She couldn't sleep. Richard finally went home with Owen at around one in the morning. Derek came back before he left for the night to tell her that they had surgery scheduled for the next day at eleven. George eventually went home as well. The hospital was quiet. Most people were either sleeping or trying to finish up clerical work while patients slept. The only sound she could hear was the faint sound of air being pumped into the oxygen mask that covered most of her small daughter's face and the steady beep of the heart monitor.

Her mind played like a movie reel that wouldn't stop. Memories from Seattle. Memories of her children playing in the yard. Tears eventually dried up and were no longer able to be produced, but the feeling was still there. Her eyes wouldn't be removed from the small child's face.

"Meredith!" Christina's voice came.

Groaning, she rolled over in bed. "I don't want to get up."

"You don't have that much of a choice, now do you?" Her voice sharp and harsh as she kicked the door.

"Why do you have to torture me?" She whined sitting up. "I'm not going to work today."

"Oh god, please don't tell me you have a feeling." She picked the lock and walked in.

"Stop making fun of me!" She snapped. "I just want to be alone today."

"What did Evil Spawn do? I can castrate him."

"He didn't do anything." She said rolling her eyes as she flopped back and pulled a pillow over her face.

"Then what the hell is it?"

"Nothing. I just can't work today. I'm not… I have a feeling that everything is going to go wrong today. That something is going to change today." She looked at her friend with a look somewhere between scared and sincere.

"Who cares? Things change all the time." She jumped on the bed. "Now get your ass out of bed before we are late." She kicked her butt until Meredith rolled out of bed and began changing.

----------

"Hey." Alex smiled as she walked up beside him.

"Hey." She said pulling back from a kiss. "How was being on-call?"

"How was the bed last night?" He asked kissing her again.

"Lonely."

He smiled. "Up for a cup of coffee."

"I would love on." She smiled at him. "You didn't answer me."

"Huh?"

"How was…"

She shook the thought of that day from her head as she looked at her daughter more intently.

"Look, Mommy! Watch me dance." Madi's voice called.

Peeking around the corner from the kitchen, she giggled as Madi hit the play button on her Barbie CD player and a weird mixture of piano came out in a playful tone.

"Sit down, Mommy. I've been practicing real hard."

Letting out another giggle, she sat down on the couch and watched her daughter as she began doing a funny array of different ballet moves that had nothing to do with the music. Madi smiled the whole way through and took a bow as Meredith clapped at the end.

"You're getting really good, Madi."

"Can I be a ballerina for Halloween, Mama?"

"You can be whatever you'd like." Meredith answered kissing her cheek.

"Mama!" Owen called walking in. "Can I be a doctor for Halloween? Like you and Daddy."

Tears came to her eyes. Of course she had told them about their father. She had answered every question, told them stories, and showed them pictures about him and her old life. They had grown very attached to him even though they had never met him. They loved hearing stories about him and talked about him often. They each had their own picture of him that they both held near and dear to their hearts.

"How could I have let this happen?" She cried.