It's been 3 months since Meredith was attacked. She went back to work but only doing consults after a few days at home, and 2 weeks later after lots of physical therapy she was ready for surgery. It is the night of the annual gala. Meredith is wearing a dark green gown with a jeweled neckline and Derek is in his tux.
Derek walks into Ellie's room to find Meredith rocking her gently and feeding her. "Zola and Bailey are ready to go, are you almost done" he asks sweetly. Meredith smiles at her baby and plays with her cheeks before looking up at Derek. "You don't think she'll be mad that we're leaving her out, do you? I mean we could bring her" she says. "Meredith, she's not going to remember this. I don't think we're traumatizing her." "Okay…oh baby needs a burp uh? Mommy's got ya sweetie, mommy's got ya." Derek's eyes fill with love as he watches Meredith with their daughter. "Come on we're going to be later" he says but his tone implies that he could care less about being late. "She is just…I love her so much, and she's just so tiny" he says in a quiet voice as he comes up to Meredith. "I know" she says with a smile. "Mommy can we leave now" Zola whines as she comes into the room. "All right let's go" Derek says as he swings Zola into the air causing her to laugh.
"Where's Jo" Maggie asks as she walks up to Alex. "Uh, she's probably talking to one of her friends or something." "Hey" Meredith says cheerfully as she walks up. "Hi Mer! Oh did you see the black jack tables let's go play a round! You have lots of money to lose right?" Maggie grabs Meredith's arm and starts dragging her away while Meredith looks at Alex in confusion. "Hey Karev have you seen my wife?" "Pierce just dragged her away to gamble all your money away." "Ah. What surgery do you have for tonight?" "I've got this baby with a cleft palate that I'm doing with Avery. I still can't believe you agreed to operate with Mer" he says with a laugh. "You think it's funny now. Just wait till you see our presenters. They're cuteness will blow your baby away" Derek says with a smirk. "Wait are you…you can't use your kids that's not fair!" "No one said it had to be fair Karev." "Hey did you guys see those old ladies on the slots machines? They're going crazy" Arizona says with a laugh as she comes up behind Alex. "Why is the theme Vegas again" Alex asks. "Avery and his event planner thought it would be a good way to entertain the donors" Derek says in an annoyed voice. "Well I think it's great! And we all voted on it so stop pouting. And besides the champagne is fantastic." "You're drinking before you operate" Alex says in disbelief. "Oh I'm not operating. Sofia's got the nastiest flu and it's my turn to stay with her tonight." "Zola had that last week" Derek says. "Did you get that email about the bake sale" he adds. "Yeah I'm bringing the brownies. I can make a batch for you guys if you need me too." "Thank you that would be great" he says with a smile.
"Excuse me" Meredith says with a smile as she pulls Derek away from a conversation. "It's time." Derek nods and says goodnight to the people he was talking to. They go over to the hospital and pick up Zola and Bailey from the day care. They help them get changed into their scrubs and lab coats in the attendings lounge. "I've got something special for you two for being such good helpers" Derek says pulling out a bag. He pulls out two little ferry boat scrub caps and Zola and Bailey squeal with joy. "All right Dr. Zola are you ready for surgery" Meredith asks. "Yes I am Dr. Grey. Let's go Dr. Shepherd the surgery isn't going to perform itself" she replies before grabbing Derek's hand and pulling him out of the room. "Mommy I can't do it" Bailey says as he drops his scrub cap to the ground. Meredith picks it up for him and ties it into place. "There you go you're all ready" she says with a smile. "Mommy I think I want to stay here" he says quietly. "Why sweetie? Are you scared of talking in front of all those people?" He nods his head and looks down at his feet in embarrassment. "Oh don't be worried Bails. Everyone will love you." "Will you and daddy still love me if I'm not a good a doctor as Zo?" "Of course we will! You're my little man nobody could replace you" she says lovingly. She picks him up and carries him to the OR gallery where Derek and Zola are setting up. They bring in a table on wheels with a poster board that Zola decorated that describes the surgery Derek and Meredith are going to do. Meredith helps Bailey get his toy doctor kit out and Derek helps Zola put information cards on all the chairs. They leave Zola and Bailey with a nurse and go down to scrub. "Are you sure they're ready for this" Meredith asks as she washes her hands. "Zola has been talking about this for weeks. They'll be fine" Derek says confidently.
