The swing creaked ever so slightly as little Meredith sat upon it, resting her head against the chain and gripping both sides tight in her hands. Her only movement was caused from the slight breeze gently rocking her back and forth. She closed her eyes in an effort to hold back the tears from spilling.

She should have known better.

"Molly," Meredith repeated herself, caught off guard by her presence. "Wa- what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," Molly said, purely uncomfortable.

Then why did you, Meredith almost spat back. She shook her head, instead, indicating the opposite. "No. It's… Fine."

Molly gestured towards the bench of which Meredith was perched. "Do you mind if…" she trailed off.

As soon as Meredith had opened her eyes, she had wished she could have closed them just as fast. It wasn't as if she hated Molly, or despised her… OK. Maybe she did dislike her, to a degree, but that was beside the point. Sure she was judging her only on the account of being her being one of her father's daughters, but given the past, it felt like enough of a reason. Molly was not a person she felt like having a conversation with at the moment. Or ever again, really.

"Free bench," she said despite herself.

Molly took her spot at edge of the bench, but for Meredith, it still felt too close for comfort.

Meredith watched from the corner of her eye as Molly intertwined her fingers, unfolded them, and repeated the process. It was obvious Molly felt just as uncomfortable as Meredith.

"Monday's and Thursday's are Mommy & Me days," Molly began. "We're usually down at the library, for story time, but when the weather starts to warm up we take the kids to the park."

Meredith glanced in her direction, not entirely sure on why she was being told this. When she realized Molly was trying to answer her previous question from before, Meredith slowly nodded her head in understanding, but "Oh," was all she could say. She looked down and tried to keep her focus on Leah playing in the grass.

She knew she should say something more. Do something to at least acknowledge Molly's presence and try to be nice. Say something more than 'Oh'… But she couldn't. She was determined to not let her mind slip. Because if it did… if she let her mind slip… she would think about Molly taking her daughter to Mommy & Me. She would think about what kind of mother Molly was, what kind of mother Meredith knew Molly was. Meredith couldn't get her mother to take her to the park once and Molly willingly took her daughter twice a week. She freaking went to Mommy & Me. She hung around with other mothers, in groups involving even more children then her own. She loved her daughter. She cared for her daughter. She caredabout her daughter.

And Meredith never had that.

Ever.

"Eric's home… from overseas…" Molly continued as she tried her best to not let an awaked silence overpower. "Not for good, but he's home for a break. He came with us today – that's where Laura is, with her dad."

Dad.

At that single word, that nonexistent noun in her vocabulary, Meredith felt a surge of annoyance take over.

She turned her head towards Molly and for the first time, truly looked her in the eyes.

Meredith knew what Molly was doing in taking about her family; being polite, trying to help, but Meredith chose to ignore that factor and only look at it as Molly rubbing her nose in the dirt. Like a spoiled kid teasing another, showing off what they had, all well knowing others did not.

A dad.

Molly had a dad. Molly… and Lexie… They had herdad. They got to grow up in a home with loving parents. Parents who were there for them, who cared for them. Parents who passed on traditions… A mother who would teach them to be mothers. A father who would walk them down the aisle, arm in arm…

For Meredith, it was worse then simply not having any of that, having parents like that. It was the fact that they didn't even try with her. Didn't even bother. Her dad didn't stick around and her mother, although physically present, was gone in spirit. She mine as well of left, too, it wouldn't have made a difference.

A car door had slammed, and little Meredith was yanked away from her dark thoughts. A string of hope had pulled her out with the possibility of her father still showing up.

There had been a father there, just not hers. No, instead the slamming car door was owned by another man who belonged to the two young boys climbing out of the backseat with their baseball gloves and bats.

Laugher and cheering had overtaken little Meredith's ears as she rubbed at her eyes to force the tears away.

He wasn't coming. It was clearly a pipe dream.

She had watched the man and his sons for a few moments more as they had worked their way towards the field, smiling to one another… bonding… having fun being a family. She'd thought about wishing for it. Wishing for a family just like that, but knew it would never happen. Instead she just watched the one taunting her in the park.

As she went to remover herself from the swing, little Meredith had froze at the sight of a familiar car. It wasn't her father, but it was at least someone… someone who cared to come get her.

