And we're back...thanks to those of you who continue to leave your wonderful reviews, and for your patience to wait for this update. I do want to briefly address a less than favorable review left by a "Guest" on one of my older fics, however. It left me feeling a little disheartened and questioning my writing, but I acknowledge that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I certainly can't please everyone. I can only hope that "Guest" feels better after venting her irritation with me!

Moving on, this chapter should answer a few questions from where we left off, and maybe add some new ones!


Chapter 28
We Are Family

"What did you have in mind?" Skylar asked, as Owen kept his eyes locked on his. This wasn't how he had envisioned the meeting going. "I mean, about the song...?"

"Like I said, you have the potential to be the next big thing. But I envision you as a solo artist, not part of a duo. I can make you a star, so that you're wealthy beyond your wildest dreams...you have that quality about you. Something undeniably sexual, that I believe will appeal to both male and female fans." The promises he was weaving were extremely tempting, and Skylar was drawn into the world that Owen was creating. "Whatever you want...money, drugs, sex...it's all there for you, just say the word, Skylar. I will be right there to guide you."

"What else is in it for you?"

"Besides the fame of being your manager?"

"Yeah, that..."

"In return for my guidance, you could spend some time with me on a personal level. It would be mutually beneficial, I promise you," Owen said softly, letting his hand linger along Skylar's arm. "We would be discreet, of course, but just think about how good it would be. I can show you things you've never dreamed of, take you places you've never been. The world is waiting for you, just say the word."

Skylar felt overwhelmed by the combination of Owen's words and the sheer lust that seemed to envelop them both. What was wrong with him? Jace was the one he wanted to be with, the one who had been there for him all along. "I need to think about this," he muttered, backing away, trying to clear his head.

Owen pulled away as well, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sure, kid, I understand. It's a big decision. Look, how about I take you and Jace out for dinner? He could have a future as well, I'm willing to represent him, just not with you. There's other bands that could use a good guitar player with his looks. Let's have a few drinks and talk about things, all right?"

"Sure, I guess..." Skylar managed to get to his feet, thankful to put some space between them. "I'll go talk to Jace..."

"Good. I'll have my secretary make a reservation for us at my favorite Italian bistro. Good wine, good food...what more could we ask for?" Owen winked at Skylar.

"Tequila?"

Owen chuckled. "I'm sure we can find some of that too."


"Ohmygod, I'm pregnant...this is wrong on so many levels..." Lexie said to herself, staring at her reflection in the mirror. "How could I be so stupid?" After taking yet four more tests, with the same results, she couldn't ignore the facts. She was going to have a baby. How damn cliché was this? Her own mother had given her up for adoption, and now she was might find herself doing the same thing. What the hell did she know about raising a child, after all? For a moment, she let the self-pity overwhelm her, and she sat on her bed, crying silently.

There was a soft tap at the bedroom door, and then Meredith opened the door a crack. "Lexie...there was an envelope for you in the mail...it's the DNA test results, I think," she said, before realizing that Lexie was in tears. Tears that she tried to brush away without success. "Lexie...what is it? Are you feeling sick, can I get you some aspirin or something?"

Unable to speak yet, Lexie just shook her head, biting her lip. She eyed the large envelope in Meredith's hands, suddenly afraid of what was inside. She took it as Meredith went to grab some tissue. "Here, can you tell me what's wrong?" Meredith asked, sitting down with Lexie on the bed.

"I, oh god, Meredith...I'm in trouble, I guess..." Lexie wiped her eyes and blew her nose, before crumpling the tissue in her hands.

"What kind of trouble? How can I help?"

Lexie took a deep breath and looked at Meredith. "I'm pregnant..."

"What? Oh Lexie...are you sure?"

"I've taken about eight home tests, and they're all positive." Lexie's eyes watered again, and Meredith pulled her into a hug. "What am I gonna do?"

For a few minutes, Meredith just let her cry, rocking her gently. "It's going to be all right, Lexie. I'll make an appointment for you with my doctor, and we can figure things out, okay?"

Lexie nodded, pulling back. "I'm so stupid...I thought I was protected...we always used a condom..."

"Is it Alex's?" Meredith asked gently.

"Yeah, afraid so."

"Are you telling him?"

"What for? He's not gonna take responsibility."

"He has to, if you want to keep the baby. He owes you that much."

"I don't know what I want right now, Mer. This is so complicated...how does this happen to me?"

"Whatever it takes, you're not alone, I promise," Meredith murmured. She looked at the envelope Lexie had abandoned. "Why don't you open that? It might make things a whole lot easier to take if you're part of the family...more resources, more family support. Even though I kinda think of you as a sister anyway."

"Y-you do?"

"I do, now let's see what's in this..." She picked up the envelope again. "Do you want me to look?"

"Yes, I feel kinda freaked already, I might not read it clearly."

