The following weekend Meredith got up with Derek to make breakfast and after making pancakes and eggs a knock on the door made her turn around, "hey doc we're just going out to the movies and then we're going to go shopping and grab some lunch and meet up with friends so see you either tonight or tomorrow morning."

"Mia wait" Derek called out.

"Oh don't worry" Mia turned back around, "we got cash don't need to borrow anything so see you later."

"You forgot breakfast" Derek said.

"You know Derek there's this cool new place that does breakfast called McDonalds its just opened up down the road."

"No honey" Meredith said, "I know your keen to go to the movies and i'm sorry to ruin your day like this but i've invited two friends to come round and talk with Chloe this morning. Why don't you go to the movies this afternoon i'm sure they'll show the movie you want to see later."

"Okay I guess we could skip the shopping, who's coming over to chat with Chloe?"

"Callie and her partner Arizona" Derek said.

"Who's Callie?"

"Do you remember the doctor we met at the hospital who was xraying Chloe's foot?"

"The one with the nice rack" Mia said bluntly, "wait is she the lesbian you guys were talking about?"

Meredith frowned, "language please young lady this isn't mtv."

"Okay whatever" Mia muttered, "why is she coming round?"

"She and Arizona are coming round to talk to Chloe about her sexuality and their own experience of being in a same sex relationship. We think it would help Chloe if she had any questions she wanted to ask a same sex couple about her future relationships."

"Wait" Mia's eyes grew wide, "your not going to ask Callie and Arizona to become Chloe's foster carers are you?"

"Mia we're not going to-"

"Yes you are" Mia pointed a finger at them both.

"No we have just asked them to come round to the house and have a chat with Chloe about their life experience" Derek said, "being a gay couple themselves it could help Chloe."

"No you have a sinister motive I can sense it." Mia started raising her hands out in front of her, "guys have you not seen porn cause i'm pretty sure there has been at least one lesbian porn flick that has started just like this."

"Mia for god sake" Derek said with frustration, "we have just asked our friends to talk to Chloe about her sexuality that's all." Derek got off his chair to leave the kitchen in a huff and Mia looked at Meredith innocently raising her eyebrows, "what's his problem?"

Meredith walked over and ran a hand through Mia's blond hair, "we just wish you wouldn't say what was on your mind all the time."

Mia grinned, "your not really going to seal my mouth shut are you?"

Meredith smiled and chuckled, "don't tempt me."

"Well what if I had something important to say to you, or what if I had to you know eat food cause people do that."

"I hope your not saying the things you like to say here at school."

"Well not in front of the teachers" Mia said as she grinned.

"Eventually your going to get a job and if you start saying the same things you like to say here at your new job I can almost guarantee that you will be fired within a fortnight."

"Yeah" Mia said slowly, "almost being the key word and even if that happens well then i'll just come here and borrow cash from you."

"If that's your plan" Meredith said as she went to pour a second cup of coffee for herself, "then we will plan to not give you any money unless you help Derek dig holes and shovel manure in the gardens."

"Okay well played" Mia muttered as she raised her hands in surrender, "i'll see if I can learn to control myself better."

"Good girl" Meredith heard the front doorbell and making her way to the living room she opened the front door and saw her friends dressed in big puffer jackets standing in the doorway, "come in you must be freezing."

Callie smiled as she came into the house and took off her jacket before letting out a shiver, "brrrrr it's a cold day out there the wind blew my beanie off three times as we were heading out."

Meredith took the jackets and hanged them on the hook, "thank you so much for agreeing to do this."

"No problem" Arizona said, "I have to say you are becoming a real hero in my eyes with providing all these beds for street kids, are you planning to set up a program for homeless youths."

Meredith let out a chuckle, "if Mia bring any more of her friends home I might have to start considering it, Chloe could you come out here."

A minute later Chloe emerged and smiled shyly as Callie extended her hand to shake Chloe's hand, "hi Chloe i'm Callie."

"And i'm Arizona" Arizona said as she followed suit.

"Nice to meet you" Chloe said quietly as she shook the blonde's hand.

"We're wondering if we could talk to you for a bit?"

"Your not from social services are you?"

"No dear" Callie said with a reassuring smile, "do we remember we met at the hospital."

"Oh yeah sorry you did my xray."

"That's right" Callie pointed at her leg, "how is your foot feeling."

"Its really good actually" Chloe said as she looked down and shifted her feet uncomfortably.

"Well we came round to chat to you because we heard that you might be into girls and we're a couple ourselves and Meredith asked us to chat with you because" Arizona said before clicking her tongue, "okay this is getting awkward help me Callie."

