Notes: This is a fanfiction based on characters from the TV shows, Grey’s Anatomy, and Private Practice. This tells the story of Scout’s (Link and Amelia’s baby) first birthday. All in an alternative universe where her brother, Derek, is still alive. In it, the rest of the Shepherd family comes out to Seattle to celebrate baby Scout’s first birthday. And the Seaside Wellness doctors from Los Angeles even come out to surprise Amelia. This story plays around with the timeline a bit (unintentionally). Mostly because the timing in the Grey’s universe is all kinds of confusing. So, I tried my best to figure out the characters’ ages to the best of my ability. This is part one out of a two-part story and the second part will be out tomorrow morning. This has been edited to include headings and images.
Happy Birthday Scout: Part 1
“Mom!” Amelia opened the door, surprised to find her mother on the other side with a suitcase sitting next to her.
“What are you doing here?” Amelia asked.
“Is that any way to greet your mother?” Carolyn said, roping Amelia in for a hug.
“My grandson’s about to turn one, do you really think I’d miss that?” Carolyn asked as she let her out of the embrace.
“Mom?” Amelia turned around to see Derek, putting on his jacket. He was clearly getting ready to go to work.
“Derek!” Carolyn exclaimed, leaving her arms open, expecting Derek to come up for a hug. To which he happily obliged.
“Guess I’ll take these then,” Amelia muttered as she grabbed Carolyn’s suitcase and wheeled it inside.
“Your sisters are coming in later this week but I figured you guys could use all the help you could get,” Carolyn said.
“Help with what?” Derek and Amelia looked at each other after simultaneously saying the same thing.
“The birthday party!” Carolyn said as if it were obvious.
“Don’t tell me you weren’t going to throw your baby a birthday party,” Carolyn looked sternly over at Amelia.
“We were gonna have cake,” Amelia offered, half-heartedly.
“That’s it?” Carolyn asked after Amelia didn’t say anything else after that.
Carolyn Greets the Kids
After a short and awkward silence, they heard the kids running down the stairs, presumably to get their things ready before heading off to school.
“Grandma!” Zola, Bailey, and Ellis raced over to Carolyn and hugged her.
“Good morning, babies,” Carolyn kneeled to more appropriately hug each kid.
“Carolyn?” Meredith came down the stairs, laundry basket in one hand, the kids’ backpacks hanging on her other arm.
“Hello, Meredith,” Carolyn greeted her as she went over to help with the kids’ backpacks.
“Oh, thank you,” Meredith said, graciously.
“So, what’s little Scout into these days? I was thinking we do a fully themed party with balloons and decorations…,” Carolyn continued as Meredith, Derek, and Amelia shared a look.
It’s not like they couldn’t have a party at their place. But it would undoubtedly take a lot of work. And time. Time that they all knew they didn’t have.
“Oh relax,” Carolyn said after seeing how all three doctors looked worried. “I’ll handle the whole thing,”
“We can’t let you do that, Mom,” Derek said.
“Nonsense!” Carolyn insisted. “This is going to be perfect,”
Derek, Meredith, and Amelia didn’t love the idea of Carolyn putting together this party all by herself but they didn’t really have much of a choice. Plus, Derek and Amelia knew that if anyone could pull it off, it was their mother. Years of birthday parties, all tailored to each of the Shepherd kids, and all done mostly by herself.
The Kids Want to Help
“Can we stay home with Grandma today?” Ellis asked.
“No, you guys gotta get to school,” Derek said, smiling at his youngest wanting to spend more time with her grandma. He can’t blame her though, Carolyn hasn’t seen the kids since Ellis was born,
“Aww,” Ellis said, sweetly.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Carolyn said, grabbing hold of one of her hands.
“I’ll pick you guys up from school today and we can all help plan Scout’s birthday. What do you say to that?” Carolyn asked as Zola and Bailey put on their shoes.
“Can we get cookies too?” Bailey asked. Derek and Meredith couldn’t help but laugh slightly.
“But birthday parties are supposed to have cake,” Zola pointed out.
“But I like cookies better,” Bailey stated.
“Well, we won’t need the cake until the end of the week. So, I suppose we can get cookies first,” Carolyn said. Derek gave her a disappointed look back, knowing that the extra sugar would just make all three kids extra hyper later.
