A/N (03/15/15): Hello friends! As hard as it is to believe, it's been about two and a half years since I last updated one of my stories. My sincere apologies to all of my loyal readers for essentially dropping off the face of the earth, and thank you to everyone who kept reading, reviewing, and messaging me while I was lost in "real life", whatever that is!

I am working my way through this story, tweaking it slightly to take it in a direction that will better bring it to the conclusion I always intended it to reach. I'll be posting the updated versions of the existing chapters in batches until it's all caught up and we get back into new material. Most of the changes are minor in the first 15 or so chapters, but there are a few bigger changes in the later chapters of this new version. So even if you've read the story before, I encourage you to start at the beginning and work your way forward - I'll date all the updated chapters as they go up, so that it is clear what has been updated. Thank you all for your patience!

"Dr. Shepherd, these are the last of the staffing reports for the board meeting tomorrow afternoon. You'll need to review and sign them before you leave tonight so I can get them copied in the morning."

Derek looked up and frowned at the tall blonde smiling at him from the other side of his desk, a thick stack of folders in her hands.

"Remind me again why exactly I wanted this job, Jessica?"

"Because it's what every doctor in this hospital is supposed to want, sir." Jessica shrugged as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You've reached the top of the pyramid. You're sitting at the top of the hospital food chain."

"With all the paperwork and meetings that come with it." Derek sighed and tossed a folder into another pile. "Did you know that I haven't been in an OR even once since I started this job three weeks ago, Jessica?"

"Do you want me to clear your schedule for that?" Jessica set her stack of folders on Derek's desk and whipped out her phone, quickly running her index finger across the screen. "I can get you a whole afternoon free in…um…two weeks from Tuesday?"

Derek shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "I think maybe my surgical days are behind me at this point, Jessica. But I appreciate the thought."

"This may be a little out of line, Dr. Shepherd, seeing as I've only known you the three weeks you've been in this job, but I think maybe you need a girlfriend."

Derek's brow furrowed as he stared at his assistant, trying to figure out exactly hat she was implying.

"Oh God," Jessica gasped when she realized how her statement had sounded. "Not me, of course…definitely not me. That would be completely inappropriate, especially since I'm married. That's definitely not what I meant. I…"

"Thank you for your concern, Jessica," Derek interrupted, holding up his hand to stop her. "Let's just go ahead and keep our personal lives outside the walls of this hospital, shall we? I don't need any sexual harassment lawsuits my first month on the job."

"Good idea, sir," Jessica nodded in relief. "Do you need anything else before I leave for the night?"

"I think that should do for today."

"Alright, well don't forget that you're having breakfast with Dr. Montgomery and the new Chief of Surgery at New York Presbyterian tomorrow morning."

Derek groaned and nodded, having clearly forgotten. "Right, thanks. Remind me what we know about him?"

"Her," Jessica corrected. "Top file in the corner there, sir. It's got her resume and a copy of the press release from when she was hired last month."

"You're the best, Jess," Derek said, grabbing the folder from the stack. "What would I do without you?"

"You don't even want to know," Jessica laughed. "Don't forget that the next time I'm due for a raise, either."

Derek smirked in response. "Good night, Jessica."

Jessica smiled and nodded, shutting the door behind her as she made her way out of the office.

As soon as the door was closed, Derek shoved the folder into his briefcase without opening it. He knew he ought to read it, if for no other reason than to at least learn the name of the woman he was supposed to be meeting tomorrow morning. Somehow, though, he just couldn't bring himself to do one single bit of work more than he absolutely had to that evening.

"Good God, it is freezing out there," Cristina Yang exclaimed, slamming her front door behind her and tossing her coat in the general direction of the hall closet. "Why the hell didn't anyone warn me we were moving to the damn Arctic circle?"

A male laugh coming from the kitchen was her only response.

"You think this is funny? I'm freezing my ass off in this God-forsaken town!"

Owen Hunt laughed as his wife flopped down in a chair at the kitchen table. "You're the one who wanted to move, remember?"

"Yeah, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time," Cristina grumbled. "But the bastards interviewed me in September. They tricked me, it was not this cold in September."

"It was a good idea, and it's still a good idea. We'll just have to get you a warmer winter coat, that's all. And don't go acting like you're a beach baby, either. I've been to one or two of your Smith reunions, that place gets cold in the winter too."

