"Alright, Mrs. Shepherd," Officer Peters sighed an hour later as he snapped his notebook closed and stood. "We're going to go talk to this guy, but I can't promise a restraining order without the proper evidence."

"Evidence?" Derek asked, his hand moving in slow circles along Meredith's back. "What kind of evidence do you need?"

"Well, I'm not going to say that his words to your wife didn't matter," Officer Peters said. "But we need to have more solid basis for a restraining order. A threat others have overheard, some sort of attempt at physical violence."

"So you can't make sure my family is safe until they've already been hurt?" Derek snapped.

"No," Officer Peters said. "We're going to be sure to talk to this guy, let him know we're watching and as soon as he makes one wrong move we're jailing his ass. But as for keeping him legally away from you two…I can't do much about that at this point."

"So what do we do?" Meredith asked. "We live in the middle of nowhere, I can't go back there and feel safe."

"I'm sure Emma will be alright with letting you stay here as long as you feel comfortable, Mrs. Shepherd," Office Peters said. "And we'll be sure to let you know as soon as we've brought him in."

"That's it?" Derek demanded. "He threatens my wife, my daughters, and you're just going to give him a slap on the wrist?"

"It's all we can do," Officer Peters sighed. "We'll patrol the house a couple times tonight, make sure everything's alright. And here's my cell phone number if something happens, don't hesitate to call."

"Thank you, Alex," Emma sighed as she stood to walk towards the door. "Please let us know if you need anything else from us."

"Of course, Emma," Officer Peters nodded.

Emma smiled as she closed the door behind him, turning back to the living room and smiling widely at Derek and Meredith. "Alright, who's ready for some spaghetti for dinner?" she asked. "I thought I'd make some garlic bread as well."

"I'm not hungry," Meredith sighed as she reached for Becky and leaned into the couch, holding her daughter close to her.

"Mer, you have to eat," Derek sighed as he reached for Melanie.

"Maybe later," she sighed.

"Why don't you just try a little bit?" Derek asked, running a hand over her hair.

"Okay," she whispered.

"That's my girl," Derek smiled, pressing his lips to her head.

"Come on, dear," Emma smiled. "You can help me while Derek watches the girls. He doesn't get nearly enough alone time with them since he works such unusual hours."

"Just make sure you don't leave her alone in the kitchen," Derek laughed as he took Becky from her arms.

"Not funny," Meredith rolled her eyes, but a small giggle escaped her lips.

"There we are," Derek smiled. "I love the giggle."

"I love you," Meredith sighed, kissing him quickly before she turned to follow Emma into the kitchen.

"Alright, dear, why don't you put the garlic spread on the bread?" Emma sighed as she placed the items on the counter, then reached for the spaghetti pot.

"Sure," Meredith nodded. She settled onto a bar stool and reached for the knife, cutting the bread in two and looking at Emma carefully. "You don't think I'm crazy, right?"

"Of course not," Emma sighed, turning to look at her. "You're scared, dear, and I can't imagine what you must be thinking right now."

"I'm thinking that if I'd never broken up with Derek in the first place none of this would have happened," Meredith whispered, placing the knife on the cutting board and looking down at her hands. "And then we wouldn't be here, putting you in danger."

"Oh, dear," Emma shook her head. "Don't worry about me. This house is plenty safe. I made sure of that after Michael…well, you're safe here."

"I know," Meredith whispered. "And I really appreciate it. It can't be easy to have your grown son barging in here with his paranoid wife and tiny babies."

"I'm more than happy that you're here," Emma nodded. "And you are not paranoid. You're protecting your children."

Before Meredith could respond, there was a series of loud bangs, followed by the sound of shattering glass from the front of the house, and the alarm sounded loudly throughout the house. Meredith jumped off her stool and ran towards the living room, Emma following closely with the phone in her hands.

"Derek," Meredith breathed as she saw him crouched on the behind the couch, holding their wailing daughters close to him. "What happened? What was that? Are you okay? Are the girls okay?"

