One afternoon on a green hill in the park Ally was looking sideways at Mia grinning as Mia rubbed the grass off Ally's head, "ready to go again."
"Ready" Ally replied with a excited grin.
"Okay" Ally and Mia rolled down the hill and tumbled as they reached the bottom, "I won I won" Ally said.
Mia rolled on her side, "it's not fair you know you're smaller than me and you can go faster."
Ally grinned before she jumped on to Mia "lift me up Mia." Mia took hold of Ally's hands and lifted Ally into the air with her feet as Ally laughed, "Ally is flying across the United States across Egypt across the north pole and she's heading for Australia."
Ally grinned as she raised her arms out in the shape of an aeroplane, "i'm flying everywhere"
"And she comes in for the landing" Mia made a loud farting sound and lowered Ally to the grass as Ally giggled, Mia lied beside Ally as she looked up at the clouds in the sky thinking about things "Mia."
"Yeah bumblebee."
"I love you Mia" Ally climbed on to Mia and hugged her as Mia smiled widely in response and drew her arms warmly around Ally before kissing her forehead, "I love you to Ally."
Ally's nose wrinkled as something wet brushed her cheek she looked around for the source and saw that it had come from her babysitter, "Mia are those happy tears?"
"Yeah" Mia replied as she continued to smile, "big happy tears hey Ally can I ask you something?"
"Yeah."
"Do you like living with your dad?"
Ally quickly nodded, "yeah."
"There's no one else you would rather live with?"
"No one else" Ally said with a determined expression before she frowned as she saw the look on Mia's face, "Mia?"
"I'm okay bumblebee, so who did you live with before you were living with your daddy?"
"My grandma."
"What was she like?"
"She was good, she was sick and daddy took care of her and I helped him."
"That's cool."
"Then she went to heaven and daddy became my daddy and we moved here."
Mia looked at her watch and lifting Ally off her she rose to her feet, "we better get home bumblebee before your daddy starts to worry."
Ally took Mia's hand in silence and they walked without saying a word, "is something wrong Ally?"
"The scouts are having a sleepover" Ally replied.
"Are you going to go?"
Ally shook her head as she sighed and looked at the grass, "its for mommies and girls only, I want to go but I don't have a mommy so I can't go."
Mia turned her mouth in concentration as she thought to herself, "when's the sleepover?"
"Next Saturday."
"You know what i'm going to fix things and make things right."
Ally looked up, "how?"
"I'm going to get you a mom so you can go to the sleepover."
Ally blinked quickly as she wondered, "how can you get me a mom by Friday?"
"With magic now come on its time to start smiling again this is my first magic trick" Mia lifted Ally on to a large metal platform, "i'm going to levitate this foot" Mia lifted Ally's ankle "and make you smile." Ally laughed loudly as Mia with a grin tickled Ally's foot before she tickled Ally's tummy "see i'm magic." Ally giggled and standing up jumped onto Mia and Mia fell to the grass as the two girls playfully started to wrestle on the grass Ally reached up to tickle Mia's neck and Mia giggled, "oh no oh no, Ally's got me."
Ally grinned as she continued to tickle, "now i'm making you laugh."
Mia laughed and rolled around while she hated being tickled she loved the sight of Ally smiling, "okay you win you win."
"I win again."
"Just kidding" Mia tickled Ally as the little girl wriggled and grinned before she took Ally's thighs in her hands and lifted the little girl upside down over her shoulder and holding onto her waist with one arm tickled her sides with the other hand as Ally waved her legs in the air laughing before Mia gently putting her on the grass, "that's the tombstone tickledriver."
Ally giggled as she looked at Mia leaning over her, "what other magic can you do."
"Well I can teach you a nice trick you can play with nice naive grownups just like your dad."
Meanwhile Derek was working on preparing dinner in the kitchen with nerves flowing through his veins. Mia had asked to take Ally out to the playground after school and Ally had been so keen that Derek against his judgement couldn't say no, now he was worried there was something about Mia and he couldn't put his finger on it that made him nervous and made him afraid for Ally's safety, "relax" Derek said to himself, "as Meredith said she's just a kid how dangerous could she be." Derek sat down on the chair drinking a cup of tea closing his eyes before a loud "d man" from behind caused him to topple backwards off his chair spilling the hot liquid all over him. Derek looked up at Mia who looked back at him with a uneasy grin, "oh hey d man."
"Hi daddy" Ally said from the doorway.
"Hi" Derek said as he looked at the stain on his shirt where the tea had spilled all over it.
