"Ava...I think I see some hair baby girl." Meredith smiled proudly before putting the knit cap on her little girl's head. Ava had been off chemo for two months and while Alex and Arizona had run some tests, they had their reasons for waiting to make sure everything was out of Ava's system before declaring remission. They had done the tests two days ago and they would be hearing any day whether or not their little girl had beat cancer. The next two years they would probably be terrified if she was in remission because it could come back but she and Derek had decided that they would only face that if it happened. They weren't going to instill the fear of cancer in their little girl or themselves. They wanted Ava to be a happy and healthy little girl and that meant letting her live life to the fullest. They knew she couldn't do that if she had the idea that the cancer could come back in the back of her head. Their sweet girl would already deal with more doctors appointments for the rest of her life than most people so they wanted her to be as normal as possible.
As Zola crawled around and Hunter played on his gaming system, Ava sat in front of her bouncing around. Amelia and his mother were watching a special on the television and Derek was right next to her. Today was sort of perfect. "Derek look...hair."
"I see." Derek grinned, looking at the blonde hairs that he could see starting to regrow on Ava's head. It seemed like so long ago that he had stood in the kitchen and shaved off her hair.
"I got a little hair." Ava giggled, leaning into Meredith's lap.
"You do." Derek smiled, kissing his daughter's cheek.
"Soon, it will be just as long as it was before." Amelia smiled at her niece.
"Da!" They heard Zola babble from the floor, her hand on the tv stand doors.
"Zo...be careful." Derek breathed.
"I've got her." Amelia jumped up as his mother sewed a tutu together for Ava.
"Derek you and Meredith are going to have your hands full at the new house." His mother laughed.
"We'll be fine." Derek laughed, standing up and taking Zola from Amelia. "What were you doing, silly girl?"
"I think she's trying to walk." Hunter looked up.
"Are you trying to walk baby girl?" Meredith giggled as she bounced Ava on her lap. "You might be right little man."
"Mom..." Hunter groaned.
"What?"
"Don't call me that anymore."
"I...oh my god. You're too cool for that now aren't you?" Meredith frowned.
"I'm not little." Hunter shrugged.
"He's a big guy now." Derek laughed.
"Oh well allow me to apologize." Meredith rolled her eyes. "Shall I call you Hunter the Stinky Butt now?"
"Gross Mom." Hunter laughed.
"Next thing you know, he won't want to be seen with you." Amelia joked. "I remember when Derek went through that phase."
"I do too." Mrs. Shepherd laughed.
"If you were the only boy in a family of girls and had to walk around with them all the time, you would have done the same thing." Derek defended himself.
"Poor Derek." Meredith giggled.
"I know how it feels, bud." Derek patted his son on the back.
"I want another girl in our family...then it will almost be like Daddy's family." Ava sighed.
"We'll see about that." Derek glanced at Meredith.
"And Hunter can be our super hero!" Ava exclaimed and Zola clapped.
"Thank you Ava." Hunter laughed.
"Welcome." Ava giggled, before running over to her grandma.
"Hello there sweetheart." Mrs. Shepherd picked up Ava. "Oh boy...you're getting big."
"Alex said I gained ten pounds." Ava held up both hands proudly.
"Now if we can just get you out of 4T clothing." Meredith giggled.
"Then we can go shopping." Amelia smiled.
"Oh great." Derek groaned.
"Oh you know you don't care." Meredith kissed him softly.
"You're right." He laughed, stopping when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
"You're not on call." Meredith frowned.
"I'll be right back." Derek stepped onto the back porch to answer the phone. "Hello?"
"Derek it's Dr. Ro...Arizona and Alex." He heard a woman's soft voice speak into the phone. "I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."
"No...we're just...hanging out." He breathed, taking a seat on the porch swing.
"We just finished looking over her latest scans and the bloodwork we had been waiting to take."
"Oh..."
"I...you're a doctor so I'm just going to say it..."
"Oh god." Derek breathed, his stomach clenching as he prepared to hear Arizona tell him that Ava's cancer was not in remission.
"Derek...Ava's cancer is gone."
"What?"
"She's in remission."
"You're...really?" Derek managed to get out, feeling tears forming in his eyes.
"It's gone Derek." Arizona was definitely smiling as she spoke. He could tell. "I'll need to see her every month for the next year and we'll take blood every two months for the next two years then we'll swich hopefully put longer distance between those times."
"Thank you Arizona...I...thank you." He cried.
"I'll need to see her to remove the ports from her chest." Arizona replied. "It's a brief surgery but we will schedule that another day."
"Right...okay."