"I hated the cold then, and I hate it now," Cristina insisted. "Maybe we should have stayed in Miami. More old people there with bad hearts to fix. And more sunshine. There's no sunshine in this place."

"There wasn't much sunshine in Seattle, either, but you liked it there just fine," Owen pointed out.

"That's entirely different, and you know it."

"Well, I think you're forgetting that Miami had a hospital board that wouldn't know talent if it bit them in the ass, remember that? Being passed over for Chief twice ringing any bells?"

"Not one of my fonder memories, but thank you for bringing it up, dear," Cristina snapped sarcastically.

"I'm just saying, take it easy on New York, would you? It's got a lot going for it…not the least of which is the fact that you finally have your dream job here."

"I guess," Cristina admitted.

"On a different note, Annie called a few minutes ago."

"Did her plane land alright? Are they on their way?"

Owen nodded and smiled, not missing the way Cristina's whole demeanor brightened at the mention of her goddaughter's name. As much as his wife held up her facade of individuality, he knew she missed her 'family' just as much as he did.

"The flight landed about forty-five minutes ago. They had to get their bags, but I would expect they're on their way as we speak." Owen hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Cristina, I still think we ought to tell Meredith that Annie is going to be here for Thanksgiving."

"Why? It's not like Meredith is going to be here."

"I know, but don't you think she'll be upset if you don't at least tell her that Annie and Will are here?"

"I didn't tell her the last time we went to visit them in Chicago, did I? She'll be fine, Owen. Meredith's a big girl, give her a little credit."

"I just think that with everything that's been going on this year…"

Owen didn't have a chance to finish his argument before being interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

"I'd say we could discuss this later, but I don't think there's anything else to say," Cristina said, shooting him a warning look as she turned to head back to the entryway.

"You get the kid to fall asleep?" Cristina asked a few hours later, motioning for Annie to take a seat next to her on the couch.

"He has a name, Aunt Cristina. You could try remembering it for once."

"I remember your name. Exactly how many others do you expect me to waste valuable mental real estate on?"

Annie rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, don't play dumb. You're perfectly capable of remembering names, and you do it just fine. You're just either too mean or too lazy to use them."

Cristina frowned. "I am not," she protested. "I remember the important things."

"Such as?"

"I remember the day you were born," Cristina said. "I remember the day you were baptized. I remember your first day of school. I remember that awful tantrum you threw the day your mother got married…"

"Hey! I was six years old!"

"Excuses, excuses," Cristina smiled at her goddaughter. "Your brother was six when you got married and he didn't throw a tantrum."

"That's entirely different," Annie pointed out. "His whole life wasn't about to be turned upside down."

"And yours wasn't either, so don't be so dramatic," Cristina said. "You want to talk about lives turned upside down, I remember the day I found out your mother was pregnant with you…"

Cristina didn't bother to know before barging through the front door of Meredith's house, slamming the door behind her as she walked in and looked around. After watching Meredith rush out of a patient's room and into the nearest bathroom for the fourth time in as many days, she was finally certain that she knew exactly what was going on.

Now she just had to get Meredith to admit it so they could do something about it.

"So, just how knocked up are you?"

Meredith looked up from the book she was reading, curled up in the corner of the couch in the living room.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me," Cristina said. "Either you're the world's worst doctor, or you already know that you've got a bun in the oven. And I know for a fact that, even if you aren't quite Cristina Yang caliber, you're half-bad as a doctor. Which, of course, means that you already know that you're pregnant."

Meredith stared at Cristina for a moment, her mouth half open, and debated how to respond. "Nine weeks," she finally conceded, waiting for Cristina to do the math in her head.

"Nine weeks. Nine weeks." Cristina repeated the words to herself, counting backward in her head until the connections finally clicked. "Damn it, Meredith, we started our internship nine weeks ago. Nine weeks ago, you were…with you-know-who…oh shit, Meredith…this is bad."

"Yeah, thanks. I figured that part out on my own."

"I've got to hand it to you, Grey, you've got a real talent for making the most complicated situations even more complicated than I thought possible."

"Your support is overwhelming," Meredith said sarcastically. "Is that what you came here for tonight?"

"No, I came to find out when we're going to the clinic."

"What clinic?"

"The clinic where they'll get rid of the career-killing parasite. Duh," Cristina said. "What other clinic would I be talking about?"

