"Can I help you?" A tubby woman at the reception desk asked.

"Yes. I'm here to see Ellis Grey." Meredith replied quietly, twiddling her fingers nervously.

"Ok. Your name please?" The woman said.

"Meredith Grey. I'm her daughter." She breathed. "I called earlier?" Derek had persuaded her to come and see her mother, but now she was thinking that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. It was too hard. Her whole life, she had tried to be the kind of daughter her mother would have liked, the kind of woman and now the kind of surgeon. Meredith was afraid that her role model, the woman she had always looked up to, her mother, was damaged beyond a doctor's repair. But most of all, Meredith was afraid of becoming her.

"Ok, follow me please." The receptionist instructed, and they walked into the common room, which was filled with all the mentally ill patients admitted to the centre. "She's over there." The woman pointed to the far corner of the room, where Ellis Grey sat in a wicker chair staring into space. "Dr. Newsome would like to see you, would you stay here a second?" With a nod from Meredith, the lady waddled off.

A moment later, Dr. Newsome appeared. "Dr. Grey?"

"Yes." Meredith shook her hand.

"I'm glad you're here." She looked to Ellis. "Well, your mother is stable for the time being. She's been calm since we told her you were coming. I really appreciate this, and I know this is hard, but your mother really needs you. With her condition, sometimes it's hard to see it, but she loves you so much. She talks about you all the time, she is very proud of you."

Meredith could feel the tears welling up, but smiled at her mother who looked so much like a fragile child. "Thank you Doctor." Meredith said, and began walking to her mother. Each step was harder to take than the last.

"Hi mom." Meredith knelt down to be face to face with her mother.

Her mother took a minute to connect. She put her cold hand on Meredith's face and smiled. "You've grown up."

Meredith let a tear slip down her cheek, laughing. "Yeah, I guess I have."

THE END