Meredith slid her fingers under the envelope flap, and pulled out the documents inside. She scanned the printed pages quickly, before looking up at Lexie.

"Well, what is it?" Lexie prompted.

"Well...it's official...you're Ellis Grey's daughter," Meredith smiled. "Welcome to the family!"

"Seriously? You're not kidding me?" Lexie grabbed the paperwork out of Meredith's hands to look at it herself. "Oh god...it's true!"

Meredith touched Lexie's arm to get her attention. "Now that you know that, there's something else I need to tell you. I have an idea who your father is..."

"But how? Did your mother, I mean...our mother...say something?" Lexie was confused. The DNA test was only to confirm the matriarchal side of her genes, since the paternity was unknown as far as she'd been led to believe.

"It's kind of a long story, but Mother had an affair with Matthew Shepherd, and he could have been your father. The time frame fits."

"Wait, you mean...Derek's father could be my father?" Lexie gasped. "Holy shit!"

"Holy shit," Meredith agreed.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get more complicated..."

"So whatever happens, you have lots of family to support you."

"I can't see Derek's mother welcoming me into their house, do you?"

"Emily is a great person, you might be surprised."

"You think our mother will be happy to hear this?" Lexie waved the papers in her hand. "Or about me being knocked up?"

"Well, happy isn't one of her strong suits," Meredith admitted. "But you know what, I'm glad you're here." She hugged Lexie again. "I won't say anything about the baby yet, if you don't want anyone else to know."

Lexie nodded. "Thanks, Meredith..."


They found Ellis in her office, as usual, going over some paperwork. She looked at them, as they both approached her desk. "Lexie's DNA results are here," Meredith said, dropping the envelope on the desk.

Ellis looked at the document, before glancing over her glasses, and passing the papers to Lexie. "So, it's true. I really wasn't sure if you were my daughter, and it was difficult to accept that my past was coming back to haunt me."

"Then you admit that Matthew is her father?" Meredith asked. "Or do we need to have another DNA test done?"

Ellis sighed. "Fine, I admit my affair, and I know he was the father. Now I can see some of him in you, Lexie..."

"All that time, and you couldn't tell him he had another child?"

"It seemed best. He ended our relationship, and it would have seemed like a pathetic bid to get him back if I had told him."

"Well, best or not, now the secret is out. Derek knows about what happened with you and his father. We're all going to have to deal with this, Lexie's family now. There's going to be a lot of legal details to take care of, don't you think?"

"Oh, Mer...I don't want to make a lot of fuss..." Lexie said, her eyes wide. "Really, I just wanted to find out who my real mother is, not mess up everyone's life."

Ellis raised her eyebrows at this. "Seriously, Lexie? What about crashing my engagement party?"

"I mean, maybe I wanted to cause a stir when I got here, but after I moved in, and you've been nice to me...it didn't seem so important."

"I see, well, as Meredith so succinctly put it, the secret is out, and I will contact my newly hired lawyer to handle this," Ellis said, making some notes as she spoke.

"Oh, will I need any legal advice?" Lexie asked uncertainly.

"We can ask Derek to call Mark, if you like," Meredith suggested. "Or maybe Callie? She seems very competent."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't jump to conclusions," Ellis chided them. "I have accepted the outcome, I won't try to make it difficult now. We have more things to deal with, as you might recall."

"Sure, okay." Lexie exchanged a quick glance with Meredith. "We'll go for now, Mother..." she said sweetly.

"You sound just like Meredith already," Ellis sighed, rubbing her temple.


Alex stepped outside of the cheap motel room in San Francisco where he'd been staying since his father's funeral. What a joke that had been, with Ellis putting on a show of mourning, and Meredith beside her just as hypocritical. How Webber had managed to let her out of jail so quickly? She should've been locked up, not sitting there like nothing happened.

Shaking his head at that thought, he realized it was probably futile to hang around here and wait for Webber to solve anything. The man was probably kissing ass to keep his job, and the case would be swept under the rug. The sooner Alex headed back to New York, the better it would be.

His cell phone vibrated just as he got into the car, and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Yeah?"

"Alex, bro…"

"Adam, what the hell? They let you make a lot of calls in that prison?" Alex groaned, wishing he'd ignored the call.

"Nah, I'm not in jail, Alex."

"When did you get out?"

"I been out for awhile now…surprise!"

"You said you were still there the last time you called me."

"I lied."

"No shit…so where are you?"

"Around. We need to meet up," Adam said quietly.

"I told you before, I don't have any money."

"We need to talk."

"For god's sake, I don't see you for ten years and now you want to get together?"

"It's important. Spare your older brother a few minutes of your valuable time…" Adam urged mysteriously.

"You know you're not that much older than me," Alex couldn't help but remind Adam. "A couple of minutes don't make that much difference."

"Still older…"

Alex sighed. "Whatever. All right…where do you want to meet?"

