Merder: Different Circumstances

Chapter Twenty

An hour later, Meredith had gone through the three machines, MRI followed by X-Ray followed by CT. She was in the middle of being wheeled back to her room by Jo, with Derek walking closely behind them. The nurses and her fellow colleagues threw Meredith pitiful glances as she sat in the wheelchair and she felt like shouting at them to stop, but she knew she would need to save her energy for getting back into bed.

"Here we are. Dr Shepherd if you don't mind helping Meredith back into bed by supporting her right side if I get her left."

With the help of both Jo and Derek, Meredith stood up, the pain in her back intensifying as though knives were pressing into her spine. The mere couple of steps to cross the distance from the chair to the bed left Meredith with tears slipping down her cheeks and the thought of raising herself onto the bed seemed all too much.

"Just, stop. Please wait." She begged, taking a couple of deep breaths.

The three of them were left in silence as Meredith caught her breath through the tears. Derek couldn't bear to see her in pain, and although medically he knew it would be better for her to do it herself, he wrapped one arm around her waist and the other under her legs, lifting her onto the bed and gently placing her down.

Whilst he did this, Jo left the room to go to a page off Bailey, leaving the two in the room alone once again. Meredith broke down, feeling useless as she was incapable of doing such a simple task, and Derek just wrapped an arm around her shoulders to let her rest her head on his shoulders.

"It hurts so much Derek."

"Shhh, we'll have an answer soon I promise."

Ashley had left the room when they were originally moving Meredith from the bed to the chair, not wanting to be in the way nor wanting to see Meredith in pain. She had returned shortly after Jo left, but seeing her father comforting his girlfriend she decided to leave them alone for the time being.

After seeing Meredith in such pain earlier, Miranda didn't stride into the room unannounced like she usually would, but instead lightly knocked on the door before entering. Meredith lifted her head off Derek's shoulder, her eyes red and puffy, as she forced a version of a smile onto her face.

"Grey, it doesn't look good." Miranda said, going straight to the point.

"I- what is it? Where is it?"

"You know how to read an X-ray, this is yours. Everything looks good on them, apart from this one. One of your vertebrae's is broken, it's by no means a clean fracture and it's concerningly close to this nerve."

"So you're going to have to operate on me?" Meredith asked, already knowing the answer.

"We're going to have to operate." Miranda confirmed.

Derek's hand squeezed Meredith's reassuringly, wanting to remind her that he was there and not wanting her to shut him out. No one said anything as Meredith looked closely at her chart, angling it in the light and squinting her eyes. Whatever way you looked at it, it was an obvious unclean break.

"We also need to operate soon, to avoid the break shifting and catching the nerve." Miranda continued cautiously.

"Who will be in the operating room? How long's the recovery? How long do I need to stay as an inpatient?" Meredith asked all at once, thinking as a patient rather than a doctor.

"We will keep it on the down-low if you want, anaesthesiologist, a couple of scrub nurses, me, Torres, Wilson and the neuro attending on call in case of an emergency. No your McDreamy boyfriend is not scrubbing in, neither of you even consider asking. You need 6 weeks off work minimum, even then it will be charts for a couple of weeks. As for an inpatient, two nights minimum if you behave. We'll get you scheduled in for early this afternoon."

Meredith just nodded at all of this information, trying to process the fact that she would be off work for such a long period of time and possibly bed bound for at least a week. During this time Miranda and Jo both left the room, allowing the pair time together.

"Meredith, I promise you, everything will be fine. Ash and I will move into yours for the week after you come home and I'll take it off work, to stay with you. You're going to be fine."

"I love you so much."

"I love you more Mer."

Their conversation ended when there was a knock at the door and Ashley began to walk in, going to stand on the other side of Meredith's bed.

"Dr. Bailey told me what's going to happen. You're going to be okay, right?"

"I'm not going anywhere Ashley, you're stuck with me." Meredith laughed.

Derek couldn't help but feel an immense amount of joy as those words left her mouth, not only were the two people most important to him standing on a strong relationship, but Meredith's words implied that this is it. They were going to be with each other for good, and god he was excited for that.

Although Meredith had her back to him, Ashley was quick to notice her father's smile and reciprocated it herself, knowing in that moment that Meredith would be the person her father would grow old with, the person he was meant for.