A/N: Thank you to everyone following this story, your comments and reviews have been much appreciated. This is the first story that I've written with assistance and it was a great experience!
"Meredith, you look well," Kate says greeting her sister-in-law with a light hug.
"And so do you, good to see you again," Meredith replies.
"The kids look great Meredith, and Bailey is starting to look a bit more like Derek every time I see him," Nancy remarks.
"Mom, can I please go sit with Sofia now?" Zola asks.
"Yes Zo, but you sit with her and don't leave this area. The car will be here to pick us up soon, okay?" Meredith reminds her as she watches her head over to sit with Callie and Sofia.
Meredith then notices that Amelia and Arizona are sitting across from Callie with Nancy.
"Arizona, I understand that you trained under Nicole Herman. Did you know that I worked on a case with her at Hopkins when I first finished med school?" Nancy asks.
"Uh, no I didn't realize that you were at Hopkins," Arizona replies.
"I was an obstetrical surgical fellow there," Nancy explains.
"Ironically, she got pregnant and didn't complete it," Amelia points out.
"I did complete it, just not at Hopkins," Nancy counters annoyed.
"So you worked with Nicole before she was in Fetal Medicine?" Arizona asks trying to get them back on track.
"Yes, I hear that she's in Hawaii now," Nancy replies.
"No, she always wanted to retire there, but she's actually teaching at Perkins in Watertown," Arizona says, "She's doing really well. I just visited her a few weeks ago."
"Oh, I didn't realize she was so close, Amelia have you visited her yet?" Nancy asks.
"Uh, yeah. I visit her almost every time I'm here," Amelia replies.
"Wait, you've visited her every time you've been here?" Arizona asks surprised.
"Well, not every time, it is 8 hours away," she admits.
"Okay, would everyone gather around?" Carolyn asks waving them in. "Now Meredith, the kids and I will go in the first car and the rest of you can take the second car. Each driver will want to see your id and your pass, so please have those handy."
"Mom, did you find out if Callie and Arizona can go with us?" Amelia asks.
"Yes, they can go in with us," Carolyn replies.
"In recognition for his work..." President Obama begins.
Meredith beams a happy smile as she listens to President Obama recognize Derek for his work on the Presidential Commission. She's amazed at how well the kids are behaving, but then with Derek's sisters there, they have the kids outnumbered. Zola is standing beside her, Carolyn is holding Ellis and Bailey is standing with Amelia. They were able to get tickets for Callie, Arizona and Sofia and they all will get to meet the President at the reception.
"I still can't believe we're at the White House," Callie whispers to Arizona after the President presents Meredith and Carolyn with Derek's award and Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"Hi," Amelia says walking over to Arizona after the ceremony. "That was kind of cool," she remarks smiling at the blonde and taking her hand.
"It was amazing really," Arizona replies tearfully.
"Hey, we had a deal no tears," Amelia reminds her wrapping an arm around her.
"I know, I know," she replies softly, dabbing them with a tissue. "But look at how happy and proud your mom is today."
"I know," Amelia says with tears in her own eyes. "I still can't believe that he's gone. Can you believe that? It's been two years and I can still hear his voice in my head," she adds, her voice breaking with emotion.
Arizona is stunned, this is the first time Amelia has shown emotion like this in regard to Derek, so she pulls her into an embrace.
Kate and Nancy are watching from across the room and one of them reaches over to nudge Liz.
"Mom," Liz says tugging gently on her sleeve and motioning to Arizona and Amelia.
Carolyn walks over to the two women, "Amelia?" she says softly placing her hand on her back.
Amelia grabs her Mom and embraces her. Carolyn talks softly to Amelia and after a few minutes she pulls away from her.
Arizona reaches out and takes Amelia's hand and leans in to kiss her head lightly.
"Happy Thanksgiving!" Arizona and Amelia say when Carolyn opens the door.
"Girls! Come in, come in!" Carolyn says pulling them inside.
"Amy take your things upstairs, Arizona and I need to talk about Sofia's Christmas gift," Carolyn says putting an arm around the blonde.
"We're planning our annual family ski trip and we'd like you and Sofia to join us. Now I realize that you may not be a skier, but not all of us are skiers either. The resort that we go to offers sledding and ice skating too. I'll have Kate send you the information," Carolyn explains.
