I know, this is not an update for Hope. I struggled a little to get the writing done, then the finale happened and this image, 6 months into the future, just blasted into my brain. It's nothing special, really. Fluff, basically. And a Mer/Cris friendship kinda of conversation. Plus a cameo from Derek, because it never hurts to let Derek mingle.

I won't resolve issues, I won't continue this, I just put it out there, wishing I can make it up to you for the update of Hope I have missed.

The title is taken from a song they used in the finale, Freight Train by Sara Jackson-Holman. I had already fallen in love with it after they used it in a poignant scene on Bones, and now it's a staple in my playlists.

Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy, the Shepherds, Cristina or the house in the woods. I wish I did, but Shonda still has every right on them.

Enjoy!

Forever Is A Slow Dream

"No, Mama!"

Zola stomped her socked feet as she put a mean face on, crossing her arms and pouting dramatically.

"We can read a story together; you, me and Bailey." Meredith tried to coax her.

"No." She shook her head adamantly. "Daddy's coming."

"I know that Daddy is coming Lovebug, but it's time for bed now."

"No. No. No." She stressed, her big eyes filling with angry tears.

Bailey looked up with a frown from his construction blocks, cocking his head to the side while staring at his mother and sister puzzled, a soft curl falling in front of his eyes.

A key turned in the lock, and Zola had already bolted to the foyer, as Meredith sighed in relief. Bailey clapped his little hands in delight, feeling the excitement of the moment.

When the door flung open though, Zola was disappointed to see Cristina standing there, instead of her father.

"Oh," she sighed sadly, moving aside to let Cristina in, then slumping again on the couch, still pouting.

"Hello to you too." Cristina called out, frowning at the strange reaction of the little girl.

"She's in a mood." Meredith explained in a loud whisper.

"'m not." Zola retorted, glaring at Meredith.

"You are, kiddo." Cristina shrugged, simply moving in the living room and sitting next to Zola, not before she had ruffled Bailey's hair. He let out a happy giggle, then stretched his hands, adamant to cover Cristina with drool.

"Tell her it's time for bed, maybe she's gonna listen to you." Meredith requested kindly, and Cristina's eyes went immediately to her watch.

"It's nine-fifteen, Meredith. It's not even close to bedtime, yet." Cristina widened her eyes, almost horrified by the assumption.

"It is bedtime if you are less than four years old." Meredith glared at her person, eying Bailey and Zola suspiciously as well.

Cristina engaged in the staring contest as well, then gave in, shrugging her shoulders. "She's the boss, Zola. I don't know a thing about raising tiny humans."

"Mama's mean." Zola mumbled, still hiding in her crossed arms.

"Your Mama has not a mean bone in her, that's for sure. She's just being a good Mama, you know?"

"I don't like it." Zola kept pouting.

"Would you prefer a crappy Mama that never gives you food or never cleans your clothes?" Cristina asked, noticing that Zola's gaze was lifting up more and more as they talked.

"No." The little girl replied sincerely, shaking her head dramatically.

"That's the Mama you get then. She's a keeper." Cristina smiled, winking at Meredith, who gave her a grateful smile.

"Why don't you watch a DVD with Aunt Cristina while I feed Bailey, so we can wait for Daddy a little longer?" Meredith proposed, watching as Cristina's eyes were begging her to take back the proposal.

"Yay!" Zola smiled brightly, "Whatcha wanna watch?" She jumped up excited, pulling out DVD after DVD from the shelf and showing them randomly to Cristina.

"You're dead." Cristina whispered to Meredith, who had already picked up Bailey from the floor and was settling on the couch next to her best friend. "Pick your favorite, Zola." Cristina concluded, a little overwhelmed.

Zola confidently picked the DVD with the most worn cover, eliciting a groan from Meredith as the Disney castle materialized on the screen.

"It's not Cinderella, right? You didn't buy Cinderella to my goddaughter, didn't you?" Cristina whispered into Meredith's ear, watching as Zola threw the DVD cover on the carped and jumped back on the couch, sitting next to Cristina.

"It is Cinderella, Auntie Cris! Daddy got it for me!" Zola's smile reached her ears, and Meredith chortled, her eyes meeting Bailey's as she uncovered her breast and he latched on eagerly, his eyes quickly fluttering close.

"Whoa, he's noisy." Cristina pointed out after a few scenes of the cartoon, her eyes darting to Meredith and the baby, drifting on and off sleep.

"He has my appetite, according to Derek." Meredith rolled her eyes, but smiled brightly. "You do eat a lot, right Bailey?" She cooed in a voice that made Cristina roll her eyes in return.

"You know you sound retarded when you talk that way to tiny humans, right?" Cristina snarled in a whisper, watchful of Zola, who was luckily to enthralled by the movie to pay attention to her.

"Just look at this face," Meredith sighed. "I'm doomed for life."

"You are." Cristina smirked, but her expression softened when she trailed her eyes on the baby, all snuggled up in Meredith's arms. "At least he doesn't have the full-on McDreamy hair."

