Author Notes: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! You are all so great! I really, truly appreciate it when you take the time to comment. Please don't stop! :)

The storm clouds dissipated just before the break of dawn, revealing the light blue morning sky. The wind settled, the rain stopped, and the sky cleared. It was truly a unique moment: the shift from night to day, from dark to light, the moment of unbreakable peace and quiet just before sunrise. It was the moment when, according to the ancient Greeks, the night goddess Nyx returned home after her tour around the world and met her sister Hemera, the day goddess, at the doorstep. And then, after that dreamlike moment, the horizon brightened up and the sun rose, painting the sky yellow. As birds started singing the city woke up, people appeared from their houses and the streets and roads of Seattle were filled by commuters, traveling to and from work. It was a new day in Seattle.

At Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, the night shift turned into day shift, and the attendings were about to have their morning meeting. However, the conference room seemed much emptier than usually. The fact that a number of people were absent was hard to notice, though, because the noise and commotion in the room was even louder than before, and the discussion was heated.

"I'm just saying", said Dr. Bailey, "that we should do something."

"Like what?" asked Avery, sitting on the other side of the table. "What can anyone of us do?"

"He's right", April said. "We should leave them be."

Bailey gulped in disbelief. "You mean just leave the poor man alone? Aren't you supposed to be all about 'love thy neighbor'?"

"She's just saying that we don't want to be too pushy", Avery defended her. "I'm sure he would like to have some space right now."

"Doctor Avery, are you a mother?"

"What? No."

"Are you a father?"

"No."

"Then stop talking." Bailey turned to look at the others sitting around her. "Look, I just feel that we should at least give our condolences. The situation that he is in is simply terrible. Doctor Avery and Doctor Kepner may not understand the situation but I, as a mother, do. I think every parent in this room understands. We should do something. We should be there for our colleague and our friend. He is alone. If I had been in a similar situation with Tuck, the last thing I would've needed would be dealing with it all by myself."

"I think Bailey's right", Callie said. "I remember how the first days after Sofia's birth were like. It wasn't easy, and I'm not talking about recovering from the accident."

"I also agree with Doctor Bailey", said Derek, who was sitting at the head of the table, "but this topic is not what we're here for. He is our colleague and friend, but this is none of our business, so I think the best we can do is honor his privacy instead of waffling about this. We will not abandon him, but we will not push our help to him, either."

"Can we now move on?" asked Doctor Russell, who was sitting with his arms crossed and looked rather bored. "I do not feel comfortable talking about our Chief's private life during a meeting, especially when it doesn't include him. I don't know about you, but I have patients to get to, and as I understand it, my fellow attending has also been incapacitated by this... matter, so I have an impressive pile of work to do."

"Of course", Derek said and stood up. "Okay, everyone. As you all quite obviously now know, Chief Hunt won't be able to work for an indefinite amount of time, due to a personal matter. He has asked me to cover for him as Chief during his absence. I trust Dr. Kepner will take care of the ER?"

She nodded. "Sure."

"I hope other attendings can borrow their interns, should Dr. Kepner run into trouble in the ER. In addition to Dr. Hunt's absence, I'm told Dr. Yang has also requested the morning off, due to an illness. Dr. Grey is taking care of her and they are both expected to return to work later today, but that still gives us three persons' patients and forenoon surgeries to reorganize. Now, I've checked the schedule and would like to move some surgeries around, if that is fine with everybody. Firstly, Dr. Torres, if you could..."

The first rays of the morning sun penetrated through Owen's shut eyelids, waking him up from a misty, restless, and unintentional sleep. What had happened? Had he dozed off – again? His eyes immediately flew open and he straightened up. The sun was already well on its way to the sky. It hadn't been there when he had last glanced out the window, which meant that he had slept at least ten minutes.

Yawning and shaking off the tiredness, Owen leaned forward in the rocking chair and checked on Claire. His daughter was still motionless. If she hadn't been as immobile as a corpse, she would've appeared to be merely sleeping. Owen looked at her, and as the sun shone to the corner of his eye, he realized that this was her first sunrise. Her first morning.

Owen sat back again and tried to make himself comfortable. He was starting to feel really bad. He hadn't slept for two days: on Tuesday he had worked the entire day and then been on-call during the night, on Wednesday he had worked again and then had the night off, but he and Cristina hadn't exactly been sleeping. Now it was Thursday morning, and he was starting to feel weary. His neck was aching, thanks to the constant dozing off and the bad posture. His head was starting to ache. He hadn't eaten anything for hours. And atop all that was the constant worry about Claire, constant heartache for Cristina, and constant feel of fear and loneliness.