"I don't know," Derek breathed as she reached out to take Melanie into her arms, running her hands over her closely. "I…I think it was gunshots."

"Derek," Meredith breathed as she leaned into him, kissing him quickly before she pulled back and ran a hand over her daughter's back. "It's okay, Mellie," she whispered. "You're okay."

"What happened?" Emma breathed as she ran back in. "Is everyone okay?"

"We're okay," Derek nodded as he tried to calm Becky's sobs.

"It was him," Meredith breathed, turning to look at him with wide eyes, tears filling them. "Derek, he's seriously trying to hurt you."

"The police are here," Emma sighed as a car pulled into the driveway. "They called in response to the alarm."

"Derek," Meredith whispered, leaning into him. "What…"

"It's okay, Mer," he sighed, pulling her close. "We're fine."

"But you might not have been," she whimpered. "You could have…"

"I didn't," Derek shook his head. "Meredith, we're fine."

"I know," she said, leaning down to kiss the top of Becky's head. "I know."

The doorbell rang a moment later, and a voice followed, stating that it was the Seattle Police Department. "Stay with the girls," Derek ordered as he handed Becky to Meredith and stood, moving in front of his mother to open the door.

"Dr. Shepherd," Officer Peters said as he stepped into the house. "Emma, we've heard the reports of gunshots. We had a lead on the shooter, but we wanted to make sure that there were no injuries."

"You didn't get him?" Meredith exclaimed as she stormed out of the living room. "How could you have not caught him?"

"Mer," Derek sighed, tugging on her hand. "Calm down."

"No, I'm not going to calm down," Meredith replied. "Well, this is at least grounds for a restraining order, isn't it?"

"Mrs. Shepherd," Officer Peters said carefully. "As much as I believe you and want to catch this bastard as much as I do. But there's no way that we could know that he's the one who fired the gun."

"Of course he is!" Meredith shouted. "What kind of cop are you? I'm a better detective after watching Law and Order! Seriously? Seriously!"

"Meredith," Derek sighed, pulling her back into the living room. "You have got to calm down."

"I can't calm down," Meredith gasped, leaning into him and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. "Derek, he's out there and he has a gun and he wants to kill you and our babies. So no, I'm not going to calm down!"

Derek sighed as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I know you're scared," he whispered, rubbing her back tightly. "I know, but it's okay. Everyone's okay, and the police are going to take care of it."

"But they're not," she whispered. "They're not taking care of it, so how am I supposed to calm down?"

"Because I promised I would never let you feel unsafe," Derek whispered. "And we're going to be fine. Why don't we take the girls upstairs and have some family time? They'll love getting to play with the two of us until bed time."

Meredith sighed as she cuddled into him. "Okay," she whispered softly.

"There we go," Derek said. "Are you okay?"

"No," she shook her head. "I will be. As soon as he's gone."

Before Derek could respond, his mother's voice called him and Meredith into the hallway, and he led her into the hallway. "What's going on?" Derek asked, looking between Emma and Officer Peters as he pulled Meredith close.

"Some colleagues of mine found him about a block over," Officer Peters sighed. "We're going to bring him in for questioning, try and get a confession out of him."

Meredith stared at him for a moment before she asked, "So that's it?"

"That's it," Officer Peters nodded. "It may take awhile for him to give it up, but I've got some pretty good detectives working for me. We'll get this taken care of. I'm going to keep a patrol car on the house for the night to ensure that he actually is our guy, but that's just a precaution. Based on what you've told me, I'm just as positive as you are that this guy's behind all of this."

"Good," Meredith breathed, leaning into Derek.

"We're going to have to send a crime scene unit into your living room to look for bullets," Officer Peters said to Emma. "They'll board it up for you as well."

"Thank you," Emma said again as she moved towards the door.

"See Mer," Derek sighed as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "I told you everything would be okay."

"Thank God," Meredith sighed, leaning into him for another moment before she moved back to the living room, pulling Becky out of the play pen. "We're okay, sweetheart. We're safe now."

"Hmm," Derek sighed as he reached for Melanie and moved towards the door. "Let's let the crime scene unit do their job," he said.