"I'm not sure. I was actually thinking, maybe no clinic at all."

"You want to do it at the hospital?" Cristina frowned but shrugged. "Okay, it's your call, but you know how gossip works in that place, Meredith. It'll be a lot easier to keep people from talking if you to a clinic."

"That's not exactly what I meant," Meredith said hesitantly. "I, um, I kind of meant more that I'm thinking I'm not getting rid of the career-killing parasite."

"You have got to be kidding me," Cristina groaned as she flopped down in a chair. "You're going to transfer out and leave me with Barbie, Bambi, and Evil Spawn? Good God, why don't you send me Larry, Moe, and Curly while you're at it? That's just cruel, Meredith. I'll go insane."

"No, that's not…" Meredith began.

"Where are you going to go, anyway?" Cristina interrupted. "Obstetrics? Dermatology? Geriatrics, maybe?"

"I'm not transferring, Cristina," Meredith said.

"Oh, so we are getting rid of the career-killing parasite," Cristina said, relief in her voice.

"No, I'm not doing that either," Meredith said.

"Okay, I hate to point out the obvious, but are you insane?" Cristina asked. "You know as well as I do that you cannot be a surgeon and a mother, especially not a single mother."

"Well, I'm going to do it," Meredith said.

"You've lost your mind," Cristina said. "First thing tomorrow, I'm taking you for a psych consult."

"Cristina, I'm not crazy. I know it's not going to be easy," Meredith said. "But my mother did it, and I turned out…well, not completely screwed up."

"You really think you can do this?" Cristina asked.

"I have no idea," Meredith said. "But I've been thinking about for almost three weeks now, and I think I have to try. If I don't, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. Maybe I'll fail, maybe I'll have to give up surgery to be a good mother, but I want to at least try first."

"What about…well, you-know-who? The jackass with a wife?" Cristina asked.

"I'm trying to reach him," Meredith said. "Not successfully, so far, but I'm trying. If he wants to be involved, I'll let him, as much as he wants, because I do want this child to grow up with two parents. But if he doesn't want anything to do with it, I'm not going to force him."

"Are you going to tell people he's the father?" Cristina asked.

"Parading around the hospital, announcing that I'm carrying my ex-boss's baby?" Meredith asked skeptically. "I'm pretty sure that would be career suicide."

"Good point," Cristina nodded, pausing for a moment before easing herself out of the chair and motioning for Meredith to stand up. "Alright, get up."

"Why?" Meredith asked in confusion.

"We need to unpack these boxes. If we're going to do this thing, you've got to have a house that looks like someone actually lives in it," Cristina said. "You bring a kid up in a place like this and it really will be screwed up for life."

"…And more importantly than that," Cristina continued. "I remember the day your mother found out that there were two of you in there. Oh man, I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown right then and there."

"I can't even imagine what I'd do if the doctors were to tell me I was having twins. Will and I are barely even sure we'll be able to support two kids, let alone three."

"You'd freak out, just like your mother did, and then you'd pull yourself together, just like she did," Cristina said. "But unlike your mother, you'd have a husband by your side to comfort you and tell you that it was going to be okay."

"Mom had you, and Alex, and…"

Cristina laughed and shook her head. "Annie, I'm pretty sure I told her to shut up and take the emotional crap to someone else. Alex probably said something similar. And Izzie was just so damn perky, she probably thought it was the best news of the year and started shopping for baby scrubs or something. George was probably the only one who had an even halfway appropriate reaction."

"I wish I could remember George," Annie said. "Mom said I would have liked him."

"Nah, you would have hated him. I didn't call him Bambi for nothing, you know. He was too soft for you, that's why he was Evelyn's godfather." Cristina paused for a moment and noted the way Annie was frowning skeptically in her direction. "Okay, fine, you would have adored him. How can you not like the idiot who'd throw himself in front of a bus for a woman he'd never even met?"

"Can I tell you a secret, Cristina? Something you can't tell anyone? Not even Mom?"

"Um…okay," Cristina said hesitantly, surprised by the sudden change in the conversation.

"I haven't even told Will this, so you have to be really sure that you're not going to tell anyone."

"I promise."

"I mean, really, really sure…"

"Oh for heaven's sake, would you just spit it out already?"

"I didn't just come to New York to see you," Annie blurted out. "And I didn't come so that Josh could see the parade, either."

"Then why exactly are you here?"

"To meet my father."