A smile had broken her solemn face for a split second. It faded as soon as she'd made out the expression on her mother's from across the lot.

Her mother never even fully removed herself from the car. Instead, she stood halfway out and shouted at Meredith to get in, the hospital needed her to come in and fill out the final papers on her transfer and she didn't have time for this nonsense.

Slowly, she'd obliged to her mother's request and walked with her head down towards the awaiting car. Little Meredith climbed into the backseat and stared out the window as her mother sped away, never even mentioning Meredith's adventure to the park or about her lack-there-of father.

Her mother was too preoccupied with work; that she had learned long before the tender age of five. What she didn't know was why he father never showed up. Why he didn't call at all that day, or the next… Why he never wrote, never came to Boston… Why she never heard from again until she showed up on his doorstep some twenty years later.

She hadn't learned of his other family until it was right there for her to see. With no warning, no… anything…. Suddenly she was thrown into her past that she was never clued in on. Suddenly, she learned of why he father had vanished, why he abandoned her.

He didn't need her.

Thatcher Grey had made it very clear to adult Meredith that he had a family, had daughters, and she didn't need to be apart of it.

He had Lexie… and Molly… They were the reason he had left her. They were the reason she didn't have a dad. They had her dad.

And she had no one.

Meredith's anger only grew as Molly continued to hone in on her peace. Her dad had left, her mom was gone, why would she need Molly in her life? She didn't even know her. "What are you doing here?" Meredith snapped.

Molly looked taken aback. "I… um… The, park…"

Meredith shook her head; the tone in her voice rising, "No. What are you doing here? What do you want from me?"

Molly looked down towards her lap. "I don't want anything from you. I, I just…"

"What!" Meredith, although clearly impatient with Molly's stammering and the fact of her being there, even flinched at the volume her voice had reached. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm down and recuperate, but was quickly sucked back into reality as she felt a tiny hand tugging at her knee. Meredith looked down at Leah, who had sad, moist eyes and a misguided look of aspiration on her face. Meredith suddenly felt horrible for her behavior.

She was acting like an annoying child not getting their way.

Molly was only trying to help. It was pure coincidence they happen to both be in the park at the same time. It wasn't as if Molly was put up to it; as if she was there spying on Meredith or something absurd like that. Molly was being courteous, and civil. That's all.

She sighed in defeat.

Meredith never thought she would have to make amends with Molly. Lexie was one thing. She saw her on a daily basis, but with Molly… She had never even spoken to her outside the hospital until today….

Meredith sucked in a deep breath.

For as much as she wanted to push Molly away and be snide to her, she really didn't have a reason. And she didn't have a motive.

She knew what she had to do.

"I'm sorry." It came out as a reluctant whisper, but she said it, nonetheless.

Molly nodded, a clear, subtle, acceptance to her apology. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just… I…"

Meredith gripped the edge of the bench with both hands, finally taking her attention away from Leah and looking at the sister she had never known. "Just…"

"I saw you," Molly persisted, "and I just… Wanted to say 'hi' is all."

Meredith looked away, and nodded. But, the only thing that rung through her head was why?

She understood Molly was being polite and all, but she just couldn't grasp why. Had she seen Molly in the park first, Meredith would have made every attempt to dodge her. Pack up the kids right then and hightail it out of there. Do everything she could to go unnoticed, not come along and have a good chat.

As if reading her mind, Molly interrupted Meredith's thoughts and continued on, evidently knowing where she wanted this conversation to go. "Lexie… She, mentioned… different things. I talk to her… a lot. Everyday. Well, almost. And she, she's just…"

Meredith faced Molly once more, noticing one quality of likeness they possessed in each other: the ability to ramble on to no end.

"She mentioned you two were getting along," Molly finally finished with a sigh.

Meredith leaned into her weight. "We work together, I have to be nice."

"Except you don't. You're her superior; you don't have to be nice to her. But you are."

"I wasn't."

But you are now. It was thought by both, but neither said it aloud.

Meredith rested her back to the bench and gripped at the tension in the back of her neck.

