Confide in Me

Chapter 4

When Ellis had asked Meredith to look after the hospital while her and Richard went away for a week, Meredith had tried to not seem too eager for the excuse to stay in Seattle after she'd been away a few days in Boston.

She'd just come off a meeting on her laptop and was due to have another in twenty minutes with her colleagues in France, who were still running into problems with their research. She wasn't particularly looking forward to it. To their begging for her to travel to them.

She yawned and stretched as she stood up. She'd slept at her own place the night before and had barely managed to get any sleep. It kept happening recently, when she was on her own. It was getting annoying. When she was away from Derek, she found it harder, and harder, to sleep in a bed without him if she wasn't completely shattered. It made her feel dependant, and that made her feel grumpy.

She groaned at the knock on the door, her hopes of having twenty minutes of quiet to rest her eyes shattered. "Come in!"

The door handle shifted a little, and she frowned when whoever was there knocked again. She didn't remember locking the door. She crossed the room to open it, ready to snap at whoever was on the other side, but upon opening the unlocked door, she found Maddie stood there with a grin.

Maddie held a stack of papers in her hands, that had clearly been decorated with pink and silver glitter that had transferred all over her hands and down her jumper. Meredith instantly softened at the sight of her.

"Maddie, I'm sure we've talked about you leaving day care and wandering around."

"But Mer, super important!" Maddie stoop up on her toes in excitement, her curls bouncing at her shoulders. "Can I come in?"

"For a minute, and then we have to get you back down to day care because I have a meeting," Meredith shook her head in amusement, more than happy to welcome this particular intrusion to her day. She opened the door wider and stepped to the side.

"This for you!" Maddie held up a piece of paper as she zoomed past her, leaving a faint trail of glitter in her path. She climbed up onto the couch, inevitably leaving glitter there too.

"What is it?" Meredith laughed softly as she closed the door and moved to sit beside her.

"My party!" Maddie urged the paper towards her.

"I didn't know you were having a party." Meredith frowned, looking at the piece of paper. Most of it was covered in glitter and sequins, but she could make out her name in Maddie's large handwriting, and the word 'party'.

"For my birthday!" Maddie grinned, kicking her legs against the couch.

"Your birthday?" Meredith looked down at her. "When is that?"

"Daddy said one more month! Very soon," Maddie nodded, and Meredith worried her head would fall off is she moved it any faster.

"And how old are you going to be?" Meredith asked.

"Five, silly!" Maddie giggled, leaning against Meredith's side. "Four now, next is five!"

"How silly of me," Meredith laughed, moving her arm around Maddie. "What do you want for your birthday?"

"I said to daddy I want a pony, but daddy said garden is too small for ponies," she sighed, her face scrunched up a little. "But also, I need more teddies. And books about ponies and fairies and aliens and dragons!"

Meredith laughed at Maddie's obvious overexcitement, curious as to how the girl had so much energy. "Daddy's right, your garden is too small for ponies. What about a teddy pony?"