"What do you mean Lexie and Mark are coming with us?" Addison asked as she packed the last few items before they left for the airport. Derek had just informed her of his conversation with Mark the day before. She was completely shocked.

"I am not sure how else to say that Addison." Derek laughed. "I mean exactly that. Mark and Lexie have been dating for a while and he wants to introduce her to my family. My parents raised him more than his own did, you know."

"Yes, I am well aware of that." Addison said, rolling her eyes. She had heard both men say that millions of times over the years. "But what I don't understand is why they are coming with us. I was kind of looking forward to some alone time with you since you are barely even going to be there." she pouted.

"Addie. It doesn't make sense for them to buy plane tickets when we have an entire plane to ourselves." Derek answered annoyed. "And you are going to be so busy with my sisters and all your friends while you are in NY, you would have barely seen me anyway."

Derek walked over to Addison and gave her a hug. "Come on, Babe. You really don't care that much do you?" Derek asked, concerned. Maybe he should have run it by Addison before agreeing.

"No, I guess not." Addison said with a slight smile. "You will just have to make it up to me later." she winked as she exited the apartment.

"Good Morning, Red!" Mark exclaimed as he gave Addison a quick hug.

"You are awful cheery this morning." Addison teased.

"I am going home for Christmas with my best friends and amazing girlfriend. Why wouldn't I be cheery?" Mark smiled. Addison gave him an odd look. She had never heard Mark talk that way.

"Good morning, Dr. Shepherd." Lexie said as she stepped out from behind Mark.

"Good morning, Lexie. And please, call me Addison. We are not at the hospital." Addison said sweetly. Lexie gave her a small smile.

Derek exited the elevator with all the luggage. "Don't worry, Babe. I can carry all of this myself."

"Well, I am carrying around both of your boys all the time, so I figured you could carry the luggage." Addsion mocked.

"And all 3 of us appreciate it very much." Derek laughed. Mark rolled his eyes.

"By the way, Lexie, I am not sure I warned you how nauseating the Shepherd's can be." Mark groaned.

"Well, you are welcome to fly on a different plane, then." Addison said as she patted Mark's cheek. "The driver is here now. So let's get going."

Lexie was shocked at the opulence of traveling with Addison. They rode to the airport in style and went straight to the airplane. On board, there was a normal sized bathroom, large reclining chairs spread out, and even several beds to sleep in. Addison took in the young girl's saucer-sized eyes.

"Do you own this plane?" Lexie blurted out. She knew Addison was rich, but didn't realize she was THIS rich. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't ask that." Lexie continued, embarrassed.

"It's ok, Lexie. I know this is a lot to take in. And no I personally don't own this plane. My family does." Addison said kindly.

"Actually, they own a whole fleet of planes like this, Lexie." Derek answered as he sat down. "And, no, you will never get used to this. I have been riding on these planes for more than a decade, and I still am in awe."

"It isn't a whole fleet, Derek." Addison said, a little annoyed. She was always a little sensitive when people brought up how rich her family was. "I will be right back." she said as she continued down the aisle.

"Where are you going, Addie?" Derek asked, concerned he had said too much about how rich her family was.

"If you must know, I am going to the bathroom. At 6 months pregnant, these boys make me have to go .time." Addison answered. With that, she turned and walked to the bathroom.

"I still can't believe you guys are having twins!" Mark exclaimed as he sat down next to Lexie.

"Me either." Derek responded.

"Have you guys picked out names yet?" Lexie asked.

"Not yet." Addison replied as she sat down. "We haven't had time yet with our busy schedules." Derek shifted in his seat. By "we", he knew she meant him.

"Just make sure you give them strong names! And hopefully, not very common ones!" Mark interjected. Just then both babies began to kick.

"I think the boys agree with you!." Addison laughed as she put one hand on Derek's and one on her belly.

The remainder of the flight was uneventful and soon they were landing at JFK. They decided to get one rental car to drive to Derek's childhood home as Mark and Lexie would be flying back with him in a few days while Nancy would be bringing Addison back to their Brownstone home later in the week.

Lexie seemed to notice the vibes change as they piled in the car. Mark had told her that this was the first Christmas all 3 of them had been to in about 4 years. It was also the first time both Mark and Addison would be together around Derek's family since the affair.

A little ways into the drive, Derek decided to put on Christmas music. After a sing along with a few songs, Addison turned back to Lexie.

