A/N – Ok, time for a new chapter! Best news today is that it's only a week until season 8 kicks off. I'm so looking forward to see what will happen! In the last chapter, Meredith was suggested a test for Jennie and in this chapter, they will go through with it. I researched it quite a lot, but I hope I managed to keep a balance between avoiding to go into much details and still describe it accurately. I guess you simply have to read on to find out! Thank you for all your kind reviews!

When Meredith arrived a little after nine, breathless and apologetic for not coming sooner, Derek felt like the day had been going on forever already.

"I'm sorry," Meredith said with a grimace as she hung her coat on the hanger and put her shoulder bag on the chair. "I would have been here sooner, but Josie didn't have class until now and refused to go in any earlier than she had to."

"It's ok," Derek assured her. "We're not scheduled to meet with Dr. Parker until ten."

He rubbed his hand over his eyes, trying to erase the veil of tiredness. It always seemed to come after a night of more worrying than actual sleep, but he needed to be alert today.

Meredith studied him with a hint of concern in her eyes, but he shrugged, not wanting to voice any uncertainty over the coming tasks in front of Jennie. She held his gaze for a moment longer, then nodded slightly and turned to Jennie instead.

"Good morning," she said and smiled at their daughter where she was sitting up in bed, concentrated on coloring on a piece of paper Derek had gotten from the nurses' station. "Did you sleep well?"

"Ee-sh," Jennie nodded and looked up from her work. "I waked eh-fore Ah-ddy."

"Really?" Meredith said. "Have you had breakfast?"

"Yoh-uhrt," Jennie explained. "And aph-ehl ooh-s."

"Yeah, well, I can see that," Meredith smiled, leaning forward and wiping some yogurt from Jennie's cheeks. "Daddy didn't help you wash your face?"

"Believe me, I tried," Derek defended himself. "She wanted to wait for you."

"Ok, then." Meredith lifted her shoulder bag and held out a hand for Jennie. "Bathroom time. I brought you some clothes. Do you want to change?"

Jennie seemed to consider this for a minute. She was still clad in her pajamas even though Derek had put socks on her feet when he had taken her to the bathroom a couple of hours ago. The legs had eased up a little and exposed her ankles.

"Oh-ey," she decided. "Ih-nk shirt."

Meredith put her shoulder bag down on Jennie's covers and started to unload the contents. "I don't think I have the pink shirt," she said. "I have this, though. It's a little pink here in the middle."

She put the gray t-shirt next to the two other ones she'd packed. Jennie studied it hesitantly, but then nodded.

"Ehl-lo Itty ih-nk." She turned to Derek. "Ah-ddy, my Ehl-lo Itty ih-nk on my shirt."

"Yeah, she is," Derek agreed. "Are you going with Mommy in the bathroom now? In a little while we're gonna have to talk to the doctor. Remember I told you that?"

"Yeah. Ah-mmy, she ah-ve ehs-tions."

"She is gonna ask many questions," Meredith nodded. "And I'm sure she doesn't want to see a little girl with yogurt on her face. You ready to go wash it off now?"

Derek watched her carry Jennie into the bathroom. She was still a little unsteady on her feet from having lain in her bed for so long, and they hadn't yet put her braces on. Every time she'd been outside the room, they'd insisted she use the wheelchair. He hoped they would be able to go home tonight or at least tomorrow, getting into some routines again. One of them had to stay with Jennie for the rest of the week, but it would be a step in the right direction.

He started to put away some of the things scattered about in the room, not that there was an apparent mess but he needed something to do with his hands. Through the wall he could hear Meredith talking and their daughter's happy laughter. He wished she would never get a reason to stop being happy.

"Derek, what was her temperature this morning?" Meredith asked as she opened the bathroom door. She held Jennie up on her hip by her left hand and handed him her bag so that she could have both hands free to help her up into the bed again.

"100.1, I think," he replied. "Much better than yesterday. Don't you feel better, Bug?"

Jennie nodded. "I not warm," she said proudly. Meredith had combed her hair and put it in two small pigtails and she looked comfortable in the pair of red sweatpants that she used to wear at home when she was home sick from school.

"That's good," Meredith told her as she lifted her up and sat her on the edge of the bed. "Did Daddy tell you what's gonna happen today?"

"Yeah."

"That we're talking to the doctor?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, we are," Derek interjected. "First, me and Mommy are going to talk to her, while you're going to play with Miss Laura, right?"

"No."

"No?" Meredith said. "You're not gonna play?"

"I sink I oh-nna talk ooh," Jennie stated.

"You are," Derek assured her. "After we're done, you're going to talk a lot to the doctor."

"I ah-ve my Ay-tad?"

