Line up:

1. Pete Wilder 2B

2. Derek Shepherd SS

3. Alex Karev 1B

4. Gregory House DH

5. Cooper Freedman CF

6. Sam Bennett 3B

7. Preston Burke RF

8. George O'Malley C

9. William "Dell" Parker LF

Pitchers:

Denny Duquette SP

Finn Dandridge SP

Dylan Young SP

Tyler Christian SP

Viper Blue SP

Bullpen:

Tucker Jones

Hank Aaron

Joe Bailey

Walter Yang

Nick Hanscom

Bold Italics Game Announcer

Italics Flashback

Bold Titles of what's going on (when a flashback is or the schedule info)

Ellis Grey had suddenly died of heart failure leaving behind her loving husband Thatcher and her four year old daughter Meredith. Thatcher struggled to come up with a plan of what to do with his daughter between the months of April and September and hopefully October as well. You see, Thatcher Grey is, and has been, the General Manager of the New York Yankees for as long as Meredith has been born. Plagued by an injury to end his promising pitching career, Thatcher turned to the next thing he knew and that was being in charge. He became the youngest General Manager in Major League Baseball history. When Ellis was alive she would stay in Tampa Bay with Meredith in their home and Thatcher would have a condo in New York so he could take care of the team…his team. Thatcher had to make a decision. Does he take Meredith with him to New York or does he leave her with relatives? Leaving her with relatives would have been ideal for him but to look his daughter in the eyes and tell her that he would be leaving for such a long time…he just couldn't do it to her. He couldn't leave her after not being able to explain fully where her mommy had gone. He decided that he would have to take her with him. It was then that Meredith started to have a passion for baseball. Being around it all the time can do that to a child. Starting from her 6th birthday all she would ask for is one thing.

A month before Meredith's 6th birthday.

Thatcher sets the table for breakfast. He had been up all morning trying to perfect Ellis's pancakes. For 2 years he still had not gotten them just the way she had made them. Meredith noticed but didn't say anything. The look on her face told him everything though. They were good, they just weren't mommy's. He cursed himself for telling Ellis that she didn't have to write the recipe down. How would he know that she would be taken from him so soon?

"They're yummy, daddy, they're daddycakes," Meredith says with a big smile on her face and syrup dripping down her chin. Thatcher smiles at his daughter's attempts to make him feel better at his failed attempt at keeping Ellis with them as much as he could.

"I'll get them right some day, Mer," he says as he takes a sip of coffee. He picks up his napkin and wipes the syrup from her chin. He had just given her a bath and he didn't need a sticky face. They would have to leave for the ballpark as soon as breakfast was over. Spring training was about to begin and he needed to get an early look at some of the AAA players to see if any of them would be staying on the roster.

"Daddy, my birthday is soon." It wasn't a question. Meredith knew. He had taught her to read the calendar and so she knew that it was approaching. He waits for her to ask him for a pony or something like that. The year before she asked for mommy to come back home. He would give anything to have her ask for a pony. Hearing that question breaks his heart every time she asks. And she would ask every once in a while.

"Yes it is. And what would you like for your birthday?" Thatcher asks as he begins to clean up the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

"I want my own baseball team so I could be just like you."

Thatcher stops in his tracks and turns around. His daughter is still at the table and smiling at him. A huge smile creeps over his face. He had never smiled such a big smile in such a long time. He had no reason to. He kneels down in front of her so he could be at eye level. "I'm sorry, sweetie, I can't give you that right now. How about we come up with something else, ok?"

"I want a pony!" she practically shouts out as she jumps off the chair and wraps her arms around his neck.

"That's my girl."

A month before Meredith's 12th birthday.

Thatcher has the table set for breakfast but the kitchen is empty and the house is quiet. He should be hearing his daughter stirring around her room but she isn't. "She probably fell back to sleep," he says to himself. "MEREDITH, LET'S GO WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" Finally the sounds up footsteps above him begin to sound. She slowly makes her way from her bedroom to the bathroom to take her shower. Thatcher smiles to himself and turns back around to face his griddle. He looks down at the pancake batter and almost cringes. In almost 8 years he still hadn't gotten the pancakes right. 'What he hell did she do to them that made them so special?' he wonders to himself. He starts scooping the batter out and putting it on the griddle.

Meredith, still in her pajamas, sleepily walks into the kitchen to take her seat at the table. She rubs her eyes as she grabs the orange juice carton out of the fridge. After grabbing a glass her herself and a glass for Thacther she walks back to the table and pours the juice out. She looks over at her father who is standing at the stove and staring at the griddle almost as if he is willing the pancakes to taste just like her mother's. Meredith had stopped caring years ago but Thatcher didn't give it up. "Still trying to make mom's pancakes?"

"I'll get it one day," Thatcher says as he wipes his forehead with a towel.

"You say that every day. You should try making your own special breakfast…like French toast or something."

"I just thought we could keep the tradition…you know…for your mother," he says as he looks into the eyes of his daughter. She seemed to have gotten over Ellis's death a lot easier than he had. There were times when he would try to talk to her about it but she always blew it off.

"Yeah but pancakes every day? It gets boring. Let me make you an omelet or something. I am really good. Izzie's mom showed us one day."

