Aftermatch ✔️

Part 27

A whole week later the pain Meredith occasionally felt in her ear area had disappeared and luckily didn't turn into another infection. But that was the only thing going well. Other than that Meredith was feeling entirely miserable since she wasn't sleeping a lot since her migraine had started to worsen all of the sudden again with no actual reason. They hadn't changed the doze of the medication that had caused it in the first place so they had no idea why it was worsening right now.

She also hadn't been eating a lot the past few days and when she had been eating he had felt as if he was forcing her to do so but she had never been able to eat more than two or three bites. And logically that was followed by Meredith quickly losing a lot of weight. She had gotten extremely underweight by now and was shivering none-stop.

It was torture for Andrew since he wasn't able to do much. Because of how drastically her health had gone downhill he wasn't allowed to be with her the whole time anymore. Bailey had made him understand that it was too risky for Meredith to be around other people who bring in bacteria so that he now had an eight-hour limit to be with her and also had to wear a whole protection suit every single time he would finally get to spend some time with her. 

Meredith didn't notice a lot of this since she was completely zooned out the whole time and just laid in her bed, either sleeping or just- laying there because she was too weak to move. But he hated this. He hated that he had to stay away from her but on the other side he wanted her to be okay. And if her well-being required him to stay away from her then he would do so.

But even if Meredith didn't notice a lot of what was going on around her, what she did notice was that Andrew wasn't there anymore and because she didn't know where he went she thought that he was mad at her for being sick. That he didn't want to be stuck in the hospital room anymore. But what she didn't know was that every single time he would have to leave he would literally start crying and sit in front of her room the whole night or sleep in a near on-call room in case she would need something.

"Dr. Bailey?" Andrew said after opening the door of the chief's office. "DeLuca?" she asked, looking up from her papers. "I'm not doing this anymore." He said determined. "Not doing what anymore?" Bailey asked confused, raising an eyebrow. "I will wear a protection suit the whole time I'm with her but I won't stick to the eight-hour limit anymore. Meredith needs to know that she's not alone, that I haven't left her alone. I'm staying with her." Andrew explained.

"No." Bailey said, looking back down and focusing on the documents in front of her again. "I didn't ask for your permission I was just updating you on this." Andrew countered, turning around to leave the room as Bailey stopped him. "DeLuca?" she said making him turn back around.

"The documents here- I'm going through the paperwork about installing a feeding tube. For Grey." She said monotony, not showing any kind of emotion. "What?" Andrew asked, not exactly surprised but still somehow shocked that they have already reached that stage now where Meredith's health was going downhill so fast that she would need a feeding tube to stay alive.

"This was also just to update you." Bailey said annoyed. "Dr. Bailey especially if she's getting a feeding tube there's no way I'm leaving her alone for longer than a single second." Andrew argued before actually leaving the room and walking back into the direction of Meredith's room. Reaching it he quickly changed into a protection gown, sanitised his hands and put on a mask before quietly opening the door and walking in.

Meredith was laying on her side on the bed, covered by multiple blankets. He carefully sat down on the chair next to the bed, determined to not make a single noise. "Andrew?" he heard her voice coming from below the covers as she sleepily opened her eyes. "You're back." She muttered, looking up at him. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long but Bailey gave me an eight-hour limit to be here and- I'm so sorry Mer. Please, I would never ever leave you alone. I love you so much." He said, stroking her cheek with his warm hand as tears started to well up in his eyes.

"S'not your fault. Please lay with me." She mumbled but didn't move a single inch since she was too weak to do so. Very carefully he lifter her into his arms while laying down on the bed, pulling her close to him. She immediately cuddled herself into his chest, sighing in content. "Love you too." She whispered before closing her eyes again. "Before you go back to sleep Mer I need to tell you something. Bailey decided that it'd be the best to give you a feeding tube." He said, gently rubbing her back.

"No, don't want." Meredith said tiredly, grabbing a fistful of his shirt. "But it'll help you get better, I promise. You're mainly feeling so weak because you're not eating enough. As soon as you'll get some nutrition into your system you'll get at least a little of your strengh back." He explained, hoping that he would be able to convince her that it was just to make her feel better.

"Puppy. I'll adopt a puppy." She suddenly mumbled into his chest, making him smile slightly. "Really?" he chuckled, kissing the top of her head through his mask. "Mhm. Bella. The one with the white spots." She added, smiling brightly. He knew exactly which puppy she meant. "Bella is a beautiful name for her. It fits perfectly."

"You- kay with that?" Meredith asked, relieved that Andrew seemed to be okay with her adopting a puppy because since they were pretty much living together it was his decision as well. "Of course, I've always wanted to adopt a dog." He replied, happy that Meredith had something to be excited about that would give her the strength to keep going.

"Good. When tube?" she asked weekly and he quickly noticed that she was about to fall asleep again. But he was glad that she wasn't fighting the tube anymore. "I'm not sure, probably today already." He replied but never got an answer from her since her body was obviously too tired to fight the exhaustion anymore so that she gave in the sleep. And he was glad that she was getting some rest as well as that he could stay with her for a while. 

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