I know that this has been a long time coming. I hope it was worth the wait. I'm working on the next chapter as we speak. Oh, and as of this chapter, this story has officially become a Bones/Grey's Anatomy crossover. Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated.

Chapter Ten

The remainder of the evening had been a quiet one. Meredith, stepping out of her comfort zone, helped the unwilling Emma undress, climb into pajamas, and slide into bed. In the kitchen, Meredith, Derek, and Thaddeus talked in the kitchen over coffee. "I've never seen her like that," Thaddeus commented. "Not even after you left. Or Addison. Or Sloan. Or Jack, even."

"Jack," Derek questioned, "where did he go?"

"Jack Kane joined Doctors Without Borders shortly before Sloan left the last time."

"I didn't know that," Derek said, pulling Meredith closer to him after they settled in the living room with their coffee. "No wonder she jumped at a chance to come and visit."

"You underestimate your importance in her life," Thaddeus said. "She can let me go easily enough. Addison, too. But you and Sloan have been constant in her life. And Travers was the first one of us to give her a chance in the OR."

Derek knew all of this, of course, but to be reminded of it made him feel bad. He hadn't been there for his family in almost two years. He hadn't seen Kathleen or Tessa at all in that time or any of his brother-in-laws or nieces or nephews. He had seen Nancy once, shortly after his divorce and Emma and his mother's visits had been recent. They had all come to him though. He had made no move to see any of them. "Thank you for watching out for her," Derek said.

Thaddeus shrugged. "She reminds me of Athena, my sister, so it's not that big of a deal. I'm going to call it a night. I probably won't get to see you two before you leave so congratulations on your professional or personal endeavors," he said with a smirk. He left shortly after checking on Emma. Derek and Meredith sat quietly in the living room.

"Are you okay," Meredith asked quietly.

"I think so," Derek said, leaning back into the couch. "It's just, I left for me, I know that. It was like I was suffocating, like I was drowning, just being in New York. I needed to be away from Addison and Mark and I didn't even think of what it was doing to my family. Wow, I really am a jerk."

"You were hurt, Derek," Meredith corrected, quietly. "What did they expect you to do?"

"I imagine they wanted me to let them fix everything," Derek chuckled, quietly. "They've always tried to do that for me, ever since my father passed away. And I've always tried to do that for them, but all four of my sisters' feel they are independent and don't need me hovering."

"I know the feeling," Meredith giggled lightly. "Sometimes it's nice to let someone take care of you though." Meredith was exhausted and went to bed soon after that. She had never mentioned being upset about staying in his sister's guest room. He had noticed, though, that the guest room was now further down the hall. Abby used to sleep in the room when she was an infant because it was right across from the main bedroom where Emma and Miles used to sleep. Where Emma slept now. Abby now used the room that had been the guest room for so many years. He opened the door and noticed it had been completely repainted with new flooring. The room was decorated for a toddler in princesses, castles, and flowers.

He remembered when the walls of this room were a dark blue. He had even helped her pick the color out years ago. The floors used to be a dark oak and were now a funky purple plush carpet. He remembered being sprawled out on a queen size bed where a child's bed now sat, unused.

He was glad that he wouldn't see the rest of his family until tomorrow. Kathleen had taken Abby and had already went to Mom's with the rest of her family. The Fourth of July get together was always a big thing and he had missed it the last two years.

He also remembered showing up in his sister's doorway, stumbling drunk, and mumbling incoherently. It shamed him when he remembered that because he always tried to be the strong one. Emma had asked one of the neighbors to watch a sleeping Abby for the rest of the night and Emma had held him, soothed him, and listened as he told her that Addison had been with Mark.

". . . and Mark just left. Just mumbled and left. Just left. Gone. He left. She just stood there. She just . . . stood there and she stood there. Then she started crying. And yelling. Did I mention she cried? She told me not to leave. She didn't want me to go."

He had drunk a lot of scotch that night. It had been lucky that Emma had an extra bottle in the liquor cabinet in her living room because Derek had needed it. He was almost catatonic for the next week and a half before a letter from Richard showed up, addressed to him at his sister's apartment. He knew that Emma had everything to do with that and he was grateful although he would never say anything about it. She knew and he knew and Richard knew. No one else needed to know. He had the impression that if his mother ever found out, he'd be gaining Abby as a ward because Mom would kill Emma for being an instrument in his escape. Derek made it worse, obviously, by cutting off contact to everyone but Emma. His mother didn't even know what had happened until she had called Addison (having not been able to get a hold of him) to invite the two of them to dinner.