"I don't think you'll need your iPad, Jen," Meredith said. "The doctor wants to hear you talk, that's why you're meeting with her."

"And eh-st."

"Yeah, that's right, you're gonna do tests too." Meredith sat down on the floor, rolled up the sweatpants legs and began putting Jennie's braces on. Even if she was going to use the wheelchair, it somehow felt a little appropriate to dress her like she was going somewhere.

"I good at eh-sts."

Derek chuckled. He'd tried to downplay the importance of the test situation to her; comparing it to some of the tests they had done in preschool and hoping it would make her cooperate willingly. He didn't think his own reluctance to it had shone through. They needed her to be secure and happy to get results that were a fair assessment to what she could and couldn't do.

As they walked down the corridors to the recreational playroom, Jennie chatted happily and Derek kept finding himself analyze the way she talked. He knew what kind of questions they would get in just a few minutes, and he kept racking his brain for examples and situations that would show Jennie at her best. He hated that they always had to present what problems she had to get the help they had the right to. To them – to doctors, to authorities, the insurance companies, assistive technology companies – she was a diagnosis, a case, a collections of problems and symptoms. She wasn't the bright little girl they knew her to be.

He sighed as he pushed open the door to the playroom and let Jennie wheel her chair in by herself, and immediately caught sight of a slender woman with brown hair combed back in a simple ponytail.

"Hi, Jennie!" she said brightly, getting up from the table where she was sitting together with a few other children. She came forward to meet them and smiled heartily at Meredith and Derek before she squatted down to come eye to eye with Jennie. "Wow, haven't you gotten big since I last saw you. What are you up to these days?"

"Do you remember Miss Laura, Jennie?" Meredith asked her. "She used to play a lot with you when you were little."

Jennie nodded a little hesitantly, putting her hands on the wheels and pulling the chair backwards a few inches so that she was right beside Meredith. She looked curiously at Laura.

"My ah-mmy and my ah-ddy oh-nna talk to my oh-ohr," she informed her. "So I pway eh-re."

"Yeah, so I heard," Laura replied. "I think we're gonna have a lot of fun. Do you wanna start color a bit? Or play with the dolls over there? They have a lot of medicines and needles they need to get."

"Ah-mmy? I pway dolls?"

"Sure you can," Meredith said. "You'll be ok playing here for a while? Me and Daddy will come get you when we're done talking, ok?"

Jennie nodded again, looking between Meredith and Laura but did no effort to move anywhere.

"Hey, Bug," Derek said and knelt in front of the chair. "We're gonna be right in the next room. You can always ask Miss Laura to come get us, ok?" He smiled and leaned a little forward as to tell her something secret. "I'm afraid it's gonna be really boring in there, though. You're gonna have so much more fun out here. It's a little unfair."

That let go of her uncertainty. She giggled happily and let Laura push her chair to the large table in the middle of the room with a mere wave goodbye.

Derek couldn't help but appreciate how smooth that had gone. With Josie, they would have had to coax and boost until they since long had gotten tired of their own supportive voices. Jennie had always taken it better being left by other people, but he'd anticipated more work getting her comfortable here, seeing as it was right after a surgery and with a woman she could hardly remember. Jennie seemed to thrive in hospital environment, though. Not that she always was content and happy, nor was she the perfect patient, but he was pretty sure she felt secure here. She knew most of the nurses. She loved the attention she got whenever someone knocked on her door. She even endured the procedures without too much complaint, so getting to play and have fun for a little while might not seem like the worst thing.

Laura was the recreational therapist they'd been recommended when Jennie was just an infant and she had been working with her during her first years, and paid occasional visits while Jennie was enrolled in the hospital's daycare. Jennie had loved her back then, and Derek had always felt good about leaving her with Laura, whose enthusiasm and playfulness didn't lead him to doubt how professional and determined she was to work hard with the children.

"She'll be ok, right?" Meredith said as they walked out of the room to meet with Dr. Parker.

"Yeah," he agreed. "She's ok. I told Laura what she needed to know earlier this morning when I asked her to see Jennie today."

He took a glance at his wristwatch. Just a few minutes before ten; they could easily enter the open door before them. Meredith grabbed his hand as they approached it and his stomach churned at the thought that her feelings in this moment surely were his. He squeezed it back, trying to mediate something back to her. I know. I'm afraid too.

"Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Grey," the raven haired Chicago native greeted them as they stepped into her office. She had dark eyes and reminded Derek a little of Callie Torres. He'd heard a lot of good about this therapist, the little he'd been able to pull up on her since Dr. Lennon had approached Meredith a couple of days ago. "I'm glad you could join me today."

"Well, we're grateful to get the opportunity," Meredith said before he could come up with a reply. "A little nervous, though," she added and gave her a small smile.

