Forever and a day.

Not ready to say goodbye

Emptiness.

Derek and Meredith had made their way into the hospital, with Summer safely sleeping in her push chair. Derek walked ahead before abruptly stopping. He completely froze. Meredith walked up to his side before pressing a hand to the top of his arm and giving it a tight squeeze.

Derek turned his head towards her and his eyes were red and the tears were now freely streaming down his face.

"Mer, I can't do this, how can I say goodbye to my dad, he was just fine a couple of days ago but now...now he is." Sobs completely took over Derek's body and his shoulder began to shake violent. His breathing became erratic and he was gasping her air. Meredith placed both her hands on his cheeks forcing him to look her in the eyes.

"Der, look at me." He eventually lifted his eyes to meet hers. "You are not alone. I will be there for you every step of the way, so come on, take my hand. We will do this together." They wrapped their arms around one another before they finally made their way to meet their family with their hands grasped tightly together.

Entering the waiting room they saw Carolyn staring straight ahead, her eyes looked completely empty. Amelia was picking at her nails, whilst Mark had his head placed in his hands. Derek ripped his hand from Meredith's, leaving her side and made his way over to his moms side. Meredith stood there, looking lost and confused on where to go. Amelia looked up at Meredith and her eyes pleaded at her to hold her.

Meredith pushed the pram over to where they all sat, Derek had his mother wrapped in his arms, so she made her way over to Amelia. Summer slept peacefully, unaware and too young to understand what was going on. Meredith crouched down in front of Amelia, placing her hands on her knees, even though Amelia was now 16 she looked like an innocent and scared little girl.

"Amy..." Meredith reached out to run her fingers over her face. She couldn't even begin to imagine how she was coping right now after being the one to find her father. Amelia looked up and practically fell into Meredith's arms, she wrapped her arms tightly around and let her sob. Her tears soaked through Meredith's top and the tears fell from Meredith's eyes. She couldn't believe that they were going through this. Michael was gone. Mark stood up and wrapped his arms around both Meredith and Amelia, doing his best to comfort him.

Meredith looked over Marks shoulder to see Carolyn and Derek staring blankly ahead, their hands grasped tightly together. Eventually, Meredith pulled herself away from Mark and Amelia, leaving Summer with them, as she made her way over to Derek and took a seat next to him. She placed her hand on his thigh, giving it a quick squeeze, his hand immediately landed on top of hers and tightly grasped it.

He couldn't fall apart. Derek was now the man of the family and he couldn't fall apart. But he didn't know how to do this. The one person he always looked to for advice was gone. He could do this. He had to this.  Having Meredith by his side was helping, he held onto her hand like it would be the last thing he did.

The doctors came and got them one by one so they could say their finally goodbyes. When it came to Derek's turn, he squeezed Meredith's hand as tight as possible as she turned to look at him. He looked terrified.  Pulling him up to his feet, she grabbed his face and made him look her in the eyes.

"Come on, we will do this together." They nodded at one another and slowly made their way to the room.

Once their goodbyes were all done, they climbed into their cars and set off home. Home. It wasn't until they pulled up outside that they realised this would be the first time without Michael. For a while they sat outside in the cars, until Summer got agitated so they finally pulled theirselves inside.

The day passed by so slowly, it's like time was stopping. Meredith and Mark where the ones that got up to make food, well sandwiches as neither of them could cook. They all picked at their food before heading off to bed. Mark crashed on the sofa, with Amelia sleeping with Carolyn in her bed, cradling one another as they sobbed into one another's arms.

Meredith smiled sadly before shutting the door, giving them some privacy. Making her way to her room, she found Derek and Summer cuddled closely together. Derek sobbed quietly trying his best not to disturb her. Meredith pushed herself off the door frame and joined them in bed, she moved to grab Summer but Derek stopped her.

"No Mer." He grabbed her arm and pulled her to lie down. "I want her here with us tonight, I want us all together." Meredith nodded her head before cuddling into the both of them. She reached up and brushed his hair out of his face before leaning in to press a quick kiss to his head. The tears began to flow again and they stayed tightly cuddled together for the night.

Things were about to get worse before they got better but they knew as a family they would get through this.