The final chapter is here, sorry for the little bit of delay, I had been really busy and I think I'm going crazy if I'll need to keep up this rhythm until June.

Grace I'm sure rings lots of bells in your Grey's brain, like prom? No idea why I chose Kate Havnevik's song to end this fiction, uh?

Chapter 25 – Grace

As I woke up after my nap, Derek hadn't moved an inch. Our daughter was quietly sleeping in his arms and he was just there, staring at her with an adoring gaze, his eyes never leaving her perfect form and I never thought anything could be so perfect like the two of them together.

"Hey" he whispered, a wide smile curling his lips as he looked up at me as soon as he felt my eyes on him "Mommy's awake" he spoke to the baby then, his voice tender and soothing as he placed a soft kiss on the baby's head. I melted on the spot at the words and the sight and the whole idea of everything.

He stood up from the chair cautiously and placed our little girl in my arms again, before his lips touched mine in a lingering, happy kiss. He sat next to me on the bed as I took in the sleeping form of our baby again. I couldn't think about anything more perfect than her.

"Hey Grace, you're finally here" I whispered, kissing the baby as well.

We decided her name during a stormy night, curled up in bed after his accident, the first time he felt the baby kicking. We didn't agreed immediately for the boy's name, but with Grace we didn't needed to discuss further.

"She is" he sighed contentedly

"I love her so much already, Derek, I can't believe I could have..." aborted her. My voice waved. It never crossed my mind, but it could have happened, if it was someone else's baby it certainly would have happened.

"I know." He replied and he immediately knew what was going on in my head "Thank you for her, Meredith"

I saw his gaze getting lost and I realized he almost missed all of it, I almost let him lose everything.

"Thank you" I echoed, kissing him as I was at loss of words.

Grace started to open her eyes and fussed, before she burst in a desperate, piercing cry. For a moment I panicked, taking in how scared she looked in my arms, how fragile and tiny, crying at the top of her healthy little lungs. I gently rocked her back and forth, stroking her tummy and letting her know that I was there, that she wasn't alone, that I was going to be there forever, despite how much the single thought freaked me out. She didn't stop crying, but at least she wasn't screaming anymore, simply whimpering for something more than my undivided attention.

"Could you get the nurse in here? I think she might be hungry" I asked Derek and he immediately smiled.

"She'll be here in a second" he replied, standing up and moving to the door, always eager to meet my requests, even when I asked for ice cream in the middle of the night

"Derek," I stopped him when his hand was on the doorknob, his eyes looked back with such a deep joy nestled in that I thought my heart was going to explode for all the love I felt right there "I want you here the first time she breastfeeds"

Our eyes met and I could tell he was fighting hard his tears again. I couldn't have him every step of the way but I was going to make sure he wouldn't miss anything from now on. He was happy and scared and tired all at the same time, but he kept grinning as he went out.

As the nurse replaced him and began explaining how exactly I had to do to have her comfortable, Derek was in the room again. The nurse left us some privacy right after her lecture and he walked closer to us, kissing the top of my head before looking down to Grace as she began nursing. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking in the feeling of her so close to me again, then gazing back at Grace, my vision of her slightly blurred.

"Mer" he half-asked, half-stated, just like every time he was concerned

"It's a beautiful feeling" I sighed, staring at Grace nursing.

"I bet it is"

He caressed her hair then sat on the bed next to us, his eyes still focussed on Grace. He kept watching us in silence, a pleased smile spreading on his lips and he looked different from every other moment I saw him. Different than the moment I revealed him about the baby or the split second he processed my two yes, at his proposal first then at the wedding. A sliver of it was different.

He is a father.

"I met Mom outside, she's with Cristina and the others. They're pacing in the hall and I'm quite sure Izzie was going to throw a fit as I told them you were breastfeeding without them hovering" he chuckled, finally breaking the quiet and setting off reality again as I giggled with him. I could see his heart swell in his chest with love at the mention of me breastfeeding, but I decided to leave this conversation for some other time.

"I need a few more minutes just the three of us" I melted at the simple idea of a 'three of us'. Us. Our family.

"God, that sounded so perfect"

"It really did" I smiled, as his lips met mine for a loving kiss.

"We are a family" he added and I felt tears in my eyes again

"I love you two so much Derek" I sighed

"I feel the same way"

We remained in silence for a while, admiring Grace nurse, delighted by her small sounds and every movement she made. I couldn't tear my eyes off her.

"We never talked about a middle name" I broke the quiet knowing exactly where this conversation had to end

"I guess you have something to suggest" he grinned, knowing me too well.

"Elizabeth. It's my middle name and my mother's. She wanted to pass the tradition. She asked me, before she died, when I went visiting and she told me I was pregnant, she..." I trailed off, fighting the tears at the memories, the hormones still playing havoc in my body.

"It's perfect, Meredith"

"You think?" I asked cautiously

"Grace Elizabeth Grey-Shepherd" he tried it and it rolled out of his lips like music, except that something was still off

"She's a Shepherd, Derek" I corrected him. I wanted her to be a Shepherd, I wanted Grace to belong.

