The plane finally touched down in New York late that night. The girls had fallen asleep a couple hours before we touched down. We had them awake for the landing but once the plane landed we carried their tired bodies off the plane and through the airport and made our necessarily check ins and went through quarantine with the girls asleep, the whole time they never woke they just had a tight grip on our shirts and held us close.

We hadn't finished our discussion from earlier because of interruptions from the girls and them wanting to sit with us during the ride. So we never finished our discussion. But I'm sure we would when we arrived at Derek's mother's house, where we were camping for a couple of nights.

"Derek." I hear someone say as approach baggage claim.

"Mark." He says with a smile on his face.

I realised that this was Derek's step brother. I had seen pictures of him but I was feeling fatigued that I could hardly make out the world around me.

"I would like you to meet Meredith." Derek says.

"The girl Derek is dating. Ma has boasted about you so much since she got home. Never shut up about you and I see why. She's hot Derek." He says.

I blushed slightly and adjusted Maddy who was asleep in my arms.

"And these are her daughters. That's Maddy in her arms and Matilda in mine."

"Well they are absolutely stunners. How about we get the precious girls home so they can sleep?"

"That sounds like a great idea." I say. "I could use a sleep as well."

Mark led us to baggage claim and we collected our bags and he took us to the car. We offered to help him in loading the bags but he told us not to. He could handle it and he wanted us to rest. So we just strapped the girls into their car seats and Mark drove away from the airport and I watched the lights of the city flicker and light the night to compliment the city with the love, life and mystery.

"We should be home in 45 minutes if the traffic isn't mayhem. I thought I was going to be late because of the traffic on my way here. I even made sure I left early to be there in time for you guys. And Dad was going to come and pick you all up but you know how he is like driving late at night."

"Yeah he isn't too good." I hear Derek say. "I don't think we would have wanted him to have an accident….

I found myself succumbing to the exhaustion I was feeling and closed my eyes.

"Meredith." I hear as I am shaken awake. I am met with Derek who is smiling at me. "We're here."

I look to my sides and the girls are still asleep in their car seats.

"I was going to move them but Mark isn't too good with keeping sleeping kids asleep."

I smile and climb out of the car. I was a little shaky on my feet but was fine after a few moments.

"Mommy?" Maddy asks me looking around in the dark cabin to figure out where we were.

"Hey sweetie. We're at Carolyn's." I tell her.

"We are?"

"We sure are but we are going to take you inside and you and Tilly can sleep for however long you want." I tell her with a small smile.

"I'm sort of tired Mommy."

"Well you've slept for a long time." I say taking her from the car seat. "Do you want to have a bath or do you want to go straight to bed?"

"I don't want a bath. Can I have a drink?"

"Of course baby girl." I say kissing her head.

Derek led me up to the family home. His mother and step father were standing on the porch.

"Derek, welcome home son." Carolyn says embracing Derek with Matilda in his arms.

"Hi Mom."

"Here give me Tilly. I'll take her upstairs to the spare room."

I had to smile to realise that Carolyn could tell the two girls apart so easily now. Derek handed Matilda to his mother and Carolyn rocked her side to side to keep her asleep. He shook hands with his step-father and stood to the side.

"I would like you to meet Meredith. Meredith this is my father Tim."

I smile at the man. The man who I had heard so much about, so many positive things about. Especially since he got Derek's love of riding kick started and changed the way Derek saw his life. This man gave Derek a chance and became a father figure at the same time to him.

"Meredith I have heard so much about you." He says smiling at me. "From your racing to your beautiful girls. It's great to finally meet you."

"We agreed that Derek has been like a dog hiding his favourite bone." Carolyn says smiling.

"That's not true Ma. You met Mer as soon as you arrived in London."

"Well your father has wanted to meet her since I told him." She says.

"But now I finally get to meet you Meredith and I am very impressed. Derek has done well." He says.

"Thanks." I say a little unsure at just how to answer.

"Now come on let's get these girls inside to bed." Carolyn says.

"Maddy is going to stay up for a little while. She'll be asleep after she has a bottle." I say.

"Well Derek, how about you show Meredith to the kitchen. Mark will help me with your bags and your mother can put Matilda up in the spare room."

"Come on Mer." Derek says.

He leads me through the huge family home. I was overwhelmed at how huge it just was and I realised that it would have had to be big especially with all the kids.

"Where's your little brother?"

