Months went on and with time regrets started to fade away. It was hard to have regrets when Addison saw her son's smile, radiating happiness that she hadn't seen from him since the day he learned of her illness. They were falling back into a routine, moving on with life after having endured an obstacle that could have crumbled their family. They made the decision to apply for adoption and got called for an interview. The birth mother informed them that she was expecting a boy and despite their initial wish for a girl, Derek and Addison were both ecstatic about the prospect of adding to their family.

"Addie, it's two in the morning, why are you still awake?" Derek asked in four weeks before the expected arrival of their adopted son.

"Online shopping for the baby. I asked my brother to ship out Michael's old crib and changing table from our Brownstone. I mean, they were in perfect condition, no point in buying a new set. Besides, I've already looked into buying a new set and I haven't liked any of them."

"We better be using Michael's again. The crib alone was 14 thousand dollars." Derek murmured under his breath as he came to take a seat on the couch beside her. He leaned closer and glanced at the screen of her laptop.

"It's a really good crib! It was worth every dime." Addison insisted. "Besides, this condo is too small. The baby won't have a nursery of his own. I'll do baby furniture shopping when our house is ready. We'll make sure our baby boy has a perfect nursery just like Mikey did. Why are you awake?"

Derek shrugged and leaned back into the couch. "I had to pee and you weren't in bed. I can't sleep when you're not in the bed." Derek informed her. "Watcha buying?"

"Well, I just got a bunch of onesies. They have adorable slogan things written across the chest." Addison told him with a grin. "I got one that says 'If you think I'm cute wait until you see my daddy.' Oh! And there is another one that says 'little brother' and I got Mikey a matching one that says 'Big Brother.' It was absolutely the cutest thing ever."

"Okay, either 2 am shopping makes you very excited or you had too much caffeine."

"I'm just really excited about this whole thing. I wasn't too sure about the adoption at first but now I'm so excited. I can't wait to hold that little baby in my arms..." she trailed over, turning her head to smile at Derek. "Our lives are finally getting back on track."

About two weeks later, just 10 days before the scheduled delivery, they got a call from their adoption agency informing them that the mother had met another couple and chose them. They explained that because the final papers would not be signed until birth, the mother had the right to change her mind about the choice.

Needless to say, the couple was devastated. Addison donated everything she had bought for the baby, sobbing was she filled box after box. Derek wanted to help but she kept him at arm's length, telling him she had to come to terms with the feeling of loss in her own way. The agency called the, informing them three other birth mothers were interested in meeting them, they never responded to the calls.

Time just kept moving forward and they had no choice but to put their obstacles behind them and move forward with it. Addison had taken her old position back, picking up exactly where she left on and Derek went back to working full time. Despite the hectic demands, they synced their schedules to have lunch with their son every day, finding it important to have that time all together.

Four and a half year old Michael quietly sat at a table in the cafeteria eating his grilled cheese while his parents conversed about topics beyond his realm of understanding.

"How did your appointment with Karen go? Did she get the results for your latest round of tests?" Derek asked. "I wish you had remembered the appointment earlier to so I had time to adjust my schedule to be there with you."

"She did have the results. Everything is fine. Still in remission, there are no indications of cancerous cells anywhere in my body so she's confident that they got it all before it had a chance to spread." Addison answered. "I don't have to see her every three months, anymore. She said my next check-up should be in about 6 months."

"That's great." Derek replied with a relieved sigh. "I wanted to be there with you so I could tell her I think you're over working yourself. You won't listen to me so I hoped maybe she can get you to cut back a little."

"Derek, I'm working like 10 hours a day. I used to do 12 hour shifts before the cancer and before Mikey was born we did like 3 or 4 24 hour shifts a week, working 12 hours on all the other days. 10 hours a day is not over working myself."

"I know that you're still hurting because of what happen with the baby but…" he started but she cut him off before he could finish. Derek knew it was because the failed adoption was a sore topic, she hated discussing it.

"Finish eating your dinner, buddy, please. Daddy and I both have a lot to do before we can go home and I don't want you to starve." Addison said just so she can change the subject.

"I's gonna sleep at pre-school today?" Michael asked. The hospital had leased the floor out to a top ranked pre-school and Kingergarten which gave priority to children of hospital employees. After 2 pm, when the school day was officially over, they offered a day-care service for children whose's parents were still working. This had been one of the reasons Addison and Derek had been adamant about keeping their son enrolled full time even while they were unable to work fulltime during her illness. They did not want him to lose his spot and end up at the bottom of a long waiting list.

"No, you won't have to be there all night but later than usual." Addison answered with a tinge of remorse. "Depends on how our surgeries go."