"But we'll deal with that Monday morning...for now enjoy your healthy little girl."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome...bye Derek."
"Bye." He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket as Meredith walked out onto the porch.
"Who was that?"
"Arizona."
"Oh. Okay."
"She um...she had the results." He looked up at her with tears in his eyes.
"Oh." Meredith swallowed, tears forming in her own eyes very quickly.
"Mer..."
"Just tell me."
"She's...it's gone."
"What?"
"She's in remission." Derek said, laughing and crying at the same time.
"She is?" Meredith grinned.
"Yeah."
"Oh my god." Meredith gasped, rushing up to him.
"I...she's okay." Derek pulled her into his arms.
"Oh my god." She kissed him hard. wrapping her arms around his neck.
"We did it. She did it."
"She did."
"She um...she has to have her port taken out but...we're...that's it."
"Wow."
"We have to tell her."
"We...she deserves to know right away."
"I'll get her." He wiped the tears from his face and walked back into the house. "Aves...can you come here for a second?"
"Coming Daddy!" Their little girl yelled as Derek stepped back outside.
"Come here...on my lap." He sat back down on the bench next to Meredith.
"Kay." Ava hopped right onto his lap.
"Do you want to tell her?" Derek asked Meredith.
"Yeah." Meredith nodded, shifting to face her daughter as she took her small hands in hers. "Ava...I have something exciting to tell you."
"What?" Ava bounced.
"Arizona called and she said..." Meredith wiped at her eyes, keeping composed for her little girl. "Your cancer left. It's not making you sick anymore."
"Where did it go?" Ava asked.
"It's gone."
"I'm not sick anymore?"
"No. You're not sick anymore." Derek answered.
"No more cancer Aves." Meredith felt the tears in her eyes so she quickly kissed Ava's forehead. "I'm so proud of you."
"Yay!" Ava clapped.
"You did such a good job." Meredith whispered.
"No more medicine!"
"And Arizona and Alex are going to do one last surgery to take out all of your lines and the silly port that you hate." Meredith scrunched her nose as she lifted Ava into her lap.
"Yay!"
"Yay is right." Derek laughed, kissing Ava's head. "We love you, pumpkin."
"We love you so much." Meredith whispered.
"I love you." Ava giggled.
"Do you want to go tell Grandma and everyone else the good news?" Derek laughed.
"Yeah!" Ava clapped.
"Go ahead. We're coming."
"Slow down..." Meredith called after Ava who took off into the house.
"Come on." Derek breathed, taking Meredith's hand.
"I hear everybody jumping around."
"Grandma!" Ava shouted
"Yes Ava?"
"Guess what?"
"What dear?" His mother asked, bouncing Zola on her lap.
"I'm not sick anymore!" Ava clapped.
"What do you mean?" Amelia asked, looking up at Meredith and Derek.
"Arizona just called." Derek grinned.
"Oh wow." His mother stood, putting Zola on her hip as Hunter and Amelia began to jump around.
"Yeah!" Hunter Jumped.
"I'm better!" Ava shouted, jumping up and down.
"Ava that's wonderful!" His mother exclaimed, tears coming to her eyes.
"I knew you could do it." Amelia grinned, picking her niece up.
"She'll have her port out in a few days." Derek told them before hugging his mother.
"This is amazing." Amelia hugged Meredith as Hunter and Ava jumped around.
"Thank you for all of your help Mom." Derek whispered.
"Dear it was nothing...I just wanted your sweet girl healthy again."
"She is." He chuckled.
"Ava...what do you want for dinner and dessert?" Mrs. Shepherd asked quickly.
"Chocolate cake! And pizza!"
"Well then I better go get started...Amelia would you mind going to the downstairs pantry and grabbing me some preserved tomatoes?"
"Well then I better go get started...Amelia would you mind going to the downstairs pantry and grabbing me some preserved tomatoes?"
"I'll be in the kitchen...any children that want to help make the pizzas need to be in there in ten minutes." His mother laughed, kissing Ava's cheek.
"Let's go help!" Hunter jumped, grabbing his sister's hand.
"Be good you two." Derek laughed, wrapping his arms around Meredith as their kids jumped and down, celebrating the good news. When the phone had rang and he had heard Arizona's voice, he was sure it would be bad news. He hadn't admitted it but the last few days had worn down his nerves and he didn't want to get his hopes up in case the test results were bad. But Derek couldn't have been happier. They were a normal family again, with three healthy children, and even though Ava would have to visit the doctor on a regular basis, they had gotten through the hard part. Ava was in remission and for the first time in a long time, they all had something to celebrate.