Zola let herself slip into sleep, opening her eyes a few moments later to her familiar bedroom. She looked perplexedly up at the ceiling for a moment, waiting for something to happen.

"Oh, god, it worked!" She heard a voice that made her heart jump and shot up, coming face to face with her mother.

"Mom?" She asked, jumping out of the bed and over to the woman, who welcomed her with open arms. Zola ran into them, throwing her small arms around her mother's neck and feeling Meredith embrace her as well.

"Oh, god, Mom!" She cried, a smile plastered on her face.

"How... how did this happen?" She asked when they finally let go of each other. Meredith smiled at her, the skin around her green eyes crinkling slightly.

"I... I don't know. I just did the same thing I did when I saw you the first time, and I didn't expect it to work, but it did. It did, it worked!" She exclaimed, hugging daughter again and feeling Zola snuggle her face in her mother's hair.

"I wish I could see you every night. I wish you were here, with me, in real life, I mean." Zola said softly.

"I wish I could too." Meredith sighed, letting go of her daughter and leading her towards her bed, where they both sat down.

"So... tell me about your day! How was the first day of middle school?" Meredith asked. Zola was confused for a moment.

"Don't you know? I thought you could see everything that happened." She asked. Meredith gave her a half-smile.

"I can, but that doesn't mean I know what you're thinking. So, are there any boys you like?" She said, a grin on her face. Zola scrunched up her face is disgust, shaking her head vigorously.

"All the boys my age are gross anyway. I think I'm just gonna wait till I'm older to start dating." She said. Meredith laughed, her bright teeth shining in the moonlight coming in through the window.

"Amen, honey, Amen." She laughed, causing Zola to giggle as well.

"Okay, So, what's your favorite class?" She asked, realizing it was a stupid question. She was her father's daughter, after all.

"Science! I love it, it's so interesting and the teacher is the best! I think she likes me, too!" Zola said. Meredith was filled with pride as she saw the light in her daughter's eyes as she talked about her favorite subject, seeing the passion that the girl had for it even at her young age.

"I want to be a surgeon, just like you and dad. I want to save people and I want to find new ways to help sick people, just like you did, mom! I want to be brave like you, and I want to meet people that care about me like they cared about you." Zola said, and Meredith's heart filled with joy.

"Well, I just hope you learn from my mistake. Sometimes your own life can be more important than bravery. Being selfless is a really great thing, but you've also got to look out for yourself sometimes. It's the only way we survive in this world." Meredith said, taking Zola's hands in hers.

"Thanks, Mom." Zola said. Meredith smiled at her, enjoying the silence for a few moments before finally speaking again.

"Are you sure there are no boys you like?" She asked. They both erupted into laughter, giggling and laughing loudly for a long time.

"I'm really sure. I really just want to focus on school right now, and so I'm kind of glad I don't have a ton of friends to worry about or a boyfriend to try to impress. Sofia's really the only friend I need. We've known each other since you adopted me and we tell each other everything... I guess it would just be a little weird if there were someone else, you know?" Zola said.

"Yeah, I do know. Has Aunt Cristina ever told you what we called each other?" She asked. Zola shook her head.

"Well, a long time ago, back before we were cutting L-VAD wires and getting kicked off of bridges and watching our husbands get shot, Cristina was dating a man named Preston Burke." Meredith started. Zola raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, I've seen him on newspapers and things at the hospital! He's a heart surgeon, right? And he won a bunch of awards and things when he worked at Seattle, right?" Zola said, her photographic memory kicking in and her face lighting up as she talked about the hospital.

"Yeah, yeah that's right. Well, Aunt Cristina almost married him, can you imagine that? Well, anyway, while they were dating, George, Cristina and I were all sitting at our favorite bar when we decided to play a game of 'who's life sucks the most', one of our favorites." Zola giggled at the ridiculously unoriginal name of the game but allowed her mother to continue, excited about the story.

"Well, I went first, I told them both that Derek was married. George spit his beer out all over himself and had to go to the bathroom. It would have been really funny if I hadn't been seriously pissed off." Meredith laughed.

"I kept telling her that I won and then she told me she was pregnant." Zola gasped. "Well, she scheduled an abortion because she couldn't handle a baby and needed an emergency contact. Preston had dumped her for the moment so she put my name down. When she told me, she said I was her person. It stuck. She's my person and I'm hers. We always were." Meredith said.