"Guess what daddy, I can go to the sleepover on Friday because Mia is going to get me a mom."
"What" Derek said looking confused.
"You heard the little lady Mr Shepherd, Ally is going to get a mommy by the end of the school week."
Ally grinned, "i'm going to do my homework."
Ally skipped off into her bedroom and Derek rubbing his backside got up from the floor and went to the closet to change his shirt, "well first of all thanks for letting me know you arrived home, next time could you do something a bit more scuttle like knocking on the door."
Mia chuckled as she did a little dance in the living room, "scuttle is just a fancy word for an uninteresting approach to things Mr Shepherd."
"Well okay" Derek grumbled, "second things smarty pants, pray tell how do you plan on getting Ally a mom in four days."
"Oh its easy" Mia collapsed on Derek's coach and put her feet up on the coffee table, "all I got to do is persuade you to grow some balls and propose to the doc."
"Right" Derek made his way to the kitchen and continued to make dinner, "well that's not going to happen so do you have a plan b."
"Oh come on dude" Mia got off the coach and walked to the kitchen bench, "what are you waiting for?"
"The right time when and if it feels right and it would help if me and Meredith knew each other for more than a year."
"But what about Ally she was so looking forward to going to the sleepover this Saturday and now she will be all" Mia made a whimpering puppy face and Derek smirked, "you know you could always take her to the sleepover."
"I can't pretend to be Ally's mom i'm to cool looking."
"It doesn't have to be a mom it could be a woman."
"Well again d man i'm a kid."
"You know" Derek went to grab his phone, "I think I know how to resolve this."
"If your strapped for cash to buy a wedding ring I could always nick one for you. Just think about it you and Meredith wandering along buying matching pillowcases, watching black and white films eating frozen dinners when your teeth start to fall out."
Derek let out a audible sigh, "Mia life would, you know about the sleepover I am simply going to ask Meredith to go with Ally to the sleepover."
"Oh" Mia muttered, "I should of thought of that."
"I'm sure you did but i'm sure you thought that asking me to do something uncomfortable was more fun. So the sleepover is why she's been quiet I was wondering what was bothering Ally."
"Well thanks to me now you know, no need to reward me its all part of the service" Mia opened the fridge, "so what's for supper gramps?"
Derek raised an eyebrow, "a home cooked roast" Derek took a gentile hold of Mia's arm and started to walk with her to the front door, "so head on home switch on the oven and put something in to roast."
"Hey" Mia protested, "on second thought you could reward me for today."
"Your right" Derek said as he opened the front door, "here's five dollars thank you and see you next time."
"Daddy" a small voice said behind them, "is Mia going home?"
"Yes she is, she has to go home to a nice dinner."
"Can she stay?" Ally said in a soft voice.
"Yeah Mr Shepherd" Mia added, "can I stay?"
"Well Mia you know, Ally are you crying?" Derek saw Ally covering her eyes with her hands and he walked over and gave her a hug, "Ally hey look Mia can stay for dinner if she likes" Ally instantly started to smile "thank you."
"Yeah thanks d man" Mia punched Derek several times on the arm with a playful smirk and skipped off to Ally's bedroom as Derek stared in disbelief rubbing his arm, "what just happened?"
Meredith was busy at work filing notes at her desk when her phone rang and with a smile saw who was calling her before she answered, "hi honey."
"Hey sweetcheeks" Derek replied.
Meredith chuckled, "sweet cheeks that's cheesy."
"Yeah you know it doesn't sound right to me either, I might just call you babes."
"That doesn't sound right either Mr Shepherd."
"Okay doc" Derek said with a smirk.
Meredith let out a snort, "have you been spending time with Mia?"
"Yeah" Derek said with a quiet groan, "she's here right now stuffing her face you think her parents never feed her the way she digs in."
"Maybe its because she likes your cooking?"
"Yeah maybe, anyway the main reason why i'm ringing is well you know how Ally joined a girl scouts group."
"Yes" Meredith said as she remembered telling Derek about the scouts she thought Ally would like it if she joined.
"The group is having a sleepover on Friday night where the mothers or the aunts or big sisters tag along with the members and Ally doesn't have a mom or a big sister and all my sisters are in New York so I was wondering if your free?"
Meredith smiled she had done a similar sleepover thing with Amber years ago when she had been part of the scouts and both of them had loved it, "Derek I would love to take Ally to the sleepover."
"Your sure your not to busy?"
"I'm never to busy to spend time with you or the children."
