A/N: A couple things about this story. 1) I wasn't going to post it at all until it was completely finished, and it's not finished yet. But I've written over 26,000 words. 2) There will be fluff. There will be drama. But most importantly, it will be very McFamily - centric, although other characters - past and present - will have prominent roles. 3) Lastly, this story contains spoilers from Private Practice.

This story is actually based off a dream I had. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy.

The Seattle rain pounded hard against the windows of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Meredith Grey knew that she was in for another dark and stormy night at the house in the woods, all alone with her children while her husband was at the White House with Callie Torres attending a brain mapping conference hosted by the President of the United States. Today was day two of five.

Nights like tonight were the nights Meredith dreaded. The house felt so empty without his presence, and she struggled to sleep without his warm body lying next to her. He was her human furnace; without him, she felt like she was sleeping on top of a cushioned iceberg. She hated being so many miles away from Derek. With him on the other side of the country, all she did was worry. She already worried enough when he was in the same city as her. Her worrying was nearly unbearable now.

Meredith didn't want to be "that" wife, though: The wife who depended on her husband for everything and couldn't function without him. After all, Meredith Grey had always considered herself to be an independent woman. She'd spent a vast majority of her life believing love didn't exist and had thus developed a single woman train of thought. She didn't trust easily, and it had taken her a long time to trust Derek. It had taken her a long time to realize that she could rely on him, especially after how their relationship had begun: with a lie. Now, she had finally learned to trust him, to love him, to know that he wasn't going to leave her unintentionally. Being away from Derek for even a little while made her feel so empty inside. It was even more difficult now that they had children.

"Where's Daddy?" her three-year-old daughter asked, as Meredith helped her into her rain coat.

"Da-da!" her ten-month-old son cooed, sitting on the floor next to his sister, already bundled and ready to go.

"Daddy's still out of town. He'll be home Friday," Meredith explained to her kids. She looked into Zola's confused eyes; the kids weren't used to their mother picking them up from daycare. For the last several months, since Bailey's birth and Meredith's return from maternity leave, the kids had become accustomed to their daddy picking them up from daycare. Derek had stepped up so Meredith could focus on work, though Derek's plan was strained when Derek received an opportunity to work for the president.

"I want Daddy," Zola pouted as she stuck her lip out.

Meredith released a sigh, unable to deny how adorable her daughter was when she pouted. As she finished the last button of Zola's jacket, she gave her daughter an enormous hug. "Let's go home, and maybe Daddy will be waiting for us on the iPad."

"It not the same," the little girl whimpered, crossing her arms.

"I know, baby. I know you miss your daddy," Meredith gently rubbed Zola's back. She leaned over and picked up her son, then took Zola's hand and meandered toward the hospital entrance area.

"Meredith!" she heard a high-pitched voice calling her name from behind. She turned around to see Arizona Robbins running toward her with Sofia in her arms.

She set Sofia on the ground, and the little girl ran toward them, wrapping her arms around Zola. She chimed, "Buddy!" Sofia and Zola were close and had grown closer after Callie had temporarily moved in with Meredith and Derek after finding out Arizona had cheated on her. The girls had grown used to spending their days and nights together. Zola loved having someone her own age to play with. It had been really hard on Zola when Callie and Sofia moved out. In fact, she'd asked every day for the next two weeks if Sofia was coming soon.

Arizona and Callie were now back together and trying to make their relationship work again. Meredith didn't know Arizona as well as she'd grown to know Callie. It was funny, when she looked back. She would never forget the time that Callie had marched around her house naked, and the time Callie had peed in her bathroom right in front of her and Izzie. There had been a time she'd thought Callie was a freak. Times really had changed, and Callie was now one of her closest friends. She and Cristina weren't as close as they'd once been, and now it seemed like she had more in common with Callie than her best friend - even though they'd drifted apart, Meredith would always consider Cristina her best friend, even if Callie was her closest female friend now. The tables had turned.

Tonight, Arizona and Meredith had something in common. Their spouses were in Washington D.C. together, and they were home alone with the children.