"It's okay, Mama, I thinks Kara gots to stay today too. Me and her sleep on thingies next to each other and we pretend to sleep but whisper jokes when they's turn the lights off."

Derek turned his attention to his vibrating cell phone next to his cafeteria tray. "Fu-" he stopped, glacing at the child seated on the other side of the table, "Fudge, I want gonna say fudge. Anyway, that's the ER. Incoming MVA. I have to go meet the ambulance." he said as he got up, planting a quick peck on Addison's lips and Michael's head.

"Wait, Daddy! What about the fudge?" Mikey jumped up from his seat and called after him. He huffed in disappointment when he realized his father couldn't hear him and sat back down on his chair. "Daddy lieded about fudge."

"Time of death: 11:34 am." Derek called, angrily pulling off his gloves as he did. They weren't able to stabilize the patient enough to transfer him to the OR, they didn't even have a chance to move him from the ambulance gurney to the hospital bed. Derek didn't have the chance to do something to save him and that bothered him the most. He wandered out onto the ambulance bay and took a seat on the bench hoping that it would clear his mind.

He's been sitting there for 10 minutes when a teen approached him. He was sure she could not be more than 17 years old. "Are you a nurse? Or um, maybe a doctor?"

"I'm a doctor." Derek answered. "Everything okay?" he asked, glancing at the toddler who was shyly hidden behind the teen.

"I can't raise her anymore. I just…can't. My friend told me that I can take her to any ER or fire station and they would take her no questions asked."

Derek nodded. "Yeah, that's true for infants. But it's a little more difficult with toddlers. There are a few questions that need to be addressed. Her birthday, her social security number, since it's already been assigned, um…her name? Allergies?"

"All of her information is on an index card in her back pocket. Birthday, name, Social, it's all there. I can't afford to get her medical care so I'm not sure about conditions or allergies." The teen answered, gently nudging to barely two year old forward toward the doctor.

Derek knelt down in front of the child and gave her a reassuring smile before picking her up off the ground. "Would you, uh, like us to keep her here for a day or two in case you change your mind?"

"I'm not gonna change my mind. Just um, do whatever you have to do."

He watched the teen run off nervously and then looked at the toddler in his arms. "Go?" she asked with a quivering lower lip.

"Yeah, little one, she had to go." Derek answered. He hesitantly reached for the child's back pocket and pulled out the neatly folded piece of paper with all the information typed out. "Your name is Allison?" he asked.

The little girl nodded her head. "Allie." She informed him of her nickname.

"Well, Allie, I think you've got a very pretty name. My name is Derek. That might be kind of hard to say so you can call me Der, it you want." He said with a smile to help the child feel comfortable. He took her upstairs to the peds department for a full examination before he called Social Services. He stood by the child's side and held her little hand while a resident examined her and did a blood test then gave her another reassuring smile. "You sleepy, Ally? It's pretty late."

"Sleep." The little girl repeated while he carried her out to an on-call room and put her down on the bottom bunk. He covered her with a blanket and told her a story he would always tell Michael and that was enough to put her to sleep but he sat in the room just to keep in her company.

"Have you seen my husband?" Addison asked the only nurse sitting in the nurses' station located in the surgical wing.

"Nope, sorry, haven't seen him for a while." The woman answered before grabbing a chart and walking off down the hall.

Addison groaned then spotted Richard retreating toward her office. She ran to catch up with him then asked him the same question.

"Yeah, I saw him a little while ago." He answered. "He's in the on-call room cuddling with someone."

"Excuse me?" Addison replied, almost sure that they could not be talking about her Derek.

"Yeah, and my god, she's gorgeous. I mean, she's got these blue-green eyes that someone could get lost in and a smile that would hypnotize any man. And she's so much younger…"

Addison felt her heart start to pound faster and her face quickly drained off all color.

"She's 2, Addison." Richard chuckled. "Her mother saw Derek outside the ER and left the kid with him. He called social services but they can't come and get her until tomorrow afternoon so he put her to sleep in an on-call room."

"Oh." Addison breath a sigh of relief. She made her way to the on-call room Richard had directed her to and sure enough, there was Derek with a dark haired toddler. "Hey." She said softly as she walked into the on-call room. "I heard you were in here with a younger woman."

"Did you almost piss on yourself?" he asked with an amused smile.

"Piss on myself; no. Have a panic attack? Yeah, almost." Addison replied lightheartedly. "I heard about what happen with her."

"Her name is Allison. Allie for short. Her birthday is next month, same day as yours. She's turning 2. When I look at her I feel like I'm looking at mini you. It's like some type of sign."

"Sign?" Addison asked.