Seeing her gazing at the office, Dr. Parker gestured towards the couch at the far wall.

"This is not where I'll be talking to Jennie," she said as if she knew what Meredith must be thinking. The office wasn't strict, but it had nothing to entertain a child and didn't seem like the place to tempt a little girl into playful test situations. "I was thinking you and me could talk in here, but if you prefer, we could always go find a conference room."

"No, it's fine," Derek said a little impatiently. "Here's fine. Jennie's in the room next door. We'd like to be close if she needs us."

"Of course," Dr. Parker said, smiling sympathetically. "Please sit down. I'd like to start by taking some basic history about Jennie's situation at home and in school, and then we're gonna go more into detail about her development."

Derek tried to focus on the therapist as she carefully asked them about Jennie's current shortcomings. He and Meredith did their best to answer as honestly as they could, now and then looking at each other for support. Derek felt a surge of thankfulness that they'd managed to build such a team during the years; fighting together, filling in each other's sentences. He supposed he used to have that with Addison too, but he couldn't really remember a situation where it had been put to the test like this.

While racking his brain to come up with answers to what food Jennie did and didn't eat, or what kind of surgeries she'd had, Derek couldn't help but wonder instead of how she was doing together with Laura. It was so easy slipping into the medical jargon and focus solely on the facts and hard observations, but what really mattered, he thought, was how all of it affected her as a person.

He heard Meredith explain in detail what signs Jennie used when she needed to clarify her speech, but instead of joining her, he thought of the memories her words awoke. How he'd told her good night stories with shadow figures on the wall. How Jennie proudly told him they had a secret language. Even though he wanted nothing more for her than to be able to speak in a way people understood, her special way of talking was one of the things that made her who she was. He would miss it.

"Would you say Jennie is able to listen and follow what someone else tells her?" Dr. Parker asked.

"Yes," Meredith said. "That has never been a problem."

"So you would say she's able to interpret auditive information and remember it correctly?"

"Yes."

Derek knew that Dr. Parker tried to differentiate possible diagnoses. He already knew she would not have any luck with questions about hearing impairments or attention deficits, but he answered them anyway. When the speech therapist was convinced that their daughter's pragmatic conversation skills were intact and that she had no problems with abstract concepts, she shifted to questions about her speech.

"I already heard Jennie talk, and got the impression she doesn't really speak in full sentences. Is that correct? No pronouns, auxiliaries, prepositions, things like that?"

Meredith shook her head. "I mean, she has some of it, but she uses them infrequently, and not always correctly. It's still a lot of nouns."

"And how does she use inflections?"

"Not much. Maybe not at all, except things she repeats from us. She can use an inflected word incorrectly, too. She doesn't seem to know the idea of them."

"How would you describe her pronunciation and vocabulary?"

"She has pretty many words by now," Derek said. "It took her time, but she developed pretty quickly about a year ago. But she doesn't always pronounce them correct."

"She's a bit hard to decipher," Meredith agreed. "And sometimes she mixes words up, choosing words or sounds that are not correct."

"She replaces sounds," Derek added. "I'm not sure if she can hear that she's doing that herself; if she hears the difference."

Dr. Parker nodded and made some notes in her chart. "Does she have any problems swallowing or chewing? With drooling?"

"Yes," Meredith confirmed. "She wasn't very interested in eating before. We mostly gave her soft foods that were easier for her to get down. Her former speech therapist tried some practices with her." She shrugged a little. "I don't know if that was what helped, but it got better over time. Now she eats much of what we do, although there are still things we have to cut or mix for her."

"I see," Dr. Parker nodded. "And what about her motor activity? Have you noticed ataxia?"

"We have," Derek confirmed. "But that's due to her spina bifida diagnosis. She has fine motor issues, but they are getting better for each period she's evaluated." He looked briefly at Meredith. "She seems to have decreased mouth sensory, though. Doesn't use her lips much. It's getting better too, but it's apparent."

Dr. Parker listened to their description and took notes while doing so. "You said she sometimes mixes words up," she said. "Do you see a pattern in this? Is she aware that words consist of different sounds?"

"I actually haven't seen a pattern," Meredith said and frowned. "She uses to stubble when she tries to say the same sound again and again, or when she has to change sounds quickly. It's like she's searching around for the right way to say it."

"She's inconsistent, too," Derek interjected. "Sometimes she can say a word correctly, but then mess it up in a sentence. I don't know if you can call it good or bad days with her intelligibility, but she doesn't always do it the same way from one day to another."

Finally, when Dr. Parker seemed satisfied with their answers, she went on to research Jennie's development since infancy.

