Forgive the short chapter, but I hope this chapter fulfills some of your wishes. Please review, comment, critique, give ideas, give advice, etc. I love anything and everything you post on the review board. Plus, there is another plot twist that I don't think anyone will see coming. Dun dun DUNN!

Callie smiled and turned towards the on call room. She wanted to be well rested, because she wanted to help this kid.

No matter what.

12 Hours Later

Meredith sat in the empty OR gallery, texting her husband about everything that just happened. Meredith had just sat through a 4 and a half hour surgery throat she had no interest in. She thought that orthopedics were boring and found no fun in sitting watching the procedure, but she loved her husband and did what was asked of her.

She's good. Callie just finished. Her BP is stable. They're taking her to post-op. Mark's going to start the skin grafts on her face while she's still out.-Mer

Callie had just finished performing an above the knee amputation on Natalie. Meredith hadn't wanted to sit and watch the whole thing, but she had to. Derek had been pulled into an emergency craniotomy and would only do it if Meredith gave him hourly updates on Natalie's condition.

Meredith didn't know why Derek was so attached to this kid.

The surgery had gone flawlessly. Callie had been able to make a clean slice right above the left knee. It had taken a few hours, but they finally got her leg off. They sewed up the stump and set it in a makeshift cast, because the femur was still broken and it had to heal.

That's when Mark had suggested doing the skin grafts.

Meredith thought it was a good idea. Skin grafts hurt like hell, and she was sure that Natalie would rather get it done while she's unconscious. Meredith would. And apparently, so did Derek.

Good. I think that's a good idea. I'll be out soon. Hopefully I'll be there when she wakes up. Love you-Derek

Meredith smiled at his text as she output her phone in the pocket of her white coat. She walked out of the gallery. She had been paged by a few minutes ago, and Meredith knew that she couldn't be late.

She ran down the hallway, stopping only to allow a girl on crutches to go through. She ran all the way through the hospital, past the ICU, past the waiting room, and right into the ER where she nearly collided with .

"Hey hey. Watch it." She snapped at Meredith. The tiny doctor looked at her with a steely gaze. "You look like hell." She added.

"Hey. I was saving the life of a little kid." Meredith defended herself. Dr. Bailey was right. Meredith did look like hell, but she would never admit to it.

"I don't need your excuses. I need your hands." told her, her face serious. "I need you and Yang to help me with a patient. His name is Elijah Dawson. He's been my patient for years, and he's coming in today for his 8th and hopefully last surgery to remove tumors from his stomach."

Cristina walked in. She looked well rested and refreshed, the exact opposite of Meredith. She eyed Meredith questioningly.

"You look like hell." Cristina told her.

"I do not. I was busy." Meredith retorted. "Sorry we didn't page you." She added quietly.

"No. I'm fine. I don't really want to be in..." Cristina trailed off. Meredith saw her eyes get clouded and she was obviously still scared of going into an OR. Meredith wondered if she would ever be ready to go back in. That was a question even Cristina couldn't answer.

"Enough chitchat." Bailey interrupted them, breaking Meredith's thoughts. "Elijah will be here any minute.I needed my two most capable residents on this case. That's why I chose you two."

Cristina started to say something, but Bailey interrupted her.

"Eh, eh, eh. Don't make me regret saying that." She stopped her. Putting her hand I front of Cristina's face.

Derek came up behind Meredith. He wrapped his hands around her waist and kissed her neck slowly. Meredith grabbed his hands and pulled him closer.

"Hey." He mumbled into her neck.

"Hi." She said back.

"Thanks for the updates on Natalie." He told her quietly, letting go of her waist.

"It's no problem, but why did you want me to do it?"

"I just, " he started. "I just feel bad for the kid." Meredith looked at him quizzically. "Dr. Bailey, could I borrow for a minute?" He pleaded with his big eyes.

"Have her back in ten minutes, ready to remove a tumor." She nodded with a very serious expression. Derek smiled and grabbed Meredith's hand, pulling her out of the ER and into an empty on-call room.

