what i'm here for

Chapter 40: Its been a long time

Derek expertly manoeuvred the rental car up the familiar driveway towards the large house his parents had built when they had first been married. Although the house was impressive, and sat on a good chunk of land, his family had never been overly wealthy, even though their address was in the neighbourhood of a number of gated communities. His father had inherited the land when he was young, and as soon as he married Carol Maloney, had set about building them a home to build a family in. The thought made him smile. And one glance in his rear view mirror to the woman fast asleep in the back seat reminded him of the beautiful land in Seattle, and the promise of one day building them a house to build a home in. Even though he had very few concrete memories left of his father, he still had a solid picture in his mind of what the man had been like, and he hoped that somewhere, somehow, he would be proud of Derek. He would be proud his only son was following in his footsteps.

Derek reached the house and parked the car beside Kathleen's SUV. She was the only other sibling who was expected to arrive that day, as she owned her own practice and could easily give herself the time off. The rest weren't as lucky. Nancy and Natalie would come in the following morning or early afternoon, and Anna, working in a hospital, would make it after her shift late the next evening. But it would ensure the whole family would be together to wake up Thanksgiving morning.

He took off his seat belt, but paused before moving to exit the car. Mark did the same beside him. There was silence as the two men surveyed the house that held so many memories for the both of them.

"It's been a long time," Derek commented.

Mark nodded. "Yes it has."

He sighed heavily, trying to conjure the memory of the last time he had been home. He had left for Seattle in June, so probably the previous Christmas, though he couldn't be sure. That was still almost two years. He couldn't help the sudden wave of homesickness wash over him, which was especially disconcerting seeing as he was only steps away from the front door; if he would only get out of the car.

The light came on in the front hall and the door swung open, revealing a small child who was definitely nowhere near as small as she had been the last time he saw her. Derek smiled and stepped out of the car.

"Uncle Derek!" She screamed as she ran down the steps and across the walkway, barely slowing as she flung herself into his arms.

"Little Stephanie!" He exclaimed, hugging her tight. She wrapped her legs firmly around his lower torso and he let her lean back against his arms. "Look at you! You must be a foot taller!"

She nodded emphatically, and Derek caught his sister wandering towards them. "I am taller, Uncle Derek. I'm eight now!" She told him proudly.

He smiled. "Did you get my birthday present?" Her birthday had only been a week earlier, but Derek, unwilling to risk his place as number one, had sent the present by courier instead of waiting the extra week to deliver it in person.

She nodded. "Yup. I loved it!"

"I knew you would." No matter how embarrassing it had been scavenging every toy store in town for the new Barbie, or putting up with Meredith's laughter when he finally found it, it was worth it to see her face.

"Hi, stranger," Kathleen greeted him, a wide smile on her face. "It's been too long." She pulled him into a tight hug, her daughter laughing as she got caught between her mother and her uncle.

"I missed you, Kath," he told her as he kissed her cheek. She released her hold and he followed her as she wandered around the car as Mark was opening the back seat, where Meredith was still, apparently, fast asleep. She hadn't been able to take any more time off, and they had planned to fly in on the Wednesday, but there had been absolutely no flights available, so they had been forced to book a late morning flight on the Tuesday, which had only given her enough time to get home after a twenty-four hour shift, shower and change. It was why he and Mark had decided to travel separately to the airport, in case Meredith hadn't gotten off in time. And even though she couldn't sleep well in a plane, she could definitely sleep in a car. She had immediately passed on Mark's offer of the passenger seat, claiming she was just going to curl up and sleep. And she had. And evidently, still was.