"You are an amazing singer, Lexie!" Addison exclaimed.

"Thank you." she smiled. She was starting to become more comfortable around the Shepherds. Mark was right. It wasn't weird hanging out with them because of Derek's history with her sister.

Two hours later, they pulled up to Derek's childhood home.

"Wow, someone is having a party." Lexie joked as she took in all the cars. Derek glanced at Addison and then saw a smirk on Mark's face.

"Lexie, has Mark actually told you how big my family is?" Derek asked cautiously.

"Um, no, why?" she asked.

"All these cars are for my family." Derek laughed. Lexie looked at him in surprise.

"You could have given her a heads up to the craziness she is entering Mark!" Addison exclaimed, shaking her head. "Don't worry, Lexie. Everyone is very nice and will not hold it against you that you are dating Mark." she continued as she took her seatbelt off.

They all piled out of the car as the men got the luggage. Soon droves of children began pouring out the front door.

"Aunt Addie is here!" exclaimed choruses of small voices. Addison smiled as she hugged her nieces and nephews. It felt so good to be back around the family without a medical crisis going on.

"Aunt Addie, why is your stomach so BIG!?" asked five year old Sarah with huge eyes.

"Sarah!" Nancy chided her daughter, completely embarrassed.
"It's ok, Nancy." Addison said laughing. She bent down to her small niece. "My stomach is so big, sweety, because your 2 little cousins are in there." Addison explained.

"Oh, that's right. And they are boys. I wish they were girls!" Sarah pouted as everyone began making their way back in the house.

"We don't need any more girls!" ten year old Ryan teased his sister. "There are already too many of you!" Being the only boy out of five kids in his family (not counting all the other girl cousins!) he was very excited to get more boy cousins!

Lexie slowly followed the crowd in the house taking everything in. She was used to quiet family gatherings. Her sister Molly's baby was the only kid. She tried to count all the dark heads bobbing around but soon couldn't tell them apart.

"Come on in, my dear! You must be Lexie. Mark has told me so much about you." Caroline Shepherd said in a loving tone as she gave Lexie a big hug. "I am Derek's mom, Caroline. But you can just call me Mom like all the other adults."

"Um, ok" Lexie said, not quite sure what to make of that.

"How about some help with the luggage?" Derek exclaimed as Mark and him finally made their way to the door laden with bags.

"Boys, help your uncles!" Liz told her teenage boys. Solomon, Jake, and Malachi jumped up from their game and came to help carry the bags to the respective rooms.

Once all the luggage was deposited, the adults gathered in the sitting room while the children dispersed to play.

"Everyone, this is Lexie." Mark said proudly as he placed his arm around him. Mark went around and introduced her to all the adults.

"There is no way I am going to remember everyone's name!" Lexie whispered to Mark.

"It's ok." he responded giving her a small squeeze.

Addison sat on the couch next to Derek and watched their 9-month old nephew Wesley crawl around the floor between the adults.

"Just think, Love, we are going to have 2 of those crawling around this time next year." Derek whispered to her. Addison looked him in the eye and said, "I wouldn't want it any other way."

Caroline watched Addison and Derek and Mark and Lexie from across the room and couldn't help but smile. It seemed that both of her boys were finally friends again and happy. She had a feeling, Lexie was just what Mark needed. She seemed very sweet but also wouldn't put up with his boyish antics too much.

It wasn't too long before the smaller children were making their way into the room where the adults were and crawling on their parents' laps. Around 9:00, even the adults were starting to yawn.

"Alright, everyone, time for bed." Caroline commanded as she stood up. "You may be grown ups, but I am still your mother. Off to bed with the lot of you. I will get the grandkids settled in the den." she continued as she shoed everyone out of the room.

Addison and Derek made their way up the stairs to Derek's old room. As they went down the hall, Addison stopped in front of a baby picture of Derek hanging on the wall. Derek paused and turned to look at his wife.

"What's wrong?" he asked, confused by her intently looking at his baby picture.

"Nothing." Addison said as she studied the picture. "I am just trying to decide if you are a cute baby and if our boys will look like you." she continued, turning to him and smiling slyly.

"I for one, hope our boys look like you!" Derek grinned as he pulled Addison into his room.

"Oh really? You want red headed boys?" Addison laughed. "You know that means they will both have tempers!" she teased.