It was true. She didn't have to be nice to Lexie, and she wasn't at first. She wasn't nice until she realized she was angry at the idea of Lexie, not the person. When she had gotten into her work routine with Lexie, Meredith learned to push away her childhood misfortune and come to terms with the person, not the notion, and, in a sense, befriend Lexie. The situation was different, though. She had to work with Lexie, spend hours upon days in the same environment as her.

She never had to see Molly. She never thought she had anything in common with Molly. Until now.

As far as their childhoods went, they weren't in the same boat. But where their lives had taken them… basically they found themselves up the same creek, without a paddle, of course.

It was true Meredith wasn't a mother, like Molly. But right now, as Leah crawled up the bench onto her lap, Meredith instinctively wrapped her arms around her and felt as if she could be one. Her emotions on the situation were running haywire all day. She felt as all new mothers tend to feel: petrified, anxious, content, and completely lost. And she was sure she did have that in common with Molly.

As if they had shared an unspoken agreement to lose the topic at hand, be civil, and move on, a cooler sense of air set in. Molly ignored it as she shifted on the bench and Meredith looked up to the sky as a soft mist hit her face.

"Is… Is that your daughter?"

Meredith's head sprang back up and she also addressed Leah before frantically clearing things up. "What… her? No, she's my niece." Meredith's eyes widened at her own response. "Oh, ah… not myniece. They're Der… my boyfriends, actually," she quickly added. "That one and them, too," she indicated to Beth, who was running towards the monkey bars, and then the twins, who were chasing after a ball out in the field.

"You're watching them?" Molly glanced from child to child. "By yourself?"

"Yeah, it's no big deal."

Liar.

Molly puffed out a breath of air in surprise. "You must really love children."

"Who doesn't?" she awkwardly laughed.

You…

"Four kids really is a lot, though. I mean, I have my hand full with just the one."

"Well, it's only for the day."

…Just keep telling yourself that.

"Only for today…" she muttered to herself.

A droplet of water planked Meredith on the top of her head as it started to drizzle, ever so slightly. She looked up towards the sky, but her attention was quickly hindered as Leah squirmed in her lap.

"Quishy!" Leah demanded from the confines of Meredith's arms.

Meredith reached into the back of the stroller and handed Leah the lemonade pouch she had claimed earlier.

Leah smile grew in pure delight as she struggled free from Meredith's grasp and wiggled to the ground. "Quishy," she said again as she held up her… interesting… toy for Molly to see. Leah tilted her head to the side and with her tiny hand fisted around it, gave the pouch a gentle squeeze as for effect.

"I see," Molly responded as she ginned at the tot. She leaned in to Leah and cupped her hands over Leah's and played along. "Really squishy!"

Leah giggled. "Me quishy!"

Meredith couldn't help but laugh herself at the amused look plastered on Leah's face. That is until Leah gripped the pouch with a second hand and squeezed it with more force.

"Leah, don't squeeze it too hard! It'll pop!" Meredith quickly reached out for the toy, but Leah turned away and nodded as her grip lessoned.

"Ohtay," Leah uttered as she sat on the ground and cradled the pouch in her arms. "Me quishy…" she breathed.

Molly laughed at the sweet sight before her. "She really is adorable."

Meredith nodded in agreement. Another raindrop pooled against the back of her hand.

"I should probably go." Molly looked up at the dark clouds closing in. "Eric took Laura to the car. I told him I'd only be a bit."

Meredith nodded again. "Okay."

"Thank you," Molly gulped, "for…" Her sentence trailed off, but it said so much. Thank you for not ignoring me… For being nice… Foralmost accepting me…

Meredith shook her head. "Yeah. No, um…" She shut her eyes and quickly blinked them back open. She knew what Molly meant, but she was simply overwhelmed by everything to even comprehend words without saying something she shouldn't. She had made a step forward with Molly, but she was still far from ever even considering her family. She was glad, though, that hadn't pushed her away.

As Molly leaned forward, for probably the most awkward hug ever, a shrill sound of a child wailing burst through her eardrums.

Meredith, startled as well, turned in the direction of the cries, only to see a little blonde girl standing over a darker haired child lying under the monkey bars.

She sucked in a sharp, painful breath. "Beth," she whispered, stunned.

