The Seventh Sense is Love

Surgery and Morning Sickness

Derek sat in the gallery listening to his wife teach as she conducted her surgery. She sounded tired to him. She sounded worn out and almost fragile.

"She's dragging, isn't she?" Mark's voice asked from over Derek's right shoulder.

"Yes." Derek answered, the frown deepening on his face.

"If it makes you feel any better Bailey just looked up here and nodded at us. She's aware of the situation."

"It does make me feel better, thank you."

"It also helps that the surgery is about complete."

As if on cue, ten minutes later Bailey asks, "Would you like me to close, Dr. Shepherd?"

"Yes, thank you Dr. Bailey," Meredith answers and turns to leave the operating room. Derek immediately gets up and Mark goes with him to make sure his friend doesn't fall on the stairs. He leaves Derek in the hallway outside the scrub room, though.

Derek walks in to the sound of his wife vomiting into the scrub room sink. He carefully walks over to her and silently rubs her back until the heaving passes. Then he grabs some paper towels and wets them down with cold water to wipe across her forehead and her neck. Meredith sags into his open arms and whispers, "I barely made it out of the OR. I contaminated a sterile environment."

"So," Derek soothed, "we'll rinse out the sink. It gets sterilized again after the surgery is done. You need to eat something and lie down."

"Oh God," she groaned, "I can't eat anything. The smell of the patient's blood is what set me off, And the idea of ingesting anything -" she trailed off as her body jerked at the thought.

"Will you just try some soup and some hot peppermint tea?"

She so wanted to say no again but she knew he was right. Besides, he was being so sweet and attentive. It wouldn't hurt her to try. Especially, if it made him feel better. "All right," she whispered, "I really need to just lie down first. Ten minutes, then I'll try some soup. I promise."

"Okay," he agreed and helped her out of her surgical gear. They walked slowly to an on-call room.

"You could've gone home three hours ago," Meredith said to Derek. "Kathleen was here to drive you, wasn't she?"

"Yes," he replied, "but I wasn't leaving knowing you had that surgery to get through. Now, I'm extra glad I stayed."

"Me too," she admitted as she kicked off her sneakers, pushed them under the bunk and gratefully laid her aching body down. Derek covered her with the meager blanket. Then he stood up and pulled the blanket from the top bunk to put over her, as well. He kissed her forehead and said, "I'll be right back."

"Uh huh," she sighed, already dozing off.

Derek went out into the hall and was immediately greeted by Lexie. "Is she all right?"

"Not really," he answered. "She's tired and already falling asleep. I'm going to stay with her, but will you bring her some peppermint tea and chicken soup? In a half an hour?"

"Of course," Lexie immediately agreed. "Did she really vomit in the scrub room?"

"Yes," Derek frowned. "How do you know that?"

"Oh well -"

"How, Lexie?"

"A scrub nurse, Katie, was laughing about it in front of the surgical board. I already gave her a piece of my mind. Then Bailey walked up and reamed her again. It's taken care of Derek, I promise."

"All right," he sighed, his jaw clenched in irritation. "I'm going back in with Meredith. Soup and tea in a half an hour."

"I'm on it," she smiled and patted his shoulder. "We'll all get Mer through her pregnancy."

"I know." he stated and went back into the on-call room to hold his wife and baby until her food arrived. He was happy that Lexie and Bailey had said something to this Katie, but he was going to do the same. He'd have Mark take him to her. He was not about to stay quiet while some petty twit took shots at his wife.