Author's Note: The hardest part of a story is the ending. This story is especially hard for me to end. I had to time it just right. The characters had to all be in a place where we knew they were healing. They're finally there. Some more than others. Which is why I wanted to write this epilogue. I wanted to give you a glimpse into the future. Enjoy!

The scent of cinnamon, turkey, and pumpkin greeted Laura's nose as she stepped out of the cold and into the foyer of her Aunt Lexie and Uncle Mark's home. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, savoring the comforting scents of her favorite holiday. There had been a time when she loved Christmas more than any other day of the year. That had been before the accident. Afterward, she'd decided it was better to focus on giving thanks for the many blessings in her life. Laura knew she had plenty to be thankful for. She'd survived an accident that had killed almost everyone involved. She'd been blesssed with a second set of parents after her first died in the crash. She had two sisters, a brother, and a ton of cousins who loved her as much as she loved them. And she had a husband who adored her. The babies growing under her heart topped everything else. Her sweet little girls who would join them shortly after the new year. Molly and Merry. Molly for the mother who'd given her life, and Merry for the one who had shaped her life. It had been her husband Will's idea. A way to honor her mothers, the way her parents had honored his mother when they named her brother Bailey.

Bailey had been a bit of a surprise. None of them had expected Meredith to ever get pregnant. Yet, shortly after the finaled Allie's adoption and started the process of adopting another little girl named Zola, that was what happened. The relief of her father's face when Bailey was born a boy still made Laura chuckle. Derek had grown up in a house full of women and had resigned himself to growing old in a house full of women. Bailey changed that. It was still hard to believe her little brother, the baby of the family, would be graduating high school in the spring. Even harder to believe was how much her sisters had grown up. She couldn't equate the beautiful women they had become with the sweet little girls she used to dress up and boss around. Zola had been accepted to Harvard. Harvard! It wasn't a surprise really. Zola had always been smarter than everyone else. Allie's decision to study nursing at the local community college hadn't been a surprise either. The real surprise had come last summer, when Allie had announced she was going to marry James Karev. Laura could still see the shocked faces of her parents and James' parents. NOne of them had even realized Allie and James were dating, let alone serious enough to get married. Their first assumption had been Allie was pregnant. They were wrong. She wasn't. There would be no children until James was through with college, and since he planned on being a lawyer it would be a while before they could expect any babies.

"You must have pregnancy brain," Allie quipped, startling Laura from her trip down memory lane. Looking at Allie was always a little bittersweet. With her long, wavy strawberry blonde hair and thick lashed blue eyes she resembled the mother Laura had lost. Meredith liked to say it was because Allie was meant to be a part of their family. THat always sparked Zola asking if she was meant to be a part of their family, since she didn't look like anyone. Meredith would cuddle Zola close and tell her of course, that was why she had her father's personality and her mother's brain.

"Probably," Laura hugged her sister as close as her large belly would allow. That was when she noticed the glow. The kind of glow that could only be from one thing. "Going to wait till James graduates college, huh?"

Allie's cheeks turned pink. She didn't bother asking how Laura had guessed. "Antibiotics and broken condoms don't mix," she mumbled, taking a step back. "Don't say anything just yet, okay? We want to wait and surprise everyone at Christmas."

"My lips are sealed. Where's everyone else, anyway?" Where was her husband? She'd sent Will ahead with the food so she could get ready without stressing about the pies being late.

"Duh. The guys are all watching football and Grandma's got the rest of us in the kitchen. She's still determined to teach mom how to cook." Hooking her arm through Laura's, Allie led them both toward the spacious kitchen in the back of the house. They both winced as they passed the family room where the men had gathered to watch football. There was their father and Uncle Mark doing some sort of weird victory dance after their team scored a touch down. There was her own husband, and Allie's, throwing popcorn at the television, while Allie's father in law yelled at Derek and Mark to sit down or lose a little weight because he couldn't see shit. The two young women giggled as they walked into the kitchen. Most of the women were seated on the bar stools that surrounded the large, marble topped island in the center of the kitchen, watching as Grandma Shepherd, James' Grandma Robbie, Izzie, and Callie cooked.

"Hey sweeties," Meredith greeted, pressing sloppy kisses to the cheeks of both her daughters. Her green eyes lowered to Laura's belly. "Are you sture you're going to make it until January?"

"That's what the doctors tell me," Laura laughed. Like Meredith she was rail thin, which made her belly look huge. With two babies vying for space she thought she looked beyond huge.

"I give you two more weeks tops." The observation came from her mother's best friend. Cristina hadn't been a part of their lives at first. Laura never understood why. Despite her resolve to not have children of her own, Cristina was a hell of a good aunt. She was the one who let them do the crazy things their parents wouldn't allow. Like taking Laura to get birth control when she and Will first started dating in high school. Laura was also pretty sure Cristina was the one who took Allie to get her first tattoo.

