"How is the investigation going?"

"What was the cause of the crash?"

The representative from the airline company is the first to speak after the survivors' representative lists out everyone affected by the crash.

"The investigation could take years. That's why we want to help you put this tragedy behind you."

"I think you mean your clients would like to put it behind them."

"So I am authorized at this time to propose a one-time settlement." A folded slip of paper is then handed to Derek. "Bayview Aeronautics takes your loss seriously."

He glances at the contents of the page before passing it along to me.

"Now, the settlement agreement must be unanimous. And it releases Bayview Aeronautics from any and all other claims, known or unknown."

One by one, we view the large number written out by the representative.

"But, most important. . .it will allow you to put this painful time behind you and move on with your lives."

Owen, the last of us to see it, raises a brow.

"You have three days to come to a decision."

That night, my mind is occupied by thoughts of the offer as I lay in the massive bed with Derek, the room yet to have been decorated due to our sudden move into the house.

However, Derek's unruly movements tell me he's thinking the same thing.

"Should we settle?"

"What happens if we don't?"

"I don't know."

His arm is secured under my frame, thumb padding against my hips in feathery circles. I stare up at the pale blue ceiling.

"I'm gonna make cookies."

"You need to sleep."

"Snickerdoodle or chocolate chip?"

Derek pushes himself into an upright position and rubs his eyes awake. "You're not sleeping tonight, are you?"

"I wanna make cookies." My lips tighten. "I haven't made snickerdoodles since. . ."

"Let's make snickerdoodles, then."

Out in the kitchen, I take out all of the ingredients needed to make a fresh batch of cookies, and Derek continues discussing the settlement.

"Should we settle? It's a lot of money." He cracks open an egg. "We could stop work, travel for a while, maybe even start trying again."

"We could do all of that with the money I have from my dad dying." I blend the mixture of creamed butter, sugar, and eggs together.

"Okay, so we don't settle." He stirs the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

"Not settling means we get an answer."

Derek gradually pours the dry batch into the wet one, allowing me to mix them together and make the cookie dough.

"We don't get Mark, Lexie, and Meredith back. No matter how hard we try, they can't come back."

We roll the dough out into proportionate balls before pressing them into the cinnamon sugar.

"Traveling the world sounds better, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it does."

The cookies rest on the greased baking pan in preparation for the heated oven. My legs cross, one over the other, and I prop up on the kitchen island.

"You know what we haven't done?"

His brows narrow. "We did that this morning."

"We haven't done it in the kitchen." I suggest with a growing smirk.

"I can do something to change that right now."

His palms press into my thighs, spreading them so he can stand closer. I shove away the baking ingredients to the opposite end and lay back.

"What about the cookies?"

"Would you forget about the cookies for a second? I'm trying to make love to you."

"God, you're such a girl, Derek."

- - - - - - - - - -

"Jackson's fighting with April because he stripped her over virginity. Consensually."

"You're kidding."

The black bluetooth earpiece clings to my ear as I make my way through the attendings' lounge, a brand new territory for the ex-residents.

"Bailey apparently went around the room and put up passive aggressive post-it notes on almost everything. Even woke Alex up from a well-deserved nap."

"Was it really well-deserved?"

"Uh, knowing Alex, probably not."

I stir a touch of half-and-half into a piping hot cup filled only with three shots of espresso.

"Hey, Owen told you about April's pig farm incident, right?"

"How'd you know I've been talking to him?"

"I assumed he'd been discussing the settlement with you. It's the only thing Derek can do around me. Well, that and. . .".

Cristina blurts out in interruption.

"Are you already thinking about popping out a McBaby? Because I'd like at least a six-month warning before it makes its way into the world."

"I'll send you a nice card and everything. If it happens."

"Don't you mean when?"

"No, I meant what I said." I cut in before she can say otherwise. "Are you leaning towards settling or not?"

Her head leans against her hand. "Oh, I don't know. Whatever everybody else wants to do. I'm a team player, Leven."

"You are so not a team player."

"I can be when I wanna be. And I haven't had the urge to be one until now, so."

Meredith flashes through my mind, a thought that only occurs when talking to Cristina as she was the one with the body of her best friend leaning against her.

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm. . .doing. You?"

"Yeah. I'm doing, too."

The next morning, Derek sits out on the decked portion of the backyard, staring off into space and lost in his thoughts.

"Morning, Der."

The fuzzy fabric of a robe hugs around my body, and I walk towards him with two mugs of coffee — one black and one latte.

"Doing alright?" My fingers embed themselves in his mess of hair.

The only response I receive is a nod.

"I was thinking of making some toast and scrambled eggs. Are you okay with that, or did you want something else?"

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever you want."

"Derek?"

"Go on ahead to the hospital. I'll come later."

With that, Derek and I have switched roles: me being responsive for two and him being quiet. And all I can do is be by his side.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Sorry."

Derek enters the conference room, where the rest of us are exactly three days after receiving the settlement offer.

"We can't do this."

His right hand cups over my own and squeezes it gently.

"I saw the plane. I went to the hangar, and I saw the pieces of our plane, laid out on the floor like a jigsaw puzzle. If we agree to settle, they do the investigation, and we can't do anything with the results."

The representative, in all his glory, speaks up. "Bayview Aeronautics will take the results and act accordingly."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be very thorough. Big companies are always very good about self-policing."

"Mistakes happen, Derek. Accidents happen." Callie says. "We make mistakes that can cost lives, too."

"Yes, we do. But when we do, we have M&ms, we pore over the files, we make sure it never happens again. And we try to make sure future patients never have to go through that grief."

His eyes lock over me.

"That they don't have to sleep with the lights on every night because the darkness is too much. Or occupy their minds with something as simple as baking cookies. We just can't stand by and let this happen to other people's. . .Lexies and Marks and Merediths. We have to do something about it. We have to make this right."

Just like that, the four of us agree to not settle — a unanimous choice.