"That's the answer I was looking for."
"How about you put Ally on the phone and I can tell her."
"Righto."
A few seconds passed and Meredith heard a different kind of breathing on the phone, "hey Ally."
"Hi doc" a familiar voice answered.
Meredith chuckled, "hi Mia."
"Hi Meredith" Ally said.
"Hi honey, so I heard you have a sleepover coming up with the scouts group."
"I'm not going" Ally replied.
"You don't want to go?"
Ally sighed over the phone, "I can't go."
"Well that's to bad because I was wanting to go with you to the sleepover."
"Really" Ally said in a loud excited voice.
"Of course."
"Thank you" Ally said excitedly, "its at 6.00 exactly, we bring pillows and smelly makeup kits and we stay up all night."
"If we stayed up all night than wouldn't we fall asleep."
"Ah yeah" Ally said.
"We're going to have lots of fun" Meredith said with a soft smile, "i'll pick you up on Friday night."
The next few days were a blur Meredith had been looking forward to the sleepover all week she loved spending time with Ally almost as much as she enjoyed spending time with Noah and at Friday afternoon she had carefully finished all her paperwork and feeling like she had tied up all loose ends sat at her desk twiddling her thumbs for a few minutes watching the clock. It was a quarter past five she had put on her coat and was getting ready to leave when Callie came into her office panting for breath, "Meredith the emergency room your needed."
"Callie i'm on my way out."
"We have multiple emergencies we need all the staff who are available no one is to leave the hospital."
"But I can't" Meredith said.
"Meredith please this message came from the chief."
Meredith tried to think of a way out but quickly realised she couldn't leave she made a silent apology to Ally and with a heavy heart put down her handbag sent a quick text to Derek's phone and put on her white coat, "okay lets get to it" as she walked with Callie to the emergency section of the hospital. The emergencies lasted all night and most of next day and at six o clock the following night Meredith completely exhausted and miserable without even knocking opened the door to Derek's house and ran into the living room to find Derek making himself a cup of milo, "Derek."
Derek just stared as he leaned against the kitchen counter, "work was murder huh?"
"Where is she?"
"She went to the sleepover last night."
Meredith had a sudden mental image of Ally being all alone at the sleepover surrounded by mothers and their daughters and her misery deepened.
"Its alright I gave Mia a call when we hadn't heard from you and she reuluctantly after Ally asked her went to the sleepover with her."
Meredith instantly started to smile she knew how much Ally loved having Mia as a babysitter, "good on her wait Mia wasn't swearing was she?"
"I don't think so she told me she wouldn't swear otherwise doc will give me an earful."
Meredith collapsed in a chair feeling bad because she let Ally down and feeling bad she missed out on the fun, "Derek i'm so sorry I let Ally down."
"Meredith it all worked out in the end you have an important job and you can't always come to these things."
"The only important job I have is being a parent and right now it feels like my career is getting in the way of that, I was looking forward to the sleepover all week."
"I think you could take some leave have a bit of a holiday."
"Derek I can't keep doing this I can't keep putting work before the children I can't, I can't keep letting the kids down."
"Meredith" Derek put a cup of hot chocolate into her hand, "here."
Meredith took a deep breath and sat on her chair drinking the warm liquid, "thank you."
"Meredith" Derek kissed her hand, "listen even if in the past you have been so busy that you haven't been able to always be there for Noah or Ally you haven't let either of them down both of them love you, they look up to as a hero who saves people. Ally likes it when I make up stories about a heroine who saves people's lives and halfway through the story she says to me Meredith does that doesn't she daddy."
Meredith let out a small chuckle as she continued to breath deeply, "I wish I had a job with less hours I don't care anymore about money, I just want to be there for you and the little ones."
"Meredith your a great mother and Ally isn't angry at you how about you do something with her make it up to her."
"Your right i'll do that, i'm going to have another girls day out with her tomorrow."
"That sounds good" Derek said, "me and Noah can have another crack at fishing."
"Sounds good" Meredith replied with a small smile, "just don't go swimming in the lake this time."
Derek chuckled, "we'll try not to."
There was the sound of footsteps and Ally came running into the kitchen, "Meredith" Ally said as she ran to hug her legs. Meredith gave her a cuddle, "honey I am so sorry about last night."
"Its okay Meredith" Ally said as she sat on Meredith's lap, "Mia came with me it was fun."
"Was Mia fun."
"She told us about kissing boys to make them scream it was funny, Noah didn't scream though when I kissed him today."
