Epilogue: Twenty Years Later
Today was the day, the day the Shepherds had been waiting for, what had seemed like forever. Derek remembered the day he came home to Meredith a week before deployment to tell her it would for sure be his last; it was time for him to retire. When he went from enlisted to a warrant officer, he and Meredith knew he would put in over 20 years. He was hopeful he could retire before this last deployment, but the squadron needed him, and he was just over 22 years. Derek was 48 years old now, Meredith was 45.
Through the years and the deployments, Meredith and Derek always remembered that this day would come and there would be no more deployments. They also decided to settle in his most recent duty station, back at Oak Harbor, Washington, the place where it all began. They loved the Pacific Northwest out of all of the places they had been. Each duty station wanted Meredith to work as a civilian on base training and working with the pilots and the leaders of the squadron. Naval Air Station Whidbey Island was glad to have her back for the last 3 years and she was going to continue to work with them. They had decided it would be nice for Derek to have some time off before deciding what he might do.
"Finally." Derek grabbed Meredith in for a hug and kiss the second the retirement ceremony was over, and he had stood in a line for what seemed like hours, greeting everyone who had come to his retirement. His entire family had flown in, including, his mom and dad, who had both just turned 70.
"How does it feel?" Meredith wrapped her arms around her husband, looking brightly up at him.
"If I tell you the honest answer, we may be arrested for indecent exposure." Derek leaned down to give Meredith a kiss.
"Hm, are you sure you are retiring today? It seems we are definitely going just as we were 22 years ago." Meredith said quietly to him.
"I am definitely retiring. I never thought this day would get here. Now, we will be going even stronger." Derek said with a smug grin.
"No more deployments." Meredith beamed.
"I just wish Blake was still home, since I will be home now." Derek sighed, looking over to his oldest son who had just turned 19.
"Yeah. I am so glad he got to make it in town for this. He wasn't sure, but with a mother who was a legendary pilot and a grandmother who practically ran the entire fleet, things can be worked out." Meredith smirked to Derek. They joked about stuff like this all of the time.
"Not to mention a grandfather who DID lead the entire enlisted fleet and a dad who saw all sides of the navy."
"Can you believe he is 19?" Meredith said, looking over at her oldest who was dressed in his uniform from the Naval Academy. They couldn't have been prouder when they got the call saying he had been selected for the Academy. Blake couldn't wait to become a pilot and be one of the greats.
"I still remember the day he was born. It was one of the scariest days of my life, next to the day of your accident." Derek mumbled, thinking about it.
"I don't remember the day of my accident, but yes, Blake's birth was really scary."
Derek had been home from deployment for a week and was excited to be driving Meredith to her doctor's appointment today. Meredith had sent him the video through email of the sonograms as well as the heartbeat, but he was excited to go with her. He moved his hand to her stomach as they drove.
"What are you laughing about?" Derek asked.
"You." Meredith smiled, resting her hand on top of his.
"What about me?"
"You can't keep your hands off my stomach. What are you going to do when I don't have one anymore?"
"Hmmm. I will probably have the baby to tend to." Derek was so excited when thinking about all he would do with the baby.
"Yeah. We will be exhausted." Meredith sighed.
Derek glanced over at her. She was the most beautiful he had ever seen her, but she was starting to look exhausted already and she still had a few weeks to go. "Are you okay?"
"I am fine. Just really tired this morning. My back is hurting a bit."
"You didn't tell me." Derek frowned but concentrated on driving.
"It isn't anything. I am pregnant, huge pregnant. It is going to happen." Meredith sighed and winced suddenly feeling a pain in her lower back.
"Meredith." Derek didn't miss her wincing.
"I am fine. Let's just get to the doctor's office." Meredith said trying to breathe.
They drove the rest of the way in quiet, while holding hands, both nervous but neither trying to show it. Meredith and Derek walked in the doctor's office and as Meredith was signing in another pain shot through her stomach, this time causing her to let out a whimper.
"You aren't okay." Derek said worriedly as he helped her sit down.
"We need to see the doctor." Meredith said looking up at Derek with tears in her eyes.
Derek turned to the receptionist who had been watching and without Derek saying a word, she said, "I am going to go get someone up here right now."
Derek sat in the seat next to Meredith and rubbed her belly gently. "I am here baby. I love you."
"Mrs. Shepherd." The nurse walked into the lobby.
Meredith attempted to get up but sat back down with another pain. The nurse looked worriedly at Derek. "How long has she been like this?"
"I think all morning, but she just told me in the car." Derek continued to worriedly keep his eyes on Meredith.
"It just started, the pain just started. I did feel…" She winced and continued again, "uncomfortable this morning."
"Let me go talk to Dr. Hamilton. She may want to send you on to the hospital and meet you there." The nurse said.
