"So he just left you there."

"Yes."

"Alone with the brats."

"Yes." Meredith moved the receiver closer to her mouth. "What am I going to do?"

"You're asking me?"

"Cristina," Meredith said sternly.

"What? Meredith, I know as much as you about offspring. Probably less," Cristina said through the phone.

Meredith rolled her eyes, but remained silent on her end. She let out a sigh and took a few steps down the stairs, gripping the railing as if she would tumble to her face without it.

Small voices and laughter came rolling through the house.

Meredith froze. She couldn't pinpoint the location of the sound, it practically echoed throughout the downstairs.

So she stopped. And she sat down on the stairs.

After a moment, Meredith shifted the receiver to her other ear and leaned forward, trying to peek through the rails.

"Is he there yet?" she said to Cristina in a hushed tone.

"Not yet. He's supposed to have a surgery in forty minutes. I'm scrubbing in," she added gleefully before demanding, "Why are you whispering?"

"I'm hiding."

"Where are they?"

Meredith ran her free hand through a section of her hair. "I don't know," she replied softly, closing her eyes.

"Okay. I know I said I wasn't an expert on this stuff, but isn't the point of watching children to… I don't know… watch them? Maybe?"

Meredith let out a puff of air and her eyes flicked open in frustration. "I don't know where they are because they're everywhere, Cristina. I can hear them. Everywhere."

"How many?"

Meredith sighed again.

"Four," she spat out. "Twin boys, might I add. Very hyper, rather destructive, twin boys. And their older sister. And a baby. Twin boys, and a baby, Cristina"

Cristina scoffed on her end of the phone. "How old?"

Meredith felt her eyes widen as a sudden feeling of unknowing came over her like a title wave. "Oh God," she started, "I have no idea."

She had been around them all morning. She tried her best to be friendly, or at least be kind towards them. Humor them whenever possible. Try to listen to them, participate back. But she had Derek there to back her up, to take over if she couldn't handle it. She could run and hide and let him take control. She didn't need to know the details about the kids. She knew there were four of them, two girls, two boys- twins, and that was all she needed to know. At the end of the day they would be relinquished back to their mother. And as long as there were four of them to give, what else would matter?

That is, until Derek left her to fend for herself.

Now everything mattered.

Every little detail mattered.

She knew nothing about them. She got the idea that Beth liked to color. From spending very little time with her, Meredith guessed she was smart, caring. She got the hint that Beth was bright for her age. What was her age, though? What grade was she in at school? Why wasn't she running off energy like her brothers, instead of being the calm, collected, easy going one? And those boys…

They sure did have that energy to burn…

But she knew nothing about them. Only that they liked to… well, break her stuff. And they liked to pretend; play make-believe. But they were small… maybe five… years old? Maybe less? And Leah was definitely less.

But, how less…?

Oh, God.

She may not know where all the kids were, but she knew where Leah was. She left her in her playpen.

"Crap."

At the sudden thought of something horrible happening to the baby, Meredith stood from her post on the stairs and hurriedly descended towards the bottom.

She didn't know how old the kid was. And she was alone, in her playpen, with a crap load of toys that she could choke on. Maybe…

Meredith's foot hit the base and she dashed through the hall into the living room.

Leah was sitting up in her playpen, toys sprawled everywhere around her. When she caught sight of Meredith, Leah climbed on her tiptoes, reaching an arm out in an attempt at attention.

"What?" Cristina asked in her usual dry-like tone through the receiver.

Meredith reached her hand into the playpen and sifted through the toys before gathering a few of the stuffed animals. She examined each one, making sure the eyes… and nose… and whatever else that could possibly be eaten by an infant were still intact. She breathed a sigh of reassurance when she found the stuffed animals didn't have anything like that, but instead each had little "X" stitches embroidered on them, representing the face.

Meredith dropped them all back in, except for a stuffed dog. She turned the animal over in her hands and scanned the tag that was attached to it. When she found the information she was looking for, she let out a breath, completely relieved.

Ages six months and up.

Meredith placed the dog back into the playpen and Leah automatically went for it, taking it in her small hands.

"Nothing," she finally said to Cristina. "It's… Never mind." She sat on the floor crossed legged in front of Leah's playpen. "There are toys… and age requirement… things. I didn't want her to eat an eye or something."

"Okay…" Cristina drug out the word, not quite sure as to what that meant.

Meredith dropped her shoulders, knowing an explanation to her friend was necessary. "The stuffed animals," she began, "they usually have eyes, and nose, made out of… I don't know. A button. Or something. Some kind of plastic, resin, crap, thing. Kids eat that stuff. You turn your back, and they eat that stuff. And then they choke."

