AN: Chapter one of our sequel. Did anyone watch Grey's last night? I wasn't loving the Derek parallels with her new potential love interest. There will ever only be one McDreamy and one guy for Meredith (in my opinion). This is my therapy to that.

Today is the perfect day in Seattle, the sky is blue with not a cloud in sight and I'm riding the ferry boat with my perfect little girl taking her to pre-school. Life is wild and amazing, and it never slows down. I can hear my mother's voice in the back of my head 'The carousel never stops turning, Meredith' and she's never been more correct. My life the past 3-4 years has been an endless sprint and I've loved almost every minute of it because I've gotten to share it with my person. My person held a different meaning a few years ago, but today and every day since that perfect little bean has come into my life, Emma Ellis Shepherd is my person.

"Mommy, the water is so blue today. It's more blue than yest'day." Emma told me, her beautiful blue eyes soaking in the atmosphere and eyeing the water. She had such a fascination with it. Just like her dad.

"It is pretty baby" I told her running my hands through her blonde curly hair. That she got from me.

My coffee hadn't quite kicked in yet and mornings were still not my favorite, but my mornings with Emma were priceless. She was hitting a very funny age where I could really see her personality developing and shining through. She was curious and loved the color yellow. She made friends easily and she was chatty. Oh, she was so chatty. It was a good thing that I was used to her dad, or the chattiness would probably drive me nuts. She loved her Aunt Lexi probably more than anything else besides me or Derek. They talked constantly and Lexi came out to visit her often.

"Daddy work late t'day?" Emma asked me her blue eyes shining with hope. His intern schedule could be grueling, and he had been pulling a 72-hour shift the past 3 days.

"No sweetie, daddy is off today, he's has to catch up on sleep and then we will see him tonight." I told her

"Yay! Daddy!" She sang and it melted my heart.

I held her closer against me as her eyes trained back to looking at the water. She was growing up so fast and I wanted to savor every second with her and commit to memory her being this small. Her next birthday, she would be four and I don't feel prepared for it. I remember her first birthday like it was yesterday. I spent all day trying to figure out how to make a cake for her. We were still living in New York then and my family came up for the day. Derek was behind the camera all day trying to commit to film every possible moment. Now I'm glad at how camera happy he is because we have all our memories so clearly documented and it's sweet to look back at them all.

The captain of the Ferry pulled me out of my thoughts as I heard the whistle being blown and his voice over the speaker "Thank you for riding with Bainbridge Island Ferry and Welcome to Seattle those visiting from out of town. Make sure you check out our gift shop and as always happy sailing."

Emma started to giggle "Mommy, he says that ev-day"

I laughed too "He does, doesn't he?" I responded with a laugh of my own tickling her slightly.

People started to move off the fairy and I tightened my hold on Emma and made sure her bag was still in place on my arm as we began to exit.

The walk to her pre-school was not too far from where the fairy unloaded us. It was about two blocks away and we always chatted about our days together in the 10 minutes it took to make it into her classroom.

Today, Emma wanted to remind me that it was Arts and Crafts day which is her favorite. Her eyes lit up as she explained how she was going to make a turkey hand. After several questions on my end, I realized that she meant that she was going to trace her hand and make it into a turkey. It was my reminder that Thanksgiving is next week, and I need to confirm our flight details with my dad and Susan. We're looking forward to this visit as they haven't seen us since May when they flew out for Emma's birthday. It will be nice to catch up with Lexi too.

As we walked through the small school and made it down the hall, her classroom was right at the end, and I sighed a bit knowing I was about to part with her for the day. I plastered a smile on my face though "Alright Miss Emma, we're here." I told her pressing a kiss to her head.

"K mommy. Lub you" she told me as she wiggled out of my embrace. I could always count on Arts and Crafts day to be the easiest drop off days and I welcomed its occurrence because I had a lot of work to do on my paper. I followed Emma over to her desk where her classmates were sitting waiting for class to begin.

"Good morning, Emma. Morning Meredith" her teacher Ms. Lacey greeted us as I set Emma's lunchbox next to her small desk.

I offered her teacher a smile and helped Emma take her jacket off and set it in her cubby.

"I love you, Emma. I'll see you this afternoon" I told my daughter who was already socializing and chatting with some of the other kids in her class.

Oh, she was her father's daughter for sure. "Bye mommy" she told me nonchalantly not even bothering to look my way to say goodbye.

I checked my watch, I had about 5 hours to get to the library, finish my paper and pick her up. I heard my phone ring and was quick to pick it up.

"You timed it perfectly today. I just dropped her off."

"Yeah, Yeah. I need to vent. My roommate sucks" Christina moaned

"What's wrong now?" I asked her

"Mer- she slept with George."

"What?" I asked shocked

"Yeah, they slept together and now she's baking cakes all night long and he's avoiding her like the plague. She must suck in bed."

"Wait- what happened to Alex? Last time we talked he didn't mention that they weren't together anymore." I asked

"Long distance. It's been so over for like 3 months now."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Dunno. We all knew they'd never last." I could just see Christina shrugging at me not thinking it's important to let me in on the fact that two of our best friends broke up after dating for forever. I felt guilty that I didn't check in with Izzie more.

"And Izzie slept with George? Our Izzie slept with our George?"

"That's what I've been telling you, Mer. I can't room with these people anymore. Can't you transfer out to Stanford? It's not even that far from where you are now."

"You know I can't. If I was going to leave Seattle, you know I'd be-"

"I know. I know. I would rather have a 3-year-old as my roommate than deal with these two anymore." Christina commented cutting me off.

I laughed "I don't know why you continue to room with them when they drive you insane."

