xcix. little miss zola
8.01 + 8.02

Oliver was absolutely memorized by his foster daughter, Zola. I mean, he was memorized by his family he was starting ( despite being somewhat upset with his wife about the whole situation where meredith screwed with dereks trial ) and he's finally accomplishing his dreams.

Ollys had these dreams written down in a little note book he kept in his bed side table. He'd look at them from time to time, and he'd plan on crossing things off or adding to them.

Like today, it was his first day as a fifth year resident. It's his last year in his residency before he takes a board exam that will determine if he he can be the surgeon of his dreams. He's not going to follow in his big brothers footsteps, yet he's still torn between two specialties — Neuro or Plastics. Who knows, maybe he'd be good in Ortho too, or even General.

"Olly?" Meredith looked up at her husband, eyeing the way he was just standing there with a note book in hand. They hadn't left home yet, and they were still in their bedroom. "Oliver."

"Yeah?" Oliver spoke, not nothing to look up at his wife. He was focused on something, he had a feeling. He wasn't sure if the feeling in his stomach was because of the sushi he ate last night, or if it was because something would happen.

"Are you mad at me?" Meredith questioned as she shifted Zola on her hip. She sighed, looking down at the little girl who wanted nothing more than to play with her hair and babble. "Oliver, please?"

"You ended by brother-in-laws clinical trial, Meredith." Oliver tried not to sound mad, he tried to sound as calm as he could. He was mad, but he never wanted to be mad at her, it caused pain to bloom in his heart.

"It was for Adele. I couldn't just sit there, you would have done the same thing if it was for your mom or dad." Meredith pointed out, eyes narrowed.

Oliver finally looked away the little booklet and towards his wife. He was upset that Meredith had brought up his father. "Don't. You made a mistake, but I wouldn't make the same mistake, not if it cost me my career."

Zola babbled and cried in Meredith's arms. Meredith blinked down at Zola, trying her best to smile after Oliver had snapped slightly at her. "Can you take her?"

"Are you coming with me to work? Or taking your own car?" Oliver questioned as he grabbed Zola and held her against his side.

"I'll take my own car."

"See you later than." Oliver paused after he started to wake away, he turned towards his wife. "I love you, Mer."

╚═ ☆ ═╝

"Atlas is mad at me." Christina complained to Meredith. Atlas had always been such a great mentor, and now he hadn't let Christina on as many cases as before, hence why she believed Atlas was mad at her.

Meredith turned from where she was looking at Oliver, "Huh?"

Christina knew, she's heard everything from the littlest details to the big ones. "Atlas is mad at me."

Meredith finally focused on her person, turning her body fully so she could look at the curly haired cardio wannabe. "Why's that?"

"Well... he hasn't put me on his service lately. Or really at all." Christina talked, nodding her head as she did so. She eyed Atlas from where she stood, watching him stand beside Bailey as they both made sandwiches.

"That doesn't mean he hates you." Meredith pointed out, making slight hand gestures as she tilted her head. She was right, just because Atlas didn't put her on her service didn't mean he hated her.

Christina frowned and huffed. "Then why won't he put me on his service!"

"Maybe because he knows that you don't need him? That maybe he thinks you could learn more from Teddy? I don't know, Christina." Meredith shrugged before she watched April walk up towards Atlas and Bailey. "What's April doing?"

"Who knows." Christina shrugged too, following Meredith's gaze and watching April bounce towards the two attendings.

April smiled as she leaned towards Bailey and Atlas. "How do you do it?"

Atlas turned towards April, a smile making its way onto his lips. "Well, Bailey explains it best, but she's a little occupied — you put bacon on first, then your choice of egg, then cheese if that's what you'd like, and then more bacon!"

April nodded, yet that's not what she wanted to know. "I mean... how do you get people to listen to you? Not the english muffin, but I guess that's good too."

"Oh. Well I sometimes get onto a table. Or just yell, Apes. Whatever works for you, but show them you can be a badass — I know you are." Atlas said and walked away, leaving April alone to try her best in getting everyone's attention.

╚═ ☆ ═╝

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, like Oliver and Meredith. A quick reaction from Meredith today, when Zolas social worker had raised eyebrows after Mer had been fired, it had caused a bad reaction to happen.

Meredith had taken Zola and hidden away in the hospital, and because of the fact that things between Oliver and Meredith were rocky, than things got even worse. So even when they were trying to fix things and make it right, the social worker had told them that they needed to be evaluated again, and that Zola couldn't be in their care.

It broke Oliver's heart into a hundred pieces. He wasn't mad at Meredith for what had happened, and he didn't blame her like he probably should have, he was just in pain.

Zola had been taken from their arms, ripped away from their happy home, and during that moment Oliver and Meredith felt as if they couldn't breathe.

Alex and Eliza had been there to comfort them both. Alex had wrapped his arms around Meredith who was teary eyed with arms wrapped around themselves. Eliza had made sure her brother way okay, and then the four of them huddled up in the small examination room and hugged each other like there was no tomorrow.

That night, Oliver went home and looked at his booklet. He looked towards where he had crossed off something this morning. Zola was written in sloppy writhing beside the word child. He had believed that Zola would be his and Meredith's, and maybe he had thought to soon.

So he wrote Child - Zola once more at the bottom of his list.