Ello!

Day two! I'm glad I've managed at least two days in a row; I think I might have underestimated this challenge XD.

This is based around the time of Family (where the Grey-Shepherds go to New York to see Carolyn and the wolves).

Anyway, hope you enjoy! :)

"So...where are we going?" Meredith couldn't help but ponder as she followed him down the sidewalk. She knew they couldn't be heading to his childhood home, because Carolyn never moved. "Favourite park as a child? Oh- Elementary school?"

"I don't think you're going to guess."

"I think I-" She paused, both verbally and physically. Crap. "Oh."

Derek Shepherd didn't remember much about his father's funeral. He was small, and his sisters were smaller. He was probably too busy clutching at Amelia's hand and trying to stop her from bursting into a loud, screaming kind of crying fit to really pay attention to what was happening.

"It's been a while and I...I know he can't actually meet you but- it's the closest he's going to get and of course I haven't been in years so-" Derek rambled nervously.

It was so peculiar to see him nervous. They were always so comfortable around each other that they had no need for nerves, so she interrupted him before he could get any further, "It's okay, Derek. I get it. Of course I'm okay with this."

He smiled slightly before it quickly faded, and the pair continued on. Neither of them spoke as she continued to follow him as they entered the area, then followed the pathway towards the church before pausing just before they met the rather large chapel.

The gravestone he paused by was well-kept, and there were flowers in a small vase nearby. When she glanced to nearby headstones, it only accentuated how much this particular one had been cared for.

"So um-" He smiled awkwardly. "This is my dad. Kind of."

She smiled back, equally as awkward. "Yeah. I get what you mean."

"I'm not really, you know, sure what I want to do or say or...yeah."

"Just talk, I suppose. Obviously, no one knows whether anyone's listening, but everyone still does it. I do."

"You do?" He asked.

"Lexie." She clarified. "And Mark too, obviously. Not sure if they can hear or, if they can, whether it's through their ears or not but...like every mad person in a cemetery, I talk to the big hunk of rock in the ground."

He smiled a little at her slight joke before suggesting, "Maybe we should go together somewhen."

"You go too?" She asked. She wasn't surprised by the idea, but he'd never mentioned it. Then again, neither had she.

"Yeah. I've found myself going more recently; Mark would have fixed my not-so-nice attitude after the accident a lot quicker than I could myself, so I go to try and...channel his attitude or something, I suppose." He admitted.

"Lexie would probably have suggested stress eating."

"Oh. Most definitely. Those little chocolate peanut things specifically."

"She would have been good at helping out though. Really good." She responded, smiling a little at the memory of her sister. "She would have been a good sister. She was always a good sister."

"Yeah." He agreed. "She was."

She didn't say anything for a long second, and was planning to say something - although she wasn't entirely sure what - when he started speaking.

"Hey Dad." He greeted, looking at the tombstone. He glanced up to Meredith, and she gave him a look that told him to keep going. "It's uh- been a while. I um- I don't know what happens after you die, but if you don't follow me around as some ghost or something and you're permanently stuck here, you should know that I think about you...like a lot. And you should also know that my life…my life has really changed since I was last here."

It had been so long that he didn't even want to think about it. He had considered visiting when he came to New York to see his mother but he was dragged back to DC so quickly that he didn't have the chance. He should have made the time, really. A good son would have made the time.

"So um, again, not sure how this works but um-" He gestured to Meredith. "This is Mer. We've uh...been together on-and-off for about eleven years now, and married about seven. It's not that I don't know our anniversary, before you think I'm a bad husband, we just had like five marriages so 2010 is just kinda our anniversary...year, I suppose."

Meredith smiled. She'd had so many people ask her how long they'd been together, only to recieve a paragraph-long answer.

"I know you always hated divorce, but I also know you wouldn't want me to be unhappy so...I'm hoping you're not mad that I'm not with Addie anymore. Meredith makes me so extremely happy. She's...beautiful, and well- she's more amusing than funny, seeing as she doesn't actually tell jokes, just annoys me so much that it makes me laugh but...yeah. She's kind, and thoughtful, and would do anything for a patient- oh yeah, she's also a kick-ass surgeon. And, somehow, a wonderful mother at the same time. She's…God, dad she's so freaking perfect, and I'm so freaking lucky."

He wasn't exaggerating. She really did make him so very, very happy and she really was the best wife he could have ever wished for.

"And our kids- of course! We only have three kids, but I'm sure you've heard from Nance, Kath and Liz that you're most definitely not lacking grandchildren. Oh, Dad, you'd love them, and I know you would have made an incredible grandfather. There's uh...Zola, who is the oldest and is most definitely a mini doctor. Bailey is second oldest, a fan of the colour blue and football, but well-" He faltered. "Nowadays, he's more a catch boy, seeing as it's the only thing I can play and Meredith isn't particularly inclined to do sports. And then there's Elle, who has no hobbies except melting hearts with her adorable smile."

Meredith couldn't help but nod at that. That was most definitely Ellis' favourite hobby.

"Amelia moved to Seattle a few years ago, and...god, Dad, you'd be so proud. She did such an incredible job when me and Mer weren't there so much after-" He swallowed, feeling for the first time that this wasn't quite appropriate, rather than just nervous about what to say. "I was in a car accident at the start of the year, and I spent a really long time in hospital. That's obviously...um, also the reasoning for my lack of walking. But Amy was so amazing, helping out with them so they'd be okay. Oh, and she's a neurosurgeon too. Sometimes I think she chose the same specialty as me just so we could fight over it but really…she's great. She's just…I know you'd be proud. I'm proud."

"Don't let her hear you say that." Meredith murmured.

Derek smirked at that. That was a good point. "In that accident, my kids almost lost their dad like I lost you, and, obviously, that was…scary. Really scary. I know you didn't choose what happened to you and I know you had no control, but once I got over the whole not-being-able-to-walk thing - which took a long while -, you really helped me. I was young, but I remembered how great it was to have a dad and how much it hurt to lose you, so I wanted my kids to have one too. I want my kids to have a 'you'. Maybe if you were a crap dad I would have given up at the sight of death and decided my kids could live without me. But you weren't. You were a great dad. And I still had years of great-dad things to do with my own kids, thanks to your inspiration."

He pushed himself carefully from the concrete path to the small, thankfully-flat plane of grass besides the headstone and placed a hand on it, giving a sad smile as he read the inscription again.

"Happy New year, Dad."