"Hey, so I was thinking, since Callie and Derek are away, and I'm sure you don't want to be alone in the woods by yourself - well, at least I wouldn't - I was wondering, if you would want to - uh, you know - spend the night at my place?" Arizona smiled hopefully.

"Sleepover!" Sofia exclaimed and turned to Zola, whose eyes were widening.

"Mommy, pwease!" Zola tugged at Meredith's shirt. Meredith looked into her daughter's glistening dark brown eyes. Callie and Arizona's apartment was so small, and she didn't like the idea of putting the baby to sleep somewhere other than his bedroom. He wasn't used to it. Plus, she really just wasn't in the mood for sleepovers with Arizona Robbins. She liked Arizona, but she wasn't the type of person that Meredith would typically choose to spend time with on her own free will. Of course, she once that that about Callie, and now they were pretty close friends. Arizona was different, though. Arizona was - perky, and quite frankly, though Meredith had never told anyone, she found it annoying at times. Hence why she didn't want to spend the night with her.

Meredith hesitated as she said, "I'm exhausted, and I really just want to hit the sack." She saw Zola's smile bend into a frown. "However, if Miss Zola would like to have a sleepover with Sofia, I don't see why not." She patted her three-year-old's head and gave her a warm smile as the child's face lit up.

"Yay!" Zola and Sofia both cheered.

"Sofi can talk to Daddy too," Zola said with an excited smile on her face, and Meredith's lips drooped.

"Baby girl, Daddy is going to be talking to Mommy, and he can only talk to one person at a time," Meredith told her daughter and watched as her daughter's smile faded.

"Oh, not if you use Skype!" Arizona's face lit up. "Callie and I use Skype, and you can have group chats on Skype."

Meredith laughed. "I had a Hell of a time teaching Derek how to use FaceTime. There's no way he's going to be able to figure out how to use Skype as well. My husband is technologically challenged," she told Arizona.

"Well, Callie's there, she can help him figure it out. Or, better yet, what if Callie is on her iPad Skyping Sofia, Zola, and I, and you're on FaceTime with Derek? That way we can all talk to them at the same time, and Derek won't have to strain his brain with new technology," Arizona grinned widely.

"Pwease, Mommy!" Zola tugged at her mom's hand.

Meredith released a sigh and nodded. "I guess I can't say no, can I?" She handed Arizona the diaper bag in her hand. "There's a spare outfit in there, and Zola's extra toothbrush is in there as well. Make sure she brushes her teeth before bed and in the morning. Oh, there are some things of Bailey's in there as well, but he won't need them tonight." She patted rubbed her son's back.

"Relax, Meredith. Zola is in good hands," Arizona said, patting Zola's head. "Of course, you're more than welcome to come over."

Meredith looked at her son. "I trust you," she said. Arizona shrugged and took both girls' hands.

"Bye-bye, Mommy," Zola waved. Meredith watched as her daughter left with Arizona and Sofia. Her throat ached as she fought back a tear. Her little girl had been so willing to say goodbye to her, and she hadn't even given her a kiss. She was only three years old. She was supposed to not want to leave her mama's side, but Zola had not even hesitated. Meredith swallowed. She wasn't supposed to be experiencing this feeling of separation from her three-year-old daughter. This wasn't the first night she'd spent apart from her daughter. She'd been away from Zola when she'd taken her oral boards. Both had been sick with the flu, then. She'd been away from Zola after the plane crash, and then after she had Bailey. There'd been numerous occasions she'd been away from Zola when she had stayed at the hospital with her patients.

Maybe Zola thought she didn't care about her. After all, she had been so willing to leave her. Meredith fought the tears as she looked into her little boy's bright blue eyes. "Come on, baby. Let's get you home." She gave her son a kiss on the forehead and headed to the car.

She placed Bailey in his car seat and then glanced at the empty booster seat next to his. The car felt so empty with just one kid in the backseat. She handed him his teething ring before she started driving. He'd started teething about two months ago and had been extremely fussy, especially in the car.