"I'll have to discuss this with Callie, but it sounds wonderful thank you for including us," Arizona replies warmly.
"Mom, you didn't turn the heat on upstairs yet. We're going to need to light a fire to get the chill off up there." Amelia says entering the room.
"There's a fireplace upstairs?" Arizona asks.
"Yes, Arizona" Carolyn replies, "this is an old house and my brother, the plumber, he pulled all of the radiators out and put in small gas fireplaces into each of the upstairs bedrooms," she explains. "Now Amelia do you need help getting it lit?"
"No, I think I remember how. I just couldn't find any matches upstairs," she says putting her cold hands on Arizona's waist under her sweater.
"Oh!" Arizona exclaims pushing her away. "Amelia your hands are like ice!"
"I know!" she says laughing at her.
"Okay, Amelia stop," Carolyn says smacking her arm with the box of matches. "Now I'm going to come up there with you and make sure you do it correctly, we don't need you to burn the house down."
"Mom, I'm a brain surgeon, I can light the fireplace without burning the house down," Amelia says groaning at her. "And when are you going to sell this place? I don't know how you keep up with it."
"I pay my grandchildren to help me clean it," Carolyn replies, "which is about the only way to get them to visit me now that they're teenagers."
"Hmm, it's cozy in here now." Arizona says when Amelia enters the room.
"We need to make the most of having this to ourselves tonight, because the house will be full tomorrow," Amelia says plopping down on the bed beside her.
"Would it be weird if I told you that I've never had this kind of Thanksgiving before?" Arizona asks.
"What do you mean? I don't understand," Amelia asks.
"My family is just me and my parents and Sofia, and before that it was just me, Tim and my parents," She explains. "I'll admit, I'm a little nervous about tomorrow."
"Ah, well let me warn you about tomorrow. We are loud, the kids will fight and tease each other, the adults will fight and tease each other, it's what we do, you'll be overwhelmed. My sisters, my sisters will take turns being nice and a little rude, you'll be offended more than once." Amelia says wrapping an arm around her. "But here's the thing, being a part of a big family has it's advantages."
"It's sounds like chaos, is that the advantage that you're talking about?" Arizona asks sarcastically.
Laughing, Amelia leans in and kisses her. "Actually the thing about holiday chaos is that there's so many people and so much going on that sometimes the whole day will pass before you realize who's missing," she says, her voice tightening up as she looks down at their hands.
"Now I know why Derek always invited so many of us over on the holidays, at first I thought it was Meredith, you know not wanting to be alone on the holidays, but now after meeting your family, I think it was his way of surrounding himself with people so he wouldn't miss this," Arizona points out.
"When I lived in California, I always made excuses as to why I couldn't go home for the holidays. It wasn't even that I did anything else, I would just work or go sit on a beach somewhere. I just couldn't face my family after everything; the disappointment that I felt about myself, well it was reflected back to me in their eyes. So my solution was to just avoid them, to avoid their comments and stares; to avoid their concerns about what I was doing, or worse what I was drinking," she replies anxiously.
Arizona brushes her hair out of her eyes and Amelia realizes that she's crying.
"Hey I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to be so heavy," Amelia says pulling her closer and kissing her hair. "I was actually just trying to explain why it was so important to me that we come here for this holiday," she says laughing a bit. "You see, I'm happy. My family hasn't seen me happy in a long time or maybe ever, so I wanted to share this happy me with them and you. I want to share you with them, because you, you are the reason that I'm happy."
"Amelia, I understand, I really understand. After Tim died, I avoided seeing my parents, I couldn't stand to see them grieving, it was like my grief was being reflected back at me. It got easier and now when I see them, I'm reminded of him in the best way. Those months that I was in DC and now having my parents in Seattle, have given Tim back to me in so many ways, ways I never imagined were possible," she explains tearfully.
"Well isn't this the sexiest conversation," Amelia exclaims sarcastically, wiping tears from her eyes.
Arizona reaches over, caresses her face she leans in and kisses her slowly, teasing her mouth with her tongue, until Amelia gasps. Then Arizona pulls back and trails kisses down her neck, stopping to suck on her pulse point until the brunette moans. "Mmm, let me show you how much I love you Amelia," she says, her voice thick with emotion.