"I'd like to talk a little about her early years," she said. "But first, it would be good if you could provide a list of family, friends and teachers that I can contact for more information." She saw Derek exchange a look with Meredith, and nodded gently. "You have been very helpful, but to help Jennie get the very best help we could give her, we'd like input from everyone who deals with her and can give us perspectives that you can't."

Derek nodded, and reached for the pen and paper Dr. Parker held out for him. He wrote down his mother, Richard and Adele, Mark, Lexie, April and Alex, Helen at the preschool, some of the therapist that had been closely working with her lately, Owen and Cristina, and the daycare at the hospital. He also added some of the children at the preschool that Jennie used to play with the most, as well as Josie's name, even though he doubted the therapist would really contact seven-year old children to interview them.

He heard her ask about Jennie's first year and Meredith tell her about the endless infections she'd had and how that had made an eligible excuse for the fact that she hadn't made a lot of sounds at all. Their pediatrician had told them to be patient. She'd been through a lot. She was still struggling. She would catch up.

"She never struck us like a child not interested in us," Meredith said. "She followed us, smiled at us. She just didn't make a lot of sounds." She looked pleadingly at Derek, who nodded, and squeezed her hand.

Dr. Parker nodded and took some notes. "Ok," she said gently. "What about when she got a little older? How did she express herself? Gestures? Words?"

Derek tried to remember Jennie as a toddler. She had been a funny kid, always wanting to tag along, see what they were doing. She never liked being left alone. He knew Meredith had complained over never being able to just leave her playing on her own while she needed to get something off her hands. She had been so close to them; he didn't really remember it as if they had trouble interpreting her.

"She had almost no words," he said quietly. "She was eager to communicate. But I guess she mostly gestured, or pointed. A few sounds maybe, that we learned what they meant."

"She wanted to communicate," Dr. Parker commented. "From that, I guess she wasn't a quiet and introvert child? Did she imitate?"

Derek thought of Josie, so shy around others already when she was little. Jennie had been the total opposite, always interested in watching other children play. If he or Meredith just helped her to interact with them, she was happy to join as best as she could.

"No, she was very outgoing," he replied. "But no, she didn't imitate either. Didn't seem to use her mouth very much at all, actually.

Dr. Parker nodded and looked through her papers. Derek saw that she seemed to have some kind of check list on a sheet where a few of the bullets were checked already, but he wasn't sure if that was a positive thing or not. He felt overwhelmed by looking back like this and seeing all points where their daughter failed to meet her developmental milestones. Even if they worried all those times they noted she really didn't follow the other children, it was all too easy to think of it like separate things. Something caused by her spina bifida. Things she would catch up with later. It was something else entirely to see it like this, neatly piled up for the doctor in him to see the anomalies in her behavior.

"Let's move on," Dr. Parker suggested. "Did you see any improvement in her speech over time? Did she talk spontaneously?"

"Not really," Derek replied, even though he ached having to endlessly talk about the things his little girl couldn't do.

Meredith kept telling Dr. Parker about how they had started to teach Jennie sign language, but his thoughts were already at the test prepared for Jennie for later. He hoped there would be things she would succeed in doing. He hated that she might would feel like there were things expected from her that she couldn't do.

"So you would say she used gestures more than speech in her communication," Dr. Parker concluded. "How well was she understood by other people?"

Derek looked at his wife. "I guess it depended," he said. "People she knew and saw often, like our friends, were no problem. They got accustomed like we did and learned to sign a little." He rubbed his eyes with his right hand. "Her friends at daycare were fine too."

"And people outside your inner circle?" Dr. Parker prodded gently.

"They didn't understand her," Meredith said flatly.

Dr. Parker was quiet for a minute, browsing through her notes, and Derek suppressed a deep breath. He closed his eyes for a second. It had been quite a painful process, realizing that words didn't come as easily for his second child as he somehow had expected, and already experienced with Josie. Her language development had thrilled him, amused him, and surprised him constantly during her toddler years. He'd loved to hear her made up words and new expressions that even though they were wrong somehow made a lot of sense. But none of that had come with Jennie. She still struggled with the basics.

"At what age would you say something happened? When did she go from having few words and mostly signs to how she communicates today?" Dr. Parker looked attentively at them, ready to scribble down their answers on the sheet before her.

Meredith bit her lip and looked at Derek for support. "Around three, I think," she said slowly. "Yeah, three. I remember, because that was the time we started thinking about preschool, and at her IEP, the teachers pointed that out for us."

It had happened slowly; looking back, Derek wouldn't be able to pinpoint when her vocabulary had extended until she didn't have to repeat herself all the time, or when they didn't get stuck at signs they didn't knew. The most obvious change was the lack of frustration they had seen for so long. She'd always been a happy kid, but they hadn't been able to deny the fits of anger she could threw out of disappointment when they didn't interpret her correctly. Meredith had more than once told Derek that the terrible twos for Jennie hadn't concerned independence in the same way it did to most kids, but this simple request for a working communication.

