Begin Again || MerDer
Derek puts the car in park, easing his foot off of the break. He glances in the rearview mirror at Zola. In a rare occurrence, she’s quiet, staring pensively out the window. He watches her, the ten year old girl morphing into a six month old baby, staring at him through the rearview mirror. He blinks again, and there she is, sitting in the booster seat with the seatbelt on.
They were here to meet Joy...for Zola to meet Joy. They had told Zola that she had reached out, that she was in the country and asked to meet her, and that it was her choice. And now they were here, parked outside of Janet’s office building. About to introduce their daughter to the woman who had given birth to her.
“Is something wrong?” She’s sitting between them on the couch. Dinner is done, it’s past her bedtime, her siblings are asleep. They had to tell her this huge information, this life altering thing, and neither one of them really knew how. “No, Zo. Nothing’s wrong,” Derek says firmly, because he doesn’t want to freak her out, doesn’t want her to be scared. “Everyone and everything is ok.”












