Disclaimer: I don't own the Grey's Anatomy in any way…

Chapter 18: Answers Dont Come Easy

VO: What will there be after dead? Where did life begun? Is life even worth living for?

These are all questions, you'll have for life. Some will never be answered, for some answers you'll have to look and for some you'll just have to wait, just be patient…

Meredith watched Addison drive away, she was astonished. The girl was still standing in front of her she looked at her feet. "Come here" She grabbed the girl's hands and walked her inside.

"Do you want something to eat?" Meredith said as she bent down to the girl's height. Adrienne didn't answer she just nodded. "Oh I forgot, you don't talk" She said it more to herself.

Derek was walking through the room, talking to himself. "What are we going to do, what are we going to do" He kept repeating himself.

Meredith walked to Derek and stopped him. "Stop it, we are not important now, let's focus on Adrienne, okay"

"Okay" Derek walked to Adrienne, she was eating a sandwich. "Adrienne, tonight you're going to stay here, okay? We will figure the rest out tomorrow."

Adrienne nodded and focused on her sandwich.

Meredith turned to Derek. "Let's put her in bed in Izzie's room, she won't be home any time soon, so…"

"Good idea, she can borrow some pyjama's from you."

"I don't have pyjamas" She paused. "Oh, maybe I do"

Meredith walked upstairs, she made Izzie's room ready and grabbed some Pyjama's. A few minutes later Derek came walking upstairs with Adrienne. Meredith gave her the Pyjama's and was just about to walk out of the room when she noticed Derek was still standing there. "Derek!" She hissed. "She's a teenager."

"Oh, OH" He walked out of the room with Meredith they waited in the hall. Suddenly Adrienne walked passed them out of the room. Meredith knew where she was going.

"Bedroom is the other way"

Adrienne turned around and walked to the bedroom.

Derek wrapped one arm around Meredith's waist and pulled her close. Meredith lay her head down on his shoulder. Two minutes later Adrienne came walking back.

"Goodnight Adrienne." Meredith said as Adrienne stepped in bed. She thought it was kind of inappropriate to kiss goodnight or to tug her in. That's not what Derek thought, though.

He walked towards her and kissed her on her cheek. Meredith turned of the light and walked to her room, Derek followed her.

When she reached her bed, she collapsed on it and Derek lay down next to her. She pulled the blanket over herself and snuggled against it. Derek wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lightly. Meredith sighed.

"She seems… nice"

Derek chuckled. "I wish she just spoke"

"Yeah, well, I guess we have to help her now." She sighed again. "Maybe, I can, you know, go shopping with her, tomorrow, for some clothes, she doesn't have any, Addison didn't give us any. She also needs something for Christmas."

"No, Meredith, you don't have to go shopping with her, she not your daughter and she's not mine either. Besides she will already be home with Addie by Christmas time."

"Christmas is in 4 days Derek, and Addison didn't give any intention that she will be picking her up any time soon."

"Meredith she's is Addison's daughter, her responsibility, she can't just dump her with us."

"You can't blame her; she was going through a rough time"

"Would you dump Sara with Addison, if I left you?" Derek said promptly.

Meredith looked at him.

"Okay, that came out wrong."

Meredith turned.

"Are you going to answer?" Derek yelled to her back.

Meredith sighed, a single tear fell down her cheek.

"Meredith" Derek said calmer "You know I didn't meant it that way"

Meredith turned again. "I'm still taking her shopping tomorrow."

"Meredith!" He said, he raised his voice again.

"Derek, you must realise, she lives too, and she's just a child. She had been through so much, and although she's not staying her for long, I'm still trying to make her feel home."

"But it's not her home, and I don't want her to adjust because Addison will pick her up soon."

"And what if she's not Derek, what if Addison can't handle this alone and she has to stay with us, why are you so against that."

"Because she's Addison's daughter"

"Derek I know when you're lying, and you're lying."

"Okay, it's just, she, well, she never liked me, as a father I mean."

"Yeah, well, I don't know if she's so crazy about Addison too, right now. So, we just have to act like she's going to stay here."

"But what if, what if we can't handle her?"

"We can, Derek, we have each other."

"Yeah" He sighed. "Okay, you can go"

"Where?"

"Shopping with her tomorrow."

She laughed. "Like I wouldn't have gone without your permission."

Derek laughed too. "That's why I love you"

Meredith snuggled against Derek. "Goodnight, love you"

"Love you"

The next morning Derek awoke by the sounds of Meredith making herself ready.

"What's all the nervousness for?"

"I'm going shopping with a not talking eleven year old, what do you think?"

"Twelve."

"What?"

"She just turned twelve."

"Oh wow, thanks for the info." Meredith said sarcastic. "You could have told me before." She sighed. "And you'll have to bring Sara to school."

Derek smiled. "Yeah, you think you can handle it?" He pulled himself in a sitting position.

"Derek, she's not hard to handle, she just… doesn't speak."

"Have fun"

Meredith walked over him and kissed him lightly, like they always did. "Oh and don't forget to call Webber about that double shift, we had to do today." And she ran out of the room.

He fell back down on his bed. "Crap, I forgot about that."

Meredith walked downstairs and saw Adrienne waiting at the door. "Hey, Adrienne, do you want to eat something before we go?"

Adrienne looked at her.

"Okay, I guess that's a no." Meredith walked over her and opened the door, she gave Adrienne her car keys. "You go sit in the car already; I will be there in a sec."

