Heya!

I am still writing Miracles do Happen, this is a different story I'm working on. Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think.

Notes:
I am ignoring the covid pandemic for the purpose of this story. I personally love how they have told the story of this pandemic in the show however I cannot write the American experience of this pandemic since I have been in Australia and i also don't know when the pandemic will end and what society will be like after

Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy. The plot and the original characters are mine.

Is it too much to ask? We are friends, right? Meredith paused in her pacing and mumbling to throw her empty coffee cup in the dishwasher in the attendings lounge before continuing.Or are we just work friends, because, in that case I can't ask him to do this. I mean we do have coffee together every morning before rounds, and we have had whiskey together on Friday nights while we finish our paperwork for the two months, and we do chat like friends, but I don't want to presume and I don't want him to think I'm the kind of friend who asks for too much, I mean three kids is a lot, I wouldn't normally ask someone to take them without gauging their interest first, he has his own kids though and he is a peds surgeon so I know he doesn't hate kids, I have run out of options, I guess I will just have to ask, what's the worst that can happen? He laughs in my face and says who would want to take care of your stupid noisy tiring burde…

"Grey, you ok?" Hayes calls out as he walks into the attending's lounge seeing what appears to be Meredith Grey in the middle of a crisis of some sort.

She laughs nervously, fiddling with the elastic on her wrist before replying "So, um, I know this is a lot to ask, but Link, Scout and Amelia have the flu; Maggie was meant to take them but she has been pulled into an emergency surgery; Jackson is with Harriet, Richard and Catherine on vacation; Bailey and Ben are on their way back from a weekend away with the boys, Owen and Teddy are working and Jo has a stomach bug though I think it might actually be a bug growing in her uterus from the 'consults' she has been doing with Jackson. This means my very long list of babysitters are all busy and I am the only general surgery attending here and all of this is a very long way to say would it be too much to ask you to watch my kids for me when the day care closes in half an hour?"

She looked so nervous asking that he almost started laughing before he caught her eye and saw she was almost crying. He moved forward to hug her saying "of course I will take them. Do you want me to watch them at yours or can I take them to my place? I'm sure my boys will be happy to share their gaming consoles with your kids."

"Anywhere is fine! They all have a change of clothes in their bags. Bailey should be in by 9pm which is when my shift ends, I can pick the kids up then, just text me your address." Realising she was still in Cormac's arms, Meredith smiled at him before moving away.

"Thank you, Hayes" she said "just page me when you are ready to leave and I will come up with you to day care to sign them out and add you to the list, only if you want, I don't want to presume that you will want to go on my babysitting list." He cut off her rambling placing a hand on her arm and looking into her eyes saying "anytime grey, know that I would take your kids anytime. And I would be honoured to be on the list. I'm ready to leave now if you want to come up with me?"

She smiled again and he turned away to get his clothes from his locker to change.

They walked up to the day care together as she filled him in on each of her kids "Ellis loves vegetables and won't eat cheese, she can't always play the games the older kids want to play so I keep her drawing supplies and favourite bear in her bag, her usual bedtime is 8pm so she might get tired around then, if she does you can let her go to sleep, I can carry her to the car, the kids all have a spare set of toiletries in their bags in case I get called into an emergency surgery and they have to stay with Richard or Jackson or Bailey. If she doesn't want to sleep that is ok too, it doesn't matter if she stays up a bit latter tonight. Bailey is very active; he loves soccer and fishing. He is a quiet little kid, but you can tell how he is doing by his smile. He loves junk food like me but will eat anything if you put it in front of him. Recently he has been copying other kids at school and saying he doesn't like this or that, just ignore he said anything and put it on his pate. He usually goes to bed around 9pm but if he is tired earlier it doesn't matter if he goes to sleep. Zola is my chatty little girl, she loves anything to do with surgery and will probably happily spend the evening playing with her Anatomy Jane doll, she will probably interrogate you about your work, just don't tell her any stories where patients die, other than that it will probably be nothing she hasn't heard before from Alex."

She finished as they reached the day care floor and he assured her that he and the kids would be fine "ok, so Ellis is a healthy kid, she can play on her own and may get tired, let her go to sleep if wants to, Bailey will happily play outside with my boys, they have a soccer goal set up, he probably won't get tired but if he does let him go to sleep, Zola loves surgery and will ask my questions. I've got this, you go be a badass surgeon!"

She hugged him quickly, thanking him again for taking her kids before they stepped into the day care.

"Hi Dr. Grey, are you here for Zola, Bailey and Ellis?" The hospital day care attendant Claire said enthusiastically.

"Yes Claire, I'm here to pick them up and to add Dr Hayes here to the approved list of people who can sign them out." Meredith said.

"Of course, Dr Grey. You can go get your kids while I fill out the forms with Dr Hayes and then you can sign" Meredith thanked Claire and moved into the day care to find her kids.

"So, Dr Hayes, I will need your name, contact information, address and a form of photo id for me to scan, a hospital badge is fine."

"Great, thank you Claire was it?" he said handing her his badge before telling the other relevant information. Once they were finished putting him into the system, he went into the day care to help Meredith get her kids ready to go home.

"How can I help?" he said, walking up behind her as she helped Bailey put his shoes on.

"Zola is finishing her drawing. You could go over to the top right cubby and get out her bag and bring it over to me and bring her the pink shoes to put on? Bailey is ready and I can go get Ellis and get her ready, then we are good to go!" Meredith moves towards Ellis while Cormac goes over to Zola with her shoes and helps her put them on. Looking over at Cormac and Zola Meredith smiles, seeing how caring and gentle he is with her daughter.

"Ok party people, let's go!" Meredith says once they are all ready. Speaking to Cormac she adds "shall we put the bags in your car then get their seats out of mine?"

"Good plan, Grey" he says with a smile as they walk out of the building, Cormac holding Zola's hand while Meredith holds Ellis and Bailey's hands.

Helm sees the group walk out of the building together and can't help but smile seeing how happy Meredith is and how they seem like they have always been a family.