A/N: Thank you so much to those that have left reviews! I am grateful for the kind words, the support has been really encouraging, especially since I was nervous about writing out this first attempt at writing fiction.

For this chapter, the italicized conversation in the beginning with Hans is in German, after that, anything italicized are just the character's inner thoughts.

As always, all recognizable characters, dialogue and scenes from the show belong to Shondaland Media, ABC and/or Disney Corporation.

~ Zurich, Switzerland, Present Day ~

"Hans, remind me again why we're at Klausman a day before the conference starts? And why we had to get the first flight out of Hannover to get here? I thought when you proposed we come a few days early, that you wanted to settle in or check out the sights… I do not consider this "settling in" OR "seeing one of the sights." Derek sighed as he realized where Hans was so eager to go to after an already long travel day. "We are going to be here, or rather YOU are going to be here for four full days…was it really necessary to come today too?"

Hans stares at the glass and steel façade of Klausman Institute for Medical Research the way a child looks at the window of a confectionery store. Derek had to admit that the facility was impressive, seamlessly blending the modern facility with the traditional architecture of the surrounding buildings. The classical buildings across the canal were reflected on the gleaming glass, causing a surreal optical illusion.

"Indulge an old man, Derek! The last time I was in Zurich, the Institute's primary focus was cardiothoracics so I never felt the need to come visit. However, the last five years, the new head of the Institute has branched out to other areas, internal medicine and general surgery being some of the beneficiaries of the expansion." Hans explained, "I just want to see it as it would be daily, without all the hustle and bustle of a busy conference inundating it."

"That's interesting, the change in focus. Do you know what caused the head to expand the areas of interest?" Derek asked.

"Well, it is still quite known for Cardiothoracics. The former head pioneered the ability to see a holographic model of a heart during surgery making visualization much easier. The current head is just as impressive. She started with printing portal veins but has expanded the trials to the point that, I hear it may be a distinct possibility in the near future to 3D print a fully functional heart! Some say the expanded focus was just a natural progression, but others theorize it is partially due to her friendship with the keynote speaker I told you about last week. This conference with other specializations may be a way for the head to scope out what areas to expand towards to next." Hans explains while walking towards the institute's entrance. Before he could enter, the doors opens to allow a harried looking woman with two young children to exit. Realizing Derek was no longer directly behind him, Hans glances back and yells back, "Are you coming with me?"

"Hans! I need coffee if you want me to stay awake for this. I think we passed a coffee cart a minute ago, near the staircase leading towards the water. Did you want any?" Derek calls out in English, his exhaustion causing him to revert to his native language. Hans nods in agreement and the two men head in opposite directions, Hans entering the building while Derek turned back to head to the cart, following the aromatic scent of coffee.

"God, I hope this line is worth the wait." Derek mutters to himself as he hears his stomach rumble. As the line begins to move, he examines the cart's menu, hoping to see some semblance of food to satisfy his hunger.

As he is reading, he feels a tug on his pant leg and hears a young voice asking, "Hey you sound like me! Can you please help me order a scoop of ice cream?"

"Excuse me?" Derek turns and looks down, realizing the question was being directed towards him. He sees a blond, green-eyed girl, about four or five, wearing brown trousers and a green shirt staring up at him.

"My aunt gave us money to buy a scoop each, but I forgot the phrase she said I should say in German." The child replies with a pout, a pleading look directed up at him.

Derek looks around but when he sees no adult behind the child, he kneels to bring himself at eye level with the child and asks, "Where is your mother? Or your aunt?"

"My aunt is busy in there," she replies, pointing over to the institute, "But she told Sammy to take my brother and I 'cuz we were bothering my sissie and my aunt said she had important things that needed 'dressing," pointing over to a boy focused on an iPad, and a distraught looking woman desperately searching the crowd for something... or someone.

Derek laughs, amused by the smart, mischievous little girl. He knows he's never met this child before, but something in his subconscious could swear that there was something familiar about the child.

"Is that your mom who seems to be looking for you?"