Zola always fell asleep in the car, but Bailey was a completely different child. She imagined it was because he was so used to being held. He'd been spoiled during the first seven months of his life, because his daddy had been home with him all the time and Derek never put him down. She'd read in childcare books that tummy time was good for kids, and she'd tried to explain that to Derek; but he was still insistent on holding his son.

Bailey sucked on his teething ring as she drove and babbled on and off. She'd noticed he'd started babbling more in the last few weeks. He said "Ma - ma", "Da - da", "Ba - ba", and "Zo - Zo." He was a smart little guy, and Meredith was proud of him. He'd also started walking while holding onto the furniture the day before Derek had left for Washington D.C. Derek tried to make her promise that she wouldn't let him take his first steps on his own without him, but she didn't know how she was supposed to keep that kind of promise.

"Don't let him out of your arms!" Derek had insisted, and the two had shared a laugh. Meredith told him that she couldn't make any promises.

She pulled up to the dark house in the woods. Meredith hated the dark. It reminded her of after the plane crash. Fortunately, Derek had been kind enough to install motion lights around the property.

Chills swept down her spine as she opened the door. There was an eerie feeling that bothered her as she opened the back seat and unbuckled her son from his car seat. She noticed the motion light by the front door was on. She swallowed and set her son back into his seat. She made sure she had her car keys in her hands, and she closed and locked the door. There was no way she had triggered the front door's light yet. She knew she was out of motion. Someone - or something - was out there.

Maybe it's just the wind, she thought, knowing sometimes the wind picked up strong enough to set off the motion lights. However, tonight wasn't a windy night. It was a calm, dry evening in Seattle. A night all-too rare in Seattle.

"Hello?" she called out, waiting for a response. Then, she remembered that Alex had said that he'd seen a bear when he was living in Derek's trailer. In the near - two years she'd lived out here, she had yet to see one. She'd always suspected Alex had made it up.

She heard movement in the distance. There was a dark shadow coming toward her. "Who's there?" she said loudly, and she heard the bellows coming from her son in the car. Her heart pounded recklessly in her chest. The shadow was coming toward her. It wasn't long before she realized it was a human - shaped shadow.

"Meredith?" a familiar voice spoke.

The slender, dark-haired woman appeared under the light.

"Amelia?"

She immediately recognized her husband's youngest sister, whom she had met only twice. The first time was about four years ago, after hospital shooting that had nearly killed her husband. Derek and Amelia were estranged at the time, for reasons Meredith hadn't known about until Amelia had surprisingly arrived at the hospital with a man she'd met on the plane who happened to have an inoperable tumor. Meredith remembered how upset Derek had been, and how Meredith had insisted he buy her a cup of coffee because she was his sister. Derek's response? "I have a lot of sisters and if I bought them all coffee, we wouldn't have anything."

Later, Meredith learned the real reason behind Derek's reaction to his sister's presence. Amelia had crashed his car while being high on painkillers. She had also stolen his prescription pads to write himself prescriptions and had overdosed. He'd gone home to find her dead. She'd been dead for three minutes for three minutes before Derek saved her.

Meredith had met Amelia a second time when she'd brought a friend to Seattle to ask for Derek's help. This had been shortly after she and Derek had adopted Zola. Derek had confided to Meredith that Amelia had just gotten out of rehab again, and he was hesitant about allowing her to meet Zola. She had spent a couple nights on Meredith's couch at her old house, where April, Jackson, and Lexie had also lived at the time.

Meredith took in a deep breath while observing the Shepherd sister in front of her, while wondering what warranted this visit.

"What are you doing here, Amelia? Derek is in D.C.," Meredith informed her, unlocking her car door now that she knew there wasn't a bear that was about to attack her, or a mass murderer.

"Yeah, I know, that's why I'm here now. I saw he posted a picture on Instagram of the White House. There he is again, being the golden child again. No surprise there," Amelia said as Meredith reached into the car and unstrapped her son. Bailey cooed as she took him out of his car seat. "Is that my baby nephew? His name's Derek, Jr., right?"

"Derek Bailey Shepherd," Meredith said. "We call him Bailey, though. Really, Amelia, what are you doing here, then? I barely know you, so I don't know why you would come to Seattle just to see me. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me."