"So…"

"Her stuffed animals don't have anything like that. The faces are stitched into the fabric. Plus, the tag says six months and up. She's definitely older than six months. So... Good. We're good."

Cristina kept silent for a moment before stating, "She could probably choke on the tag, you know."

Meredith's eyes widened at Cristina's observation. She quickly got to her feet and reached back in to retrieve the toy.

Leah sat silent as Meredith pulled it from her grasp and immediately ripped the tag off in one swift tear. She handed the toy back to Leah as if nothing had happened and peered at the others, making sure they were all without tags.

"Alright," she said, running a hand through her hair. She watched as Leah shoved a part of the stuffed dog into her mouth. Meredith scrunched up her nose in disgust at the now drool covered toy, making a mental note not to touch that one again. "Now we're good," she said to Cristina as she turned away from the playpen.

Meredith froze at the sight she saw behind her. "Hi."

The boys giggled from the their position, peeking over the back of the couch.

Both of them.

Watching her.

"Ummm…" Meredith stammered. She turned back around, away from the boys. "Cristina," she breathed into the phone. "They're looking at me."

"What?" Cristina asked in return.

"How do I… They… I have to distract them or something." She glanced over her shoulder to confirm. "Why are they watching me?"

She heard Cristina trying to hold back a chuckle.

"Cristina," she snapped, "This is not funny. What should I do?"

Cristina didn't respond, but she did let her laughter subside.

"Oh!" Meredith said as the light bulb went on. "Hold on," she said as she put the phone down on an end table and slowly turned around to the boys.

"Umm... ah... Cartoons? she asked, pointing to the TV. Meredith walked past them and moved to the television set. Kneeling in front of it, she turned it on and started flipping through the channels. She flinched slightly as she noticed one of the boys was now sitting next to her. "You…" she started as she glanced over to the child. "You guys like cartoons, right? You watch them?" She flipped through the channels some more.

The boy nodded, gazing at the TV. "Momma lets us watch them on the weekends." He laughed softly. "Daddy lets us watch them whenever."

Meredith nodded in return. She then glanced over and saw a small mark above his eye.

Freckle…

"Robbie…?

He turned his head in her direction.

"Umm… Is… Is this station… good? she asked, trying to cover her tracks.

"Un huh," Robbie said, turning his attention back to the screen.

Meredith looked down at her lap, trying hard not to smile.

She got one right. She was able to tell them apart. Sure, it was only because of tip Derek gave her earlier, but that didn't matter.

The point was she knew Robbie was sitting next to her. Which meant Matthew was…

Matthew was…

Meredith turned her head around.

Nothing.

"Where's your brother?" Meredith asked Robbie.

He turned and looked at her, but didn't say a word, only shrugged.

Meredith got to her feet and walked around to the other side of the couch.

Nothing, only Leah in her playpen.

She looked around the room, but didn't see the little boy anywhere.

"Cristina…" she said to herself. She moved to go pick up the phone, only to find it missing as well.

"Oh…." she said aloud, putting the connection together. "CRAP."

Meredith quickly vacated the living room. "Matthew?" She called out his name.

Nothing.

She rested her hands on her hips and took a deep breath, trying to ease her frustration. She was about to go check back on Robbie when the soft squeak of a chair sliding across the kitchen floor caught her attention.

Meredith was standing in the doorway, looking in, within a flat second.

"But, why?" She heard come from the other side of the island. The refrigerator door was open. Beth was sitting at the island, still coloring away, having no regard to what was going on.

"But, whyyyy?"

Meredith looked across the room at the open fridge door. She saw the top of a head, then a tiny hand reach up inside after something. The other tiny hand was busy clutching a phone against his ear.

What possessed him to talk to Cristina?

"Um. Matthew..." She moved into the kitchen and stood over Matthew.

The little boy looked up at her and smiled. "Sorry," he apologized. "I got thirsty."

Meredith tilted her head. "Oh," she said, once se realized he meant about him being in the refrigerator, not taking the phone. "That's okay." Meredith looked at the shelves, trying to find something that would be suitable for him.

She was about to give up when one of Izzie's Minute Made lemonade pouches caught her attention from the far back of the almost-empty fridge. She reached in and gripped it in her hand.

"Trade you for the phone," she offered, smirking at him.

The corner of his lip curled up as he pondered the proposal. "Okay," he said cheerfully as they swapped.

"Good," Meredith nodded. "Your brother is watching cartoons," she added.

Matthew's eyes lit up. "Can I watch, too?"

Thank you…

"Yeah, go." She swooshed her hands for him to go and smiled as he took off and practically sprinted from the room. She put the receiver back to her ear. "Cristina?"

"Oh, thank God," was all Meredith heard. "What the hell was that?"