"Ok, maybe they can have my hair and your eyes?" Derek countered. He walked over to Addison and pulled her into a hug. "Whatever they look like, they will always have the most beautiful mother!" he said, kissing the top of her hug.

"Santa came! Santa came!" yelled children up and down the hallway in the early hours the next morning.

"Why do they have to wake up so early?!" Addison groaned as she rolled closer to Derek seeking his warmth. He pulled her closer and laughed.

"You do realize that we will not be sleeping in again for many years soon." Derek asked her, raising an eyebrow. As if in agreement, both boys began to kick.

"Aunt Addie! Uncle Derek! Wake up!" Sarah exclaimed as she pounded on the door. Before they could answer, she had moved on to the next set of adults who hadn't emerged from their rooms yet.

"I guess that is our wake up call." Addison laughed as she slowly got out of bed. They put on their Christmas pajamas and made their way downstairs.

Caroline and Amy were making pancakes, bacon, and sausage as parents were trying to keep their little ones from ransacking the mountains of presents in the living room.

"My goodness!" Lexie exclaimed and Mark and her entered the room. She still wasn't quite awake at 7 in the morning and the mass amounts of dark haired, blue eyed children running around was making her dizzy.

After everyone had eaten, they all piled into the living room for presents. Derek looked around at all the happy faces on his family members. He too wore a smile; however, inside he was having a hard time getting into the holiday. He kept thinking about all the people from his clinical trial and their families. Today would be a really hard day for them with it being their first Christmas without their loved one.

Kathleen watched her brother across the room as the piles of wrapping paper began to appear around them. She could tell he was only faking the smile but she couldn't tell why. The only time he genuinely looked happy was when he was looking at Addison. "That is good." Kathleen thought to herself. "At least, whatever is wrong doesn't seem to have to do with his marriage this time."

"Mommy, look at my new doll!" 7 year old Adrianne exclaimed, pulling Kathleen away from her thoughts.

"It is so pretty, Adrianne!" Kathleen smiled lovingly down at her daughter. This was her miracle child, named after the woman who saved her life, Addison Adrianne Shepherd.

7 ½ years ago

It was another extremely hot summer day. Kathleen was 34 weeks pregnant and was doing everything she could to keep up with her 3 year old daughter Carmen.

"Let's go sit down, sweetie." Kathleen said as she took her daughter over to a bench next to the playground. "Aunt Addie should be here soon. Remember, you are staying with Aunt Addie and Uncle Derek this weekend."

"I can't wait! Aunt Addie has the most amazing clothes to play dress up in!" Carmen said in awe. Kathleen laughed. She was very thankful that Addison and Derek offered to take Carmen for the weekend so Stuart and her could get away for a Baby Moon!

"Aunt Addie!" Carmen yelled when she saw her aunt making her way across the playground. She jumped down and ran over to her.

"Hey!" Addison exclaimed as she caught her niece in her arms. "Where's your Mommy?"

"Over there on the bench." Carmen replied as she pointed to where her mom was slowly getting up. "She can't move as fast I can with my little sister growing in her belly." Carmen continued very seriously. Addison tried hard not to laugh. It was obvious Carmen had heard this a lot!

"Hey, Addie." Kathleen said breathlessly as she finally caught up to the pair.

"Are you ok, Kathleen?" Addison asked as she gave her a critical look. She saw dozens of pregnant women every day and was beginning to recognize what was normal or not. Kathleen looked a little pale to her and seemed to be moving very slowly, even for being so pregnant.

"Oh, I am fine, Addie. Just a little hot from this weather." Kathleen said, waving off her sister-in-law. Addison bit her lower lip as she tried to decide what to do. She knew how stubborn the Shepherd siblings could be but wasn't quite ready to let it go with how concerned she was about Kathleen.

"Why don't we go get some lemonade and ice cream in the hospital cafeteria? You can get out of the heat while we wait for Derek and Stuart to finish working." Addison suggested. She knew Derek would be in surgery another few hours and with Stuart being a lawyer, she figured he probably would be working a little bit longer too.

"Ice cream!" Carmen yelled. "Please, Mommy! Please! I will die if I don't get some ice cream!" she continued dramatically.

"Well, I guess you leave me no choice then." Kathleen laughed as she winked at Addison. "I wouldn't want you to die."

The two women followed Carmen out of the park and down the street to the hospital. As they entered the cafeteria, Kathleen stumbled and reached for the wall.

