Hello! :)

Happy belated national coming out day! :)

I successfully came out to no one XD, how about you guys?

I don't know if I actually want to go anywhere with this (seeing as I don't imagine I'll be writing anything other than one shots after about season 14, and this would be set around 2021ish (after Amelia and Kai get together)), but tell me what you guys think.

I will get back to posting October one-shots now!

Hope you enjoy! :)

"So, no biology club today?"

Zola looked up at that, and shook her head.

"Can I ask why?" He asked. He didn't want to force her to tell him if she didn't want to. That sounded like poor parenting.

"Just...didn't feel like it today." She said with a shrug.

"What's wrong, Zo?" He asked as he paused beside her bed. "And before you reply, I know something is going on, so don't tell me nothing's wrong. It's that third parenting eye of mine."

She smiled, just a little at his last comment before it fell again. "Just um...worried about my test."

"Oh." He breathed. That was not a problem he'd ever encountered with Zola. "Can I help? Either because I know it or because I could like...read the book and ask you questions."

"I know the stuff. Just...worried anyway."

"Right." He agreed, although he didn't believe her one bit. However, he could tell that she didn't want to tell him what was wrong. "Well, I'm gonna go and cook dinner, but shout if you need me. I'm at your beck-and-call."

She nodded, and gave a weak smile. "Okay, Dad."

"Dad."

"Yeah?" He asked, still partially memorised by the display. Although he took Zola to the science museum a lot because she enjoyed it, he always found it intruging too. Physics didn't come up much in medicine, but he was a fan of the subject in high school and the museum was full of all sorts of weird-and-wonderful physics-based displays.

"Why are we here?"

He looked at her at that question. "Because you've seemed sad recently, and I'm trying to make you happy."

"Oh." She breathed. She wished she could have blamed it on her test again, but she'd already done it and got it back, and, of course, recieved an A*.

"Maybe you want to tell me why you're sad?" He suggested hopefully.

She paused, and he stopped too. "I'm not sad."

The genuiness in her voice surprised him. "But you're not happy."

"It..." She sighed. "It's wrong."

His eyebrows creased. "What's wrong?"

She stared at him for a long second before swallowing, and shaking her head. "Can we skip right to the marine section?"

He really wanted to say no and push her, but didn't. He was hoping that the museum would cheer her up, but she probably didn't want to confess what was saddening her in the middle of it. "Of course, baby, you know I love the marine section too."

"Do I need to stop?" Zola asked, looking up from her work as her dad settled her dinner on the table.

"No, it's fine. I know you're very invested in this one." He reassured her. "How is it going?"

"Good."

"And you asked your head of bio and she said you were allowed to submit in the 10th grade competition, right?"

"Yeah. She was very excited for me to enter, actually. Hopefully I'll win."

"And I'll love you if you do, or if you don't."

She smiled, just a little.

"You know that, right Zozo? No matter what you do, I'll always love you and I'll always be proud of you. Unless...well, like- unless you become a serial killer or something. But that's my only exception."

"Your only exception?" She asked, extremely intrigued.

"Yeah, but I don't think that's going to happen so if you were arrested, I'd just spend all my time protesting. So...basically, I'll love you whatever happens."

She didn't speak for a long second, her mouth open a little, as if she was about to speak. She closed it, swallowed, and opened it again to ask, "Can you review my essay?"

He smiled. "Of course."

"She's not doing any better."

"I know." Derek sighed. "I've really, really tried but...she just won't tell me what is going on. I even let her buy like thirty dollars of stuff from the science museum, and she was happy but-"

"She wasn't happy enough for the sadness to go away completely?" Meredith finished for him.

"No."

"Do you think we should stop pushing? Do you think she'd be more likely to open up if we weren't in her face 24/7?"

"I don't know. I don't want her to think we don't care, but I mean, we've been doing that and it hasn't been working so maybe it would be best if we gave her some room."

"Just scared of doing the wrong thing and making it worse."

Meredith had taken those words right out of his mouth. "Yeah."

"Jacket potato for dinner, is that okay?"

"Mmm mmm." Zola agreed, looking up from her book. "When will it be ready?"

"About ten minutes so...if you come down at six, that should be fine."

"Okay." She agreed, glancing over to her clock.

"Good read?"

She smiled. "Yeah. It's really good."