“We’ll need some sustenance to work on planning this party,” Carolyn joked.
“Sugar is not sustenance,” Meredith muttered.
“They’ll be fine, dear,” Carolyn insisted. She knew sugar would make them a little harder to wrangle, but she knew what she was doing. A cookie or two would be fine.
Carolyn Plans the Scout’s Party
After Carolyn insisted she take the kids to school, Derek, Meredith, and Amelia headed to Grey Sloan Memorial for work. By midday, word spread about Scout’s first birthday party. It’d be this upcoming weekend and it seemed like the invite list kept growing.
“This party’s getting out of hand,” Meredith said as Derek wrote up some patient notes at the nurse’s station.
“It’ll be fine,” Derek insisted. “Plus, it’ll be nice to have a big birthday party. There was this one year where I was really into the Power Rangers so Mom threw me this big party. We all wore costumes and pretended like we were fighting Rita Repulsa. It was great,”
“I’m not against having a big party,” Meredith added. “But this is gonna be our house. Can we even handle this big of a party?”
“Of course,” Derek said, without question.
“I promise,” Derek said, giving his wife a sweet kiss before going back to work.
Over the week, multiple bags of decorations, plastic cutlery, and frozen kids’ food spread around Derek and Meredith’s kitchen. Every day when they got back from work, there’d somehow be more bags. It was like they appeared out of nowhere. When Meredith made this comment, Derek said it was the magic of Carolyn Shepherd. And Amelia agreed. This was their mother’s specialty, after all.
When they reached the end of the week, the entire second floor and backyard were decorated. Scout was really into Peppa Pig lately, as Zola and Bailey informed Carolyn. It got to be annoying for all the adults but what little kid cartoon didn’t get annoying after the umpteenth time? There were little pigs everywhere, and colorful balloons. Carolyn even set up the backyard to be perfect for a barbecue.
The Shepherd Sisters Arrive
It was settled that Link and Derek would alternate when it came to grilling burgers, hot dogs, and whatever veggie options that Carolyn found at the store. When Amelia told her it was important to have vegetarian options just in case, Carolyn gave her a face. But after some deliberation, Carolyn admitted defeat and got some vegetables to grill and even some meat substitutes that the internet told her would be good.
Eventually, Derek and Amelia’s other sisters and all their kids arrived the night before to say their hellos and help with prepping before heading back to their hotel. All the kids played as the adults chatted and helped Carolyn with whatever else needed to be done for the big party. This ultimately included cleaning whatever was left to clean and prepping the food.
“You ready for the big party tomorrow?” Nancy teased as Amelia helped chop some vegetables.
“I think so?” Amelia said, laughing knowing that this party was overwhelming. For everyone. Everyone but Carolyn that is.
“You’ll be fine,” Liz said, chuckling along.
“Plus, you’ll have all of us,” Derek chimed in.
The Party Commences
With that, the party commenced the next day. A Saturday. Scout’s actual birthday. It started around noon to let doctors come earlier or later in the day and come and go as they please to accommodate everyone’s schedules. Link brought Scout over right before noon to greet the rest of the family. Despite how big and excessive the entire party felt to both Link and Amelia, seeing Scout’s eyes light up and that little giggle come out of him made it all worth it.
“Peppa!” Scout exclaimed, pointing to one of the many Peppa Pig decorations around the room.
“That’s right!” Amelia said, proudly. “It’s your birthday today, Scout,”
“That means you’re one today,” Link emphasized by putting up one finger and helping Scout figure out how to put one finger up on his own little hand.
Scout just laughed in response, leading the rest of the adults to laugh. All of Scout’s aunts, uncles, and cousins all went up to greet him and the adults all took turns holding him. Scout seemed very pleased to be around a large crowd of family, which was a relief to both Link and Amelia. They both worried, individually, that it’d all be too overwhelming for him and he’d start screaming his head off. But they were glad that he seemed perfectly fine with it.
Some Surprise Guests Arrive
As it got closer to lunchtime, some guests started arriving. Each with a gift for the baby. Amelia knew that by the end of the day, there’d be a huge stack of presents for Scout. He’d be unsurprisingly excited to open them all but after a brief conversation with Link, they agreed they’d let him open a few and spread out the rest over the year. The last thing they wanted was for him to turn out to be a spoiled kid all because Carolyn insisted on throwing this huge birthday bash.
