something – anything – else to talk to Hannah about, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Derek returning to the living room with Willa, Carter, and Colette.

"Mommy!" Willa grinned, racing ahead of Derek so that she could give her mother a hug hello.

"Hi, Willa," Addison smiled, as she hugged her daughter tightly.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Carter and Colette piped up in unison, vying for their mother's attention. And Addison smiled, as she pressed a kiss to her son and daughter's temples.

"Willa…Carter…Colette," Addison began, as Willa sat down on the couch next to her, while Carter and Colette both climbed onto Derek's lap. "This is Hannah." She turned to Hannah. "This is Willa, Carter, and Colette," she smiled, gesturing towards each child in turn.

"Hi," Hannah smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Willa smiled back. "I'm seven," Willa informed Hannah.

"And I'm three," Carter chimed in.

"Three-and-a-half," Colette corrected quietly – so quietly that only Derek could hear her.

Derek chuckled and pressed a kiss to Colette's temple, smiling as he watched Carter hop off his lap and make his way over to where Hannah was sitting.

"I wanna sit on your lap," Carter told Hannah, giving her his most charming smile. And Addison and Derek couldn't help exchanging an amused grin over that; their son would have no problem in the dating and flirting department.

"Hannah, do you like nail polish?" Willa asked, as Hannah settled Carter on her lap.

"I do like nail polish," Hannah nodded.

"I do too," Willa smiled. "And so do Mommy and Colette."

"I don't," Carter said flatly.

"Mommy took me and Colette to get our nails done yesterday," Willa continued, ignoring Carter's comment. "Because tomorrow's the first day of school, and we want to have pretty nails."

"That's sounds fun," Hannah grinned.

"I didn't go," Carter piped up. "'Cause I'm a boy, and I don't like nail polish."

"Oh," Hannah chuckled, fairly certain that she was already starting to fall in love with the Shepherd family.

Derek couldn't help smiling as he watched how easily Willa and Carter interacted with Hannah. How comfortable they felt with her. And he felt his smile grow even wider when Colette climbed down off his lap, and walked over to Hannah.

"Wanna see my nails?" the little girl asked Hannah tentatively, as she held out her tiny hands.

"Very pretty," Hannah complimented, admiring Colette's pale pink fingernails.

"Thank you," Colette beamed.

Derek smiled widely, sensing that Colette was warming up to Hannah. Truth be told, he had liked Hannah instantly. And he had a feeling that, like him, Willa and Carter would also like Hannah right away. But Colette was more discerning than her siblings. She always had been. As a baby, she was very particular about who she wanted to hold her (usually only him and Addison). And even today, it still took Colette a longer time to warm up to people and get used to them than it did for Willa and Carter, who both pretty much liked anyone and everyone. But Colette seemed to like Hannah, and that made Derek like Hannah even more.

He met his wife's eyes and smiled. "I think she's the one," he mouthed to Addison.

But Addison was hesitant. Hannah seemed great. In all honesty, she seemed perfect. But she was Izzie's daughter. And Addison knew she couldn't just hire Hannah behind Izzie's back.

She bit her lip in thought before meeting Derek's eyes again. He shot her a questioning glance, silently asking her for her opinion about Hannah.

"Later," she mouthed, doing her best to be discrete. "We need to talk about this later."

xxxxx

"I can't believe you didn't like Hannah," Derek said, as he and Addison got ready for bed, later that night.

"It' not that I didn't like her, Honey," Addison defended. "It's just…"

"She's great with the kids," Derek cut in. "Even Colette seemed comfortable with her."

"She's very good with the kids," Addison agreed, as she climbed into bed next to her husband. "It's just…doesn't she look familiar to you?"

"I don't know. Not really," Derek shrugged. "Should she?"

Addison sighed. "I don't know. She kind of looks like someone…like one of your closest friends."

"Well, you're my best friend, Addie," Derek said easily.

"Which is sweet," Addison smiled, leaning in and kissing her husband tenderly. "But I was talking about one of our closest friends."

"Well, Mark, obviously," Derek reasoned. "Wait, are you saying…do you think Mark has some teenage daughter we all don't know about?"

"Derek, don't be ridiculous," Addison chuckled.

"Well, it's not entirely ridiculous," Derek defended. "The man had a lot of sex before he settled down with Lexie."

"I'm not talking about Mark, Derek," Addison laughed, before quickly growing serious again. She met her husband's eyes. "Hannah looks like Izzie."