His life had changed drastically, but seeing Meredith sleeping soundly in the (new) guest room in his sister's apartment made it worth it. They would make it through whatever life threw at them. She really was the love of his life and one day he was going to marry her.

/ / / / / / / /

Emma woke up with a headache. There was banging coming from her kitchen and she couldn't remember how she got home let alone what happened the night before. Meredith and Derek, decked out in their pajamas, were in the kitchen. Meredith was sitting on the counter of the island while Derek dug through cupboards. "Stop the noise," she told him, holding her head, "what are you looking for?"

"I want to make pancakes," Derek told her, opening another cupboard.

"Why, so you can murder them with sugar-free syrup? Move," she commanded. She found him a pan and the mix and then climbed onto a stool. "What happened?" Derek and Meredith shared a look. "What happened," she repeated.

"You overheard someone asking Travers about his retirement and then you went catatonic," Derek said after a while. "Let's have some breakfast so we can head out." Breakfast was a silent affair that allowed Derek and Meredith to spend most of the time staring at each other. After being plied with Ibuprofen and water, Emma quietly packed her bags, Meredith keeping her company by sitting on the bed, while Derek ran all the bags downstairs to the waiting, rented SUV. "Hey, look what I found on the curb," Derek yelled coming back into his sister's apartment.

Meredith led Emma out of the bedroom and into the lobby. A smile broke out on Emma's face as she raced across the living room and launched herself into a pair of waiting arms. "That's certainly a change," Meredith commented when Derek moved to stand beside her, wrapping his own arms around her waist.

"He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to come," Derek told her, quietly, "but I'm glad he did. Although, I'm not sure anyone else will."

"Mark," Emma said, eventually, releasing him, "I can't believe you're here."

Mark smiled down at her. "Of course I came," he told her.

"We'll meet you downstairs," Derek said, "we should probably leave soon." The two of them left.

"I missed you, Jerkface," Emma said, sitting down on the couch.

"I missed you, too," Mark said, pulling an envelope out of the bag at his feet and handed it to her, sitting beside her. "Open it," he said.

Emma rolled her eyes and ripped the envelope open. She pulled a very colorful greeting card with the word "CONGRATULATIONS" with equally colorful fake confetti around it. Glancing at Mark, she opened the card, causing something to fall in her lap. "What is this? 'Congratulations, Emma, you'll make a terrific Auntie.' Huh?" She picked up what had fallen on her lap and gasped. "Mark . . . I . . . who?"

"My friend Callie and I were together for a while. I think you met her when you were in Seattle. Anyway, we reproduced while we were together," he grinned. "We're still friends even though she's with Erica now."

"Hahn," Emma questioned. Mark nodded. Emma cocked her head to the side and studied the ultrasound. She sighed.

"What's wrong," Mark asked, concerned.

"It's too early to tell the gender!"

/ / / / / / / / / /

Derek had just finished making sure that everything was packed up in the SUV he rented, after moving all of Emma's bags to Mark's vehicle, when another black SUV pulled up in front of them. The passenger door opened and a stunning woman with auburn hair stepped out of the massive SUV. Meredith looked at Derek. "Who . . .?" The question died on her lips when the driver jogged around the front of the vehicle.

"Bones, I asked you to wait," the driver said.

"I'm perfectly capable of . . ."

"Booth," Derek questioned.

"Shep," Special Agent Seeley Booth smiled, looking at him. "We were just looking for you."

"Me," Derek asked, stepping forward to shake the man's hand, "is everything okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah, everything is fine. It's not a professional visit for us or for you. Where are my manners? This is my partner, Dr. Temperance . . ."

"Brennan," Meredith supplied. "I'm sorry, Emma has your books in her living room."

"Right, and I'm Seeley Booth," Booth said.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth," Derek smirked. "This is my girlfriend, Dr. Meredith Grey."

"And this is Dr. Derek Shepherd," Booth said to Bones. "Is that everyone? Great. Where's Emma?"

"Are you coming to the picnic," Derek asked.

"Yeah, I haven't told Lynnette yet, though."

