A/N: I know, I know, it's been done before. But my Grey-Shepherds need a dog, so it's being done again!

This is based in December 2016, or a year after 'Family'.

I have double booked myself with both a New Year's and Christmas fic, neither of which are actually finished, but I will try my best to get them both out on time.
Every Friday I will release a new chapter of 'Family' and every Wednesday will be a new chapter of this fic.
Although the Grey-Shepherds are celebrating the holidays, neither of the finales are actually on the day as I imagine we'll all be far too busy with our famil...oh, wait- sorry, correction: too busy unboxing our Derek Shepherd Funko Pop figures.
Anyway, enjoy!

"So, small or big?" Meredith inquired as she watched her son and eldest daughter kick a football between each other. They alternated scorer and goalie, as they did often. Their youngest was settled against Derek's chest in a tiny yellow dress with small flowers. She was in a baby carrier a few minutes earlier, but he would much rather hold her than just put his hand on her. They liked sitting on the particular bench together – or rather Meredith liked sitting on the end of the bench and Derek liked pausing besides her, never finding any particular reason to transfer himself over – thanks to its great view of the field where their eldest two liked to play.

"Is medium not an option? Or extremely small? Or extremely big?" He asked, half teasing her.

"Well, I suppose you could answer medium but I don't suppose you're suggesting a Chihuahua nor a Great Dane." She said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Nah, I want a Chihuahua, obviously. I can't believe you don't know that that that is my dream dog." He returned sarcastically, turning to look at her with a wide grin engulfing his face.

She smirked. "Sure, I believe you."

"What do you want?" He asked, interested to know her suggestion, seeing as he had very few.

"I want a dog." She summarized in just a second.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the simplicity of her statement. "That's convenient. It's almost like that's why we are going to go and buy one."

She let out a deep exhale, shoulders slumping. "I hate you."

"Not as much as I would hate an English Mastiff."

"Why? What's wrong with them?" She asked, feeling a little offended for the poor dog Derek had just claimed to hate. He had never mentioned a traumatic experience with a dog before; otherwise, the statement would make more sense. She was aware he loved dogs (obviously, they shared Doc) but she would understand a hatred for a singular breed of dog from a childhood chase or bite.

"It would literally be as tall as me. Taller, perhaps."

She frowned. She didn't really consider that when it came to dog size. "They are not."

"I am short." He stated. "Zola is taller than me now."

"If you stood, you'd be 5'10." She corrected with a positive tone.

"Does getting a dog give me the ability to stand?" He questioned pointedly, no smile spreading his lips.

She faltered at that, looking a little worried for a second at how blunt the question was until they broke into simultaneous smiles. It was only really after an...interesting confrontation at work (which happened an awful lot more times that he would wish to count) that he made those kinds of statements in a non-jokey way. It wasn't like it used to be. It used to be the subject, this unspeakable topic that he would always try to squirm his way out of. Now, it was simply a good line to start a joke with. "You never know. Who needs stem cell treatment when you have a dog?"

"I'd be very surprised. And angry. Means I put in all those physio hours for nothing."

"Mmm." She murmured as she agreed. She looked back down to her phone. Before they had gotten so distracted, Meredith was looking through a website for a list of questions someone who was planning to get a dog might want to consider. She gave another smile as she read out the next prompt; she couldn't help it. "How much exercise are you willing to do a day?"

"How much exercise am I willing to do a day?" He repeated with a smirk. "Well, I was planning to go for a run this morning, only to try and stand up and find my legs don't really work. It really was quite alarming. Luckily, I found this odd-looking chair thing with wheels by the side of my bed and it seems to be working quite well."

"Okay, okay, very funny. I mean walks. Dog walks." She corrected. The jokes never stopped but it was much, much better than any alternative that could have occurred in reference to his injury.

"Are you not volunteering to do the walking?"

"I could go in the morning, if you're happy doing the whole breakfast thing. Although, you do that already so...yeah, that would work. In fact, I guess we could walk anytime, seeing as it's not like there is anyone else on our land or anything so...I think we've got the walking bit covered."

