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"It's time," Derek thought and got off the bed. He was so ready to meet his family again. It's been years and years of not being able to even tell them he was alive, but now? Now he was standing there very much alive and so ready to meet everyone again. Then, suddenly, he lost all of his confidence. What if they would hate him? What if the kids didn't even remember him? What if they got so used to not having a father that they thought they didn't even need one? What if they call 'daddy' to Andrew instead of him? There were so many unanswered questions in his head, but the only way to find out was to go out there and let them know he was alive.
He heard steps getting closer. Only then he realized it wasn't just someone coming up the stairs. It was one of the kids. He slowly opened the door just to see Zola walking into her room. He couldn't believe his eyes. When he 'died' she was so little, and now, after all this time she was so big and he couldn't help but want to hug her, but he decided not to. She probably still didn't know anything about him being alive. That way he would just scare her, so he decided to wait.
A few minutes later he heard someone coming upstairs. Well, it wasn't just someone. There were a whole bunch of people coming upstairs. A tall man was holding a baby, and two kids were following them. Derek figured that tall man might've been Link and the baby he was holding was Scout. He was so little, and so much like Amelia. His heart skipped a beat realizing who were two kids following them. They were his kids, his babies. And once again, he couldn't believe his eyes. Bailey was so grown up. And Ellis... Ellis was a spitting image of Meredith. Exact same hair, exact same smile. He didn't know her yet, but she was already his little girl, his little angel. His confidence suddenly came back. He knew he was going to do everything to get his kids back. He couldn't get what he missed back, but he could create new memories with them, and he was planning to do that for the rest of his life. The only thing he needed to do was to wait a little more. A few minutes or hours were what was keeping him apart from his kids and he for sure could wait for that long.
It was only adults left downstairs, so he decided to go there. He heard people coming upstairs once again as he got out of the room. He soon saw three women walking next to each other. The first person he noticed was Meredith. Of course, it was always her. Then he saw Amelia and Maggie walking next to each other. His heart skipped a beat once again.
"Hey" he smiled.
Memories came back to him as he saw her sister for the first time after what felt like forever. Tears wear streaming down both their faces.
"Are you real?" Amelia whispered, him barely hearing her.
"I am" he said as his smile grew bigger.
She runs to him and fell into his embrace. They hugged for a long time, both uncontrollably crying. Then she finally smiled. She had her brother back. He was really there. It wasn't just a dream. She didn't know how, or why, not as she cared. The only thing in her mind right now was that his brother was alive.
Meredith and Maggie were holding hands as Amelia pulled out of Derek's embrace.
"You are real" Amelia chuckled, still crying.
"I really am."
"Hi" Maggie said shyly.
"Hi. It's nice to see you again" he gave her a warm smile.
"It's nice to see you too."
"Mer..." Derek looked at Meredith who quietly stood there the whole time.
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?" he asked but instantly regretted it. It was obvious she wasn't alright. Or how could she be? "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."
"It's fine. It's just... It still feels unreal. Like you're going to disappear and never come back."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
They both got quiet.
"How are we going to tell kids?" Amelia broke the silence, still drying her tears.
"I don't know" Meredith and Derek sighed at the same time.
They heard laughing from Zola's room.
"Do you want to do it now?" asked Meredith.
"Yes" his eyes started filling up with tears.
"Okay, we'll go in... And... Umm..."
"We'll tell them and tell you when to come in." Amelia finished Meredith's sentence.
"Okay" said Derek nervously.
"It's not going to be easy" said Meredith as she, Maggie, and Amelia walked to Zola's room.
Meredith knocked on the door.
"Come in" exclaimed Link.
They opened the door and got into the room just to see Link sitting on the bed holding Scout.
They then noticed all three of the kids hiding in Zola's bed, sheets over their heads.
"Oh, where are the kids?" Maggie asked pretending.
"I don't know." Link smiled.
"You know, I was going to let them have the rest of the doughnuts but as they're gone I think I'll eat them myself." she added playfully.
As she finished talking they saw kids uncovering themselves.
"Are there really doughnuts?" Bailey asked with puppy eyes.
They all laughed.
Then suddenly, they remembered what they were here for and put on serious faces.
"Mommy, is everything okay?" asked Zola thoughtfully.
"Yes Zozo. Everything's fine. I need to talk to all of you though" said Meredith trying to keep herself calm.
"What is it mommy?" asked Ellis.
Meredith looked at Maggie and Amelia, letting them know she wanted to be left alone with her kids.
"Scout we're going to take a nap now, how is that?" Amelia smiled at her son, taking him out of Link's hands. Scout smiled as he realized he was going to get some sleep.
