Love is a game

1

"Ellie, get yourself ready. I have to bring you to daddy" Meredith sighed as she pushed herself on her feet and stretched her aching back and put the leash onto her service dog Poppy

"Ice cream!" Ellis screamed

"We'll see if we can stop on our way to daddy" Meredith nodded and grabbed her stuff and walked to the car. She got Poppy clipped in in the back

She helped Ellis into the car and buckled in the little blonde girl before getting in herself and driving to Derek's house. The house they once lived together

"Okay munchkin. We're here" Meredith sighed as she pushed herself out of the car and helped Ellis to get out

"Hey, let me carry her stuff" Derek said as he walked towards them and patted Poppy's head

Meredith nodded and grabbed Ellis' hand and Poppy's leash to follow inside

"How are you doing princess?" Derek asked as he tickled Ellis' stomach

"I'm good" Ellis giggled

"She had Ice cream earlier, I hope that's not a problem" Meredith asked

"Oh no, of course not" Derek smiled

"Where's aunt Amy?" Ellis frowned

"She's at work, honey. It's just you and me" Derek lifted his 4 year old

"I should get going" Meredith quietly said, she kissed Ellis' forehead and walked out of the door

"Wait, Mer-" Derek stopped her "How are you feeling?" He asked her

"It's fine, Derek" Meredith sighed and continued to walk to her car and waved one more time at her daughter before she drove away with Poppy in the back

...

"Grey! Amelia's ready for your scans" Bailey said as she walked up to the blonde

"Thanks" Meredith nodded and put the tablet down, fixed her doctors jacket and walked up towards Amelia's office

"Hey!" Amelia smiled

"Hi" Meredith said but not excited at all

"Let's go now, you don't have to wait" Amalia led Meredith out of the office and helped her lay down on the device for all kinds of new scans

...

Meredith was freaking out. Amelia just told her that the spondylitis was getting worse which made her fibromyalgia even worse

Thousands of thoughts ran through her head. Would she be able to continue taking care of her daughter by herself?

Meredith got disturbed by Poppy licking her fingers in a try to calm her down

"I think you should try it" Amelia spoke up

"The surgery?" Meredith frowned

"We can clean out the spine, the spondylitis could disappear after a few extra treatments

"I don't know.." Meredith sighed

"What can go wrong?" Bailey asked Amelia

"An infection, possibly loss of movement below the injury level.." Amelia explained

"I have a daughter to take care off" Meredith stood up and looked out of the window

"Meredith, I think you should talk to Derek. He's a neurosurgeon, he's your ex husband, he's Ellis' father" Amelia started

"I know" Meredith sighed and felt Poppy pushing her head against her leg "I'll go call him to see if I can stop by tonight" She nodded

"Take the rest of the week off. I'll take over your surgeries" Bailey said softly

"Thanks" Meredith nodded and walked out of the office back to her own where she collected her stuff and walked to her car

As she helped Poppy in the trunk she sat down with the dog for a minute

"Do you have any idea what I should do?" Meredith asked as she rested her head on top of Poppy's and tears escaped her eyes

...

Meredith arrived at Derek's house but she couldn't get herself to get out and ring the door. He knew she was coming but still

The thought of something going wrong at that surgery was killing her. It was very experimental. Meredith already had to cut back on her hours in an OR as it became impossible for her to stay in the same position for such a long time so she now did shorter procedures but a lot of research and paperwork

She got pulled out of her thoughts when Derek knocked on the window with Ellis in his arms

"Hey, are you okay?" He frowned as she opened the door

"Yeah of course" She nodded and let Poppy out

"Mommy, can I lead Poppy inside?" Ellis asked her mother

"Of course honey" Meredith smiled and gave Poppy a sign she didn't have to work

"Come inside, what's it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Amelia took new scans. Apparently there's a surgery to clean out my spine in a try to let the spondylitis disappear"

"I did read about that" Derek nodded "But you're scared it will trigger your fibromialgia?" Derek asked

"Uhu" Meredith nodded "I'm scared the seizures will come back or that the pain's gonna get worse again" Meredith pulled up her knees to his chest

"Meredith, this surgery might be the solution to the spondylitis symptoms, if everything goes well that problem will be solved" He grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly

"But if not then there's a chance I won't be able to take care of my own daughter" Meredith started sobbing

"Just think about it. Amelia's the best and I'm sure she has thought this through" Derek rubbed Meredith's back as she cried in his arms

"I'm so scared" Meredith whimpered

"I know you are. But everything will be okay. I'll help you. I promise" Derek cuddled her in his arms, he hated how things went between them. He had always loved her and hated himself for the choice he made right before Meredith found out she was pregnant with his child

Thanks to everyone to send in ideas, it gave me a lot of inspiration. I've planned a few things to add in this story so if you have some ideas, please send them to me!

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter!