xxv.  happy birthday!
10.08

Atlas Lee — Sunny Shepherd loved planning parties, now, with his husbands birthday right around the corner, he whipped something up. With Derek's permission of course. They had sat down over dinner, talked about what they thought would be best, who to invite, what day, which restaurant, so forth. They decided on their home in the woods, Atlas his mom doing all the cooking and baking, and they invite all Derek's sisters and his mom.

Atlas booked everyone a flight, made sure someone was there to pick them all up and drive them out, (he made Alex Karev do it, when the young man had come to him asking for Atlas to preform a probono surgery — which he would have done anyways. And then he had Oliver pick Amelia up, knowing that they got along so well.)

The kids were out with a babysitter for part of the evening — aka, a playdate with Callie and Sophia. The house was cleaned, right down to the junk drawer and the toys that had been shoved in the hallway closet from a month ago.

Everything was ready for the chaos that Atlas and Derek had hoped would have stayed back on the plane, but it followed. It would always follow.

Amelia Shepherd enters first, and she's smiling so wildly as she drops her bags and heads right towards her brother and brother — in — law.  "My brothers! I've missed you two so much!" She gives Derek a quick kiss on the cheek, and Atlas gets a handshake that they had made up last time she visited.

Amelia — who demanded that Atlas call her Amy, leaned closer and started to whisper. "You know, Nancy was telling me on the phone last night that's she was worried she'd come and call Atlas a Slutty Attending again."

"You and Nancy are calling again?" Derek raised his eyebrows, lips quirked upwards slightly in a smile. Amy and Nancy seemed to have the worst of a sister relationship, very hate hate and not love love.

"Yep! Oh, and Addison sends her regards." Amy turns and starts to dig through her bags, finding a small wrapped gift and tossing it towards her brother. "She even got you a gift."

Derek opens the gift as the door swings open, and Kathleen and Nancy step into the home, suitcases trailing behind them. "You couldn't have picked us up?" Nancy is frowning, pushing past her youngest sister and towards Derek, not even sharing a smile with Atlas. "The car you arranged for us was so smelly. And I sat on a toy duck."

Atlas grinned. "That was Alex. He owed me a favour. But it was my car though, probably had french fries which caused the smell and the toy was your nieces."

Nancy shrugged, handing her coat to Atlas. "Oh. Surprising. Thank you."

Atlas frowned, looking at Derek with big doe eyes asking for help. "Yeah, uh, of course."

"Nancy —" Kathleen gasped. "Atlas is Derek friend, you don't just hand him your coat. You say 'Atlas, hun, here's my coat, is that okay?' Not just hand it to him."

Kathleen and Nancy continued to bicker as Amy and Atlas started to tidy up all the stuff in the entrance way, well Derek went and check on Lilla and the dinner she was preparing.

A knock came through the home, and Atlas was reaching for the door before a second knock could echo. There on the other side stood Alex, with Lizzy and Carolyn, Derek's mother.   "Alex! Thank you so much for bringing them here, you're truly amazing."

Alex smiled and waved goodbye, telling Carolyn in passing that he'd make sure he'd eat a healthy dinner tonight instead of the greasy pizza he had planned.

"How are you two? Derek's so excited you both are here." Atlas beamed, smiling so wide that his cheeks hurt. He reached out to take their coats, but Carolyn shook her head. "Sorry?"

"We can hang out coats, dear." Carolyn Shepherd smiled politely as she hung her jacket on the coat rack, hanging Lizzy's right after. "But would you be so kind in helping us with out bags, just out of the way."

Atlas nodded and grabbed the extra bags that they had brought, stepping aside and leading them into the living room where everyone else had their things stashed. "Dinner should be ready soon, and everyone else is in the dinning room chatting."

Atlas directed them to where the dinning room was, pointing out the bathrooms and the storage closet if they needed anything. When he stepped into the kitchen, Derek was already standing there with his arms out wide.

"Love, I'm so sorry." Derek pulled Atlas closer to his body, warming his husband up with lots of love. "I didn't think they'd be this bad."

Atlas smiles with a shrug of his shoulders, "No one is perfect, baby. It's okay."

The night continued on, with Atlas and Lilla finishing dinner well everyone else chatted. Amelia would step in every few minutes, claiming she just wanted to help, but Atlas could see that it was just a little too much for her.