"Just we can talk to you about how we met and our relationship" Callie added as she put a gentile hand on Chloe's arm, "and if you had any questions or anything you wanted to know then you can ask us."

"Its gay talk" Mia said giving a thumbs up to Chloe, "it sounds good."

"Its just for Chloe" Meredith said as she put an arm around Mia's shoulders to lead Mia away into the kitchen.

"Hey hang on" Mia protested, "I want to learn about lesbian stuff."

"Mia" Meredith said firmly, "kitchen now."

"Okay okay" Mia muttered as she quickly walked away, "no need for a big lecture about appropriates, i'll go outside and give Derek a hand with his boring work."

"Put on a jacket its cold out there."

"Yeah no shit."

"Mia."

"I know I know watch the language."

Meredith watched her teenage charge disappear and shook her head chuckling, "sing out if you would like a drink" she said to Callie, Arizona and Chloe who were grinning in embrassment.

A half hour later Callie knocked on the door and Meredith stood up as the door opened, "hey how did it go?"

"Really well" Callie said, Meredith looked at Chloe "how are you feeling." Chloe nodded and smiled widely before giving Meredith a big hug. Meredith tensed up for a moment before she drew her arms around Chloe to hug her in return, "thanks Meredith this is really what I needed."

"Your welcome sweetheart" Meredith said softly. Meredith looked at Callie and Arizona smiling widely at her and smiled slowly back until she heard a door opening and a loud male's voice saying, "Mia I have told you before my tools are not toys and you need to respect them and be responsible with them."

"Its not my fault your tools are nearly as old as you if they weren't ancient they would actually work."

"They are not that old but they'll wear out quickly if your using them like your firing a water pistol and what you did out there was really irresponsible."

"I was just drilling your stupid nails in."

"I told you before with drilling nails into the wood, softly first and then drill them in not just go full on drilling so it causes damage and makes a big crack in the interior of the wood."

"Speaking of big cracks" Mia opened the kitchen door and made her way to the sink, "you really need to get some bigger panths I could see a big crack every time you bent over."

"Meredith" Derek said loudly as he emerged into the kitchen looking like he had all he could take for one day, "can we relieve Mia and Chloe so they can go to the movies."

"Of course" Meredith said laughing with the girls, "and we'll also buy you some bigger pants dear."

Derek smirked, "thanks and a toy drill so Mia can practice with it before she uses the real thing again."

"I'll use it on you" Mia called out as she poured a drink of water.

"Well" Derek breathed out, "i'm going to have a big drink and then get back out there to finish building the tree house."

"Hey" Mia put down her glass and ran to grab hold of Derek's arm, "I want to help you finish it."

"Well I" Derek stammered as Mia hugged his arm, started to whimper and he groaned, "oh come on don't give me those awful sad eyes."

Chloe grinned, "I could give you a hand as well Derek."

"Well" Derek looked at Mia making whimpering noises and he grumbled, "ok knock it off Mia i'll just do a bit of work today and then us three will get at it later on next week as a project."

"Cool beans" Mia said.

"But please listen to me when we're building it so we don't destroy the tree house... and the trees along with it."

"No sweat" Mia gave Derek a thumbs up.

"I can't wait to see Noah and Ally's faces once its done" Chloe added.

"Yeah" Derek poured himself some water, "they're going to love it."

"Speaking of which" Meredith said, "I should go and check on them."

"And we better get to the movies" Chloe said.

"Cool" Mia said as she grinned and punched Derek's arm playfully who gasped in response, "see you."

Derek smirked and then he got Mia in a headlock and ruffled her hair as she cried out and laughed, "hey you stink dude."

"Well now" Derek said, "so do you."

"Thanks a lot" Mia said with a grin smelling herself, "now I need a shower."

"Nah you'll be fine."

"We'll let outselves out" Callie said.

"Thanks again" Meredith said.

"No worries honey" Arizona put on her jacket, "see you at work."

Meredith went her way to the living room and saw Ally and Noah sitting on the floor hunched over doing some colouring in. Meredith went over and placed a hand on each of the children's little heads. The kids looked up with blank faces before looking back to their colouring in books and Meredith sat on the carpet, "what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing" Ally said.

"Come on" Meredith lifted Ally onto her lap, "it can't be nothing."

"We miss you" Noah whispered.

"You miss me?"

Ally took Meredith's hair in her little hand, "we don't get to play with you anymore."

Meredith gently kissed Ally's forehead and drew an arm around Noah to gently pull him in for a cuddle, "I know guys i've been very busy with everything that has been happening recently, we haven't done anything fun in a while have we?"