Talking with Teddy had only slightly eased his feel of desolation. She had been shocked by his news, of course, but she had listened to him and offered him comfort. She had felt like a saving angel when Owen had poured some of his heart out to her. But she was still so far away, too far away to offer the feel of propinquity that he now needed. There were only two persons in the world capable of providing him with that feeling. The first was Cristina, whom he now missed more than ever, but with whom he had once again messed things up at the worst possible moment. The other person was his mother, but he couldn't speak to her, either. Not yet.

Owen sunk into his thoughts, his mind clouding with fatigue, and didn't notice the person appearing to the doorway. He was about to doze off again, when he heard Derek's voice: "Rough night, huh?"

He turned and looked at his friend. Derek walked in and stepped beside him, a sad smile on his face. "We rearranged the schedule", he said. "Kepner's taking care of the ER. Everything's working well."

Owen nodded. "Good."

Derek looked at Claire. "How is she?"

"Sleeping. Arizona says her condition is in a stasis; she's neither getting better nor worse. I don't know if that's a good thing or not." They were silent for a while, then Owen continued: "So you know?"

"Yea."

"Does everybody else know?"

"Pretty much."

"Great."

"You know", Derek said, "we are all here if you need any help..."

"Thanks." Owen thought for a moment and then bridled. "I called Teddy."

Derek frowned. "Teddy? How is she?"

"She's doing fine. She has a lot of work. Anyway, I called her and told her what's happened."

"And?"

"And we talked. It felt good to talk with someone."

"What about your mother? Have you talked to her yet?"

Owen shook his head. "No, not yet."

"Why not? She's going to want to know that she has a granddaughter."

"I don't want to tell her yet. I mean, she has always wanted grandchildren, but this would be a huge shock for her. I don't want to upset her for nothing, in case Claire doesn't..." He didn't finish the sentence, he didn't want to.

"I think you should still tell her", Derek said. "Don't you think she would like to see her granddaughter, especially now when the danger is present? She's her grandmother, she's going to want to see her alive. If something happens and you tell her only afterward when it's too late, that's going to shock her."

"Yea. I guess you're right", Owen said and yawned, something that didn't go unnoticed by Derek. "When have you last slept?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

"Monday night", Owen replied, yawning again. "But it's okay. I can work three days straight, it's no big deal."

"Yes it is. You should get some sleep. And eat. And no offense, but a shower wouldn't hurt, either."

"Stop sounding like my mother. I can't go anywhere. Not until she's okay."

"That could take days", Derek reminded him.

"I don't care. I won't leave her alone."

Derek raised his eyebrows. He knew how stubborn Hunt could be. He also knew that there was nothing more obstinate in the world than a parent sitting over their child's sickbed. He dug his pager from the pocket of his pants.

"What are you doing?" Owen asked.

"Dr. Wilson's on Karev's service today", Derek explained as he wrote a message, "and Alex said this morning that he can lend her to Kepner if the ER gets out of hand. The ER's calm, so we're borrowing Wilson instead."

"You're paging her here to babysit", Owen realized.

"Yep", Derek said and put away the pager. "Now there's someone to watch over Clare, so you are free to take a break. Oh come on", he added, seeing the look in Owen's eyes, "you can't stay here forever. I saw you drooping when I came in. You're going to fall asleep sooner or later, whether you want to or not, so why not do it in a comfortable bed instead of a hard chair?"

"Well I can just as well go sleep in an on-call room, then", Owen protested.

"Yes, except you can't. I'm taking you home."

"Shepherd, I'm not –"

"You paged me, Dr. Shepherd?" said Dr. Jo Wilson as she emerged through the door. She quickly

glanced at Owen and then turned her eyes back on Derek – she was still a little uncomfortable around him after the... cupping a feel. Owen cleared his throat and looked away.

"Yes, I did", Derek said, clearly a bit amused by the awkwardness of the situation. "Could you please watch over Claire for an hour or two, while I take Dr. Hunt home?"

"I... Sure", Dr. Wilson said, seeing the meaningful look that Derek gave her. "Yea, no problem."

"Good", Derek said and turned to Owen. "Okay then, let's get you home."

"I..."

"Come on. She's here. She's going to stay here, in this room, and she won't take her eyes off of her, right?" he asked Dr. Wilson, who quickly nodded. "And if anything happens, she'll call you. Now come on. You're tired."

