A/N: Here's what happens after Izzie slips the note under Hannah's door. Enjoy! Review, please! Feedback would be great!

-Kait

It was three in the morning before I heard anything from Hannah. I was sound asleep, but woke up when I heard my bedroom door open.

"Izzie?" Hannah asked, her voice quiet and frail. She stood in the doorway, apprehensive about whether or not she should come in.

I opened my eyes and sat up in bed. "Yes?" I asked as I motioned for her to come inside.

She sat down on the foot of my bed and held up the note I left. "Um…I just wanted to say thank you. For this," she said as she motioned towards the note.

"I'm really sorry about before. I was doing so well during the day, but I blew it at night. That's kind of how it is everyday, actually."

I looked at her with a confused look on my face. "What do you mean?"

"I just wanted to apologize for last night. I don't know…it's like I can't control myself at night. I hide my pain during the day so people will think that I'm okay. But at night…at night my true feelings come out. I get really moody and basically, I act as if the entire world's against me. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't change the way I act. I promise I'm gonna try, though. For you. For everyone. The party last night…I really appreciated it. You have a lot of great friends, especially George. He's so sweet."

I smiled. "Yeah, he is. But Hannah, you don't have to apologize. I know how you feel, and that's why I let what happened yesterday go. I, um, I went through the same thing you went through. I know that the nights are the toughest. And I know that you build up just enough strength to mask your real feelings during the day, but you can't do that forever. And neither can I. So what do you say? Will you work on it if I do?"

"Yeah. We'll work on it together," she said with a genuine smile. I motioned for her to come closer to me. I gave her a big hug as she cried into my shoulder. I stroked her hair, telling her everything would be alright. We cried together. For each other. For ourselves.

And that's exactly how Meredith found us when she barged into my room five minutes later.

"So if Addison's her aunt, Derek's her uncle? How did this happen? Does the world hate me or something?" Meredith asked as she forcefully, and loudly, opened my door.

Hannah and I both looked up and said, "What?"

"Oh! Sorry! I'll just go back to bed." Meredith paused. "Yeah…uh, goodnight."

"Wait!" Hannah said. "You don't have to go," she told Meredith as she patted the spot next to her. Meredith smiled as she turned around and got into bed.

I smiled at my daughter's bravery. I mean, I know I just told her to work on letting people in and her nighttime behavior, but this was pretty soon. I wasn't expecting her to start until tomorrow. I guess I'm due for more surprises soon, aren't I?

Hannah scooted over towards me to make room for Meredith. I hugged her close, silently letting her know how proud of her I was. It's great that she's not pushing people away. In turn, she's really going to help me, too. I can feel it.

"So, Mer. You had this revelation at," I looked over at the clock, "three fifteen in the morning? And you just had to tell me now?" I said with a laugh.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It just kind of came to me, I guess. I don't know. It's just…why me? I'm a good person, Iz. I don't see why I deserve this."

I gave Meredith a stern look. I didn't want to get into this at this hour, let alone in front of Hannah.

"Deserve what?" Hannah asked.

Meredith looked guilty. "Um…it's a long story. Maybe another day?"

Hannah yawned. "Okay. I'm tired anyways. Goodnight," she said, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep right before us.

Meredith and I both laughed. "What did you do to her, Iz? She must have been really tired to fall asleep that quickly," Meredith said with a smile.

"Hey, I did nothing," I told her. "Well, that's not true, but it's her problem that she's sleeping." I paused. "You know, Mer. I wish I were sleeping, too. Care to do something about that?"

"What? I can't make you sleep!"

"By leaving you can. Goodnight, Mer."

She jokingly sighed. "Fine. Goodnight, Izzie."

Just as Meredith got up to leave, my bedroom door opened yet again. Meredith was the first to talk.

"George? What're you doing in here?"

"What're you doing in here?"

"Um, we're having a slumber party?" She said this as a question rather than a statement.

"And I wasn't invited?"

"No. Slumber parties are for girls. Guys go camping or something manly like that. It's a fact of life. Deal with it," I said, joking with him.

George looked frustrated and started to walk away. "George, she's kidding. God, loosen up, will you?" Meredith said.

He shook his head. "Sorry. I'm not awake." He yawned. "I'm gonna go back to bed," he said as he walked away.

"Me, too," Meredith said. "Goodnight."

"'Night, guys."

She shut the door and I closed my eyes, held my daughter tight, and fell asleep.

If I didn't have to wake up three hours later, it would have been a great night. The alarm clock's incessant beeping must have scared Hannah, because she shot straight up when it went off.

"Izzie, what's going on?" she asked.

"Relax, it's the alarm clock. It's time to get up."

"Oh," she laughed. "That makes sense, doesn't it?"

I laughed with her. "Yeah, it does."

"Wait a second. Why am I getting up?"

"Because you're coming to work with me."

"Really? I don't have to go to school?"

"Nope. Not today, at least. I have tomorrow off so we'll get you signed up then. Today you're gonna come with me, alright?"

"Yeah! I've always wanted to see what it's like to be a doctor," she exclaimed.

She wouldn't be seeing much, I thought. It's not like I can do anything.

"Well, today's your chance. Go get ready. We have to leave in forty-five minutes," I told her.

"Okay," she said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Hannah came downstairs ten minutes later, dressed in jeans, pink flip flops, and a white and pink polo. I had made eggs and bacon for everyone, and Hannah plopped down at the table, joining us all for breakfast.

"So, are you excited about going to work with Izzie?" George asked.

Hannah's smile beamed from ear to ear. "Yeah! I've always wanted to be a doctor, actually. Ever since my best friend, Ally, fell off the swings and got stitches in her head, I knew it was what I wanted to do. She got to go see Uncle Derek and Aunt Addie and they fixed her right up. She came back the next day as good as new."