As the day went on, doctors came and went as they ate, chatted, and played with the kids as they pleased. Derek and Link took turns grilling burgers, hot dogs, and even a few of the veggie options. Carolyn, expecting that there’d be at least some picky eaters, also baked some frozen chicken nuggets and ordered a few pizzas just in case. And it turned out to be a good idea because she was right in knowing that some of her grandkids were picky eaters. When midday came, the doorbell rang.
“Why is the doorbell ringing?” Kathleen asked.
“It’s a party, the door’s open!” Nancy shouted from across the room.
When the door opened, everyone saw a group of adults with some children peeking their heads in. Most of the adults didn’t recognize any of them. But when Amelia turned around, she audibly gasped in surprise.
“Oh my God,” Amelia said laughing, putting her hand to her mouth to cover her gaping.
Addison Greets Amelia and Nancy
Amelia went over to hug Addison first, whose arms opened up by the time she got there. They squeezed each other tight for a long time until they let go and Addison placed her hand on Amelia’s cheek. And both of their smiles only widened. It was their thing. Tight, long hugs and Addison’s sisterly instinct kicking in to stroke her cheek. They couldn’t remember at the moment when it started but it felt like it’d been that way forever.
“Addison?” Nancy exclaimed as she made her way over to the redhead.
“Nancy!” Addison squealed as she went in for the hug with Nancy as well.
It’d been forever since she’d seen Nancy. Since she’d seen any of the Shepherds, really. But back in New York, Nancy and Amelia were the Shepherds she’d gotten closest to. Addison went around to hug the rest of the Shepherds as Amelia alternated between the rest of the Seaside Wellness gang.
The Seaside Wellness Kids
After greeting all the Shepherd sisters, Addison leaned into Jake’s arms slightly after feeling one of his arms wrap around her waist as she came back over to him. Meanwhile, Amelia took notice of how big all the kids got. For starters, Charlotte and Cooper brought Mason, who was almost 18. He wasn’t the chubby little ten-year-old she remembered, but rather a skinny teenager. His hair was more styled now and he was tall. He was taller than Amelia now, which just felt crazy.
“What are you, a football star now?” Amelia joked as she roped Mason in for a hug.
“No, but he is a pretty great track star though,” Cooper added.
“Star is pushing it a little, Dad,” Mason chuckled, blushing slightly.
“Wow,” Amelia commented after hearing his voice. “Someone’s definitely gone through puberty,”
Lucas was also much bigger now too. He was taller, his hair was also much shorter now, but he still had his sweet baby face. As did Henry, except his hair was much longer and curly now and he even had braces.
“Nice braces, kid,” Amelia said, roughing up his hair with her fingers a bit. “And what’s with this mop?”
“It’s his style,” Addison said, parting Henry’s hair back to where it was. “Plus, I like it,”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Amelia agreed. “It works for you,”
“Thanks,” Henry said shyly as he stepped aside for Amelia to get to the rest of the kids.
Then, there were the triplets, who were all beautiful. They all had dirty blonde hair and it’d been so long since Amelia saw them last that Charlotte had them all introduce themselves. And they clearly got their manners from their southern belle of a mother. And Madeline, Sam and Naomi’s miracle baby, was just a sweet Daddy’s girl.
The Seaside Wellness Doctors
While the kids looked so grown up now, the rest of the doctors looked relatively the same. A little older, but they’d all aged gracefully. Especially the women. The only big differences present were the varying amounts of facial hair on the men.
Sam looked more or less the same while Cooper grew out his beard with wisps of gray mixed in as well. Even Sheldon came, who was practically a stone-cold fox now with fully white and gray hair. And Amelia couldn’t help but squeeze him a little tighter when she got to him.
Then there was Jake, who somehow looked like more of a stud with his post-pandemic facial hair. Although, Addison did mention in one of their FaceTimes during the pandemic that Jake wasn’t clean-shaven when they met. And when Jake stopped shaving during the lockdown, Addison definitely didn’t mind.
Addison and Amelia’s FaceTime During Lockdown
“Wow, what’s with the stache?” Amelia joked after seeing Jake in the background of her and Addison’s video chat.
“Oh yeah, it came back during lockdown,” Addison said, nonchalantly.
