Addison and Derek were not surprised when they heard the sound of little voices in the living room at 6:30. "So much for sleeping in.." Derek yawned. He reached over and pulled Addison toward him. She cuddled up to him and groaned.
"I love those kids, but why do they have to get up so early." she whined. It was then that they heard a baby cry.
"At least our kids are pretty much self sufficient now so we can stay in bed a little longer." Derek said as his eyes began to close. All of the sudden they heard a crash in the kitchen and Khaliel say "Oops".
"You were saying.." Addison said, rolling her eyes. She gave Derek a kiss and then got up. "I better go see what that was." She threw on a robe and left the room.
"Everything ok?" Addison asked as she entered the kitchen. She found Khaliel on the floor wiping up a bunch of water.
"Sorry, Mommy." Khaliel said, sheepishly. "I was trying to get a pan out to warm up Wesley's bottle so Aunt Kathleen could sleep, but I dropped it. Full of water…" he finished.
"I told him not to." Carmen said. She was 9 months older than Khaliel and therefore, usually took charge.
"I wanted to help." Khaliel said, quietly. Addison walked over and gave her son a hug.
"Thank you for trying to help. Let's get it cleaned up. It is ok." she said as she helped him wipe up the water.
"Mom, can we have breakfast?" Apollos asked as he joined the fray.
"Why don't you guys get the Hostess donuts and go eat breakfast in your fort and watch cartoons." Addison suggested. The kids were very excited about this. They rarely got to eat in the living room! As Addison was finishing cleaning up, Kathleen came in carrying a grinning baby.
"Morning." Kathleen said. "This little guy is still on East Coast time. Sorry if he woke you up."
"No worries." Addison said. "We are normally up pretty soon anyway." She brought coffee over to her sister-in-law as the two sat down at the table.
"Did you ever talk with Savvy last night?" Kathleen ventured.
"I did." Addison replied as she took a sip of her coffee. "She said they were already considering adopting the twins and want to meet with Gracie and her family."
"That's great!" Kathleen exclaimed.
"I am going to give her number to Dr. Clark and let her take it from there. The girls can't go anywhere for a while, so there is time." Addison continued. "As with everything these days, I am just taking it one day at a time."
Both women were quiet for a little bit while they drank their coffee. "What would you guys like to do today?" Addison asked.
"I am honestly not really sure what there is to do in Seattle." Kathleen laughed.
"Well, the apartment building has a pool. We could go to the Children's Museum. Or we could go out to the property Derek bought and hang out. There is a lake and some hiking trails. His trailer is still out there." Addison said as she listed off options to do.
"Woah. Back up. Derek bought property and has a trailer?" Kathleen said, a little shocked.
"Oh, yeah. I guess no one told you about that. He bought 40 acres of land when he came out here. Turns out he bought it from one of his nurse's grandfathers. He didn't know what to do with it, so he bought a trailer to live in on the land." Addison finished.
"So what are you guys going to do with this land?" Kathleen asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I honestly don't know. Like I said, we are taking things one day at a time right now." Addison shrugged.
"Addison, today would be a good day to go to the property." Nurse Anderson said as he walked into the room. " I overheard you guys talking, and well, the gift you bought is out there." he continued.
"Really? Then, yes, let's definitely go out to the property." Addison said, smiling.
"What would this give be?" Kathleen asked, skeptically.
"You can see along with everyone else." Addison laughed as she went back to her room.
"Derek, do you feel up to going out to the property today?" Addison asked as she sailed into their room. She was so excited. With Nurse Anderson's help, she had picked out several ATVs for the property. She didn't expect them to be ready so soon!
"Sure." Derek said from their bed. He was propped up and reading a medical journal. "I am not sure my sister is up for all that wilderness, but I am sure Stuwart and the kids will love it." he laughed.
"I think you should give your sister more credit." Addison said as she headed to the bathroom. "She did go camping with your dad."
"She complained and whined every time we went camping." Derek snorted. Addison shrugged her shoulders and went to finish getting ready.
A few hours later, the whole gang was pulling into the property. "Dang, Derek. You really were trying to isolate yourself when you moved out here." Kathleen exclaimed as they piled out of the vehicles.
"Don't start shrinking me, Kathleen." Derek said annoyed as Nurse Anderson helped him get onto the porch.
"I'm not." Kathleen said, rolling her eyes. "So, Addie, where is this gift you were talking about?" she asked her sister-in-law.
"Around behind the trailer. Give me a minute and I will move them around." Nurse Anderson responded. Derek turned to Addison.
"What are they talking about?" he asked, confused. Addison just winked at him and smiled. "Addison." Derek said, crossing his arms.
