A/N: I have never written Grey's before so let's see how this goes. I do not own Grey's just borrowing for entertainment purposes only.

CHANGES

I am standing here rocking Zola to sleep. She is freaking out, probably because I am. Christina is here, she is pregnant and left Owen ..or I should say Owen threw her out. Really not the best way to handle Christina, but that is beside the point. To top it off, my so called husband, is nowhere to be found. I really and truly do not understand how he can give me crap about not being a good influence on Zola. Always a judgmental ass! If it doesn't fit into his god damn code of conduct it's wrong. Richard has been like a father to me, far better then my own. I care for Adele and I could see the pain it was causing Richard. Hell I lived it with my mother. Why can't Derek see that?

I lay Zola down in her crib and smile. She is sound asleep and the most gorgeous little girl. I have no idea how long I stand there watching her before I make sure the baby monitor is on and step out of the nursery, leaving the door ajar. I can hear Christina crying and debate on if I should talk to her or let her be. Her door is closed and at the moment, I need to get my own thoughts together.

As I sit on our bed and replay everything that has happened in my relationship with Derek, I realize that even if it's not over for him, it is for me. I don't want to live inside the confines of the box he sticks me in. He loves me, but not all of me. He loves the parts of me he understands and repels from the rest of me. The dark and twisty side that is not going away, nor should it, this is who I am. I look at the clock and reach for the phone, realizing the night is gone and it's already eight in the morning and dial the social worker.

"Janet, hi this is Dr. Meredith Grey." Janet sounds happy, asking how Zola's first night home was. "She is great, sleeping soundly now. She was a little fussy at first, but is great now." She gushes at how happy she is that Zola is adjusting so well. I take a deep breath and leap. "I wanted to discuss adopting her as a single?" There is silence and I know I need to push forward. "I love her and I want to keep her, but my husband has changed his mind. I will be filing for divorce and want to ensure that I keep my daughter." She gives me her condolences and assures me that I can adopt as a single. "Thank you so much. I am taking time off from work to get her adjusted and spend more time with her." She tells me that she is changing the filing paperwork for me and will be by for me to sign off on everything. "Thank you again." I hang up smiling, knowing I am doing the right thing and get ready.

I hear Christina and step into the hall to see her. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying and my heart breaks for her. "Get any sleep?"

She shakes her head. "No. I can't believe he threw me out. Even more...I can't believe I have been crying."

I smile at her sympathetically. "What are you going to do?"

She looks at me like I am crazy. "Get dressed and go find me a surgery." She doesn't even give me a chance to reply, as she turns and heads to get ready for work. I just shake my head and go back to check on Zola.

After Christina left, I got the house cleaned up for Janet's visit with the new paperwork. I also put a call into my mom's old attorney as it is the only one I know. I am set to meet with him this afternoon. I run upstairs to get Zola dressed and fed. She is being a very cooperative baby today, maybe we bonded last night. I grin and she smiles at me, flapping her arms. The doorbell rings and I have Zola on my hip as I answer. "Janet, come on in."

"She looks happy." Janet smiles at me.

"Yeah she is being a silly girl today." I look at her and make a face at her, causing her to laugh again. "Aren't ya."

Janet laughs. "I am glad that this is working, although sorry to hear about you and Dr. Shepherd."

I take a breath. "Thank you, but I think this is the best thing for Zola and I."

"I understand. It is great that you will be off to bond with her more, though from what I see you two are well on your way." Janet smiles and pulls out paperwork from her case. "Here you go. I just need you to sign there."

We go through the documents again this time single parent adoption and it's done. We talk a bit more and I give her a tour of the house. I should have finalized adoption paperwork in a few weeks. After she leaves, I take a steadying breath, proud that I was able to get that done. Now I don't have to worry about loosing Zola. I take her with me, strapping her into her car seat and head out shopping. We have a few hours to kill before I need to be at the attorney s office. I pick up more clothes for her, toys, diapers. Honestly I bought anything and everything I could think of and a few more things that the salesgirl talked me into. A large credit card bill later, I am sitting in the attorney office with Zola on my lap.