Thatcher sighs. His little girl is growing up so fast. He didn't want her to be old enough to cook. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow you can make me an omelet." He walks over to the table with the platter of pancakes and he puts it down. They each grab from it and put the pancakes on their plates. With one bite Thatcher knew that once again he had failed. "Still not it."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. They're still really good," Meredith says as she shovels almost a half of a pancake in her mouth. Thatcher cringes at the site. "So, about my birthday…I was thinking I get to throw out the first pitch on opening day. That would be a sweet gift."

He knew he couldn't give that to her. Just like years before she had asked for something about baseball and even though he seemed to be in charge he still couldn't just parade his daughter around and give her all the things she wanted. Most years he couldn't. The year before she asked for a spot on the team…first base. He just laughs and tells her to ask for something else. That something else would always cost him and arm and a leg but she was happy and that's all he wanted. "I wish I could do that for you but you know how Colin is." Colin Marlow, the team's owner, Thatcher would always blame it on him. The truth is if Meredith bat her eyes at Colin enough he would probably cave but Thatcher kept that to himself. "Think of something else."

"A car?" she says with a devilish grin on her face.

"Keep dreaming," he playfully says as he takes a sip of his orange juice.

A month before Meredith's 16th birthday.

Thatcher had tried to wake her so many times that morning. She just wouldn't budge. Not even pulling the blankets off of her did anything. She just turned away from him and went back to sleep. He could tell she just wasn't pretending to sleep because the snores that would come from her were enough to wake up the neighborhood. How she didn't wake herself up with them were beyond him. He walks out of the room and grabs an air horn from the closet in the hallway. They had used it at one of the spring training games to cheer for her favorite player Alex Karev. He is their first baseman. He almost smirks as he looks at the button he is about to press. It's almost too cruel but he has to get her up somehow. He still didn't trust to leave her at home alone. She wouldn't want to miss any of it for the world anyway. He would always ask her if she still wanted to come with him and she always said of course. Without thinking about it anymore he blasts the horn and Meredith springs up and screams. Thatcher can't help but laugh. "Oh real funny, Dad," Meredith snaps as she stands up. She doesn't say another word to him as she leaves the room to take a shower.

"Teenagers, gotta love them," Thatcher says as he leaves the room. He walks down to the kitchen to start breakfast. He takes his notebook out of the cupboard. The notebook that contains every single combination of spices and pancake batter that you could possibly think of. None of them had been close to Ellis's. He sighs and puts the notebook back. He was too tired to try again. He grabs cereal from the cabinet and pours a bowl for himself and for Meredith. He waits for her before pouring the milk. He wouldn't eat without her. It seemed like meals was the only time he would see his daughter anymore. He looks down at his watch and notices she is taking an awfully long time in the shower. "Save some water for the rest of the state, Meredith!" he yells up to her. He loved to bust her balls because he knew how much it would annoy her. He could almost feel it as she rolls her eyes at him.

Meredith finally makes her way down to the kitchen and sits down at the table. Something is different. What is different? She starts to look around the room. Thatcher is confused but he looks with her. Smells…where are the smells? The griddle is not on the counter. There isn't a big mess of batter anywhere. She looks down at the table to notice that in her spot instead of pancakes and toast is cereal and an apple. "You gave up?"

"Just for today. I hope that's ok." He didn't want Meredith to think that he had stopped thinking about Ellis or that he didn't care anymore. He was just tired of disappointing her. No matter how many times she said she didn't care he could see it in her eyes when she took that first bite every time that they didn't taste like the special pancakes Ellis had always made.

"It's cool." They pour the milk onto their cereal and eat in silence. The only sound that could be heard in the kitchen was the crunching of the Corn Flakes. Every once in a while Meredith would look up from staring into her bowl at her father. She knew it was hard for him to be without her mom. She would never let anyone know but she still missed her too. She glances over at the calendar and then back at Thatcher. "This year is my sweet 16."

"I already started planning your party," Thatcher replies thinking he knows exactly where the conversation would be going. She wants this big expensive party and he was going to give it to her.

"Yeah I know. About what I want…" she hesitates before going on, "I want a date with Dylan."

He drops his spoon at the sound of the word date. He practically chokes on what he had in his mouth. "Dylan who?" he knew the answer to this but he had hoped his assumptions would be wrong. She couldn't be talking about…

"Dylan Young. He's so hot." She could and she was.

"Absolutely not," Thatcher says almost immediately after Meredith stopped talking.

"But, daddy, why?" Oh sure now he's daddy. When she wants something they both knew that she couldn't have.

"Don't but daddy me. You know why. He is married and you're too young to date anyway."

"I'm going to be 16!" As far as he was concerned all he could hear was 6.

"Exactly. Too young. Think of something else."

Meredith pouts but the wheels begin to turn. How could she spend all her time with the team that she loves even more than she already does? A smile creeps in. She has just the thing. "I want to be the bat girl and I want to travel with the team."

Thatcher thinks for a moment before answering. He definitely would not let his 16 year old travel with a bunch of baseball players. He was tired of saying no to her. "For your 18th birthday. I will talk to Colin and for your 18th birthday you can be the bat girl."

Meredith's face lights up with joy. She stands up and walks over to Thatcher and hugs him around his neck, "Thank you, daddy, thank you so much!" She races out of the room and to her room to tell her friends the good news.

"You're welcome, sweetheart.