A/N: Sadly, this is the end of this story. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, I appreciated them all. I'm not sure that I'll be doing a third part, it depends if I can think of a good plot. I'll be posting my next fic Stillwithin the next couple of days. I hope you enjoy this last part, even if it is another time jump. I know you guys didn't really like those, but I wanted to wrap the story up, and the only way I could think to do so was to do the time jumps. Anyway, thank you for all your support, and enjoy this last chapter!
Epilogue: 2 Years, 3 Months Later
Meredith was exhausted. In her opinion, being Chief Resident was not all it was cracked up to be. Yes, she knew that it looked great on her résumé and when she applied for fellowships, but it was stressful to organize schedules. It had taken a few months, but just like when she was a second year resident and Charlotte was an infant, she managed to find a system that allowed her to be a surgeon, a boss, and a wife and mother all at once. She had already applied and been accepted to Seattle Grace's neurosurgery fellowship, which made Derek ecstatic because now that they built their dream house, he never wanted to move. And Meredith understood why perfectly; right now, after her ten hour day today, all she wanted to do was sit on the patio overlooking the cliff with her family and a glass of wine, ending the night with birthday sex from Derek.
Well, that may not have been her first choice of activities for the evening, but it was just as rewarding. She had wanted to spend a little time with her friends tonight, after all, she turned thirty today, but they were all working or busy, so she would get to spend more time with her family.
However, when Meredith pulled up to her house, instead of light coming through the various windows, the house was in total darkness.
"That's weird," Meredith muttered to herself, trying to recall the day's events. She had seen Derek a couple of times, and he told her that he would stop by the daycare after his shift, so Meredith was going to come straight home. He should have been home at least two hours ago, but maybe he got pulled into an emergency surgery. She checked her phone, no texts or missed calls. She would check the house phone, and if she didn't see a message, she would give Derek a call.
She unlocked her door, flipping on the hall light before heading into the living room, still filled with darkness. She felt along the wall of the living room until she found the switch, flipping it on.
"Surprise!" voices shouted at Meredith as Meredith's eyes adjusted to the light, but as she took in the scene, a smile crept across her face. There were balloons and streamers decking the walls, a banner proclaiming "Happy Birthday" strung over the fireplace. She glanced around at the guests, her friends, a few colleagues, her mother-in-law, Amelia and Liz, her half-sister Lexie, and finally, Derek. He was standing right in the middle of the room, laughing and clapping along with the rest of the guests. He winked at her, moving closer to the entrance to the living room, where she felt like she was rooted to the floor.
"Happy birthday," he said loudly when he reached her, getting the attention of the entire room in the process. "Were you surprised?"
"You did all this?" Meredith said with surprise. "And your mother and sisters came out?"
"Well, only Liz and Amelia, Nancy and Kathleen couldn't make it," Derek said. "But of course I did all this, and they would come out. Turning thirty is a big deal; I seem to remember you throwing me a party for my birthday."
"Mhm, yeah," Meredith said, smiling at the memory. "We got engaged that night."
"We did," Derek replied, returning her smile.
"Where are the kids?" Meredith asked, scanning the room.
"They should be out in a second; they had some last minute pictures they wanted to color for Mommy." As if on cue, Meredith heard the running of tiny feet over the chatter of the guests, the first to reach her was Charlotte, and Meredith immediately crouched down to embrace her as she ran into Meredith's arms.
"Happy Birthday Mommy. I made you a picture," Charlotte said, holding up a paper filled with colored scribbles.
"Oh thank you Charlotte, it's so pretty," Meredith said, giving her three year old a hug. Her hair was still golden blonde, the color of Meredith's, but it was curly and unruly like her husband's, and her eyes were distinctly Derek's. Charlotte resembled Meredith more than Derek in terms of facial features, which soon became Derek's excuse for spoiling Charlotte, stating that when their daughter pouted or looked sad, she looked so much like Meredith that he could never say no. she always rolled her eyes when he said it, but she knew it was true; Derek hated seeing her upset.
"I love you baby girl," Meredith said, pressing a kiss on her daughter's forehead as she took the picture.
"Love you too Mommy," Charlotte said, wrapping her small arms around Meredith's neck before stepping back. "Can I go play?"