"She's as much yours as she's mine" he seemed afraid to say something more, the fact that everything didn't begin in the best of ways still concerning him

"I'm a Shepherd too, except at work"

As we looked at each other, I couldn't read him, last thing I knew he was kissing me senseless, both forgetting for a moment about Grace cradled on my chest, before she made a strange sound of contentment and broke apart her connection with my breast. I began giggling silently, a wide smile spreading on my lips as my eyes remained closed to savor the moment. He looked incredibly perfect.

A light knock snapped us out of the moment and we both looked at each other in awe. There was something in his eyes I couldn't place, something new, something perfect.

The door opened and a chorus of 'aww' made us turn to the door to see the whole group of interns standing there, led by Carolyn Shepherd with a wide smile on her face. Izzie was almost jumping up and down, George was taken aback by the scene, Alex was smirking in his usual way and Cristina was simply staring at me and Grace, slightly behind all of them, in the far corner of the room.

"Okay people, this is Grace Elizabeth Shepherd and she would like some quiet" Derek smirked very overprotective of her already as she started fussing in my arms. "One by one you can all come in, all right?"

"Very bossy" I mouthed, behind his back and all of them began laughing.

"Who first?" asked Izzie eagerly

"Cristina, she's the godmother" said Carolyn "Mark is on his way, he was pulled in an emergency surgery"

Mark was going to be her godfather since him and Derek cleared out their issues and realized that there were too many good memories to throw away.

"Ma'am it's okay, you first" Cristina shook her head "you're family"

"She's not going to eat you Cristina" I smirked, knowing how hard was for her to be around children, she seemed genuinely scared by a tiny, sweet baby. My tiny sweet baby.

"Okay" she stepped forward as the other left the room and Alex had practically to drag Izzie away.

"Can you give us a minute?" I whispered to Derek and he nodded, smiling and kissing me and Grace tenderly once more before following the others outside.

Cristina stood in the middle of the room awkwardly, looking at the tiles on the floor.

"C'mon, don't be a chicken" I giggled

"I don't do babies" she snorted

"She's my baby and you're going to hold her" I practically ordered. She trudged closer slowly and put the sleeping bundle that was my daughter in her arms.

Her usually stony expression gave out the tiniest, most unnoticeable smile ever, but she smiled.

"I bet McDreamy would have known she was hers anyway, look at the hair" she eased the tension using her snickering remarks as always. Her eyes moved up to meet mine and there was something else in hers too, pride, maybe?

"She's perfect, I can't believe she's all ours yet. I'm waiting for someone to burst in there and say that we have to get her back to her mommy. It just doesn't feel real" I rambled and I saw her smirking, before she placed Grace back in my arms

"She's been kicking you for the past five months, Meredith"

"I know" I sighed loudly, more at my idiocy than her remark

"She's a lucky girl" she smiled genuinely, before squeezing my shoulder. It felt like the tightest hug we have ever shared. "My time's up, I'll let Mrs. Shepherd in. This is very mature, Meredith Grey" she said, before I could reply anything to her as I was busy fighting tears.

The door didn't had time to click before the figure of Carolyn made her way inside the room. She was beaming and I saw a slight resemblance with Derek in the beaming thing.

"There we are" she said, walking closer to me and immediately looking at the baby in my arms. I reluctantly gave her away for the second time in about two minutes, but I was rewarded with a secure hold by Carolyn. Five kids and dozens of grandchildren certainly gave confidence.

"Hi Grace, it's Nana" she smiled brightly and the breath caught in my throat. I saw Derek coming back in the room and he froze at the door, his eyes glistening with emotion.

"Mom" he barely whispered, overwhelmed by the emotion. His mother was holding his baby. And for a split second, I closed my eyes and I imagined what it would have been if my mother was fine, how would have been their first meeting, wondered how warm she would have been towards her, how their relationship would have built.

I opened my eyes and blinked away my tears, knowing that no answer was going to be given to those questions.

'Baby right there'

And yet it was almost as if she was looking down and somehow she was there, she led me to this moment, she guided us from her place, she loved me, she loved us. I kept my eyes closed, trying to manage my tears.

"Meredith?" Carolyn's voice snapped me out of my memories and I smiled, despite the tears, I smiled, because I knew my mother was there, next to Carolyn.

"I'm so glad you are here, Carolyn" I said, locking my eyes with hers, before she could place Grace in Derek's arms and walk to the bed to hug me. A real, motherly hug, strong and gentle arms cradling me to her chest. I needed to master this kind of hugs.

"I'm so happy for you right now that I'm just going to shut up and let Izzie and the other two inside" I saw her blinking back some happy tears, still at a loss of words, before taking one last look at Grace and leave the room.

In the few moments of quiet, my eyes met Derek's and I knew he was aware of what was going on in my mind, he always knew almost everything and he could read me like an open book. He read fear, but he read joy too, so he kept staring, his arms securely wrapped around Grace's tiny form.