“What do you mean, came back?” Amelia asked.
“Did I not tell you he wasn’t all clean shaved when we met?” Addison asked, coyly.
“Uh…no. I definitely would’ve remembered if you told me that,” Amelia said, laughing.
“Wait, how not shaved was he when you guys met?” Amelia asked, weirdly giddy for details.
The lockdown had been an overload of kids and house chores. Even more so after Meredith went into a COVID coma. And talking about the apparent return of Jake’s facial hair was as good of a distraction as any.
“Mmmm…about where it is now,” Addison looked over at her husband, who briefly looked back as he set up yet another model train.
“Well, I can see why you fell in love with him because it is hot,” Amelia said, jokingly.
“I mean, I like it,” Addison joked as both women broke out into a laugh.
Amelia and the Seaside Wellness Doctors Catch Up
While Amelia finished greeting the Seaside Wellness doctors, the rest of the Shepherds came up behind her to survey all of these friends Amelia had. They all knew she had a life in LA before she came to Seattle to work with her big brother, but they didn’t expect to see all this. She was, after all, only there for about three years. Amelia and Addison’s bond has always been there. That had always been obvious. But the rest of them was a surprise.
“I can’t believe you’re all here,” Amelia finally said, sounding like she was about to cry.
“What? And miss all this?” Charlotte said, gesturing to the room full of people.
“Did Derek invite you or something?” Amelia asked.
“Nope,” Addison said, looking behind Amelia to where her ex-husband stood, smiling back at her.
“We just wanted to see Scout for his birthday,” Violet chimed in.
“And when I called Derek the other day, he told us about the party so it just seemed like it’d be the perfect opportunity,” Addison said.
“Yeah, and we are deeply insulted for not getting the invite,” Cooper joked.
“If it helps, this wasn’t my idea. And it all happened very last minute,” Amelia added.
“Yeah, this has your mother written all over it,” Addison commented, chuckling.
“See? She gets it,” Amelia echoed her sentiment.
Derek Greets the King-Freedman’s
After that, everyone started introducing themselves to one another. Derek obviously already knew Sam and Naomi from med school and he remembered Cooper, Charlotte, and even Mason from the last time they came to Seattle. It was apparently everyone else’s first time in Seattle. Sans Addison, Sam, and Naomi, of course. The kids got quickly acquainted with the Seattle kids and went out to play as Link came up with Scout per Amelia’s request.
“It’s nice to see you again, Dr. Shepherd,” Cooper said as he gets to Derek.
“You too,” Derek said.
“And track star or not, you certainly look the part,” Derek said, referring to Mason.
“Thanks,” Mason said before heading outside with the rest of the kids.
“I heard Amelia’s your boss now,” Charlotte couldn’t help but blurt out when Derek got to her.
“…That she is,” Derek sighed and faked a smile all at the same time. It was the response of feeling both embarrassed for himself as well as proud of his baby sister all at the same time.
“And he loves to be reminded of it,” Amelia joked.
“Yeah, I’m sure he loves hearing how much more game you have too,” Charlotte added.
“Excuse me?” Derek asked a bit insulted.
“Oh, he’s in denial,” Amelia said back to Charlotte.
Charlotte Mentions Mark
“You do not have more game than me,” Derek countered.
“Of course she does,” Charlotte said, nonchalantly.
Derek didn’t really have a valid argument to give, but he was still confused. He was married with three beautiful kids. And before that, he was married to Addison as well. Both of which were a catch. But he didn’t see the point in arguing. This was Amelia’s friend, of course, she’d side with her.
“You really fought for this?” Charlotte looked at Addison, referring to Derek as he stood there, dumbfounded. To which Addison gave an awkward nod back.
“Excuse me,” Derek said louder, feeling even more insulted this time.
“No wonder you went with Hot Stuff,” Charlotte commented.
“Who?” Amelia and Derek asked in unison.
“Mark,” Addison filled them in.
“It was before your time,” Addison said when Amelia looked even more confused.
Amelia didn’t even know that they ever met, let alone called him “Hot Stuff” of all things. Then again, Mark showed up in LA while Amelia was still doing her fellowship with Dr. Ginsberg. Regardless, she couldn’t decide if “McSteamy” or “Hot Stuff” was the better nickname. But she had to admit they both fit the bill.