"You're silly! I told you, that's Sammy! My mom is back at home fixing owies. We visit our aunt each year 'cuz she tells mommy we need to be "raised right" at least 3 weeks a year and she said she'd get us tattoos but mommy said, no, but AC still got us these," the girl replies, holding out her right arm with a temporary tattoo of a heart affixed to it.

Derek cannot help but be charmed at the amount of babble coming out of the little girl, amazed the kid could ramble and say all that without taking a breath.

"I think your "Sammy" is worried about you. How about I order your ice cream, then you head straight back to her and your brother, ok?" Derek says, standing to place his order. "What flavours would you like?"

"Weeeellll… I normally get chocolate like my brother 'cuz I know my mommy would give me some of her strawberry, but since she's not here, maybe I should get strawberry because I don't think my brother would share, but I really like chocolate, so I don't know!" The girl gnaws on her lip, thinking out loud, as if the decision was a matter of life or death.

Derek chuckles and says, "How about this, I will get you a cup with strawberry and chocolate, and your brother can get two scoops of chocolate just to make it fair."

"…but…but… my aunt only gave us enough for one scoop each." The child replies worriedly.

"It's ok, it's my treat. I think its best we get you that ice cream and back to your people before they worry too much about you! You hold on to the money, treat your brother another day, ok?"

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" the child exclaims, jumping up and down excitedly. Something about her smile and giggle warms something inside of Derek, along with triggering a feeling of Déjà Vu. He shakes his head, trying to clear the feeling from his mind as he hands the two cups of ice cream to the child.

"Are you ok holding both of the cups and getting them to your brother by yourself?" Derek asks, while holding onto his own drinks and sandwich.

The child nods as she balances a cup in each hand, tongue sticking out to the side in concentration, carefully maintaining a firm grip as she walked gingerly towards her brother.

As they neared the child's family, he stops a few feet away at the top of the stairs but calls out, "Sammy! I think you may be looking for this one! Found her over at the coffee cart." Derek grins. He sees the dark-haired woman turn towards his voice, a clear sense of relief replacing the worried look she previously had after she spotted the girl.

The girl hands over the cup to her brother who finally looks up from his iPad. Derek does not hear what she says to the boy but nods in acknowledgement when she turns, waves at him, and calls out "Thank you Ice Cream Man!". He laughs at the new nickname, nods once more to the three people, before turning to walk away.

Derek is too far away to hear the boy ask urgently, "Ellis, who was that with you just now?"

"The ice cream man! I toldja! He was the nice man who got us TWO scoops each!" Ellis says, electing to lick the top of the ice cream rather than using the provided spoon.

"Sammy, can we go after him?" Bailey begs.

"No, we are going to stay here until my heart rate has dropped to a normal level. I don't think you understand what would've happened if we had to tell Dr. Yang that Ellis wandered away from us, even for a few minutes… I'm pretty sure she would've carved out MY heart and used it as a dissection model. You guys just enjoy your ice cream, and we'll head back once you're done." Sam Bello replied firmly.

Bailey frowns then turns to his sister to ask, "Ellis, did he look familiar to you?"

Ellis just shrugs, still focused on her ice cream.

"Do you know who the man is Bailey?" Sam asks after seeing the frustration on the little boy's face.

"No…yes…maybe? He was a bit far away, and his hair is grayer, but he looked a lot like my…" Bailey stops, glancing over to his younger sister, not wanting to worry her, he says, "Never mind. It's ok."

~ A few hours later over Dinner in Cristina Yang's Office~

"Bailey is something wrong? You having a sugar crash from all that ice cream? I told you, you guys should've stuck to one scoop each." Cristina asked after noticing that Bailey was more reserved than normal.

Bailey shakes his head but then suddenly asks, "AC, do you have a photo of my dad?"

"Your dad? Why?" Cristina inquires after a moment of surprised silence. At the mention of their dad, both Ellis and Zola turn to look at Bailey.

Bailey shrugs then asks again, "Well... do you?"

Cristina turns around and reaches for the photo taken after they won the plane crash lawsuit, snapped right after Meredith announced she was pregnant.

Handing over the frame to Bailey she says, "Here you go, this was taken the night your mommy told everyone you were coming."