"Relax. You will like it." She said as she leaned over and kissed him. It was then they both heard the revving of an engine as Nurse Anderson drove the first ATV around. Derek's jaw dropped. Before he knew, 3 more ATVs had been brought around.
"You got all of these?" Derek asked, astonished. He knew by the looks on everyone else's faces, they too had no idea.
"I got one for all 5 of us. I thought it was something we could do together." Addison said, shyly. She wasn't used to Derek making a big deal about presents.
"Mom, can we ride them?" Apollos exclaimed.
"You must wear a helmet and stay on the paths we tell you to." Addison instructed. "But yes, you can drive them. The red one is for Apollos. The black one is for Khaliel."
"And the little pink one is for me!" Ellie pipped in.
"Yes." Addison laughed. She had been able to get one for each of the kids in their favorite colors. Of course, as they grew, they would have to get bigger ones. But for now, they were perfect.
"How about I take the larger one and show the kids around a bit? Carmen can ride with Apollos and Adrienne can ride with Khaliel. Reagan can ride with me." Anderson said as he winked at the little girl.
"I can?" Reagan exclaimed with wide eyes. She was used to being left out from what the big kids were doing.
"Sure. I brought some extra helmets that I had, so we should have enough. We won't go far." Anderson said to the parents. All of the parents agreed.
After getting the kids situated, the four adults and baby Wesley settled on the porch. "What do you have to drink in this place?" Stewart asked.
"There should be some sodas, waters, or beers in the fridge over there." Derek answered, pointing to the far end of the porch.
"We brought out food to grill whenever we want to make lunch." Addison piped walked over to the fridge and brought everyone back some waters.
"Derek, this place is beautiful." Kathleen said as she looked out over the land. "Dad would have loved it." she said, quietly, tears forming in her eyes. Derek reached over and squeezed his sister's hand. He had been 15 when their dad had died. Kathleen had been 11.
"Do you remember the last family camping trip we went on before he died?" Kathleen asked Derek.
"Which part? The part where Mark and I got in trouble for pushing you in the river? Or the part where Liz got caught sneaking off John?" Derek laughed.
"I don't think Dad would have been as mad at them if he had known they would be married in a few years." Kathleen laughed.
Labor Day Weekend 1996
"Dude, I am so glad you can come camping with us this weekend!" Derek exclaimed to Mark as they entered their Algebra 1 classroom. It was the second week of their Freshman year and the homework was already starting to pile up. Between homework and soccer practice, neither had much free time.
"It will be weird having another guy there besides your dad." Mark responded. Liz was bringing her boyfriend.
"John's pretty cool. He has come to the house a few times this summer when Liz was back from college." Derek said. It had taken a while for him to get used to only 3 sisters last year when Liz went off to college.
"They must be getting serious if she wants to take him camping with the entire family." Mark said. Class began before Derek could respond.
Friday afternoon, the whole family loaded up into two cars and drove to a lake about 3 hours away. It was one of their favorite camping spots. Soon camp was set up, with 3 different tents. One for the boys, one for the girls, and one for the parents. Amy was so excited she got to sleep with her older sisters this trip. At 4, she wanted to do everything the older kids did.
"Who would like to go fishing for supper with me?" Christopher asked his children.
"I do, Daddy!" Amy exclaimed, jumping into her father's arms.
"We'll go, Dad." Derek responded, motioning to Mark and him.
"The rest of us will stay back and get everything else ready." Carolyn answered as she gave her husband a kiss. She knew the rest of her girls had zero desire to go fishing.
"Daddy, I need to go potty." Amy said, as she danced on the dock. They had been fishing for an hour and nearly had enough for supper.
"Boys, can you finish up here?" Christopher asked as he picked his youngest up.
"Yes, Dad. We will make sure to clean the fish away from camp too so the girls don't freak out." Derek said as he rolled his eyes.
Not too long after Amy and Christopher left, Kathleen made her way down to the lake and was skipping rocks.
"Kathleen, stop!" Derek yelled from the dock. "You are scaring away the fish."
"No I am not." she yelled back, putting her hands on her hips like their mother did.
"If you don't stop, we will throw you in the lake." Derek yelled back.
"No you won't." Kathleen exclaimed as she threw another rock. Mark and Derek looked at each other and then took off after a shrieking Kathleen. When they caught up with her, they proceeded to pick her up.
"I'm sorry. Stop! Stop!" Kathleen screamed. The boys started to laugh and were going to set her down, when Derek tripped over a rock. Both Kathleen and him tumbled into the lake. Derek got up laughing, but Kathleen was crying. She ran back to the campsite in tears.
