Chapter 1

It had been a good day.

Surveying the scene as the last ambulance pulled away from him, Derek Shepherd took a few moments to reminisce on the days' events. It had started the way he wanted all of his mornings to start from now on – in bed with his wife. Mentally glossing over the finer details of their morning, Derek smiled at the agreement they had reached at the end of their conversation.

More.

More of him and Meredith. More time spent with his family. And best of all, more kids. He loved having two kids, Zola and Bailey were the lights of his life, but with Bailey being almost two, he couldn't really be called a baby anymore; and Derek wanted another baby. There was a time in his life where he couldn't have ever imagined wanting a house full of kids. One, maybe two, was what he always thought he wanted, or at least what his mother wanted for him. But ever since Meredith, then Zola, and then Bailey had come into his life, having more kids no longer felt like an obligation. It just felt...right. As an added bonus, he could promise to never leave his family again.

It had killed him every time he left Seattle for DC, and it had nearly killed his relationship. He remembered the roller coaster of emotions he had experienced that night in the kitchen upon his most recent return from DC. The sorrow he had felt when Meredith had told him that she could live without him, quickly followed by the uplifting joy he experienced when she followed that up with the fact that she didn't ever want to. In that moment he had fallen in love with his wife all over again, and he had silently vowed to show her how much every day from then on.

Speaking of which…He glanced at his watch. Obviously, he had missed his flight, but there was no reason he couldn't return home and surprise Meredith. His big, grand romantic gesture of quitting his job was now ruined, however, he was pretty sure it was nothing a night in bed with his wife couldn't fix.

Pausing before getting back into his car, Derek admired the view. Washington really was gorgeous. All of the sights, sounds, and smells of New York City now seemed like a distant, and slightly discomforting, memory to him now. Even in the country, New York had never felt like this. Washington was just free; clean. Even the air seemed fresher, like you could almost taste the evergreen trees that were so prevalent everywhere. Breathing deeply from his perch on the overlook, Derek watched as a pair of bald eagles returned to their nest. Far below him, a river slowly meandered its way to Puget Sound, sparkling when light glanced off the water at just the right angle. The setting sun was barely kissing the horizon, but already the sky was alight with a dazzling array of reds, pinks, oranges, and faint tints of blue and purple. It truly was magnificent.

Walking back to his car, Derek recalled the voicemail he had left Meredith earlier that morning from the ferry. He had promised that they were going to ride ferry boats when he got back, but now he wanted to amend that statement. Not only were they going to ride the ferry boats, but he was also going to bring Meredith back up to this precise spot to show her the glorious view. It would be the perfect place, he thought, to truly rekindle their relationship. They could continue on with a clean slate.

Grinning at the thought, Derek unlocked his car and settled himself in the seat. As he started to pull out into the road, he groped for his cell phone. He needed to call Meredith, to tell her of his new plan.

He was still smiling when the semi-truck unexpectedly barreled into his car.

And everything went black.