"Mmm." He agreed, although he was a little distracted.

"You okay?" She asked as she watched him pull the backpack off the back of his chair.

Despite the fact that he was wearing insulted trousers from a ski shop, his legs were still freezing. "Fine. Just stupid broken thermoregulation-" He muttered frustratedly as he tossed a blanket over his lap and tucked it under his thighs.

"Stupid winter." She concurred.

"But...winter contains Christmas, and you know what Christmas means? Presents. And you know what makes a good present?"

Meredith smirked. "I like your thinking."

"Should we tell them now then?"

"Tell who what?" A third voice asked. Zola had collected the football off of the ground, and was now stood in front of her parents. She didn't mind the mud that had collected on the ball and therefore, all over her hands but Meredith certainly did. She knew the girl was going to wipe her grubby hands on her trousers in an attempt to save them from the dirt. Zola was smart and kind, but she had little care for the washing up that her mother had to do for her.

"So...we've been thinking for a while-" Their mother started, ignoring her muddy hands.

"What we been thinking?" Zola interrupted, unimpressed by her rather slow voice. She settled the ball to the floor, one foot resting on the top of it. She almost looked like she was posing for a football poster.

"Are you and Mama gonna have another baby?" Zola asked, looking at her dad. They had all squished onto the bed with Zola half on Derek's lap, Bailey between them and Elle in Meredith's arms. It was a lazy Saturday (a very, very lazy Saturday, according to the time shown on the clock) where the whole family had piled into the room. Well, three of them were in there already, but Elle was collected from her cot by the side of the room and the older two children had leapt onto the bed.

His eyebrows dropped, surprised by the abrupt question. His eyes quickly found Meredith at that question. Her face read neither way. He certainly wouldn't be upset if Meredith found our she was pregnant again, but it wasn't like he wanted a fourth. "Uh- probably not. Why, do you want another brother or sister?"

She shrugged. "Dunno. Just thinking. But-"

"But?" Derek questioned, noting her slight frown.

"I want fluffy."

"You want...fluffy?" Meredith repeated, confused.

"Fluffy sibling?" Bailey almost shouted, knowing what his sister was referring to. "Yeah! Please! Please Daddy, Mommy, please!"

Meredith and Derek exchanged a very lost look with each other.

"Baby, what are you on about?" Meredith inquired. She wasn't quite sure which one she was asking, seeing as they had both just exploded with joy.

"Doggo! We want doggo!" Zola exclaimed.

"A dog?"

"Or cat! Or rabbit. Or ginoo pig. Something...fluffy!" Bailey elaborated. Clearly, Zola had already had a conversation with her brother about it.

"Please Mommy! We be super good. Pleeeeease! Daddy! Please!"

"We've been thinking about..." Derek started, pushing himself towards them and dropping his voice to a whisper for suspense.

Meredith almost laughed at their kids' desperation, thanks to his added tension.

"Adopting...a...dog!"

"I don't think I've ever heard Zola scream so loudly." Derek murmured as he read the road sign for the animal sanctuary they were heading to, now only quarter of a mile away. Luckily, they were on a rather fast road. Although, she didn't go quite as fast as she used to. She never did any more, despite the fact that his accident was nothing to do with the speed he was going.

"If we can't find a good dog, I think we're going to have to stop by the shops-" She started.

"-and buy some ice cream?" Derek suggested, before she could finish her sentence. "Lots of ice cream."

She smiled. "I sure hope we can. I don't really want to have to deal with sugar-high kids for the rest of my day off.

"I'll cross my fingers."

The car slowed as it entered the car park to the animal adoption centre. It wasn't the same place they had gotten Doc, this place was much larger and they hoped that that would mean there would be a larger selection of dogs. They had quite a strict criterion. Obviously, the dog would have to be good with kids. But also, not jump up on people who were sat down, seeing as otherwise, Derek would constantly be crushed by the animal.