In a flat second, Meredith rose from her seat and bolted from the bench towards the monkey bars. She stopped about a quarter of the way, realizing she had forgotten Leah, and quickly ran back towards the bench. She scooped Leah up under her arm like a football and darted back towards Beth.

"Beth!" she cried out as she landed on the ground next to her.

Beth was lying on her back, the tear streaks marking her face as she tried to move to sit up on her elbows.

"Don't move!" Meredith yelled. It came out sounding a lot more fearful then she intended it to, but everything had happened in such a blur… "What happened?! Are you all right? Canyou move?" She didn't know where to start.

She was so worried about Beth she hadn't noticed the towering figure hovering beside her.

"Meredith, I'm sure she's fine. Kids fall down all the time," Molly shook her head, "It happens."

Meredith wiped her head around in pure rage, her voice rising with it. "I'm the doctor here," she all but screamed, "I see kids all the time come in the ER. Kids who have concussions from falling on the ground." She felt her own tears surfacing, but forced herself to hold them back. "Yeah it happens. But she's my niece. Not yours. You don't get a say in this."

She vaguely heard an apology, but ignored it as she turned her attention back to Beth, who was rubbing away at her own tears with one hand and gripping onto Meredith's with her other.

She felt her heart sink as the little girl's grip tightened against her hand.

"Beth," Meredith said soothingly as she brushed Beth's hair away from her face. "Does anything hurt? Did you hit your head?"

Beth shook her head against the ground and made a small noise that sounded much like a 'no'.

Meredith didn't take her word for it, though, as her doctor side kicked in. She made Beth follow her finger with her eyes, examined for a bulge on her head, checked for feeling in all four limbs, and did a few other small tasks before she even considered letting Beth sit up.

When everything checked out fine, Meredith still couldn't let it go. It was her fault Beth had fallen. She wasn't watching her close enough. She couldn't… What if something was wrong…

"Maybe I should take you to the hospital. Or call… or something." She crossed her legs and ran a hand through her hair in frustration. Shereally didn't want to have to explain this to Derek, but more importantly she didn't want to risk anything with Beth.

"Meredith," came a calm voice behind her, "She couldn't have fallen that hard. You know that."

Meredith looked back at Molly. She was a mother… She would tell the truth if she thought something was really wrong with Beth. She wasn't a doctor, but she did have natural instincts and a mother's intuition.

That and the fact that Molly stood a good foot taller then the monkey bars indicated Beth's fall couldn't have been more then a small drop to the ground.

"And it is not your fault," Molly added, shaking her head.

Even though Meredith knew Molly was right, she still had a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something just didn't feel…

"It's concern," Molly continued once more. "You care for her, you don't want to see her hurt. But… It happens. Kids fall. They get bumps, and scrapes… Sometimes worse… But you know that she's okay."

Meredith let everything Molly was telling her sink as she turned back to Beth. "You're okay?" she asked the child.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Beth swallowed back a sob as she wiped the advancing tears away from her eyes. "The bars were wet. I slipped, and I just got scared."

Once more, Meredith turned to Molly. "Thank you."

Molly nodded. She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb; "I should…" she started, signaling her departure.

"Of course," Meredith nodded and waved back as Molly walked off. She looked back at Beth and gave her a small smile.

"Aunt Meredith?" A little voice came from behind.

Meredith turned her head and came face to face with one of the twins.

Freckle… Robbie.

"It's okay, Robbie," she automatically said, "Beth's okay."

The second twin suddenly appeared in the small crowd.

"She's okay," Meredith immediately told him.

"Aunt Meredith," the little boy said.

Meredith turned to him, unsure of what else to say.

The little boy looked straight into her eyes. "Aunt Meredith," he repeated. "I'm hungry."

Meredith let out a breath and blinked back her worry as she looked once again at Beth.

The sound of thunder clapped in the distance.

Beth rubbed her eyes and gave a small smile as she slowly climbed onto her knees, then to her feet.

"Can we go home?" Robbie asked as Leah reached out her hand and he clasped it in his own.

"Yeah," Meredith nodded as she, too, lifted herself to her feet, "let's go home."

OK. So, not quite as humorous as the other parts, but more laughs to come. I promise! In the meantime, hope you enjoyed the part... and REVIEW:)