"That," Meredith started as she grabbed one of the lemonade pouches for herself, "was one of the twins."

"He kept asking me about which superhero I liked more; Spiderman or Batman. And apparently," she deepened her voice, "I said the wrong one because then he went all apeshit on me about WHY I liked that one more."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?"

"No." Cristina growled into the phone. "God. I won't be able to take it. They're kids. Kids are… Satanic."

Meredith lowered her voice. "They're not… satanic. They're just… They're…" She stopped when she noticed Beth was in earshot. "Hold on." She moved the phone away form her mouth and spoke at her normal tone. "Beth," she said, gaining the little girls attention. "Do you want to watch cartoons, too?" She waved her lemonade pouch in front of her. "Maybe a drink?"

Beth shook her head. "No thanks. I'm okay," she replied as she continued coloring.

Meredith bit her lip, thinking.

"Tell her to leave," Cristina said dryly, eavesdropping over the conversation.

Meredith kept voice low. "I can't tell her to leave."

"I'll tell her to leave. Put her on the phone."

"Cristina!"

She winced at the volume of her own voice. She looked up at Beth, who was staring blankly back at her. Meredith shook her head and gave her half a smile. "You're. You're doing really great. At that." As she made a rush for the exit, she looked back at Beth. "Keep up the good work!" she called after as she went through the door.

"Coward."

Meredith dropped her shoulders. "Well. She was there first."

"It's your house, Meredith. Put them in a corner or something."

"These kids, they're… They're not being bad, Cristina. They're just…" She rounded the corner and heard the commotion coming from the living room. She moved further down the hall and peeked past the entryway.

Within the time Meredith had left the boys, they had managed cover the living room with trucks and cars and games. Everything and anything a little boy might want, these kids had.

And they had it sprawled all over.

The boys were running the cars over one another making engine noises and fake crying noises, and laughing in between.

Meredith took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "They're just everywhere."

As soon as Derek had left her, she thought the world stopped.

Literally.

She turned around to four tiny little people staring back at her, unmoving. Every one of them knew Derek was leaving. Everyone knew he was going to go. But Meredith didn't actually think he was going to go.

He was Derek, after all.

He loved his nieces and nephews. He loved Meredith. He wanted to spend time with them more than anyone. They were his family.

But the hospital was his family, too. For as much as he cared for Meredith and the kids, he cared for the lives of his patients.

They needed him to be there.

He was Dr. Shepherd, after all.

And he had to go.

So there she was… Left with four kids under the age of… Oh, that's right, she had no idea.

By some miraculous means of hope, she had managed to convince Beth to go back to coloring and told the boys to go on playing. Told them not to worry, she had everything under control.

Then she had fleeted up the stairs and tried to hide out in her room. After a few moments in there, however, she realized it wasn't going to help and she resorting with calling Cristina.

Not that that proved to be much help either. But. It was worth a shot…

Now she was stuck watching four kids she knew nothing about.

Because Derek was gone.

And she was alone.

Meredith's anger grew as she remembered the way Derek had left her. That he had left her.

She didn't even have a choice. In anything.

Okay… well she did.

Sort of.

He gave her an out. Before the kids got there, before he told Kathy it was alright. He gave her an out, and she didn't take it. The last thing on her mind, though, was Derek getting called in to work. Had she known that was going to happen, she would have told Derek no way. Had Derek known that was going to happen, he would have never even brought it up.

That wasn't their plan for the day. None of this was. She was off. He was on-call… but he wasn't supposed to get called in. End of story. That's it.

And there was no mention of babysitting during the previous night activities.

How could she take an "out" when she had no idea of the events she would be getting into?

Meredith clenched her jaw and backed away from the entryway just as Leah caught glimpse of her. She moved to the bottom of the stairs and began to climb them. She pressed the phone harder against her ear. "Do you know what I was planning on doing today?"

"Having a remotely interesting conversation over the phone?" Cristina replied harshly.

Meredith settled down halfway up the stairs. "I was planning on doing nothing," she said, choosing to ignore her friend's comment. "Nothing but spend my day in bed. With Derek. And I mean that in the dirtiest way possible."

"And thank you for that image."

"They're everywhere, Cristina," she began, peaking through the rails. "They do things, and they make noise, and they break things, and they stare."

At that moment, one of the boys, laughing, ran from the living room, through the hall, and into the kitchen.

Meredith shook her head, realizing she couldn't get out of this. That there was no way to get out of this. "I can't hide," she continued, "I can't get away. But he did, he left me. He just sprung this on me. And then he left." Meredith stopped and sucked in a breath.

"Well, when you put it like that, can you blame him?"

"Cristina!" the annoyance grew in her voice, "They called me Aunt Meredith."

