Untouchable face

27.

Emily hated hospitals. She was well aware she worked in one but going to work in one was very different than going to visit your brother in one. And she was more than a little tired of it and was anxious for it to be over. Not that Derek would get magically better but at least he'd be at home. And if Derek was at home, then she'd finally be able to give up visiting people in hospitals. She was used to it, there was no point in denying that, but after premature babies and a really premature baby with heart problems, she had spent more time at the hospital as a visitor than working. And she hated that more than anything.

Besides this was never supposed to have happened to Derek. Her big brother was strong, he was her rock through everything and he was never supposed to be stuck in a hospital bed, all but entirely unable to move. There was something incredibly wrong about that. But she wasn't going to worry about how wrong it was. Derek was doing so much better and his surgeons had been completely incredible. Derek was so lucky to have had the doctors he had, and she was ready for him to get better. Derek was much more fun when he wasn't injured.

He wasn't moving yet but he would be again soon and that was all that mattered. Derek moved a lot, he was always going, always running around and it'd be amazing to see him get back to that. All of this could have been so much worse if he had just landed even slightly different. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if he had been paralyzed. But he wasn't, and now they were going to visit him. He would be going home at the end of the week, and Maggie was totally freaking out. She didn't know if the house was ready and Derek was going to have to go through months of therapy, and he was a little cranky. Derek got like that sometimes. She loved him more than almsot anything but he got grumpy and sometimes seemed like he liked yelling just because he could. Maggie definitely didn't need that right now though, she had been awesome sticking with Derek through this so hopefully they'd all be able to do something.

"I swear, if he's snappy, I'm yelling at him right back," Sophie said firmly.

"That's what we do," Kathleen nodded.

"I know, but no one can stop me."

"Don't we know it," Nancy groaned.

"Nance, he's my brother and he's apparently being an ass."

"Well yeah."

"And I'm not letting him get away with it."

"We know, Sophie," Emily nodded.

"Is Mom going to be there?"

"I don't know," Kathleen shook her head. "She was there when I called earlier but I don't know if she still is."

"I hope she's not."

"Why?" Nancy frowned.

"Because then if I'm mean, she'll be all, 'Sophie Anne...' and it will drive me nuts."

"Yeah that's true," Nancy laughed.

"So I hope she's not there."

"We can try to kick her out," Emily shrugged.

"Oh yeah," Nancy laughed again, "kick Carolyn Shepherd out of her son's room."

"Tell her we want some sibling time," Emily nodded.

"Okay, that might work," Sophie grinned.

"It will."

"Except we don't want Maggie to leave, do we?" Kathleen asked.

"Well...no, she can say."

"And how do we explain that part?" Sophie asked.

"I...oh," Emily sighed.