Adrienne walked out of the room and Meredith went to the kitchen to get some coffee in a take away cup. When she walked outside she saw Adrienne looking around her. "Oh, of course you don't know what the car is" She walked towards her and asked her the keys, she walked to the car, opened the back for Adrienne and got in herself. "So, do you want to do some shopping!"

Twenty minutes later they were standing in a big department store. Meredith noticed Adrienne was just walking after her with her head down looking at her feet. So, she decided to just pick things for Adrienne out. Sometimes it didn't even seemed that she heard her, it was like she was somewhere else, but she still needed something good to wear for Christmas. Meredith also had no idea what size she had, so she just picked stuff from different sizes. She found a really cute black/white skirt, down to her knees, with a simple black top and little vest in the same colour as the top. Adrienne tried it on and it looked great. She bought the set and 2 pair of jeans, a white skirt, a few tops and sweaters and of course some shoes. Somehow she found herself extremely jealous, she never had brought home so much stuff after shopping, but she abounded that thought out of her head, very, very quickly.

The house was quiet when she came home. She walked to the kitchen and saw a note lying on the table.

Dear Meredith

I had to go to the hospital; I had a few patients to check on.

I'll pick Sara up from school. You just relax.

Love

Derek

"Yeah relax, with a non talking teenager who doesn't show emotions of any kind." She said quietly to herself. "Stop being negative" She walked back to the living room, Adrienne was still standing on the spot she left her. "So, Adrienne… you know what's a great idea, we can try our Christmas outfits on, make this a really girly day, we can watch Gilmore girls" She looked at Adrienne, she could see a little smile. "Desperate housewives, oh wait I think you're too young for that, oh what the hell, it's a girls day, right?" She could still see the little smile on Adrienne's face, she grabbed her hand and walked her upstairs.

Meredith was planning to wear the dress Derek bought her for Thanksgiving and she tried it on. She also helped Adrienne with her clothes, they both looked beautiful. Meredith also helped Adrienne with her hair and she decided they both needed a hair cut, so they went to a hairstylist. Adrienne cut her hair much shorter and they cut a fringe, she looked great. Meredith kept her hair the same way, they just cut the dead ends.

After that, they went home to watch the Gilmore girls as they were watching, Meredith thought about their day. She could feel she was getting attached to the girl and she probably wasn't even staying. Although she didn't talk, still there was something about her that made her love her. She was also so vulnerable and damaged and still so young, it made her want to help. So, how long Adrienne was staying there, she decided to make it pleasant for her.

When Derek came home they were still watching the Gilmore girls.

"You are watching the Gilmore Girls without me?" He said not believing what they were doing.

Meredith laughed. "Yeah, guilty, we committed this awful crime."

Sara ran to Meredith and gave her a hug, suddenly she noticed Adrienne. "Mummy, who is that?"

"That's Adrienne; she will be staying here for a little while."

"Okay" She offered Adrienne her hand. "Sara"

Adrienne didn't take it she just gave her a little smile, if you weren't sitting closely you wouldn't even notice, but Sara did.

"Mummy, why doesn't she talk?"

"Oh, Sara, that's nothing, she will eventually." She stood up holding Sara. "It's time for lunch."

"Okay"

"Are you coming Adrienne?"

Adrienne paused the Gilmore Girls and walked to them.

"She's a smart girl" Meredith said with a smile.

Derek smiled too. "That's my girl."

They had a quiet lunch, just thinking. Only Sara talked, about her day at school and about her friends. After lunch, Sara went upstairs to play with her toys and Derek, Meredith and Adrienne went back to the Gilmore Girls.

Suddenly Derek remembered he had to tell Meredith something. She was snuggled against him, holding his hand, Adrienne was sitting at the other end of the couch rolled into a ball.

"Mere?"

"Yeah"

"I, uuhm, is it okay that I invited everyone for Christmas?"

"You what?"

"I invited everyone for Christmas, well just Preston and Christina, I assumed Izzie and George would already be here."

"Do you call him Preston? Never mind, it's okay, and yes they would already be here."

"Okay" he turned his attention back to the TV.

Meredith kissed his cheek lightly. "Love you"

"Love you."

The next morning, everybody was sleeping late. Meredith was up first, she was trying to make breakfast and succeeded, finally. After they all had breakfast and got clothed they went on a ferry boat, just to spend time together. Meredith and Derek were not planning on going back to work any time soon, with Adrienne and all, and Sara had vacation. After that, they went home. Adrienne was reading a typical girl magazine and Derek and Meredith were sitting in the kitchen, talking.

"I say, we should call her." Meredith said leaning on the table with her arms. Looking at the phone that was lying between them.

"I say, we should too"

"Okay."

Derek picked up the phone and started dialling Addison's number.

Meredith grabbed the phone out of his hands. "This is again, that kind of thing, I should really do"

Derek smiled. "is it?"

"Yeah" She dialled Addison's number and waited for a few minutes and she hung up. "Nobody answers. "

"Surprise" Derek threw his hands in the air.

"Stop blaming her Derek."

"Meredith, not again."

"No Derek, all you've been, is negative, maybe this is the best thing that happened to that girl in a long time, maybe we can help."

"We're not social workers Mere."

"No, but we are parents."

"Yeah."

"So, we can at least try."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Just as long as she's staying here."

"Okay, as long as she's staying here." Meredith walked over Derek and sat down on his lap she put her head on his shoulder. "We'll just try, to make it better for her."

"Okay"

VO: Some questions are better, not answered, better to be forgotten, and for some the answers will come, someday, they will come…

Okay, not very long, but it's an update. REVIEW, please…