Allison Shepherd walked up the steps leading to her Uncle Derek Shepherd's house. She held in her arms her five month old Labrador puppy she'd got three months prior to arriving at the door of the Shepherds. Allison looked at her phone, and knew one of two things would be correct, either Derek or Meredith would be at the hospital, or they'd be inside asleep at two am. Allison spent the only money she had on dog food, and getting to Seattle.
Allison wasn't sure how to tell her Uncle that her mother had died in a car accident. She knew that they had Zola, and had just found out that they were going to have a baby. She knew that it was horrible timing, but she had nowhere to go. The young sixteen year old had never met Meredith Grey-Shepherd, and wasn't sure if she really wanted to, but being that she just showed up on the front porch she really didn't have a choice.
The young sixteen year old made a bed out of her only pillow and blanket by the front door, and she fed her dog, before turning on the hose to give her some water. She then curled up with the chocolate lab puppy to go to sleep. She was tired from the long flight from New York to Seattle. The only one that had room for her at the last minute was a late night one.
At six am Derek Shepherd rolled out of bed, and he looked at his wife. He smiled seeing her, and decided to get Zola up. The man walked into his kitchen, carrying his daughter, and was digging around for breakfast when the baby said "Puppy!"
Derek jerked his head outside, and saw a small Chocolate Lab running around outside. He knew that there wasn't any neighbours around that got a puppy recently. He also remembered that people would often abandon their dogs. The puppy obviously was nowhere near full grown, and probably already weighed nearly fifty pounds.
"That's right Zola, puppy," He said heading towards the front door. Meredith and he had talked about getting a dog. He hadn't had one since they had Doc, but that really wasn't their dog. He liked dogs though, and felt it would be good for Zola to have one. Derek opened the front door, to see if the puppy would come to him, and he saw his niece laying there. It clicked with him that this was her dog.
"Allison Marie Shepherd…." Derek said, putting his hand on his hip, his eyes narrowed at the girl, with bags on his front porch step. He didn't know what to say or do.
"Hullo Uncle Derek," the girl said in a barely audible whisper. She looked at him, knowing that there was going to be a lot of explaining that she had to do. Alli's dog walked up behind her as the girl's uncle looked shocked and worried all at once.
"Alli why are you here? Why didn't you call? Does your mother know that you're here?" Derek asked, rattling off all the questions that popped into his head. He saw the girl's face turn almost as white as a blanket at the question of her mum.
"Allison… where's your mother?" He asked. Even though he was quite annoyed by his sister's he still cared for them, as would any brother. Derek could tell that something was wrong, especially when Alli grabbed her dog, and held it on her lap. Derek wondered how the petite sixteen year old could handle such a heavy dog.
"Mum died two nights ago in a car crash. I had no way to call you. Uncle Derek I don't want to stay with Grams…"
Derek was taken aback by this. His little sister was dead. He'd already lost Mark, who was like his brother, how could his sister die too? The surgeon, who'd seen death more times than he could count, clutched the counter. His finger's started to turn white. He knew that the girl's only other option would be to go to his mother's house. Alli wouldn't be able to last there, and he knew that. The girl had dreams of going to vet school, and working with animals, unlike the rest of the Shepherds.
"Alli, go upstairs and put your stuff up… the guest bedroom is on the right." Derek said, watching the dog play with Zola. Alli nodded, and she walked up the stairs dragging her luggage behind her. Derek went upstairs, leaving Zola to play with the puppy while he went to see his wife.
"We need to talk, Mer…" Derek said, as he stepped into their master shower room. He could see his wife finishing up getting ready for work.
"You mean she just showed up on your door step, with a dog, and he's keeping them both?" Christina said, looking at Meredith as they started to get into their attending scrubs. Meredith nodded and said, "Yeah and Derek's trying to figure what to do about this." She said, and looked up as April Kepner, another attending, came walking in with Jackson Avery.
"Maybe you should ask Kepner. Jesus freak would take pitty on her quickly." Christina whispered narrowing her eyes as she saw the two walk in together, obviously in the mist of some sort of conversation.
"Jackson I need you to take Mark tonight," April said, looking at her child's father. Jackson cocked his head he and April were pretty much religious on who got their child. The two were in the middle of a divorce, and they were trying to keep it as easy on their child as possible. April looked at her ex husband, and she had pleading eyes, which showed that there was something up. Jackson knew that April wasn't one to pawn off her son, especially on her nights.
"Alright, what's going on anyway?" Jackson asked, looking at April, he knew that there was something going on. He didn't expect her to say anything to him about it, but he hoped she'd give him the courtesy of an explanation at least. April looked at him and bit her lip. She wasn't going to fully tell him her plans, but she would tell him some of them.
"One of my friends from school is going to Portland, and I am meeting up with them there. Two day stay, I swear." She stated, looking at the man. They each had the three year old every few days, and they worked well with the pattern. Jackson knew that April hardly got out, and decided that she did deserve some time off. "Alright, have fun," he mumbled.