He smiled as well; he liked to see her happy. "Okay, well I'll see you in-"

"Dad. Can I talk to you about something?" She blurted, interrupting him, as if she would never get it out otherwise.

He was pretty sure he felt his heart skip a beat. Was this it? Was she going to tell him what had been making her frown for a solid three weeks now? "Oh- um...of course."

She didn't speak for a long moment, visably terrified. He could only presume she was regretting her question.

"Should I sit on the bed with you?" He asked, hoping asking an easier question would get rid of her obvious apprehension. She'd so quickly changed from her happy self to the Zola he'd been seeing for the last few weeks at the request for a conversation, it was so peculiar.

"Oh. Um. Yes."

He smiled before moving to her bed, and getting on. He kissed her on the head. "So...what do you want to talk to me about?"

"I um-" She paused, and licked her lips. She could do this, right? Her dad wasn't scary. Her dad was nice. Her dad had said that he'd love her no matter what she did, with the exclusion of serial killing and, presumably, similar crimes. Her dad had experience with what she wanted to tell him through some of his friends, and even some of his family. She could tell him. She definitely could. Maybe. Possibly. She swallowed hard before just about confessing, "Dad, I think I'm in love."

He felt a heavy weight leave his chest at that, assuming that that was what had made her so tense. He recalled joking with Meredith that he didn't want to have to be dealing with Zola while she was dating, but she was twelve. Twelve-year-olds bought chocolates and went to the school dance. She was a long way off dating. "Okay. That's okay. Lots of kids around your age have crushes. It's totally normal."

She swallowed, and shook her head. "Not...not like mine."

"Okay-" He breathed. He had no idea what she could have meant by that. "What do mean, not like mine?"

She exhaled a deep, shaky breath.

He grasped her hand. "Zola. Look at me, baby."

At the instruction, Derek recieved two tearful eyes looking right his way.

"I love you, and you can tell me absolutely anything and I will still continue to love you until the day I die, okay? Remember what I said about loving you forever and being being proud of you forever?"

She didn't give any kind of physical nor verbal response for a moment before asking, "You know...Emma?"

"Yeah." He agreed simply to a simple question.

She didn't know what to do with that. She'd said it. She'd said her name, and her dad had missed it. "Emma...I mean- that's who-"

"Oh." He sighed on a heavy outbreath. Zola liked Emma. His daughter liked...a girl.

She swallowed. "Yeah."

"You like Emma?" He asked, making sure to accentuate the word 'like' correctly so she knew that he understood.

She felt her chest rising faster, and her cheeks heat as her vision blurred further thanks to her tears. She nodded.

"Oh, God, baby-" He sighed as he pulled her into a hug at her now very physical and obvious panic. He didn't move for a long time, just holding her and rubbing his hand against her back. He pulled away, just so he wasn't crushing her in his arms quite so much. "Please don't cry."

"You're not mad?" She asked before a heavy sniff inwards.

"No, Zozo. Of course not."

"Really?" She asked in a tone that, earnestly, completely broke his heart.

"Why would I be mad, Zo? I love you."

"I...it's just- I-"

"You know Auntie Amelia is with Kai. I'm fine with that- all of that. And Callie and Arizona- I've never said anything about them either."

"I thought you might tell me I was wrong."

"Why would I say that?"

"Apparently that's what people always say to kids. I'm...too young to know. And I mean...I think I know, but...I'm not sure. I've never had a crush before and now I do- it's not on the person I'm supposed to have it on but- when people describe how the people they like make them feel...that's how I feel. Just...not with a boy."

"And that's okay too. Not knowing yet...being unsure of what love is- Zola, it's all okay. I promise. I love you and...I'm really glad you felt courageous enough to tell me what was making you sad recently. Takes a lot of courage and...you're amazing for doing it."

She smiled, despite the fact that her eyes were still full of tears. "Shouldn't have waited so long."

"Huh?" He asked, not quite catching what she said through her sniffle.

"I've been frowning everywhere for weeks, worried about what you were going to say and then-" She smiled, and wrapped her hands around him. "Best Dad ever."

"Oh." He breathed. He wasn't sure he'd done anything paticularly amazing to deserve that, but of course he accepted the hug anyway. "In this moment, best daughter ever, but please don't tell Ellis because she will kill me."

She snorted, and hugged him tighter.