They spent a while longer in Dr. Parker's office, but when they were done, they both stood. Dr. Parker shook hands first with Meredith, then Derek and smiled gently.

"I'm going to talk to Jennie in 15 minutes or so," she said. "One of you, or both if you like, are welcome to join the testing. It would be good for Jennie to have someone she relies on, and it would be easier for me to talk to you about my evaluation."

Meredith and Derek looked at each other.

"I... I'm scheduled for a craniotomy in an hour," Meredith said hesitantly. "I thought we would be back at work today, Derek, I'm sorry." She swallowed. "I'll cancel," she offered. "Maybe Dr. Nelson could take it, or Dr. Avery, if he's not off today."

"Meredith," Derek said and put his hand on her arm. "Relax. I can sit with Jennie during the testing. There's no need for us to both be there. I'd rather you do the craniotomy and then take Jennie home tonight."

Meredith bit her lip, weighing on her right foot as if she didn't know what to do with her left. "Are you sure?" she said quietly. "It doesn't feel right to just leave her."

"We'll be fine," Derek assured her. "I'll be there with her. Think of how happy she'll be to come home tonight with all of us there."

Meredith nodded silently. She still looked dubious; whether it was because she doubted his quality of cheerleader or if she simply regretted missing out of it for herself, he didn't know.

"Ok," she said at last. "If you're sure. Let's go get Jen."

When they entered the playroom, they found Jennie happily engaged in coloring a large sheet of paper. Her hands were covered in red, blue and yellow fingerpaint and she giggled each time she dipped her index finger onto the paper to draw a figure.

"Well, someone's having fun," Derek commented and winked at her when she looked up from her paper.

"Ah-ddy, my ah-nds!" Jennie stretched her hands up in the air and smiled broadly, but when she was about to put them on her wheelchair to make her way over to them. Derek quickly walked over to the table instead.

"No, no, don't put your hands on the chair before you've washed them," he warned. "What do you have there?"

"Is a sea, Ah-ddy," Jennie said eagerly, and started to point out the various sea animals she'd created.

"A shark and a whale," Derek commented and raised his eyebrows. "It seems pretty dangerous waters for your little fishes to be in."

Laura laughed. She was sitting next to Jennie, decorating small cups with blue paint and small white stars. "Jennie absolutely wanted to do a sea landscape. I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with a certain Disney movie?"

"Eh-mo!" Jennie exclaimed.

Meredith smiled. She came over to the table and crouched down so that she came eye to eye with Jennie. "Do you think it's ok to finish it later?" she asked. "The doctor wants to talk to you in just a little while. Daddy will come with you, but I have to go, so I thought we could walk together."

"Where you oh-ing, Ah-mmy?" Jennie said, looking a little worried.

"I'm gonna go into surgery. There's a man who needs an operation."

"You oh-nna fix him," Jennie said knowingly.

"Yeah," Meredith agreed. "I'm gonna fix his brain so he gets better and then I can take you home tonight, how does that sound? And after you're done with your tests, April promised to bring that chocolate cake you like."

Jennie pondered that for a few seconds. "Oh-ey," she said.

"So are you coming?" Derek said. "The doctor is waiting for you."

Jennie looked from Laura, to her painting and then back to Derek and Meredith. She seemed unsure whether she should insist on finish her sea world, or if she should actually give in and come with her parents.

"You know what, Jennie," Laura said. "I'm gonna put your painting to dry here in my special cupboard. Then you can come back when you're done and paint some more if you like."

Jennie brightened. "Ah-mmy, I do it more?" she said.

"Sure," Meredith replied. "If you feel like it after, Daddy can take you for a little bit."

As they were slowly strolling the hallways in this part of the hospital where Derek rarely was during a workday, Jennie was happy to tell them about all the fun things she and Laura had done. Not only had they given all the dolls a shot, they had also operated their brains, one of them even twice. Jennie's report that Miss Laura didn't really know how to do it and her slightly worried suggestion that Meredith had to come show her had them both suppress their laughter.

When they had said goodbye to Meredith by the elevators, Derek led Jennie to the room Dr. Parker had pointed out for him earlier. It was a large room, with several windows that gave an impression of air and space. Derek was glad Dr. Parker had decided not to use Mary Robinson's office for this meeting. He knew how demanding the speech sessions were for Jennie, and even though she rarely said anything, he didn't want her previous experiences of trying hard and gaining very little to affect this test.

Dr. Parker stood up when he knocked lightly on the open door. She had been crouched over her desk, typing on her computer keyboard, but she smiled warmly when she saw them.

