At The End Of The Day

POST 11X21. After Bailey's life is on the line , Meredith and the others struggle with the prospect of not being able to save him, on beautiful days, and ferryboat scrub caps, life and death and on Derek. Set 12 years after season 11.

Sorry for the delay you guys! I hope you like the ending! Thank you so much for all the support!

I still don't own anything …

Part XIII

EPILOGUE:

Bailey led his sisters trough the hallway, the hospital white walls bringing so many memories, both good and bad. Zola held a baby girl close to her hip and Ellie held on to Simon's hand. "Good morning." A nurse greeted them warmly. Bailey smiled softly, his gentle blue eyes reflected on that of his father, a man everyone in this hospital knew of somehow. "She's resting now, says a neighbor found her when she came to see if she needed something from the store." Nurse Carmichael said as the kids turned to the window, Meredith Grey laid there in bed, but she wasn't sleep. She was staring at her children, probably ashamed for making them come and check on her. They were all grown now, they didn't need her, but if she was honest, she sort of needed them still. She had only recently began to forget. And that scared the hell out of her.

"Hey mom..." Bailey smiled as Zola spoke softly.

"You didn't have to come, they will discharge me soon..." Meredith explained. Her children stared at her. "I am sure you all so busy..."

"Nah, what are you talking about?" Ellie smiled. "I've only got 24 children or so to care after..." Ellie had been the one to drift further from the family bussiness, she had become a teacher. A second grade teacher and she loved every single moment of it. She called it, modeling the young minds so they could be great. A joke often made by Bailey about how she could make the most of it by becoming a neurosurgeon as well.

"Still, nothing happened..."

"You fell and hit your head, how is that not something happening..." Bailey said in a very Derek like way. Meredith huffed.

"I don't need a babysitter...May I remind you, I changed all of your diapers?"

"And as much as disgusted and grateful we may be..." Zola said. "I think we need to make some changes, you can't just be all alone in that house anymore Mom, no matter how much..."

"Hello? She's not alone?" Ellie was the one who had decided to remain at home with Meredith for as much as she could, but she as well was growing up and was soon a bride to be as Simon had asked her to marry him just a few weeks back. Zola shot her a glance.

"Honestly Mom, we could do whatever you want with the house." Her 30 year old son said. "But we have to do something..." Meredith only saw worry in those eyes and nodded slowly. Meredith hated to be taken care of. She had never had been cared for until she met Derek. And she was after all, Ellis's child, she would never let herself depend on others. She had heard her children talk about her. Christina called them the McNasties, even though she knew they meant well. But she had to face the truth. She worked half her hours now and as much as she wanted to be as bad-ass as Weber had been back in the day, her memory wasn't what it had been back when she was... young.

"We are not asking you to leave it all at once." Zola had said as she and Owen sat across from her, her Chief and brother in law still. "We are just asking you to slowdown."

"I am a Grey, we don't slow down, we don't even leave this hospital unless it's in a body bag." She'd said. Zola and Owen had looked at each other and watched as she'd walked out.

"Hey man." Matt sat across from Bailey at lunch. "Heard your mom is here, she okay?" Bailey stared at his cousin.

"She's fine. It's just a concussion. I'm keeping her for observation overnight." Matt arched an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"She doesn't remember this isn't the first time it's happened, does she?"

"No, Maggie told me she froze the other day in the OR because she thought she was..."

"What?"

"Her mind reverted back... She didn't think she could do it because she was only an intern." Bailey expressed, dropping his sandwich in frustration. "A minute later she was fine."

"Still, that can only mean..."

"It's progressing faster now..." Matt said, much to their dismay. "Think you can stop it?"

"The new trial can slow it down, but I'd have to see if she's still a candidate because of how these episodes seem to be happening."

