Mr. and Mrs. Impossible tumors

It takes a village

Meredith could feel the wind on her face and in her hair. She could feel Zola's little hand tight in hers. She could feel Derek's arm around her waist. Riding the ferry boat with her family, she realized how tense she had been for the past months. A lot had been going on in her life: juggling her career, Derek's and their family, dealing with her jealousy and sense of inadequacy, with Cristina's departure. For the first time in months, she felt like she could overcome all those hardships and she understood she didn't have to do it alone.

Even though Cristina, her person, had left to pursue her dreams, she still had Derek, Alex, Callie and Arizona, Richard and Bailey. She even had, as she reluctantly thought, her husband's family. She was starting to care about Amy, who was planning to stay with them and help out with the kids, and she'd agreed to go visit the Shepherds during their vacation. She was pretty sure she wasn't going to get along with Nancy, who still hated her, but she decided to leave the door open for Lizzie, Kathleen and Mrs. Shepherd.

***

"I know it's never easy for you to spend time with my family, thanks!" Derek was sitting on his spacious plane seat carrying Bailey, who was looking around with curiosity.

"You know, it's weird. I don't know what happened, but I've realized that it's important to hold on to the people we have, even if I don't like them entirely. This time I don't feel this as a duty." Meredith was being really honest. What would have felt like an unbearable weight some time before, now looked like an opportunity.

She tenderly looked at Zola, who was playing with her giraffe plushie, at Derek, who was making funny noises to Bailey's delight, and she felt like she had everything she needed in that precise moment. The flight went smoothly and they landed at JFK airport on time. There they rented a car and headed to Carolyne Shepherd's house. The closer the were to their destination, the more nervous Meredith felt. She'd already met all the Shepherds, but never before her intention was to start a real relationship with them.

Luckily, Derek knew her and avoided big family gatherings. They first spent time with with mama Shepherd, who was actually very fond of Meredith, because she recognized she'd had a positive impact on her son. Then they spent time with Derek's sisters and their families one at a time. Lizzie, who remembered Meredith didn't like her pushy manners, tried to be less intrusive and in the meanwhile to get to know her. Nancy, on the other hand, didn't show up (not that Meredith was complaining about it) and Kathleen didn't put any effort to get along with her. 

Overall, the only sister Meredith managed to build some kind of connection during her time in New York was Lizzie. What helped her the most were her kids, because they started playing with their cousins right away, as if they knew each other a long time. Looking at Zola, playing hide and seek with Lizzie's younger son at the park, and at Bailey, laughing when Lizzie's older daughter made funny faces, made her realize that she didn't want her kids to miss a part of their family. The fact that she didn't have cousins to play or a grandma to make cookies with during her childhood, didn't mean her children had to as well.

***

Meredith and Derek also took time to show Zola and Bailey the city. They went to Central park, on top of the Statue of Liberty and of the Empire State Building. And it was while admiring the skyscrapers from the Statue of Liberty that Meredith, whose mind had been work-free for a few days already, was struck by an idea that  could lead to the cutting-edge research she had been desperately looking for.