"Hi come on in" Zola says as the guests start to arrive. "I'm Dr. Zola and this is my brother Dr. Bailey. Please take a seat" she says confidently. The donors laugh at the kids' cuteness and get ready for the presentation. "Down in the OR is Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Grey." "My mom and dad" Bailey says confidently. "This evening they will be operating on a spinal schwannoma that has extended into the retropleural space." "It is a tumor that involves the great vessels" Bailey says. "That's right Dr. Bailey. Now can you tell everyone what kind of surgeon Dr. Shepherd is?" "He's the chief of neurosurgery." "And what kind of surgeon is Dr. Grey?" "She's the chief of general surgery." Everyone claps for them and the kids have huge smiles on their faces. "I hope you enjoy the surgery. They're ready for you Dr's" says Zola. She and Bailey look down into the OR and Derek and Meredith wave up at them.
"That was amazing" Meredith says with a smile as she scrubs out. "Do you think we won?" "Of course we did" Derek says with a smile. "Thank you for suggesting this, it was a good idea" he says giving her a kiss. "Mmh. We should do it every year." "You know I can't remember the last time we were in the OR together." "Well we were in OR 4 when Ellie was born but I was unconscious so I don't think that counts" she says with a laugh. "You know, the kids are probably asleep we could leave them in day care and have a little alone time in an on call room." "I like how you think Dr. Shepherd!" A few hours later they're lying next to each other on a bed in the on call room. Meredith has her back to Derek and he has his arms wrapped around her. "Did you ever think we'd be here" she asks. "What do you mean" he says as he kisses her neck. "When we used to do this all the time, before the kids, even before we got married. Did you ever think we'd get to this point in our lives?" Derek looks thoughtful and just puts his head on Meredith's shoulder. "At first I did. Before everything with your mother I could picture us having a life together, having kids. But for a little while, after we broke up and before the trial, I don't know I just couldn't picture it anymore. I wanted to but there were times when I just didn't know how to fix things with you" he says sadly. "But now we have everything I've ever dreamed of" he says with a smile. "So it was worth it?" "Totally worth all of it" he says. The kiss softly and she snuggles into his body. "What about you? Is this everything you wanted?" "It's so much better than I ever thought it would be" she says with a smile.
Two days after the gala Derek and Meredith are having lunch with Bailey and Ellis in the hospital cafeteria. Zola is at school full time with Sofia now and Bailey will be starting school soon.
"Come on Bailey eat you lunch" Derek says encouragingly. Meredith laughs when her son tries to grab a grape but it flies out of his hand and hits a nurse. "I'm so sorry about that" Derek says to her, flashing his McDreamy smile. "So I, uh, got an email from Molly last night" Meredith says. "Molly your sister Molly?" "Yeah that one" she replies with a grimace. "What did she say?" "She's moving back to Seattle and wants to have dinner or something with our families and Thatcher." "Well what did you say?" "I didn't! I mean, I don't know her. The last time I saw her and Thatcher was Lexie's funeral." "Meredith, they're your family" Derek says seriously. He cocks his head to one side and waits for her usual 'anti-family' response. "Derek I told him when I gave him my liver that the door is open for us to get to know each other and he hasn't tried. We had him over for Christmas and I tried to be friendly at the funeral but once again he shut me out. The man doesn't want anything to do with me, why would we expose our kids to that?" "Well the kids don't have to be there. It can just be me, you, Thatcher, Molly, and her husband." "Oh that sounds super fun. An awkward dinner with people that I barley know. Don't you remember how the last one went? Wasn't that horrifying enough?" "I thought you got past that. And it would be nice to talk to Molly about Lexie I'm sure you can share some stories." "I don't want to talk about Lexie! I don't want to see my father, and I definitely don't want to see the one person that looks like my dead sister!" "Meredith, I just think…" "Can you just drop it! I'll email her back and say we're busy or whatever" Meredith says angrily. She picks Ellie up and says "I'm taking her back upstairs" before storming out. "You made mommy mad." "Yeah I did little man." Derek pulls out his phone and type's 'Christina Yang' into his contacts. He sends her a text that reads: Lexie's sister reached out to Mer and she freaked. All the way in Zurich, Christina is in the middle of a surgery when her phone beeps. "It's a message from a Derek Shepherd, would you like me to open it" a scrub nurse asks. Christina looks up in shock because Derek only texts her when there's an emergency. "Yes." "It says: Lexie's sister reached out to Mer and she freaked" reads the nurse. "Crap" Christina says under her breath. "Is everything all right Dr. Yang?" "Yes it's fine. Can you send a reply for me? Say I'll call her as soon as I get out of surgery." "Of course." "Thank you." Derek is surprised that Christina replied so quickly but is grateful that she agreed to help. Even though Derek has learned how to help Meredith work through her problems, he knows when his wife needs her twisted sister.
