Love in the dark

1

Meredith was laying down after a long day at work. She had picked up her daughter earlier, made dinner for her and helped her with some homework.

"Mommy?" A 12 year old Maddie walked inside

"Hey monkey, did you finish your shower?" Meredith opened her eyes and sat up

"Yes, it felt really good. Can we have some ice cream? Pretty, pretty please?" Maddie giggled

"Of course you can, I'm still full." Meredith smiled and watched as Maddie took off to collect her promised ice cream

"Do you want to watch a movie together?" Meredith suggested

"Sounds good!" Maddie climbed on the couch, close to her mom

A while later Maddie had finished her ice cream as her phone started ringing

"Dad's calling." She muttered

"Pick up, I'll pause the movie and I'll get us something to drink." Meredith kissed her daughter's head softly before she left, not wanting to come in between her daughter and ex husband

"Hi dad." Maddie picked up the phone

"Hi sweetie, how have you been doing?" He asked her

"Fine." Maddie muttered, clearly not wanting to talk to her father

"How's school been going?" Derek asked, desperate to hear his daughter

"Boring.." Maddie responded

"Would you like to come visit me in DC?" Derek suggested

"I- I don't know.." Maddie anxiously said

"I'll come pick you up at the airport and you can stay the whole week and we can do all kinds of fun things." Derek suggested

"I don't know.." Maddie muttered, her phone on speaker and what she didn't know was Meredith could hear

Her heart ached, she didn't want her daughter to be on an airplane and go to DC all on her own but she didn't want to come in between them, knowing how much Maddie struggled with her father being absent

"Can't you just come here instead? I don't wanna go to DC." Maddie suddenly said

"Uh.. sure.. I can look into that."

"Dad, I gotta go. I have to finish my homework. Bye!" She said and ended the call before Derek could even say bye as well

Meredith heard her daughter sniffling and decided to go back with two glasses of lemonade

"Are you okay?" Meredith carefully asked

"I hate him!" Maddie turned away and curled into a pillow, more tears starting to stream down her cheeks

"Mads, don't say that. Come here, let me hug you." Meredith said and her daughter did in an instant, sobbing into her mom's arms

"I hate him for leaving you."

"It's for the best, honey. Your daddy deserves to be happy, he clearly wasn't happy here." Meredith rubbed her daughter's back softly

"Not true, mommy! He's selfish!" Maddie was really angry and upset

"Just let it out, sweetie. Things will be okay." Meredith rubbed her daughter's back

Once Maddie was slightly calm they decided to continue watching their movie

...

The next day Meredith was driving Maddie to her grandparents. Not Ellis and Richard, it has always been a rough relationship between them, but Carolyn and Christopher would take the teenage girl shopping for some new summer stuff like Maddie had begged for