Derek sighed as Meredith ignored half the location's perfectly good parking, heading right to the front of it. "Meredith, you know I don't like it when you park here when the whole car park is empty. I don't need you to-"

"I am parking here, okay?" She questioned rhetorically. It wasn't a suggestion. It was a statement. She didn't need his approval. "This space was designed for your existence. So I'm parking here."

"What if they were all full, and someone else needed to park here?" He asked back as she unbuckled her seatbelt, one hand lingering on the door handle. "There are a lot of free spaces, no one would park next to us and, even if they did, it's quiet enough for you to pull out for me."

She looked at him for a second before huffing and getting out the car without another word, leaving him a little dumbfounded at her response. He raised a good point. He was very active so could easily push himself from the opposite corner of the car park to the buildings with no trouble, most likely at the speed he used to walk. Some people couldn't.

He opened his door at the slam of the boot to find his wife looking at him with her head at a slight tilt, "Derek. Can you walk?"

Not this thing again. He hated it when she was so level-headed. "No. No, I can't."

"So, tell me how you expect to find someone more in need of this space than you." She requested, pulling the door open to its last latch and edging his chair a little closer with her knee.

"How about if someone was tetraplegic?" He asked, pausing as he removed himself from the car. "Technically, they'd be more in need of it than me."

Meredith shut the door as soon as he had pulled himself out of the way of its swing before looking back round to him, leaning against the car. "There is more than one space here."

He sighed. "Let's just go look at some dogs, shall we?" Derek suggested as he headed to what he could only presume was the main building. It took him a second and a slightly odd manoeuvre to actually get to the door of the reception, thanks the old and poorly constructed dropped curb.

When she didn't reply, Derek looked round to find his wife peering through the neighbouring car's windshield. God, she really was mad sometimes. "Meredith!"

"They don't even have a badge, they are the ones that should feel bad. Bet they'd just say something like 'I was only gonna be five minutes' or 'there was no one else here when I first arrived'. That's what people always say."

"Dogs, Meredith. Let's not have another one of those fights."

"That guy last Tuesday was not a random person. He was a rude, discriminative asshole." She corrected.

"Still didn't need to shout at him."

"I created a queue of seven people to let you out of the car because there were no spaces. I'm not apologizing for shouting at a man who didn't even bother to pretend he had a blue badge. I mean, he just shrugged and walked away! What did you want me to do?"

He shook his head, gesturing to the door with a hand. That was, apparently, what they fought about now: the fact that she screamed at people too much for their ignorant or blatantly rude behaviour when he didn't want her to.

"I know, okay, I know. He was an ass. But please, dog time?"

She sighed. "Before I change my mind."

She pushed open the door and let her hand liger to hold it open for him to follow her through. She let go when she was sure it was out of his vicinity to look around the space. There were a few chairs making up the waiting area and a rather long reception desk with a jolly-looking woman sat there with large, neon green glasses and gradiented hair travelling from red to orange. She was loud, physically.

"Hi. I'm looking to adopt a dog. It's uh- Meredith Grey. I should be in your system, I emailed last week."

"Righty-oh then. I'll be with you in five."

The woman had called the pair from where they were waiting in the reception after only a few minutes. She exited the building and guided them past an outdoor set of cages containing rabbits, then chickens, then a building with a paw print picture on the outside besides the door. Obviously, the building was where the dogs were held.

They only had an interest in the dogs. Derek was a dog person and so was Meredith. They wouldn't mind a cat particularly as they were still extraordinarily cute creatures, they just preferred the idea of a dog.

There were plenty of other animals in the sanctuary but they decided they wanted an indoor pet and Meredith wasn't a hundred percent sure she wanted a chicken waking up her daughter in the morning and...laying eggs on her bed? Is that what pet chickens did?

They entered another nice reception-like room before being met with what Derek and Meredith could only describe as the start of the maze.

They were glad to see that the dogs awaiting adoption were held in nice-looking cages. Well, as cages go. Each one had at least half a dozen toys, a soft bed and a plentiful amount of food and water.

