Is Forever Enough?

Chapter 66

Besides the Christmas carols that were softly resonating through the house, everything else was eerily silent. Addison and Meredith were lounging in the family room flipping through channels. Every once and awhile one of them would chuckle as the boy's excited shouts penetrated through their silence.

"I can't believe they're still out there." Meredith mused. It was another rare, frigid day in Seattle. But, Meredith had had barely enough time to remind Derek to bundle the girl up before Ava was racing out the door. The tree house was by far Ava's favorite gift. Her tiny face had literally lit up with joy the second she saw it.

"I think Mark was more excited than Ava when he saw it." Addison told her and turned to glance out the doors that lead to the backyard.

"Oh, you should have seen Derek earlier when he showed Ava. He played on it more than her! I'm starting to think he actually got it for himself."

"I'm surprised you let him get it in the first place. It's rather..."

"Boyish?" Meredith asked, knowing what her friend was going to say. "I didn't really let him...but it's not like I can stop him at this point."

"True. I see you have been sticking to my rules pretty well."

"Like I have a choice?"

"I knew I could count on Derek to keep you in line." Meredith rolled her eyes and shifted to give her back some relief.

"Oh, don't worry. He's done nothing but hover...and carry me around...and insist I eat, and relax, and drink lots of water...it's getting rather annoying."

"He's doing just what he should be doing then." Before either could say anymore the phone was ringing and Addison went to get it, not giving Meredith the chance to even think about getting up.

Meredith listened to Addison's end of the conversation with interest. "Merry Christmas to you too Carol..." It was Derek's mother who since the divorce Addison had refused to call mom. Mostly out of respect for Meredith. Carol had insisted numerous times that Addison call her mom again, but it just never felt right so Carol stopped trying. "Oh yes, things are great. We're all here. Oh, she's good, she'll be 9 months old next week." The conversation continued in that manner. Addison and Derek's mother were still somewhat close, even after everything that had happened. Meredith understood it. The Shepherds were Addison's family, she didn't expect them to cut her out completely. The dynamics of their family were anything but normal, but Meredith enjoyed it.

"The boys are outside with Ava and the baby. I know, wait till you see the play set Derek picked out....oh I'll send it on my phone. Here, I'll put Meredith on and go get them." Before Meredith could protest Addison was back in the room and thrust the phone into her hands. She didn't mind talking to Derek's mother...but she hadn't been prepared and always struggled with what to say.

Meredith was never as close with Derek's mother as Addison was. Partly it was because Addison and Derek lived 20 minutes from Derek's family most of their marriage. Meredith saw his mother twice...at the most three times a year. They talked on the phone and sent emails, but it wasn't the same as having her around all the time. Meredith was ok with it though. They got along, Carol adored her, and that was all she needed.

"Things are going really well. Yes...Derek did a great job with the room. Your furniture looks wonderful in it too, thank you." Addison walked back in, running her hands over her arms. Her feet for once were high heel less. Instead she had replaced them with fancy silver ballet flats. Derek walked in behind her with a weather clad Ava singing excitedly on his hip. Mark soon followed with a bundled up Peyton.

"I'm telling you Addison, we need to get one of those. Peyton loved it."

"Peyton loved it, or you loved it?" She asked Mark with an amused smile on her face.

"It's the perfect tree house. Of course I love it."

"Awww Mark. I bet Derek will let you play on it. I'm sure you can just knock at the door and ask him to come out and play." She teased, and he handed the baby to her so he could warm up his hands.

"Mommy is that grandma?" Ava asked as she wandered into the room and plopped down next to Meredith. The formally quiet house had suddenly exploded with noise and Meredith had to hold one of her ears to hear what Derek's mother was saying.

"Ok, I'm gonna give Ava the phone because she's not going to let me get a word in." Meredith told Carol and said goodbye so she could hand the phone to Ava. The Shepherd family was big. Almost too big, and with the arrival of the twins it was about to get bigger. It was hard for Meredith at first, going from no family one day to an entire clan the next. Derek had 4 sisters. Two older and two younger. Nancy and Kathleen along with their spouses Brian and Ian were probably the hardest for Meredith to get close to. They tolerated each other and were friendly at times. But, when push came to shove, his older sisters made their opinions known, and most of the time, their opinions were not positive ones.

Luckily for Meredith, his younger sisters, Shannon and Casey, were much more down-to-earth and positive. Their husbands, Micheal and Eric, were equally as nice and those 4 were the people Meredith spent the most time with on the rare occasion they were all together. Derek's 9 nieces and 5 nephews weren't as easy to get to know or even remember. All of the children were born before Meredith met Derek, making it near impossible to remember their names and respected siblings and parents.

"Ok, yeah I wanna talk to Bella!" Meredith's eyes widened as Ava began talking happily to her cousin who was closest to her own age. Ava would probably want to talk to each and every one of them....and then Derek would want to talk to most of them...and then Carol would want to talk to Mark...and Meredith realized it was bound to be one long phone conversation.

Derek came to sit beside her, and Meredith took her eyes off Ava to look up at him. His hair was blown into messy waves, and she used her hand to smooth it down. His cheeks were red from the wind, and once his hair was flat, she ran her hands over his cheeks, trying to warm them up. He smiled at her gratefully. He was happy, she was happy, for the first time in awhile they were both completely at ease.

"Dinner will be ready soon." He told her bringing her hand away from his face so he could take it into his.

"Good. Ella's hungry."

"Just Ella?" He asked with an amused arch of his brow.

"Yeah, Caroline's pretty easy going. But Ella...she kicks when she's hungry I think."

"Hmmm..." She led the hand entwined in his down to her belly and rested it there. "Wonder where she gets that from?" Noticing Addison and Mark were no where to be found, he looked around the room for them. "They better not be having sex in the kitchen."

"Derek." She hissed looking at Ava who was still on the phone with his mother.

"What? My mom has 15 grandchildren. She knows about sex..."

"Shut up please." She pleaded as Addison and Mark appeared back into the room with Peyton in tow.

"I checked on the turkey. I think it's almost ready." Addison told them, and Meredith was glad she was on bed rest so she didn't have to pretend to be helping with dinner.

"Excellent. Ok, let's get the Shepherd phone call over with before it burns. Ava who's on the phone?" Derek asked, holding out his hand.

"It's Taylor, I'm not done daddy!"

"Tell Taylor to put Grandmom back on the phone so I can talk to her." Ava pouted at him, but complied and soon enough he was having an in depth conversation with his mother. Ava's presents were piled under the tree along with the ones they had given Peyton. There was still some last bits of crumpled paper piled into little balls in the corner, but no one made any move to pick them up.

Derek's voice filtered through the air, but it was barely audible over Peyton's excited squeals. The baby was batting at Mark's hands trying to stand up right on her own. Ava had gotten down and was dancing around to Jingle Bell Rock. Every so often she'd call out to Addison to watch her. Taking the scene in around her, Meredith made her self comfortable by snuggling into Derek's side. His arm went around her shoulder, and they sat completely comfortable with how their small Christmas had turned out.