"I assume he is in bed." Derek says. "It's quite late and he likes his sleep a whole lot. He goes to bed early so he can wake up early."

"That sounds like a certain someone." I say smirking.

"Funny about that." Derek says smiling as we enter the family kitchen. "Now what would my beautiful Maddy like to drink?"

I look down at Maddy and smile at her. I could tell that she was exhausted and the changing of time zones had screwed with her sleeping pattern but I wouldn't mind staying up with her especially since we were in a whole new environment.

"Milk." She says softly.

"Coming right up." Derek says.

I take a seat in one of the chairs with Maddy in my lap. She had her body pressed against my chest for that closeness and the feeling of security. Like when she was a baby and I would let the girls lie on my chest for that special bonding time.

"Maddy do you want a bath?" I ask her.

"No Mommy." She says shaking her head against my chest.

"How about a shower with me? It will freshen you up a bit and we can put you in your jammies."

"Ok Mommy."

Carolyn walks into the kitchen with a small smile on her face. "She didn't stir one bit."

"Matilda is the sleeper. She takes after me in that department. Maddy here can sleep longer than her sister but that just means the next day she goes to bed later. She's inherited my partying gene." I tell Carolyn.

"Well that's going to be good when she is in high school and leaves her assignments to the night before."

"And I hope that doesn't happen." I say to her. "You'll do them as soon as you get them."

Carolyn runs her hand down Maddy's back. "I think you have grown Miss Maddy."

"Really?" She asks.

"Yeah. You look bigger."

"I actually do think she has grown since we left. We're just going to have to measure you when we get home aren't we?"

"On the door?"

"Yeah on the door. See if you have grown." I say smiling at her.

"Would you like a tea Meredith?" Carolyn says walking towards the kettle.

"That would be lovely. A green tea sounds even better."

"Of course. Derek?"

"Yes please." He says taking a seat down beside me and handing Maddy the bottle of warm milk.

"Thank you Daddy." Maddy says as she starts drinking from the bottle.

I look up from Maddy shocked at what she had just said. I look to Derek to see him in shock and Carolyn I can see from the corner of my eye caught staring towards Maddy.

"Did she just say what I think she did?" Mark asks as he enters the kitchen.

"Yeah she did." I say. "You alright Derek?"

"Yeah." He says clearing his throat. "It was bound to happen one day. I just didn't expect it so soon."

Carolyn comes towards the table and places the cups in front of us. She places a hand on Derek's shoulder. "She likes you Derek. She trusts you. She sees you as her father because of that bond the two of you have formed in such a short amount of time."

"It's true." I tell him.

"I suppose I better get used to it then." He says with a smile on his face. He reaches over and squeezes Maddy's hand smiling at her. "You're a beautiful girl Maddy."

Tim finally enters the kitchen and joins us at the table. I was starting to feel exhausted and wanted to shower and sleep and avoid the big conversation until the morning when I had reenergised.

"So how is the family?" Derek asks.

"It's crazy Derek." Mark says. "Everything that has gone on. And when we had the breakfast here when your race started and everyone was here especially with two new newborns screaming and crying. Natalie went into labour a few minutes after you started. So Ben, Nancy and Dad went off to the hospital with her and the rest of us stayed back waiting and looking after the babies. We all decided it wouldn't hurt to head down to the hospital when we heard that she was close to delivering, though I was against it cause I had the best seat in the house to watch you win. We sat in the waiting room watching you race and you crossed the finish line first. The moment you crossed the finish line Nancy raced out and told us that we had a new nephew. So that was a proud moment in the Shepherd-Sloan family and you should feel honoured because he was named after you, Leo Christopher."

"Hey I was Nat's favourite brother." Derek says teasing.

"You're your step-brother Derek."

"I'm still her favourite."

"God you make our family events either sound boring or dramatic. And then you make then sound like an event where we don't want to be with each other." Tim says. "It's like a chore having to hang around with your family."

"Our family is chaotic. It gets crazy sometimes and worst thing is we aren't normal." Mark says.

"There's no such thing as a normal family." I say. Maddy had fallen asleep in my arms and I was cradling her in my arms. "I used to think my family was beyond normal but as I grew up I realised every family is different. Yours happens to be huge. Mine is my mother, step father, Aunt, cousins and my two girls. You would think my family is normal if you look from the outside but on the inside there has been many things happen that don't make us normal."

"Well your family is more normal than ours."

