Aftermatch ✔️

Part 9

A whole week had passed and Meredith was indeed doing a little better. She could now keep down heavier meals and her asthma was just mild. They had moved downstairs into Ellis Grey's old office so Meredith wouldn't have to climb the stairs. Winston and Link had helped him carry down the mattress two days after they had come home from the hospital.

At the moment Meredith's daily routine consisted out of sleep, eating, more sleep and complaining about being stuck at home and not able to help during the pandemic. Her PT sessions every twice a week were exhausting but they did help and her lung capacity was increasing slightly. Today she would have her first check up at the hospital so they would finally find out how much her lungs had recovered or not.

Right now, Meredith was sitting at the kitchen table, doing a covid- rapid test while he had already done his a few hours earlier when she had still been asleep. As he walked into the room he observed her from the door frame as she was filling the liquid into the test, waiting for the result.

He was so lost in thoughts that he didn't notice how her expression suddenly changed. "A-Andrew?" she asked, her voice shaky and unsteady as she looked up. "Mhm?" he asked, walking over to her. "T-the test, i-it's p-positive." She stammered as she moved away from him, not wanting to give it to him in case she was indeed sick again. "What?" he exclaimed, leaning forward to look at the result of the test himself.

"I-I y-you should a-and we should both put on a m-mask." She stammered, her hands shaking, sweat building up on her forehead. "Mer, if you have it, I have it. We spent every single minute together the passed few days." He said calmly, trying to help her calm down a little, hiding his own fear. If she really was sick again, she probably wouldn't survive. She had asthma now and had already nearly died from her first infection when she had been completely healthy.

"Let's drive to the hospital, I'll call Bailey on the way. Probably it's just a false positive test. The possibility that you have it again is extremely low, I mean you just tested negative two weeks ago." He said as he walked over to her. She continued to move away from him until she hit the kitchen counter and couldn't move any further away.

"Mer, my test was negative this morning, and if you were sick, I would have it too." He said, taking her in his arms. "Okay" she whispered, calming down while listening to his heartbeat.

"Let's go." He said after a few minutes, leading her into the hallway where they slowly got dressed, not speaking a single word. As they drove onto the highway, Andrew dialled Bailey's number and put her onto the speaker of the car.

"Hello?" they heard after a few seconds. Meredith was starring out of the window, obviously not wanting to talk to her superior right now.

"Dr. Bailey this is DeLuca, uhm- we're on our way to the hospital right now because of Meredith's check up but- uhm, we both did a rapid test this morning and Mer's was- positive." He said hesitantly.

The car was filled with silence for several seconds until Dr. Bailey started speaking again. "How far are you away?" she asked.

"Seven minutes." Andrew replied calmly. "I'll prep an exam room and then meet you at the ER entry." Bailey said before hanging up the phone. Andrew sighed, turning his head for a moment to look at Meredith who was still staring out of the window. "You okay?" he asked, placing his hand on her thigh.

"Yeah" she said, her voice failing to stay calm.

_______

Andrew's car drove into the access road to the ER where they saw Bailey and Maggie standing outside of the entry, waiting for them. Andrew parked in the farthest corner so that the car wouldn't block and ambulances and they both got out of the car. Putting on a mask they walked towards the two surgeons in the full-protective-covid suits.