"Great. Now she is going to go cry to Dad." Derek mumbled. "Can you go get the fish and gear, Mark? I need to go deal with this." Mark nodded as Derek slowly made his way into the campsite.
"Derek Christopher Shepherd, did you throw your sister into the lake?" Carolyn asked her son. Derek looked at the ground. He may be taller than his mom now, but she still could stare him down.
"It was an accident." Derek said, meekly. "I tripped on a rock."
"And how did she end up in the water if you were the one who tripped?" Christopher asked. He was back from the bathroom with Amy and had heard the commotion.
"She was throwing rocks, scaring the fish away and Mark and I were teasing her by chasing her." Derek said.
"He said he was going to throw me in the lake. It wasn't an accident." Kathleen said, stomping her foot.
"You know I would never throw you in the lake on purpose." Derek retorted to his sister.
"Enough." Carolyn interrupted. "It may have been an accident, Derek, but you shouldn't have been chasing her. You will be on dish duty tonight instead of Kathleen. Now both of you, go get changed into some dry clothes. Then Derek, go help Mark skin the fish." Both children nodded and then left.
The rest of the evening was spent singing and telling stories around the campfire. Everyone was exhausted by 9:30 and went to their respective tents. It was strange to Mark and Derek to have John in the tent with them, but he was in college and they loved hanging out with him.
The next day was spent swimming, kayaking, and hiking. The lake incident had been forgotten. Everything was going smoothly until around 1:00 in the morning. "Mommy!" Amy shrieked from the girls tent, waking everyone up. "Daddy!" the little girl continued to cry.
"Amy, what is wrong?" Carolyn asked as she stumbled into the girls' tent.
"I had a dream that the fish monster is going to eat me!" Amy cried. Carolyn picked up her youngest and smoothed her hair.
"Amelia, there is no such thing as a fish monster. It was just a story." Carolyn soothed. She was going to have a word with her husband about how scary the stories were around the fire from now on.
"But it already ate Liz!" Amy continued to cry.
"Huh?" Carolyn asked, confused. Amy pointed to the empty sleeping bag where Liz was supposed to be. "Oh, no she didn't." Carolyn muttered. By this point, Christopher had made his way over to the tent.
"What is going on?" he asked his wife.
"Our youngest daughter had a nightmare thanks to your lovely campfire story, and our oldest daughter appears to have gone missing." Caroly said icily. Christopher immediately made his way to the boys' tent, where Derek and Mark were trying to sleep through the commotion. He was not surprised to discover John was missing too.
"You can go back to bed. I will deal with this." Christopher told Carolyn, who had finally calmed Amy down.
"Dad, you need to relax." Nancy said as she came out of the tent. "They are 19 and in college. Let them be." Nancy had just started her senior year and couldn't wait to go off to college the following year.
"Nancy, I don't care if they are 35. Until they are married, they will not be sneaking off when I am around." Christopher said sternly. It was then that John and Liz came back into camp.
"Sorry, Dad. We just went for a walk by the lake." Liz said as she looked between everyone. She moved between her father and boyfriend. "Nothing happened. I promise."
"I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again." John said. Christopher looked at him and gave him a nod. He had respect for John that he was man enough to apologize. He really did like him.
"Everyone go back to bed." Christopher said. Amy clung to her mother and refused to go back in the girls tent. They moved her sleeping bag into her parents' tent and finally everyone was able to go back to sleep.
"That was a really fun trip." Kathleen said as she remembered the story.
"You HATED camping" Derek laughed.
"True. But we were together as a family." Kathleen smiled. Everyone was quiet as they looked out over the land, mountains, and lake. They could hear the sounds of the ATVs in the background and were thankful Nurse Anderson had taken it upon himself to take the kids out riding. After a while, Addison's phone rang.
"It is Savvy. I will be right back." Addison said as she walked off the porch. "Hey, Sav. What's up?"
"I spoke with Dr. Clark. She said that since we already have a home study done and have been approved for adoption, the process should be fairly simple. She is going to talk with Gracie and her family to see how they would like to proceed. Because of the distance, we will probably do a video call." Savvy explained.
"Oh, Savvy. That is awesome!" Addison said, starting to tear up. She loved those little girls like her own and knew Savvy and Weiss would be amazing parents for them.
"Addie, I need you to be very honest with me. From a medical standpoint, how sick are these little girls?" Savvy asked quietly.
"That is hard to say, Sav. Right now they are stable, but with micro-preemies, that can change in an instant. Neither girl is eating on her own yet and will likely need a feeding tube for a year or more. Babies who spend months in the NICU tend to have an aversion to eating, even when they are healthy, because of all the tubes and stuff. Adira has had 2 brain bleeds, which is perfectly normal with babies this young, but we will not know if it caused any brain damage until she gets older." Addison said. She paused for a minute. "Savvy, please do not feel like you have to adopt these girls because I asked. If it is too much to handle, we fully understand."