Zola was smiling wide and she leaned back in her bed, feeling the wall catching her.

"Sofia's my person, I guess. But I'm not pregnant and I don't plan on dating a middle schooler with a wife so... I guess I'm in the clear for a while." She chuckled and felt tears in her eyes when she heard her mother laugh. It was an amazing laugh, one that seemed to fill her up and send goosebumps across her skin.

"I love you, Mom." She said softly, only a small grin on her face.

"I love you too, Zo."

XxXxX

Derek stood in the doorway of Zola's room, looking at her sleeping form and waiting to see if she said anything more. Everyone else had left already, wishing him goodnight and driving away in their cars. Cristina and Owen had stayed though, going upstairs to get ready for bed as they planned on spending the week at the Shepherd residence.

Finally, after what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, his daughter spoke again.

"Oh...god... Mom!" She cried slowly, her words spaced out and distant. He sucked in a breath, walking further into her room and closing the door behind him. He slowly approached her bed, knowing his daughter was a heavy sleeper, and climbing into it next to her, pulling her close to his body and listening for anything she would say.

A minute later, she spoke again.

"How...did this... happen?" He imagined the conversation between Zola and Meredith, and felt like he could almost see her standing in the doorway.

Minutes later, he had almost fallen asleep when her voice filled his ears.

"I wish... I could see... you every night. I wish... you were here...with me... in real life... I mean." She said. Derek's heart dropped and he silently agreed with her, a frown appearing on his face. I do too, honey.

He listened to her one-sided conversation for what seemed like hours, imagining that he heard Meredith's voice and everything that she was saying and wishing that he could see her again.

Eventually, he looked at the clock and saw that it was time for her to wake up for school. He was disappointed that he hadn't actually gotten any sleep but even more disappointed that he had to wake Zola up.

An idea occurred to him and he slowly and gently removed himself from the bed, making his way into the kitchen where Cristina and Owen were making coffee.

"Derek, you look like you've been up all night! Drink some coffee, for God's sake." Cristina said, handing him a cup.

"Probably because I was." Derek muttered, sipping the hot coffee slowly. Cristina looked at him sympathetically.

"You couldn't wake her up, could you?" She asked. He shook his head, taking another sip of his coffee.

"I just... If it were me, if I saw her again and I didn't know if it would be the last time or not... I wouldn't want anyone to take me away from her." He said. Cristina sighed.

"Well, what are you gonna do?" She asked. He sipped his coffee one last time and then set it down on the counter, walking over to the phone.

"I'm calling the school. She's sick, new school, new kids, lots of germs. I would know, I'm a doctor. Oh, crap, I'm a doctor, I've got to call the hospital too." He sighed. Cristina looked at him incredulously.

"Derek, it's the second day of school!" She cried. He froze mid-dial and sighed. He thought about it for a moment and finally began dialing again. Cristina and Owen looked at each other meaningfully and Owen pulled out his phone as well. Derek summoned his best sick voice.

"Hello, this is Derek Shepherd, I'm calling to let you know that my daughter, Zola Shepherd, will not be coming into school today. We're both out sick but should hopefully be back by tomorrow." He said. "Uh huh... thank you." He hung up the phone.

"That wasn't too hard." He said, back to his normal voice. Owen dialed a number on his phone and held it up to his ear, mouthing a word to Cristina just before the line picked up.

"Hello?" He said in a stuffy voice. "Hi, this is Dr. Hunt. I'm calling to let you know that Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Yang and I are all our sick today. How? Well, we all spent the night together last night and must have spread it to each other. Yes. Thank you, have a nice day." He said, hanging up the phone.

Derek looked at him, silently thanking the trauma surgeon before gulping down the rest of his coffee and returning to Zola's room. He resumed his position on her bed and waited for her to speak again, imagining what they could be talking about.

After a while, she began to sound like she was saying goodbye to her mother. He held his breath as she said her last drawn out 'I love you' and slowly opening her eyes. He saw tears on her face and sat up on the bed, stroking her hair comfortingly with his hand.

"I saw her again, Daddy. I saw her again!" She said. He smiled sadly at her.

"I know, baby. I know."