A Healing Heart

Chapter 26

Meredith was awoken early by the sounds of birds outside the bedroom window, of all days to be woken, today was not it. Were birds normally that loud? She was crampy, irritated and hadn't had much sleep, turning to her right she watched Derek as he slept contently, part of her hated him right now that he didn't have to experience the discomfort she was feeling, today she hated the men of society and most importantly, the female anatomy.

Pulling herself up, she decided to take a shower and freshen herself up. The scent of lavender filled the bathroom as she washed her hair, she didn't notice how early it actually was until she read the clock that sat on the counter, 4:46am, she quickly finished up and got out quietly, not wanting to wake her daughter and as much as she hated right now, Derek. She let her hair air dry, the lavender smell staining the apartment as she moved around the kitchen, she refilled her hot water bottle and made some tea as she took some medication to relieve the pain she was feeling.

It had been a little over two hours since she had gotten up and since then she had been sat on the sofa reading a book, the apartment was silent but she was expecting Ellyse to wake up soon as it was just past 7am and she was almost always up early. Luckily for Meredith, her and Derek both had the day off today whilst Ellyse would be at kindergarten so she was looking forward to spending some time as just the two of them, something they didn't get to do that often.

Now, it was 8:10am and there was still no sign of the two she was waiting for to wake up but Ellyse started kindergarten at 9am so Meredith decided it was time to go wake her up if they wanted to be on time. Walking into her bedroom she was met with a sight that brought tears to her eyes, her daughter laid next to her father, his arm pulling her close as she slept peacefully against his chest. Any rage or discomfort she was feeling flew out the window as she watched the two.

Derek began to stir feeling someones eyes on them, he pulled Meredith closer to him with his eyes still closed. A few seconds later he began to open his eyes, them widening when he saw Meredith stood at the bedroom door, his head turned quickly to see who he was cuddling. A chuckle left his mouth when he saw his daughter sleeping peacefully, her mouth open on his chest.

"She snook in again?" he chuckled in a raspy voice which Meredith loved so much.

"Seems like it, she wasn't there when I got up." she smiled.

"How long have you been up?"

"A while." she rubbed her forehead.

"Are you okay?" her frowned, concern filling him.

"Yeah I'm just sore and achy, plus I didn't sleep much last night." she replied with a sigh.

"I'm sorry." he sadly smiled, his hands brushing through Ellyse's hair.

"It's not your fault." she smiled rolling her eyes which made him grin a little. A few moments of silence past.

"It's 8:15, you should wake her, she has school at 9." Meredith said before leaving the bedroom.

Derek stared at the place where she stood and he felt a little worried about her, he knew that this time of the month wasn't always easy but she seemed disorientated and almost confused, not moody like yesterday.

"Ell, time to wake up." He whispered as he brushed her soft hair.

"Noo." She whined as she turned into the pillow. She was more like Meredith them either of them realised.

"I know, but you have to go to school sweetie. Come on."

After a few minutes she got up and so did Derek. Meredith was sat back on the sofa reading her book as he made them all breakfast, she only nibbled on her toast before putting it back on the plate. Ellyse had ordered that she get herself ready this morning so when she was in her room getting dressed he sat down next to Meredith.