Owen tried to protest, but realized that resistance was futile. And as soon as Derek had said it, he had realized how tired he truly was. So, with no excuses left, he got up from the chair, gave his seat to Dr. Wilson and then looked at his daughter one last time. "I'm going to come back as soon as I can, okay? Just... hang in there. Daddy loves you."

"I'll take good care of her", Dr. Wilson assured. "There are piles of storybooks in the Peds storage room, I can have Alex bring some to me and I'll read her stories."

Owen nodded. "Thank you."

"You should take good care of her", Derek said. "After all, it's your boss's kid."

Derek's comment made Owen smile a little. He followed Derek out of the room. As they walked in the hallway, he could feel the nurses' stares in his back, but he didn't care. He was so tired. The journey felt like a dream, and before he knew it, he was sitting in Derek's car and they were driving off the parking lot.

"Where are you going?" he asked when Derek drove to the hospital intersection and made a right. "The trailer's at the opposite direction."

"We're not going to the trailer", Derek replied.

Owen frowned. "Then where are we going?"

"To where I said I'd take you. Home."

The morning sun rose, it's rays banishing the shadows of the night from Willow Street, a quiet street in the suburbs of Seattle. It's warmth and light also beamed through the kitchen window of number 24, illuminating the room and the elderly woman drinking her morning coffee at the table. The woman, still wearing her white nightgown, had a gray, almost silvery hair with streaks of blonde tied to a loose bun. She was reading the morning paper and enjoying the feel of sun's warmth against her back, so she didn't notice the black car pulling over to the side of the street in front of her house. On the kitchen island in front of the table was an old photo, a family portrait: a red-haired man with glasses, a smiling blonde woman, and between them a red-haired boy holding a football. The boy looked like a younger version of the red-haired man walking on the walkway towards the front door, accompanied by a black-haired man. Of course, the elderly woman was reading the paper and didn't see this. She only raised her head from the paper when she heard a knock on the door.

Who could it be at this hour? Marion Hunt thought as she got up and walked to the vestibule. She opened the door and was quite surprised to see his son standing on the porch, next to a man whom she recognized as Dr. Derek Shepherd. "Owen!"

"Hey, mom", her son greeted her. He was looking dead-beet and quite miserable, like he hadn't slept in days. This look instantly triggered her motherly instincts into action. Was he having nightmares again? "What are you doing here so early?" she asked.

"I just...", he started, and she realized that his voice was trembling. "I needed to see you." These words were followed by something that took her completely by surprise: her son darted forwards and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug like he had done as a little boy. Marion hugged her son, her face reflecting confusion which turned into consternation as she realized that her son was crying. "Shhh...", she comforted her son while looking questioningly at Derek over his shoulder. The look in his eyes told her that something big had happened. Was it about his PTSD? About Cristina? Or about them both? Had something similar to the choking happened again?

"Let's go inside", Derek said. "We'll explain."

Forty five minutes later, Marion entered the living room, where Dr. Shepherd was sitting on the couch, eying the family photos on the mantelpiece. She was feeling a little lightheaded, so she sat down to the armchair. On the coffee table in front of her was a magazine that she had been reading last night. Ironically, on the cover there was an article Are grandparents just babysitters to their grandchildren?

"Did you talk?" Derek asked.

Marion nodded. "We sure did."

"How are you?"

"Well, considering that my son just told me that I have a seriously ill granddaughter born from a... one night thing, I think I'm doing all right. I haven't had a heart attack. Yet." She gave a nervous laugh. "Why is it that every time someone brings my son to me, he has a bomb to drop. And this time I haven't even finished my morning paper yet."

"This must come as quite a shock to you?"

"Well, I can't say that I'm not shocked. Of course I'm happy to be a grandmother, and I'm happy for my son. I know how much he has always wanted to have children. It's just all so sudden. I can't even begin to understand what he must be feeling. He literally became a parent in one night – a single parent, no less. And that woman died?"

Derek nodded.

"Owen said she disappeared. What was she doing in Seattle?" Marion asked. She was having mixed feelings about her. On one hand she despised this woman for making a mess out of her son's life and making him miserable. On the other hand she couldn't hate the mother of her granddaughter. She needed to know what she had been in Seattle for.

"We don't know. We don't know whether her arrival to our hospital was a coincidence or if she was purposely on her way to see him when the accident happened. She was operated on by four doctors, but they were unable to save her."