"Meredith?" The attorney comes out and I honestly barely remember him, but I know Mom used him for everything. "Come on in." He smiles at Zola.

"Mr. Baxter, thank you for seeing me on such short notice." I smile, lifting Zola into my arms as I walk into his office.

"What can I do for you?" He sits there waiting for me to explain and I think from his looking at Zola, he thinks it has to do with her.

"I want to file for divorce, quickly if possible." I take a breath to steady myself. "In reality we only got married a few days ago, but have been together for a few years. We...he is not the man I thought he was and I do not want to married to him any longer."

"I see. The child?" He looks at me waiting for me to explain.

"We were adopting her together, but I changed that this morning and am now adopting her alone. He has no say in her." I say it with a bit more force then necessary but Derek will not take her from me.

"No offence intended dear, I just need to know all the facts." He smiles.

I smile at him. "Sorry, just really have hit my limit with Derek and if he tries to say he should have her, he is in for a fight."

"That shouldn't be an issue if you already changed the paperwork. Is he aware of your intentions to divorce?"

"No and I doubt he is expecting it, but he is not home nor has he been. He walked away and this time I am not forgiving him." I kept my resolve pulling from strength I know came from my mother.

He smiled. "Nobody messes with a Grey." He laughed. "Your mother would love this."

I laughed. "You are right, she would."

"I see no reason to not get this fast tracked, especially since it just occurred. The house is in your name?" He asks taking down notes.

"Yes, same one Mom left me. I plan to have the locks changed." I knew I was treating this like a patient, clinical and detached but I had to in order to follow through.

"I have a company I use in divorce cases for security reasons they are bonded, licensed. I can get them out there tonight if you want."

"Yes...please." I smile at him, feeling the shackles of this life slowly start to release me. I answer the balance of his questions and he says he will have paperwork fast tracked and Derek served in next day or two. Zola is sound asleep in my arms at this point. "Sorry this is a long day for her."

"No, I have everything." He smiles. "She is beautiful. Go home and relax, you should hear from the locksmith in an hour or so."

I lift Zola up and her head nuzzles into my neck as I stand. "Thank you." I shake his hand and leave, heading home.

As I pull up to the house, I breath easy knowing we are alone, not a car in sight. She sleeps through it all, me taking her out of the car and putting her in the crib. I run back outside and empty out my car, loading everything into the living room. Right on time the locksmith shows up. Within two hours I have new locks on the front and back doors with three sets of keys.

It was close to ten when I heard knocking at the front door. Christina was there looking aggravated. As soon as I opened the door she was ranting. "Why the hell won t my key work?"

"I had the locks changed." I walked over to the table and grabbed a key for her. "Here you go. Your key. Do not give anyone a copy."

The look on her face was priceless, mouth agap and eyes just staring at me. "What? Why?"

"I filed for divorce from Derek. I am adopting Zola as a single parent. It's over." I smiled as I heard a gasp escape her lips. I turned leaving her there, heading back to the couch waiting for her to catch up.

"Wait...you can't just say that and walk away." She practically flew into the living room, falling onto the couch beside me. "You...filed for divorce. You are giving up on McDreamy?"

"Yes. This was the last straw. I don't want to be that girl, who changes because of what her husband wants. You and I both know I am not what he wants...he wants one part of me...not the dark and twisty me. You get the dark and twisty me...he doesn't and I am tired of trying to live up to his expectations." I was ranting I knew it, but it felt damn good getting it out. "No more Derek Shepherd. I shouldn't have taken him back after the whole Addison incident but what can I do."

"Wow ok..." She smiled. "You are growing up on me Mer."

I smacked her and laughed. "Shut up...it's time. I need to do this and that little girl upstairs is wonderful." I looked over at the monitor and noted no sounds which meant she was sound asleep. "Did you talk to Owen today?"

The smile dropped from her face and I immediately felt bad for asking. "No, he avoided me but I did get a surgery today."

"Always a good thing." I smiled at her. "You are welcome here as long as you want."

"Thanks Mer." We both sat and chatted for a bit before finally heading off to bed.