"Yeah, that this was meant to be. That her mother chose to hand her off to me out of everyone else in the ER. That her facial features look just like yours. She shares your birthday, Addison! He name even sounds like yours. If that's not a sign then I don't know what is."

"Since when do you believe in signs?"

"Since about 30 minutes ago. This has to be meant to be. This is our chance to complete our family, Ad. We just have to make sure the opportunity does not pass us by."

Addison gave him in a small nod to show her agreement. "I will call our lawyer to start paperwork with social services."

Social services allowed them to take the child home, foster her until a court could look at their request to adopt the child. Allie quickly and easily settled into the family, soaking in love and attention she'd never experienced. She almost instantaneously become attached to Derek, Addison and Michael, easily bringing herself to refer to them as her father, mother and brother. Addison was initially hesitant. She thought it was happening too easily, too quickly. She was sure something would happen to bring the adoption process to a screeching halt. She was just waiting for the next obstacle that would come along and break her heart. But nothing like that ever came. The adoption was processed and finalized within 6 months, no difficulties stopping them along the way. The day the adoption was finalized the couple's lawyer assured them that they were now legally the child's parents. No one could take the child away from them.

Michael may have arguably the happiest about the addition to their family. He loved having a little sister, someone to play with and talk to about topics his parents never understood. Discussing episodes of Dora the Explorer as if it were a political debate became a common occurrence in the Shepherd household. There were arguments over toys and a battle for attention but it was a welcomed change and everyone knew it.

"Mama!" Five year old Michael exclaimed loudly when he saw his mother walk into the pre-school. He got up from his spot at the crafts table and ran over to her.

"Hey, sweetheart." Addison greeted, placing two and a half year old Allie on the ground to wrap her arms around her son. "What's with the tears?"

"Mikey no cry." Allie muttered, looking up at her brother with her own lower lip quivering at his sadness.

"Kara moveded away, Mommy!" he exclaimed emotionally. "She go-ed to a different state and she didn't even telled me!"

"Michael, she went to a different state and she didn't tell you." The teacher corrected from the sideline.

Addison addressed the woman with her signature glare before trying to console her son. She knelt down to be at eye level with both her child, self-consciously tucking a lock of carefully curled red hair behind her ear. Her hair had started growing out but she wasn't ready to leave the house without a wig. She feared the second people saw her real, significantly shorter than usual hair, they would pity her as a woman who had struggled with cancer and she did not want that.

"Honey, you remember that Kara's Daddy died, right?" she asked her son softly and received a nod in response. "Kara's mommy was having a really hard time raising her on her own. She works in ER so she's got lots of long hours."

"Where did theys go?"

"I'm not sure exactly where they went, Mikey. I think Kara's family lives in Michigan. I think they moved there so they can be closer to family. They were all alone in Seattle and sometimes people need family to help get them through hard times."

"Oh…" Michael murmured, sniffling back his tears. "How come Allie is here?"

"Because she's gonna be coming to pre-school and day care with you from now on. She'll be your new best friend since Kara is gone." Addison smiled, looking for one child to the other. "She's a little nervous so you have to make her feel comfortable, okay? Daddy and I are going to be working so you need to take care of her."

"Me?" Michael asked.

"Yup, you're her big brother."

"Like Unca Archie's your Big Brother." Michael said.

"Exactly, and when we were little Archie used to take very good care of me. He would always make me feel better when I cried and he would play with me and teach me things and give me advice so I wouldn't get hurt. We were like best friends. He is the greatest big brother ever."

"I's gonna be like Unca Archie." Michael decided, holding his hand out to his little sister. "Wanna go play, Allie?"

The two and a half year old looked from her mother to her brother then back to her mother.

"It's okay, Allie, it's gonna be really fun. Mikey is here so you don't have anything to worry about." Addison promised her.

"Mommy and Daddy will pick us up at lunchtime." Michael added. "We's gonna stay here and do stuff while they work. Ms. Lily reads books and we get to do activities. It's really fun."

"We color?"

"Yeah!" Michael exclaimed. "It's craft time so you's can color if you want. I was gonna make somefing but I can color with you instead so you's not be alone."

"Otay." The toddler grinned at her brother with appreciation.

Michael reached out to take her hand. "Come on, I'll show you where the crayons are." He said as he led her toward the neatly organized craft table. "Bye, Mommy!" he called behind him and turned to catch a glimpse of his sister waving her own goodbye.

As the year passed Derek and Addison decided to put their land to use by building a home for their family. They both knew that their children were growing faster than either would like to admit and neither wanted to miss out on any of it. They successfully learned to balance time and energy between their career and their family and it was working. They had not fallen back into old habits as Addison had feared but rather, their past struggles had taught them how to stick together.