"Thank you." Derek said politely, but worried about his wife beside him.
"It hurts Derek. It hurts so bad." Meredith cried in pain.
Dr. Hamilton walked out quickly and sat on the other side of Meredith. "Meredith, what hurts?"
"My back. It is like pain is shooting through it going to my stomach." Meredith breathed as Derek held her the entire time.
"Let's not waste anytime. We need to get her over to the hospital so I can monitor her immediately." The doctor said quickly, standing up and looked to Derek, "Why don't you help her walk over there and I will meet you there. You can get your car later." They were thankful the hospital was next door.
"Ohhhhh." Meredith cried out in pain louder than she had before, grabbing her back.
Dr. Hamilton looked at Derek. "We need to get her there. We have a wheelchair, and I am going to walk with you guys." She looked down at Meredith, "Hold on for just a few minutes so we can get you to the hospital. Can you do that Meredith?"
"Hurts. Sharp pain through my abdomen." Meredith yelled.
"Get her somewhere damnit." Derek screamed at the doctor, desperately needing to make sure she is okay.
The doctor moved to the wheelchair while Derek did everything, he could to get Meredith in it. "Hold on baby. We are hurrying." Derek said with panic laced all through his voice.
Meredith cried out the entire time he wheeled her to the hospital with the doctor closely beside them, worry showing throughout her face as well. She called ahead to the maternity wing so that Meredith would be able to go straight up the second she got there.
"The second we get up there, I am not going to worry about trying to get her in a gown and all of that. I am going to need you to keep her calm and get her clothes out of the way so that I can examine her." The doctor barked to Derek.
"Okay. What do you think?" Derek was cut off before he could finish.
"I have a few ideas, but you can't panic. She is going to need you to stay strong." She told Derek as if Meredith wasn't there. He looked down at Meredith who was in so much pain, she wasn't paying attention to their side conversation.
Derek was more than glad to walk in the hospital and into a room with all of the machines ready to go. The doctor worked quickly to get her hooked up to the monitors to at a minimum get the heartbeat. Derek continued to watch her closely while holding Meredith's hand and trying to keep her spirits up.
"Heartbeat is erratic." The doctor said while getting the sonogram hooked up.
"My fucking back." Meredith yelled out loudly.
"It could be her back." Derek swallowed hard.
"Yeah. I am hoping it is just back labor." The doctor said hopefully.
"Well, find out damnit." Derek yelled loudly as Meredith cried out in pain yet again. Derek would do anything to take this pain away from Meredith.
"Mr. Shepherd, you may have to leave if that continues." The doctor said in a warning tone, but a calm tone as the baby showed up on the screen.
"We have to get him, now. Nurse, please prepare an OR immediately. Mr. Shepherd, I am going to have to ask you to wait out in the waiting room." The doctor said in a professional tone while Meredith lay crying from the pain.
"No. I have to be in there." Derek said refusing to leave Meredith's side as the nurse started to wheel her bed out of the room.
"You can't. Why don't you stay right in here, it is closer than the waiting room actually. I am not sure what condition I am going to find. I will have a nurse keep you updated. In fact, once the baby is out, I will have them get you to cut the cord and hold him. In the meantime, I am going to be working on Meredith. I am going to go ahead and call in a surgeon, neuro and ortho given her past history with her accident." The doctor said matter-of-factly to Derek not giving him an option.
Derek lovingly looked at his wife who was in the worse pain he had ever seen. He tried to hold in the tears that were pooling in his eyes, "I love you. I am here, I will be here. I love you, Meredith Shepherd." He kissed her tenderly.
"I… love. Oh Shit!" She tried to get out the I love you, but it was impossible with another sharp pain hitting her hard. The doctor signaled to the nurse to go ahead and role Meredith out to the OR.
"She has to be okay. She is the love of my life." Derek said with tears streaming down his face.
"I am going to do everything I can. In just a few minutes, you will have a beautiful baby boy." That was something the doctor was pretty sure about. What she wasn't sure about was the condition of the baby's mother.
"That was the scariest four hours of my life. I was holding Blake while all the time praying that it wasn't just going to be Blake and I alone. When the nurse came out and said you were in recovery from the surgery, I was so thankful. Although they told me it would be a tough recovery, with the scar tissue they had removed from that area in your lower back." Derek sighed in relief, thinking back to how glad he was to find out she was okay.
"I remember waking up to you sitting beside my bed, holding Blake." She smiled up at him.
"Yes, you had woken up a few times before, but that is the first one you weren't highly doped up." Derek laughed.
"That was always an experience." Meredith knew morphine was a friend, but sometimes too good of a friend.
"We defied the odds." Derek looked again at his two younger girls who were 12 and 14, Remington and Kendall.
"Dr. Hamilton wasn't happy when we got pregnant with Kendall." Meredith giggled.
