Easy Silence

4.

"Derek..." Meredith breathed.

He wasn't supposed to be here. She was never supposed to see him again and if she did it wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to be wheeled into her hospital.

"My legs...my legs..." she heard Derek murmur above the din of the emergency room.

"I...I've got this," she felt herself nodding, suddenly moving toward the gurney and him. She suddenly had to get to him, had to be beside the hockey player that she definitely wasn't going to sleep with and still hadn't actually stopped thinking about. "Derek..."

"My legs," he murmured again, shaking his head about as he winced with pain. "They're..."

"Derek..."

"What...where am I?" he asked, his voice low and full of terror as he moved around on the gurney. "What happened?"

"Derek..." Meredith frowned watching him trash around.

"What...where..." he murmured, suddenly squeezing his eyes shut, closing out the confusion of the situation surrounding him and she couldn't miss the panic that was obviously running through his body.

"Dr. Grey should we give him a sedative?" a nurse asked.

"No," Meredith shook her head, finding her fingers suddenly laced in his and him squeezing her hand tightly. "Blue eyes..."

Derek's eyes suddenly popped open and met hers as he squeezed her hand again. "Mer..."

"Meredith, you remember," she smiled softly.

"Meredith..." he whispered, his eyes still fill of terror.

"It's okay," she murmured softly, running her free hand through his sweat soaked curls. "I just need you to calm down, okay? Take a few deep breaths and calm down. You're okay. Or you're going to be okay, and I probably shouldn't ramble when you're...rambling would be bad. But you're going to be fine. You're here and breathe, just breathe."

"Where...where am I?" he asked, his voice shaky as he held her gaze.

"You're at the Ottawa General," she smiled. "You... I don't actually know what happened but it was something about a hockey game."

"I don't...I don't remember."

"You have a major concussion," she sighed. "It's normal."

"My legs..."

"The EMTs said you were complaining of numbness," Meredith nodded. "Is it...you have feeling, right?"

"Yeah, just...numbness or...numbness."

"We'll figure it out, Der," Meredith nodded, letting go of his hand. "I have to examine you, okay?"

"Doctor...you're a doctor," he whispered.

"Dr. Grey," she grinned. "Can you stay will while I examine you? And then we'll get you into an MRI to see what's going on with the legs."

"Okay," he nodded slowly.

"Can you tell me where it hurts?" Meredith asked, shining her flashlight into his eyes."

"My head," he whispered. "And my back. And my chest...my ankle. Is...can I say all over, is that an option?"

"It is," she giggled softly before turning to a nearby nurse. "Page McDonald, he's going to want to be on this. And Derek deserves the best."

"Meredith..." Derek murmured.

"Yes?"

"My legs...why are my legs numb?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "I wish I had a better answer but we'll figure this out. You're in good hands, blue eyes."

"Okay," he nodded as she continued to look over him.

He winced as she touched his angle and she breathed out in relief. If he could feel the pain it couldn't be that bad, whatever was making his legs numb couldn't be that bad. And her head was working too fast for her to think of anything it could be. She could just think about how much he needed those legs, how much they couldn't be numb because he needed his legs to work right. He needed to be okay.

"Dr. McDonald will meet you in the CT," a nurse said, coming up beside Meredith.

"Okay," Meredith nodded. "Ready for the CT, blue eyes?"

"Nickname...you need a nickname."

"We'll work on that later," Meredith smiled lightly as she wheeled his gurney toward the elevator.

He had to be okay.