"Dinner is served." Lilla spoke as she carried a large dish of chicken cooked a few different ways, and Atlas and Amy following behind with the side dishes. "We have a chicken with a gravy sauce, a honey garlic sauce, and a few others. And of course the sides."

"Thank you, we'll be sure to holler if we need anything else." Nancy waved Lilla away, acting as if she was the help and not Atlas's mother.

"Nancy, that's Atlas's mother, Lilla." Derek pointed out, frowning slightly. He glanced towards the spot beside Atlas, that was reserved for Lilla, who was hesitant in sitting down. "Lilla, please sit."

Lilla sat after that, but she waited to dish up, making sure everyone else had before she did.

"You invited your friends mother to your birthday dinner, Derek that's odd."

"My husband, and my mother — in — law, Kathleen."

"He isn't your husband. That goes against everything we know. It's just a phase in your life, Derek." Kathleen spoke, a certain expression on her face. She loved her brother, so much, but she hadn't wrapped her head around his life choices. Leaving Addison, leaving New York, leaving them. "Stop with the games, you'll leave Atlas for a woman just like you left Addison for a man."

"Don't talk about him that way." Amy spoke, looking up from her plate of food that she was enjoying too much. "Don't talk about any of them like that."

Derek stood, pushing away from the table. "Atlas is the love of my life. My heart beats for his. If you aren't ready to accept that, it's okay, but you'll need to leave."

Kathleen stood, leaving the dinning room and going into the living room, where all her stuff was. Shortly after, the door slammed shut and Kathleen was left on the porch outside.

"She's just not used to the idea that you're with someone else, with a man, Der." Carolyn spoke, turning her head towards where Derek was standing. "She loves you. And she just needs time."

"You don't take her side." Derek huffed, chest moving rapidly as his fingers tremblers. "You don't get to excuse her actions, mom. She was blatantly rude to Atlas and Lilla, and so were you Nancy."

"Well, I'm sorry. Atlas is the same person he was when I met him years ago, the Slutty Attending." Nancy spoke, sipping her water.

"Get out." Someone spoke, and it wasn't Derek. Lilla, with a few tears gathered in her eyes, stood with about anger and sadness on her face. "You all can leave, I'll call a car service to pick you all up. Derek is my son, now. And I won't listen to you talk about him or Atlas this way."

Liz, who had been quite the entire dinner, was the first to pack up and leave. She hadn't said anything, nor had she really felt the need too, but she stood by her sisters as they left, an uncomfortable habit she hasn't broken.

Carolyn hugged her son, then hugged Atlas too. "Love you boys," She walked away, and Derek was pretty sure he felt his heart crack. Nancy had left with their mother, practically dragging her out — because if she couldn't stay than neither could she.

"Can I stay?" Amy asked, looking towards Lilla, who was whipping her tears and trying to clean up at the same time. "I'll help you clean."

"Please, Amelia, that would be great." So Amelia stayed, cleaned up supper and helped ice the cupcakes that had been made. She played with the dogs when they came inside, and she talked with Lilla about her job and the case she just had.

"I'm so, so sorry, my love." Atlas spoke as he pressed a kiss to Derek's cheek. "I'm sorry for everything."

"Don't be." Derek leaned into Atlas, smiling as he breathed him in. "It's okay. I have you, and your family, and I have Amy too."

"Don't forget you have everyone at the hospital too, love."

Derek Shepherd may not love his sisters every day, and they may not feel like a family. But that didn't mean he didn't have one, because he had the biggest one. Created by Atlas and his family, their own family they've grown, and with everyone at the hospital.

They've created a village of people they can lean on for help, and hold love in their hearts for.

And honestly, Derek wouldn't want in any other way.

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hi all! welcome to another update. we're getting close to 700k, thank you all! if it can hit 1m, Derek and Atlas will return for the rest of the series! (it'll probably return regardless, haha!)

the way the sisters treated amelia is where i took inspiration from. the episode in season 15. i just wrote and it spiralled but it kinda feels right. i made this chapter in the way that like me, who doesn't like his sisters very much other than Amy and Liz, i wanted you to not like them either...

have such wonderful day lovelies!