"Hi," she said. "Come on in."

In the middle of the room was a low table, which had been stacked with pencils and papers. There were a few chairs, but also a soft beanbag and a large, woollen carpet with a colorful, vivid pattern.

Dr. Parker crossed the floor and crouched down next to Jennie's wheelchair. "I'm Dr. Parker," she presented herself. "I know your dad has told you a little about what we are going to do today. Is that right?"

Jennie nodded shyly and stared at her, but said nothing, clutching Derek's left hand in a firm grip.

"That's good," Dr. Parker said. "Daddy has told me a little about you too." She smiled. "I know you have some trouble making words and sounds. I work with other children who also do. Sometimes I can help them get better. When we talk here today, I will listen to you, and I will ask you questions, and when I have done that, I will see if I can help you too."

Jennie listened intently, and seemed to relax a little at how Dr. Parker explained what was gonna happen.

"Since we are going to work together today, you can call me Miss Liz, if you want to." She tilted her head a little. "When we talk with each other, you can use whatever way you like. If you want to use signs, that's fine. If you want to point, or say words, that's good too. And if there is a word I'm not sure about, I'll ask your daddy to listen for me. Would that be ok?"

Jennie nodded and gave her a slight smile, but didn't let go of Derek's hand just yet.

"Good," Dr. Parker said happily. "Now, you can sit wherever you want. Pick a place, and then we'll get started in a little bit."

She stood up again and went back to her desk, making no rush. Jennie looked around the office hesitantly. She pulled a little at Derek's hand and he crouched down.

"Where do you want to sit, Bug? In your chair? In the beanbag?"

"Ean-bag," she whispered.

"Ok," Derek said and smiled encouragingly. "You wanna walk there by yourself?"

Jennie nodded, but didn't let go of his hand as he helped her down from her wheelchair. He walked her all the way across the floor and smiled at the way she giggled when she sank down in the yellow beanbag. When he made an attempt to disentangle himself, she pulled his hand a little harder.

"Not go, Ah-ddy."

"I'm not going," he assured her. "I'll be here in the room with you."

"You can decide where Daddy will sit," Dr. Parker interjected. "Do you want him next to you?"

Jennie nodded silently and looked pleadingly at Derek. He squeezed her hand a little and carefully sat down at the carpet next to her beanbag. It was soft and pretty comfortable to sit on, but he wasn't young and he knew he wouldn't go unpunished sitting at the floor with no support for his back this whole session. He hoped Jennie would allow him to move to another spot when she had become a little more confident.

He felt Jennie tense up a little when Dr. Parker positioned herself at the carpet on the other side of her. The therapist, however, only smiled. "How silly of me," she said. "I forgot to ask your name when you got here. I think we need to introduce ourselves properly, don't you?" She winked a little at Jennie, who watched her apprehensively. "You already know I'm Miss Liz. Can you tell me your name?"

"Eh-nnie," Jennie said quietly.

"Do you know your surname too?"

"Ehph-ehrd."

"I see," Dr. Parker said. "You probably think I look like I'm very old, but I'm 36. How old are you?"

"Four," Jennie said immediately, putting up four fingers before her. "I in eeh-oohl."

"Sorry?" Dr. Parker said. "Could you say that again?"

Jennie stared at her and looked down. She reached out her hand and pushed a little on Derek, as to tell him to translate for her.

"Try again, Jennie," he suggested. "You're in...?"

Jennie looked back at Dr. Parker and sighed. "Eeh-oohl," she whispered.

"You're in preschool?" Dr. Parker asked. "That's for big girls, isn't it? Do you like it?"

Jennie nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Ok," Dr. Parker said. "I met both your mom and dad this morning, so I know a little bit about your family. Do you have siblings as well?"

"Oh-sie," Jennie said, seeming to understand what kinds of answers the therapist was looking for.

"Josie," Dr. Parker repeated. "You live together all of you, don't you? You and Josie and Mommy and Daddy? Do you know what city you live in?"

Jennie looked at her. "Eh-att-ehl," she said a little hesitantly, as if she wasn't entirely sure that was what she was looking for. Derek must give her right; asking about what city they lived in when they were right in that city was indeed a little confusing.

"Ok, that's good, Jennie," Dr. Parker said encouragingly. "Now, I would like to hear what you have to say about this. I'm sure your mom and dad have told you not to play on the street. Why do you think you're not allowed to do that?"

"Eh-caush of ah-rs."

"Yeah, that's a good reason," Dr. Parker agreed. "There are cars and they can hurt you. What about this one, then? If your mom told you to go to the store and buy some cookies, what would you do if that store didn't have any cookies?"