"Not really" Noah said softly.

"Well Chloe and Mia will be out today so why don't we get out a few board games for us to play."

The kids both grinned with excitement, "snakes and ladders" Noah said.

"Yeah" Ally said.

"Ok well fire it up" Meredith said.

"Then hungry hippos" Ally said.

"That sounds good."

"Then um" Noah said, "what else."

"We'll look through the cupboard and see what else we can find."

Derek came in a few days a later from work whistling and opened the door to the storage room to put away his tools when he stopped in his tracks as he saw a empty vacumed room. Derek let out a whew sound and went upstairs to find Meredith on her bed writing up a report, "hi honey how was work."

"Yeah interesting but not as interesting as what I just found out. You're not going to believe this but the kids have been cleaning."

"Cleaning?"

"Yeah" Derek nodded as he put his hands on his hips, "they've tidied up the storage room, it looks great there isn't anything in there."

Meredith raised an eyebrow, "just the storage room?"

"Well I didn't check the other rooms but-"

"Derek" Meredith saved her work and put down her laptop, "do you see what they're doing?"

"No" Derek said confused, "what?"

"This is one of those secret plots the kids like to do when they want something."

"Well what could they want... oh" Derek said as his eyes lit up.

"Yep" Meredith said as she got up, "follow me" as she went downstairs and knocked on Mia's bedroom door, "girls can we come in."

"Chloe just came out of the shower" Mia called out.

"What" Derek said loudly.

"Nah i'm kidding you moron."

Derek opened the door to find Chloe and Mia laughing on the bed, "why are you marrying him Meredith" Mia said, "he's so gullible."

"Right" Derek crossed his arms, "well this gullible person was wandering through the house before and he saw."

"How well the tree house is coming along" Meredith finished she gave Derek's forearm a gentile squeeze and Derek took the hint, "yes the tree house is looking good."

"Well nothing new has been done to it, unless your working on it at night" Mia said.

"When do you want to get working on it next" Chloe pipped up.

"This weekend" Derek replied, "anyway we wanted to see what you were up to."

"Yeah we're just reading" Chloe gestured to the book in front of her.

"And studying for you know a test" Mia added, "we're aiming to get A's on the next test."

"Right" Meredith smiled, "that's good to hear actually I was looking for my old vacuum cleaner and I think it might be in this closet."

"Ah no no no" Mia jumped up and blocked the closet door, "I haven't seen any vacuum cleaners in here."

"Really" Meredith said as she continued to gently smile, "because I am sure that it is in here."

"No it isn't doc really, Chloe you haven't seen any vacuum cleaners in here."

"No nothing in there" Chloe quickly shook her head, "and I look through this closet every day, its a nice closet by the way."

"Well just for my peace of mind can you let me look."

"I really think that's a bad idea" Mia whispered.

"And why is that" Derek said as he walked over to open up the closet door.

"Cause its-"

Derek pulled the closet door open and yelped as a bunch of items came tumbling down and knocked him to the ground, "full" Mia finished.

"Its not full" Derek gasped as he pulled clothes off his red face, "its busting."

"Yeah" Mia and Chloe darted over to help to move the boxes off Derek, "you ok big fella?"

"Mia" Meredith said, "I know you brought those boxes in here from the storage room, can you put them back in there."

"We could put them in the kids bedrooms instead" Mia offered.

"Do you want them to get buried like Derek?"

"Well no but-"

"We have a storage room for a reason Mia."

"Yeah but you know what" Mia walked into the doorway and made pointing motions with her hands, "if you got the junk out of the storage room and got rid of it then think of what you could do if you had all that extra space in the storage room. You could turn it into a games room, or maybe an extra bedroom for like guests and stuff."

"Mia" Meredith said softly, "come upstairs."

"Meredith" Chloe said, "please don't be mad at Mia she's just-"

"I know Chloe" Meredith said gently, "Mia."

Mia grumbled and walked upstairs with Meredith and Derek following her. Derek closed the bedroom door and cleared his throat, "Mia we need you to understand and accept that we can't look after Chloe long term."

"Hold on" Mia made a eagle noise with her arms out then she looked up as if nothing had happened, "ok you were saying."

"What?" Derek said looking confused.

"Oh I forgot to tell you" Mia said casually, "I got hypnotised once years ago and when someone tells me bullshit I go" Mia made the eagle nosie again, "like I can't help myself the hypnotist was extodinaray."

"Mia" Derek said sternly.

