A/N: I'm SO sorry about the wait for this chapter! I know it's been almost a week since I've updated, but I've been busy. So…here's chapter five! Hope you guys like it! Remember, REVIEW please :)

Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd didn't have Meredith and I scrub in. She felt that on my first day back I needed to take baby steps. You know, easy my way back in.

I'm sick of people saying that.

I get it! I get that I made a mistake and that I need to live with it, but when it's all everyone ever talks about, it's not so easy to live with.

Ces't la vie. Life goes on.

Kara pulled through her surgery without any complications. She should return home as a, finally healthy child and live a normal life. Hers is one of those cases that you just can't help but smile over. This little girl, this five year old girl with a life threatening disease, is going to be just fine. Kind of makes me realize that I'm going to be fine, too. If she can do it, I can do it. And I'm not going to look back.

Today was Saturday, which meant that I had less than twenty four hours until Hannah is in my custody. How scary is that? I mean, it's not like I've had much time to prepare or anything. It just…happened. And as scared as I am to go through with it, I'm actually really excited. I realize that putting her up for adoption was the best I could give her twelve years ago, but I've really started to understand the reality of what I'm about to do. It's a scary job, being a mother. But it's something I'm willing to do.

Working with Addison, I began to understand how scary it is to become a mother. I mean, I know that I already did it once, but I birthed Hannah fully intending to give her up. I didn't need to worry about what to feed her, how to raise her, what values to instill in her. I put that load on someone else. But now…now's my chance to show the world one of the few things I've done right in my life. And I can't wait.

After shadowing Meredith for the rest of the day, my shift was over. I had time to kill before Meredith's shift was over, so I decided to visit Kara one last time since I wouldn't be working tomorrow. I walked down to her room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," I heard her father say. I opened the door and when Kara saw me, her eyes lit up.

"Izzie! You came to visit me and Teddy," she said, excitement clearly showing in her voice.

I smiled. "Yep! I came to make sure you two were okay." I took her hand in mine. "How're you feeling?"

Her parents smiled at me and walked out of the room, giving us some privacy.

"I feel good. Teddy has a tummy-ache, though." She lifted up the bear's shirt, which happened to be a miniature hospital gown, and revealed a bandage.

"Mommy says that when you get an owie, if someone kisses it it'll be all better. I kissed his owie but he telled me it still hurts. Can you kiss it better, Izzie?" She placed the bear in my arms and waited for my answer. This girl is adorable, I thought.

I smiled down at her and picked the bear up, giving him a big kiss on his stomach. Then, I gave her back her teddy. "There? Is he all better?"

She lifted his face to her ear and waited for his answer. She smiled. "Yeah! You kissed it better, Izzie!" She was so excited that she started to sit up, but fell back down in pain.

"Sweetie, don't try to sit up. It's going to hurt for a while, but I promise you that you'll be better soon. How 'bout I come visit you soon, okay? Maybe I'll bring you someone to play with. How's that sound?"

"That sounds fun!"

"Okay, sweetie. I'll be back to see you soon. Feel better!" I bent down and gave her a hug, light enough so that I wouldn't hurt her sore stomach.

"Bye, Izzie!"

I gathered my things and walked out of the room, letting her parents know that it was okay for them to come back in. I said goodnight to them and went to the lobby to wait for Meredith and George.

The Next Day- 7:00 a.m.

I barely slept at all last night, so it's no surprise I'm awake at this hour. Technically, I could still be sleeping, but who could sleep on a day like this? I was laying in bed all night thinking about today, how I would see my daughter for the first time in almost twelve years. Sure, I've seen pictures of her and had updates on how she's doing; the Davises sent me pictures and letters every year. But a picture and a short letter doesn't do justice to meeting someone in person.

I got up and decided to make a nice breakfast for my friends. They've been nothing but supportive of me and they deserved something nice. I gathered the ingredients and began to make blueberry and strawberry scones using my mom's special recipe. Even though I didn't have much growing up, she always found a way to buy ingredients to bake with. There'd never be a day when there wasn't anything freshly baked at home.

When the scones were finished baking, I took them out of the oven and placed them on the kitchen table. Like always, George and Meredith came out of their rooms wondering what smelled so great.

"I made scones," I said, my voice emotionless.

"We see that," George said. "They look really good."

I smiled. "Thanks." I sat down and they soon followed after me. We began to eat in silence until Meredith spoke.

"How are you, Izzie?"

"I'm fine, Mer."

"No,how are you really? Today's the day. I mean, you can't be fine."

"Okay. No, I'm not fine. But I'm trying to keep my composure so I don't start to freak out and pull some sort of stunt and run away. I'm excited to see her. I'm excited that I'm going to get to know her. But it's weird, you know, to go from this," I point to myself, "to a mother in the blink of an eye. It's going to change everything and I feel bad because I feel like I'm imposing on you guys. I can't do this on my own. I know that. But I feel bad asking you guys to help me."

Meredith and George each took one of my hands. "Izzie, you don't have to feel bad. You've been here for both of us, am I right, Meredith," George asked.