"Thank God they were able to at least save my granddaughter, even though she's still in danger. Owen said her condition is in a stasis and she's neither getting better nor worse. Is that a good sign?"

"I don't know, I'm not a pediatric surgeon. It means that her medication has stopped the virus from doing any more harm, but it hasn't been able to defeat it. It's still holding her in it's grip."

"But there is hope?" Marion asked with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Once again I don't know for sure, but I'd say yes, there is hope."

She closed her eyes. "If there's hope, there's a chance that she's going to be fine. I can live with that."

"What about Owen", Derek asked. "How is he?"

"He fell asleep in his father's study. That's where he always went to think when something was bothering him. He was very close with his father, so no wonder the study became his safe haven."

Derek smiled. Apparently it was Owen's custom to find a refuge from the places where he dwelt. First the study, then the Vent.

"He's going to need help", Marion suddenly said. "I understand you have children, Dr. Shepherd?"

"Yes. My wife is expecting our second child."

"Then you know how hard it is to raise children, especially as a single parent, and especially after a start like this. You can't let him try to handle this on his own. He may not show it, but he is broken, and he is worried sick. I know my son doesn't talk about his feeling that often, he is like his father. But he is going to need people around him. He needs a shoulder, especially now when the situation with Cristina is what it is. He needs to know that he is not alone."

"Of course he's not alone", Derek said. "He's got us. And he's got you. I assure you, Mrs. Hunt, we do not abandon our colleagues and friends. Dr. Miranda Bailey made that very clear to us all just this morning."

"Miranda Bailey?" Marion tried to fumble the name. "She is the one close to Dr. Webber, the doctor whom no one says 'no' to."

"That sounds about right. How did you know?"

"Owen's told me about her. And I think I met her when I had my routine tests done. I used to go to your hospital but switched to Seattle Press when Owen started working with you. You people are his friends, I hardly think he would like the idea of you having me as a patient. At least I wouldn't if I were him."

Derek couldn't help but smile. At least now he knew where Owen had gotten his strong sense of privacy from. He then looked at the clock and got up. "I should probably go, I'm needed at the hospital."

Marion got up as well. "Yes, of course. And thank you for bringing him home. Though he didn't say it, it was clear in his eyes that he was relieved to be here."

"No problem. And I hope things get better", Derek said as they walked to the vestibule. Marion opened the door for him and said: "Thank you. We'll come to see my granddaughter as soon as he wakes up and has eaten something."

"I'll make sure someone guards her until you arrive", Derek said as he walked out the door. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

When the door shut, Marion walked to her late husband's study. Her son was sleeping peacefully on the couch. He looked so much younger, so much more relaxed. He was guarded by the memorial photo of his father, hanging above the desk on the opposite wall from the couch. Marion looked at her husband. Oh, Robert, I wish you were here to help. But don't worry, I'm going to fix this. And I'm sure you're in there, somewhere, watching over us.

She turned her attention back to her son and looked at his cell phone on the coffee table. She knew that Owen didn't like when people intervened with his business, he was like his mother. But she also knew that this was something he just couldn't do on his own. He rarely asked for help, but now he needed it. He was lonely and unhappy and it was her duty as his mother to try to cheer him up a bit. But she needed some help, too.

She grabbed his phone and started going through his contacts. In her mind, she was thanking her niece Stina for teaching her how to use those "smartphones". It took her a while, but eventually she found the number she was looking for. She pressed the call-button and patiently waited until she heard an answer.

"Hello. Doctor Bailey?" she spoke. "Yes, this is Marion Hunt, Dr. Hunt's mother. I'm sorry to disturb you, but I think I'm in a need of assistance, and I believe you can help me..."

"I can't believe you let me sleep through the whole day!" said Owen, as they drove towards the hospital.

"I'm sorry", said Marion. "But you were sleeping so peacefully. I thought it would be cruel to wake you. And admit it: you were in the need of some sleep."

"Exactly. Some sleep. Not 13 hours. Doctor Robbins is about to do her evening rounds. I want to be there."

"You would've eventually burned yourself out if you hadn't slept", his mother stated. "It's okay to sleep. Didn't you say there's a doctor looking after her while you're gone, and that she would call you if anything happens?"

"Yes, Dr. Wilson. But..."

"And has she called?"

"No, but..."

"Then nothing has changed. Except you feel a little bit better now."