Ellis and Zola both scamper to look over Bailey's shoulder at the photo.

"Hey that looks like ice cream guy but with darker hair! Right Bails? Right?" Ellis exclaims.

Bailey nods then says, "Auntie Cristina, my mom said that my dad had to go far away, but that he loves us lots and he's always here, watching over us. Mommy said Daddy misses us and that if he could be here with us, he would be. Do you think it's possible Daddy tried so hard he DID come?"

Cristina opens her mouth to reply but nothing comes out. She doesn't know what to say to bring Bailey comfort, realizing her "Dead Dads Club" speech may not go over too well with Ellis in the room.

"If that was daddy you saw, he would've hugged you… You're being silly Bails." Zola says, reaching for the frame Bailey was holding tightly in his hands.

"But I was little when he left! Ellie wasn't even here yet. What if he doesn't know it's me and he's just confused." Bailey replies, refusing to relinquish the photo, a small tug of war happening between him and his older sister.

"Or maybe it's because I'M the FAVOURITE, if I was there and it was Daddy, he would've hugged ME." Zola quips, frustrated that Bailey wouldn't let go of the photo, but instantly feels bad when her brother lets go of the photo to cross his arms.

"Zola, that is not nice…Your parents love you all equally! Your father adored the ground both of you walked on." Cristina reprimands but internally thinks, "Oh my god, what has become of me that I'M the one being all Team McDreamy!"

Zola turns, hands the photo back, then hugs her brother and whispers, "I'm sorry Bails, I didn't mean it."

Cristina approaches Bailey who looks like he's about to cry, "Oh Bails. Your dad loves you guys a lot. Maybe the guy today just reminded you of your dad because you miss your mom? Or because like Ellie said, he sounded like home? Do you guys want to call your mom to say hi? But let's not mention your dad, ok? Because your mommy is probably sad you guys are here, and we don't want her sadder right?"

Cristina dials, convinced that Bailey and Ellis were just homesick thinking, "There are a lot of things McDreamy was able to do, fix inoperative tumours, create innovative techniques and patents, help turn dark and twisty Meredith to Mom of the Year, but Cristina is sure that even McDreamy could not return from the dead."

As Meredith picks up the FaceTime call and the arguing becomes who of the three gets to talk to their mom first, all thoughts of the stranger disappear from Cristina's mind.

~Cristina's Home, Later that night~

Zola wakens when she hears her door creak open, a beam of light shining into the room.

"Zozo, can I stay here with you?" Bailey whispers into the dark.

Zola is surprised to see her brother rather than Ellis but holds the blanket open as a sign of acceptance, allowing Bailey to crawl in. They both turn, lying back-to-back in bed.

After a minute of silence, Bailey whispers, "Zo...I still think it may have been dad. I didn't want to upset mom, but the Ice Cream Guy I think looks like the photo of mommy and daddy on your bedside table, and the photo AC showed us. So do you think it's him?"

"When were you in my room without me?" Zola suddenly turns, staring at the back of Bailey's head.

Bailey turns to look at his sister, eyes pleading for forgiveness, "Zo please don't be mad, I was playing Hide and Seek with Leo and Ellis and I knew they wouldn't go in there…" when Zola doesn't say anything else he continues,"…wouldn't it be awesome if Daddy came back?"

"Bails, Daddy isn't really gone, like mom said, he'll always be here for us." Touching Bailey's chest. "Also, we live in Seattle, if Daddy came back, he'd try to find us there."

"But Zo-"

"No Bailey. You gotta be strong for Ellis. If you talk like that, it will confuse her and make her sadder."

Bailey wanted to argue but dejectedly agrees for Ellis's sake.

As Zola gives her brother a final hug before returning to their back-to-back position, a small sense of doubt creeps in. As a scientist and future neurosurgeon, Auntie Amy always taught her to consider everything. Maybe she will see if the man Bailey and Ellis saw looked like Dad...after all, it is her job as a big sister to look out for them. Maybe her seeing the same person and telling the younger two they were wrong will put their minds back at peace.

AN2: Again, thank you to everyone that has taken the time to favourite, follow and leave reviews :)

Posted: May 9, 2021