“Some friends you got there,” Derek muttered.
“They are pretty great, aren’t they?” Amelia chuckled, loving the fact that she finally had her LA friends to back her up.
As great as Seattle was, almost everyone preferred Derek here. After all, he’d been here longer. It was like he had seniority over her. It didn’t really matter that she was head of the neurosurgery department or that she was his boss. She was still Derek Shepherd’s baby sister here. But with everyone from Seaside here, she was the clear favorite. And she reveled in it.
The Doctors Meet Scout
The Seaside doctors all took turns holding Scout and introducing themselves because none of them had met him in person yet. With Scout being born right before the pandemic hit, they all saw plenty of pictures from emails or through infrequent video chats. But seeing him in person and holding him was an entirely different experience.
“I can’t believe how big he is!” Charlotte said, bringing him closer to her face. “I remember when the girls were this small,”
“Yeah, we all do,” Violet spoke in her baby voice as she played with Scout’s fingers.
“Yeah, well at least you guys only had one baby at a time,” Cooper added. “Try having three all screaming at you,”
The rest of the gang couldn’t help but laugh along. The first few months with the triplets were particularly rough. Charlotte went back to work after a few weeks of taking maternity leave while Cooper stayed home with the girls and Mason. And it was, as he described it, a nightmare.
“Yeah, we remember the crying,” Jake added as he made funny faces at Scout. To which, he giggled in response.
Charlotte and Amelia’s Friendship
“So, you’re all Amelia’s friends from L.A?” Kathleen finally asked.
“Yeah, Amelia used to work with us at the practice,” Naomi said.
“I didn’t realize you guys all got so close,” Carolyn added, genuinely shocked at how close they all were.
“Amelia’s family,” Sheldon said as she and Sheldon smiled at each other.
“She was even my Made of Honor,” Charlotte added.
“Does it count if you guys ran off to Vegas?” Violet joked as everyone laughed.
“Our parents weren’t all that happy about us getting married so we just flew to Vegas at the last minute,” Cooper added after seeing the Shepherds look back confused.
“Yeah, literally the last minute,” Amelia said. “We were all waiting for you guys to come out when you sent a text message that you left,”
“Wow,” Nancy said. “Bold move,”
“It was the right one for us,” Charlotte looked back at Cooper, who leaned in for a short kiss.
“But she still stood up to his parents for me, so I say it counts,” Charlotte added.
The other doctors nodded in agreement. Then, everyone started dispersing to meet other doctors from Seattle. It was like Amelia’s two lives were colliding. Her LA life and her newer Seattle one. They were both great for different reasons. But she knew she was in the right place for her now. And the Seaside Wellness doctors thought so too. As much as they loved her, they knew that a hospital setting was better for her.
Derek Greets Addison
“Addison,” Derek said as he finally got to greet her properly.
He smiled back at her, seeing how different she looked. Well, different in the sense that she looked happier. The last time he saw her was at Mark’s funeral and it was a dreary affair for obvious reasons. They barely even said hello to each other then. Derek and the rest of the plane crash survivors were still going through their own form of PTSD. And Addison was grieving in her own way. They were both there for each other, but they both let each other have the space they needed to grieve separately.
“It’s good to see you,” Addison smiled back as they went in for a brief hug.
This entire experience felt surreal for both of them. Never did they think that they’d end up here. They were Derek and Addison. But that had an entirely different meaning now. They were practically the “it” couple back in New York. But now here they were, divorced and remarried to entirely new people. Even though Derek moved on from their divorce relatively quickly, he never imagined he’d feel like this after seeing Addison move on.
Derek Remembers Learning About Jake
“Before you go, there’s something I’ve gotta tell you,” Amelia said over the phone. She sounded ominous, which made Derek suspicious and concerned for his little sister.
“What’s wrong? Derek propped himself up and grabbed his phone from where it was balanced on his shoulder and cheek.
“Nothing! Everything’s fine!” Amelia insisted. “My news isn’t always bad news,”
“Well, what is it then, Amy?” Derek asked.
“It’s Addie,” Amelia started. “She’s getting married,”
“Wow,” Derek said, shocked.
“…Yup,” Amelia said, awkwardly.
“What’s he like?” Derek finally asked after what felt like a full minute of silence.