"It's not about that. You don't –"

"What? Understand?" Marion looked at her son with raised eyebrows. "Owen, I understand it very well. I understand that you want to be there for her, I understand how hard it is to shake that feeling that everything's going to go wrong as soon as you take your eyes off her. I know that

feeling. It's scary, it's terrifying, and it's called being a parent. But you are only a human, Owen. You can't stay with her forever."

"I know", Owen said. "I just can't stop thinking that what if her condition had decreased while I was sleeping or eating. I just feel like I need to be there, in case something happens."

"But you can't always be there, son", Marion said with a sad smile. "That's the first thing you need to learn about parenting: no matter how much you try, you can't always be there. That's why you need to learn to trust the world just enough so that you can let your child free without expecting it to end in a disaster. Anything in this world can go wrong. But that doesn't mean it will."

Owen didn't answer. His mother's words reminded him of Callie's panic attack when Sofia had been placed in a safety seat. He remembered what Dr. Bailey had said to her: "You don't feel this way because you were in an accident. You feel this way because you are a parent. It'll pass, mostly. Some of it never will. Now he understood what she had meant.

"I can't wait to see her", Marion stated. "What does she look like?"

"A lot like me when I was younger."

His mother smiled. "Red-haired?"

He nodded.

"That gene just won't go away. It's becoming a family trademark."

"You can blame grandma."

"I am. I was hoping that you would pass on at least some of my hair, but no, it's still Eleanor with her perfect red hair. How about her eyes?"

"I haven't seen them yet. But I'm told they are like mine."

"You'll see them. I promise", she assured. A moment of silence passed, until she decided to speak again: "I'm honored, by the way. That you named her after my sister."

Owen managed to smile. "I've known that I'll name my daughter after her since I was 16. I think it's a beautiful name."

"Me too."

After that, they didn't speak much. Owen pulled over to the parking lot, next to his truck. They stepped out of the car and walked to the hospital.

"Should we go to the info desk or something?" Marion asked.

"Why? You're with me", Owen said and led his mother towards the hallway leading to Peds. He opened the doors and immediately froze.

"Owen? What is it?" his mother asked. He didn't answer. He was still staring at the other end of the corridor, where Cristina had just stood. She had emerged from the doors, looked at him for a second, and then disappeared to another corridor as a flash of blue scrubs, black hair, and something violet and yellow.

"Honey?"

He shook his head, snapping himself out of it. "Sorry. Nothing. Let's go."

As they approached the Peds waiting area, Owen could hear the sounds of a mass of people. What the heck, he thought. Why were there so many people in Peds waiting area? Had something serious happened? Had there been an accident involving children, flooding the waiting area with relatives? No, that wasn't possible. Had such disaster happened, he would've been paged to work. No, this had to be something else.

Owen and Marion turned around the corner and stopped, Owen stunned, Marion smiling happily. The people in the waiting area were his friends and colleagues. Dr. Bailey. Dr. Webber. Dr. Torres. Dr. Kepner. Dr. Avery. Dr. Karev. Dr. Grey. All there.

"What... What..." Words failed him. What were they all there for?

"Before you say anything", said Alex, "this was Bailey's idea."

"Sssshhh." Bailey made a shushing noise to Alex and then turned to Owen. "We thought... Well, I thought..."

"We thought", Marion said.

"Yes, we thought, as in I and your mother... We thought that..."

"We're here for you", Callie helped. "And for Claire. We wanted to show you that you are not alone in this. We're all here, and we all want to help. We all agreed to come here – Arizona would be here but she's doing her rounds."

"And Derek's in surgery", said Meredith.

"Yes. So, everyone wants to help you. And Claire."

"You do not have to survive on your own", reminded Richard. "In this hospital we help each other. No matter what."

"And we wanted you to know that", said April. "So we came here. And we all bought something for Claire. She's going to need toys and such when she gets older. Arizona already took our gifts to her room."

"But don't worry, none of us got their gift from the hospital gift shop", Avery threw in.

"So the bottom line is", said Bailey, "that we want you to know that we're here for you whenever you need help. And that we're all hoping and praying that Claire gets better soon."

Owen was stunned. He couldn't believe that they we're all there, all of them, for him and his daughter. Normally he wouldn't have liked people getting into his business, but now his heart was filled with nothing more than warmth, tenderness and gratitude towards those people. It made him want to hug each and every one of them. "Thank you. Thank you so much", he said, deep emotion in his voice, and then turned to his mother. "You did this?"

His mother smiled. "I may have called Dr. Bailey, but this was mostly their idea."

