Sorry for the long wait, but thanks everyone who has read and kept reading. Things got super hectic! Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner, but this one is a bit longer. Hope it was work the wait!

18 months before last two chapters. Post series.

Sloan's knee was jumping up and down uncontrollably, Don put his hand on her thigh to quiet the tapping.

"What?" She asked.

"You're nervous," he responded.

"Of course I'm nervous, I'm meeting your parents. Do ya know how many parents I've met? Don stared back blankly Yours are going to be the second Don and the first didn't end well."

"What do you mean didn't end well?"

Sloan shot Don a look, "It didn't end well as in the relationship didn't end well, Don. And so far I like how it's working with us."

They were sitting in Don's office at ACN and Sloan had been on edge all day. Everything that usually calmed her, the financial reports, her Bloomberg terminal, witty banter with Don; it all reminder her that in a few short hours she would be breaking bread with the Keefer family and would have to pretend to be a more "normal" person than she was. Alice and Ben—Don's parents—were coming in from Philadelphia and according to Don were "dying" to meet Sloan.

'So how much do they know about us?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean do they know that I sleep over? Or are they no sex before marriage type of people? Like how serious are we?"

"Babe, I think you're asking different questions there, but I guess I'll dive right in… Yes they know you sleep over, yes they're ok with sex, although I wouldn't advertise our sex life, my mom is still under the impression that I'm twelve, so we just don't want to giver her a mental image. In terms of seriousness, well… they want to meet you, so that's something serious to them and me. Ok?" Don was trying his best to avoid labeling their relationship, knowing that labels made Sloan nervous, but he really was in love with her. They hadn't said it out loud yet, but Don knew he felt it and thought Sloan did too.

"I'll come by your office when I'm ready to go," he said, leaning in for a quick kiss.

"Alright," said Sloan with a gulp.

Don helped Sloan out of the cab on Amsterdam. Sloan had been ready, physically and work wise, when Don had come to her office when it was time to leave. Mentally, she was still wary.

"Sarabeth's is my mom's favorite place."

"Yeah, it's a good one," nodded Sloan.

Don, wrapped his arm around her waist, leading her into the restaurant. Sloan wasn't sure how to act. She hated when people said she wasn't lady like—what the hell does that even mean? F gender stereotypes—but regardless, she wanted Don's parents to like her. She really liked Don, so much it scared her. She'd roll over in bed in the morning and see him and it would actually hurt. Most people would call that love, but the thought scared her. Love meant the possibility of getting hurt, and that scared her more than anything.

Don opened the door, leaning in to whisper in Sloan's ear, "Don't worry, be yourself and they'll see what I see." Don spotted his parents at a back table and smiled towards them, his mother smiled back.

"Hey Mom, Dad!" Don said as they approached the table.

"Hi sweetie," Alice said, standing up and giving her son and hug and kiss on the cheek. "Oh, it's been too long," she said, pulling back.

"It's been three weeks Mom, its not like I can move back in with you."

Alice gave Don a defeated look, although looked like she would be quite happy if her son moved back home.

"Hey!"

"Hey DeDe!" Ben pulled Don into a hug as well.

Sloan hadn't known they were such a huggy family and DeDe, what kind of nickname was that? Don seemed to have read Sloan's thoughts and gave her a red-faced look.

"So, Mom, Dad, this is Sloan Sabbith."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Sloan said, offering her hand.

Alice ignored the hand and pulled Sloan into a hug, "Lovely to meet you darlin', Don has told us so much about you!"

"Has he now…" Sloan said.

Ben offered his hand, "Nice to finally meet you. Let's sit," he motioned to the vacant seats.

"So," said Alice, "I've been watching you on ACN for a few years now, so when Donny said you two had started dating I was very impressed. I always raised my son to respect powerful women and nothing makes me prouder than the fact that he's dating one."

"Uh, thank you. That's actually one of the nicest things anyone's ever said," Sloan was a bit taken aback and many of her nerves had immediately dissipated.

"Ooooh, no, I mean it. There's no way a son of mine wasn't going to be a feminist, when I struggled all those years to get tenured. A man's world I tell ya. When Don was born I said, 'the greatest thing I can do for my son is raise him to be an advocate for all people.' And I guess I got my wish, 'cause here's Don the Journalist, changing the world one story at a time."

"Technically I'm a Producer, but I'll take Journalist just for you Mom." Don gave Sloan a sheepish grin.

Sloan was surprised by Don's family. She thought someone as cynical and dry as Don would have to come from a family equally as cynical or worse. The Keefers on the other hand were so sweet and normal. They reminded Sloan of the family she had wanted as a kid. Alice was a tenured English professor at Swarthmore and had battled the department for years in an effort to recruit a more diverse faculty. Ben was an engineer, working with the city to keep historical buildings structurally sound. They were both educated, warm, normal people who seemed exceptionally proud of their son and very excited to get to know her. And not just her as Don's girlfriend, but the real her. They seemed to like her intensity and her ability to push back against Don, not letting him win all the time. Mainly, she was in shock, they were not what she had pictured. But luckily, most of her fears about meeting them were gone by the time dessert had come out.