"Family is family Mark." I tell him. "You are born into that family and you are raised in that family. You can't change the quirks and way of living. You adapt to that way they live and that becomes your family. You may not accept the way they live but you love them and call them your family. I sometimes don't want to associate with my family but when I look around I realised they made me who I am today."

"Meredith is right Mark. Our two families combined together and we merged to create a family. A family who loves and accepts each other for who they are. Nancy and Natalie hated each other at first but now they are best friends and sisters. Our family is normal in their own way."

"Yeah I suppose. I still think there are more normal families then ours." Mark says. "I have to head off. I have to head into Jersey tomorrow. It was great meeting you Meredith. I will pop by tomorrow to get to know you some more. Bye Dad. Bye Ma." He says as he leaves the house.

"That's Mark for you." Derek says.

"Exactly like the stories you have told me." I say smiling.

"He is the one who lead Derek astray when they were teens." Tim says.

"He didn't lead me astray." Derek says defending himself. "We just agreed on things especially the things that got me into trouble."

I smile. "You never told me this Derek." I say yawning.

"Because it's not important right now." He says.

"I would love to hear about it." I say. "But I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. I think I might head up to bed and sleep."

"That's fine dear. Derek will show you upstairs."

"I think I'm going to head to bed as well. We've had a few big days of travelling and flying just seems to take it out of you. I'll see you in the morning." He says.

I stand up with Maddy in my arms. She was out to the world.

"Thanks for the tea Carolyn."

"No worries dear. We'll see the two of you in the morning." Carolyn says.

"Night."

I headed up the stairs with Derek behind me. He kept his hand on the small of my back as we climbed the stairs and he pointed me the way Matilda was already. He opened the door for me and I quietly crept into the room and laid Maddy down and pulled the covers over her body and kissed the two of them goodnight. Derek stood at the doorway with a smile on his face and closed the door behind me and led me to our room.

I didn't even bother changing into my pyjamas. I collapsed onto the bed and Derek collapses beside me.

"Oh this is so much more comfy than that plane." I mumble.

"I know. I could sleep for a thousand years." Derek says.

"Can we?" I ask looking at him.

He looks directly back at me. "I wish we could. It sounds quite alright."

"But we would miss Maddy and Tilly growing up."

"That is very true." He says as I turn onto my other side with my back facing him. He holds me close to him and that feeling of security is present and I don't want to leave his arms.

All these feelings that were surrounding us were new and exciting. The feeling of what was going to happen in our future made me smile like crazy and I never found myself smiling like this ever when a boy was in the picture but Derek did. He made me feel like this and it was something that I never wanted to not have. That feeling I wanted to stay in my life for a long time.

"Are you sure you're not pregnant?" He asks me.

In all honesty I didn't know. I was late and I was blaming that on the stress and training my body had been through recently. So I was in a way waiting to make sure if it was true or if it wasn't true.

"I'm certain. I'm a couple days late but that's what happens when my body is stressed, I'm always a few days late."

"So you're certain we aren't expecting a baby? Because being late is also a sign for a possible pregnancy."

"Derek, if I was pregnant, I would tell you. You would be the first to know. It's that type of news you can't keep hidden. I am late and that is all, I will be menstruating sooner than later." I tell him lying. I didn't want to get his hopes up just in case. It wouldn't end to well with us in disappointment. I would give it a few more days before telling him my uncertainty. "You will be the first person to know if anything does happen."

I know at this point he is smiling like crazy so I decide to roll over to face him. To actually watch his body language and have that moment of closeness, those moments when we talked to one another before going to bed at night. It was a habit the two of us had. It was like a crazy married couple habit.

"You are amazing." He tells me.

"Why am I?"

"Everything you have been through is amazing. You have suffered things no person should suffer in their life. You have almost lost 2 babies. You have been abused and been told that you are not worthy of being on this planet by a man who you gave two children to. You have raised those two girls by yourself and they are so beautiful I have fallen in love with them. I want to call them mine because they have this energy that just lights up the room they are in. You have faced rejection and injury for things you have worked so hard towards and this year you made your debut and won three medals. Not many people can do that. Not many people who I can call mine have ever done that. You just amaze me and will keep amazing me until I die. You're the one."

I smile at him. He had told me this so many times each time it still had the same effect on me and I smiled like crazy and felt so special and loved.

"We will make cute babies." I tell him.

