Growing Pains

9

Instead of answering, Olivia chose to deflect, "Quite the matchmaker aren't you?"

"I had a near death whatever... life is short."

"So tell me about your half sister... Lexie, was it?"

xxx

Meredith huffed. She knew the cop would get to that. "Did you ever wonder..." she swallowed, knowing this was a touchy subject for the cop. "About your father?"

Olivia flinched. "How do you mean?" she asked.

"It's just- My mom left my dad when I was five. We moved to Boston from here... I never saw him again, until now." Meredith jammed her hands into the pockets of her labcoat. "It's complicated... but I felt I shouldn't go through life without finding out about the other side of the story. I mean, was there a drawer of unopened letters somewhere?" She paused and looked away for a moment. "So- yeah, there isn't, and my father was a coward, but he also got remarried and had a wonderful wife and two daughters, who got to grow up with a dad and a mom and probably have smiley face posters on their bedroom walls."

"And one of them is Lexie." Olivia confirmed, she tilted her head, "But you don't like her."

"It's hard to be around someone who represents everything you missed in life." Meredith said. Her feelings for Lexie right now were borderline. Sometimes she hated her guts, sometimes she admired her smarts, sometimes she felt oddly protective. She still didn't know for sure if she liked Lexie, but she supposed she was getting used to the idea of having a sister. "I don't know... all I know is she's persistent."

The two were silent for awhile, Olivia's monitor beeped and Meredith checked on it. "Still have a headache?"

"A little. Talking to you has been distracting."

Meredith nodded. "But really aren't you the least bit curious? I mean I know the guy did an awful thing, and he probably doesn't deserve forgiveness, but..."

"But what?" Olivia asked sharply.

Meredith sighed, looked at her hands and shrugged. "All my life it was me and my mom. If I knew earlier, about Thatcher... even if I hated him, at least I'd have the choice, to let him in my life or not."

Olivia sighed... "I don't know. If I do look for him I'm not sure I could find him. It was a completely random attack. For all I know he could be dead or in jail."

Meredith shrugged. "You're a good cop. If anyone could find him you could."

"Hmm." Olivia replied.

xxx

Olivia's heart to heart with Meredith was interrupted by a swoosh of the curtain. "Dr. Grey," A very handsome man with almost perfect dark hair and brilliant blue eyes stepped up to the foot of the bed. "I've been paging you," Olivia smiled, it almost sounded like a tease.

Meredith flushed slightly and immediately leaped off the bed, searching for her pager, "Dr. Shepherd- I- I must've left it in OR 2"

"You did," he said, and Olivia didn't miss the flirty tone in his voice. Was he the reason Meredith was happy? Dr. Shepherd merely smiled and tossed the pager to her. "How's our patient?" He walked over to the other side of the bed and removed the penlight from his pocket, "Excuse me, I'm just going to do a quick exam,"

"I don't think she'll need surgery," Meredith said, clutching Olivia's chart.

"I think you might be right," Dr Shepherd said as he flashed the penlight into her cornea. "but we'll still have to keep her for observation. Schedule an early morning CT."

"Of course, Dr. Shepherd." Meredith replied, scribbling on the chart.

"Good. And... I'll see you tonight?"

Meredith's pale cheeks flushed again and she offered a coy smile as she tucked the chart into her chest. "Sure... tonight is good."

He smiled back, a special smile that Olivia knew was only for Meredith. "Great." With a whirl of his white coat he was gone.

Olivia chuckled to herself. Well if that was love, she didn't know what was. "Was that him?" she asked. She felt like she was in high school all over again, bugging her friend about her latest crush.

"Yes," Meredith replied.

"Well, are you gonna go for it?"

"Go for what?"

"The next step."

"What's the next step?"

"Umm, well you're dating right?"

"Yeah... so?"

"How long have you known each other?"

"Well, umm, ah more than a year."

"I'll tell you what, if you seriously consider taking the next step with him, I'll consider looking up the other side of my family." Olivia offered.

"Well that's a no-brainer," Meredith said looking down at her.

"Good." Olivia said. She felt tired, and finally pushed the button to lower her bed down a little bit.

"It's okay if you want to sleep, go ahead." Meredith said.

Sighing, Olivia let go and fell into peaceful slumber.

When she woke up, the other Dr. Grey, Lexie was there. When Olivia asked for Meredith, Lexie said that she'd been pulled into a trauma with three men involved in a car accident and wasn't available. The cops were there, and she was released into their custody.

The rest of her time in Seattle had been infuriating as she exposed one thing after another. Finally, Olivia was called back to the NYPD. She was quite relieved at the news.

A few months later, after realizing that Elliot couldn't be the one for her to spend her life with, she decided it was finally time to look up the other side of her family. If only to have the choice, she thought.

A/N: During season 8 of svu, Olivia finds out about her biological father and half brother. Elliot also goes back with Kathy, his wife. Elliot and Olivia still remain partners, however.

Thanks everyone for reading and voting! Leave a comment if you like! More to come!