"Oh my god," Derek breathed, as Addison's words sunk in; and he wondered how in the world he hadn't realized it on his own. "She looks exactly like Izzie," Derek agreed. "And her name; and her back story…it's the same as Izzie's daughter's back story. How did I not make that connection?"

"I don't know," Addison admitted. "It was painfully obvious to me."

"So, what do we do now?" Derek asked.

"We can't hire her, Derek."

"Why not, Addison? She's perfect."

"What would we say to Izzie?" Addison asked. "How would we justify this to her?"

"Well, how would we justify not hiring Izzie's daughter?" Derek countered. "What kind of friends would that make us?"

"Derek," Addison chuckled. "Be serious."

"I am being serious," Derek insisted. "Hannah's great, and I don't think we should pass her up. Besides," he continued, "now that we know Hannah's in Seattle, shouldn't we tell Izzie anyway?"

Addison bit her lip in thought, as she contemplated her husband's question. "I guess you're right," she admitted after a moment. "Do you think she'll want to meet Hannah?"

"I don't know," Derek confessed. "I'd imagine she would. But I don't know."

Addison sighed. "Well, I guess we should tell Izzie sooner rather than later. If you're serious about hiring Hannah to watch the kids, we need to make sure that we sort everything with Izzie out first."

"So, you're saying you want to hire Hannah?" Derek asked his wife with a smirk.

Addison chuckled before kissing her husband chastely. "I'm saying I'll think about it."

xxxxx

"When can me and Colette go to school on the bus, like Willa?" Carter asked his parents.

Derek chuckled. "You can take the bus to school when you start kindergarten," he promised.

"Oh," Carter nodded. "I really wanna go on a school bus."

Addison swallowed hard as she listened to her husband and son's conversation. It was the twins' first day of nursery school, and she was having a hard time coming to grips with how quickly Carter and Colette were growing up. And Carter's talk of wanting to go to kindergarten certainly wasn't helping things.

Colette looked up at her mother, her pale, blue-green eyes wide with fear. "Don't wanna go to school," she admitted. "I wanna play with Wyatt at daycare."

Addison knelt down to Colette's level, and pressed a kiss to her temple. "You're going to have so much fun in school," she reassured her daughter. "And then when school's over, you can come back to the hospital daycare and play with Wyatt. How does that sound?"

"Good," Colette said quietly. "I guess."

Addison looked up at Derek, who was smiling at her and Colette, his eyes crinkling around the corners as he watched his wife and daughter together.

"We should probably start heading out," he told Addison gently.

Addison looked around the room and, sure enough, all the other parents were saying their goodbyes.

"Okay," she nodded, as Derek went to hug Carter goodbye. Addison turned to Colette, and gave her daughter a wide smile. "Have fun today, Colette," she said, hugging her daughter tightly, doing her best to fight the tears that were stinging her eyes.

"Miss you already," Colette whispered, bravely holding back unshed tears.

"I miss you already too," Addison smiled, still holding her daughter close.

After a moment, she reluctantly let go of her daughter, and went to hug her son goodbye.

"Don't worry, Mommy," Carter reassured Addison. "I like school already."

Addison laughed as she held hugged her son tightly. "Have fun, okay?"

"I will," Carter grinned, as Addison reluctantly let go of him. He turned to his sister, who was still hugging Derek. "Come on, Colette," he encouraged. "Let's go play."

Colette looked at Carter hesitantly, but he grabbed her little hand confidently. And, hand in hand, they walked away from their parents, towards the other children and their nursery school teacher.

Derek wrapped his arms around his wife, as the two of them watched Carter and Colette embark on this new phase of their life.

"I'm glad they have each other," Addison admitted, still not looking away from her twins, unshed tears blurring her vision.

"Me too," Derek agreed, as he continued to watch Carter and Colette, who were still holding onto each other's hand. "And I know I say it all the time," he chuckled. "But we really do have the best kids."

xxxxx

"Interesting case?" Mark asked, peering over Derek's shoulder to get a glance at chart that his friend was studying so intently.

"What?" Derek asked in surprise. "I, uh, yeah, yeah. Very interesting."

"Well, it would have to be," Mark chuckled. "That case is several years old. And it's pediatrics."

"I, uh, I was just looking for something," Derek told his friend vaguely. He knew he couldn't tell Mark the truth – that he was looking at Hannah's file from several years ago. Deep down, he and Addison knew that the Hannah they had interviewed yesterday was Izzie's Hannah. But they wanted to be one-hundred percent certain before they said anything to Izzie, so Derek had decided to look up her file just to be sure. And, unsurprisingly, everything checked out.

"So," Derek said, casting Hannah's chart aside, and changing the topic of conversation. "How's Lexie?"

