"Mer and Derek, it's time for us to take Chrissy to the o.r.," announced Alex. Meredith, Derek, and Chrissy had reported to Seattle Grace at 6 a.m., as requested, and after filing out forms, they had been waiting in the pre-op area for almost half an hour.

Meredith kissed Chrissy, and said, "Listen to Uncle Alex. This procedure is going to be very short and Mommy and Daddy will be with you soon."

"Okay, Mommy."

"I love you," said Meredith as she kissed Chrissy again.

Derek kissed Chrissy, and said, "I love you very much. You're such a brave girl."

"I love you and Mommy, too."

"You'll be back with Mommy and Daddy very soon," said Alex as he and his intern wheeled her hospital bed her toward the o.r.

"We might as well go to your office," Meredith told Derek after they saw Chrissy vanish behind the o.r. doors.

"Okay," Derek replied, and they took the elevator to get to his office. They walked quickly, without stopping to talk to anyone until they got to his office. Derek took out the key Richard had given him earlier, while he was waiting in the pre-op area, and he opened the door his to his office for the first time. He looked around and was impressed. "They did a great job of assembling this office," he told Meredith. "I can't believe they shelved the books the same way I had them in NY. My secretary in NY must have taken photos of my office before she packed it up." He smiled when he saw some photo from their wedding. of Derek, Meredith, and Chrissy. "I'm glad they added a few new touches. That's a great photo of the three of us."

He turned and looked at Meredith and saw tears running down her cheeks. "Why are you crying? Dr. Robbins promised to do the Hickman herself, and it's a very simple procedure. You could do it yourself. She'll be fine."

"I'm upset that she's back in the hospital. I'm just remembering what it was like when we came to the hospital the first time. I feel like I've spent my whole life in hospitals, first when my mom was working and then as a medical student, an intern, and a resident. But I hate being here as the mother of a cancer patient."

"I know."

"Really, you don't. When you came, you knew you were a good match for Chrissy. It's a good thing, Derek, but I had been in such despair; she wasn't responding to medication, and I wasn't a good match."

"Well, I am a good match, and she is going to be fine."

"You don't know that, Derek."

"We need to have faith. Stay positive."

"I do that for Chrissy, but I shouldn't have to do it for you."

Derek was abashed. He didn't want Meredith to pretend for him. "You're right. You tell me anything."

Meredith smiled. "Thanks."

"So tell me, Meredith, why didn't you call me when Chrissy was first diagnosed? You knew that a bone marrow transplant might be necessary; it's pretty common treatment for leukemia, and you knew that a father could be a match."

Meredith stared at Derek for a few minutes. Then she asked, "If you wanted to know, why did you wait until we're married to ask that question?"

"It's not important, if you don't want to answer."

"I'll answer. I knew you missed three great years, and it was my fault. Now, no matter what happens, we're always going to worry about Chrissy. Even if treatment is successful, there will always be the possibility of a relapse or complications from treatment. I just didn't want to tell you that you had a sick daughter."

"Did you know that I wanted children? And that I would want to know my daughter, whether she was healthy or sick?"

"You seemed like the kind of guy who wanted children, but I did wonder why you never had children with Addison. You'd been married eleven years. That's a long time to be married without having children."

"We wanted children eventually, but the time was never right."

"But your sisters Kathleen, Nancy, and Liz all have children, and they're all doctors. Kathleen must have had her twins when she was in medical school."

"They were a big surprise, Mer." He smiled. "Sometimes the best things in life are surprises. Anyway, she was in her second year of medical school. She'd been married for a couple of years, but she'd been planning on starting a family after internship. But my mom volunteered to be her nanny, and they made it work. And once she finished her residency, she worked part-time as a psychiatrist. And when Nancy got pregnant, Kathleen hired a nanny, so Mom could help Nancy. And Nancy's husband is a journalist, and he was able to work at home much of the time."

"And Lizzie?"

"She's working part-time as a pediatrician, and she waited to have children until she finished her residency and had her first job. Addie and I were more focused on our careers. Addie wanted to be a double-board certified, and I wanted to excel in neurosurgery. Our residencies were demanding. And, unlike my sisters, we both did fellowships. And we wanted to live in Manhattan; my mom was living in the suburbs with my sisters, so she'd be too busy to help. We'd have needed at least one nanny, maybe two. We were planning on having children, just later. Then our marriage ran into trouble, and we weren't going to have kids until we were sure our marriage was solid. So there was never a good time for children."