"Well, you kind of are."

Meredith's jaw dropped. "I. Am. Not."

"You' guys are all flirty and twirly with each other. Face it. What's his is yours." Cristina smirked on her end of the phone. "They're your family now."

"Well, that doesn't make it any easier. I can't do this alone." She paused. "I can't do this at all."

"Yeah…" Cristina drug out the word before quickly adding, "I have to go."

Meredith's eyes widened in horror. "What!?"

"Shepherd just gave me a death glare when he passed me. I have to go scrub in."

Meredith's expression and tone remained the same. "Put him on the phone!" she demanded.

"Mer, he's already gone. Just… Call him later or something."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Meredith remained speechless.

We'll see who's all twirly and flirty after this day.

Cristina cleared her throat on the other line.

"Trade lives with me?" pleaded Meredith.

Cristina scoffed. "In your dreams."

"Fine," Meredith groaned. "Go. Cut open your gory… bloody guy. Or whatever."

"Meredith, all you have to do is keep them alive, and you'll be set."

Meredith heard something crash onto the kitchen floor. She closed her eyes tight and turned away from the noise.

Easy for you to say…

An ample amount of laughter soon followed, and the twin who remained in the living room went running down the hall, smiling, towards the excitement.

"Yeah, well" Meredith said into the phone. "I'll try my best."

And with that, Meredith hung up from Cristina and headed for the kitchen. Seeing as how she just told Cristina she would keep them breathing, she thought it best to make sure they were doing just that.

"What's going on in here?" she asked softly as she entered the room.

Beth was bent towards the floor, lifting the barstool from the ground as it appeared to have been knocked over. "Matthew wanted to show me something and he tried to climb up the side on the chair, but it fell over on him." She laughed lightly. "It was pretty funny."

The boys stood flanking Beth, laughing along with her.

Meredith smiled, thankful that her statement to Cristina was still intact.

"Can we go to the park soon?" Asked one of the twins as the laughter subsided.

"The what?" spat Meredith.

The questioning twin wiped at his eyes. "The park," he restated, "Uncle Derek told us we could go to it today. No more cartoons are on. Can we go soon?" he asked again.

Meredith ran a hand through her hair. "Oh. I, aaa…"

"Oh, please?" Beth asked, looking up with hopeful eyes.

The park…

Meredith broke the stare. She couldn't take them to the park. Take them out of the house? She'd probably lose them. It was hard enough here in the house... And Leah was only a baby… and… She couldn't…

The three kids looked up at their Aunt Meredith. Begging.

And then they did it.

They gave her the lip.

Meredith's heart sunk. She did feel bad for them; they really didn't have much to do. They did bring a ton of stuff with them, but they couldn't sit in the living room and play with that all day… The park. It was only two blocks away. Close enough where she wouldn't have to drive them anywhere; they could walk. And it was relatively warm, if you dressed right.

Maybe… Maybe they'll blow off all their energy.

They could play. Blow off some steam. Give Meredith a few moments to actually let the day sink in. Try to plan out the rest of it. She was stuck with them for…. Well… A while, she guessed. If she was cooped up in the house with them all day, she may very well go insane.

Maybe the park was a good idea.

Meredith nodded her head slowly. "Okay." It came out as almost a whisper, but the children head it clear as day.

"YAY!!" they all screamed in unison.

She winced as the sound pierced her eardrums. The kids started jumping around and ran quickly from the kitchen, continuing to cheer along the way.

Meredith whimpered to herself as she sauntered over to the island and sat down on one of the barstools. She dropped her head onto the closed Hello Kitty coloring book that lay there in front of her and slowly started banging her forehead against the surface.

BAM. It's his fault. BAM. This whole freaking thing, BAM, is all his fault. BAM.

"Owww," Meredith groaned as she lay there, not moving, letting Hello Kitty's plastic cover cool her now hot forehead. Without looking, she began to dial a number on the phone she still had clenched in her hands. She placed the phone to her ear, and waited.

"Cristina," Meredith said ever so calmly to her voicemail. "When you get a chance, do me a favor and… I don't know." Meredith shrugged her shoulders. "Kick him… or something."

She hung up the phone, dropped it on the counter, and smacked her head a few more times before deciding to go get ready.

To go to the park.

A/N: OK, I had this part ready to go yesterday afternoon and FF decided to be mean and not let me post. sigh It's pretty much been the week from hell... er... weeks, rather. I won't bore you all with the annoying details, but lets just say... CLASSES BLOW. All right. I'm done being moody now. And I forgive FF because, although I tried for seven hours to post yesterday, it let me today. So, yay. :) Anyway, hope you liked the part. Reviews are wonderful and awesome and they keep me going. :) So bring 'em on! lol.