"That's great, Hannah," he said.

Meredith frowned upon hearing Derek and Addison's names. After last night's incident at three in the morning, I knew the three of them were still a touchy subject. A subject I really didn't want to go into with Hannah present. How would she feel if she found out Meredith, someone who she most likely will grow to love, absolutely hates her aunt and possibly has feelings for her uncle? Did she even know the whole story behind Addison and Derek's separation? Did she even know Mark?

The answers to these questions I could do without.

Once we arrived at the hospital, the day truly began. I brought her into the locker room and it immediately started trouble. A few interns had a problem with her being in there, but when Bailey came in, I tried to sort the problem out.

"Dr. Bailey, where should I bring Hannah? Apparently everyone else is having a problem with her being here," I asked.

"Dr. Stevens, I told you this wasn't my problem last night." She paused to sigh, but when she looked down at Hannah, she softened. "But I guess it'd be alright for her to stick with you for today only. Is that clear?"

"Crystal. Thank you."

She rolled her eyes and started to walk away. "Rounds in two minutes, people. Karev, you're with Montgomery-Shepherd, Yang, you're with Burke, Grey, you're with Shepherd, O'Malley, you're with Torres, and Stevens, you're with your peer counselor today."

Every intern groaned after hearing their assignments. Well, every intern except Cristina.

"I'm still on the vagina-squad? Come on!" Alex said.

"Karev! Don't talk back to your superiors. You want to be a surgeon? Act like one!" Bailey said.

Meredith, George, Cristina, and I snickered.

"The same goes to you four. Keep it up and I'll have you doing rectals all day long." If that didn't shut us up, I don't know what would have.

Bailey left the room and Cristina, Meredith, Alex, and George began rounds. Hannah and I started to walk down toward the peer counselor's office.

"Why are we going to a counselor?" she asked.

"Um…it's a long story. We'll probably talk about it with the counselor, though."

Hannah was quiet before she asked, "Is that all anyone is ever gonna tell me? Last night Meredith said that her story was long and that she'd tell me another day. Now you tell me that your story is long, too, and that we'll get to it later. Am I missing something or am I really not supposed to know?"

"No, sweetie. Of course you can know, it's just…it's hard for me to talk about it. And it's hard for Meredith, too. But we're not going to keep secrets from you, alright? I promise you'll find out sooner or later."

She looked down to the floor. "Okay."

We arrived at the counselor's office and knocked on the door. He said to come in, and when we did, we sat down before him. We spent the whole day talking and while I tried to avoid the subject of Denny. The counselor was happy that Hannah was with me today. He wanted to hear how she felt about her own situation and, in turn, he would help me help her. Sure, she has her problems, but I don't believe she's gone too far to be saved.

And I don't think I'm too far to be saved, either.

After sitting with the counselor all day, we were finally released to go home. Meredith and George met us at the lobby and we walked out to the car together and drove home.

I made dinner for everyone—chicken with roasted potatoes and carrots. Ever since Dr. Burke came over last Thanksgiving and taught me how to cook a turkey, I've been practicing with other dishes, too.

We finished dinner around 7:30 and all went to watch some television. I had told Hannah about Meredith's mom's videos and she'd been begging to watch them ever since.

"Meredith?" Hannah asked when we sat down on the couch.

"Yeah?" she said.

"Can we watch the videos of your mom's surgeries?"

George looked at Hannah with a puzzled look. "You sure you want to watch? It's kind of gory for someone who's not used to all the blood."

"I don't care. I want to be a surgeon, too. Plus, Izzie said we could do it later but I really want to do it now."

Meredith laughed when she heard this. "She did, did she?"

Hannah nodded. I tried to look away to stop myself from laughing.

"Alright," Meredith said," I guess we can watch one. Any preferences?"

"Hmm…what about a transplant surgery? Like…do you have a brain transplant on tape?"

"No, sorry. No brain transplants."

"Oh, what about a heart transplant?" Hannah asked.

Meredith got quiet. So did George. I just sat there, still as could be, staring at the wall.

Hannah spoke up. "What did I do?"

"Nothing, Hannah. You didn't do anything wrong," George reassured her. "But why don't we choose another surgery? Come on, we'll pick one out together," he said, gesturing for her to follow him to the box of tapes.

She looked around the room, stopping at me. "Are you okay, Izzie?"

I drew in a deep breath. "Yeah, I'll be alright."

She looked skeptical. "Okay," she said as she followed George to where the box was stored.

"You haven't told her?" Meredith asked.

"No."

"Well, why not?"

I paused. "It's not that easy, Mer. Why don't you tell her about how you want to pounce on her uncle, who she probably still thinks is in love with her aunt, every time you see him?" I said, probably a bit too loudly.

Meredith looked astounded. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? You just seemed so open with each other. I thought you had told her already."

"No, I didn't tell her yet. I know I have to. I want to. But I just don't know how! I spent the entire day with that peer counselor and managed to avoid the subject the entire time. I don't know how I did it, but I did. And I want to keep it that way until I find the right time to tell her. So, please…don't say anything. I know she'd empathize with me, but it's hard."

"I know it's hard, Izzie," she said as she scooted closer to me and gave me a hug. I hugged her back, clinging to her.

I looked up to see George and Hannah standing right next to us. I pulled away from Meredith and made room for them on the couch.

Hannah spoke up. "Okay, what's going on? What were you trying to avoid today? And what's going on with Aunt Addie and Uncle Derek? Why won't you people tell me anything?"

If you're thinking things couldn't get any worse…they did.

The doorbell rang.

George went to answer it.

Derek and Addison stepped through the threshold.

And my world came crashing down.

A/N- Loved it? Hated it? REVIEW, PLEASE!