Nicole's Note: Happy Valentine's Day! Thank you for clicking, and welcome to Ghosts of the Past. Believe it or not, this story has been a work in progress since last June. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where the idea came from. It's not like anything I've written before, but I think the idea stemmed somewhere from Irene's and my desire to give Meredith and Derek a more compelling storyline than the one they ended up having. So, this story begins somewhere between episodes 10x22 and 23 and will conclude at the end of season 11 prior to an Epilogue.

Most of what happened on the show is still true in this story. Derek still works for Obama, Cristina still moves to Switzerland, and MerDer will eventually have to face the challenges of living on separate coasts. However, there are two major differences: First, obviously, Derek won't die, and second, a young woman, who you will soon be introduced to, will play a key role in this story. How she is important will be gradually revealed in the first seven chapters (which are already written).

Irene and I know original characters are difficult to sell in fanfiction, but we hope you'll give Amy and this story a chance. We've had a blast writing it. In many ways, it's been our comic relief from the Storm trilogy (Not to say there won't be plenty of angst and drama to go around in this story - it's definitely far from all sunshine and daisies, but it's much lighter than Storm will be for the next several chapters, so we hope this can become your 'comic relief' as well).

Sometimes the heroes of our tales

Become part of our lives

Deep in our hearts they live as idyllic fantasies

- Instanzia, "Ghosts of the Past"

Chapter 1

Another life saved.

Derek Shepherd grinned with valiant satisfaction as he exited the scrub room, a pompous spark present in his steps as he strolled down the hall. He needed to wait for the patient to wake up before officially adding Daniel Fisher to his "saved lives" club, but the surgery had gone well, and Derek was confident Daniel would make a full recovery.

Appearances could be deceiving, though. In fact, in brain surgery, they often were. He couldn't count the number of surgeries he'd thought were successful, and then the patient didn't wake up, or they did wake up, but they woke up with an irreparable defect as a result of the surgery. A blind patient was still considered a success. A surgery was considered a success the minute the patient opened his eyes, whether he could see or not.

Was a surgery really a success if the patient would never see the world again? According to surgeons, it was. Of course, the patient and his family's opinion might differ.

Perspective was key.

Derek still had on his ferryboat scrub cap when he approached the front desk, where he would update Daniel's chart. He hadn't bothered taking it off, nor had he been bothered to put on a pair of fresh scrubs or collect his white coat. He was always hot and sweaty after surgery and needed time to cool off before his scheduled lunch date with Meredith and the kids.

His eyes were so focused on his charts and his mind on Meredith that he didn't even see the woman coming at him. He didn't even notice her presence when she said, "Hey, Dr. Hottie." In fact, he didn't bother looking up until she was poking his arm. "It's not nice to ignore the pretty ladies," the female voice was saying.

The girl, who looked like she must still be in high school, had wavy, dirty blond hair, and gobs of makeup surrounding her bright blue orbs. She wore tight faded blue jeans and a leather jacket. Her composure vaguely reminded him of his sister Amelia at her age. Though, she was built like Meredith. Small and thin. He knew his wife went through a wild phase as well. This girl could easily be a mix of his wife and sister as teenagers, but most teenaged girls looked the same anyway.

"You're talking to me?" he asked, looking up from his charting to give her the attention she clearly sought. "May I help you?"

"Oh, yes." She batted her eyelashes. "You can surely help me by getting a drink with me tonight and taking me to a nice hotel to get naked."

Derek couldn't help but chuckle."You're joking, right?"

"I'm dead serious," she responded, winking at him. "You and me. Come on."

He laughed again. "Who are you?" he asked. More like, who did she think she was? Derek thought.

"The name's Amy," the woman replied, batting her eyelashes again.

Amy, huh? Derek immediately thought of his younger sister, who also happened to be staying with him and his family. This young woman and Amelia would be like two peas in a pod. Derek chuckled at the thought.

"I'm sorry, I'm married, but you and my sister would definitely hit it off," Derek said.

Name aside, the girl's behavior reminded him of a teenaged Amelia. Amelia had also been blunt with her flirtatious tactics to pick up random guys who weren't wearing wedding rings. Amelia had picked up a few guys from his intern class when she was around eighteen.

The girl eyed his ring finger and widened her eyes. "Sorry, I don't do vaginas. And I don't see a wedding ring. Ignoring me and lying? Wow, I must say I'm offended, Dr. Hottie."

"Dr. Hottie?" He stared blankly at her, hating the name she'd just called him more than when Meredith called him McDreamy. Okay, he didn't hate when Meredith called him McDreamy. Meredith was at least cute when she called him McDreamy. Okay, this girl was cute, too. A little too cute. Kid cute. Zola cute. He couldn't recall the last time he'd been flirted with by a teenager. He wasn't even flirted with by teenagers when he was a teenager. "What are you, eighteen?"

