I'm gonna be - 500 miles [2/2]

10

Meredith was still in the ICU. It's been a week and they couldn't get the infection completely under control but today they'd move her to a normal room. Meredith was almost always asleep except when her family would come over.

The next time Meredith woke up she was in a regular room but still hooked up to tons of machines and a nasal cannula wrapped around her head for oxygen

Every day Derek came over with Ellis, it was hard on him. His wife was admitted to the hospital with severe heart issues, their youngest daughter was a handful despite the tries of his oldest kids to help out. Every night was a disaster. Ellis would keep crying and wake up Riley so Zola had to move out again and if her husband could watch Riley, Zola could watch Ellis. Same with Bailey and his family

"Ellie, come on sweetie. Put on your shirt for me please" Maggie sighed as she was now helping Derek to get Ellis ready for her program but the young lady refused

"Ellis, you have to go to your program, they can't miss you" Derek tried

Nothing would help. Ellis was sure, she wanted to see her mother, nothing else

"M-ommy!" She said sternly

"Ellis.." Derek sighed

"I can take her to see Meredith if you want. You can go to work, I'm off all day anyway" Maggie smiled

"Are you sure?" Derek asked, he felt guilty that Maggie had to offer up her day off

"I'm very sure. Go to work, me and Ellis will come to the hospital in a bit" Maggie smiled

"Do you still have Ellis' stuff in your car? The seat belt protector and her neck pillow?" Derek asked

"I do, now go" Maggie smiled

Maggie took Ellis to the hospital and walked towards Meredith's room but her niece was confused as Meredith obviously had changed rooms

"No Ellie, this way. Believe me" Maggie tried

"No! See m-ommy!" She whined

"Honey, grab my hand and I'll lead the way. Trust me"

Ellis seemed to think for a while but gave in and grabbed her aunt's hand

"Let's go see mommy now" Maggie said and led the way to the room but couldn't hold Ellis once she spotted her mom

"M-ommy!" She ran full force into the room, causing Meredith to wake up

"Oh- Ellis-" Meredith was breathing heavily

"Mer, are you okay?" Maggie asked concerned

"Yeah" Meredith nodded "Hey honey" She wrapped her arms around her daughter that had launched herself onto the bed

"Miss you" Ellis whispered

"Missed you too, Ellie" Meredith rubbed Ellis' back "You look tired" She frowned

"Sleep?" Ellis asked as she rested her head on her mother's chest

"Of course" Meredith nodded and let Ellis fall asleep before she started asking questions "Why does she look so tired?" Meredith asked, feeling completely worn out herself

"She barely sleeps.. Derek tries but she's giving him a hard time" Maggie covered both woman with a blanket

"Maggie, I need to go home!" Meredith sighed

"Mer-"

"No. Either you're discharging me or I'm leaving myself!" Meredith sternly said, her heart monitor indicating that she was stressing out again

"Let me talk to your team" Maggie nodded and stood up

Meredith felt exhaustion take over, her head was throbbing as if she was hungover

...

It was lunchtime for Derek. He bought a salad and some food for his girls and was now on his way to Meredith's room

When he entered he found them both asleep. He smiled and decided to wait a little bit until they would wake up, he didn't have the heart or courage to disturb them, especially now Ellis was finally getting some well needed rest

"Der?" He heard his wife's voice after a bit

"Hey, I'm here. How are you feeling?" He asked with a smile

"Maggie's letting me go home" Meredith said

"Already? I thought she said she wanted to keep you for observation for at least another week" Derek frowned

"I pushed her. I said she had to discharge me or I'd leave" Meredith told him, she knew he wasn't gonna like this

"Mer, we're talking about a heart disease, not about a broken leg!" Derek frowned

"I know that. But I don't want you or Ellis to end up here as well. I can be monitored at home, I promise I'll rest" She sighed

"Hmm.. Let's talk to your doctors first" Derek said and noticed Ellis started squirming

"Hey honey. Look who's here to have lunch" Meredith said and pointed at Derek

"D-addy!" Ellis giggled and hugged her mother

"Hi princess. Do you wanna try and eat something?" Derek asked and smiled as Ellis nodded her head

He grabbed the sandwich he had bought for her and grabbed napkins to cover her chest and her clothes. At their house they usually used fabric to cover her up

"Slow, honey" Meredith reminded Ellis

Ellis started eating while Meredith and Derek kept talking. They only had to stop her once as she wasn't chewing but kept stuffing food in her mouth which was careful because she could start choking

"Mer?" Maggie entered the room

"Hi" Meredith and Derek smiled, Ellis still focussed on her sandwich

"Considering you guys practically own this hospital I guess I can send you home with some devices to make sure you're okay. Bailey said you could take the time off to watch Mer" She told Derek "But I'm not a big fan of this and you'll have to come in for bloodwork" Maggie said "I'm only doing this because of Ellis, okay?" Maggie said sternly

"Thanks Maggie" Meredith breathed in relief "It means a lot to me"

"But don't let me regret it. You're not gonna walk around if you don't need to and try to avoid stress" Maggie said but also knew Meredith's stress levels quickly rise if Ellis was a handful "And we keep helping out with Ellis and her needs" Maggie said sternly

Derek grabbed Meredith's hand and squeezed it and watched as she nodded her head

"Thank you" Meredith quietly said but exhaustion was taking over

"I'll release you in a couple of hours, make sure you sleep a bit first. Meanwhile we're gonna move the stuff we'll need to monitor you from home" Maggie smiled and smiled at her sister