It's been a long time

Chapter 67

The next few days of work were boring. Very boring. Meredith had her 18 week appointment in 7 days. That was the only thing she was really looking forward to.

One day, she was working in peds on a kid with cancer. A surgery was scheduled to try to remove some metastasis. Simple surgery. "Alright Danny. Are you ready?" Meredith asked as she went in to prep him.

"No. I'm scared." The 7 year old boy confessed. "It's okay to be scared. But it's a routine surgery. All of your doctors are very very smart and they know what they're doing." Meredith replied softly.

"What if I don't wake up?" Danny asked in a tone that made Meredith want to cry. "You will. Where are your mommy and daddy?" She answered.

"They went to get food I think." Danny said. "Okay. How about while they eat I go to the shop downstairs and buy us some coloring pages?" Meredith suggested. "Really?" The boy asked, his eyes lighting ip.

"Really. I'll be back in a few minutes." Meredith said, grinning.

She ran down to the small shop and grabbed a few coloring books and crayons. And a water for herself. She went back to his room and found him waiting patiently.

"What do you want? Transformers or Princesses?" Meredith asked, holding up both. "Transformers!" He exclaimed excitedly. Meredith handed him the book and a box of crayons.

Meredith took a seat in the room and started coloring. "Dr Meredith?" Danny asked after a moment. "Yes Danny?" She responded.

"Do you have any babies?" He questioned. Meredith smiled. "Not yet. But I'm having one. A little boy." She answered, smiling softly. "Can me and your baby be best friends? Cause my sister is boring and I want a brother. Or at least a friend that's a boy." Danny asked.

"Sure, Danny. You don't have any friends that are boys?" Meredith asked. "No one wants to be friends with me cause I got cancer. I can never hang out. But will your baby hang out with me?" He responded.

Meredith smiled sadly. "Of course."

"I'm not scared anymore. Your a good doctor. Can we color when I wake up from surgery?" He asked. "Yeah. I'll be right in your room with your parents when you wake up." Meredith replied.

"Okay." Danny said, grinning as he went back to his coloring.

•••

About an hour later, Danny was brought into surgery and put under. Bailey and Arizona were in with him too. "Already. Opening him up." Arizona announced to the OR.

"Grey, retract for me." She directed. Meredith did so and looked at the little boy. SHe could picture him and her little boy playing and she smiled.

"Grey, what did you talk to him about?" Bailey asked. Meredith looked over. "Nothing much. He was scared, I bought him a coloring book and colored with him, and he wasn't scared." She replied.

Bailey smiled under her mask. She always knew her intern had maternal instincts, and couldn't wait to meet her little baby.

The surgery was going well.

That was, until Danny started to code. "Internal paddles. Charge to 360! Clear!" Meredith yelled as she put the paddles in. "Nothing. Charge again!"

Nothing. "Again!" Meredith repeated. Nothing. "Ag-"

"Meredith. He's gone." Arizona cut in. "No, but-"

"Meredith." Bailey said softly. Meredith put the paddles down and listened to the flatline. "Time of death 16:47." Arizona said before going to the scrub room.

It took Meredith a moment before she followed Bailey to the scrub room, where Arizona had already left. "He was only 7." She whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

"I know. It's harder with the kids. It always is." Bailey said soothingly. Meredith broke down into tears and leant heavily on the scrub sink.

Bailey wasted no time in taking her former intern into her arms and holding her close. "I-I told him he would be fine. I told him he and my baby could be friends." She sobbed.

Bailey frowned sadly and rubbed her back. "It's always harder when you have a baby. Or are having a baby." She said softly, allowing Meredith to cry.

"The first kid I lost after having Tuck was one of the hardest work days I've had. It doesn't get easier. But as surgeons, we adapt. Are you gonna be okay?" Bailey asked.

"I'll- yeah." She answered, sniffling slightly. "Go home for the day." Bailey ordered. "I don't need to." Meredith responded. "Meredith." Bailey sighed. "Okay." She whispered.

As she left the scrub room, bailey paged Derek herself before leaving as well.

•••

Meredith went to the residents locker room and sat down on one of the benches and put her head in her hands and cried.

She had told Danny he would be okay. She had promised. And what those parents were going to go through? She couldn't even imagine her son dying and her son wasn't even born yet.

Derek walked in quietly and frowned when he saw his wife crying. He silently sat next to her and pulled her closer to his chest, letting her cry. "Bailey told me. Just let it out." He whispered.

"He was 7. 7 years old and now he's just...gone." Meredith whimpered. "I know. I know." Derek murmured. "His parents...they-I can't even imagine."

"It's awful. It's an awful thing. But he had cancer." Derek replied softly. "I told him our son would be friends with him. He said because he had cancer he didn't have any friends." She sobbed.

Derek said nothing and just hugged his wife tighter. When she calmed down a few minutes later, he pulled back slightly. "Let's go home. I'll run your a warm bath and make dinner. And we can talk about our little boy." He said softly.

Meredith nodded and they left together. "I love you." She whispered to her baby bump.

Hey guys! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and hope your all doing well. If you have any suggestions for further chapters, please let me know. Thanks for reading!!