Jennie glanced at Derek. He smiled at her. They had never sent Jennie anywhere by herself, especially not to places where she had to speak to strangers. She wouldn't be able to relate to this situation, so he wondered what she would choose to say.

"I go oh-me?" Jennie said uncertainly, looking between Dr. Parker and Derek.

"You would go home and tell your mom they had no cookies? Ok, that's a good solution."

Jennie looked relieved. She seemed to relax a little where she was sitting and looked around curiously in the room while Dr. Parker sorted through the heap of papers on the little table behind her.

"See here, Jennie," she said. "If I hold my hand like this..." Dr. Parker formed her hand like she was about to sign the letter 's'" ...could you do the same with your right hand?"

"Uh-huh," Jennie nodded and mimicked her gesture.

"That's right," Dr. Parker said and smiled.

She continued this way with a couple of different forms, all of which Jennie had no problems copying, and then went over to write with Jennie's fingers in the air, asking her what figure she just had drawn. Then followed a part where Jennie was asked to identify figures from one paper on another, match parts of pictures and point to the corresponding body part on herself that Dr. Parker showed her on a doll.

Her initial hesitation seemed to have worn off, and she willingly participated in the tasks. Dr. Parker seemed to use the right balance between playfulness and instructions to make them interesting enough to perform. He watched while she tried to build a tower out of some blocks the same way Dr. Parker instructed, and then analyze a picture with a lot of absurd details before writing her name and drawing some geometrical shapes. From what he could tell, she did everything textbook. He hoped that was how Dr. Parker saw it too.

She smiled happily at him when Dr. Parker complimented her on the human being she just had drawn on her paper, next to the accomplished tasks of completing a pattern and drawing a straight line. These parts of the motor testing seemed to pose no problem at all for her. Some movements that Dr. Parker asked her to do with her hands did, though, and jumping on one leg at a time had to be totally excluded. He made a mental note to stress to Dr. Parker later on that she must weigh in Jennie's spina bifida when analyzing that particular result.

"Do you want something to drink, Jennie?" Dr. Parker asked when one hour had gone by. Derek suspected she wasn't even halfway done and appreciated a little pause, both for his own and for Jennie's sake. When Jennie nodded, Dr. Parker stood and went over to the little fridge behind her desk. "Is lemonade fine? Or do you want water only?"

"Ehm-oh-nade," Jennie said eagerly and tried to get up from the beanbag. When she didn't manage, she motioned for Derek to help her up and wobbled a little unsteady over the floor. Derek watched her carefully and stood up to be ready to rush forward if she fell. It was good to stretch his stiffened limbs a little.

"Coffee, Dr. Shepherd?"

"Thank you," he replied. He usually didn't have time to sit down for a coffee on his working days, and had to do with the Styrofoam cups he could get hold of, gulping them down between surgeries or trying to make them last as long as possible during hours of paperwork. "How you're doing, Bug?" he said as he walked over to the little kitchenette. "Tired?"

"No, Ah-ddy," she exclaimed, sipping her lemonade. "I do good."

"You really are," he agreed. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

"No."

Derek looked at his wristwatch. She hadn't been since Meredith came this morning, and now would have been a good time to go again. He took a sip of his coffee while he calculated in his head. "Ok," he said finally. "You can get on with the test for a bit. But if it's too much time left here, we take a bathroom break in a while, ok?"

Jennie shrugged. "Oh-ey, Ah-ddy," she said noncommittally.

The next part Dr. Parker seemed intent on testing was Jennie's oral motor functions. She began to ask her to put her tongue out and hold it still for as long as she could. It proved to be a huge effort, and just as Derek thought she would refuse to do it, Jennie finally stuck her tongue out, so little that they could hardly see the tip over her lower lip.

"Great work," Dr. Parker said gently. "Can you reach up and lick your nose?"

Jennie seemed to really try, but it took her only a few seconds before the tongue fell backwards into her mouth again and she shook her head. Dr. Parker prodded gently a few times, trying to get her to move the tongue left and right, in and out, or up and down in various positions, but it was soon apparent that all Jennie's efforts were fruitless.

Derek had watched the scene with an increasing uneasiness. Sure, he'd told Dr. Parker himself just a few hours ago that his daughter's mouth functions were decreased, but truthfully, he'd never asked her to do all of these specific exercises, and it had never occurred to him the extent of her inability in this aspect.

"Ok," Dr. Parker said, noting something on her chart and quickly went on to something else, as if she sensed that more failures right now would significantly decrease Jennie's willingness to continue. "That was a really hard part, wasn't it? Let's do something else."

Jennie nodded. She looked relieved, but looked down all the same, as if she was ashamed of not managing to accomplish any of these latest tasks. Derek wanted to assure her that she had tried her best and that was what mattered, but before he could say anything, Dr. Parker had found the right paper in her heap.

