+ Meredith didn't match at Seattle Grace and is forced to stay in Boston for her residency. Now an attending, it's time for a change. Seattle Grace Mercy West, you have no idea what storm is about to hit.

Thirteen years.

That's how long she'd been a surgeon for.

One minute she'd been starting as an intern, decked out in horrifically coloured green scrubs and Mass Gen., the next she was a full fledged attending, her work beginning to gain notice from journals and the like.

There was always something about Boston that made her feel off. Like a dark cloud hanging over her head. Boston was her mother's escape from reality, her hideaway.

For Meredith, it was almost like a prison. Boston is where there was no father. Boston is where she was alone. Boston is where she's alone.

Thirteen years. That's a long time.

Thirty three years is even longer.

In her head, Seattle Grace Mercy West was bigger.

Maybe it was because her only perception of the hospital was from when she was a child. She had been a tiny little thing, barely anything to her and so everything had dwarfed her.

Overall, the building seemed nice enough, people fluttering in and out, doctors and nurses, patients and their families. It wasn't ranked 3rd in the country for nothing.

Stepping through the sliding front doors, Meredith glanced around quickly for a directive sign, finding one that told her surgery was on the fourth floor.

The elevator arrived quick enough, a couple of nurses stood at the back of the cart, whispering frantically between each other. Great. A gossip hospital.

Quickly enough the car arrived on the fourth floor and she stepped out, taking a moment to try and gather her surroundings. Meredith stood upon a magnificent bridge that cut through the entire hospital. On one side stood a wall of glass windows that she vaguely remembered from her childhood, the other, the main lobby of the hospital.

Before she could make it to the nurse's station on the floor to ask for directions to the chief's office, a quick and darting movement caught her attention.

Turning to the movement, she could see a tiny sneaker poking out from behind a plant. The tiny pink thing drew her in for some reason. It was probably a child, but a quick glance around told her that no one seemed to be looking around for a child and her interest was peaked some more.

Curled up behind the plant, knees to her chest, was a little girl, no older than three. Her dark hair was pulled into tiny braids and her dark brown eyes flickered up to look at Meredith. The flash of fear that crossed her face when she figured that she had been caught quickly disappeared into a bright smile and Meredith couldn't help but smile brightly back at her. She never got on with children but there was something about this one that drew her in.

"Hi," She greeted, "What are you doing here?" Meredith asked as she crouched down to the girls level, removing her bag from her shoulder and placing it next to her.

"I hiding," The girl informed her, grinning once more at the thought of the game she was playing.

Meredith's eyebrows came together, "Is that so?" She asked. "Who are you hiding from?"

"Nanny. I don' like her. I wan' my daddy." She told Meredith with a small shrug.

Nannies. Meredith could relate. A continuous rotation of nannies filtered through her life from the ages of four when her they left her father in Seattle up to the age of twelve where her mother determined that she was able to look after herself overnight. "Ah, well is she looking for you?"

The little girl gave a half-hearted shrug and Meredith couldn't help the little giggle that slipped through. "Ok, so what's your name? I'm sure your daddy is looking for you and we should probably get you back to him," She suggested but that seemed to make the little girl clam up. "My name is Meredith," She tried. "I just got here, so I don't know where I'm going. I'm a doctor here. Do you think you can help me?"

The girl brought a finger up to her lips, indicating that she was thinking about whether or not she should take this ladies offer. "I Zola. I two," She decided, holding up two fingers to show her age, a tiny grin splitting her face. "I nearly three, so I a big girl."

"Three!?" Meredith exclaimed in feigned shock, causing the little girl - Zola - to break out into hysterics again. "Wow! You are such a big girl!" She had never been able to interact with children so well before, there was something about this little girl that seemed to draw her in a bring it out in her. "Well, can you guess how old I am?"

"five - zero?" She asked, unsure. Meredith laughed at the guess. "Daddy's five - two!" She explained.

"That's a good guess, Zola! You know such big numbers! I'm forty - two. Do you know what that is?" The girl shook her head vigorously, braids flying. "That's four - two!"

"Woah," She replied, looking at her in awe.

"So, do you think you can show me where your daddy is? I bet he's really worried about you now?" She asked and held her hand out for Zola to take. The little girl jumped up and grabbed her hand before dropping it and raising both arms, indicating that she wanted to be carried.

After a moment's hesitation, Meredith bent down and picked her up under the arms, scooping both the child and her bag up in one motion and began her journey to the nurses station. "Daddy's a surgeron." Zola offered after a moment, making Meredith look at her.