"You can, but you need to stay in the playroom, or I won't call you for cake," Meredith said seriously.
"Okay," Charlotte agreed, turning around and running towards the back of the house.
"And no running!" Meredith called after her, but was soon distracted when she saw two small figures walking somewhat unsteadily towards her, Derek walking closely behind them in case they fell.
Caroline Marie Shepherd and Christopher Derek Shepherd were eleven months old. It had taken Meredith and Derek a little longer than expected to get pregnant again, but had discovered that they were a couple of months before Charlotte's second birthday, and Derek was pleased when they found out that the approximate date of conception was in September, on their ten year anniversary (of being together, not marriage). The twins were supposed to be due in June of the following year, but due to complications they were delivered at seven months in April. Though both Meredith and Derek had been terrified of all of the potential complications, their babies turned out to be completely healthy, even a little advanced.
Caroline, moving a little faster than her brother, reached Meredith first. "Mama!" she exclaimed, waving a piece of paper in front of her.
"Hi Caroline!" Meredith said back, scooping her daughter into her arms and taking the picture. "Did you make this for me?"
"Mama," Caroline repeated, pointing at the paper again.
"Thank you sweetie, it's beautiful," Meredith said, running her hands through her daughter's hair. Like Charlotte, Caroline favored Meredith, but only in her facial features. Her bone structure was very similar to Meredith's and she looked just like Meredith and Charlotte did when they were her age, which, like with Charlotte, made Derek putty in Caroline's hands. And like Charlotte, Caroline had Derek's eyes, but also had dark, black hair that was already trying to curl as it grew.
"Someone else has a present for you," Derek said as Christopher finally reached his mother, lifting him up so Meredith could take him, and shifting Caroline into Derek's arms.
Christopher was the clone of Derek, pure and simple. If they hadn't already decided to use Derek's middle name for their son's first name and make Derek the middle name, Meredith might have contemplated calling him Derek. He looked exactly like Derek, right down to the smile. Derek had been so excited when they found out that one of the twins was a boy, and even more thrilled when he looked saw how much his son resembled him. Meredith loved how much Christopher looked like Derek, and just as Charlotte and Caroline's pouting effected Derek, Meredith was equally swayed by a McDreamy smile from Chris.
"Hey Buddy," Meredith cooed, bouncing her son on her hip. Christopher immediately wrapped his arms around Meredith's neck and pressed his face against her cheek, trying to imitate the kisses he so often received from his parents.
"How was your day bud? Did you do anything fun today?" Meredith directed the question to Chris, rubbing his back.
"Mama," Christopher sighed looking around the room at all of the people.
"He had a lot of fun helping with the decorations," Derek provided the response. "I think he's a little tired because he wore himself out playing with the streamers and balloons."
"Did you help Daddy set up Mommy's surprise?" Meredith asked Christopher.
"Ya Mama," Chris answered, bobbing his head once in what Meredith assumed was a nod.
"Well thank you Chris, you are the best little boy ever," Meredith said, tickling Chris' tummy and getting a laugh in response.
"Mama," Caroline said, pouting and upset that she wasn't getting enough attention.
"I know sweetie we're being totally unfair to you," Derek laughed, spinning his daughter around briefly so she would smile.
"Wanna put them in the playpen so we can socialize for a while?" Derek asked, gesturing to the pen in the corner of the room.
"Yeah," Meredith agreed, giving Christopher a quick kiss. "Okay Chris, we're going to put you down for a little while to play with your sister, but Mommy and Daddy will come get you soon." Meredith placed Christopher down, leaning over to give Caroline a kiss after Derek put her in the playpen.
"We'll be back guys," Derek agreed, but the two were already distracted by all of the toys in the pen.
"I can't believe they're going to be one next month," Meredith sighed.
"I know, but you should be happy, you weren't sure we would survive having two infants in the house at the same time," Derek said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"Yeah, well Charlotte was right in the middle of the terrible twos and throwing tantrums every other day. It was rough," Meredith replied.
"I know, but we did a good job," Derek said, kissing the top of her head.
"I like to think so," Meredith smiled.
A few hours later, Meredith was talking to Cristina and Alex when she heard a ruckus from the kitchen. Suddenly, the lights were dimmed, and she could hear her children's voices quickly as the guests went quiet.