"Kathleen!" Addison exclaimed, steadying her sister-in-law.

"I'm, I'm..ok...just a little dizzy.." Kathleen mumbled. Then she completely passed out in Addison's arms.

"Mommy!" Carmen yelled as several other doctors in the room came over to help. Soon, Kathleen was being loaded on a gurney and being rushed up to the maternity ward.

Addison grabbed her niece and ran after her sister-in-law. "Carmen, I need to go see what is wrong with your Mommy. I am going to give you to a friend of mine to play with and will be back very soon, ok?" Addison explained as she ran through the hallways. She didn't want to scare her niece but she also knew that Kathleen and the unborn baby were more important right now.

"Kiera, this is my niece, Carmen. I need you to watch her while I go take care of her mother." Addison said quickly as she passed the nurses station and passed off her niece before anyone could argue with her. She proceeded into the room where monitors were being hooked up to Kathleen. Addison looked at the monitors and did not like what she saw. Kathleen's blood pressure was 170/100! Addison was astonished. That was way too high! She then looked at the fetal heart monitor. It was down to 85 and sometimes dropping so low the monitor couldn't pick it up.

"We have to get this baby out now!" Addison commanded to the interns who were helping.. "Get Kathleen to an OR. I am going to scrub in."

Addison raced through the hallways and up the stairs to the OR floor. She scrubbed as she watched them prep her sister-in-law for surgery. She couldn't believe this was happening. Just then Derek walked into the scrub room.

"Hey, Love, what are you doing here?" Derek asked confused. He wasn't expecting to see his wife for a while since she was picking up Carmen.

"I don't have time to explain. I have to get Kathleen's baby out. Call Stuart and tell him to get here now!" Addison replied as she walked into the OR. Derek stook there in shock. His sister was the one on the OR table?!

Derek quickly went out and called his brother-in-law. He then ran back to the OR and watched in horror as his wife pulled a very blue, very lifeless, very tiny infant out of his sister.

"Come on sweetie. Cry for Aunt Addie." Addison said as she worked on the infant. Finally the very tiny girl let out a small cry and began to breath. Addison let out a small cry herself. She handed the baby off to pediatric attending and then went back to finish on her sister-in-law.

"Is she ok, Addie?" Derek asked as he entered the OR.

"Derek, you shouldn't be in here!" Addison said sternly. It was bad enough she was trying to save both her niece and sister-in-law. She didn't need him in here too.

"Yes I should.. Someone needs to be here for Kathleen if Stuart can't" Derek demanded. This was his sister. It was his job to protect her, even if she was older than him! His father had instilled that in him from a very young age. Addison softened her approach to Derek. She knew how protective he was of his sisters.

"Ok, Derek. But please don't say anything so I can work." she said quietly. For the next 20 minutes, Addison finished sewing Kathleen up. As they were rolling her to recovery, and Addison was done scrubbing out, she all but collapsed on the floor. Derek walked over to her and gently led her to an on call room. He knew she was about to cry and wouldn't want to infront of their co-workers.

"You saved their lives, Addie." Derek whispered as he pulled her into a tight hug. As he knew she would, Addison started to cry.

"I was so scared, Derek." Addison cried.

"Me too. But right now, we really need to go find Stuart, and where is Carmen?" Derek asked confused, remembering his niece was with them for the first time. Addison pulled a way and wiped her eyes.

"I gave Carmen to the nurses." she said, taking a deep breath. "Let's go find Stuart and her."

Kathleen shook her head at the memory. If she had been anywhere else but the hospital, they didn't know if Adrianne would have survived. It was hard to believe that the tiny baby who had spent 4 weeks in the NICU was now a vibrant 7 year old!

The rest of the day was filled with family fun and lots of food. Around 10:00 at night, Derek and Addison finally made their way up to bed.

"I can't believe you already have to go back tomorrow!" Addison told Derek as she yawned.

"I know. But I have to finish the clinical trial surgeries before the end of the year." he sighed. Now that the Christmas festivities were over, it was time to return to reality and hope that maybe, he could save one patient. Addison rolled over and cuddled up to Derek.

"I know. I am going to miss you." she said as she gave Derek a kiss good night. Addison had known all day that something was off with Derek. She also knew better than to bring it up.

"I will miss you too, Love." Derek replied, giving her a kiss.

The two lay there holding each other for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts. After a while, they both drifted off to sleep.

Let me know what you think!