"I appreciate that, Addie. It isn't the medical issues that concern me, honestly. It is the daunting task of how to tell the girls that their father kidnapped their mother when she was a small child and..I can't even say the rest." Savvy shuttered. "The whole story is sickening and sad."
"I have no advice on that one." Addison said honestly. She agreed with her friend and knew the girls would have a lot to process as they got older.
"I think we are going to just start by meeting with Gracie's family and go from there." Savvy sighed.
"Sav, just remember, that no matter what you decide, we are always here for you guys. We don't know where we are going to live yet, but thanks to technology, we are only a phone call away." Addie told her friend.
"Thanks, Addie. Well, I will let you get back to your family. I will keep you posted on our meeting. It was good to talk to you." Savvy said.
"It was good to talk to you too, Sav. Bye." Addison finished as she hung up the phone. She walked back over to the porch and sat down.
"Everything, ok, Babe?" Derek asked with concern.
"I think so. Savvy was just updating me on her conversation with Dr. Clark. They are going to meet with Gracie and her family soon before they make a decision. Savvy and Weiss are concerned about the emotional toll the twins' birth origin will have down the road." Addison explained as she took Derek's hand. He squeezed his hand in support, fully wishing he could stand and give her a hug.
"It is a lot to take on." Kathleen interjected. "Have Savvy call me and I will put her in contact with a colleague of mine who specializes in childhood trauma counseling. She will be able to offer a perspective to them none of us can."
"That would be great, Kathleen." Addison smiled at her sister-in-law. Soon they heard the ATVs getting closer.
"We are hungry. Can we make lunch now?" Khaliel exclaimed as he took his helmet off. Addison nodded and went to get the food out of the van. Stewart helped her carry it all to the porch and began grilling up some hamburgers and hotdogs.
"Aunt Addie, those ATVs are AWESOME!" Carmen exclaimed as she gave Addison a hug.
"Yeah, Mom! Those are the best presents ever!" Apollos said, excitedly.
"The kids did a great job for their first time." Anderson said as he brought a sleepy Reagan to her mother. "I think this one might want a little nap," he whispered.
"I'll take her." Derek said. Kathleen was holding a sleeping Wesley. Soon Reagan was snuggled up in Derek's arms asleep.
Soon everyone was cleaned up and eating. "Mom, doesn't Aunt Noami and Uncle Sam live on the West Coast now?" Apollos asked as he took a drink of his juice.
"They do, but they live down in LA. It is still pretty far away." Addison answered.
"We haven't seen them in a long time." Khaliel interjected. Addison nodded in agreement. Naomi and Sam had moved out to LA four years prior and the families had only seen each other a few times since.
"Maybe we can go visit them when Daddy is feeling better." Ellie pipped in. "At least we are in the same time zone as them now." she continued, shrugging her shoulders.
"We shall see." Derek smiled at his daughter. He too missed his friends and wouldn't mind going to see them.
"Can we go fishing now?" Carmen asked when all the kids were done eating. All of this kids jumped up in agreement with this. Stuart and Anderson helped the older kids down to the pond while Kathleen took her youngest two into the trailer for a nap.
"Are you doing ok?" Addison asked as she sat with her husband alone on the porch.
"I am in a little pain." Derek said honestly. "But this has been one of the best days I have had in a long time. Thank you for doing this." he said as he smiled over at his wife.
"This property is actually growing on me." Addison answered. "It is so peaceful and pretty." Both sat there quietly for a long time.
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly with fishing, swimming, and more ATV rides. Everyone was exhausted by the time they got home that night.
Later that night, Addison and Derek laid quietly with Addison curled up next to Derek as he was playing with her hair.
"So do you think you might want to move out here?" He asked her tentatively.
"I don't know. I am definitely interested in at least having a getaway out here." she answered honestly. They both lay quietly for a short time. "I love the property and could see our family really enjoy living there. I am just not sure about Seattle. New York has a lot more opportunities for the kids." Addison trailed off. Derek decided not to push the issue.
"Thank you for bringing my sister and her family out here for my birthday." Derek finally said. He hadn't realized how much he had missed his family.
"I wish Amy didn't have to work all weekend. It would have been fun for her to hang out with us." Addison said as she sat up.
"Kathleen and Amy really don't get along. It was probably better that she wasn't there." Derek responded, shrugging his shoulders.
"True." Addison answered as she yawned. Neither said anymore as they soon were fast asleep.
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