"You know the Golden Gate Fields racetrack? Meet me at the Jockey Bar, you can't miss it."

"Dad used to go there, right?"

"He sure did. See you in an hour?"

"Yeah, sure." Alex disconnected the call and sat back, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. If he had any sense, he would skip out on the meeting, but his curiosity was piqued. What the hell, take the time and see what his no good twin was looking for, and then get out of California.


"It's good to see y'all out of jail," Miranda noted, serving Meredith a glass of wine with a flourish. "I knew Richard couldn't keep you there long."

"It was an experience I don't wish to repeat," Meredith admitted.

"You didn't have to stay long, thank god," Cristina said, perched on the barstool next to Meredith. "I guess you can't leave the county or whatever...or your bail is revoked?"

"Mmm...something like that." Meredith hated to lie to her friends, but she knew she couldn't say anything about Webber's plan.

"He's still an idiot to think you did it," Miranda frowned. "I mean, I wouldn't have wished Paxton any harm, but to stab him with a corkscrew takes some doing!"

"Totally gruesome," Cristina agreed. "But someone is still out there, right? Whoever did this thinks he's getting away with it!"

"That might be, but for now, I'm still the one who was arrested. But can we talk about something else?" She raised her glass in a toast. "To freedom, right?"

"Right." Cristina raised her glass as well. "To freedom and good friends."

"And new family…Lexie's my half-sister, for real."

"What? Oh that's good...right?" Bailey commented.

"Yeah, actually, she's a good kid. A bit messed up in some ways, but I think that's kind of a requirement for our family," Meredith laughed softly, before taking a sip of her wine.

"What's happening with Skylar?"

"He was thrilled about Owen calling him, but I haven't heard how things went. I hope it's good news. We could use some."

"Well, you seem pretty happy about Derek being home, that's good news," Cristina smirked. "Very happy, from what I can see."

"Is it that obvious?" Meredith giggled.

Cristina caught a glimpse of Derek coming up behind Meredith, but he indicated for her not to give away his approach. "Oh, you have that satisfied glow about you..."

"What!" Meredith gasped just as Derek put his hands on her upper arms, and leaned in to kiss her temple. "Oh..." she tilted her head back to meet his eyes, which twinkled with amusement.

"Am I interrupting?" he teased her. "I heard something about being satisfied...?"

"And you think that was about you?" she managed to tease him back.

Derek brushed his lips against her ear. "You seemed very satisfied to me," he whispered, and she shivered in response. "In fact..."

"We should go..." she said, quickly sliding off the barstool, and grabbing her purse. "Dinner, right? I'm starving all of a sudden."

"So am I," he said, and the smoldering heat in his expression told her his hunger had nothing to do with food. She swatted his arm playfully. "What? Did I say something wrong?" he asked innocently.

"No, nothing..." Meredith blushed.

"Maybe Cristina would like to join us?"

"No, you two go ahead, I think I would be in the way." Cristina raised her drink again. "I'll stay here with Jose..."

Derek's hand rested at Meredith's lower back, the heat of it sending a flood of desire through her. It was amazing how easily he was able to make her feel so turned on without even trying. "I'll call you soon, Cris..." she said, as they walked towards the exit of the Orchid Club. They were only a few steps outside, when Derek had her in his arms, pulling her against him intimately. "Derek..." she sighed happily, "I'm sure they must think I'm some kind of nympho the way you had me going in there..."

"Sorry, Mer, I just needed to see you," he told her, completely unrepentent.

"It wasn't that long."

"Too long..." Derek brushed his lips against her throat, just enough to send a little ripple along her spine. "Come home with me. I want you with me, in my bed, making love to you until we can't move, and we don't have to get up and go anywhere. I want to wake up with you in my arms, and not just this time. I want forever."

"I know, so do I. I want it all..." Meredith told him. "What are we going to do about that?"

Derek gave her a slow, sensual grin before kissing her. A lingering kiss, his tongue caressing hers before he relinquished her mouth. "I have some ideas, but for now let's go home, all right?"

"Yes, all I want to eat right now is you," she told him, touching his cheek.

His body tightened at her comment. "I'll get the car..."


Sheriff Webber reviewed his notes from the meeting with the pawn shop owner in San Francisco. The jade figurines had been the ones from Silver Moon, and he had them confiscated here for safekeeping. The only problem was that the owner didn't have a name or anything else to identify the person with. The customer bolted as soon as the owner started to ask questions.

However, there were likely fingerprints that he could have his deputy search for in the national database. Despite the fact they were out here in Tuscany Valley, they weren't completely without resources. And he knew what needed to be done to catch a thief, and most likely, a killer. As he suspected, arresting Meredith made the culprit feel a little reckless. Still, it was confounding him if Paxton's murder was connected to Matthew Shepherd's. He needed to dig a little deeper into matters to see if there was something he had missed. Sooner or later, he would find out something, it was only a matter of time.