A/N: Here we are, finally jumping forward a bit to the big Thanksgiving trip. Originally, I wasn't going to write the actual road trip, but there were some things that I just couldn't logically fit into the actual scenes at the Shepherd house, so I decided to have a little fun and show you guys some snippets from Derek and Meredith's road trip.

Thank you all for continuing to read and review! I appreciate your patience with the delay in getting up the chapters. Jury duty will probably last at least another week and a half, so it'll be at least that long before the updates become regular again. Thanks for sticking with me!

"Seriously, Meredith, did you pack rocks in this thing?" Alex groaned as he lugged Meredith's suitcase down the stairs early one morning a few weeks later.

"I thought you were supposed to be the jock, Alex," Meredith laughed. "Where's all that wrestling strength?"

"You're just lucky you're not flying," Alex pointed out. "This thing would never meet the weight limits."

"Oh, stop complaining and go put it in Derek's car," Meredith instructed as Alex dragged her bag out the door.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Lexie asked.

"We've been over this a dozen times," Meredith pointed out. "I'll be fine, Lexie. And yes, if I'm not, I'll call you so you can fly out and kick their asses."

"Hey!" Derek protested. "Not that I approve of anyone being mean, but that's my family!"

"And Meredith's my family," Lexie said. "What's your point?"

"I'd do the same if Pierce's family was mean to Lexie," Meredith said.

"Please don't remind me that I have to do this meet the family thing too," Lexie said. "His mother is more than enough, and I've only talked to her on the phone."

"And now you get to meet his brother," Meredith teased. "And his sisters, and his father, and his cousins, and…"

"Would you just go already!" Lexie laughed.

"Seriously, have fun, Lex," Meredith said, hugging her sister goodbye.

"You too, Mer," Lexie replied.

"So, Lexie's off to meet the family too, is she?" Derek asked as they started their long drive to his mother's house.

"She's so scared," Meredith said, shaking her head. "She's probably more nervous than I am. I don't think she really wants to meet them at all."

"So why is she going?" Derek asked.

"Because he's met her family," Meredith said. "And they've been together for almost eight months. He's ready for her to meet his family, so she's going. It was sort of a trade off for them. She does Thanksgiving with his family, he does Christmas with us."

"Us?" Derek asked.

"Well, I was kind of hoping you'd want to stay in Seattle for Christmas," Meredith admitted. "I mean, I know you love your family, and I'm sure they do a great Christmas, but I already promised Molly I'd be there for Christmas – actually, I told her we could have it my house – and if you want to go be with your family, I'll understand, but if you stay, well, it'll be our first Christmas together. And I don't usually care about sappy things like that, so I hope you're happy, you've turned me into a sap."

"You are not a sap," Derek laughed. "You listen to Cristina too much, you could never be a sap. And I would love to have Christmas with you and Lexie. I think it's only fair, Thanksgiving with my family, Christmas with yours."

"Well, it won't just be Lexie," Meredith said cautiously.

"How many people are we talking here?" Derek asked.

"Probably close to twenty," Meredith said.

"Where exactly are you going seat everyone at your house?" Derek asked.

"I have no idea," Meredith admitted. "But my house is much bigger than Molly's or George's, and since pretty much everyone else lives with me, that sort of limited our options."

"We could have it at my house," Derek suggested.

"I don't know, I wouldn't want to force us all on you," Meredith said nervously.

"Meredith, you wouldn't be forcing anything," Derek assured her. "I'd love to have you and your family at my house for Christmas."

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," Meredith agreed. "There are going to be a lot of us. Maybe even on par with your family."

"Who exactly are you inviting to this Christmas party?" Derek asked.

"Well, obviously Molly's coming, and her husband Eric, and of course Laura. Plus Eric's parents are coming, and Molly wants to invite her aunt – Susan's sister, not Thatcher's, mind you. Then there's Lexie and Pierce, plus Alex, Izzie and Cristina. I'm sort of hoping Cristina will bring Rick along, since she's still seeing him, even if she won't admit it to anyone. George and Callie are coming, and we were thinking of inviting Mark, plus Dr. Bailey and her family. And Addison and Kevin are coming too."