"Cake!" Charlotte exclaimed, walking into the living room ahead of Derek, who was holding a large sheet cake with what Meredith assumed were exactly thirty candles.
"Ake! Ake ake!" Caroline and Christopher chanted repeatedly, toddling behind Derek.
"Happy Birthday to you," Derek sang as he moved to the table in the center of the room, the other guests joining in on the song. Derek moved to stand on the same side of the table as Meredith, the twins following as Charlotte pulled a chair up to the table, in between her parents, and stood on it to get a better view. As the guests continued singing, Meredith bent down to pick up Caroline, Derek doing the same with Christopher.
"Happy Birthday to you!" their friends finished, clapping and cheering.
"Hey baby," Meredith cooed, and Caroline tore her eyes away from the candles to look up at her mother with wide eyes. "Wanna help Mommy blow out her candles?"
"Bow?" Caroline repeated.
"Yes, like this," Meredith said, showing her daughter how to blow out the candles, which she promptly imitated.
"Me too Mommy?" Charlotte cut in.
"Of course baby girl," Meredith smiled, reaching down to stroke her daughter's blonde hair. "And Chris can help too."
"What about me?" Derek asked, fake pouting.
"I don't know…" Meredith trailed off.
"Yes Mommy, Daddy has to help too!" Charlotte insisted.
"Fine," Meredith sighed, winking at Derek.
"Come on, hurry it up before the wax gets all over the cake!" Cristina shouted, and Meredith rolled her eyes.
"Ready guys? When Mommy counts to three, we're all going to blow out the candles really hard," Derek said, smiling at his family. At the count of three, all five Shepherds blew out the candles on the cake, getting every last one, and cheers erupted among the crowd.
"Wait!" Izzie exclaimed as Meredith moved to grab a knife and cut the cake. "You guys look really cute; we need to take a picture!"
Meredith heard Alex and Cristina groan, but she laughed. "Sure Iz, we would love to. We don't have enough of the five of us; either Derek or I are always snapping the picture."
"Great!" Izzie exclaimed, grabbing the camera
"Alright, is this the pose we want," Meredith said, waving her hand to signify the location of the kids.
Derek thought for a second. "Let's switch. You give me Caroline and take Christopher. That way the male to female ratio of the picture will be evenly balanced."
"Ever the artistic one," Meredith laughed as she took Christopher from Derek, who once again wrapped his arms around Meredith's neck. "You're an idiot."
"Your idiot though," Derek shot back.
"True," Meredith agreed beaming.
"Alright everyone, say cheese!" Izzie said as she came back with the camera.
"Smile buddy," Meredith said, tickling Christopher to elicit a giggle as she faced the camera.
Two weeks later, when Meredith had the picture framed and hung on the mantle of the fire place, she stared at it for a long moment. They all looked so blissfully happy in the picture, and Meredith loved it. Her family was perfect; her children were happy and healthy, and she had a husband who loved her more than anything.
She felt a pair of arms snake around her waist, and she leaned back into Derek's familiar warmth. "We look pretty good," he said softly.
"Yeah, we do," Meredith agreed, her hands gripping the arms around her waist.
"I can't believe we've been married almost seven years," Derek mused, kissing her neck softly.
"I can't believe we met over eleven years ago," Meredith countered.
"Feels like yesterday."
"It does," Meredith said, twisting in his arms so she was facing him. She looped her arms around her neck, pulling him as close to her as she could. "And I wouldn't change a single second of it."
Derek smiled. "I think I would change a few things," he admitted, but noticing Meredith's shocked expression, he became quick to explain. "Nothing about you, never. Just some of my decisions."
"No," Meredith shook her head firmly. "If we did that, we may not be where we are now. I love where we are now, and everything is perfect. We have three beautiful, healthy, happy children, and we have a fantastic relationship, so even if we have regrets, we can't change them, and honestly, I'm not sure I would want to."
He kissed her then, capturing his lips with hers and easing his tongue into her mouth. After several long moments, he finally pulled away, needing to breath. "God, I love you so much," Derek said, his hands squeezing her hips.
"I love you too," Meredith said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Forever."
"Forever." Derek confirmed