"I think they're turning darker," Meredith admitted, her fingers trailing over the peach fuzz on top of Bailey's head. "What do you think?"

"I don't know. I'm still rooting for him not to be his father's carbon copy, though."

Meredith smiled, her hand running over the length of Bailey's body, as the baby opened his eyes and stared brightly at her, his lips unlatching for a moment from her nipple as he stretched a toothless smile.

Meredith looked up then, noticing that Cristina was now stiffer against the couch and Zola had moved considerably closer to her. The little girl was holding onto her small, purple blanket with one hand, as she let her other one rest over Cristina's, their bodies practically touching now. Zola simply needed to tilt her head an inch left to be touching Cristina's shoulder, and Cristina seemed terrified by the mere idea.

They kept watching the movie in relative silence, every time the women tried to initiate a conversation Zola's bossy whisper chastised them into silence. They could wait for the kids to be in bed to discuss whatever Cristina wanted to discuss, since she had came over.

"I hate to break it to you," Meredith whispered really quietly into Cristina's ear, already amused. "But I need to pee so badly I feel my bladder is gonna explode."

"What?" Cristina's eyes darted to her with equal delight.

"I need you to hold Bailey for me until I'm back."

"He's attached to your breast. I don't produce milk." Cristina panicked, horror plastered on her face.

"He's asleep. He won't even notice I left." Meredith pleaded with her eyes, pulling Bailey in a straighter position and pulling down her top. He whined for a moment, before he smacked his lips, burped a little and clenched his fist, a clear sign that he was already in dreamland.

"No more than five minutes. Pee like you are in surgery or something." Cristina glared, allowing Meredith to settle Bailey on her lap.

They waited for a negative reaction, as the baby snuggled into the new position, but he seemed pretty content to be there, Cristina's hand placed gingerly over his back as he wriggled and settled his chubby cheek over her chest.

Cristina was pleading Meredith with her eyes to get to the bathroom and be done with it, but Meredith wanted simply to stare a little longer at her children snuggling together with the most anti-children person she knew, and still not care an iota. Zola's eyes drooped a little, as she leaned her head against Cristina, making the woman mutter an intelligible curse.

Meredith knew that she had to be quick indeed now that both children were dozing off. She made it to the bathroom in a record speed, peeing even quicker, then exited, noticing that in less than two minutes she had even managed to wash thoroughly her hands. She was getting better at this whole peeing quickly business.

All her plans for quickness though were set aside when Derek entered the foyer, leaving his briefcase at the door and smiling brightly. Meredith was quick to silence him, with a finger on her lips first, then with a quick kiss.

Derek glanced towards the couch, and cracked a bright smile. "Is that...?" He mumbled, puzzled.

"Cristina? Yeah." Meredith smiled. "I really needed to pee." She emphasized, making Derek chuckle.

He kissed her again then, a little longer and a little more heatedly than before, their bodies moving closer and closer.

"How was your day?" Meredith asked, "It seems like I haven't seen you since this morning in the lobby."

"I was in surgery a lot. I wish I could have sneaked up in daycare with you and the kids for my non-existent lunch break, though." He sighed sadly, his eyes glancing longingly towards the children, before he kissed Meredith's forehead.

"It was uneventful, really. They're both asleep now, I'm sorry. Zola was trying so hard to wait up for you I was ready to tie her to the bed." Meredith smiled, her eyes moving towards the couch as well. "Cristina saved the day."

"I think we should save her now." Derek chuckled, as they moved to the living room.

"Are you two done being sickeningly sweet to each other? I'm about to gag." Cristina snarled, but it didn't sound menacing at all as Zola snuggled even more against her side and stretched a wide smile on her face, while Bailey wrapped her t-shirt in his tiny fist, unwillingly to let go of her.

"Hey Cristina." Derek smiled brightly, as he went to switch off the DVD, then he turned to Meredith. "I'll take Zola to bed, can you wait with Bailey here so I'll change him after?"

"Not a problem." Meredith nodded, exchanging a smile with him as he picked up Zola almost effortlessly, despite she was getting bigger and bigger.

"Daddy!" She whispered delighted, barely opening her eyes as she cuddled with him.

"Mama told me you weren't ready to go to bed until I was home." He smiled, kissing her forehead gently. "Are you ready now?"

Zola nodded, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "Nay nay, Auntie Cris. Nay nay Mama." She mumbled, yawning afterward.

"'Night ZoZo." Meredith smiled, kissing her forehead softly, as Cristina mumbled her own goodnight.

Meredith sat again next to Cristina, as Derek and Zola disappeared to her bedroom, but Cristina seemed almost reluctant to let go of Bailey now.

"I don't know a thing about kids." Cristina stated, her eyes moving down to stare at Bailey, before they stared deeply into Meredith's.

Apparently, this was the issue she had came to tackle, and Meredith could easily guess why she had blurted out something like that.

