May 7, 2026- Seattle, Washington
"Mr. Shepherd?" the receptionist said.
Derek felt extremely uncomfortable sitting in this office. It wasn't the kind of place you usually found a man his age. He stood up and walked to the front desk.
"You said Aimee Elizabeth Shepherd, correct?"
"Yes."
The receptionist looked at him and placed the file down that she had in her hands, "I shouldn't be doing this. I really shouldn't, but you are her father and your story broke my heart. I can't give you any information as to where she is or I could get in serious trouble, but if the police come, they can get it. All I can tell you is that she is scheduled for next Monday at noon."
Derek nodded, "Thank you very much. You have no idea what you've done for our family. Thank you."
"I hope everything works out for the best."
"So do I," Derek said before turning around and leaving the office. Now he could go home.
Derek walked into his house, finding nothing but darkness and silence. He turned to the stairs and quietly made his way up them. Once he reached the top, he turned towards Celine's room. When he opened the door, he found Celine asleep wrapped in her sheets with the television on. Derek walked in, almost falling over her book bag, and turned off the television. He walked over to her sleeping figure and smiled. Even after eighteen years, he couldn't believe that him and Meredith made her. She was so amazing. He bent down and brushed away and piece of her hair before kissing her forehead. He stood back up and walked to the door. He began to walk out, but then stopped and turned back to his daughter, "Sweet dreams, Celine." He smiled and closed the door behind him.
He took a few steps and met Aimee's door. He pushed it open and saw the moonlight shining over the dark room. Nothing had changed since the day he'd come up to find Meredith other then the diary lying on top of the now scrunched up bedding. He walked over to the bookcase that was leaning against the far wall. The top shelf was full of sports awards. Aimee had been good at all of them from volleyball, track, basketball, field hockey and softball. Derek had missed out on so many of her games and meets, but was as proud of her as he could possibly be.
As he looked at her room again, he realized that was a lie. Before, he hadn't been proud of her. He'd been proud of Celine, but not Aimee. Aimee was too free spirited and unlike Derek. She didn't want to go to college or have anything to do with school. If she could, she would spend her entire life outside being active. Derek loved being outside too, but he couldn't get past her grades. He never took the time to realize that her strengths were in so many other areas of life. Areas that were just as important as grades. Derek sighed, but then smiled, knowing that he probably would get the chance to fix all of these mistakes and tell Aimee how proud he really is of her.
As Derek walked out of the room, he turned back and took one more look. He suddenly saw Aimee in there, at the age of 4, then 7, then 9, and then 15. Every time, she was peacefully asleep in her bed, with a beautiful smile on her face. Derek smiled again, "Sweet Dreams, Aimee."
Derek slowly walked down the stairs. Up until he'd begun to get sick, every night he'd come up after they were asleep and say goodnight to them. Sometimes he'd already be in bed, with Meredith sleeping next to him, but he'd get up just to see them peacefully asleep. It was the one time that he could say anything he wanted to them without their teenage responses that sometimes drove him insane, but other times it was the only way he could get his stubborn mind to apologize for what he'd done wrong.
He figured that once or twice they were probably awake, but no one spoke of what he said to them when he was up there at night. It was a secret between each other them, a secret they held close to their hearts. Every night afterwards, he'd come back downstairs and once Meredith was asleep, he'd do the same for her. He'd tell her everything on his mind and make sure she knew he loved him, but she never said a word about it. Derek knew it was slightly pathetic that he could only speak to his family when he thought they were asleep, when he was free from all consequences, but he still couldn't make himself be brave enough to say them any other way.
When Derek got downstairs, the house was still silent. He headed towards his bedroom and saw light creeping out from under the door. He pushed the door open and found Meredith asleep on the made bed with an album open next to her. He walked over to her and looked at the album. It was open to Aimee's tenth birthday party. That was the year that Celine decided she wanted to be a photographer, so they had a million pictures of the party. Derek smiled at the memories before closing the album and putting it away.
He walked over to the wall and flipped off the light. He gently began to pull down the covers before pulling them over Meredith, careful not to wake her. Afterwards, he quickly changed into sweatpants and a tee shirt before joining Meredith in bed. Before he even had the covers over him, Meredith had turned and cuddled close to him, letting him know that she wasn't mad at him anymore. He smiled and kissed her on the head, waiting for her to slip into her dreams so he could say all the words he didn't want to leave unsaid.