"I think I can handle that," Derek said.

"Meredith," Derek whispered, nudging her shoulder as she leaned against the window, sound asleep. "Meredith, wake up."

"Mmm," she muttered sleepily. "What time is it?"

"It's about 8 o'clock," Derek said. "Your cell phone's been ringing off the hook for about ten minutes. I wasn't sure you'd appreciate me answering it, but it's driving me nuts."

"Hold on, I'll get it," Meredith said, still a bit groggy from her short nap. Pulling out her ringing phone, she flipped it open without checking the caller ID.

"Hello?" she said.

"Took you long enough to answer the phone, Grey," the female voice on the other end of the line replied.

"Hi, Addison," Meredith said. "I can't help it if too much time in a confined space with Derek puts me to sleep."

Meredith grinned as Derek pretended to be deeply hurt by her insinuations.

"Well, I'm just glad you picked up," Addison said. "Because I have some big news."

"Is that so?" Meredith said. "And just what is this big news?"

"We're adopting," Addison said happily. "Kevin and I are adopting a little girl."

"Oh my God," Meredith exclaimed. "Addie, that's fantastic! I didn't even know you guys were talking about that yet."

"Well, we'd talked about it, but we hadn't done anything concrete about it," Addison admitted. "But this opportunity came along, and we just couldn't pass it up."

"What happened?" Meredith asked.

"Kevin was working this drug raid about two weeks ago," Addison explained. "He and his partner found this poor little girl in this run-down apartment, completely abandoned. She's fifteen months old. Social services has spent the last two weeks trying to track down any relatives she might have, but there's no one, other than her drug-addicted mother, who was more than willing to sign away her rights when they asked. She said she never wanted a baby in the first place, which is crazy, because Meredith, this little girl is the most gorgeous baby I've ever seen. Kevin and I just got approved as emergency foster parents, and they're going to fast-track our petition to adopt her."

"Oh, Addie, that's wonderful," Meredith said. "Is she alright, physically at least, you know, after everything?"

"She was pretty malnourished, so they've had her in the hospital as a precaution, but we get to bring her home tomorrow," Addison said. "She's going to need to be monitored closely as she gets older, just to make sure there aren't any lingering side effects, but things look good right now. I'm just glad we found her now, before she was old enough to remember any of this. Would you believe that her mother didn't even have a name for her? She just called her 'the kid'."

"That's awful," Meredith said. "Some people really have no business having children. Did you and Kevin give her a name?"

"Jessica Eileen," Addison said. "After Kevin's mother and grandmother."

"It's beautiful, Addie," Meredith said. "Now, I hope you've got pictures to send me."

"Already waiting in your inbox," Addison said.

"And you'll be bringing her up for Christmas, right?" Meredith asked.

"We wouldn't miss it," Addison assured her. "Listen, Mer, I've got to go…have a great time with the Shepherds, okay? Don't let the girls give you too much crap, and try to stand your ground with Maggie, she's not nearly as bad as she comes off at first."

"That's comforting, really, Addie," Meredith laughed. "Say hi to Kevin for me, and give Jessie a kiss from me."

"I will," Addison said. "Bye, Meredith."

"Bye, Addison."

As Meredith hung up the phone, she couldn't help but notice the strange looks Derek was giving her. "What?" she asked as she slipped the phone back into her back. "You know Addison and I are friends."

"I know that," Derek agreed. "But it's still just a little bit weird to hear you talking to her on the phone like you would anyone else."

"Okay, this?" Meredith said. "This is why I was concerned about Christmas at your house. Addison is going to be there. Please tell me you can do that without making everyone feel awkward."

"Of course I can," Derek assured her. "And look, I think it's great that you're friends with Addison. We didn't work out – hell, we probably never should have even gotten married, but that doesn't mean I don't like her. Trust me, Meredith, if I can be around Mark all day without killing him, I can handle a holiday with Addison."

"And her husband and daughter?" Meredith asked.

