"Derek!" The the young girl exclaimed going to hug her brother. Her dark waves messy from a day at school, but with a big smile on her face at the sight of her favourite sibling. "Good to see you. How was school?" He asked his baby sister.

"It was school" she replied rolling her eyes.

"Hey. I brought someone to meet you." Derek smiled gently putting his hand on the arm of his girlfriend. "Hi. I'm Addison, but um your brother calls me Addie." She introduced herself. "I'm Amelia. Derek's favourite sister." She said flopping dramatically on the couch. "And he calls me Amy."

"Is it okay if I call you Amy?" Addison asked. Amelia seemed to take a moment to think about it. "Yeah."

"How old are you Amy?"

"I'm 11." Amelia replied, "she's the baby of the family." Derek added. Addison went to sit on the couch beside Amelia, which surprised Derek. None of the girls he'd ever brought home had shown any interest in his baby sister. She was a tiny little thing. Addie was expecting the girl to say she was 7 or 8. She had an impish smile. And blue eyes, so similar to her brothers. "So 11, are you at middle school yet?"

"No, I'm still in the 5th grade. My birthday was in october."

"Oh, so you guys are the biggest in the school?"

"We're the oldest. Not the biggest. I'm the 3rd smallest in my class, and Caroline has achondroplasia. Some of the 3rd graders are taller than me."

"What's your favourite subject?" Addison asked. "She's a Shepard it's science of course." Derek answered for her. "No..." Amelia said looking at her brother. "I do like science, but I think my favourite is art. I like to draw." Derek looked surprised. He had no idea that Amelia enjoyed art, but then he never asked. "I'm jealous. I'm terrible at drawing." Addie smiled down at the pre-teen.

"Are you at med school. Like Derek?"

"I am."

"What kind of doctor do you want to be? Derek wants to be a new...neura...brain doctor."

"Neurosurgeon" Derek corrected.

"Yeah that." Amelia agreed.

"I'm not totally sure. I think I want to be a surgeon. Maybe a paediatrician..."

"...My doctor is a paediatrician." Amelia interjected. "Yes. It means children's doctor. Another idea is an obstetrician gynaecologist, which is a doctor who looks after new mommies and babies. I'm not totally sure yet though. What do you want to do when you grow up?"

"Maybe a teacher, or a veterinarian or a nurse."

"Not a doctor?"

"Nancy and Kathleen say I'm not smart enough to be a doctor." Amelia said frowning.

"What!" Derek exclaimed. "They had no right to say that to you Amy! If you work hard and it's what you want you could definitely be a doctor. I recon you're smarter than Kathleen was at your age."

"Maybe I'll be a doctor then. An even more famous neurosurgeon than Derek." She teased. "Your hair is really pretty by the way. You're the prettiest girl Derek ever brought home."

"Amy! You make it sound like I've brought hundreds of girls home."

"You've not brought hundreds but Addie's still the prettiest"

"Would you like me to curl your hair like this? Maybe after dinner?" Addie asked.

"Really? It won't be as pretty as yours because mine is boring and brown and yours is pretty and red but no one's ever curled my hair before. I'd like that."

"I used to hate having red hair and wanted brown hair like yours. I love it now but would have loved wavy brown hair like yours when I was 11."

"Wait Derek are you staying over? I should probably tidy my room. I mean your room."

The Shepard family weren't poor by any means but they didn't have the Forbes Montgomery level money. They had a 4 bedroom home in queens. Well a 3 bedroom home with a small storage room. Carolyn Shepard had her own room, since her husband died. As did Derek as the only boy, and as the only child not to share a room he got the tiny room, barely big enough for a twin bed and chest of drawers, some of his clothes hung in his mothers closet, since there was no space for one in his room. Then Nancy and Kathleen shared one room, and Lizzie and Amelia another. As soon as Derek moved out Amelia claimed his room. It made sense since Nancy wasn't always home, staying at her boyfriends apartment a lot of the time.