"Hey, little guy," Amelia waved at the baby, who watched her closely as Meredith walked toward the house. Amelia followed closely after her. "I'm your Auntie Amelia, your daddy's sister."

"Dada," the baby cooed as Meredith unlocked the door and walked inside, Amelia followed.

"You're right. I don't know you well," Amelia said. "And that's partly why I'm here. I want to get to know you better. I mean, Addison and I have always been close, and I'll admit I was a little devastated with how she and Derek ended. Addie was my best friend, and still to this day I'm closer to her than I am my own three sisters."

Meredith took off her shoes and Bailey's and set them by the front door. The lights on the inside of the house were also motioned censored, so they turned on when you walked into a room. Though, she could turn them off by clapping twice. It was another perk Derek had added to the house which she really appreciated.

"So, you want to get to know me better?" Meredith asked slowly as she walked over to the couch and sat down with Bailey still in her arms. Amelia was following her as she walked. She stood next to the couch. "Well, take a seat." She motioned for Amelia to sit down.

Amelia sat down in a chair and nodded. "Well, yeah. You know, I really know nothing about you, and for the longest time I just knew you as the "slutty intern" who messed up my brother's and best friend's relationship, but obviously you're not the slutty intern anymore, and you're the mother of my niece and nephew and…" Amelia looked around curiously. "Where is my beautiful niece?"

"Oh, Zola is spending the night with a friend," Meredith explained. "And that's all very interesting, but why now? Why now of all times do you want to get to know me better? Derek and I have been together for a while now."

Amelia looked away, and she could see the paleness in the young woman's face.

"Look, I know Derek really loves you, from what Addison has told me about you, and my mom adores you. She never liked Addie; thought she was all wrong for Derek, and maybe she was right. I don't know all what Derek has told you about me, because I know I've made my share of mistakes…"

"He hasn't told me much," Meredith confessed, still holding onto a squirming baby, whose eyes were fixated on his aunt.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure you know about my drug problem; Derek never lets me forget it. Well, I'm clean now. I've been clean for nearly two years now, and I'm in a healthy relationship. I really have my life on track."

"That's great, Amelia," Meredith said, noting the sudden heavy warmness coming from Bailey's bottom. "Somebody needs a diaper change," she cooed at her little boy and stood up and walked toward Bailey's nursery. She passed Zola's empty room and sighed, realizing how empty the house felt without her daughter. Amelia had followed after her.

"And you know I'm a neurosurgeon like Derek, and I really love my job," she said. "And I think I'm damn good at it, of course I'm nowhere near as good as Derek. I never will be, because he'll always be the golden child."

"Sounds like you're a little jealous of him," Meredith noted as she laid her son on the diaper changing station. She unzipped his pants and the fumes of poo lingered through her nose. "Somebody's stinky," she said in a baby voice to her son as she wiped him down. He giggled as she changed his diaper. She saw Amelia watching her in the corner of her eye and was still overly confused as to why Amelia was even there, telling her all this. It's not that Meredith wasn't interested in getting to know Amelia better.

In fact, Meredith often wondered about Derek's sisters, though she'd never made an effort to get to know them. About three months ago, she and Derek had taken Zola and baby Bailey to the east coast for Christmas. It was Bailey's first plane ride and the first time she had attended a Shepherd family Christmas. Amelia was the only one of Derek's sisters who wasn't there. She'd supposedly spent the holidays with her boyfriend's family. Meredith had spent some time getting to know Kathleen, Elizabeth, and Nancy. Nancy still to this day made Meredith feel uncomfortable, considering she'd never forget her first encounter with Nancy in Derek's trailer. Derek had been naked, and there Nancy had been. She hadn't known at the time Nancy was his sister.

Kate had quickly become Meredith's favorite Shepherd sister. She was the shrink in the family, and out of everyone, her kids seemed the sanest. They were polite and had good manners. All five of Liz's kids were insanely wound up on sugar during the whole visit. Liz's youngest, eight-year-old Lily, had asked Zola if it felt weird to be black in a white family. Who in their right mind asks a three-year-old such a question? Lily and her siblings had treated Zola like some sort of shrine because of her dark skin. Meredith had been royally pissed, and the last thing she wanted was for her daughter to be treated differently by her own relatives because of her skin color. Meredith was adamant about having her daughter fit in and treated just like everyone else.