Meredith nodded. "That's right. And I know you're scared and I know you feel helpless, but I promise it'll get easier. We'll always be here for you and Hannah no matter what. We told you before, Iz. You're not in this alone."

This comforted me. I always knew that they both had my back, but it felt so much better to hear it coming from them instead of me imagining it. I have support. The next thing I need in my life is stability.

We ate the rest of our breakfast in silence and at 8:30, I realized that I had to go get ready. Meredith and George had left to get ready for work a while ago, but I opted to sit here and enjoy the quietness. It wouldn't be like this for much longer. I give her a couple of weeks until she turns into a full-fledged pre-teen, hormones racing and whatnot.

I dragged myself up the stairs, my tiredness starting to kick in. I took a shower, did my hair, and put on the outfit that I picked out for today. I wore jeans, a black t-shirt, black boots, and an oversized turquoise necklace. Chic and sophisticated without over-doing it.

By now, Meredith and George were gone, but Meredith's car was still here. They had Cristina and Burke pick them up on their way to Seattle Grace so I could use the car today. They thought that I should take Hannah out for a 'girl's day.' You know; go shopping, get a manicure and pedicure…the whole nine yards. I didn't know how well that would go over, but we'd just have to wait and see.

By the time I finished getting myself ready, it was 10:00. I had to be at social services in a half hour. I grabbed my bag and my coat, took one last look in the mirror, and was out the door.

Fifteen minutes later I found myself sitting in the parking lot of the social services office. I was fine up until this moment. I was nervous, yes, but Meredith and George helped me through that. Now I had no one. I was all alone.

But not for long.

I kept reassuring myself that everything would work out, that she wouldn't hate me for giving her up in the first place. I just wanted to bring her home and love her like nothing had happened. Like I never gave her up in the first place. Like she'd been here all along.

That's what I wanted to do, not what was really going to happen.

It was 10:20 now and I decided that I'd better get inside. I walked up the stairs of the building, went inside, and found myself in the lobby.

I walked up to the receptionist. "Hi, I'm Isobel Stevens. I'm here to see Donna Walters," I said with a smile.

"I'll call her down. Please," she pointed to a few chairs, "have a seat."

"Thank you."

Donna walked into the room a few moments later. "Isobel, it's so nice to finally meet you. I'm Donna Walters," she said as she shook my hand.

I stood up and shook her hand as well. "It's nice to meet you, too, Miss Walters."

"Oh, please, call me Donna."

I smiled. "Alright. It's nice to meet you, Donna." I smiled at her. She smiled back.

"I believe we have someone waiting for your arrival, am I right?"

I nodded. "Yes, you do."

"Okay, well let's go down to the room she's in," she said as she started to walk down the long hallway.

"Wait! Um, before we go, I have a question."

"Sure."

"How is she? I mean, I know this must have been a tragic incident for her, but is she emotionally stable? Or is she having bouts of depression? Will my presence just make her worse or do you think she'll be better off with me?"

"You have nothing to worry about. She's a great kid, and even though she's just gone through all of this, she's doing okay. She's not self destructive, just emotionally weak. She misses them a lot, but I think that you'll be able to help her. She knew she was adopted all along. She knows exactly who you are. The Davises kept a book of everything you've ever sent them and she's been surrounded by it her whole life. I think that, if anything, she'll enjoy being around you and enjoy the fact that she finally gets to meet her birth mom. She told her parents that she always wanted to meet you, but they didn't think it was such a great idea at her age. But trust me, Izzie, you two will be fine. I promise."

I smiled. "Really? She always wantedto get to know me?"

She nodded. "Yes, she did, and she still does, but standing here isn't going to get you two reunited any faster. Let's go."

I followed her down the hallway, happy to know that I wasn't the only curious one. I can't believe she knew about me the whole time. If I adopted a child, I'm not sure if I would tell them they were adopted or not. I think it'd make the parent-child relationship more awkward than it needs to me. But I guess it worked out in my favor in the long run.

Donna was a few steps ahead of me, already at the door. She stopped before she opened it. "You ready?"

I took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm ready. But is she ready?"

"I'll check. You stay out here for a moment, okay?"

"Okay." I watched her disappear into the room, closing the door behind her. I could hear most of what they were saying, and from what I could make out, she seemed really excited. At least I'm not alone in this. I'm scared. I'm nervous. But I'm happy. I haven't been happy in a while, but it's finally happened. As much as I want Denny to share this experience with me, I've come to terms with the fact that he can't. I'm not completely over him, but I've started to move on. For my sake. For Hannah's sake. For everyone's sake.

A/N- I really hope you liked it! Just to add…Kara is like a mini version of me. The teddy bear she has, the one with the hospital gown and the band-aid, is real. When I had my splenectomy and my cholecystectomy when I was five, I got the same teddy bear. Not that I asked an intern from Yale to kiss my teddy bear's stomach or anything, but I just thought it'd be interesting to incorporate more of actual events or things into the story.

Next chapter is when Izzie and Hannah finally meet! Hope you like it! As for now, REVIEW PLEASE! They make me insanely happy, and an insanely happy Kait is much better than a sad one! Although, I can't be sad for much longer since Grey's is on tonight!

Thanks for reading! -Kait