"Why's it matter? It's not like I'm underage...for sex. We can skip the drinks and go straight to the sex," she retorted confidently, a wide smile filling her oval face as she wiggled her eyebrows. "You're hot. I'm hot. Let's get naked."

If he were drinking something, he would have choked and spat all over her face. For her sake, and for his, he was grateful he wasn't drinking anything. He felt like he'd been hit with a fireball when he looked up and met Meredith's murderous gaze.

Saved by the wife.

"Meredith!" he cried out, feeling relieved as he reached to grab his wife's arm and kissed her cheek, even though he knew she hated when he kissed her at work. She had a thing about professionalism. For once, though, he had a feeling she wouldn't mind.

"Are you joining the kids and me for lunch?" she questioned assertively, locking eyes with him for a brief moment before her eyes glued to the mysterious young woman, whose face had turned beet red. Served her right for blatantly trying to seduce him in public and in front of his wife of all people. The girl had some serious nerve.

"You know I wouldn't miss lunch with my favorite people in the whole world, Dr. Grey," he grinned widely, proudly mouthing to the woman, "Married." He grabbed Meredith's hand, squeezing it firmly while she exchanged a long stare with the young woman. "Come on, Meredith, let's go." He nudged his wife, who fiercely shook her head. She broke the gaze, and both women appeared stunned by the other.

"Let's." Meredith nodded, locking arms with Derek as they waltzed off.

"Look, I can explain," he rushed to say in a hushed voice when they finally were out of earshot of the young woman.

"What is there to explain? You're hot, Dr. McDreamy. It's only natural she would want you in her bed." Meredith laughed and winked.

His own cheeks warmed.

Okay, he really wasn't that hot. Maybe he was. Amy honestly didn't think he was married. Picking up hot doctors definitely hadn't been on her agenda, though, so it was all good. There was only one doctor she needed to find, and she wasn't looking to sleep with him. Unless, of course, he was hot and interested. She wouldn't say no to an attractive man who offered. She didn't even know what this doctor looked like, though. For all she knew, he was a bald, three-hundred-pound man who wore thick, round glasses. She'd never met a three hundred pound doctor before.

However, Amy had important priorities to focus her attention on. She needed to find Dr. Derek Shepherd right away.

"Excuse me," Amy said to the middle-aged receptionist. The receptionist wore turquoise scrubs. Amy wondered if she was a nurse of some kind. Or maybe she was an orderly. The woman had grey streaks in her hair and looked like she hadn't slept since last September. She was probably divorced, too, since she wasn't wearing a wedding ring. Or maybe people in Seattle didn't wear wedding rings. Now, that was going to make getting laid on this trip hard for her. Then again, most married men don't have a problem cheating on their wives, so she'd just happened to pick the one faithful guy in the whole world to flirt with. "Could you help me find someone? A doctor."

"Do you have an appointment?" the middle-aged woman inquired.

"Um, uh, not exactly," she stammered. "I'm not a patient. I just need to talk to Dr. Shepherd. I'm, uh, an old acquaintance."

Acquaintance, you could say that. He hadn't seen her since she was a baby, but surely he would remember her. He had to remember her. She wasn't the kind of person he could easily forget.

The receptionist-nurse-orderly-whatever glared at her. "Uh huh," she heard her mumble under her breath, signaling she was not buying the claim.

"Look, please. I've come all the way across the country to see Dr. Shepherd. I'll find a way to speak with the doctor whether you help me or not," she informed, wrinkling her nose. It was much easier to use her charm on men than middle-aged lady receptionists. Unless, of course, they were faithfully married. This woman probably hadn't touched a banana since her parents conceived her, judging by how tense the muscles in her wrinkled face were.

The woman relented at that, sighing intensely. Relax, woman, Amy desperately wanted to scream, but she bit her tongue. "I'll page Dr. Shepherd right this second," the woman said.

Amy sent the woman a little glare while the receptionist-nurse hit a few buttons on her phone. She tapped her fingers on the woman's desk just to irk her more, and they kept sharing annoyed looks for a while.

Did she even have a degree, Amy wondered since the woman didn't look like the brightest crayon in the box. At all. Her eyes were too small compared to her face, almost all the way hid behind her nose and her sharp cheekbones. Man, they could sharpen knives over her face. And the bags under her eyes weren't helping matters either.

"You paged?" a hurried voice interrupted Amy's thoughts.

Amy stared at the doctor with the same dark blue scrubs as Dr. Hottie and the wife, though this one was wearing a labcoat. Her hair could be used for shampoo commercial too. She'd definitely be flirting if she liked vaginas even one bit.

"This young lady," the nurse almost grimaced when she glanced at Amy, "wanted you to be paged. Said you were acquaintances," she mumbled, using air quotes for the last part of her sentence.

What kind of respectable woman used air quotes at her age? And they were supposed to be trained medical professionals…

Amy sighed, turning towards the doctor in front of her. They were practically the same height. And she had blue eyes too. Too bad she was looking for a male doctor.