"He's a total sleepy head" chuckled Maggie, as she opened door to get out. "Bye kiddos, see you tomorrow."
"Bye" all three of the kids exclaimed as Maggie, Link, Amelia and Scout left the room.
Link stood there in shock as they walked out and saw Derek. He has seen his pictures, he knew how he looked.
"What? How? I..." He slurred his words.
"It's a long story" said, Amelia. I'll tell you later.
"Hi. You're Link, right? It's nice to meet you."
"Yeah. It's nice to meet you too."
That's when Derek noticed that Amy was holding her baby.
"Can I hold him?"
"Yes, of course."
Derek took Scout out of Amelia's hands.
"Hey little Mr. Shepherd Lincoln" he said smiling, "I'm Derek, your uncle" he said as he kissed him on his tiny forehead and let him rest on his chest.
The moment Scout put his hand on Derek's chest, he fell asleep.
"Okay kiddo, we're going to get you too bad." Link slowly took him out of Derek's hands. He was still confused about what just happened and he needed answers but he needed to put the baby to sleep first.
"I'm going to bed as well. I hope everything goes fine with you and the kids. See you tomorrow." said Maggie warmly and walked to her bedroom.
It was only Derek and Amelia left in the hallway.
"I'm scared" he admitted.
"I know, I am too, but it's going to be fine.
Your kids... They are amazing and so is Meredith... It may take time but everything will be fine eventually." she smiled at her older brother.
"I missed you" he smiled back at her.
"I missed you too" Amelia kissed his cheek. "Oh, and about Andrew... She might like him, maybe love him too, but she's in love with you, always has been, and forever will be. She was destroyed when you died, it took something from her. She'll need time, that is for sure. But she'll come around. Make sure that you'll be there when she will" she said as she walked away.
"I will do everything in my power to be with my family," he thought.
Meredith walked to the bed and sat down.
"Remember when daddy was in a car accident?"
"Yes... And... then he died" said Zola gloomily.
"Yes... Well... Actually no." Meredith sighed. She didn't know how to tell her kids that their father was alive. She knew they'd be happy eventually, but she didn't know how would they react now.
"What do you mean no?" asked Zola.
"Do you remember that I told you that daddy was working for the president and then he decided that he didn't want to work for him anymore?"
"Yes..."
"Apparently, the president didn't let him quit the job. He wanted daddy to stay and work for him and... He made it look like he died."
Kids looked confused like they didn't understand what she was saying. She wasn't surprised though. Even she didn't understand how that was possible for someone who's been dead for five years to be alive.
"So..." Zola looked like she started to realize what her mother just said "are you saying that daddy is alive?"
"Yes Zozo, he's alive" answered Meredith, hiding her tears.
"Mommy?" asked Bailey. He was so little when Derek 'died', he didn't remember much about him.
"Yes sweetie?"
"If daddy's alive, why isn't he here?"
"He is sweetie... He's here..."
"I want to see him" Ellis cried.
"Okay sweetie... Just wait a minute." Tears fell on her face as she stood up to tell Derek to get into the room. She still couldn't believe what was happening. And now kids were going to see him too. That was crazy.
She opened the door and got out.
"You can come in" her face was now calm like the ocean.
"Do they remember me? Do they hate me? Mer, I..."
"Derek, they're fine. You'll be fine." she tried to comfort her by holding his hand "you're going to be fine" she repeated after herself.
"Okay" He let go of her hand, opened the door, and slowly walked inside.
"Daddy?" Zola and Bailey exclaimed and ran to him.
Derek pulled them into an embrace. He held them for a quite long time as all of them were crying including Meredith.
She was looking at her family reunited after all this time. She could stand there looking at them forever and She'd never get bored. They were everything to her. Years ago, if someone told her that she'd have three kids she would probably laugh at them but now when all of it was so real all she needed was them to be happy. And they were...
Derek stood up as she saw Ellis still sitting on the bed, looking very sad.
He slowly walked towards her and sat down on the bed. Meredith and the kids joined them.
"Hi sweetie, I know we've never met and I'm sorry for that, but I'm your daddy and I love you so so much" Derek looked at her still crying.
"I love you too daddy" she put her little head in the crook of his neck. Zola and Bailey hugged him as well. Derek looked at Meredith. Their both's eyes were full of pure joy, so were their hearts. None of them had felt this kind of happiness for years. They stayed like that for a while, admiring every second of being together.
I feel like this chapter was a little boring so I'm sorry for that⭐
Thank you for reading❤️
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