Bailey grabbed his mother's chart from the room and sat besides her, just as she had done after his accident. His crutch next to him as he sat down. He read the results of Meredith's latest MRI, even with all of the time that had passed since Derek had been working on finding a cure for his wife's disease, the youngest Shepherd still felt at a loss when it came to his mother. The Alzheimer had not progressed as fast if not for the new treatments, It had not affected Meredith while they were growing up as she always feared it would, but had come to her later in life, more frequently now, specially intensifying near the date of Derek's death.

"Hey, how is she doing?" Zola took a seat next to her brother.

"Stubborn, but she agreed to let me put an add out on the house, for renting, she says she wants one of us to keep the dreamhouse."

"Makes sense, daddy did built it for us, I don't think she wants to let go of that part of him just yet."

"I don't think she ever will." Agreed Bailey. "Still er, Zo we have to talk about what's gonna happen, bottom line is, I don't think she can be alone much longer, Maggie told me she's been having episodes."

"So? She's had them before."

"Yeah but not like this." Bailey explained to her. "It's not safe for her anymore..."

"And you want to be the one to tell her that?" Bailey sighed. "Don't look at me, you are the one who chose Neuro." They remained quiet for a moment, the only sound heard was the beeping of the machines.

"How's Maddie, you took her back to Daycare?"

"I did." Zola said of her child. "Robbie is picking her up later."

"Leila okay?" Zola asked. "I heard the baby was sleeping trough the night, which trust me, it's more than a blessing."

"She's fine, I am heading home after this actually, it's my turn to give him a bath."

"Go, I'll stay with Mom. My shift isn't over yet."

"Okay, just keep me posted, anything changes..."

"It's fine Bailey, go already..."

When he got home, his eyes adjusted to the dim lights in the hall until he reached the kitchen, the sound of his crutch alerting people and pets alike he was home.

"Hey, what are you doing here so early?" His wife greeted him. "How's your mom?"

"Better. Zola is with her." He kissed her softly. He patted Zurg to his feet as he told Leila of his day, sitting down with a thud on the couch. "And how was your day?"

"Well... someone got in trouble at school today, but I didn't want to bother you because of your mom..." Bailey sighed. Chris getting in trouble wasn't anything new to him, at least not lately, he was having a hard time adjusting to all the changes that had happened to him in such a short while.

"I'll talk to him." Bailey said kissing her again. He made his way to his child's room. Chris was his and Leila's six year old trouble maker, a surprise in the least that had come with perks of his own for his young parents, Karma, Meredith had called it, as her 23 year old son came home to tell her he was going to be a father.

"Can I come in?" Bailey opened the door to the room where his son laid there in his bed, his messy black hair sticking out.

"She told you." It wasn't a question. Derek Christopher Shepherd II stared at his father in the eye, his eyes drifting down.

"No, I want you to tell me." Bailey sat down next to his son.

Bailey stood back there, no longer a child and yet he felt like he'd reverted back into his 5 year old self and had left a mess in his room. It had been a while really, the last time this had happened was a few years after the accident, when he turned 16 that he had found himself back here.

"You are having a baby." Derek stood there, next to him, besides the railing. Bailey smiled but only because he was too nervous to do anything else."How did your om take it?"

"She...um...I don't think it has really sink in, she'd castrated me otherwise."

"Yeah that sounds like something she'd do," Admitted Derek. He thought his father would be disappointed, ashamed of whatever choices Bailey had made in his life, but Derek didn't see it that way, at least he didn't show it.

"Dad, I..."

"Make sure your job doesn't come first Bailey..." Derek said in all seriousness. "I know you want to be just like me, but don't be just like me son, it's not worth it."

"You think I'll be a good dad?"

"I hoped to be good and didn't have my father for long, so you tell me?" Derek smiled putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "At the end of the day son, the most important thing you can count on is how much you trust yourself to do the right thing, even though everyone else might be telling you otherwise."

"Like you, when you saved all those people?"

"Yes son, like me." Derek wrapped his arms around his only son and kissed his forehead, just like he had done that morning before leaving for D.C.

THE END. I do hope you liked it! Thank you so much for all of your support! I might step away from the Grey's wagon for a while, but this has been quite a ride.