"What is it?" Meredith asked him.

"I learned her story." He said blankly.

"What?"

"I learned why she was out there last night." He explained. His wife nodded, urging him to continue with his story.

"I came in to talk to her, and tell her that we had to amputate her leg. And, she was fine with it."

"What?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought when I heard her. But, then she explained her feelings to me. She had been in multiple foster, never stayed anywhere for long. She hated it. Anger foster parents beat her, neglected her, and the other kids did it to. Eventually she was sick of being controlled." Derek's eyes were misty.

"She took money from her foster mother and ran. She's been living on the street for a year or so."

Now Meredith's eyes were getting misty. This girl's story kind of reminded her of Alex, and he was one of her best friends. She knew how much foster care has messed him up. Foster care and getting hit by a truck? That was enough to destroy someone's life.

"That still doesn't explain why she was hit." Meredith pestered him to continue.

"Apparently she was sleeping outside of the bar last night. She saw the truck and then saw April. And you want to know what she thought?" He stopped. "She said she wanted to die. If she was going to die, she wanted to save someone in the process. That's why she saved April."

Now they were both crying.

"That'..." Meredith's reaction almost completely mirrored Derek's reaction.

"Brave." He finished her sentence.

"Brave." She repeated, her eyes deep in thought. She was staring into space, deep in thought. Derek wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a deep hug. The couple just stood there, embracing, absorbing what they had just heard.

"Meredith." He whispered into her hair.

"Yeah?" She responded quietly.

"That girl went through hell." His voice was shaky and Meredith could feel his tears falling onto her head. His hands were shaking as he held her in his arms. Something was wrong with him, and Meredith couldn't tell what it was.

"Yeah she did. We've all been through hell." She whispered back. She nodded her head.

"Yeah, but when we went through hell, we had someone there to help us through. I have you. You have me. This girl has nobody." He was crying and shaking even harder now. Meredith couldn't tell where he was going with this.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess I did."

"Nobody deserves to go through hell alone. Especially not somebody like Natalie. Someone who just doesn't deserve it. Life is just not fair."

"He was now making her hair wet with his tears. They were falling thick and fast off his cheeks and sliding onto her head, soaking the roots of her hair. He was squeezing her tightly with his arms, in a loving, almost protective sort of way. His hands were shaking. And Meredith couldn't see it, but he was nervously twisting his wedding ring on his finger.

"Are you okay Derek?" Meredith tried to soothe her husband, unsure of what was going on.

"I don't know why I care so much about this girl. I barely know her, she is 't my kid. There is no reason I should be this attached to her. I just, I just, am." His voice was barely more than a whisper as he let her go, slowly letting her slip out of their embrace.

Now Meredith could fully see his face.

His eyes were red and puffy, obviously from his crying. His lip was bulged in a slight frown, making him look distressed. He had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was looking at something far away. His hair, actually, his hair was still perfect. That's so annoying.

"What is it Derek?" She asked. Now she was getting worried.

"Never mind. I'm fine." He told her.

She knew he was lying. She could see it in his face.

"Derek Shepard. I am your wife. Now tell me what is wrong right now." Her voice got serious and her eyes narrowed. She wanted to know, now.

"Nobody deserves to be alone." He told her quietly.

"We've already established that." Meredith was starting to get impatient now. She was tapping her right foot intensively on the ground.

"What I mean is..." He mumbled something inaudible to Meredith. She shot him another look.

"What?"

"What I mean is, if Natalie makes it through this, if she survives," Meredith still had no idea where he was going with this. "she doesn't want to go back to foster care."

"So?" Meredith asked. "Why is it your problem?"

"It's my problem because Meredith," he looked at her seriously. He was no longer crying and his voice was steady. He stood up straight and looked her in the eyes. "I she survives, I want to adopt her Meredith. I want to adopt Natalie."

Meredith was not expecting that.