He leans in and kisses my lips and smiles at me. "Someday it will happen. We will be sitting at the hospital holding our own child. A baby we made together. We will be given a child when the time is right."

"To be honest Derek I would rather it be now then just before the next Olympics. I would rather have the child in the next year so I can train and prepare and do my trials so I can take the baby to the next games and show it what I do for a living."

He kisses me once more and just sits there staring at me, thinking about something.

"What are you thinking about?"

"You know that whatever happens happens. I will stick by you throughout the journey we are going to undertake. I'm not going anywhere."

"If I were to have another baby it would be throughout the next year and I would want it to be your baby."

"Why mine?"

"I can't imagine my life without you Derek. The moment I met you I have imagined myself not being with anyone but you. I imagined myself to be your wife, to live in a beautiful big house together and to have a few of your kids running around the house with your beautiful blue eyes and curly hair. It would be something we made from scratch and it would be something special. Something we love every day and I know that the girls want a little baby brother or sister. The moment they met you they have begged me to have a baby with you and for the two of us to be married and be a family."

"Everyone deserves a family."

"They do and I want my girls to grow up in a family full of love and courage and support and with siblings to play with and care for. I didn't have an upbringing like yours. I wished I did because then I would have this huge family and I would be a whole different person."

"I like the person you are. I wouldn't have fallen in love with you if you were like me. You see the world differently and apparently that is what I need. You have changed my views on the world and if I married Addison I would be a grumpy man. You let me have a say and be heard and be an equal. She was a demanding woman who would have made my life hell. You're the person for me and the way you are brought up you should acknowledge it because that gives you that place in society that makes you an individual."

I smile at him. He really was the one. The one I had read about in my girl's fairy-tale books. I was never a believer in true love and soul mates but after I met Derek, he changed my views on life and the way I saw love and romance. He was so different and he is the one for me. Bearing his children would be a beautiful thing.

"I love you Meredith but I think we deserve to get some sleep before we meet my family. My very chatty and demanding family." He tells me.

"I love you Derek. I really do."

"I know you do. I love you as well."

I found myself succumbing to sleep. My body was exhausted and nearly every muscle in my body ached and being with Derek helped me forget about every bone that ached.

I woke the next morning to the two girls asleep beside us. They must have found their way to our bedroom during the night. Derek was awake and drawing circles on my back.

"That feels nice." I tell him.

"I'm glad it does. Your body is so tense." He tells me kissing my cheek.

"I'm so sore."

"I'll help with that a little later."

I smile and close my eyes. I had a feeling of nausea come to my body and I tried to hide it from Derek but I knew that I shouldn't.

"What time is your family coming around?"

"I think they are coming in dribs and drabs so you don't get too overwhelmed."

"Big families do overwhelm me." I tell him.

"Mine is overwhelming and demanding and hormones rage through them all the time. Well through my sisters. Natalie is fine. It's the Shepherd gene."

"Hormonal sisters? Sounds great."

"Yeah and especially since Nancy and Kathleen had their bubbas over three months ago they are still raging with post pregnancy hormones."

"Post pregnancy hormones?" I ask.

"Yeah, did you get them?"

"I was a little down after I had them but after a while I was fine. I was worse when I was pregnant especially since I was having two babies."

"Yeah well it was like they were having six babies, that's how bad it is to be around them."

I smile to myself. "The joys of motherhood."

"Yes the joys."

We lay for a few moments in silence, listening to the world outside move and the sounds of breathing coming from the girls.

I open my mouth to say something to Derek but the knock at the door distracts me from what I am going to tell Derek.

The door peaks open and Carolyn pokes her head in. "Sorry to wake you guys."

"No were up." Derek says. "What's wrong?"

"It's the phone of Meredith." Carolyn says.

"Who is it?" I ask as Carolyn creeps across the floor to the bed.

"Your mother."

"What does she want?"

"I don't know. Ask her yourself." Carolyn tells me with a smile before turning and leaving.

"Hi Mom." I say into the receiver. "Are you okay?" I ask her. I listen as she tells me and reassures me that she is fine. "Wait, what?"

"What is it?" Derek asks.

I look at him with fear and shock in my eyes.

"It's Finn." I tell him.

Bombshell! I thought this part of the story needed to be addressed and you will find out what Finn has done.

I do apologise for the late update. I didn't end up being home for most of the weekend and when I did have a spare moment I updated Watch Over Me. So I apologise for the wait and I hope you enjoy this update.

Comments are appreciated as well