"That's not true, Cristina. You've changed a diaper. Zola loves to hang out with you. Look at Bailey, right now." Meredith smiled, her hand rubbing her son's dimpled fist.

"I don't know they have bedtimes or favorite movies or anything like that."

"I didn't knew either. You learn these things with time." Meredith smiled, remembering a time when Derek asked her opinion on kids and she would have answered in the same way. "What brought this on?"

"Owen is not really happy. We pretend to be happy, because that's what we're supposed to be, but he's not. Hell, I'm not happy." She shook her head, almost defeated, giving Bailey back to Meredith, who happily snuggled him to her chest. "He still wants kids, I can see it in his eyes."

"And you still don't." Meredith stated simply. "It's not a crime, but I don't see how can you two stay together with that big elephant in the room."

"I don't either." Cristina stood up, paced, then sat again.

"It's not like you need to divorce him again if you want to leave." Meredith stated.

"I don't want to leave." Cristina admitted. "But I have no idea how to compromise on something like this."

"What scares you the most?"

"Everything?" Cristina's eyes widened.

"Pick the scariest of them all."

"What if I become a monster-mother like mine or yours. Or Burke's Mama?"

"You won't." Meredith smiled softly. "Because you know what they did wrong. Maybe sometimes you'll feel like them, but you won't be them all the time."

"What about pregnancy, Mer? You almost died when Bailey was born."

"It was a rare complication, in a dark hospital. I'm a magnet for disaster, I was kind of expecting something could go wrong, from the day I found out I was pregnant." Meredith smiled sadly, a shiver running down her spine at the memory of the day Bailey was born.

"It's still something I would like not to experience."

"And that's okay. It's not the only way to have a child." Meredith smiled, her eyes falling on the empty spot Zola has left.

"I'm no savior of African babies like you and McDreamy either." Cristina frowned.

"There are plenty of local babies that need saving. Even though I have to say, you and Owen would make pretty babies." Meredith smirked, and Cristina glared at her.

"Are you on drugs?"

"Ovulating, probably."

"Ugh, gross." Cristina cringed. "Are you planning to have another one of these?"

"It does sound appealing but I don't think we'll be that lucky." Meredith smiled melancholic, knowing that she was indeed blessed to have two children instead of none like it was in the cards all along. "I'm grateful for Zola and Bailey every single day, though. They're worth all the self-doubt and the crap they throw at you, when they have their moments."

Cristina remained silent for a moment, and their conversation was interrupted when Derek came back in the room, a bright smile on his face as he stole Bailey from Meredith's arms and held him close to his chest.

"Hey buddy, how was your day? Your sister seemed pretty excited about daycare." He whispered, his lips close to the baby's ear as he rocked him back and forth. Bailey's eyes fluttered open for a moment, blue meeting blue, before he could yawn widely and fall limply against Derek's shoulder.

"Boring for you, uh?" Derek chuckled, as he relished the feeling of his son in his arms. "I think he needs a diaper change before bed, doesn't he?"

Meredith smiled, enchanted by the way Derek transformed when he was around the kids. It always fascinated her to no end. And she was ovulating. Damn hormones.

"I'll be back soon." Derek said absentmindedly, before he walked towards Bailey's nursery.

"Stop ogling him!" Cristina chastised Meredith, who blushed slightly. "The look you gave him is at least five kinds of wrong."

"I can't help it. I just can't." Meredith sighed. "I can hardly believe this is my life some days, Cristina."

"Do I need to remind you everything you had to go through to get here?" Cristina snickered, an amused expression contrasting with Meredith's dreamy one.

"I remember it, and that's what makes it magical."

Cristina almost grimaced at that, "He's turning you into one of those happy married pod people."

"I guess I am. But it doesn't feel bad when you're actually in it. I'm not fully pod-peopled, though. I have my moments of craziness."

"Like what?"

"Um, kitchen table sex. Last night, with the kids in bed and the dirty dishes in the sink."

"Hm, not really crazy." Cristina argued. "At least not for you."

"I'm not obsessed over losing my baby weight by running ten miles every morning."

"You are still a normal size, Mer. It barely shows that you gave birth six months ago."

"I have a freaking scar that's so ugly I'm tempted to ask Jackson to fix it, but it's okay, I can deal with it because if I didn't have scars I wouldn't have Bailey or Derek or Zola, so I can deal with that."

"That was deep, but still." Cristina smiled. "I don't mind that you're getting your normal, Meredith."

"Me too, Cristina. Me too." Meredith smiled. "You'll have normal too, someday. Whatever your kind of normal is."

"Not possible." Cristina smirked.

"Hm, we'll see..."

So, that's it. Nothing special, uh? And I won't start on how adorable Bailey and Zola are, because we'll be here until the season premiere, and I kinda have a life ;)

I will try to work on the next update for Hope this week and get back on my schedule, but be warned that there's an exam in between all this mess and family gatherings in the weekend, so things can get complicated. Keep your fingers crossed!

Thank you for stopping by to read and hopefully review!