"And her husband and…wait, how does Addison have a daughter?" Derek asked. "When was she pregnant?"

"She wasn't," Meredith said. "They adopted. That's why she called, they just got approved to take Jessica home."

"Seriously, Derek," Meredith whined the next morning. "Does Montana ever end? This state goes on forever!"

Derek laughed. "We're about an hour away from the border, Meredith. We'll be in North Dakota soon enough."

"Are we going to make it through to Minnesota today?" Meredith asked.

"We'd better," Derek said. "Our hotel reservations tonight are in Minneapolis."

"Good," Meredith said as she turned to look at the passing landscape.

"Hey Meredith?" Derek asked a few minutes later, breaking the silence that had fallen over the car.

"Yeah?"

"Are you nervous?" Derek asked.

"Not really," Meredith admitted.

"Oh," Derek said in surprise. "That's good."

Another few minutes of silence ticked past before Meredith finally spoke up. "Should I be nervous, Derek?"

"No, no, of course not," Derek assured her. "It's just, I thought you might be."

"Mark said your mom can be a bit harsh at first," Meredith said.

Derek sighed. "I guess she can be, just a bit."

"Addison said she made her cry the first time you brought her home," Meredith pointed out.

"She told you that?" Derek asked nervously.

Meredith nodded.

"But you're not nervous?" Derek asked.

"But I'm not nervous," Meredith agreed. "I can handle your mother. I think I can even handle your sisters."

"Where'd this burst of confidence come from?" Derek asked in confusion.

"My therapist is a very smart woman," Meredith said. "She really knows how to put things in perspective for me."

"She put my family in perspective?"

"She did," Meredith said. "Think of it this way – you've met my mother and Thatcher, right?"

"Memories I will not soon forget, yes," Derek said.

"Okay, well, can you think of anything that your family could possibly say or do that would be worse than anything my own parents have said or done?" Meredith asked. "Beyond actually murdering me in my sleep, of course."

"Well when you put it that way," Derek agreed. "No, I guess I can't."

"So, as long as I don't forget too many peoples' names, I'll be fine," Meredith said.

"I never did make you that list," Derek realized. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry, I think I've got it figured out," Meredith said.

"How?" Derek asked.

Meredith grinned and reached down into her bag, pulling out a thick stack of flash cards.

"You made flash cards of my family?" Derek laughed.

"No, Mark made them," Meredith said. "He thought I might like to study up before the big trip."

"So do you have it figured out?" Derek asked.

"I think I do," Meredith said proudly. "Want to hear it?"

"Go right ahead," Derek invited.

"Nancy's an OB, married to Nick but they're getting a divorce," Meredith said. "She's got two boys from a previous marriage. Kathleen's a psychiatrist, married to Tom, who's a history professor at Columbia. They've got four girls, one boy. Beth's a pediatrician, married to Sean, who's an ER doctor. They've got four girls, three boys, which is way to many kids, if you ask me. Abby's a stay at home mom, married to Matt, the genius who saved my leg. They've got three girls, one boy."

"Impressive," Derek said. "But when we get there, don't call Matt a genius. It'll go straight to his head."

"Derek Shepherd, if you put that Clash CD in again, so help me God, I will kill you," Meredith snapped as she noticed Derek reaching into the center console as they passed through Pennsylvania Tuesday morning.

"Well, what would you prefer to listen to?" Derek asked as he closed the console.

"I have no idea," Meredith said. "But I've heard that CD at least a dozen times in the last four days and I do not intend to hear it again for the rest of this trip. If I have to, I will snap it in half."

"You're very bossy, you know that?" Derek laughed.

"You like me bossy," Meredith grinned, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "How far away are we?"

"Maybe an hour," Derek said. "Probably a little less. Do you need to stop again?"

"Nah, I'm good," Meredith said. "Let's just get there."

"Are you sure?" Derek asked. "I don't mind stopping if you need to."

"I'm fine," Meredith insisted, wiggling her legs to prove it. "See? No need to slow us down any more. I kind of just want to hurry up and get there. Four days is a long time to be in a car."