When Meredith had gone to bed that night she had thought it would be hard to get to sleep. Zola was starting to teeth and Hunter had been up a little later than normal working on his science project. Ava had gone to bed two hours earlier than normal but she had done a lot that day with playing outside. She had gotten cranky but Meredith and Derek found it hard to get upset with her. She was very rarely a cranky child and it was clear that her illness had everything to do with it. So Meredith had thought she wouldn't be able to sleep because she had so much to think about but she had fallen right to sleep. Except now, her eyes were open and when she looked at the clock it was only fifteen after midnight. She looked over at Derek who was sound asleep then at Ava whose cough had first woken her up. It had gotten worse throughout the day but they decided they would take her to see Arizona in the morning. It was probably a cold which wasn't good but Ava would get over it and Arizona would know what to do. Except as she looked at her daughter, she could hear just how congested she was and the cough was sounding deeper. Chances were it had already been in her body for a day or two but the cold was just now setting in. She frowned, putting her hand to Ava's small head and she realized her child was burning up. This wasn't right and fevers let alone being sick with a cold wasn't that good. If she had a fever they needed to be more concerned. "Derek...Derek wake up."

"Hmm..." Derek groaned, rolling over onto his back, not opening his eyes all the way. "

"Derek..." She leaned over, shaking his shoulder.

"What?" He opened his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Twelve Twenty." She whispered.

"Ava..." Derek sat up quickly when he heard his daughter cough.

"She's burning up."

"Did you take her temperature?"

"No I haven't woken her up yet."

"I'll get the thermometer." He yawned, getting out of bed.

"Ava...Ava..." Meredith lifted her daughter into her lap.

"Mommy..." Ava woke up slowly and started to cough again

"I'm right here..."

"I don't feel good."

"I know." Meredith reached for Ava's juice.

"I..." Ava began but then started to cough.

"Okay...alright." Meredith adjusted Ava in her lap. "Try to take a deep breath."

"Okay I have the thermometer." Derek came back out from the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Okay...open your mouth Ava."

"Under your tongue." Derek held the thermometer. "Just hold on..."

"It will be done in just a second." Meredith breathed, looking up at Derek.

"It's okay." He whispered, kissing her head as the thermometer started to beep and he looked down at it. "Oh..."

"What is it?" Meredith knew the look on her husband's face wasn't good as Ava leaned into her chest.

"Hundred and three."

"That's high."

"She needs to go to the hospital."

"Yeah." Meredith reached for the small princess blanket.

"Okay." Derek tried to stay calm but his heart was pounding. Normally at the mention of the hospital, Ava would start to scream and cry but she had no reaction but to start coughing again.

"She's lethargic." Meredith breathed, hearing a knock at the bedroom door.

"Come in." Derek stood up from the bed to grab some clothes.

"Derek? Meredith?" His mother stepped slowly into the room.

"Hi Mom." He sighed, pulling on a sweatshirt.

"What's going on?" The older woman asked, going straight to the bed and sitting in front of her Grandbaby.

"We have to take Ava into the hospital."

"What's wrong?" She frowned, stroking Ava's cheek.

"She has a high fever and she's been coughing all night." He sighed, handing Meredith a pair of pants.

"She's lethargic...not with it at all." Meredith sighed. "Can someone take her for a minute so I can change?"

"Of course." Mrs. Shepherd took her granddaughter into her lap.

"I'll be back." Meredith said before walking into the restroom.

"I hate to ask you one more favor but we need you to stay here with Zo and Hunter." Derek told his mother.

"Oh it's no problem dear...I'll look after them for however long."

"Thanks."

"She's burning up." His mother frowned.

"Her temperature is a hundred and three." Derek grabbed a pair of jeans.

"Oh dear."

"Okay...I'm ready." Meredith walked in, reaching for Ava's coat. "Let's slide her coat on then wrap her in a blanket.

"I'll change while you do that." Derek sighed, quickly going into the bathroom.

"Call me and give me an update whenever you can." Mrs. Shepherd helped her put Ava's coat on.

"Ava...we're going to take you to a doctor." Meredith said gently.

"Mommy..." Ava groaned.

"Tell me what hurts..."

"No..." She cried before starting to cough again.

"Okay..." Derek came back into the room. "I'm ready to go."

"Okay..." Meredith reached for her purse and the sippy cup. "We have our phones."

"Bye Mom." He hugged his mother quickly. "Thanks again.

"Keep me posted." The older woman requested.

"We will."

"Drive safely." She said, kissing her granddaughter's cheek.

"Do you want to call Arizona on the way?" Derek asked as Meredith walked in front of him carrying Ava.

"Yeah." Meredith said, almost out of breath.

"I...this isn't good..."

"I know." Meredith breathed, opening the front door.

"It's okay Ava...you'll be better soon." Derek walked quickly out to the car and opened the door so Meredith could buckle Ava in the car seat.

"I'll sit in the back with her."

"Okay."

"Damn it Arizona." Meredith groaned as Arizona's phone went to voicemail.

"Try Alex." Derek started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

"Already on it."

