Let It Go

16.

Meredith pulled off her gloves and disposed of them. She leaned her head back and breathed in deeply before blowing the breath out. They had done it. They had clipped the aneurysm and brought Harrison back to life. Of course, this was only the beginning. They still had to wait for him to wake up. They had to check for brain damage, monitor him for infection. There were other less serious injuries to take care of as well - broken bones, wounds that needed to be cleaned and stitched properly. But he had made it through an extensive surgery. If he could make it through a standstill operation, everything else should, at least in a perfect world, be a piece of cake. Of course, the world was far from perfect and right now, things were still critical. Less critical then they'd been an hour ago but critical nontheless.

She watched through the scrub room window as Cristina finished her work, sewing neat little stitches down his chest. She herself had finished just minutes earlier and had accepted Cristina's offer to see Harrison to recovery so she could go tell the Shepherds he'd made it through surgery.

Meredith rolled her head from side to side, stretching her neck. She glanced at the wall clock. 9pm. She was supposed to be on her way home two hours ago. She could easily give the Shepherds the news and head out the door. But she wouldn't. She was going to remain at the hospital, see him through the night. Sure, that would make tomorrow a long day, but she felt responsible for the little boy and wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him in anyone else's care, at least not until he was awake and they had a better idea as to his prognosis. She quickly rinsed her hands and dried them. Trying to rub some of the tension from her neck, she headed out the scrub room to give the Shepherds the news.

Mark looked up at the sound of the door opening. Meredith stopped when she saw him. He looked tired, worried. Slowly, Mark stood up. He ran his hand through his hair. This was it. This was the moment he'd been dreading since finding out about Harrison over five hours ago. He tried to read Meredith, but he couldn't. She looked like he felt - tired and worried.

"How....?" Mark started. Meredith nodded. "Good," she said. "Things went well. He's stable. We're not in the clear by any means, but he pulled through the surgery. That's... That's something." Mark nodded. A small smile formed on his face. "That's a big something," he said. Meredith smiled a bit as well. "Yeah," she agreed. "I guess it is." They both started walking towards the elevators, both lost in their own thoughts. Mark had to admit to himself that he'd been expecting the worst. He'd saw no chance of survival for the little boy and yet he'd pulled through. He felt almost light with relief, despite MEredith's warning that things were still critical.

Meredith waited for the elevator, feeling relieved as well. For the first time since Harrison had been airlifted to the ED over seven hours ago, she felt like she could breathe. She had saved his life barring any complications that might arise and as many times as she'd saved a life before, this one felt different. This one felt like it mattered more and not just because Harrison was the nephew of her department head. She couldn't place why exactly this one was different. She just knew that it was. Regardless of why it felt different, she had saved Harrison was still with them and that was what mattered the most right then. That and telling the Shepherds.

"I'm guessing you're on the way to tell the Shepherds?" Mark asked as they stepped into the elevator. Meredith looked over at him and nodded. "Yeah. Cristina was finishing up closing his chest. Her and the intern I had on the case, Dr. Kern, are going to go with him to recovery. I wanted to tell Dr. Shepherd and his wife. And Derek." Mark swallowed at the mention of Derek's name.

"Meredith, just a heads up. Derek, he's... He's not... I can't really describe it, but he's not - doing so well." "Of course he's not! His nephew and his sister were both involved in a horrible accident! No one would be doing well after that!" Meredith replied. Mark shook his head. ""It's more then that. It's complicated and it's not my place to tell you about it, but Derek, he can't deal with things like this. He can operate on other people's family day in and day out and not be affected but he can't handle anything like this happening to his family. He's... He's not going to be pleasant to talk to."