"Ah Anna can I see you for a moment?" Anna's English teacher asked as her class started to leave after the bell. Anna pulled her backpack up onto her shoulders and shuffled to the teacher's desk "I wanted to talk to you about your book report"

"Is everything ok with it? I thought I did everything right"

"I'm sure you did but I couldn't read your paper. Anna your handwriting is usually perfect but this report was indecipherable, I'm worried about you"

"I must have forgotten my glasses when I was writing it" Anna chuckled weakly knowing that her eyesight was getting worse over the last couple of weeks. She knew something was wrong but it hadn't affected her life until now. "I'll re-write it for you and have it perfect" she smiled and took the paper from her teacher. Sighing softly, she could see the big red D- through her blurry vision.

"Anna you can talk to me if there is something wrong"

"Thanks, I'll get this back to you tomorrow"

Anna walked out of her classroom and stuffed her report into her backpack. She knew she had to show this to her parents or at least to Derek. Getting on the bus, she could skip ballet for one day. There was something a little more important she needed to deal with. Anna walked through the hospital and no-one seemed to notice like it was just another day. Making her way up to the surgical floor, she read the surgical board and saw her mom was in surgery. Anna walked up to the gallery and watched the c-section operation for a little while until the surgeons and nurses turned into fuzzy blue balls bouncing over the patient.

"Hey Mom?" Anna spoke through the intercom.

"I can't talk now Anna; I'm elbow deep in this woman's uterus. I'll find you when I'm finished ok?" Addison barked softly back at her daughter. Not meaning to sound harsh, Addison just couldn't handle the distraction right then

"That's ok I'll find Dad"

"Your father isn't here; he's in Portland retrieving a liver for one of his transplant patients"

"Ok I'll find you later" she sighed and turned off the intercom. Fixing the strap of her backpack, Anna shuffled out of the gallery sadly. She checked the surgical board again and noticed Mark was about to go into surgery on a reconstructive procedure. Skipping toward the scrub room, she hoped she could catch him before he went in. Anna had missed Mark and every time she asked about him her questions were quickly avoided.

"Hey Uncle Mark" Anna giggled as she opened the door to the scrub room only to see Mark in a heated make out session with a mystery brunette. Screaming softly, Anna slammed the door and leant against the wall opposite. She ripped off her backpack and rummaged through it til she found her brown paper lunch bag. Tipping out the apple she didn't eat at lunch, Anna breathed heavily into the bag trying to calm herself down. She couldn't believe what she'd just seen.

"Anna" Mark breathed as he came out of the scrub room straightening up his shirt. "What are you doing here? Don't you have ballet this afternoon?"

"Who is this?" she asked softly as Lexie poked her head out the door.

"You're Alex's daughter" Lexie chuckled and stepped out of the scrub room to offer her hand out to Anna. Taking a step back, Anna refused to shake Lexie's hand. "I'm Lexie Grey"

"Anna I can explain..."

"Don't bother. You're just another parent lying to me and leaving me on my own" she growled and picked up her backpack as she ran off

"Anna!" Mark called out with a sigh. There was no use running after her, he was due in surgery and Anna knew the best hiding spots around the hospital. "Dammit" he growled slamming his hand against the wall

"Parent? Isn't she Alex's kid?" Lexie asked confused

"Yes Anna is Alex's kid but I've known that little girl since she was born, she is the closest thing I'll ever have to a daughter and I just screwed it up"

XXXXX

"Whoa slow down there Anna" Meredith chuckled as she stopped the crying little girl before she power walked right into a patient's room "Is everything ok?"

"Where is Oliver and the baby?" Anna asked as she wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of her jacket. She didn't really know how to talk about what she saw so she changed the subject in the hope she'd forget. Anna was a smart girl but she had no experience with adult relationships and how to deal with them.

"Derek has Isabella, he's showing her off to some nurses and Oliver is down in the Daycare Centre. I came looking for your Dad"

"He's in Portland getting a liver"

Meredith knelt down to Anna's level slowly a little worried about the blunt and monotone answers coming from the usually bright and happy nine year old "Anna are you ok? Has something happened?"

"You're a Neurosurgeon" Anna commented bluntly

"Yes I am but I'm on leave at the moment"

"Oh so you can't do a CT Scan for me?"

"Anna, why do you need a CT?" Meredith asked softly.

Anna held out her left hand and pointed to the base of her thumb with her other hand. "Because I can't see the freckle shaped like Italy on my hand anymore. The whole world is starting to go fuzzy again"

"Oh Anna it'll be ok. We'll fix this" Meredith assured her knowing exactly what was wrong. Standing up, Meredith took Anna's hand gently "Let's go find Derek and we'll get you into CT. We're going to fight this Anna"

"Meredith, I'm scared"

"I know you are Annie, I know"