Driving Sideways

27.

Mark rolled onto his back, and suddenly, Meredith was sitting atop him, her face in his. "Why would you say that?"

"What? What? What did I say?" He asked, guarding his face from her, thinking she was going to hit him.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"Because you're freaking out like this... I mean... it's one thing to cry because of all of this, to be upset... but you locked yourself somewhere where you didn't think anyone was going to find you... Don't you remember right before you found out you were pregnant with Greyson? It took us hours to find you under the gurney in the tunnels... " He asked innocently, peeking out from between his fingers.

"No! No! No! I am not pregnant! Stop it! Stop!" She screamed as she punched him with her fist. He instantly grabbed her around the waist and rolled her, straddling her body on the bed as he held her hands down.

"Bad... bad, Meri..." He said with a smirk.

"Get off of me..." She muttered angrily, her face red, her teeth gritted. "You knew about all of this and you didn't tell me..."

"I was given strict orders not to tell you... Derek was given strict orders not to tell you... we were told not to tell you..."

"Now I know... now I know and I hate both of you... and I hate her!"

"You don't hate me... you love me..." Mark said with a smirk. "What did he tell you?"

"She's sick..." Meredith pouted.

"That's all he said?" Mark asked, raising his eyebrows.

"That's all he had to say..."

"So you didn't ask him anything else?"

"Get off of me..." She mumbled as she struggled against him.

"You didn't ask him anything else?" He asked again.

"I said get off of me!" She exclaimed.

"Meredith... listen... we're going to Seattle tomorrow..."

"No!"

"We're going to Seattle tomorrow because your mother has an aneurysm the size of a cantaloupe in her head and she needs someone to convince her to have surgery..."

"Derek is there..." She said, tears springing to her eyes as she looked up at Mark. "He can..."

"She won't listen to him..." Mark shook his head. "She didn't want you out there... she went out there because she didn't want you to see her going through this pain... she didn't want you to watch her die... if she has this surgery, she won't die... if she has the surgery... Meredith... She loves you..."

"If she loved me, she wouldn't have left... she would want me to be there for her..."

"Meri... she loves you enough to keep you safe... She went to Seattle to settle things, she went there because she didn't want you to see her weak... she didn't want you to see her deteriorate... she's prided herself in her strength... and she thinks that by facing death head on, she's being strong."

"It's stupid." Meredith whimpered.

"It is stupid." Mark nodded. "We just have to get out there and knock some sense into the old bat..." He smirked slightly as he watched her nod, her lip still trembling as tears rolled down her cheeks. He slowly released her arms and moved to the side, pulling her body into his as she buried her face in his chest. She grasped his shirt tightly as she continued to cry. "It's okay, Meri..." Mark said softly as he held her. "It's okay..." He whispered, carefully rubbing his hand across her back as he felt her body tremble against his.