"She'll make it," her mother in law observed. "Those babies will be just like their father and come at the most inopportune time." It never ceased to amaze Laura that Miranda Bailey had given birth during a bomb threat. Her mother in law was one tough, but lovable, cookie.

"Maybe you'll have them on New Year's Eve." This suggestion came from Callie. There was a soft spot in Laura's heart for her Aunt Callie. Their lives were connected in a way most people didn't understand. Most people would have held a grudge. Laura didn't. She couldn't. Not when she knew the accident wasn't entirely Callie's fault. Thinking of that night still caused a little burning ache in her chest. She'd wanted to go out to eat at some pizza place where there were video games. Her father had told her no. She'd screamed, cried, and kicked the back of his seat. He'd twisted around to tell her to stop acting like a brat. Those were the last words he ever said to her. Stop acting like a brat. It would be years before she forgave herself. Before she forgave him and her mother for dying. Callie had tried numerous times to assume all the guilt but Laura refused to let her. They had long ago agreed to stop discussing who was at fault. The whole family had. No good ever came from it. It only stirred up old, painful memories. Laura would rather think about the good. She had precious few memories of Brian and Molly Thompson and the ones she did have were full of love. Those were what Laura clinged to. Just as she knew Callie clung to the sweet memories of the daughter she had lost that night. Sofia. Laura often wondered about Sofia. Would she had been as funny as her half-brother, Laura's own cousin, Landry? Laura liked to think so. Landry, as well as his younger sister Kambree, were both known for their silly antics. Aunt Lexie liked to claim it came from Uncle Mark's side, but Uncle Mark claimed it was all Aunt Lexie's fault. Callie's wife Arizona liked to say it was both their faults, and they should have known their kids would be outrageous since both of them could be outrageous. Either way, Laura loved her cousins and all the crazy things they did.

"You know, if you have one right before mid-night and the other right after they'll have two different birthdays," Izzie observed, glancing up from the cake she was frosting, a cheeky smile on her face. Laura stuck out her tongue. She hadn't liked Izzie at first. There had been a tension betwen the beautiful blonde and Aunt Lexie that Laura hadn't understood. Eventually the tension eased and she had come to adore her sister's mother in law. She adored the whole Karev family, really, and after the shock of Allie marrying James wofe off, she was glad her sister had married into a family so full of love. Someday she hoped Zola would meet someone as special as Will and James. Her younger sister deserved the same happiness.

"Could happen," Aunt Lexie agreed, swiping her finger through the chocolate frosting Izzie had so painsakingly spread across the top of the round, layered cake. Her reward was a glob of frosting on her nose. Laughing, Lexie pinched it off and, to Laura's horror, licked it from her fingers. "On don't you look at me like that, Laura Bailey! I remember when you use to eat your own boogers."

"I did not!"

Her objection was met with a recollection of the various times each woman in the room had to pull Laura's finger from her nose. The truly embarrassing parts came from Meredith. Her mother, her own mother, betrayed her by telling everyone, including Allie's sixteen year old sisters in law Elisa and Emma, that Laura use to try and pick her nose with her tongue. "If it hadn't been so disgusting I might have been impressed."

"Disgusting or not, I am impressed," Cristina chuckled before dowing the rest of her wine. She slid her goblet across the counter toward Kambree nad cleared her throat. Kambree raised one brow and stared at the woman from silvery blue eyes. "I need a refill."

"And?" The way Kambree drew the word out said it all. SHe would not be refilling the glass.

"You're closer to the bottle," Cristina replied.

Kambree turned around, snatched up the bottle of Mascato, and plunked it down right in front of Cristina. "Now you're closer. Besides, I'm only eighteen. I'm not supposed to be handling alcohol."

"I asked you to pour it, not drink it. I swear, you're being..."

Laura tuned out the rest of the little bitter fest they had come to expect between Cristina and Kambree. Even when Kambree had been little there had been something about Cristina that stirred her up. Lexie liked to tase that it was pay back for all the hell Cristina had put her through during her internship.

Hey you," Arizona said softly, nudging her gently with her elbow. Laura nudged back, smiling. She loved Arizona. It was impossible not to. She was one of the strongest women Laura knew. The first time Laura met Arizona had been on a Thanksgiving much like this one. It had been their first Thanksgiving after the accident. The pretty blonde had shown up a couple hours before dinner, dropped off by James' dad Alex. Lexie and Mark had gone outside with her. When they all came back in it was obvious they had all been crying. Once, when Laura was sixteen, she had asked her uncle about the conversation on the porch. Closure and healing was the only answer he gave. She didn't need to hear more. She understood.

"Hey yourself," Laura murmured back, fighting back a groan as she tried to to hoist herself onto one of the empty stools. She wiggled a little to get comfortable, then settled back and smiled. She loved THanksgiving. It was her favorite holiday. A time she got to spend with all the people she loved. People she was grateful to have in her life.