Derek knew some types, but not all. They passed a Maltese, a boxer, one he couldn't identify, a Spaniel, a Dalmatian, a Terrier, a pug and another type of Spaniel.

But none of them quite spoke to them as their dog.

"So, obviously, different dogs need different amounts of things. Exercise, food, social time. Some are better with kids. Some are good with other animals. Considering your careers, a dog that doesn't mind being left alone would be best." The woman listed as she led them around.

"But we do have my sister who lives with us and we generally work different shifts. It sounds a little chaotic but there will be plenty of people to let them out for a quick walk or refill their bowl. We have plenty of space for running around as well. Oh- and sometimes the kids-"

"Kids?" She repeated.

"Oh. Right. Maybe we should have started with that." Meredith murmured, feeling a little flushed about the way they were failing to present their lives. It sounded like they'd be bad at taking care of a dog, considering their jobs, but they really were sure they could find the time for one. "Three kids. One is a baby. Well, one year old."

"Okay." She breathed. "This...this is news."

"Thought I wrote it on my email, I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's okay." She paused for a second, thinking. "You know what, I think I have a good dog for you. I don't actually know anything about him, since he's so new, but from the quick feeding and playing session I had with him this morning, I'd say he's extremely well behaved. I presume you, being like you, want to-" The woman trailed off as she looked to Derek. He filled in the rest of that sentence in his mind. He did that a lot when people faltered.

It was a fair enough assumption. As they had discussed before, a dog that would jump up on sofas would most definitely jump up on his lap too. Sometimes, perhaps they'd request the dog to sit on the sofa or the bed with them but Derek most definitely did not want some massive dog trying to perch himself on his lap while he was simply trying to live his life.

"A well-behaved dog would be great, obviously." Meredith replied to the woman's awkwardness. She got it. She wasn't the only one who faltered when trying to talk to or about her husband. In fact, everyone did that. Even she could get caught up in her words sometimes.

"So, about this one I've got in mind, he's a rescue and we have no idea what his name is. You could try and figure it out but, ultimately, you might want to name him yourself." She continued.

"What kind of dog is he?" Derek asked.

The woman stopped rather abruptly, turning around before gesturing to the dog besides her.

The first thing both Derek and Meredith noticed was his tongue. A great big salmon-coloured tongue, lolling up and down slightly in his mouth, collapsing between his white tusk-like teeth. An oval black nose sat on the end of the muzzle above his slightly-open mouth, the slight layer of moisture making it gleam a little in the light about. His fur was a washed-out kind of black, leaving behind a cool kind of grey coat behind.

"German Shepherd." She answered simply.

Despite the fact his coat was a cold, bluish grey, the dog's personality seemed to be anything but that. In fact, he appeared to be rather warm.

"A grey German Shepherd." Derek muttered, admiring the canine, smiling as the dog presented a toy to them with pride. He pushed the toy against the cage, as if he really was trying to offer it to them. "Grey...Shepherd."

"Woah." Meredith breathed. "Good point."

"You like him then?"

"Can we meet him? Like- properly?" Meredith implored, eyes sparkling with excitement. It was a rare kind of excitement dropping from her mouth at the request. Almost child-like. Like she was nine and it was Christmas morning.

"Of course." She agreed, unravelling the lead in her hand as one hand settled on the bolt of the door. "If you just follow the corridor and then go to your left, that's where we let you meet the dogs."

"Thanks." Meredith replied with a nod and a quick smile before heading down the hall.

"I can't believe that this dog exists." Derek said as they followed the woman's instruction, following his wife down the corridor.

"Mmm, me neither."

The Grey-Shepherd's family dog: a grey German Shepherd. God, it was too perfect.

A/N: Oh man, the dog doesn't have a name! What a shame! So upsetting that I'll have to pick someone's recommendation from the comments! Sarcasm aside, this dog does need a name. No limit on how many you want to recommend and feel free to suggest one that someone else thought of, it will help me decide on the fan favourite! :)

Also, there's a surprise returning character in chapter 2, who do we think it is?