"Hey." Addison greeted as she stepped into the master bedroom of the newly finished semi-mansion that had been constructed in place of the trailer. She smiled when she saw her three year old daughter and five and a half year old son soundly asleep in the California King bed.

"Hey." Derek greeted back, his voice laced with a bit of exhaustion.

Addison moved over to his side of the bed and pecked his lips. "Everything go okay? I'm sorry for leaving them on you all night."

"It was fine, no worries. Glad you're okay, I was kinda worried about you driving home in this storm." Derek replied. "Is your patient okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. She was brought into the ER earlier today after she slipped in the shower. There was minor placental damage so I admitted her to monitor her through the night. The baby went into fetal distress so we had to do an emergency c-section but they are both okay now."

"Well, while you were occupied with placentas and blood and scalpels we were here trying to manage baths and bedtime. You should be jealous." Derek teased.

"I'm very jealous." Addison replied before going into her closet to change out of her clothes into a pair of pajamas. She got into bed, carefully adjusting her sleeping daughter to make room for herself. "What are they doing in here? Did the thunder scare them?"

"It scared Allie shitless. Michael "escorted" over here because so she won't fall in the hall in the dark. She got settled in our bed and he just stood there, jumped about 5 feet in the air when thunder struck then said he better say here because I probably won't be able to protect Allie well enough alone. He thought I would need help."

They settled into a comfortable silence. Addison unconsciously smiled when her daughter pushed Mikey away from her in a battle for more space in the somewhat cramped bed. She pulled her sleeping son closer to her to give Ally more comfort. As she fought the sleep a smile grew on her face when her son snuggled close to her.

"Addie." Derek called for her attention. "Are you thinking about something or are you just watching them sleep?" Derek asked her.

"Both, I'm doing both." She answered in a quiet whisper as she briefly glanced up at him before looking back at their children.

"What are you thinking about?" he inquired.

"Them." She answered simply. "I didn't think I would live to see Michael turn five and he's five and a half now and now we have Allie and it's all just…I guess I'm just appreciating the moment."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I think about it every time I see the three of you. We have a lot to be grateful for. It was a long, hard road but it's little moments like this that make it all worth it."

"After work, after spending so much time watching other families' struggles, it makes me feel better to know that we're not there anymore. We're not hanging on by a thread anymore. And seeing them happy and healthy is the best way to remind myself of that."

"Addison, you don't have to think of the cancer as something completely negative in our lives. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was terrible. I hated seeing you in go through so much physical and emotional pain, but it wasn't all completely negative. It made us much stronger as a couple, it made us determined, it taught us to work toward a common goal. It brought us closer together as a family and we learned to appreciate every second we have together. The chemo didn't work, but if it had we would have tried for a pregnancy instead of adopting. Then we would never have Allie. As bad as it all was, as painful as it was, a lot of good came from it. Got it?"

Addison nodded just slightly. "Got it." She confirmed in a whisper.

The family settled into a comfortable slumber despite the storm outside. The proud parents were sure that at some point in the night the thunder would wake Michael and Allie. "Mommy." A little voice whispered and Addison was sure the storm had startled one of her kids awake.

Addison's eyes fluttered open to see her son. "Did the thunder wake you, sweetheart?" she asked, cuddling the child close to comfort him and give him a little extra warmth on the cold night.

"Yes." he answered honestly.

"It's okay, honey, it's just thunder. You're safe here, okay? Daddy and I won't let anything happen to you." she promised.

Michael pulled out of his mother's tight embrace and sat up in bed to look into her eyes. "I'm not scared." he insisted. "I just stayed here to help Daddy keep you and Allie safe. I was just gonna say that you don't gots to worry 'bout the thunder cuz I won't let it hurt you. I's not gonna let anything ever hurt you or Allie."

"Mikey, honey, you really don't have to worry about me. I'll be okay."

"No, Mommy, you gots to know that I's not gonna let anything bad ever happen to you again, okay? I will kick someone's ass if they try to hurt you or Allie."

"Excuse me?" Addison asked, raising a brow as she look at her son.

"Oh, it's okay, Mommy, Daddy says 'ass' is not a bad word. It's a body part. And I can say it because I's gonna be a docta and doctas gotta know all about body parts."

So there you go. The story ends with more of Michael being absolutely adorable. I'm totally going to miss writing his character. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story. Sorry for the delay, I wanted this chapter to be awesome and there was so much I wanted to include so it got a little difficult to write.

Let me know your thoughts on the last chapter. Tell me what you favorite and least favorite parts or chapters were! I'm curious to see what different people have liked over the course of the story and what they absolutely HATED. Hope you enjoyed the story as a whole and thanks for all the support and feedback throughout. :)