Izzie burst in the room, immediately followed by a very embarrassed Alex and a quiet George.

"Oh my God, Meredith, Derek, she's perfect, look at her, seriously, she's perfect" she squealed, practically without breathing.

"What she meant is that we are happy for you guys" translated Alex and we all smiled.

"Can I hold her?" asked her eagerly again, and Derek gave up with a snort

"Hi Grace" was all she could manage as the baby was in her arms. Maybe she was satisfied, maybe Grace took her words away with her perfectly cute yawn, but since then Izzie Stevens couldn't speak anymore and kept staring at the baby.

George and Alex gathered around her to take a closer look and they all seemed pleased, until Grace let out a cry to let everybody know that she had enough for spotlights in one single day.

She calmed down as soon as she was contentedly wrapped up near my chest, her eyelids dropped and she was fast asleep again. The trio walked out silently and everything seemed to move in slow motion again. It was almost as if Grace had some kind of superpower with time and everything related. I was losing track of the whole world with her in my arms. Except Derek, he kept standing fiercely at the end of the bed, looking at us in amazement. It didn't felt real for him either.

I noticed the door opening and someone else coming in just because I heard a clearing of a throat.

I turned to see Miranda Bailey with what looked like a smirk standing next to Addison Montgomery in a very awkward, unsettling pose.

"I just stopped by to see how you were doing, I guess congratulations are needed" Addison said, her eyes not leaving mine and especially avoiding Derek.

"Thank you, I really appreciated everything you've done for us"

"I was doing my job" she said, matter-of-factly, but despite everything, I knew it was something more than a job and I had no words to thank her further before she left the room.

Bailey was staring back and forth between me, the baby and Derek, her eyebrows narrowed but a knowing smile spreading on her lips.

"If I didn't just had a baby no more than a year ago, I was going to scold you and yell at you for doing this, but I'm just gonna lean closer and admire the hair of this baby while you read this" she said.

I somehow traded Grace for an envelope she was holding out for me and I think Derek realized before me what was in it as he sat next to me as Bailey beamed at our baby.

I turned the letter upside down and a sudden realization hit me just how it hit Derek: the results of the exam.

As I tore apart the paper, I realized I didn't give a crap about being a resident right in that split second. Yeah, I cared, but not as much as before, not at the point that I was going to hide in the woods if I wouldn't make it or cry over my mistakes. I was freaking in labor when I took the test, it was enough I completed it without screaming in pain in the middle of the room.

I unfolded the letter and before I could read it, Derek's happiness told me that I made it. What I missed though, was that I scored the best result, tied with Cristina's.

I threw my arms at Derek's neck and I nuzzled my face in the crook with his shoulder, letting out more happy tears as he held me, small chuckles shaking his chest.

"You made it, Mer" he said, for my ears only and I just nodded on his chest, too struck to comment anything.

"Ah, this baby is too charming for her own good" sighed Bailey, smiling at us. A genuine smile, one she couldn't help having. "I'm proud of you, Grey. I'm glad that husband of yours didn't mess up with your talent after all"

"Thank you Dr. Bailey" I smiled and she gave Grace back to me.

"You're welcome"

I didn't even noticed her leaving the room, as I basked in that joy. I couldn't even find the right words for the feeling, because I was going to spend the next two weeks off with Derek, then my maternity leave will start and when I'll be back in there, I'll be a resident but mostly, I'll have a perfect baby girl in the daycare to visit every time I wanted and a perfect husband hovering as much as I do, because that husband is Derek and he can't help the good hovering.

I finally had a family and it was nothing I've ever imagined I could have right at this point in my life. When I had my teenage dreams. I have never done families, except that now I had mine and it was perfect, just like the sleeping baby in my arms and the adoring gaze into Derek's eyes.

And for the first time in my life, I knew that everything was going to be alright. Not always, but most of the time.

And it felt incredibly good.

THE END

AN: I can't believe Soft Shock is over. Seems like yesterday than I began writing it under the influence of too much sugar and the happy Christmas lights. The journey is over and I feel kind of proud for finishing it.

I have seen many visits and many reviews, they really kept me going and update as quickly as I could, despite the overwhelming homework. I know I said there would be a sequel, I kind of promised it, and I'm not backing away, I just need some more time to figure out things. I don't think it will be up before the summer, if I can get things done really fast probably earlier, but I can't promise anything. Look forward to this summer ;)

If you can't really wait I can mail you what I think will be the first chapter I'll publish, I'm just saying that it will be a strange sequel *knowing grin*

Okay, I gave away too much already, rambled for too many lines. A huge thank you again to all my loyal readers, even the ones who never reviewed, thanks to the one who subscribed and the ones who have the story in their favs, each mail of yours meant so much to me. I admit I was scared to publish this at first, but it was totally worth it.

I hope you'll stay with me with for the future sequel and you'll wait patiently.

Thank you all again for sticking till this point. You are great!

~Irene