"Guys seriously this we can't look after Chloe thing is crap, you can do this you just don't want to do this."

"Mia" Meredith put her hands on the girl's shoulders, "its not that we don't want to, we like Chloe very much and we like having her around its just we worry about doing it long term."

"Well you know what" Mia said, "you don't even have to look after her if you don't want to, I can do everything and Chloe isn't an infant she can look after herself. We just need you to give us money and food and we're all set."

"Its not that simple Mia" Meredith said.

"Yeah" Derek added, "it isn't as easy as lets just give you food and cash and you'll be fine we spend a lot of time thinking about your future and trying to plan about how we can make you independent."

Mia raised an eyebrow, "is that why you constantly ask me to help you cook dinner."

"That's part of it" Derek muttered, "we also think a lot about your grades and what will be the next step for you after school. We hope you will go to college and we think about teaching you life skills and what you will do when there is an emergency so you don't get stuck."

"Guys" Mia rolled her eyes, "I spent a few years breaking into and robbing places if I can do that I can survive by myself, did you forgot I used to sleep on the street."

"That right there" Derek raised a finger, "overconfidence it will be the end for you."

"That's very dramatic" Mia muttered before she said in a loud voice, "overconfidence it is the end."

"Look the point" Meredith said slowly as she tried to pick her next words carefully, "we are trying to make is we would have to be doing all that for Chloe as well if we looked after her full time and its a huge responsibility, we're worried we would mess it up and that's why-"

"Well just teach us together then" Mia interrupted, "the important lessons in life like drilling a piece of wood."

Derek scoffed and sighed, "Mia its not that we don't like having Chloe here."

"Then what is it, why can't you look after her?"

"Its well its ah um just what we said and ah um" Derek stammered.

"Its um um ah oh ah um" Mia said with her tongue sticking out.

"Mia" Meredith said with worried eyes.

"Exactly" Mia said as she wandered out of the room before making the eagle noise again and Meredith hugged Derek's arm as Derek sighed, "I don't know how we're going to get through to Mia."

"Well lets look at her background" Meredith counted on her fingers, "she was an older orphan helping to look after younger children in an orphanage, she was forced into crime when she was a pre teen, she's independent, opinionated and sixteen years old."

"Yeah I get it, all that mixed into one its a challenge, how does anyone get through to a kid like that?"

"Well we'll keep trying and eventually we might."

A few days later the cold weather had finally taken a breather and the sun had come out in its place. Meredith and Derek had suggested to Ally and Noah that they go out and Chloe and Mia had surprisingly asked to come along with them instead of going out with their friends. Now a few hours later Derek sat down with Meredith on a bench at their favourite park and watched Mia and Chloe taking turns going down the biggest slide in the playground with Ally and Noah riding on their laps, "it amazes me how those two chose to play with the little ones and hang out with us rather than go out with their friends."

"Yeah its a bit abnormal for kids their age isn't it."

"Well Chloe asked if they could come along with us, Mia seemed a bit reluctant."

"Mia wanted to do it as well she was just putting on a show." Derek watched Ally and Noah laughing and shouting higher as Chloe and Mia pushed them on the swings, "its been two weeks and they haven't found a carer for Chloe."

Meredith looked at Derek, "everyone seems to be avoiding looking after kids her age its terrible. I know most of them have their issues, but if carers just looked after them and gave them a chance they would see that its really worthwhile fostering a older child."

"Meredith" Derek took Meredith's hand in his own, "I know how you feel about us taking on Chloe long term but you know what I have been doing some thinking over the last few days...and I think we can do it."

"Derek" Meredith sighed, "I just don't know."

"Well this is a surprise" Derek said in a perky voice, "usually when we have a conversation like this i'm usually the one who is saying things like what you just said, while your convincing me to give it a try."

"Derek we haven't got a bedroom for Chloe."

"Well the spare room while we pile all the spare stuff, I could get us a shed and build it out in the backyard and we could move all of the stuff from the spare room into that."

"And what about us, I mean we have four kids on our hands and we're not even married yet two of them being foster kids."

"Do you think its going to be to much pressure on us?"

"Its not that its" Meredith stammered to find the right words, "just we're turning into the brady bunch."

"I don't think this is like the brady bunch."

"Well we're like a program for kids who need a home or something like that, it just doesn't feel comfortable. Its just not... i'm trying not to say abnormal but how many couples do you know who are like us who aren't married and who are looking after four kids, three of which neither of us have any biological relationship with."

