Growing Pains

11

A/N: Again, thank you, thank you!

"You lost your mommy?" Olivia asked the girl, her eyes darting around the playground, looking for a panicked mother. "What does she look like?"

The girl shrugged. "She looks like my mommy."

"Okay, but what color shirt was she wearing? Is she tall or short? What color hair does she have?" Olivia asked carefully, picking up Noah from his swing.

"Ummm," the girl looked at her feet and touched a finger to her lips, thinking.

"ZOLA!" A woman cried frantically, and the girl's head snapped up to the sound.

"MOMMY!" Suddenly it was clear that the girl's name was Zola as she took off running in the direction of her mother's cry.

Olivia spotted a slight caucasian woman with a baby on her hips walking quickly toward them. "Zola, I told you to stay near the slide where I was. You scared me half to death, I-" She stopped when she saw Olivia. "No freakin way."

"No feakin way." Zola repeated.

"Zola!"

Zola ducked her head down at her mother's admonishment. Olivia thought the girl must be adopted, although the boy on her hips was obviously hers. Olivia stared blankly at the woman... and then she remembered. "Meredith Grey?"

Meredith gaped at her. "I-what? You-how?... Olivia, right?"

Olivia couldn't help but smile at the woman's stammering. Unbelievable. "What brings you to New York?" She asked. The last she'd seen Meredith was in Seattle, and it seemed that maybe she'd be settling there. Small world.

"Umm, a cranky mother-in-law who wants to see her grandchildren?" Meredith smiled. She looked tired, but glowing, fulfilled. The baby on her hip babbled and stuck his hand in his mouth, watching the exchange.

Meredith's gaze wandered to Olivia's hip where Noah curiously eyed the strangers in front of him. Olivia smiled now too... a big smile, she was so proud. "This is my foster son, Noah," She turned her head to Noah, "Noah, this is Meredith, can you say hi to Meredith?"

"Hiii," Noah said, flapping his hand in a little wave.

"Wow! Hey, hi!" Meredith replied, smiling widely. "This is Bailey, my son. And you met Zola... Zola come here, I want you to meet someone."

The pretty little girl peered out from behind Meredith's legs. "Zola, this is Olivia. Olivia, this is Zola. Say hello."

Zola held her hands together and twisted her torso, "Hel-lo," she sang.

"Hello again Zola."

"Whozzat?" Zola pointed at Noah.

Olivia put Noah down on the ground, he wobbled for a second before gaining his balance. "This is Noah."

"Hi Noah."

Noah shyly wrapped himself around Olivia's leg, although he kept his gaze on Zola.

"So- you live around here?" Meredith asked, pointing in the direction of the apartments. Olivia nodded, reaching down to take Noah's hand before he decided to run away.

Still, she couldn't believe the wonder of it all.

xxx

Meredith was amazed. She watched as Zola and Noah hopped along in the grass playing some game that no one really knew the rules to. Olivia sat beside her on the bench, keeping a careful eye on everyone. Occasionally Noah would find something, a rock or a stick, pick it up and run back to Olivia to show off his treasure. Bailey was content right now on her lap watching the world go by.

She gave Olivia a sidelong glance. So much happened since they last met. A post-it wedding, a shooting, adopting Zola, a plane crash... and Bailey. Olivia seemed much different too, since they last met. The hardness in her eyes was gone. There was still that toughness, but that was from the job, not the past.

Bailey pushed against her, and she set him down at her feet. He still hadn't gotten the hang of walking yet, but he liked to try.

"We grew up," She said finally.

"I suppose so."

"So-uh, Noah... are you gonna keep him?"

Olivia nodded, "I want to...very much."

"He's beautiful. You'll be a great mom."

"Thank you." Olivia acknowledged. "I take it you took the next step?"

"The next step?" Meredith asked.

"Remember our pact?"

Meredith tried to remember... "Oh yeah," she said. "I took the next step, and about a hundred more, now look where I am." She looked down at Bailey, now standing up and babbling nonsensically, then he wobbled and plopped down on his butt. "But what about your end of the deal... and what's - his- name?"

"You were right, I am a good cop. I found my biological father."

Knowing Olivia's past, Meredith wasn't sure that was a good thing. "You-ah, You did?"

Olivia nodded, "More importantly, I have a brother. And a niece," She smiled.

Meredith smiled but looked back out to the park to watch Zola make friends with another little girl as they played some sort of tag game. By now, Noah had come back and was trying to entertain Bailey, showing him a dandelion he picked.

"Lexie died," she said softly.

"What?"

"In a plane crash," she pushed the terrible flashback away.

"I'm sorry," Olivia said sympathetically.

"So what about whats-his-name?" she changed the subject.

Olivia reached down and tickled Noah, "You know? I think I want Noah to be the love of my life."

Meredith laughed, "Can't go wrong there."

xxx

Olivia watched Noah bring Bailey another dandelion.

It was hilarious. He would run out into the grass, rip the small yellow weed out of the ground and run back to the bench where he would throw the weed at Bailey. Bailey would pick it up with his drool covered hands and wave it erratically in the air before trying to put it in his mouth.

Of course Meredith would distract her son, and in the meantime, Noah was already ripping another weed out. Zola noticed this and decided to help the process, picking weeds and handing them to Noah. Except she would pick half a dozen of them at a time, so now Bailey was covered in dandelions. Olivia started to laugh at the sight. Meredith too.

Finally, they caught their breath.

"I forgave my mother," Olivia blurted. The memory was vivid, her standing in front of her mother's gravestone, finally releasing it, giving up whatever it was that blocked her from having peace. "I realized... how hard it was to go through what she went through and... be normal, and I couldn't hate her for it anymore."

Meredith had pulled out a bag of cheerios and gave Bailey a few. She looked back at Olivia, "I forgave my father... it took awhile, but after Lexie died, there just wasn't any point."

Olivia smiled, "We grew up."

"Yeah."

"Oh! Meredith!" A familiar voice called, "I've been trying to call you!"

Olivia looked up to see Carolyn walking toward them. What? Carolyn knew Meredith? "Wait? You know Carolyn?"

But before Meredith could reply, Carolyn butted in, "Oh, I see you've met Olivia, wonderful! Dinner is ready, are you and Noah coming? The offer still stands," she said, smiling graciously.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please vote and comment if you like!