The year is 2006.

The year my life will begin for real this time.

A year ago I dropped out of my residency program after completing one year in Seattle. I decided the doctor life just wasn't for me. At least moving to Seattle allowed me to see that. Mom was obviously upset, and we didn't speak for months after. She was basically ashamed of me.

After dropping out, I spent a month in New York with Derek. He was still in his residency program doing amazing, and planned on specializing in neurology. By the end of that month I spent with him, we were officially back together as a couple. I came to New York to hang out with my best friend Derek, and I'm leaving New York as his girlfriend. A couple of months after we became an official couple, I decided to move to New York to be with him.

I had to decide what I wanted to do next. I have a BS in biology and an MD. I do enjoy the subjects I was taught; being a doctor just wasn't for me. I eventually got a job at New York University as a lecturer teaching human anatomy. It was only a part-time job, I only taught two classes, but at least it's a job. Derek didn't believe me when I told him I was going to be a college lecturer at NYU. He told me he couldn't picture me as a teacher. I would have never pictured myself as a teacher either, especially not a college teacher.

When the holidays came around, Derek and I flew to Boston to spend Christmas with his family. During that visit, I made amends with my mother. I updated her on my life, how I live in New York and have a job teaching at NYU. I know my mother is probably upset I quit my residency program to be a lecturer, but she didn't express those feelings to me. I think she has finally realized there is nothing she can do or say to change my mind.

During that same trip, Derek proposed to me. We went to the public garden to look at the pretty Christmas decorations when he popped the question. I was definitely surprised. This was the last thing I was expecting since we haven't even been dating for a year yet. To be fair, though, I think after knowing one another practically our entire lives, dating for only six months doesn't matter. I obviously said yes, and neither of us could be any happier.

We originally wanted to get married on 06/06/06, but Derek's sisters freaked out saying that our wedding date would be the devil's number. So to make them happy we chose June 16th, 2006 as our wedding date, which would allow us plenty of time to plan a wedding.

Derek's sisters helped me plan the wedding since Derek was extremely busy being a doctor. Derek and I decided we'd have our wedding up in Maine where it all began for us. Maine is where Derek kissed me for the very first time, and expressed his true feelings. Derek's sister Lizzie actually found us the perfect place to have our wedding. It's a house right on the lake.

Nancy, Kathleen, and Mrs. Shepherd flew to New York to go wedding dress shopping with me. I didn't want a dress too fancy, especially since it's going out be an outdoor lake wedding. After trying on a number of different dresses, I decided on a flowy a-line dress with a v-neck. The skirt portion of the dress is just tulle, while the top portion was covered in floral lace.

On the morning of our June wedding, I spent the morning with Derek's sisters and my two sisters getting ready. I was more nervous than I was expecting to be. I wondered if Derek felt the same way. When we were all ready, Nicolas Shepherd came into the room all of us girls were in. Back when Derek and I first got engaged, he offered to walk me down the aisle since I still have no real relationship with my dad. He told me he has experience being that three out of his four daughters are married. I took Nick up on his offer.

Just before Nick and I walked down the aisle together, he said to me, "Let's go make you an official member of our family."

Three months after Derek and I tied the knot, I found out I was pregnant. We were definitely not trying, but also not exactly preventing it either. When I told Derek the news, he was ecstatic. When we told his family, they were even more thrilled than Derek was. Let's just say they've been waiting for this day since we were kids ourselves.

When I was four months along, we found out we were having a boy. Derek told me he was secretly hoping for a boy since he comes from a family full of sisters. On April 24th, 2007, our son was born. We decided to name him Ethan Derek Shepherd.

The adjustment to parenthood was rough, especially since Derek was only allowed three days off for paternity leave. So it was practically all up to me to take care of our son. Everyday Derek left for the hospital, I was a little envious of him because he got to have a "break" even though it wasn't really a break being that he worked eighty hours a week.

A year later in 2008, Derek completed his residency program, and became a board certified neurosurgeon. He ended up getting a job offer at my mother's hospital in Boston. The only reason why he interviewed at Massachusetts General was because we thought it would be nice to move back home to Boston to be closer to our families. Derek and I talked a lot about the pros and cons of him working at my mother's hospital. The biggest con is that my mother would be his chief of surgery. But we realized all the pros outweighed the cons, and he took the position.

Later that same year, I found out I was pregnant again. I had a mini panic attack when that test came back positive because I wasn't exactly sure if I was ready for another baby being that Ethan was only one and a half. When I told Derek, he gave me the reassurance I needed.

"You're already such an amazing mother to Ethan, and you're going to be an even more amazing mother to this little one." Derek placed his hand on my abdomen, and I smiled. "Plus we're not too far from my parents, so I'm sure mom can help out."

We found out we were having a girl. Throughout my pregnancy, we would tell Ethan how he was going to be a big brother to a little sister. He didn't seem to entirely understand what was happening until her birth on August 2nd, 2009. Derek's parents brought Ethan by the hospital a couple of hours after the birth to meet her. I thought it was adorable how shy he was acting towards his little sister.

"So, does she have a name?" Nick asked as he looked over his wife's shoulder as she held the baby.

I looked at Derek and smiled. "Her name is Lydia Grey Shepherd."

As I laid in my hospital bed watching Derek talk to his parents as he held Ethan, I just couldn't believe this is how my life turned out. If you had told me as a teenager I was going to end up married to Derek with two children, I would have laughed in your face. I never once pictured my life being like this. I was supposed to be a surgeon. That was supposed to be life.

I'm happier with this life.

THE END!

Thanks for reading the story! I'm glad many of you enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed writing it. I am a bit disappointed that this story has come to an end. I was thinking maybe I should do a "Future" continuation of this story. As I was writing this epilogue, I had ideas just flooding my mind on what it could be about. Now, I'm not going to promise there'll be one. I'll probably test it out by writing a couple of chapters, and if I like it, I'll post it under this story, and change the name of it to "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow".

That being said, don't forget the follow and favorite if you haven't done so already! Bye guys.