"Well, Chrissy wasn't born at a particularly good time, either. You were living in New York, still married to Addison."

"Meredith, you know I love Chrissy very much. I'm so grateful for her. As I said, sometimes the best things in life come by surprise."

"She is pretty special."

"Just like her mom."

"That's sweet of you to say."

Derek looked at Meredith. He was glad to see that she had stopped crying. He thought for a few minutes and decided to ask her a question he had long wondered about. "Meredith, please don't take this the wrong way. You know I love Chrissy, and I'm so grateful you decided to continue your pregnancy. But why did you?"

Meredith again stared at Derek for a couple of moments. "Why didn't I exercise my right to choose, is that what you mean?"

Derek nodded.

"I'm pro-choice, but, for me, with Chrissy, I never had a doubt about what to do. I loved you; Chrissy was conceived with love. I'd lost you, but I had a chance to have someone special in my life. I wondered what our child would look like. I knew I'd love her, and she'd love me. After all, I loved my mom and she was a terrible mother. But I had seen her be a single mom and a wonderful surgeon, and I knew I would do things differently from her – I wouldn't work a minute more than I had to, for example, - but if she could be a mom and a surgeon, so could I. I'd always thought she could have been a great surgeon and still have been a better mom. And I had a job with a decent salary, a home that was all paid off, and a great childcare center at work. And I had great friends and coworkers. Even Cristina, who told me I was being terribly sentimental when I told her I was having the baby, told me that she'd help when she could."

Derek nodded. "I've seen Chrissy with Cristina. And with Izzie. And George. And Alex. And Bailey. Everyone adores her."

"Yup. I have a village. And everyone has been amazing since she's been sick. And I mean everyone. 100% of the people at Seattle Grace had their bone marrow tested. Even Jehovah's witnesses." Meredith paused. "Now, enough about our reproductive planning. You should look at those scans on your desks. There are lives depending on you."

Derek chuckled. "Yes, boss."

"Derek!"

"I love your bossiness. I need it. Now let's look at these scans." He picked up the first one and stared at it for a few minutes. "I see why Nelson thought he couldn't do this, but I think I can do it."

"That's great."

"Now I'll look at the next one." And Derek carefully examined each of the five sets of scans, and in each case, he concluded that he could try. "I don't want to get their hopes up. It is possible that the tumors have grown. Richard said I could choose a resident to work with, and I think Izzie has a good bedside manner. I'll have Izzie call them and schedule them to come in for a repeat MRI before I meet with them."

Derek paged Izzie, and within three minutes, she knocked on the door. "What's up?" she asked.

"I've looked at these scans, and I think I might be able to remove the tumors, but I don't want to raise their hopes too much. So I'd like you to call them and schedule them for repeat MRIs a.s.a.p., so I can make sure that the tumors haven't grown too much before I meet the families and talk about possible surgery."

"I thought you weren't going to start working for a couple of months."

"Richard had other ideas. Nelson had found these five tumors inoperable, but Richard thinks I can operate. So I'm going to see if I can. Do you have time to do this?"

"Bailey had me in the pit today, so I have time to do this today, and I'll let her know I need to do this work for you. It's just a few phone calls today. I'll call the families this morning. I'll see if I can get them in tomorrow."

"That would be great. Thanks, so much."

Derek went back to looking at the scans. He started writing notes about possible approaches for each tumor. After a few minutes, he heard a knock on the door, and he answered, "Come in."

Arizona Robbins came in. "I'm sorry I'm running a bit late, but I had to stop in the e.r. before I could get here. Anyway, Chrissy is fine. There were no complications at all; the Hickman is in. She's resting in the recovery room, and she's going to be in room 740. You can wait for her there, if you want."

"Can I go into the recovery room?"

"Meredith, you know we don't allow families in the recovery room. We have several patients there now, and we can't make an exception for you; it would make the other children feel bad that their parents can be with them. Once she has something to drink and something to eat, we'll send her up to her room. It should be in the next hour or so."

"I'll go to room 740. Derek, you can work here on the scans. I'll page you when she gets to the room. I brought her things, so I can get the room set up for her."

"I can come with you."

"It's really better if you work on the cases. The more work you do now, the more time you'll have for Chrissy."

"Okay, boss," Derek said with a smile.