"Do you have any...threes?" Derek asked his little girl, sitting in her hospital room. It had been two days since she had surgery and she was doing really well. There had been no complications and she was getting stronger each day. There were still plenty of moments when she was in pain or wanted to leave the hospital but overall, Derek couldn't have been happier about how well she was doing.
"Go fish Daddy." Ava yawned.
"Do you want to go back to sleep?" He asked, picking a card from the pile. It was so nice for him to spend time with his daughter, playing cards and distracting her from everything that was going on, but more than anything he wanted her to get her rest and get better.
"No Daddy." Ava sighed like her mother as she pulled at one of her pig tails. "Do you have any princesses?"
"Go fish."
"Aw man." Ava groaned. She knew they were queens but she thought princess' were a lot better.
"Sorry Aves." Derek laughed. "Do you have any fives?"
"Here." Ava handed him a card, before leaning back against her pillow.
"Thank you."
"Hey..." Meredith walked into the room, wrapping her sweater around her body.
"Look who's here." Derek smiled.
"Mommy!" Ava grinned.
"Hi sweety..." Meredith sat down next to her little girl on the bed.
"Daddy and me are playing Go Fish."
"That sounds like fun." Meredith ran a hand over her little girl's forehead. "How are you feeling?"
"All better." Ava answered proudly.
"Let me look at your incision."
"The nurse came in and checked it a little while ago." Derek told her.
"How was her swelling." Meredith lifted Ava onto her lap.
"Going down."
"I'll look in a little while." Meredith sighed.
"I can go home now." Ava looked up at Meredith.
"I wish you could." Meredith breathed.
"Ava I think Mommy brought you something." Derek changed the subject.
"I did." Meredith reached for the bag she had brought in. "When I walked downstairs I went to the gift shop and they had this stuffed monkey."
"Thanks Mommy!"
"I think we should name it Mark." Derek teased.
"That's not a name for a monkey Daddy!"
"No?"
"No." Ava giggled.
"Oh...I thought it was." He laughed.
"Well what are we going to name the monkey?" Meredith lifted the stuffed animal that was not only fluffy and soft, but also wearing a tuxedo.
"Henry." Ava told them.
"Henry the Monkey." Meredith giggled.
"Yeah." Ava laughed.
"Guess what Zola did today Ava?" Meredith asked, tossing her phone into one of the cushioned chairs.
"What?" Her little girls eyes got big.
"She got into the lotion that Hunter left where she could reach it and it got all over her...even in her hair! So grandma had to give her a bath."
"Silly Zo." Ava giggled, wincing slightly.
"You okay?" Derek asked, running his hand over Ava's hair.
"I don't like this..." Ava pointed to the intravenous catheter.
"I know, pumpkin."
"Take it off."
"I can't Ava."
"Sweetie remember Alex told you to count to ten whenever you got upset with it?" Meredith breathed, stroking Ava's hair.
"You're doing so good, Ava,." Derek whispered.
"You are." Meredith agreed.
"Do you want to keep playing cards?"
"No." Ava shrugged.
"That's the five year old attention span for you." Meredith laughed.
"Okay...then I win." Derek laughed, putting the cards away.
"No I win!" Ava laughed.
"Nope...you gave up."
"But Mommy says you always let us win because you think we're pretty."
"I..." Meredith gasped.
"Mommy told you that?" Derek smirked, looking at Meredith.
"Yep."
"I may...have told her that." Meredith giggled.
"Okay...you can win." Derek kissed Ava's cheek.
"Yay!"
"But next time I'm going to win."
"Nuh uh." Ava laughed, but then it quickly turned into coughing.
"Ava..." Derek frowned.
"Okay...maybe we should calm down." Meredith said quietly, patting Ava's back. "Arizona said she may start coughing a lot."
"Mommy?"
"Yes Ava?"
"I want to go home."
"Hopefully tomorrow." Meredith replied.
"I don't like the hospital." Ava sighed, coughing again.
"You liked coming to work with us." Meredith whispered.
"I like the cafeteria."
"Maybe we can go down there later if Arizona says its okay." Derek told her.
"Ooh and maybe get some jello." Meredith laughed, kissing Ava's cheek. "And when I spoke to Grandma...she said she's going to make you whatever you want when you come home so you have to tell me so I can let her know."
"Really?" Ava smiled.
"Yep and dessert."
"Okay."
"And Hunter is so excited to see you."
"Can we give him a monkey too?" Ava asked, holding tightly onto the stuffed animal.
"I think we can do that." Derek smiled.
"They even have a baby monkey down there that we could get for Zo."
"Yeah!"
"Hey guys...I've come to run more tests on Ava." Alex arrived in the doorway.
"Oh...hey." Meredith smiled weakly.
"No." Ava shook her head, grabbing onto Derek's hand.
"This test doesn't hurt at all...promise." Alex held out his pinky. "And actually I need your help with some chocolate pudding too. As soon as we're done I'll bring you right back."
"Pudding?"
"Yeah...but you have to come with me for your MRI first." Alex shrugged.
"Ava...Daddy and I will be right here when you get back."
"Okay..." Ava breathed.
"Love you Ava." Meredith breathed, standing up from the bed so Alex could help their little girl into the wheel chair.
"Bye Mommy."
"Bye." Meredith sat back down on the bed.
"Bye Ava." Derek breathed as Alex rolled her out of the room.
"She seems to be doing better."
"Yeah..."
"I want to take her home."
"Tomorrow will be three days."
"Hopefully we get out of here because I miss Zola and Hunter...plus I think Ava is hating this place."
"I'm hating it too." He breathed.
"She's pretty cute though."
"She is."
"Hmm...she reminds me of you."
"Really?" Derek breathed.
"Yeah." Meredith smiled. "Just the way she carries herself...the way she jokes around."
"But she looks like you." He laughed, picking up the stuffed monkey.
"She looks like us."
"She's a brave little girl." He whispered.
"She is."
"Hmm..."
"I just want her to get better and I will do whatever it takes even if it means getting up and moving to...Germany."
"Luckily I don't think we'll have to do that."
"She'll get better."
"She will." Derek nodded, holding onto the monkey that his daughter had named Henry. She was getting better each day and he could see it with his own eyes but he wasn't ready for what was going to come next. She was doing okay now but he knew that once the chemo started she would be sicker than she'd ever been in her life and their stays in the hospital would be even longer and even harder and he was dreading putting his little girl through it.