"… so the nickname DeDe came from Don's older sister Annie who was learning the alphabet when Don was born and only knew the first letter of his name, so would go around pointing at him and saying 'DeDe!' and by the time his younger sister Tessa was born, the name was still there and she started calling him DeDe too. It just stuck."

"It's embarrassing now though. Being in my thirties and still having the nickname DeDe." Don shook his head.

Sloan laughed, "No, it's sweet! I don't have a nickname in my family. It just wasn't something we did." Sloan took another bite of tart. "But Don, why have you never mentioned Annie before? What's she up to, are you jealous of her big accomplishments? I know Tessa is in Atlanta working for the CDC, so she's no screw up."

The whole table got quiet. Ben looked quizzically at Don who was staring intently at his plate, playing with his tart. His eyes shot up to look at his mother across the table, then back at the tart, dropping the fork and turning towards Sloan. Don had a look in his eyes that she had never seen, somehow he looked older and younger at the same time. He looked raw. As though, all the dryness, and cynicism, and walls around him were gone. He looked vulnerable.

"Annie died when I was in middle school," he said flatly. "She committed suicide."

Sloan blinked. She didn't now what to say. How could Don not have told her? He'd talked about Tessa before and how proud he was of her. How could he leave out an entire sister? Sloan looked over at Alice and Ben; they looked a bit teary, but much in the same way as all older people do when they remember the past.

"I'm so sorry, " said Sloan. "I didn't know."

"It's fine," muttered Don, standing up. "I'm gonna go use the bathroom."

"Don…" Sloan tried to put a consoling hand on his arm, but he kept walking.

"Don't worry, it's not you. He never talks about her," said Alice.

Ben put his hand on top of Alice's; "He's the one who found her in her bedroom. I'd sent him up to make sure she was getting ready for school. If I'd known… well, if we'd known a lot, things would have been different. She was having problems at school, normal teenage drama, but when you don't say anything it can feel like you're the only one."

"She and Don were really close," continued Alice. "It was really a gift that they were such great friends, I wish they'd had each other longer. He's never really been the same after she died. Always putting up walls, deflecting with humor, keeping different parts of his life private. I know he feels responsible in some way, but I don't see how. We tried for so many years to get him to talk to us, but at a certain point, no matter how difficult it was, we all needed to move forward. But we were so happy when he told us about you! You're the first girlfriend in a while that he told us about, and the only others we had met were his college girlfriends when we came to campus to visit. When he was down in Philly last he suggested this trip so we could meet you. I don't think you know how big that is. He really really likes you."

"He suggested you come up? He told me you pushed to come. That sneak."

Ben laughed, "That's Don for ya. But he's a special guy and I think you can see that. It may take him a bit to open up, but if you give him a little time, there's nothing he won't do for the people he loves. After Annie, I think he's been scared to get close to people."

Sloan could see Don coming back from the bathroom and it hurt, "Yeah, I know. He's a really good guy."

Don and Sloan had just dropped Alice and Ben off at their hotel, a nice place off Union Square.

"They liked you," said Don, wrapping his arm around Sloan's back as they walked toward his West Village apartment. "I'm sorry for all the questions and stuff, I know you don't enjoy divulging personal information to strangers."

"Nah, it's fine. They just care about you."

"Yeah, you couldn't accuse them of not caring."

She laughed, "You're lucky. They weren't what I expected. They were much more normal. I mean they were interesting and all, but they were happy."

"You thought they wouldn't be happy?"

"No, I thought they'd be happy. I was just expecting two people exactly like you and I that wasn't what I got. But they're really really nice and I like them too. I'm glad you asked them to come."

Don shot her a tentative look, "They told you that?"

"Yup, busted."

They walked in silence for a bit.

"I'm sorry for the whole thing about my sister, I just…"

"It's alright," Sloan slowed their pace until they were stopped. "Don't feel like you have to keep stuff from me, ok?" Don gave her a look. "I know I'm the last one to talk about sharing feelings, but I want you to know that I'm… available."

"You're available."

Sloan could hear the mocking tone in his voice, she took a breath, "Don," it hurt, "I love you and I want to be there for you because I can see that you're a good guy and I want to help you see what I see."

Don looked back at her, a bit stunned. He blinked. Then smiled.

"I love you too."

Thoughts? Comments? It's something I always thought about when thinking about Don's past. I'll eventually do a Sloan one too. But I think the next chapter will be back to pregnant Sloan.