"Is he? Well, we're going to find him for you and get you back to him, okay?" She asked and Zola vigorously nodded her head.

No more than ten feet from the nurse's station, a voice called out from down the hall, shouting, "Zola!" Turning towards the noise, Meredith spotted a short girl with red hair and navy scrubs making their way towards them at speed. Coming to a stop in front of them, she glanced back and forth, a look of confusion on her face for a moment before she turned her attention onto the toddler. "There you are! Everyone's looking for you, missy! Where did you go?"

"Away. Don' like nanny," She told her simply, turning back to face Meredith and picking up a strand of her hair, twirling it around her fingers.

"Hi, I'm April," The redhead offered. "I'm so sorry about this, where did you find her? She got away from the nanny, she was supposed to be dropping her off with Derek but she snuck away. She's a pretty useless nanny anyway, but I think this was the last straw."

"Meredith," She offered in return. "She was hiding behind a plant. Are you her mother?"

"Oh no, not her mother but I do have my own daughter. I'm friends with her father. I can take her from you if you like?" April offered, raising her hands towards the child but Zola shrunk away from her, clinging tighter to Meredith. "Ok, well, how about I take you to her father seeing as she won't let you go?"

Catching sight of the time, Meredith hesitated. "Uh, yeah, ok, sure." She decided. Meredith began to follow April the pair walking in silence, not knowing what to say to each other.

Up ahead of them, a man was frantically pacing, looking around anywhere he could, the desperation was evident from where Meredith stood. April also noticed him and called out, "Derek!"

The man in question, Derek, whipped around to face them eyes travelling from April to Meredith, who stood slightly behind her before they finally settled on Zola in her arms. He seemed surprised for a moment before rushing towards them.

Zola seemed to notice him coming and turned slightly before she stretched her arms out towards him, a "Daddy!" Slipping from her lips.

"Oh god, Zola! I was so worried!" The man exclaimed, holding the toddler to him. The toddler in question giggled a little at her father's actions but Meredith was too intrigued with the man before her. He was a very handsome man, she'd give him that. The navy scrubs he wore did wonders for him. Wow.

After checking over his daughter a couple of times, he turned back to Meredith and April. "Where did you find her? Thank you so much!"

"She was hiding, something about the nanny?" Meredith offered with a half shrug, brushing off his thanks. She was just glad that Zola's father didn't accuse her of kidnapping. That would have been ugly.

April had already slipped away by the time Meredith glanced at the clock again and her heart dropped to her stomach. She was late. Very late.

Oh crap.

That was the last straw. He'd given her countless chances to be good at her job, to carry out the job that he was paying her to do, but this time enough was enough.

She had one job to do that morning, he had asked Alison to do one thing that morning and that was bringing Zola to him so that he could have some time with her before she went into the daycare so he could finish his shift.

But no, Alison had lost her halfway between the elevator and their agreed meeting spot and now his daughter was gone.

He'd enlisted a couple of his friends to help him look for the child but the longer he went without hearing anything, the worse the feeling got.

Just as he was about to tip over the edge, April called him. Trailing behind him was a blonde woman, around April's age, with Zola tucked in her arms.

Wait, Zola?

After taking Zola back and thanking the woman, he noticed a couple of things.

The first thing he felt was relief, Zola was fine, she wasn't gone forever, locked away with some creep.

The second thing he felt was confusion because this stranger had been holding his daughter and his daughter seemed quite content in her arms, not fussing or crying like she normally would when anyone outside of her select few tried to carry her.

The third thing he felt was awe. The more he looked, the more intrigued he was by her. This girl, this woman, was beautiful. Her long blonde hair brushed her mid back, curling slightly in on itself. She had a slight frame that almost seemed dwarfed by the sweater she was wearing and her eyes.

Her eyes were a beautiful blend of green and blue, a couple of gold flecks in them. He turned back to his daughter for a brief moment before looking back at the woman, wanting to know her name but by the time he'd done that, she was gone.

Where had the girl with the genie eyes gone?

After finally getting to watch 16x8 last night (damn you the UK for taking so long to show us season 16!), this idea was instantly formed in my mind as soon as I heard that Meredith hadn't matched at Seattle Grace at first. Sort of a fixit fit I guess, cause Derek's alive? Also, yup, Zola's his daughter. Confused? Stay tuned to find out more about that!