"No don't worry we can stay at my penthouse." Addison smiled. "Your parents have a penthouse?" Amelia asked. "That's so cool."

"Well technically it's in my name." Addison smiled and Amelia's mouth dropped open. Both Derek and Addison chuckled. "My parents are WASPs" she tried to explain, but it confused Amelia further. "Like bees?"

"Not quite it stands for white, Anglo Saxon Protestant"

"I know what white is. I don't know what the Anglo thing means, and Protestants are the people who believe in God and Jesus who aren't Catholic like us right?" Amelia asked looking at her brother. "Yes"

"You're Catholic?" Addison asked her boyfriend. "I didn't know you were religious."

"I mean technically we are, but barely, we were all christened and did our first holy communion, mainly to appease our Grandmother, but we only go to Church on Christmas, Easter or for christenings, weddings or funerals."

"So what's Anglo Saxon then?" Amelia interrupted "and why does being Protestant mean that you have a penthouse?"

"Anglo Saxon means that way back my Ancestors were from England." Addison explained. "And being a WASP usually means that people like Addison's parents, are very rich. So that's why Addie has a penthouse." Derek added. "Don't Forget Pretentious and snobby." Addison muttered. She knew she had been lucky financially growing up. She was given all the material things she ever wanted and lived in beautiful homes and went on exotic holidays, but she often wished she was normal. Brought up by her parents rather than an ever changing string of Au Pairs and nannies. For her mom to read her stories and her dad to take her to the park to teach her to ride her bike. For them to come to school plays and clap embarrassingly loudly. For them to act like parents.

"Lovely to meet you Mrs Shepard. Thank you for allowing me to stay for dinner."

"You're welcome Addison, and please call me Carolyn. I've made chicken Alfredo. I

hope that's okay for you?"

"Perfect. I love chicken Alfredo"

The whole family plus Addison were sat around the kitchen table as they all introduced themselves to her. Carolyn plated up the food. "Amy introduce yourself!" Nancy hissed as she passed out the plates. Addison overheard and smiled at the oldest Shepard child. "I've already met Amy, when she came in from school."

"Oh for God sake Amy! How often do we tell you. Our friends are our friends. We don't need you annoying them." Kathleen rolled her eyes.

"No, Amy and I had a lovely conversation after school. Didn't we." Addison smiled at Amelia.

"Uh-hu."

"Amy use your words. Uh-huh is not a word." Carolyn chastised.

"Yes. Me and Addie had a nice chat when I Rose and Angela dropped me home from school."

"Addie and I. For goodness sake Amy! Speak properly"

"Sorry." Amy said meekly and proceeded to push the food around her plate.

"It's so pretty. Thank you Addie! I have a disco in May to celebrate the end of elementary School. Will you do my hair for it again?"

"Of course. Unless your mom or one of your sisters wants to."

"They won't."

"If you're sure. And If your mom is okay with it maybe I could do your make up too."

"That would be so cool. I've never worn make up before."

"Well you don't need it Amy, because you're already so pretty, but it can be fun to experiment with and play with Colors."

"You think I'm pretty?" Amy asked confused, as if she'd never been called pretty before. "You're beautiful honey." Addison said simply and the child beamed. "Especially when you smile."

"So you're still willing to stay with me now you've met my chaotic family?" Derek asked his girlfriend as they lay in the king sized bed in her penthouse. "Of course. I like Amy, didn't really spend enough time with the others. Are they usually as critical of Amy as they were at dinner today?"

"Yeah. I feel so bad about leaving her but med school has always be my dream. She told me to go."

"She seems sweet. I mean we have 5 bedrooms here and even if we save one for Archer and my parents, that still leaves two. I know it's Manhattan and she lives in Queens but we can keep one for Amelia. And she'd always be welcome here so long as one of us was home."

"Yeah?"

"Of course."