"That's not Dr. Shepherd," Amy almost groaned, and sent a murderous look to the nurse. "Are you sure you paged the right number or whatever the heck you do to page people?"

The nurse's eyes widened, as disbelief filled her features. The doctor seemed only amused by the scene.

"Seriously, I'm looking for a male doctor, and she has boobs. Unless she's transgender. I'm all down with the rainbow, I don't care, but the Dr. Shepherd I know was a man, so…"

"These boobs are all natural, trust me," the doctor interrupted before she could keep rambling endlessly. No one had found a way to effectively shut her up. It got embarrassing at times. "I think she's looking for Derek Shepherd," the doctor added, a smirk on her lips. "We get mixed up a lot," she grinned, turning towards Amy. She looked almost proud. "It feels so empowering to know he's the other Dr. Shepherd."

Amy stared at the doctor, puzzled, ignoring the nurse who was repeating the steps for a page all over again.

"He's my brother," the doctor explained. She was probably a surgeon too, Amy guessed, considering that she had the same kind of scrubs as the other one, only he was wearing a scrub cap. Or maybe they were both anesthesiologists? He'd look like the kind of guy who sits on his ass all day doing crossword puzzles or checking his stocks while people slept and surgeons worked.

Amy nodded to the doctor, trying to avoid the staring, though between staring at the maybe-surgeon and the old nurse, she definitely preferred the doc.

"Amy!" a voice called out, and Amy noticed that both she and the doctor turned around. "What is going on? I was about to go have lunch with Mere and the kids."

And of course, Dr. Hottie was walking toward them, sans scrub cap and with his white coat on, too. Damn, his hair was even more perfect now. How come all the hottest guys were married anyway?

"This girl was looking for you," the doctor shrugged, nodding towards Amy.

"You have quite the nerve," Dr. Hottie said, practically groaning. "I told you I'm married. I kissed my wife in front of you. What do you want?"

"Oh, this is interesting," Dr. Shepherd-with-boobs quipped, her eyes lightening up as the words escaped Dr. Hottie's lips. "You paged my brother to hit on him?"

Amy felt utterly confused, and kind of enraged at the woman's insinuation. She knew when to draw the line, and ring or not, the guy made it clear that he was oh-so-in-love with his wife; she wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole. She was sure he'd be a ball of cheesiness too. And she hated cheesy.

"I asked her," she glared at the nurse, who cowered a little, "to page Dr. Shepherd, and you came. Then you told me that, of course, you're not Derek Shepherd and this guy shows up?" she ranted. She didn't want to lose any more time that she had to here, and these people were making fun of her? People were pretty weird in this hospital indeed.

"I am Dr. Derek Shepherd," Dr. Hottie blurted, interrupting her.

Amy's mouth remained open mid-rant, her eyes widening even further. Her eyes went to the name printed on his chest, and she gulped.

Crap. Holy mother of all craps.

This was so not her day.

"You're Derek Shepherd?" she asked, her voice suddenly an octave higher than her usual. The other Dr. Shepherd was doubled over in laughter.

"I am," he replied, a frown on his face as he studied her.

"Okay, let me get this straight, the twelve-year-old hit on you?" the other Shepherd said, trying to contain her laughter.

"Hey, I'm not twelve!" Amy quipped, knowing her cheeks were probably beet red by that point.

"She was looking for you and she had no idea what you look like?" Boobed-Shepherd asked, laughter bubbling out of her as she held onto the reception desk to remain upright. "I should have recorded this. Lizzie would have a blast if I sent it to her!"

"Amelia, stop it!" Derek freaking Shepherd snapped, glaring at the other doctor. "Sorry about her," he grumbled. "Are you here for a consult? Because you need to schedule an appointment for that," he trailed off, turning towards Amy, slightly annoyed.

Amy froze. The moment of truth was upon her. And of course, he wouldn't recognize her; he saw her when she was a newborn, and she had changed a whole lot since then.

"No, I'm not here for a consult," she swallowed, the other doctor's laughter calming down considerably. "I think...We sort of...You were…"

Amy's tongue twisted in her mouth, and her brain was empty of words. Stupid, faulty Broca's area, failing her when she needed it the most.

"Look, do you suffer from aphasia? Was I your surgeon at some point and damaged your brain? Do you want to sue me?"

"No!" she blurted, her eyes widening at the turn of the conversation. This is so not how she imagined this to be going. She was failing miserably. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She closed her eyes too, for good measure, to block out the judgy, staring pairs of blue eyes in front of her. "We met when I was a newborn, eighteen years ago. I'm here for answers."

Irene's A/N: Hello, mysterious blast from the past! I know you have a million theories about Amy, please, feel free to share them with us. There's a lot we have in store for Amy and the Shepherds, so be patient. It will all be revealed in due time. Thank you for reading!