“He’s great,” Amelia said, honestly. “Good looking, caring, old-fashioned,”
“Old fashioned?” Derek asked.
“You know, a gentleman. He opens doors, pulls her chair out, stuff like that,” Amelia clarified.
“Oh,” Derek said. “That’s good,”
“…She’s happy,” Amelia finally added.
“Good,” Derek said again. “I want her to be happy,”
“Well, she is,” Amelia said. “And he’s a good guy. The best,”
“Good,” Derek said one more time. “She deserves the best,”
Derek and Addison’s Marriage
Even though Addison’s affair was what tore apart their marriage, Derek wasn’t oblivious. He knew that he had a hand in how his marriage ended. Not just in Seattle but also New York. He became distant and used work as an excuse for everything. After a while, he didn’t want to come home. He couldn’t explain it or even admit it aloud, but he just didn’t want to come home. No wonder Addison got lonely.
Then when Addison came out to Seattle, Derek was still angry. It’d only been a few months but looking at her filled him with a rage he couldn’t explain. But when she handed him the divorce papers, his heart sunk. He wasn’t ready to give her up. He thought he was. But then she said something about how they used to be best friends and it hit him harder than he expected it to. She was right. They weren’t just husband and wife, they were friends. Best friends. Just as much as he and Mark were.
But even though he agreed to try again, Derek still couldn’t forgive her. He tried to but there was still so much hurt and anger on his part. And it wasn’t fair to Addison because he could see how hard she was trying. She agreed to not only move to a dinky trailer in Seattle but she was also friendly to Meredith. If the situation were reversed, Derek doesn’t think he could do that. Sure, Meredith didn’t know he was married before. But that didn’t change what happened.
Jake and Derek Meet
Regardless, Derek and Addison’s relationship went through a lot of changes over the years. After the divorce, Addison kept her distance for a while. Derek moved on and went for it with Meredith. And he was grateful that it was for the best. When Addison came back to Seattle the first time, it was a little awkward, but their friendship was still weirdly intact. Then when Addison came back with Archer, Derek knew that they’d be okay. They weren’t married anymore but it didn’t matter. She’d always weirdly be family. Even more so since it seemed like nothing could tear apart Addison and Amelia.
“Derek, this is my husband, Jake,” Addison introduced Jake as he held out a hand for Derek to shake.
“Nice to meet you,” Jake nodded politely as they shook hands.
“You too,” Derek said. He couldn’t help but realize how surreal this all was.
“Awkward,” Amelia blurted out, playfully.
“Filter,” Violet added, jokingly. All the Seaside doctors laughed in response.
“Wow, you really could use a filter,” Kathleen commented.
“Well, she’s gotten much better since spending time with us,” Violet said, putting an arm around Amelia’s shoulders.
“It’s true,” Amelia agreed as she leaned her head on her shoulder sweetly.
Additional Notes
You’re in for a lot of author notes so hold tight. First off, timing’s a bitch in the Greys universe so people’s ages may be off. But it’s my fic so hopefully, it’s not so inaccurate that it took you out of the story. I was working on a chapter for my Jaddison fic (sorry to those people waiting, by the way!) and thought to do a fic of Scout’s birthday.
For context, the Jaddison chapter I was working on was for Henry’s first birthday party, so it made me realize that we never got to see Scout’s first birthday. Then again, I don’t think they’ve ever done birthdays on Greys (at least not that I can remember, correct me if I’m wrong). And they’ll do a few big holidays but it honestly still always feels like an afterthought for the Greys writers (or at least something they feel obligated to do.
I added all the Shepherds into this story for two big reasons:
First off, I just wanted Derek alive (as I think most of us do) so I had to make this an AU. And it gave me another excuse to throw in some Addek, Maddison, and Jaddison stuff (because yes, I’m a fan of pretty much all the Addison ships, sans Addisam). Also, trust that there are much more flashbacks and emotional stuff in the second half of this fic.
Second, a big birthday party doesn’t really seem like something Amelia would do. Maybe Link would but I figure that around this time is when Link and Amelia are broken up so it felt weird to have him be the one to throw this big birthday party while their relationship is in a weird place. With that said, part two of this story will be out tomorrow so don’t worry, you won’t have to wait too long to read the rest!
