Meredith was asleep. She had her first radiation sessions. They were gonna do one week of intense radiation and then step over to chemo. She had 2 more days to go before an even harder part would start
Alex was sitting on a chair next to her bed, colleagues stepping in and out of the room as they were all concerned
They wanted to tell everyone at the same time but it leaked quickly so Meredith forced herself to tell them
Flashback
"Mer, you can wait a bit longer" Alex tried to stop her. She had just had her first radiation session
"I have to do this, Alex" Meredith sighed and pulled on her sweater, careful to not wake her youngest daughter who was asleep in her arms
"Page them to your room, please. You should rest" Alex kept trying
"Okay" Meredith quietly muttered "But quickly before Zola and Bailey get back" Meredith insisted and cradled the sleepy girl in her arms
"I'm paging them now" alex nodded and grabbed his phone
After about five minutes everyone was in her room, everyone concerned why she was sitting on a hospital bed
"Meredith, will you finally explain what is going on?" Richard asked
"I- Yesterday I fainted" Meredith started explaining, stroking Ellis' hair to calm herself down
"Meredith?" Kai frowned and wrapped their arm around Amelia who hadn't told what happened yet
"They found cancerous tumors in my lymph nodes" Meredith choked out. Everyone gasping even those who already knew what was going on
"And now? What are they gonna do?" Winston asked concerned
Meredith pulled her sweater down, exposing the huge bandage on her neck
"We started with radiation already. We'll start chemo at the end of the week when we finished these radiating sessions" Bailey spoke up
Meredith couldn't continue looking up, she felt tears welling up in her eyes and for her own comfort she cuddled the girl closer in her arms
End of flashback
Alex looked at his watch, the kids would be here in a bit but Meredith's bandage needed to be changed first so he decided to wake her up
"What?" Meredith groaned, wanting to turn herself but accidentally bumping against the open wound on her neck. She cried out in pain
"Mer!" Alex jumped up and held her from touching it "Shh, I'll change it"
"Kay" She quietly sighed and closed her eyes
Alex slowly pulled back the bandages and remembered every step he had to do since he was often an intern on Mark Sloan's cases
"It looks pretty good to me" Alex quietly said as he cleaned the wound and put a fresh bandage on it
"Make sure the kids don't see it" Meredith muttered, her eyes still closed
"I'm gonna do my best" Alex assured her "They'll be here in a bit, they might cheer you up" He smiled
"I wanna go to the playground with them" Meredith quietly said
"I don't think that's a good idea" Alex slowly tried to explain
"I wasn't asking" Meredith muttered as Alex changed the bandage of the area that was radiated, also the area around her armpit
"I need to check your port as well. If everything looks good we can start chemo soon" Alex unbuttoned the top left part of Meredith's hospital gown and lowered the fabrik so he could check out the port that was inserted earlier this week "It looks good" Alex nodded
"Hey guys!" Maggie walked inside with the kids
"Mommy!" They ran up to her
"Hi guys! Do you wanna go to the playground for a bit?" Meredith asked them, ignoring the frightened expression on her sister's face
"Can we? Really?" Bailey's eyes widened in excitement
"Of course" Meredith nodded "Only if you want" She forced an excited smile on her face
"Yes! Can we go now?" Bailey jumped off the bed
Meredith pushed herself up on the bed and weakly reached out for some clothes as she was only wearing sweatpants and a hospital gown
"Wait, just tuck this in and put a warm sweater and jacket on top" Alex helped her
Once Meredith was dressed she grabbed Zola and Ellis' hands while Bailey was running a bit in front of them
"I have a shift" Maggie muttered
"Go, I'm staying with them" Alex nodded
"Make sure she's not overdoing herself, please" Maggie asked Alex
...
"Bailey, wait for me! I got little legs!" Ellis yelled
"Grab my hand, Ellie!" Zola smiled and ran together with her younger sister behind their brother
"Are you tired?" Alex asked her as he rubbed her back softly
"A bit" She breathed and leaned into his touch, she could barely hold herself up any longer
"Why don't we go back? I can get ice cream fir the kids and meanwhile you can lay down a little" Alex suggested
"Alex, I'm a mother and I have to be there for them. I can rest when they're going home again" Meredith sighed
"Mer, you underwent radiation. You have cancer, you need to rest and it's okay to accept people's help. You are a single mom, that's hard in any circumstance" Alex kept rubbing her back
"I hate doing this to them" Meredith muttered
"Stop thinking like that, let's go back" He grabbed her hand and held it in his "Bailey! Zola! Ellis!" He yelled
"Yes!" They replied and ran towards them
"Let's go back, we can stop for ice cream on our way back to mommy's room" Alex stood up, helping Meredith back on her feet
Ellis and Zola immediately reached out to hold Meredith's hand and the family made their way back
"I looooove ice cream" Bailey smiled as he took a seat on one of the spare chairs. Zola who was the only one who was still eating her ice cream and took a seat next to her brother
Meredith took a seat back on the bed but had to fight to stay awake. The little girl followed her but couldn't get in the bed, she was too small
"Wait honey" Meredith said and wanted to lift Ellis up the bed but as she placed her hands underneath Ellis' arms she felt her wound underneath her armpit burn and hissed in pain
"Wait wait-" Alex stopped her and quickly lifted the little girl and placed her on Meredith's bed
"Sorry Ellie-Bell" Meredith whispered as tears streamed down her cheeks
"Don't cry mommy" Ellis whispered
Bailey stood up and climbed on the bed next to his sister and mother, Zola abandoned her ice cream and joined as well
"Why don't you guys take a little nap" Alex forced back tears and covered them with a blanket
Okay, I'm getting slightly better so hopefully this will also mean I'll find the energy again to write, do my dishes,.. I hope y'all enjoyed this update!
YOU ARE READING
Missing piece
Fanfictionit's been almost nine years since Derek died. Meredith and the kids miss him a lot. Close to the anniversary Meredith has been feeling ill. Is it just because she misses him and being busy with three kids or is there something else going on?