"You know" Derek said slowly, "a wise person once said to me that family isn't about whose blood you carry its who you love and who loves you and as far as I am concerned Ally is my daughter. There are a lot of foster families out there who look after several kids from several different backgrounds and they might be married when they are doing it but soon so will we. Some of them might not even be married or ever get married, and that's okay."

"Sorry Derek" Meredith looked at Derek with apologetic eyes, "I shouldn't have said that I know Ally is your daughter and you've been the only real dad she's ever had."

"Its ok I know what you mean" Derek watched Mia and Chloe pushing Ally and Noah on a twirl a round equipment, "our family situation would make a juicy story in the media, or an interesting mini series."

Meredith watched Chloe playing chasings with Noah laughing and smiling and she sighed.

"Meredith" Derek said softly, "I know you have grown fond of Chloe."

"Yes Derek" Meredith said, "you know I have a soft spot for kids." Meredith watched Mia pretending to be a monster while chasing Ally as Ally laughed and she chuckled, "of all makes and models."

"Ally and Noah really like her."

"I know."

"And weren't you saying a few weeks ago that you were hoping that Mia would have a close friend."

"This isn't like having a friend, this is like having a sister Derek."

"She's a good influence on Mia."

"Derek it just wouldn't work."

"Okay well just give me a few good reasons why we can't give this a go?"

"Derek" Meredith turned to look into Derek's eyes, "what if Chloe changes she was getting mixed up in the wrong crowd before. If it happens again then everyone will get dragged into it, what if she starts doing drugs?"

"That's true but wasn't Mia doing the same thing before and she got away from the wrong crowd. Every kid makes mistakes it helps them to grow, if we get whiff of her taking drugs or doing anything of the sort we will talk with her to help put a stop to it. "

"What about Noah, he's going to have three older girls living with him and no other boys that's not something boys usually like."

"Well Noah doesn't seem to care."

"Okay" Meredith admitted, "he doesn't care about that but I don't want us to be taking in every child we meet that is homeless."

"Well we've done it twice now" Derek nodded, "contrary to what our friends might think we won't be setting up a place called youth off the street. We'll tell the girls from now on that if they run into a friend who is homeless they need to contact the youth shelters."

"I" Meredith whispered.

"What else" Derek said with a small smile.

Meredith watched the kids laughing and she sighed, "I can't think of anything else."

"So what do you say?"

"The truth is" Meredith said softly, "I do want Chloe to stay with us I have been thinking about it a lot over the last few days to. I just worry and i'm scared we won't be able to do this for all four of them and if something goes wrong its going to affect everyone."

"We've been doing it for two weeks."

"That's nothing, remember social services told us about the honeymoon period usually after a month or a few months kids settle into their new homes and they show their usual behaviour More often than not their difficult behaviours start to emerge."

"I know your worried but I think in a few months social services are still going to say to us they don't have a suitable carer for Chloe and we'll be still caring for her then. I reckon if we say now that we can do this then it would ease Chloe's mind."

Meredith smiled, "I don't even know what I'm saying anymore."

"We're going to do it?"

"Yes" Meredith said holding Derek's hand, "you've convinced me."

"I knew I would" Derek said with a grin, "I just wanted you to realise this is what you want as well."

Meredith smirked, "but your teaching Chloe how to drive."

"Oh" Derek said with amusement, "i'm taking on two students am I."

"Hey that's the deal."

"Why don't you do some of it."

"Because this is your idea" Meredith kissed his hand, "and your already doing a great job teaching Mia so I think you should do this for all the children."

"Well when you put it that way it sounds good" Derek crossed his arms as he thought about it, "plus I think Chloe would give me less attitude than Mia."

Meredith put her hand on Derek's cheek so Derek could turn his head for a kiss, "the way you are with children its part of why I love you."

"Well the way you are with children is part of why I love you to, what you do for children it amazes me."

Meredith sighed, "when i'm not coming in from work grumpy, the other day I yelled at the kids after a shift."

"You didn't yell at them Meredith you just got cross at them and you were very tired. Don't worry about that the kids know you have an important job. Noah was just saying in school about how his mum helps to save lives and looks after people, he said to his teacher that your a hero."

"He said that" Meredith said softly.

"He sure did, he thinks your the best mom in the world."

"Yes" Meredith whispered as her eyes saddened, "about that."

"What is it?" Derek said softly.

"Um" Meredith took a deep breath, "you know what it can wait, we'll talk with Chloe tomorrow. Chloe and Mia wanted to see a movie tonight we don't want to kill the mood for them."

Derek looked at Meredith for a long moment wanting Meredith to open up then he decided not to push it, "sounds good" he said softly.