"Well your Noah's best friend" Meredith looked at Derek who grinned in amusement, "so he proably liked it."
"That's good i'm glad Noah didn't scream and go" Ally immated a wailing boy and Meredith with another laugh wrapped her arms around her, "so Ally I want to make it up to you tomorrow I want to have a girls day out again with you."
Ally immediately grumbled, "are we going clothes shopping again?"
"Hey we had fun last time didn't we."
Ally gave Meredith a are you kidding me look, "could it be something different?"
"Well it can be anything you want to do."
"I want to go hiking."
Meredith's breath got stuck in her throat as her heart thumped in fear, "hiking?"
"Yeah."
"Are you sure?"
"Daddy says you love it and I love it to so hiking."
Meredith turned her head to give Derek a quick glare as he gave her a innocent expression before she turned her head back, "okay are you sure there's no where else you would rather go."
"No" Ally said with a shake of the head.
"You don't want to go to a movie or the park or get icecream" Meredith's teeth clenched together, "anything else?"
"Nope hiking please."
"Alright hiking it is" Meredith said quietly, "well could you go and play in your room while I talk to your dad about something important."
"Okay bye Meredith" Ally hopped down and ran to her room as Meredith breathing fire through her nostrils turned to glare daggers at Derek.
"So" Derek nervously smiled, "sounds like you got a exciting day tomorrow."
"You set me up."
"Who me no of course not."
"You know I hate hiking and you told your six year old daughter I loved hiking so she could get me to go hiking with her."
"Well I just thought that you would warm up to hiking the more often you do it and" Meredith got off the chair and Derek stumbled back, "Meredith come on remember you save lives not take them."
"I could have fun" Meredith said as she advances towards Derek flexing her fingers, "saving your life afterwards."
"Meredith look you might enjoy yourself."
"You know what else might be fun" Meredith stopped advancing and crossed her arms, "is if I give your housekey to Mia and I say to her that's she is welcome to come to your house at dawn every morning."
"Not as much fun as you'll have tomorrow" Derek replied, "hiking up and down the big mountains the sweat on your face, the wind in your hair the leeches on your ankles."
Meredith gave Derek a determined smile, "i'm going to conquer the mountains tomorrow and then we'll see who gets the last laugh."
By miday the next day Meredith was regretting her words she had spent the last hour hiking uphill through a large forest which Ally said had the best view in the whole wide world and she was a complete physical wreck. Meredith was breathing hard through her nositlas trying hard not to collapse her legs were struggling to move they felt so heavy while Ally was racing up the steps stopping every minute to grin a cheeky grin and wave her bottom in the air. Meredith took a giant gulp of air and looked ahead Ally was sitting on a rock looking bored and impatient, "Meredith."
"I'm coming...just...need to...reach the top... of these stairs."
Meredith sat down next to Ally feeling cold wind blowing her hair she turned at Ally waving her legs in the air, "how are you not tired?"
"I never get tired" Ally replied.
Meredith looked up the top of the mountain was covered in mist, "well how far are we to the top?"
"Another ten thousand miles."
Meredith groaned, "god help me."
Ally looked up at the sky, "come on god help Meredith climb the mountain."
Meredith chuckled more out of frustration that amusement and with a gigantic effort rose to her feet, "okay lets go."
"Meredith can you carry me?"
"Ally I can barely carry myself."
Ally grinned, "just kidding i'm being silly."
"You" Meredith rubbed her hair, "are a silly billy."
A long while later Meredith clawed her way over another gigantic rock and with a huge sigh of relief realised they had finally reached the top she looked at rivers and the city of seattle and as much as she loathed outdoor activities she admitted this view was spectacular, Meredith went to sit down with Ally on her lap as she rested her back against a rock and stared into the distance, "look at the view."
"I can see my house from here."
"Can you?"
"Yeah" Ally pointed her finger, "its over there by the trees."
"Can you see my house?"
"Uh its that one right there."
"I think thats your school."
"Oh, Meredith."
"Yes honey"
Ally looked up with a smile as she rested her head on Meredith's chest, "love you Meredith."
Meredith felt warm feelings in her heart it was the first time Ally had said that and it made her feel even higher up than the top of the mountain she had climbed with Ally, "I love you to Ally" Meredith kissed her cheek as Ally grinned, "can you carry me now?"
Meredith smirked, "you know the best part of being high in the mountains."
"Um the view."
"No not quite when your up this high no one can hear you squel" Ally laughed as Meredith tickled her ribs and showered her cheek with kisses, "you cheeky monkey."