"Right," Meredith nodded, following him out of the room.

"Ga ba so la!" Melanie cried as she saw Emma standing in front of the staircase.

"Come here dear," Emma smiled as she reached for Melanie. "How are you two doing?" she asked, looking at Derek and Meredith as she bounced Melanie slightly.

"Okay," Meredith sighed.

"I'm sorry about your house, Mom," Derek said. "We'll take care of getting that fixed."

"There's no need to be sorry," Emma shook her head. "And I'm sure that the insurance will take care of it."

"Well we are sorry," Meredith sighed. "We shouldn't have gotten you involved, but… we didn't know where else to go."

"You can always come here," Emma nodded. "Please don't worry about me. I'm pretty tough for an old lady."

"You're anything but old," Derek laughed, leaning in to kiss her cheek carefully.

"Ba so na lo," Melanie whimpered as she rubbed her eyes slightly.

"Oh princess," Derek sighed as he reached for her. "Are you tired."

"Ba so ma," Melanie whimpered as she leaned into her dad's embrace.

"We should put them down," Meredith whispered as Becky's eyes drifted shut. "They didn't get their second nap today."

"Hmm," Derek nodded. "We'll be right back down, Mom."

"No hurry," Emma smiled as she watched Derek and Meredith disappear up the stairs.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Derek asked as he set Melanie on the bed and reached for a clean diaper.

"A little shaken up," Meredith nodded, starting to change Becky. "But…relieved."

"Me too," Derek nodded, slipping Melanie into her pajamas and kissing the top of her head. "We're okay."

"We're more than okay," Meredith nodded as she settled Becky into the crib they'd set up in Derek's old room.

"We are," he nodded, as he placed Melanie beside her sister and pulled Meredith close, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin against her shoulder. "They're amazing."

Meredith smiled as she ran her fingernails gently up and down his arms, watching as Melanie's hand found Becky's even though they were both sound asleep. "They're perfect," she nodded.

"I can't believe how lucky we are," Derek whispered. "We have this amazing house, a completely wonderful marriage, and the most perfect babies in the entire world."

"Hmm," Meredith nodded, leaning back into him. "Even if my husband is lame and corny."

"I'm not lame and corny," Derek frowned.

"You kind of are," Meredith giggled as she turned in his arms. "But it's okay. I love you anyways."

"I love you too," he whispered, pressing his lips to hers.

Meredith sighed as she moved to sit down on the bed, smiling as he followed her, sitting down next to her and brushing some hair out of her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," Meredith smiled, lacing her fingers through his. "Just thinking of everything I could have lost. In one moment."

"But you didn't," Derek pointed out softly.

"I know," Meredith breathed. "And I'm so grateful for that."

"But…" Derek prompted.

"But I don't know how I'm going to be able to not think about it," Meredith whispered. "I don't want to look at you or the girls for the rest of my life and be desperate not to come that close to losing you again. I don't want to live in fear."

"You won't," Derek shook his head. "It might take a little while, but you won't live in fear forever. You've got a lot of other things to think about."

"I do," Meredith smiled softly.

"Mmmhmm," Derek nodded, leaning forward to kiss her. "You've got to think about being a good mom….About being a good teacher…a good wife."

"I do have to make sure my husband is…satisfied," Meredith giggled slightly as she reached up to cup his face in her hands.

"Too bad you can't satisfy me now," Derek breathed.

"Our daughters are in the room," Meredith giggled, pulling back and taking his hand again.

"And that would be very bad."

"Very very bad."

"Are you hungry?" Derek murmured.

"Starving," Meredith sighed as she reached into their diaper bag, pulling out the baby monitor.

"My girl's always prepared," Derek smiled as she set the base unit up on the nightstand.

"It's part of being a mom," she sighed as she stood, taking his hand and pulling him towards the door. "Let's go."

"Bossy," Derek smirked.

"I'm a mom," Meredith shrugged. "And a teacher. That means double bossiness."

"Good thing I think it's hot when you're bossy," Derek laughed against her lips.