"She's good," Mark grinned. "We're really enjoying the second trimester."

Derek chuckled. "I…I'm glad to hear that, I guess."

Mark smiled at his friend good-naturedly before growing serious. "How did the kids' first day of school sendoffs go?"

Derek sighed. "Willa was easy. Carter couldn't wait for us to leave. Colette was a little scared."

"How is Addison handling it all?" Mark asked thinking back to Willa's first day of nursery school, and remembering what a bittersweet day it had been for Addison.

"She's okay," Derek smiled. "I think it's easier with the twins, because she knows they have each other."

"So, do you feel old?" Mark asked. "You know, now that all of your kids are in school."

"Shut up, Mark," Derek laughed. "We're the same age. If I'm old, you're old."

"I know," Mark chuckled. "But sometimes it's hard to believe that Willa's already seven. I mean, it seems like just yesterday she was in diapers."

Derek nodded in agreement, as he thought about his little girl. He remembered her being Carter and Colette's age so clearly; and now suddenly, she was starting second grade.

He was about to respond when Addison poked her head into his office.

"Hey," she said, smiling at both Derek and Mark. "Am I interrupting something?"

Derek shook his head. "Not at all."

Addison nodded. "Did you get a chance to take a look at that file I was telling you about?" she asked her husband vaguely.

"I did," Derek confirmed. "And we were right."

"Yeah," Addison nodded. "I thought so. In that case, I have everything all set up in my office. So, we should probably start heading over there."

"Okay," Derek agreed.

"You know," Mark cut in, "if the two of you want to have sex, you don't have to put on this big, elaborate charade about some fake case. I get it."

"Mark," Derek scolded. "That's not what this is about."

"Sure it is," Mark insisted. "You're both obviously feeling a little vulnerable since all three of your kids are in school now. So you're sneaking off to have sex at work because…well…it's rebellious and hot, and something that parents of school-aged kids don't typically do. Say no more, I get it. And I'm not judging."

"First of all, Carter and Colette are in pre-school," Derek defended. "I'd hardly say that makes them school-aged. Secondly, we're not-"

"Honey," Addison cut in, taking Derek's hand and interlacing his fingers with hers, "we really should deal with that case."

"Okay," Derek nodded, as he, Addison, and Mark made their way out of his office. "You're right."

"I'll see you two later," Mark smirked, shooting the Shepherds a playful wink. "And, oh, yeah," he chuckled. "Good luck with that case."

xxxxx

"Is everything okay?" Izzie asked in concern, as she and Alex sat down across from Addison and Derek at the desk in Addison's office.

"Everything's fine," Addison nodded.

"You're lying," Alex insisted. "You're giving us that look that you give to patients when you're about to give them bad news."

"I," Addison hesitated. "It's not bad news."

"It's about our daughter, isn't it?" Izzie asked in concern.

Derek's eyes widened in astonishment; "How did you-"

"Derek," Addison interrupted, cutting her husband off with a firm headshake. She met her husband's eyes before shooting a meaningful glance at Izzie's six-month pregnant belly, silently communicating to Derek that Izzie wasn't referring to Hannah. She was thinking about her unborn daughter.

"You spotted some type of abnormality at last week's ultrasound, didn't you?" Izzie asked shakily.

"No," Addison reassured her friend. "No, it's nothing like that. Everything's fine with your baby. Perfect even."

"Then what's wrong?" Alex asked in confusion. He looked at his friends closely. "Are you two having another kid?"

"What? No!" Addison answered quickly. "No. We're happy with the way things are," she recovered.

Alex chuckled. "So what's going on?" he asked, growing serious.

Addison sighed. "Do you remember yesterday when I told you that Derek and I were interviewing babysitters?"

"Yeah," Alex nodded. "I asked you how it went a couple of times this morning, but you changed the subject every time I brought it up."

"Well, uh, we found someone we liked," Addison began hesitantly.

"That's great," Izzie smiled. "I'm not really sure how this concerns us. Unless, of course, you want a second opinion about the babysitter that you're thinking about hiring. Then we'd be happy to meet her and let you know what we think."

"I, uh, thanks," Addison stammered. "But the thing is, this actually does concern you, because, um…" she trailed off, meeting Derek's eyes. Derek nodded at his wife encouragingly, urging her to continue.

Addison swallowed hard, her eyes connecting with Izzie's. "Last night Derek and I interviewed a nineteen-year-old named Hannah Klein."

"You…you what?" Izzie breathed in disbelief.

"Izzie," Derek said gently. "We met your daughter."