That was one thing Meredith loved about working at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in Seattle. Diversity was everywhere, and everyone was treated equally. Unfortunately, that mindset wasn't everywhere.

"You're right," Amelia sighed. "I am jealous of him. Bailey has Derek's eyes, though the rest of him is definitely you."

"I hear that a lot," Meredith said, deciding since it was so late she might as well change Bailey into his pajamas. She pulled out a pair of green Ninja Turtle pajamas and dressed her son. "I just hope he gets his Daddy's hair." She patted her son's head, noting the thin dark blond strands of hair on her son's head. His hair was very close to her color, but she knew his hair color could change as he grew older.

"Derek had blond hair when he was a baby," Amelia said with a smile on her face. "Ma has a ton of baby pictures of him with Nancy, Kate, and Liz."

"Really? I've never seen them," Meredith said, wishing she'd asked Mama Shepherd about Derek's baby pictures over the holidays. "I guess the next time I talk to her, I'm going to have to ask her about those."

Amelia laughed. "Then Derek will get all embarrassed and his cheeks will flush red. I don't know why he's so embarrassed by his baby pictures. He really is cute. All babies are cute, though, I guess," Amelia said with a smile on her face, then looked at her nephew. "But they're not all as cute as you." She grinned and gently touched Bailey's cheek. Bailey cooed. Amelia looked at Meredith and said, "You know, you're really good with him. Bailey's lucky to have such a great mom."

"Um, thanks?" Meredith responded hesitantly. She scooped Bailey into her arms and went back into the living room, again followed by Amelia. "Amelia, I really wish you'd tell me the real reason you're here. I know you don't know me well, but I'm a lot of things, and gullible isn't one of them." She sat back on the couch.

"You know, I love kids," Amelia said.

"There you go, changing the subject again," Meredith observed. She cuddled Bailey in her arms. "Come on, Amelia, tell me the truth now."

"I'm great with kids," Amelia said, and Meredith noticed the tears forming in the young woman's face. "I have a great boyfriend who wants kids, and sometimes I think I want kids too, but I can't forget him."

"You can't forget who?" Meredith asked, now entirely confused.

"My son," Amelia whispered.

"Wait, what?"

"Derek never knew. I never told any of my siblings, but the last time I was here, I was pregnant. I didn't know it then. By the time I found out, I was already twenty weeks. I'd gotten pregnant while I was high by my…" tears were now streaming down Amelia's throat as she choked out, "my late boyfriend. He died while he was high…" Amelia swallowed, tears streamed from her face. Meredith shifted Bailey to one arm and motioned for Amelia to sit next to her. Amelia sat next to Meredith, who wrapped her free arm around Amelia. Amelia continued, "It was gonna be the last time, I swear. We were just gonna finish the drugs so they didn't go to use, but I woke up...and he was dead. And later I found I was pregnant...with a baby with Anencephaly."

Meredith frowned. She knew the term, though she had never seen it in person, despite all the time during her residency that she had spent with Derek in neuro. She knew that Amelia meant that her baby was born without a brain.

"Oh, my God, Amelia. I had no idea," Meredith whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"Nobody knew. I made Addie promise not to tell my family. Then, Meredith, after the baby was born, I - I held him for a few minutes, until they took him away, s - so I could donate his organs to babies who had a chance to live," Amelia said, and tears welled from her eyes.

"I can't imagine how difficult that was for you, Amelia," Meredith whispered, rubbing Amelia's back as she poured tears into Meredith's shoulder. "But why are you telling me this? I barely know you, and I mean, I'm flattered that you're trusting me with these intimate details of your life, but I have to ask...why me?"

"Because I'm pregnant again," Amelia gasped.

"That's great, Amelia, but Addison is the baby doctor, not me. Apparently Derek didn't tell you; I'm a general surgeon."

"I know, Meredith. I - I want you and Derek to adopt my baby."