"I'll start by saying some sounds here, Jennie," she told her. "I want you to say them after me. Don't worry if you think it's hard or if it won't come out right. That way I can hear what kinds of sounds you have most problems with. Ok?"

"Oh-ey," Jennie said quietly. Derek thought that some of her spark seemed gone, but she sat up a little straighter and seemed determined to do her best anyway.

Dr. Parker began a long series of sounds. She tested how well Jennie could repeat rhythms and stressed syllables, and how she responded to nonsense words. Derek got more and more discouraged for every sound that Jennie was unable to repeat correctly, but Dr. Parker seemed unfazed and gave no indication to Jennie that she wasn't doing well.

The greater and more complex the sentences Dr. Parker gave her though, the more words she missed out on. Derek noticed that just like it did when she got tired in the evening, her speech became more slurry the longer phrases she had to repeat.

"What do you say, Jennie," Dr. Parker said at last. "Should we do something a little more fun?"

Jennie, who had started to look a little tired, nodded eagerly. Derek knew she would never admit something she considered a weakness, but he thought he could trust her to speak up if she didn't want to continue. He considered suggesting a bathroom break, but decided to wait a little longer. He would feel better if Jennie got to leave the situation after having been successful.

During the following minutes, Dr. Parker asked Jennie to retell a story, and after that, describe an image with a lot of details. Derek knew the therapist took note of all errors and distortions Jennie made while speaking, but felt relieved that the understanding and grasping the essentials of something told didn't seem to pose her a lot of problems.

During the bathroom break he insisted on after that, he watched Jennie carefully, trying to get the sense of how she felt about the testing.

"You were doing so great in there," he promised her. "Did you find it hard?"

"A litt-ehl," Jennie said. "Not all."

"Some things she asked you to do were really hard," Derek said. "Does it feel ok anyway?"

"Ah-ddy, she eh-lp me." Jennie looked seriously at him.

Derek swallowed through the lump in his throat. "Yes, Jennie. She's trying to help you. It's a very good thing."

"Ok, Jennie," Dr. Parker said when they reentered the room. "Now I just have one last task for you. You think you'll manage?"

"Uh-huh," Jennie nodded, even though Derek had noticed how she repeatedly had rubbed her eyes.

"You're tired, Bug?" he asked.

"I do it, Ah-ddy," she insisted.

Derek nodded, not wanting to push it further. "Just tell me if you wanna stop, ok?"

"I think this will be almost too easy for you," Dr. Parker said and smiled. "I'm gonna say a word and you will point to the picture that you think show that word. Ok?"

As she'd anticipated, Jennie got through the ten pairs of sound alike words with no problem at all. The next step, where Dr. Parker did the opposite and let her come up with a word for each picture she showed her, didn't pose much problems either. Even those words where Jennie had to search around to find the right sounds, there was no doubt she immediately knew which word was in question.

"Well," Dr. Parker said at last. "Thanks a lot, Jennie. You have been very good this whole session. Now you really have earned going back to your room and rest. Maybe Daddy will buy you an ice cream, too." She winked at Derek.

"I ah-ving take," Jennie informed her.

"Cake? That seems like a really good treat," Dr. Parker smiled.

"You eh-lp me now?" Jennie asked.

"What did you think of?"

"You eh-lp me wi-d my words?"

Dr. Parker seemed a little stunned. Derek held his breath. He was not sure what her answer would be, but needed her desperately not to let Jennie down in this.

"I see," Dr. Parker said slowly. "You saw that I took notes during all those questions? I'm going to look through them, and then I'm gonna talk to your parents and tell them what I think would be the best way to help you with your words."

"I not ah-ve eh-lp now?"

"Hey, Bug," Derek interjected. "I don't think any of us are up for that now. I'm feeling kind of tired. I bet Dr. Parker does too. She's been working the whole day."

"Jennie, what about this?" Dr. Parker asked. "As soon as I think I have an answer, I'll talk to both you and your parents. I promise to explain what we are gonna do to help you and why. Would that be ok?"

Jennie seemed to consider this. Then she sighed. "Oh-ey," she said quietly. "Ah-ddy, we go?"

"Yeah, Bug, we'll go now." Derek stood and when he lifted Jennie to put her in the wheelchair, she put her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

"Ih-ft me, Ah-ddy?" she mumbled.

Derek took a better grip of her and hoisted her up a little on his hip. "I'll carry you," he promised. "Let's get going. We have a chocolate cake waiting for us."

A/N – So that was the test. Remains to see what the evaluation will tell Meredith and Derek. For those who missed Josie, there will be more of her in my next chapter, which will also hold a little more drama.