"Yeah, she put you on strict bed rest at the 6th month."
"I thought I was going to die but was glad you weren't on deployment for that pregnancy." Meredith wasn't one to be helpless, but did what she could to have him home for the entire pregnancy. He was due to deploy about 2 months before her due date; however, the squadron was very helpful in making arrangements for him to stay home until after the baby was born.
"Yeah, it about killed me not being home for Remi's birth, but I was home for most of the pregnancy." Derek hated being gone for her birth, but it was unavoidable this time and since Meredith delivered perfectly okay for Kendall, they weren't as accommodating to let him stay home.
Meredith giggled, "You may want to go over to Kendall before some of these young officers take hold of her." Out of the three kids, Kendall was the one that got the best looks from both parents. She had made homecoming court this past year at the high school and was on the cheerleading squad who had just won nationals. Meredith wasn't sure about the cheerleading thing at first, but she had always been good at gymnastics and dance, so it suited her.
"I will kill him." Derek walked over to his middle child, keeping hold of Meredith's hand.
"Hey daddy. Do you know Brad?" His daughter giggled just like her mother.
"Brad." Derek shook his hand as Brad stuck it out first.
"Brad was just telling me he just was transferred into this squadron and didn't really know you." Kendall said beaming from ear to ear.
"So, he wouldn't know that you are only 14 and very much under the legal age for someone who is at least 22 being he has graduated from college to be an officer." Derek smiled coyly at Brad.
Brad started stuttering, "Sir, I didn't know. I haven't done anything, just talking to her. She really is beautiful. I mean, she is pretty Sir. But, that is it. Nothing more."
Derek couldn't help but laugh, "Why don't you go and get something to eat while I talk with my daughters here."
"Yes sir." Brad walked off hurriedly.
"Dad." Kendall said with her hands on her hips, not amused by his little show.
"Kendall." Derek said right back.
"Mom, tell him he is being unfair." Kendall looked to her mother to get her out of this one.
"Honey, your father is right. But give him a few years, sounds like he will still be around." Meredith winked to her daughter.
"I doubt a man like him will be single in a few years." Remington spoke up who was a spitting image of her mother except for the nose. She was actually born with Meredith's nose, but a volleyball game caused it to be more like her fathers after the ball planted right on it. It hadn't stopped her; she was already playing Varsity as their primary setter.
"No one asked you." Kendall said.
"Whatever." Remington rolled her eyes.
"Girls, this is your father's day. Let's try to be a normal, civilized family." Meredith laughed, knowing that most of the time the girls did get along, but being only 2 years apart, sometimes things got interesting in the Shepherd household, especially when it had to do with boys. Only in the last year, did things started tensing up in that department.
Remington smiled at her father, "I am proud of you dad, but I don't plan on following in either of your footsteps, nor Blake's. I am pretty sure grandma still doesn't understand." Ellis moved to Seattle, two hours from them and was still going strong for someone 68 years old. She had been mingling since the minute the retirement ceremony was over, catching up with some old friends.
Derek leaned over to kiss the forehead of his youngest child, "We have always told each one of you to be you and do what you want to do as long as you do something to make you happy."
"What's up over here, family meeting I am missing out on?" Blake asked as Mark and Lexie walked up with him.
"Definitely not." Meredith hugged her son, ecstatic he was able to come in for this. They had not seen him in over 6 months which has been the hardest on Meredith.
"So, the navy will never be the same now that we are gone." Mark said loudly, patting his best friend and brother on the back. Mark had retired three years earlier as a Senior Chief. He and Lexie kept things quiet for a little while, but when she got pregnant, things quickly came out. But they hadn't been happier together.
"No, but we have a Shepherd and a Sloan coming up to take our place." Derek said grinning at his son.
"Yeah, Jamie wanted to come, but she has been busy and needed to stay and study for some tests we have coming up." Blake explained. They were best friends and roommates. However, Meredith and Derek can clearly tell that Jamie and Blake are in love with each other. Both families were glad when they were appointed together, but in different places. Maybe something will eventually happen between the two? The Sloan family had been transferred to San Diego on navy orders for some years, but had recently moved back to Oak Harbor to retire close to the Shepherd's.
"Busy with what?" Lexie asked curiously.
"Oh, you know, school and stuff." Blake smirked.
"How about we get Izzie and Alex and go to the house. We have some things to throw on the grill and cold beer icing down." Derek suggested.
"Sounds like a plan." Meredith smiled, looking around at her family and friends.
The Shepherds, the Sloans, and the Karevs walked out of the hanger for the last time together. None of them turned back as they had closed a chapter in their book, ready to open a new one.
The forces are great in our lives, pushing and pulling us in all directions. We have to stay focused on the goal ahead and no force is too great to steer us wrong.