Yeah. Another chapter. The hubby stole my computer for a week because his broke so I had the chapter, but didn't post it. It's kind of a filler chapter, but also has some cute moments and sets up the format for the story so it's necessary I swear.

Derek sighed as he stopped the car outside the house. His palms flew to his eyes and he pressed hard, trying to combat the steadily growing ache that had set up residence. Meredith's hand moved out to brush his face lightly, before her eyes darted to the backseat to find Ainsley curled up and snoring slightly.

"We shouldn't wake her," Meredith decided her eyes meeting Derek's.

"I'll carry her," Derek agreed before he finally shut of the car sitting for a moment in the silence before moving to leave the car.

Derek scooped the little girl into his arms and followed Meredith as she made her way into the house. They came across Alex in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee and flipping through a stack of index cards. He stood when they entered and moved toward them, his hand automatically moving to run across Ainsley's back.

"Thank God," he exclaimed under his breath before Derek turned to carry her to bed leaving him alone with Meredith.

"Thank you," Meredith said simply.

Alex stepped forward, bringing her into a tight embrace and saying nothing as she once again began to sob.

"Stupid pregnancy hormones," she chastised as she finally moved away and brushed the tears away roughly.

"Jake went straight to sleep, but Chris insisted that he was staying up until you got home. He finally crashed about a half-hour ago," Alex reported.

"Thanks," she repeated, "you should stay here tonight. It's late, you shouldn't be driving."

"Nah. I'm going back to the hospital. Robbins called me a few minutes ago. One of our repeat patients has been admitted. I want to go check on him," Alex replied beginning to gather up his stuff.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and shot one more look at Meredith before leaving the house. Meredith checked the door locks and walked through the house, turning of lamps and picking up discarded toys and shoes. She threw them into a bucket near the stairs vowing to take care of them the next day before finally making her way up the stairs and into their bedroom. She smiled despite her tiredness when she came across Derek and Ainsley cuddled together on the bed. Derek had changed Ainsley into a pair of pajamas, but apparently afterwards had lost steam and fallen into the bed without changing himself. She grabbed her pajamas and made her way to the master bathroom to change before she too fell quickly asleep.

The next morning, Derek awoke with a sharp little knee jutting into his back. He opened his eyes slowly and was immediately met with the outline of a tiny boy practically bouncing in front of him.

"Shhhh…" Derek whispered, slowly sitting up and leading the little boy from the room.

They had barely cleared the room before Christopher started in on an enthusiastic bought of rambling.

"Why is Ainsley in your bed? Is she sick? I like sleeping with you and mommy when I'm sick. Where were you last night? I like staying with Uncle Alex," he spit out quickly and without pause.

"Whoa," Derek sighed, "I need coffee."

Chris looked at him confused before shrugging his shoulders and continuing to follow him down to the kitchen. He started the coffee maker and got Christopher set up with a bowl of cereal at the table before he moved to his office. He left the door open figuring he could at least hear if Christopher decided to destroy something. He immediately pulled out his phone and scrolled through the contacts until he found the one he was looking for. He listened to the rings before a familiar voice sounded through the phone.

"Hey Owen," he greeted.

"Oh. Hey man. I didn't figure I'd be hearing from you for a few days," Owen replied.

"I just wanted to make sure it was okay if we were out for a couple days," Derek sighed.

"As far as the hospital is concerned you both have the flu," Owen explained, "I figured you'd want your privacy."

"Thank you," Derek said simply, his hand moving to rub his neck thoughtfully.

"No problem. Take all the time you need Derek," Owen replied.

As he hung up the phone he sighed yet again. He listened for the faint sounds of Christopher humming happily from the kitchen and leaned further back into his desk chair. He closed his eyes for only a moment, but when he felt himself drifting back to sleep, he stood up to seek refuge in the hopefully now finished coffee. His eyes immediately moved to Christopher still engrossed in his bowl of cereal and he dropped a chaste kiss to the top of his head. The coffee pot was silent, letting him know that it was indeed finished brewing and he poured a cup. The liquid hit his mouth and he immediately winced as he felt the skin on his tongue protest.

"I'm going to go check on your brother. Stay put," Derek ordered as he made his way toward the stairs.

He went slowly watching the dark liquid in the mug tip dangerously close to the rim several times. Jacob was still snoring softly in his bed, so Derek made his way toward his bedroom. He stopped short when he heard a gentle soothing tone drifting through the door. He stood there, listening to Meredith reassuring their little girl. Telling her again and again that she was not in trouble and they were in fact just grateful that she was home. He grabbed the door handle, but hesitated. He turned quietly and made his way back to the kitchen deciding that maybe not interrupting his girls was the best choice right then. Barely half an hour later Meredith descended the stairs with Jake on her hip. She found Derek at the table, a bowl of Muesli and a medical journal lay on the table in front of him. Christopher was in the seat beside him coloring frantically in a coloring book.

"Hi," Derek greeted as she moved to kiss him.

"Hey," she returned.

"Ainsley up yet?" he played dumb.

"I told her to take a shower while I got her breakfast ready," Meredith replied.

Meredith moved to greet Christopher before shooing him to the playroom leaving them alone.

"I think…" he started.

"Derek…" she started at the same time.

"Go ahead," he nodded.

"I know we need to talk about this with her, but I really think that anger isn't the best way to go about this," Meredith said.

"I know," he sighed.

"We need to talk to her. Get the full story about what she was feeling and let her know that running away wasn't the way to handle those feelings," Meredith explained.

"Yeah," Derek agreed.

"I think she would benefit from talking to someone else about this. Actually I think the boys could benefit from an outside perspective too," Meredith continued, "a lot has happened in this family in a short amount of time. The kids need an unbiased outlet."

"Yeah," Derek repeated.

"That's it? I expected this to cause a fight?" she asked surprised.

"I think I lost all ability to deny my children's state of upset when one of them ran away," Derek sighed.

Meredith looked at him with understanding before proceeding to throw together a quick breakfast for Jake and Ainsley. Ainsley entered the kitchen hesitantly a few minutes later and she and Jake finished eating before Derek sent Jacob to the playroom after his brother. Ainsley looked between the two adults with a look of what could only be described a pure terror on her face.

"Okay. Start from the beginning. Why did you decide to run away?" Derek finally started.

I decided to end it there. I'm not going to actually play out that conversation because it would basically be the same one as before, but for those of you who want to see Derek and Ainsley talk I promise he will attend a therapy session. I like reviews. Reviews are my favorite. Push the button please.