Mr. and Mrs. Impossible tumors

Europe

It was a sunny summer day, when the Shepherds and their spouses surprised granny Carolyne for her 90th birthday. They had rented a big house by Lake Hayward for a weekend to spend time with her. What moved her the most, though, was having her whole family there for her, even her nieces and nephews, who usually were old enough to prefer spending time with their friends. She loved the fact that, although some of them lived on the other side of the country, they were all really close. So close that one night at dinner, two of them broke some news that risked to ruin the weekend. Ellis, Derek's youngest daughter, who'd just graduated from high school, and Tobias, Lizzie's youngest son, who'd just turned 21, had decided to take a sabbatic year and backpack around Europe. It wasn't a question. They were just telling their parents their decision.

Ellis had always been the trouble maker, or rather the free spirit, among Derek and Meredith's kid.

She was prone to rule breaking, but she also had a huge hearth, just like her mom. She blindly loved her siblings and once, when she was only 10, she tried to throw a punch against a bigger kid, who was making fun of her brother.

From her dad, she'd inherited the sparkle in her eyes, whenever she had a genius idea, and that healthy dose of arrogance that allowed her to always step up as leader between her peers.

When she stood up with Tobias and told their plans to the whole family, she had her father's sparkle in her Derek-like piercing blue eyes. Tobias, instead, looked more nervous. They were the youngest among the Shepherd cousins and were always together, when there were family reunions. Even though Tobias was three years older, he'd always followed Ellis and her sometimes smart sometimes reckless ideas. Once she convinced him to try to live with her on the tree, that granny Carolyne's neighbor wanted to cut. So, they climbed it and managed to stay there for a whole day, eating the food their parents had put in a basket and making plans about the next days. Before sunrise, Derek had climbed the tree, too, told them he'd personally make sure that it wouldn't be cut and made them go back home.

Right after Ellis and Tobias' announcement, Derek, Lizzie and Martin (Lizzie's husband) yelled "No way!" in unison. Meredith, on the other hand, didn't know how to react, because backpacking around Europe for months was something she had done and thoroughly enjoyed, before being force to go back to the States due to her mother's illness. In fact, Ellis, who knew this, addressed her: "Mom, you did it!"

During dinner they all talked about this, but whenever one of the adults made a point, they were ready to respond. When Lizzie raised the money issue ("I won't finance such a thing!"), they answered that they'd spent the past year working and saving money. When Derek raised the safety issue, Ellis rattled a bunch of statistics off: apparently it was safer to travel around Europe than around the US. When Martin raised the school issue ("You're gonna start college late or delay your graduation!"), Tobias replied that during their European experience they'd learn things you don't find in books. In the end, the reluctant parents had to agree and Meredith started telling them suggestions and recommendations: bring not too many clothes and wash them as you go, make friends, sleep in hostels because it's more fun, learn some local phrases beforehand, ... and last but not least, go visit aunt Cristina.

When the time for Ellis and Tobias to take an intercontinental plane to fly to Berlin had come, Derek was at the most nervous he'd ever been. He knew Ellis was going to be fine, but yet he felt like a part of him was leaving him. It'd happened before with Zola, when she'd decided to move to Boston to attend law school there; it'd happened with Bailey, when he'd decided to go to Yale, but those times, they were relatively close. They could come back home and he and Meredith could go visit them every once in a while. Ellis was planning to stay in Europe for a whole year!

Meredith felt like a part of herself was leaving, too, but she was also much more chill. She was sure that this experience would shape her daughter for the better and she was happy she'd have to chance to see Cristina, who was already preparing their stay in Zurich for when they'd visit.

At the airport, Ellis tightly hugged her parents and waved at them, while crossing the metal detectors with Tobias. And then, they were gone.

After a few months, during which Ellis and Tobias had travelled through Germany, Hungary, Austria and Italy, they decided it was time to go to Zurich and stay there for a while to rest and study some German. Ellis didn't tell her parents she was going to stay at aunt Cristina's, until, as every other night since she'd left, she called them with her.

Meredith and Derek, as every other night since Ellis had left, expected her to appear on their tablet and hear her and Tobias tell them all their adventures (even though they were sure they were omitting part of them), but that night they saw Cristina's face and heard her voice say: "Surprise, surprise!"