Owen still couldn't speak. He just smiled and looked at the people around him, the best people in the world. Suddenly he realized something: Cristina was missing. Of course she was missing. What had he expected? Had he really for a moment hoped that she would be there, telling him that she was there for him and that she hoped Claire would get better? That, for just that moment, their problems would've been fixed and everything would've been well for just that little moment? Yes. He had hoped that. He had hoped that she would've forgiven him. She was the one person that he needed, and though having all his friends by his side made him feel better, she was the only one who could truly make him feel that everything was going to be okay. So yes, he had hoped that she would be there. But she wasn't and he understood very well why she wasn't able to forgive him this. But understanding it didn't make it any more bearable.

Before anyone realized that Owen's face had darkened and he had fallen silent, there was a strange sound in the air that broke the quietness in the waiting room. Everyone heard the sound, and they all froze and listened to it. It was an ordinary sound, as uncommon as the bark of a dog or the sound of a motor running, but still it was able to silence the entire room, like it had been the sound of an angel's horn.

Crying.

Everyone turned to see the doors of the NICU, just as Arizona Robbins came through them, wearing a familiar pink gown. She looked at Owen. "Owen, I think you should come see this."

Everybody turned around and looked at Owen. He was still for a moment and then, without a command from his brain, his legs started moving. As if in slow-motion, like a sleepwalker, he walked past all his friends, followed by his mother, and their faces floated past him like mist in the wind. All he saw was Arizona, who turned around and walked back to the NICU. With everyone's stare in his back he followed her with his mother, the doors swinging shut behind them. It felt like a dream. They followed Arizona, and she led them to the room where there was a rocking chair, a wall full of monitors and screens... and an incubator containing a crying – and more importantly, conscious – Claire Hunt.

"I came to examine her and she just woke up", Arizona explained as Owen gasped. He couldn't believe it. He didn't dare to believe it. After all the worry, after all the pain, after that poisonous shadow of fear had been suffocating him for so long... She was awake.

"Oh my God", he said and walked to the incubator, marveling at the sight of his daughter moving her tiny limbs, turning her tiny head and crying, practically screaming with all her might, as if to let everyone know that she was alive and the fight was not over. He couldn't stop the tears of happiness from escaping his eyes as he put his hand through the hole on the side of the cover, touched his daughter and said: "Hey there, Claire. You're awake! There, there, now. You don't have to keep shouting. We all heard you already."

As if the baby had recognized her father's voice, her crying immediately ceased, turning into faint vocalization, and she turned her head towards him and finally showed him the eyes that he had wanted to see for so long. He made a little sob as he finally saw them: two beautiful ocean-blue eyes, bottomless and beautiful, exactly similar to those of his and his mother. And they stared at each other, a father and a daughter, and Owen just kept stroking her cheek. "It's okay, now", he murmured. "It's okay. Daddy's here. It's okay. And look, grandma's here, too!"

"Hey, beautiful", Marion said, joining her son. She looked years younger, and her smile was brighter than the sun. "You gave us quite a scare, didn't you? But it's okay. Grandma knew that you were going to be okay. You're a Hunt. You will always survive."

Little Claire just stared at them.

Owen turned to see Arizona, who was also smiling. "Thank you", he said. "Thank you."

"We're not out of the woods yet", she reminded him. "She's still sick. And she still has a hole in her heart that we need to monitor."

"But this is a good sign, right?" asked Marion.

"Yes", Arizona said. "This is a good sign." She walked to the incubator and smiled at Claire. "Hello, Princess. I see you already know your dad and grandmother. I'm your doctor, Arizona. I should have known you wake up when we bring you presents."

Owen turned to see the pile of gifts left at the table next to the rocking chair.

"Everyone brought something" Arizona explained. "Those who could not make it gave their gifts for someone else to deliver."

Owen scanned the pile. There were all kinds of little stuffed animals, a brown teddy bear from April, an elephant from Meredith and Derek, a giraffe from Alex, and a little smiling snake from Callie and Arizona. Bailey's gift was a small colorful xylophone. Richard had bought a picture book, and Avery had given two dolls, a girl dressed as a doctor and a boy dressed in an army suit. The gifts were all wonderful. But what caught Owen's attention was the gift-bag next to Meredith and Derek's elephant. What had Arizona said? 'Those who could not make it gave their gifts for someone else to deliver'.

The gift was a violet stuffed owl. In a yellow gift-bag.