Derek shook his head. "She'll be glad to have you. Mark's here, too."

"Really," Booth asked, shocked. Meredith giggled.

"Why are you so concerned about this Mark person," Bones asked.

"Er . . ."

"Mark is my best friend," Derek said, smiling, "and I came home one day and found him in bed with my wife. Long story short, I ran away to Seattle and met Meredith. I can't exactly be mad at him now that I see the end results."

"Derek, is everything ready to go, I . . . Seeley! What are you doing here?"

Booth smiled as his former partner's widow crossed the sidewalk and flung herself in his arms. He hugged her tightly, chuckling, before putting her back on the ground. She immediately tugged his t-shirt up. "How's your bullet wound? Have you been keeping in clean? If you get an infection . . ."

Booth laughed and pushed Emma's hands away from his chest, pulling his shirt back down. "It's fine. You can check it later, if you want, when we get to your Mom's." Emma narrowed her eyes at him. "She told me I was welcome whenever I wanted, all that I had to do was show up."

"Alright, then," Emma said. "Hi," she greeted, turning to the woman with the auburn hair. "You must be Seeley's girlfriend. I'm Emma Riggs."

"We're partners," the woman corrected. "I'm Temperance Brennan."

"Really," Emma said, "you two would make such a cute couple. Okay, then we'll see you two at Mom's. Mark, I'll keep you company." Mark led the young doctor away as Derek and Booth shared an amused smile. Emma watched as Derek guided Meredith to the passenger door of the SUV with his hand resting on the small of her back. She smiled when she noticed Booth doing the same.

MEREDITH & DEREK

"How do you know Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan?"

"Agent Booth used to be my brother-in-law's partner. Booth was transferred to D.C. and two weeks later Miles was killed."

"I'm sorry," Meredith said.

Derek smiled at her. "Thanks. Anyway, Booth and his family don't get along since he and his ex had a son. They're very devout Catholic."

"So," Meredith questioned.

"Booth and his ex-girlfriend had a son. So it's the pre-marital sex and the child out of wedlock double sin," Derek smiled. "Booth had been spending his holidays with us though, for a while now. I don't know if he has been recently."

"Why did your sister feel him up?"

"No clue," Derek chuckled, "but I'm sure it's an interesting story."

BOOTH & BRENNAN

"See, Bones, that wasn't so bad," Booth said, pulling away from the curb to follow Shep.

"Yes, they were pleasant now but when they find everything out . . ."

"They'll love you, Bones, don't worry so much. The Shepherd's and the Washington's are good people. They take care of their own and take in the rest," Booth told her. "Your dad said just to show them your grandmother's ring, right? Everything will be fine."

"You don't know that for sure," Bones told him, turning to looking at him.

Booth met her gaze for two seconds. "Yes, I do." Bones turned away, causing Booth to smile to himself.

MARK & EMMA

Mark was glad that he waited to tell Emma first. Derek may be his best friend, but Mark couldn't count on him not to be jealous at this point. Derek really wanted a family and he and Grey hadn't been on good terms all that long. They had just pulled away from the curb when Emma pulled the ultrasound out again. "Did you bring a copy for Mom," she asked after a while.

"Yes."

"But you aren't sure she'll want it," Emma guessed. "You'd be giving Mom a lead again. She and Aunt Jocelyn are always try to one up each other in the grandkids department. She'll be so relieved."

"I'm not actually a Shepherd," Mark said quietly.

"They count Duncan, who isn't a Washington, and Duncan's kid," Emma pointed out, "and Mom will need a copy of the sonogram for the Book." She put the sonogram away. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because of last time," Emma said, simply, looking out the front window so she didn't have to look at Mark.

"Yeah, Callie knows about what happened with . . . Addison. She never considered that an option."

"Good. That's good."

"I'm okay. I know that there's nothing that can be done about it now and you can't lose what you never had," Mark said, following the other two SUVs into a right turn.

"I call Bullshit," Emma said. "I know that there's nothing you can do about it and knowing before she went wouldn't have changed anything either. But I know that you made plans, in your head that involved a child. You can't sit there and tell me you're okay. I know better."

"Do you," Mark asked. Emma nodded. "Alright then." The rest of their drive was silent, each lost in thought.

A/N: Not a lot of Bones stuff, but not to worry, more to come.