"I don't make friends easily. Not that I need them, but I can't afford to room alone, and Izzie cleans things."

"I don't know what to tell you Christina. Maybe just enjoy all the baking?"

"Yeah, and get diabetes, no thanks. Ughhh, I have to go, Izzie's crying in the common room again and I need to sneak out for class."

I laughed "Bye"

"I'll call you later."

She hung up and I continued my walk to campus. For winter, it really was a perfect day. I couldn't wait for my time off next week to spend with Emma. We were flying into Rhode Island on Monday to do Thanksgiving with Thatcher, Susan and Lexi and depending on his work schedule possibly Mark too. I would have to ask Derek about that. We were planning to rent a car and drive up to see Christopher, Carolyn, and the Shepherd bunch as well. Another thing, I needed to coordinate with Derek.

I eased into the library and opened my laptop. I need to get this paper done and I am so ready to finish it today.

"Hey Mer" a few of my classmates waved. I waved back and went back to focusing on my assignment. I did need to start putting in more effort to make deeper friendships here. It still felt temporary though even though I had been living out here for a few years now. I felt so torn in so many different geographical directions that nowhere really felt quite at home even though I lived in Seattle my whole life until I moved to Rhode Island for school. My family was still out East, and most of my friends were in California. My other good friend Alex was still in Rhode Island, but he was planning on transferring out here in January. I had no idea why, he just said he always wanted to live in Seattle. I welcomed having a friendly face nearby and we had plenty of space in my mother's old house for some strays like Alex.

My mother was here physically but mentally, she was back in 80's. Her health has declined so much that I'm not sure how much longer she has. That's the main reason, that maybe I'm not set on staying in Seattle. I'm here for her and once she's gone, maybe I'll be gone too although, my gut was telling me to stay.

The rest of my morning and early afternoon were spent well, completely knocking out my paper to my satisfaction. I was happy to be able to finish it so that I could focus the rest of this week on getting packed and ready for our trip to the East Coast next week. We needed this break desperately and Emma was so excited to see all her grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, but she was especially excited to see Lexi.

"See you Meredith" I heard from over my shoulder as I was packing up my books into my crossbody.

I turned my head to see a guy from my Kinesiology 4 class. I smiled at him "August, right?" I asked

He smiled "August Bradley. Nice to meet you formally. We were almost in a lab together a few weeks ago but then the professor changed the schedule."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'll see you around." I told him with a smile before turning around and heading out of the library.

"See you." I heard him call after me.

It was finally time to pick up Emma and I'm sure she would be in an extra chatty mood today since she probably loved her Arts & Crafts time.

"Mommy" I heard her yell out when I entered her classroom.

"Hi baby." I greeted her moving closer to her desk.

"I did it mommy! I have a turkey hand!" she yelled out excited showing me her masterpiece. I looked it over and there it was her tiny handprint colored brown with googly-eyes and a smile.

"I love it! Do you want to hang it on the fridge?" I asked her

"I wanna take it on plane" she told me seriously.

I laughed "Okay baby, go get your coat and we'll get going."

"Where we go?" Emma asked me furrowing her brow. God, she was growing up so fast.

"We have a few errands to run and then we'll see daddy."

Her eyes lit up just like her dad's do. "Daddy!" she yelled out excitedly drawing attention from a few of her other classmates. She quickly threw her coat on, and I helped her button it up and grabbed her hand. Off we went.

"This was a typical day in Seattle for Emma and me. My focus is school and making sure my daughter is well taken care of and her focus is on being a kid – just as it should be. Life in Seattle isn't perfect, but we have a groove here and most important we have each other."

There was silence.

"Mom- did you hear me?" I asked Ellis sitting across from her. It was my day to visit her at the nursing home. She had been distracted lately to say the least.

"What?" she asked me playing with her watch not looking me in my eye. It seemed like she was watching the clock waiting for someone.

"I was telling you about me and Emma's day. Your granddaughter Emma, she's right here" I told my mom with a smile gesturing to Emma who was sitting on my lap.

"Hi Gram" Emma said shyly.

Ellis's looked over at my daughter and her eyes softened "She looks a little like my little girl, Meredith." Mom said tightly.

"Mom, I'm Meredith. I'm all grown up now." I told her sympathetically.

"That's impossible." She said nervously but then she seemed to see someone she knew approaching. Her eyes lit up and I looked over to where she was staring.

I saw an older man approaching us that looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place.

My mom started to giggle "Richard" she yelled out. He started walking faster over to her not noticing me sitting beside her.

"Ellis, how are you today?" he asked her with a big smile

"This new batch of interns are incompetent. They're not like us. I don't know where they got their training but the chief needs to fire them all and start over from scratch."

Richard offered her a smile but then seemed to notice me and Emma.

"Meredith" he breathed out. "How are you? You're all grown up now aren't you." He said to me as if he knew who I was.

"Who are you?" I asked

Mom seemed to be watching us "Richard, we have to go. I have a surgery scheduled soon and you can scrub in with me."

"We'll go. Bye mom." I said tightly wanting to get out of there. I was unsure what was happening, but it made me uncomfortable.

"Bye gram" Emma said waving her grandmother as I quickly bolted.

"Meredith" I heard him call after me, but I quickened my pace and made it out of the nursing home to take my daughter home, eat dinner and see her dad.

AN: Here we have it friends, chapter 1 of the sequel to Call of the Search for your soul. I hope you enjoyed the insight into Meredith's life, and we will pick up next chapter learning more about Derek and what he has been up to since we last saw him. As this is my first chapter of the new series, I would really love to know your thoughts on where this story is headed. Also, any predictions out there on what's going on with our characters? I want to see if you guys picked up on any subtle hints.