"We'll be there soon Ava."

"Hey Alex...it's Meredith. We're on our way in." Meredith said quickly into the phone. She held Ava's hand as she spoke. "She has a fever of a hundred and three...coughing and...yeah we'll be there shortly. Thanks...bye."

"What did he say?" Derek asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

"He'll meet us down there with a gurney. He's going to have a team read to run tests upstairs."

"I just...maybe its just a bad cold..."

"He mentioned that..."

"It's just a cold..."

"Right."

"Just a cold." Derek repeated, pulling into the hospital parking lot.

"You got here in record time."

"Yeah well..." He turned the car off and got out quickly.

"Come on sweetie." Meredith said quickly, unbuckling Ava's car seat.

"I can take her."

"Here..." Meredith handed her over to Derek, then reached for her bag.

"It's okay pumpkin." Derek whispered to her. "We're going to take care of you."

"Daddy..." She whimpered.

"I know...you're going to be all better." He carried her through the doors of the hospital.

"Hey." Alex ran forward with the gurney. "Derek...tell me what happened."

"She um...she woke up in the middle of the night...coughing...wheezing." Derek told Alex, putting Ava onto the gurney. "We took her temperate and its...one hundred and three and she's just...she's lethargic and..."

"Okay...I'm going to order an x-ray of her chest...bloodwork and we're going to get her an IV right away. She could have pneumonia."

"Can we come with you?"

"Yeah...but you'll have to wait outside the exam room." Alex said as they hopped onto an elevator.

"It's okay, Aves." Derek leaned down and kissed his daughter's head.

"We're going to take care of her." Alex assured them.

"Right..." Derek nodded, looking at Meredith.

"Why don't you guys wait over there." Alex pointed to some chairs. "We're going to take her in."

"Okay..."

"Ava...we love you and we're going to wait out here." Meredith leaned over, kissing Ava's cheek.

"Bye... " Derek breathed, as Alex wheeled Ava away. She hadn't even responded when Alex said she was going to take her and when he and Meredith had said goodbye.

"Damn it."

"We shouldn't have let her stay outside."

"She didn't get sick from that."

"I...it couldn't have helped."

"True." Meredith swallowed, staring at the door of the exam room.

"She's going to be okay." He put his arms around her.

"She's so sick."

"I wish we could go in there." Derek sighed.

"We don't let the families of our patients go in and suddenly it seems very rude." Meredith walked over to chairs, running her hand through her long hair.

"I...I don't know...I should have known earlier." He paced back and forth in front of her.

"Derek..."

"What...she was coughing and..."

"We both should have known." Meredith crossed her arms.

"I just...she's in chemo and we let her go outside in the cold...

"We've practically kept her inside in our own little bubble...she needed to go outside and...we were wrong. We thought we made the right call." Meredith looked down at her lap.

"And now she's in there." Derek breathed.

"We just have to wait...wait for Alex to come and talk to us."

"Yeah..." He took a seat next to her.

"She'll be okay...she'll be okay..." Meredith repeated to herself wanting to believe it. As a doctor she knew the options of what could be wrong and as a parent she didn't care. She just needed to be with her husband and see her little girl. She needed her to be okay. She needed to know that Ava was going to get through this because right now she didn't want to admit how terrified she was.

"Guys?" Alex came out of the exam room holding Ava's chart.

"Yeah?" Meredith looked up.

"Well it looks like she's got pneumonia. The x-ray showed that her lungs are filled with fluid. We're going to start her on antibiotics and she's already got an IV in.

"Okay..." Meredith sighed. Pneumonia wasn't good when their little girl had cancer.

"We're going to admit her because her fever is so high."

"And what affect...she has cancer Alex. We're doctors. We know this isn't good."

"Her body is weak so there's a good chance her next round of chemo is going to have to be pushed back. Arizona will make the final decision on that." Alex told them.

"Okay." Meredith nodded.

"We're going to take her up and get her set up in a room. A nurse will come down and take you up to her."

"Alright." Meredith breathed, taking Derek's hand. "We'll be here."

"We're taking good care of her." Alex smiled, patting Meredith on the back. "I'll see you guys soon."

"Thank you Alex." Derek sighed. "I um...does Arizona know she's here?"

"She does and she's going to look further into Ava's situation." Alex nodded.

"I just want to see her." He sighed.

"Soon." Alex assured them. "But I gotta run..."

"Thank you." Derek repeated.

"Thanks." Meredith whispered as Alex ran back to the exam room.

"She's going to hate staying here."

"Yeah..."

"Um...after she's settled I'll go home and get some of her things."

"Pack some of my things too." Meredith insisted, feeling the color drift away from her face.

"I will."

"Thanks."

"I told Hunter I would take him to the park and play catch tomorrow..."

"Do that and I'll be with Ava."

"I...yeah..."

"We'll figure it out." Meredith said, trying to convince herself. Being a doctor right now sucked because everything that could be wrong was going through her head. Ava was sick and none of this was good but she needed her parents. She needed Meredith and Derek to help her through this and stand by her side and that was exactly what Meredith would do. No matter what.