Well, here goes round two. I am writing this before the other chapter is even on the website so I'll say thanks for the reviews but I don't actually know if you guys reviewed...haha. I'm such a loser. I'm on a role though and I'm in a bad mood so I'm venting my anger through Grey's...thats the story of my life.

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Derek's head was spinning.

Hi dad. Hi dad. Hi dad.

"This is..." Meredith swallowed the lump in her throat, "Maria. She's ten."

Derek couldn't think of anything to say. Meredith stood there awkwardly, but suddenly Derek reached out his arms and pulled Maria into a hug. Maria returned the gesture by placing her small arms around his frame. The moment made Meredith choke up.

"Hi," he plainly responded, "I'm your dad."

Meredith couldn't help but smile at the interaction. She had told Derek about the baby, but she had told him it was someone else's. Leave it to her to turn the day around. Meredith looked at her feet and back into Derek's eyes, which were forming tears.

"I'm..." Meredith started, but Derek but up a hand to stop her; he knew she was sorry. He didn't want to hear her excuses; he knew she was sorry. Sorry didn't cut it.

"So you raised our daughter alone in Europe, so you could...escape from all of this?" he motioned around the room, "If you had told me, I could've helped you."

"If I had told you," she started, "You would've been on the next flight to London...and I didn't want you to come to London - I wanted to have time to myself. I expected to come back after a few months, but things don't always work out that way."

"So you didn't cheat on me?" he asked, "I always thought that you cheated on me. I always thought you had a good reason for leaving."

Maria slowly moved back towards her mom, but gazed at her dad.

"No offense," the child began, "But I don't want to hear your drama that has filled the air for ten years - I just wanted to meet my dad."

"And so you have," Meredith sighed, "And so you have."

"Are you back for Preston's funeral?" Derek asked somberly, "To be with Christina?"

"I'm...I think I'm back for good, I think I'm taking your offer," she admitted, "I was getting tired of speaking French. I decided that my daughter needs to grow up in the place where her family is for the rest of her...growing up."

"All I ever hear about," Maria chimed in, "Is 'Aunt Izzy' and 'Uncle George' and I wanted to finally meet my family."

Meredith looked at Derek, and suddenly panicked. Nothing was happening gradually, it was happening faster than she ever could have imagined.

"You should have told me," he looked her in the eyes, "How could you hide something like this from me?"

"Don't get angry," she begged, "It has been just as hard for me in the past years."

"Hard for you?" his voice boomed with anger, "You hid my child from me!"

"I'm..."

"I know you are sorry, but sorry doesn't always cut it."

Meredith grabbed Maria's hand, running out of the room.

Running. Just like she had ten years ago. Running from her problems once again.

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Meredith and Maria walked through the hospital, just so Meredith could see the place they left behind. The first person she recognized was not who she wanted to see.

Addison Forbes Montgomery.

Was it even Montgomery anymore? Time could change a lot of things.

"Addison?" Meredith called down the hall, knowing that she needed to be nice, "Is that you?"

Addison turned around, looking as amazing as ever, and faced Meredith.

"Meredith Grey," she paused, "Oh my gosh...you look gre - a daughter?"

"I'm Maria," Meredith's daughter politely introduced herself. Meredith prayed that she didn't mention Derek.

"I'm assuming I would know if this was a product of..." Addison stopped in her tracks, "Your daughter looks a lot like Derek."

Meredith smiled awkwardly, looking up at his ex-wife.

"Oh my God," she froze, "You had Derek's child!" Addison didn't know what to say so she finished with, "I hope you loved Europe...I have to go...get ready for the service."

Meredith sighed, "Maria, this is going to be a crazy trip."

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"Maria, I know this is weird, I know you never knew Burke, but..." Meredith was interrupted by her daughter.

"Mom - I'm obviously going to behave!" she told her, "It's a funeral."

"We have to go get Christina first though," Meredith explained, "And please don't let whatever condition Christina is in make you think that it is what she is normally like. Burke to her is...complicated. He left her at the altar, but after a few years they became friends again, and now shes losing the only man she really loved who became her good friend. Like a bad best friend would, I left her during her darkest hour. She also just moved back too."

"You aren't a bad best friend," Maria promised her mom, "You just...have your own issues. I, for one, should know that."

"Well thanks," Meredith smirked, finishing strapping on her black heels, "Are you ready for this?"

"Whenever you are mom, whenever you are."

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Meredith pulled her rental car up to the set of condos and slowly opened her car door. The condos were nice, but she was afraid to see the inside of Christina's.

"She is really messy," Meredith warned her daughter, "Not like mother-daughter Paris pad messy...like, tornado or typhoon messy."

"Okay," Maria nodded, looking up at her mom. The two started up the stairs towards Christina's apartment, and stopped in front of the door.

"Here goes nothing," Meredith sighed, knocking on the door.

After a few moments, the door swung open and Christina appeared, not looking too put together in her black dress.

"Meredith..." she breathed, pulling her friend in for a hug, "I don't do mushy."

"Christina Yang - we're doing mushy," Meredith smiled, "I've missed you."

"Like hell you have," she answered sarcastically, "Paris versus Seattle - must've been miserable."

"Try growing up with a nanny more than your mom," Maria's voice came from beside Meredith.

"Holy..." Christina hadn't even noticed the kid, "Meredith, you're a mom?"

"Christina Yang, meet Maria Grey," Meredith introduced the two. Maria shook out her hang and Christina shook it awkwardly.

"She looks...she looks..." Christina paused, "Meredith Grey...you DID NOT have McDreamy's child, did you?"

Meredith only looked at her friend sadly in her eyes.

"Today is not about my issues, its about yours."

"Meredith - we're screwed up equally. That is why we're each other's person."

"Well," Meredith smiled, "That we are. Don't worry - no one in Paris or London took your place."

"Everyone in Los Angeles smiled way too much for me to find a person," Christina joked.

"Are you ready to go?" Meredith asked, "The sooner the better."

"Let's go," Christina stepped out of the condo.

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